The Biscuit (or Arch 2)

Yesterday Ellie and I went to the Biscuit, the Arch's brand new bouldering site. It is located quite close to the first wall, and turned out to be quite a pleasure. The problems seem to be right on the dot with their grading, and there is something to suit everyone, with problems ranging from easy good old V0, all the way to ungraded impossible-looking puzzles on their comp wall. A great variety of brand new holds, good volumes and an amazing amount of space made it a really enjoyable session. There are slabs, overhangs, vertical walls, and all manner of combinations in between. It was good enough that Ellie completely forgot she was climbing on a slab and actually enjoyed it. She is climbing good, but, like me, needs to spend some more quality time solving these plastic beasts. A lot of the problems were that good old inviting "wtf, this doesn't go the way I thought it did!" and forced me to take a second, third, or fifth look to try and find a way to weasel my way to the top.

Which goes to say, unnecessarily, that I'm back climbing!!! Had a great time bouldering there yesterday and today I'm back on it at Westway, pulling on plasting, hooking my heels round horribly positioned volumes and generally getting used to falling splat on my bum all over again. It feels good to have my arms complain a bit again, they were beginning to get soft!!! Grade has fortunately not gone down too much, but because I did lose some strength, I do feel like I'm placing more emphasis on good footwork and elaborate methods of placing my body in juuuuuuuuust the right spot to push up. Climbing agin in a minute whooooooop!!!!

Updated system

The blog has recieved finally recieved a bit of a very long overdue renovation! I believe it will be easier to read and comment, and following our progress should also be quick and simple now. There are new links sections where you can get to catch up with the latest on cool gear and other awesome climbers.

I have also decided to post at least 4 times a week, therefore boring you with the sketchy details of my training and plans to climb under the great big blue (or cloudy, mostly) sky, outside. I promise cool pictures, and maybe you'll get to meet a few of the people I work with and climb with.

Have a cool weekend!

Back in "civilisation"

Haven't updated the blog much. I guess that was pretty obvious. Two things happened. First, while we were still at Todra, we came upon a paradise made up of climbing and brilliant food. It became routine, we would wake up, eat, climb, eat, climb, get back to the hotel, eat, and sleep. Repeat. So it came to be that Ellie and I got used to it and it seemed no longer remarkable. I wish it could've only stayed that way!!! But it had to end, so we went to Marrakech for a couple of days. OH THE HUMANITY!!!! It was good preparation for London, SO MANY PEOPLE! It was a crazy hub of absolute craziness, so much fun but a bit too city-like for our taste.

I have another apology to make. I didn't lead a 7b+. It was a 7a+. My bad... I will correct the previous post as soon as I can. What I CAN say is that I climbed another two 7a+'s while we were there, and top-roped a 7b. Still damn proud. Could NOT have led that just then though.

Getting back to London is strange. I am lucky enough to have got my job back at Westway, which I love. Tried climbing there and instantly got splatted down on my face. The holds have no edges!!!!! You can't feel them. Very strange. It took me a few sessions before I could begin to feel confident, and then try and see what actually changed in my climbing. A lot did.

Five months ago, on the first round of the Superleague bouldering comp, I somehow managed to dislocate a rib, simply by pushing in an awkward position. I managed to climb another two problems and snatch first place on points that day, but that was the end for a month. Since then, because at first I was careful about my movement and apprehensive of further damage, my climbing became very static, few dynamic moves, no jumping, swinging, all that fun stuff. I didn't let my arms lock off and mantles became dreaded horriblenesses.

Just as I was getting to work on fixing these shortcomings, I got broken again. This time, it was a treasonous wine-glass that decided to stab me in the arm. I could look inside and see my tendons. SCAAAAAARY!!! So until the middle of March, I'm off climbing. I'm about to go crazy. I WILL go crazy once I can climb again.

So, until further notice, my blogging will include a lot less of my own climbing and a lot more of Ellie's. We shall see each other soon!