got into glendo for a rushed festive special on xmas eve. conditions were generally pretty good, with the occasional damp hiding in the creases. started out on big jim, good craic then back over the river where the we spread out into the boulders. squamish was damp so i tried a midge too far, the others eye for a good problem was far too unrefined to recognise the improbability of such a fine start on magnificent rock. they got stuck into a sideways squeeze chimney instead, i tried it once but was trying to climb through when in reality you need to roll up your sleeves and thug through. trish was wandering around off her head on drugs, a very poor example to the kids. the lads were rushing off whilst our car was under no time duress but the chimney had worn through jeff and ped had finished his space walk so we left after a couple of abortive efforts on superstars. fun if relatively unproductive day.

headed into gravity today and had very enjoyable, vaguely hungover, fat bellied time. got one problem before tim and was happy to let him generally burn me off the rest of the time. good honest fuckology.

Three rock

Got up to my favorite haunt cos it was local and stood a small chance of being climb able unlike the grey and mowldy lowlands. The cold was back with a bang and we hovered around the puddles reluctant to take hands out of pockets. The rock was as unforgiving as ever and the lingering damp didn't help when trying to avoid rasping off holds. Gina and bray tried a couple of things but seemed happy to natter. Managed a few things on the middle stack and then down to the third hoping for shelter from the bitter wind. Feet were frozen but managed most of the usuals. Good Christmasy feeling snatched session.

fuck yeah.

a year ago i'd have been grumpy at the idea of having spent a dry day off in the scalp. Headed out with dave in the late afternoon when the light had already changed. Started on dark angle which looked soaked but was actually grand, that weird dark veneer of recently wet rock. Managed the standing fine and was pleased to solidly hold the good hold from a sitter only to barn off. Tried it a couple of times, i'd like to think it was only dave's shit chalk between me and success. Up to ldf for the flash, heel hooking a puddle, and left manhole as it was green on top. Tried gentilly, managed the standing and then steadily scoured my skin away trying the sitter, the bulk was mighty. Finished on the snatchy hole problem further in, only managing it when i avoided the soaking left heel and went right hand first. Overall managed to sample some of the best rock quality in the scalp, really enjoyable. Skin is fairy-liquid fragile but hopefully i can do some more damage while i'm home.

glendo burn

without having thought about it much i sort of hoped my glendo muscle memory would get me through my outdoor rustiness but this turned out to be fanciful in extremis. got in there after a rainswept walk in and found the rock to be fine, twas windy as fuck. james and dave headed off up to the crag with their hemp rope and joss's hand-me-down helmets, if you squinted they turned sepia, while i thought i'd get some money in the bank bouldering the usuals. my warm up was fine, though i felt clunky and i clung onto holds far tighter than i needed. after that i couldn't touch anything. the pathside traverse i couldn't hold the swing. the egg mantle i exploded off the sit start 3 times. etc. headed up to the fin and found myself stumped on the fin arete for a worryingly long time. so once i'd done the pair of aretes i decided i'd try and regain some dignity up on the crag. after a long ped-like space out scree scramble i found the lads just finishing up, as the wind had apparently been too much. back down to the bloody boulders where we found the lads trying superstars. i tried a few times and got nowhere. we sniggered at the secret ingredient in trishes banana bread then they continued up valley and we headed out via the tripod boulder. managed the snatchy side pull line which causes me trouble at the best of times, a good project for someone just getting into the 6s. then out to zef's other boulder to try the straightforward looking little line, absolutely stunning granite. couldn't manage the burly beached whale mantle but really enjoyed the efforts, a good end to the day.

monday we headed to the infamous gravity and tried to ignore the fact that the weather was actually fit for outdoor climbing. gravity is big and there's a lot to do even before you consider that every problem is high and involves one or two more moves than one might be used to. i really think they've missed a trick by not putting in proper steep training facilities. it currently seems to provide something very different from the cooperatives, which is good but i think a wasted opportunity. you could fit the entire coop climbing space in a small corner and have all your training needs met under one membership. my own feeling is if you want to climb harder you're better off in a cooperative. gravity really succeeds in those bits the coop can't replicate, the thuggishly subtle full body moves like bridging or using volumes, and its high slabs. there was one particularly fantastic heel hook rock-over problem that we unfortunately only found at the end. i'd go back for that alone.

