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| Posing by Big Air |
On returning from a month of euro sport climbing I was expecting to return to plastic and be the best I’ve ever been climbing on routes. I was sorely disappointed. First session back was bouldering and I felt very weak. This I was expecting since I had done no bouldering for a month, but I wasn’t expecting to feel as weak as I did. Undeterred, I went to The Foundry a couple of days later and found myself struggling on 7b’s and anything harder feeling impossible. I didn’t understand, I’d spent most of the trip warming up on 7b’s and had been having less trouble with 8a’s then the 7b’s on plastic. I was very concerned. The moves just felt very hard when they really shouldn’t have been.
The following weekend was the Open Youth competitions in lead and bouldering, after my performance prior to them I didn’t have much hope of doing well. The scramble format for the bouldering competition should have meant I could get beta from other people before trying the problems. But me being me, meant I immediately got on one nobody else had and fell off. I then got on another and fell off again. By now I had already pretty much given up in my head. I improved a bit afterwards but I had messed up too much and by the end of the qualifiers I was ninth. Frustrated I sacked it off and went home to chill out before the leading the following day.
Again I turned up to this one with little hope but I did have the consolation that the first route was flat and so it wouldn’t be too powerful which seemed to be the thing I was severely lacking. It was going well enough until half way up, I was reaching over a lip and my foot popped. It wasn’t going to be my day. The next route I had the same issue as I had had at The Foundry, the moves just felt really hard and as a result I fell off very low again. The only conclusion I can draw from what happened is that indoor routes generally are shorter and have harder moves so when losing a lot of strength and power from doing only routes I simply could not string together the difficult moves required for indoors competition climbing. Not even bothering to look where I finished I enjoyed watching people crush in the finals, dwelled on why my climbing was so bad on plastic and looked forward to climbing on rock again in the Peaks with my friends the following week.
The Sunday of the competition had been Orrin’s 18th birthday and as his present his parents hired out a cottage in the Peaks for us to stay for a week and go climbing. It was an awesome week, we spent quite a lot of time at the Tor but I didn’t really get that much done due to how crimpy it is there, crimps have never been my strong point and after the strength lost from a month away it was dire straits. I did Perverse Reverse 7b and Too Hard for Mark Leach Footless, supposedly 7b but it’s just not. I spent a bit of time working Ben’s Roof and I got it all pretty wired except for the bit with the two crucial crimps which I just couldn’t pull on in my current state. We also had a few hours at Water Cum Jolly which again meant sharp crimps and me being weak. On the grit however I felt really strong. Zippys Traverse 7b which I’ve struggled with for ages went in 15 minutes, and Trackside 7a at Curbar which previously I couldn’t figure out I managed second go on the day and every go after since I got the beta figured out, also Early Doors a more direct finish to Gorilla Warfare at 7a+. All in all it was an amazing trip, good sends by everyone and some crazy stuff from Orrin, refer to Big Air. The one thing I did learn from the trip was that although I still felt weak I was definitely feeling stronger, especially on grit.
A couple of days after I got home I went out with my dad in search of the Secret Garden. This place was basically a tribute to how bad my climbing is at the moment, a place consisting mostly of bad slopers on grit should basically only be climbed in winter when it’s freezing cold and friction is high. Despite this I could still climb harder on it in midsummer then I could on limestone. This is because although the climbing is still hard it can often be overcome using technique rather than actual strength and my technique seemed to be one of the only things I had retained after a month away. I went there to do Dick Williams, a classic 7b+. It starts off on a sketchy heel hook and then some big moves between rubbish slopers on a rounded corner so the holds can be held in opposition. After this you have a grim, thin and super slopy top out above a kind of sketchy landing. The top out felt okay if you pulled on half way up the route because there was still chalk on your hands and there was much more grip, but when it came to linking it by the time I reached the top my hands were sweaty from the sun and it felt impossible to pull on such bad slopers. Eventually I managed to grovel over the top. First 7b+ boulder and managed it off season on a route which is dependent on the right conditions.
