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.