Gravitational pull

Have been vaguely following gravity wall's development despite myself and having now frequented a lesser version of a dedicated bouldering centre over here I'd actually be pretty excited about it. It's impressive how a bit of space and multiple angled/volumed walls can change the indoor climbing thing back closer to the playground spirit that climbing should always involve. I currently have to make a determined effort to climb on the 45' steep training wall as otherwise I'm just distracted by all the bright colours and weird shapes of the sparsely-holded other sections (though the steep wall also doesn't have very many woodies, which i have an unlikely fondness for.) And they seem to rejig a section of the wall practically every week which means there's always something new to go at. Time wise they open here early enough that people go before work and stay open until half ten every night. And i assume gravity will have equivalent hard training facilities alongside all the fun sections like the works.

I'm curious to see where all this leaves the cooperatives which need a minimum membership before the price just gets exorbitant. Will there be cooperative loyalty? should there be? Who will be the tipping point? Also what happens if gravity doesn't find the broader market its looking for? 120 ( who knows) boulderers is not a market.

Mightily looking forward to getting outdoors when i get home, might even get Sparkle out climbing, all the dads.

have settled into a rough routine of day on day off in the arch. unlike back in the coop, sessions tend to be at least 2 hours and my body complains if i go multiple days on. realised today i haven't got up anything harder than V4 which makes me think i am a lot weaker than i was. Then again i never used any grades in the coop and equally i suspect i always punched above my indoor weight when i was outdoors, or under-punched indoors or whatever. I'm getting used to using the volumes on the wall here, the range of possibilities in approaching a problem are both intriguing and mildly frustrating. I initially was leaving them out of problems thinking they weren't "in".

I had forgotten that the coop naturally contained a sample of people who were into bouldering, and interested in the coop on some level as a means to an outdoors end. The arch is a sort of UCD of bouldering, with a lot of people climbing at lower grades (V1/2) and just there for the climbing gym element. This isn't an elitist observation more that in my billy-no-mates state I'm often quietly looking to other people's efforts on problems to help figure my way up them and i have found myself in weird ability gap with few people making repeated attempts on the problems i'm trying.

Also people keep referring to problems as routes. I'm not sure if this is cultural or just people who have never been into routes proper so don't distinguish, but it jars with me in a grammar nazi kind of way.

There are many more girls climbing here, which seems to increase the number of lads with no tops on, shivering stoically.

southern sandstone

got down to the closest proper bouldering to london, the sandstone around tunbridge wells. a handy free online guide had photos of effectively every line but no topo. went to eridge green (high rocks apparently charge £10 to park). was initially very excited by the rock which seemed pretty much a corner of font. unfortunately the rock was a generally softer version of font, with some seriously sandy holds. despite this there seemed plenty to do if i had had a pad, which i probably won't get to bring over here until christmas. i'm now a member of a bouldering wall in the middle of town which i've been using quite a bit. have to had to lower my expectations of what i can currently get up, but now that i have, i have started enjoying it all again.

branson's back garden

got up to the art blocs today and was pleasantly surprised at their size and quality. it would have been better if both boulders were in the same field and not 3 miles apart but such are the complexities of modern art. as quarried granite there were occasional hints of dalkey shit friction but it was very sunny, other times it was a pretty sharp crimpfest closer to the scalp. the boulders were both high enough that you only want to top out if you're sure there's a feasible way down and the larger boreholes lower down had been filled in, i assume to stop kids getting out of their depth. One line caught my imagination on each boulder, both having foot faggotry as key. On the shoreditch boulder it was an arete/face line using a toe hook to stop a barn door from which you reach to the heinously smooth sloping rail of a bisected borehole. on the mabley boulder it was an overhanging corner involving more boreholes and a heelhook. i failed to top out either line which is a result really, considering its the only outdoor bouldering within cycling distance. skin pinked up very quickly.

both pics of mabley boulder. didn't want to leave my camera down at the shoreditch boulder, a couple of toothless drunks on bikes seemed far too keen on me getting to the top.

