Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

What was supposed to have been a gentle afternoon of auto-belay routes turned into a proper bouldering session after I bumped into KM and in keeping with my new resolution to try more hard stuff, allowed myself to get talked into trying a few things at the upper end of my range.

The surprise success was a 6c+ route on the roof which I became interested in after realising that the final move wasn't nearly as burly as I'd thought. (I said I wasn't sure I could make the move; KM said, "With forearms like yours, that's just not true!", so I gave it a try and found it was easily within my abilities) The crux, which involved what looked like a very long reach out and back with the left hand, took a little longer when I realised it needed a dynamic move. After a couple of tries — most of which involved working my feet into the right places to be able to push off with enough force — I was able to latch the hold and push through, by which point I wasn't fresh enough to manage the last couple of moves, but I feel like I've basically got the problem down and should be able to send it next time.

I also worked a couple of projects and tried some new harder problems, including on that I wanted to be able to solve statically rather than simply throwing for a unpleasantly sharp little crimp — it felt like it should have been possible to put yourself in balance and just sit on one foot, move up to a small pinch, and stand up for the next hold — but alas, initial results were unsuccessful.

All in all, a pretty successful afternoon...

Very pleasant day of unpaid leave, with the morning spent pottering around town, enjoying the beautiful weather, while the afternoon was lost to an epic bouldering session which saw me crushing a whole load of the new problems on the 10 degree board.

Highlights included a rather pinchy problem which I hadn't expected to be able to manage — I really struggle with them on the 40 board — an absurdly fun thing with a long reach/dyno in the middle, and a very fingery problem that required a combination of crimping and core strength to push through.

After going at things a bit more heavily yesterday, a gentle bouldering session to start breaking in the new shoes. As expected they're very tight but they're also very precise and very positive, especially on overhangs. And as an added benefit, my Tenayas now feel like a comfy pair of slippers in comparison...

Very busy day rushing around trying to sort out a few much-needed necessities — principally a new pair of trail shoes following yesterday's mud-fest — before grabbing a quick bite to eat and rushing down the river to drop in on C's birthday celebrations at Samuel Jones. Arriving much later than planned, I only managed to fit in half an hour of socialising before rushing off to meet E for a trip out west.

After a good drive out, despite all the standing water, we passed an enjoyable afternoon trying some of the problems from the pre-christmas comp — all of which are due to be stripped on Wednesday — during which I finally managed to send one of the problems I'd messed up at Boulder Beats. It transpired that I needed to have my hands further right on the middle hold before rocking over, and once I had that nailed & swapped my feet to prevent myself from barn-dooring, the rest was easy.

On the way back we stopped in our local for supper and played with E's late Christmas present — a Powerball gyro — which turned out to be a great hit. Not only is it much quieter than my light-up one — enough to convince me to get myself another one for my desk at work — but more importantly E, who is a total gadget girl, liked it. So: success.

With the sports centre open again after the holidays, I went in to do a spot of bouldering. I'd originally planned to go swimming but, due to an epic attack of mouth ulcers — almost certainly caused by an allergic reaction to something — I decided to go bouldering instead.

As always, I enjoyed myself, but, as always, I was reminded just how reachy I find most of the problems and just how odd I find some of the grading — I struggled with a V2 but managed a V5, so who knows. Still there were lots of things to try — although the oblique board had been stripped — and their circuit board is aways worth a go.

Despite being tired out after yesterday, I managed to dig deep enough into my reserves to go work a few of my current projects. I picked something I'd tried on Thursday, when I'd balked at the dyno in the middle, and surprised myself by nailing it on my second attempt once I'd got the deadpoint right.

I moved back to the other boulder room which had, as promised, been completely reset on Friday. There were handful of fairly gentle problems, a few that took a couple of attempts to nail, some that felt like the might make good projects, and some that were clearly well beyond my abilities.

I really enjoyed myself but something tells me that, even after a doing a couple of sets of post-climb stretches, I'm really going to feel it tomorrow...

With the bouldering room open again, I dropped in and met up with a bouldering buddy to work my way through some of the new problems. The set spanned a range of difficulties — the previous set felt like they started at font 5 and went up from there — with some intriguing challenges.

My favourite of the night was a tricky technical problem which involved cranking up on a sloper, popping to a dish and then moving out to an exposed finish on a smooth hold with almost nothing for the feet — the eventual solution was a smear and a heel hook, with hands edged up on to the finish for a careful few seconds to complete the send.

In the process of working one of the other problems, going for a dyno that was far more full-on than anything I'd normally try, I managed to catch and rip a thumbnail badly enough to cause it to start bleeding. I taped it up and carried on, making it through the rest of the session on endorphins but only too aware of quite how much I'm going to suffer for it over the next few days while it heals up...

Amusing short on bouldering by Stuart Heritage in yesterday's Guardian. While I'm not sure all boulderers are lean — they either seem to be extremely willowy or extremely beefy — the comment about how the shoes should feel made me laugh: it's a standard topic of conversation, especially with people who are just starting out who can't quite believe that, yes, the shoes really are supposed to be so tight that you can't wear them for more than 15 minutes at a stretch...

Having failed to set the alarm, normally a formality given that I wake up at pretty much the same absurdly early time every day, I managed to oversleep this morning. A consequence, I suspect, of all the recent physical exercise combined with a late-ish finish last night. Despite that, I managed to get in to the office for my normal time by sacrificing my usual round of morning stretches.

After a gentle day and an afternoon spent catching up on domestic chores, we headed out to the Barn to work through some of the latest round of bouldering problems. I managed the first 15 flashing everything but number 11 — a tricky heel hook which I repeatedly managed to screw up — and the very last, which was a case of too much too late on in the session.

Back in town late with just enough time left to charge my camera and get my bits and pieces together ready to watch the qualifiers of the Deep Water Solo comp down at the quay tomorrow...

Afternoon of bouldering and climbing with K & E on the other side of the moor. Part of the reason for going was to allow K to replace her existing pair of Red Chillis — so battered that the holes in the toes were well over an inch long & once, when she forgot them at the climbing centre, someone had tried to bin them thinking they were rubbish. She'd originally planned on spending 60-70 pounds but E persuaded her to trade all the way up to a pair of La Sportiva Katanas.

After a whole bunch of bouldering we couldn't resist top-roping a particularly nice 6c on the overhung wall. It was entertainingly tricky with some seriously powerful moves, but we made a decent start on it and K reckoned that we made it look easier than someone she and E had seen struggling with the first couple of moves a couple of hours before.