After this I decided I wanted to get a few decent trad ticks in. Since dad and I have slowly been working through the top 50 climbs in the Eastern Grit Guide Book, I decided to go to Froggatt for Stapadictomy, one of the hardest climbs in the top 50 at E5 6b. First though, my dad wanted to try another classic there Tody’s Route. Stereotypical grit, you start by grovelling onto a block, then a hard rock over to get established on the face, then you teeter up an unprotected slab and sprint up a crack to finish. After a bit of trouble getting onto the block at the bottom my dad cruised it, his first HVS!
From here we decided to get on another of the top 50’s - Valkyrie, a two pitch route starting up a notoriously unpleasant crack. My dad insisted on leading it and set off up the crack. At about 5 metres up he placed what looked to be a bomber nut, he continued upwards but slipped falling onto the nut which ripped. He hit some nice sharp rocks from at least 5 metres up. Fortunately he wasn’t badly hurt, some quality bruises though. After literally dragging my mum up a route we headed over to Stapadictomy.
It’s quite a well protected route but after watching my dad’s gear rip my confidence in the protection was wavering. Despite this, I pulled on going for the on-sight. The first bit is easy enough up an arête where you then get a cluster of good gear although it’s a bit low to hold a fall if you fell from the top. Then above this you get the first crucial bit of gear, it is solid but knowing there was a good chance of falling on it and not trusting gear as much as I did anymore I was not confident it would hold. At this point you have to make a huge span across to a crack on the right above a roof; you then turn the crack and sprint up the arête to finish. However, once you’ve done the span across your committed, you get to the top or you fall off.
After procrastinating a bit because I didn’t want to go for it I committed to the move, it was right at the limit of my reach but I managed it. I turned the crack and then you have to place then next crucial bit of gear. But in a very uncomfortable position, hanging on one hand was very hard and placing the gear even harder since you can’t 
actually see the crack. I chucked in the nut but had no idea if it was solid or not. Plus the nut goes in the best bit of the crack so suddenly the crack feels even worse. Quite worried and getting pumped from faffing around with the gear, I pushed on knowing it was the only way to avoid a fall. I got a couple moves higher, looked down to move my foot only to see the nut coming out of the crack and tinkling down to the ground below (as seen in photo above). Letting out a girly whimper, I ran to the top as quickly as I could. Hearing a sigh of relief coming from me and my parents below I lay on the top catching my breath. Looking back if I had fallen off even without the bit of gear that fell out I would still probably have been okay, but in that situation it seemed like if I fell off I would have been anything but okay. Definitely the biggest buzz I’ve had from climbing and I’m psyched to do some more hardish trad in the future. I’ve since done Jet Runner an E4 6a. It’s pretty well protected if you class sketchy micro wires as solid pro; it was a cool route nonetheless.
actually see the crack. I chucked in the nut but had no idea if it was solid or not. Plus the nut goes in the best bit of the crack so suddenly the crack feels even worse. Quite worried and getting pumped from faffing around with the gear, I pushed on knowing it was the only way to avoid a fall. I got a couple moves higher, looked down to move my foot only to see the nut coming out of the crack and tinkling down to the ground below (as seen in photo above). Letting out a girly whimper, I ran to the top as quickly as I could. Hearing a sigh of relief coming from me and my parents below I lay on the top catching my breath. Looking back if I had fallen off even without the bit of gear that fell out I would still probably have been okay, but in that situation it seemed like if I fell off I would have been anything but okay. Definitely the biggest buzz I’ve had from climbing and I’m psyched to do some more hardish trad in the future. I’ve since done Jet Runner an E4 6a. It’s pretty well protected if you class sketchy micro wires as solid pro; it was a cool route nonetheless.
I’ve got a couple of weeks left of my summer holiday until I have to return to school for A levels. I’m probably going to be climbing predominantly outside until then but when I’m back at school I’ll get back to plastic and start training again to try and regain my lost strength.
New boy band 'The Tor Boys' ;)
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