Mostly indoors

Fresh off the boat and currently contentedly unemployed, I've already visited the Arch, similar to dublin's own under a railway arch. Better though, obviously. Well organised with clear circuits to try. Found i could do most of the "hard" circuit when they were vertical or slab-like, with some lovely feature use that appealed to the contortionist in me. Anything steeper left me totally mat-bound reflecting my quiet/cave-less summer. Nice to know there is some baseline ability in there somewhere which does not fade with expanding waistline. Going to visit these http://www.peeruk.org/projects/frankland/john-frankland.html so i don't become a total wall rat.

so i have climbed since my grand announcement that I was back on the horse, but not much. various wanderings during the thesis but little enough climbing, getting out was the order of the day. did my first proper multi-pitches over in italy, 5 -6 pitches on lovely granite slabs, with some nice exposure near the top of one to keep me honest. this was mostly bolted so also served as my introduction to sport climbing. on other days did some single pitch stuff which was harder technically but the bolts tended to be generously spread. managed a 6b steep ( ie. between slab and vertical) crack on the last day which was a hard as I could do in my current dough boy state. really enjoyed the alpine stuff, found my headspace generally came very easily and enjoyed the sense of prolonged movement over rock which ireland can rarely offer. gina kept offering to go bouldering but i had no interest in going out and feeling weak as shit on 5s. also had an echo of how we felt at the fairhead meet pissing around on the boulders at the foot of such impressive cliffs. london offers neither cliffs nor boulders, so i'll see where my eyes go when i get there.

back on the horse

missed having a car but found the weather irresistible so cycled as far up 3 rock as i could get without dying. climbed for a bit just to start the long road back to fitness, then realised i'd a flat tyre so walked/ran down from 3 rock to the house, something of a triathlon of an evening. friction was pretty shit but i didn't help by having very little chalk. few midge about, no breeze, lot of bikers.

scalp

Got up to the scalp for an early session. Found my mp3 player which I had forgotten up there on sunday and it was still in perfect working order, shows how good the weather's been. Started on dark angle, found the sitter less painful on my finger, pleased to get the first move but then barned off, then was greasing off after that. Up to ldf, i'm still in wax mode for that line, but was a little frustrated that i can flash it as then i'm done there. Did a little perusing and realised there's a leftwards line which goes out through a relatively narrow gap. I found it a problem in the true sense of the word, slightly awkward and needs right sequence to unlock the bottom and then a lovely top out, Manhole, 6b+ maybe harder. Cleaned the wall behind/left of it also, there might be a short arse line there. Up to beside Ahab's, did Paul's thing then tried the other line, its bulky as fuck and i wasn't getting past previous point.

scalp

after a day of overeating at the state's expense i felt obliged to do something this evening and decided on the scalp principally for the cycle. got there earlier than dave and did dark angle while i was waiting. tried sitter and my finger told me in no uncertain terms to stand up and walk away. went up to the arete line and seems like it might be a non starter. then headed up to one of many low balls and found a thrutchy, short arse scrubby little line which was great fun on good rock and put up enough of a fight to require a return visit. every visit to the scalp is a kick to nothing for me so i'm pleased the last couple of times its come good.

tired of glendo tired of life

Went for a friday night special in the sun. There were midge, the first i've seen, but not biting. Conditions not the best to start with but as darkness fell they got better. pottered around the ruins until a mob had gathered then moved into the scree a little to try ADP, the nice roof, which i managed to get with a bit of work. headed white arrowwards, me n trish tried quality control but it was a bit snatchy in the dark and my finger was in bad shape. finished on white arrow which totally stumped me for a while, then as everyone left i managed it. a general eagerness to start drinking drew everyone up into the forest at this point. drank and ate around a good fire which i took lots of pictures of. not a one tent was pitched.

awoke a little foggy but was down by the stones by 10. tried to focus a bit but failed, mostly practised the fine art of fuckology. played a little with a traverse line on big jim but things were mostly half hearted. a man came upon us at one stage, we did the chat with him and hoped he hadn't heard us talking about cocks. we were 3 at this point. trish tried pokery but failed totally. i looked at afro left and was a little disgusted by the starting foot block. we left so james could flirt with the middle aged woman who sells him coffee. i went to work forever.

camaderry

went up camaderry for the night to check out some higher stuff than we'd visited before. i enjoyed the camping element more than the climbing, never really got my teeth in to the climbing for various reasons. the camping was in perfect weather, we stayed on the ridge to avoid the midge and they were never an issue up there, gave us a lovely vantage point as well. ped did a galloping puke which was a new and wonderful audio-visual experience in the fading light.

3 rock

headed up 3 rock with tim and a delayed mark. felt like i'd been a lot but needed a breeze to pretend there was anything approaching conditions so we avoided the scalp. in the end i had a great little evening, even if i had everything a bit wired. did pretty much everything. managed the ss to the centre line which was first time in a long time, flashed the little dyno which i've never done. we were moving fairly quickly at this stage for fear of the cars getting locked in but did all the back lines and managed to get up the eliminate bulge, a really lovely problem with a nice hug it out top sequence, surprising we've never worked it properly considering some of the ridiculous little eliminates we have up there.

on a good day going up 3 rock with others i feel almost self conscious of how much i enjoy it. and i'm no good at tour guiding it cos i'm conscious of how faintly absurd some of the climbing is.

need to give it a break now for a while before boredom sets in.

3 rock

got up 3 rock for a snatched but long enough session. initially damp but dried with the sun and turned very occasionally greasy. the vertical line i did last week is nicely easy. we tried the one project around the corner both using different methods as my finger couldn't stomach the crimp. maybe with better conditions. tried a ss thing i hadn't tried before properly on the last crop, davo tells me its in the guide not as a ss, regardless its nice to add a very enjoyable line to the repertoire. also retried the eliminate to the left of postslot problem, felt like there was a holdable right hand in colder weather so that you could reach out left, a high ball by 3 rock standards.

cloughogoue

headed out for a spacey mornings climb before work. my car obviously overheard the mechanic earlier in the week say the prognosis was bleak and went all psychosomatic on us. barely made it to the climbing. whilst there we had a good day, a weird spaced out day with little conquered. the setting is one of the finest on offer but i'm not convinced of the climbing. i do enjoy a couple of the 6a/b lines in particulars and they gave enough challenge on this occasion to make it enjoyable but another day the lines were pretty much flashable. very rosemantic anyway for me, bray and trish.

car just got me to bray for work then died this morning on the drive home. RIP you little green wonder. my climbing trips have just got infinitely more complicated.

mac

was sitting in trinity at 9 pm last night listening to a raisin when i realised i could wake up in the hills this morning. made good time down and aimed to sleep in mall hill but by the time i got down i was too tired to make the trek in so i parked at the top of the waterfall and slept al fresco in the forest. in the morning glenmac was looking glorious and i realised i'd feel almost claustrophobic n mall hill so i parked at the little glass memorial to my car window and trekked in.

arrived at solidarity thinking 6c me bollix but then got it second go. its pointless grading friction aretes. headed up to rasher and managed the steep line with a bit of work. pleasing cos last time i sat under it i couldn't hold the first move. this was before 9.30am. sun started to heat the place up something savage. someone's patio'ed the next gen dyno which i'm glad to see. tried the lad's thing on the dice boulder but conditions were shit and it felt hard. joker was more work than usual. worked my way up to lugadroohan via the other boulder near nemesis. couldn't do the ss to lucky me, it felt shitty. wandered the jumble behind it and found a couple of almost lines, if someone strong were to put a lot of effort in there'd be 3 or 4 good hard lines in the jumble. descended via lip service. too trashed to hold the match. i did the couch jump though which was a more important project. did happy days on the way out, lovely.

bending myself

hit a wall on the essay so decided to escape up three rock. there were 4 hooded lads lurking on the top of the middle boulder, no doubt waiting to hurl shit and shrapnel down upon me so i skipped it and started at the end. initially found everything very greasy and felt like we'd skipped spring and already shifted into summer. however my skin seemed to adjust and even warm holds felt good friction after a while. got the rarely got little dyno really comfortably. tried the main dyno one handed and nearly dislocated my elbow, age setting in. did the mantle and nearly puked. moved back to the middle boulder and tried everything. got the sit start but fell off the top section. also did the New vertical line i'd looked at before, a lovely big undercut sidepull pinch proving the key. that makes five distinct non eliminate vertical lines. how exciting.

friction snobbery

got into the scalp before dark. started on the east side and the rock was sharp and marbly and the moves we were trying seemed snatchy. found it hard to get overly psyched whilst davo was ticking away. we went up to the old steep line and i felt a deep and ancient hatred for those holds. tried a couple of times then headed over to LDF which i hadn't tried properly before. the rock was a world away from that which we'd warmed up on and i managed to top out second go which was pleasing, real nice looking little line, i'd have even preferred a battle. finished on dark angle, both of us quickly getting the standing, i managed to move through the start of the sitter more controlled than before but fell off and then the darkness was too much. this was 7 o'clock, looking forward to the clock change.

the up-yours finger on my right hand is in a worrying state.

a day from nothing.

arrived downstairs to find a couple of people still passed out amongst a trashed kitchen. reckoned myself unfit to climb but decided i'd just escape to glendo to avoid the clean up. brought the bike but ended up walking in with the crossword as the bike seemed like too much effort. struggled up to the others at the fin only for them to be finishing up there by the time i got to them. went to chillax and was pleased to warm up on chillax left, topping out with a delicate knee. from here to crackland etc. tried and failed on white stick, trish has it nailed down and tim followed suit fairly shortly. left heel needs to be high but right on the corner of the foot hold and higher left hand works better. i finally touched the left high hold and it started to rain so i ran to black art. it dried quick but was still a little greasy, no sticky damp here, and only managed it after quite a fight on the upper section. big fan of that problem. stumbled on the crack nearby which i'd manage to miss before, very impressive. tried pokery for the first time properly since way back. managed it after tim, felt solid despite a swing and dab during the mantel, nice all important foot work needed down low. stopped long enough at fuck all for tim to send it then headed over to big jim where me and tim sped climbed our favourites to warm down. james spent most of the day having a moment, trish flapped out on pokery and stopped climbing to stop us getting her aids.

Surrender Monkey

Headed back to Mall hill for another bout with piece of resistance.It was foolish really, the tip i'd worn through on monday had quickly worn through in glendo on wednesday so there was little reason to expect it to last very long on the friday. In the end it didn't even make it through the warm up on chigaray arete which i made a sincere effort to fight my way over to. Lovely problem but not one to try with thin skin or to try to get to when its damp underfoot. Once I'd drawn blood I grumbled my way back to the big bloc for a fight. Sieged it to no avail. The lower section's pretty wired but the higher right hand just would not land in a way that didn't need adjustment. I even specifically filmed it to try and get a sense of how my hand should end up but it didn't work. Even when that's comfortable I'm not sure as a man of smaller stature how I'm going to hit the rib out left. I stopped when the tips on my right hand started to properly grease off. Great project though.

Waxing Empirical

Had a daylight/lamp crossover session with timmo in glendo, tore down after him after all duties had been dispatched. Got in and suddenly felt tired and not so motivated, warmed up real briefly before trying stuff on the egg with little success. Managed to get through the worst of the egg ss but couldn't get the rib. We backed off before we wasted too much skin, up to Fuck all left. Initially found it harder than before and felt way off holding the barn. Kept at it though, tim demo'ed the top section with ease so we worked the bottom for a while. Did a sparkle special by deciding it was my last go, we were both sick of trying the one move, and then i stuck it and topped out. Tim was obliged to get it now, kept repeatedly sticking the move we'd spent an age trying without success, only to not top out, one he'll flash another day. From here we had intended to go to white stick but darkness ruled it out. Went to fin instead, friction getting minty fresh the whole time. Managed to get the fin with a bit of effort but with surprisingly poor use of the right handhold, there's such good rock on that problem. Pottered on the other local problems all very lovely. The left arete of arotf has grown back in to a nice little line in my mind. Felt late but the conditions felt too good to waste so we headed in to chillax to try the softest 7a in Europe. Found on my first go that without thinking i could transfer my left hand out on to the lip without using the heel, something i wouldn't have dreamt of trying, felt super solid. Tried again but failed by paying attention to it and then just resorted to old heel up method and topped out. Fine end to a fine evening.

Mall Hill Magnificence

Blew off study for the day in order to take advantage of the weather and headed to mall hill. Decided to start over by on the right hill as i hadn't been in years. Warmed up nicely on 7,8,9. Found a forestry road undercutting the A-Bomb boulder which I don't remember, adding a new element of exposure. Found it difficult to try the two lines as a result but it forced me to try the slab between them that i remember we tried to no avail way back at the beginning. Was very pleased to find a delicate little way up, Half Life, we'll say 6c. From here headed up to do the crack in my runners, looked at the steep quartz crimpfest but was a little tired of quartz holds after the slab. Threw on the shoes speculatively for the great white slab above and was very pleased to be able to make it off the ground starting on the leftish side of the slab using a crucified starting stance. Could move right foot up to the right hand starting hold. Looks like if I can get the left foot up I could get established on some better feet and get pretty high.

Up to the big slopey lip by the woods, pulled on a little. Annoying ground drop away, be nice to try with a few pads and a platform. Trees coming along, need to bring a saw next time. From here headed right down to the heart of darkness which was in perfect condition, still not sure how to do it but didn't dispel the feeling that there's a doable line there. Could pull on and go but was a half hand length short of the hold. Pound for pound mall hill must have the highest proportion of worthwhile projects in wicklow.

Tried Piece de resistance going left, a very fine line. Lovely moves, the heel hook's a bomb. Could get the rh up to the little groove and got lh up to the lip a couple of times but skin was too trashed to hold it very well. Need to keep the heel on. Defo on the list of personal projects.

After the conditions in the forest i thought up by glenmac waterfall would be dry so i made a trek in just to check the line but it was wet.

Looks shit but ain't.

Glendalough in the dark.

Went to glendo for a lamper session in the end despite some vaguely complicated logistics but was well rewarded with what felt like the longest session i've had in a while. Headed down with trish ahead of bray and dave, in for about half 6. Rain was threatening vaguely but we kept faith and it was unbelieveably mild at first, climbing in t-shirts with head-torches in february. The friction whilst not perfect was not as bad as this would imply and got better as the sky cleared and wind picked up in to the evening, lovely camping weather.

Warmed up waiting for the lads and tried egg traverse for first time. Feels well hard at the end even ignoring the glaring stamina element. Found if i put my foot in deeper on the good ramp on the right i could hit the sloper comfortably enough. Then was trying dropping left hand to good crimp to work my way around the corner somewhat to try and go for the rib. A long way off. Also had a look at the stepped slab to the right of the warm up ramp, found i could get my foot up on the slab but there was just nothing to put your foot on. While the lads warmed up i tried the egg, couldn't really argue with the left hand just didn't feel strong enough to move through. Then we moved up to pascals briefly, had some weak efforts before going into squamish which kept us nicely entertained despite the vague shades of green, good line for tweaking technique. The right line mantle i wanted to try came in for some sustained ridicule. They'll see.

Up to fuck all left for the first time and was pretty amazed at the line, the steep scoop and perfectly positioned holds. Could hit and hold lip but was not holding the resulting barn door. Can't really work out why the line goes left, there appears to be perfectly good holds going straight up including a worrying but positive foothold on the lip. Back then to behind pascals for beachball, and the arete to the right of it etc, and trish apnea'd her way up the chimney. We left at about 11.

All in it felt like a perfect blend of old and new, proper busted up today.

Headed for mall hill hopefully but the weather was spitting and shitty so we went to look at a solitary little bloc above lough dan. Whilst initially underwhelming and filthy, it's probably got a couple of good problems on it. dave got pictures.

Driving home a little miffed at a bit of a wasted afternoon and we went through the scalp. Again conditions were a bit mixed but dark angle turned out to be pretty good. Reworked out the standing, i think i'm stretchier than i was, and then tried the sitter which i'd tried a little before. Nice unusual little starting move which one can do more or less gracefully. I think duffy did the FA recently.

Enjoyed this brief session (one problem) and reconfirmed the sense that all it takes in a venue is one challenging line to make the visit worthwhile. Worth remembering when i feel initially unenthused about some of the smaller areas.

Hoping to do a lamper tomorrow night.

woke up in a misty forest in glendo hoping for a breeze but it stayed calm all morning. checked the boulders anyway but they were mank so headed out without any distinct idea where we were going. time constraints meant we ended up at s n l again which felt a bit lame, conditions not even that good.

on the way back to the car, bray spotted that someone was rooting around in the front seat. the prick calmly finished and they drove off, not even sure if they saw us. they'd smashed my back side window and grabbed my work bag which i'd "hidden" in the back. drove towards sally gap with james on pointer duty and managed to recover nearly everything including the bag. found several other bags and suitcases in the ditches, including a €50 River Island voucher. the gardai have been informed, I 'm gonna check back in the morning to see if the boys in the crime lab have any leads.

Had 3 hours off all weekend which i used to visit lough bray. did usuals, very windy at rainbow, more annoying than usual, probably underestimated how tired i was from work. finished on away from... cos it was sheltered, felt solid enough but snatching with left hand to cripm, would need to be stronger on crimps.

tried to get some in at scalp between match and darkness on sunday but only had a few goes on dark angle before it started raining. friction was shit.

Oh that stealthy rhythm...

Got into glendo shortly after ten, thinking i was great only to meet ciaran on his way out having done chillax, starting at 7.30 am. Warmed up waiting for john and tim, got a little worried on superstars but got it fine. after the briefest of warm ups the lads were ready to head across the river. john pretty much flashed r&s on the day, very impressive. me n tim plugged away and both succeeded in close succession. real pleased cos last week i was sceptical. found i kept missing the left high hold, going lower and higher but not hitting it. once i hit it properly the rest flowed real well, no fear in the heel, the spike suddenly seemed a grand distance and the top out off right was fine. glad its done, the landing is unnerving when you're working it, a couple of worrying spits. tried leftism after, all the kids are at it these days. found i could move on it relatively well, maybe that's the attraction. worth a couple of good efforts anyway.

awkward start, don't cross hands, left on higher side pull, right lower, paste right foot then right heel hook on high ledge and go to main crimp, shift r heel along, cross through with right h, then john says switch r heel to toe. feels hard bearing only through right hand as left goes for slopey ramp/arete.

after headed to quality control, found the last move uncooperative, but found the initial foot paste fine from the very first go which is a change. the lads got it, it started to spit , then stopped, we tried the egg a bit, annoyed everyone, then pascals briefly, john again nearly flashed it. then it rained.

got into glendo again with limited time, maybe should have gone elsewhere this time, felt rushed for the most part. started in the ruins, did the other side of original arete, easier to unlock than when i had last tried it back in the day. could move through the roof but not top out on the cave problem. went into qc and tried both lines but felt like we didn't have time to work out the all important sequence. over to rhythm n stealth where the ucd lads were working ss and stander. tried it a couple of times. moved fairly comfortably up to the point where you reach for the higher left on the arete but was miles off. 2 real goes on it, will go back with time on my side. pulled onto top section, seems like a bit of hustle at height. pottered on big jims, felt weak on barrys prob.

shouted at a fella who's dog was chasing goats, felt righteous, may take up a religion.

glendo

crammed in a brief stint between study and work, 4 hr round trip. conditions were very good despite some occasional wind blown drops. nearly started at the ruins as the puddle was gone but still too squelchy underfoot, next time. warmed up on big jim instead, a lovely lap of lines. managed the dyno static, first time in ages. tried barrys prob and wasted skin figuring out its the counter intuitive left foot which i need to leave on to still be foot-on when i hit the hold. from here my annual venture over to andy's arete. the crimp felt good and was pleased to do it without giving in to the frustration of multiple failures. thats it for another year, a bench-mark in returning finger strength for me. from here i headed eggwards. managed to fade off reaching for the ramp on only my second go, felt almost done, then try and try again i could not get my left hand on the starting hold properly. to bmx to finish on a high, got it second go, as comfortable as its ever felt. went left hand this time to finish. had intended to try line right of qc but ran out of time. good day, pretty primo conditions at the mo.

also had a look at rhythm n stealth for the first time, i'm not sure why i've never paid it no mind. it looks great from the boulder behind, steep and long. looks do-able up until the high crux. i'll go back with pads n spotters.

hollywood

finally went back to hollywood as there was a heavy frost on anything remotely shady and i guessed the slope there would be getting the sun. did the slopey lip line which was nice, took a while, about 6b, Inertia. Wandered around a bit but was foiled trying other lines, the slopey arete on the far side of the same boulder could be great with some serious rock movement. at the mo any sit start to it is nails. didn't really scratch the itch.

waterfall

Being in bray anyway on another mint day i headed down to the waterfall in spite of the inevitable fourth-day-on elbow. davo was above the waterfall trying a surprisingly meaty line. I was eager to head into the marble mantle but got drawn in by the problem which ended up being very nice, Deadend 6b. Went into forest after determined to try the mantle and remembered thats its very hard, really steep and one for the mantle pros. I want to get it and call it Tetris.

Drove home via sally gap and stopped a couple of miles after carrigshouk, turned off the engine and got out. It was the stillest, quietest wide open space I've ever been in, my ears were literally ringing with the silence. then a car came and probably thought I was a murderer.

Lough Bray lamper

Headed down with davo and bray relatively late (7ish). Beautiful night, enough light from the moon to walk by if one felt so inclined. Dead still and clear enough that you could watch any car approach from as soon as they came over the horizon. I waxed about the central line on Grand hotel, think its great but the different versions of the left line are also worthy of great praise. Played on the halfway start of rainbow and managed to top out using my old technique which was pleasantly surprising, topping out still thuggish. Finished on Away from the numbers, my gutfelt disinterest in the line was overcome long enough to hold the crimp in rh a couple of times before we called time. Putting foot out right seems to be the way i'd do it.

Weighted myself in the last fortnight and was 80kgs. Weighted last night on different scales and was 75kgs, we'll see from here.

3 rock

got up three rock after work, worth it holistically but barely so climbing wise, darkness was pretty fully down after half an hour on the middle boulder. nice exfoliation session.

Glenmac

Was up and moving nice and early on sunday beautiful crisp day. picked up bray and headed for glenmac. road was icy enough at height to do a handbraker whilst driving past the waterfall car park, turned thru about 200' and slid off the road into the car park, never gets old.

ground was nicely frozen on the walk in but the boulders had frost hats and the sun was melting them. unfortunately only faces in the sun were dry everything else was skank. got to play on rasher, could hold first hold of steep face but no more, pleasing enough. got tombstone arete, dice boulders were a write off so we headed for solidarity. did arete between dice and tombstone which i hadn't tried in years. solidarity had a river running through the key foothold which was very frustrating. finished again on the s&l boulders with similar success levels to previously. good weekends efforts.

glendo

Got into glendo on saturday with dave expecting a few others but there wasn't another boulderer anywhere. It ws bitter cold and very windy so getting warm and staying warm were very difficult. Started at fin and worked our way down, but fin area got the best of our attention as it was sheltered from the wind, after that the cold added a vaguely urgent element to the climbing. mostly a tale of failure but i was pleased to come out of christmas still able to move on things, couldn't hold the top hold of superstars but hit it consistently, tried the rails twice without success and was too cold to keep trying. barely looked at egg boulder. popped over to big jim, just trying smear and smear left. preferred left on the day but both magic. called it a day with intentions of going to zef's but it was raining sheets of sleet before we'd passed through the slag heaps so we left it.

Hit a pretty big deer at full skid after annamoe, it bounced off the bonnet into the air turning through 270' and landed in the bushes, then got up a bit shaky for a minute and wandered off. i'd like to think there was no internal bleeding.

old beginnings

My first post since November 11th and i didn't even climb. Headed into a wet - damp glendo for a wander around. Took some pointless photos.

Nearly two months since i last climbed outdoors and with only a handful of coop sessions in between. I am now tickling 80 kgs, December was a feeder month. My project for 2011 is the slab on big jim.