(Limited) Grit action.

With only very small windows in the weather recently there hasn't been many oppurtunities to get out. However being dedicated we've made attempts (most unsuccesful due to less than ideal conditions) to tick some interesting routes/problems.

Below are a couple of photo's documenting some of our efforts...with trips to Ilkely and Burbage North.

Setting up for the dyno. Ilkley Moor.

Catching the dyno. Ilkley Moor.

Dez on Banana Finger. Burbage North.

Me with the money shot. Burbage North.

Dez. Baring all. Going for glory as the sun sets on a COLD winters day. Burbage North.

Ben. Submergence. Burbage North.

So...like I said, we did what we could, when we could. Hopefully we can conspire to grab some more days out on the grit if the weather permits it.

More blog action to follow soon with the fabled "Westmerian Barometer"...watch this space.

Taking heed.

When I was writing my blog yesterday I was thinking of all the different pieces of advice that I have been given by so many people so far on this epic of journey to hit 8a.

During yesterdays session a certain Mr. Rob Knight, Mr. Tom Hull and I had the following exchange after a discussion on redpoint tactics:

ME: "Tom, on belay if you hold me at the rest I'm trying the roof section backwards. Rob said I should try it that way and he's a legend."
ROB: "I'm not a legend, i've just been around longer than you have."

Seemingly a pretty boring exchange but on reflection it aroused several different thoughts...

Rob Knight IS NOT a legend (in a climbing sense anyway). HE IS bloody strong. HE HAS been around longer than I have and HE HAS a lot of experience indoors and outdoors and with this experience he holds a plethora of tips and good advice.

The same can be said for many of my peers on the 'climbing scene'.

Tips I have recieved range from simple, broad suggestions like 'You should take a rest week.' (F. WOOD, T. HULL, B. SCRAGGS ... in fact, probably 90% of the people I chat/climb with recommended this, so thanks) to the miniscule details like, 'Liam, twist your toe in on that heel hook at the top' (thanks T. HULL) ... which led to my first successful f7a+ redpoint lead.

I've always watched in awe as much stronger climbers powered up routes that I could only dream of getting on (routes which I am now trying) ... I'm still watching, but instead of just gawping and being amazed, i'm observing. Absorbing every bit of information that I can. I want to know how they're doing it, what they're doing different, each intricate movement and detail. I'm listening to those little nuggets of information and utilising them every time I touch a hold.

With each and every bit of encouragement, each tiny prescription and act of advocacy I am learning to focus and channel it, harnessing what other people are offering and learning to use it in my own productive way.

When I finish writing this I'm going to be heading out to do some bouldering and putting it all to good use.

Before I go,

I want to say a huge thank you to everyone that has helped so far, you may not even know that you have helped if I have just been stood watching you while you were crushing a route. THANKS.

I also want to put it out there that we should not take the advice and information that we get from those stronger or more experienced than us for granted. Take what you can get and use it well.

Take heed.

Liam.

TRAINING...

...is going well.

Thank god. I don't know what i'd do if it was going shit.
Just had my first proper session (i'll say first because the one I had last week was SO BAD that it's not worth considering) back after taking 5 days out of climbing.

FIVE DAYS!

It was bloody hard...to anybody who is a none climber that may be reading this, it's a bloody tough thing to do. From training 4 or 5 night's a week to stopping altogether was hard work mentally and physically. My body felt funny, like I needed to "pull on stuff", however I'd been assured that NOT "pulling on stuff" would help in the long run. Muscles need time to recover, as do tendons, ligaments ... blah blah blah. My head was going climb crazy ... to the point where I was sussing out a line through the ceiling of the Tog24 Bowness shop that I was working in last Friday. (I kid thee not...it was going to be a beauty and I reckon it would go at ... pfft at least V16 because really, THERE ARE NO HOLDS, it's a shop.

During my week of respite, relaxation and recovery I didn't stop altogether. Obviously I had to work (hence a little stint at Bowness plus the usual in Kendal) and also keep active.

I didn't want to halt all physical activity. This would have been B.A.D.

Well intentioned, I continued my early morning runs with Mr. Hull. First morning of the rest ... pushing hard...strained (quite badly) something inside my left shoulder blade whilst doing tricep dips on a bench waiting for Tom to catch up. I was angry, and injured. In retrospect, it was probably the best time to acquire said niggle and probably a little blessing in disguise. It meant that I was VERY careful with my back for the whole week. I paid extra attention to it when stretching it out after any excersise, and I didn't push myself too hard during my period of rest. My plan for another three further runs was altered, and changed to one jog and two long brisk walks...good. On top of all that, yoga (utilising my lovely new mat and the very helpful Esther Ekhardt - see yogatic.com) every day.

Yoga has really helped me so far, in terms of my flexibility I feel i've made a big improvement, my posture is better, my core is stronger and I feel more relaxed and centered generally. More of this please!

Anyway, as you will have gathered, I was keen to get back on it, and after one session, that can only be described as APPALING, it was time to get back on it and re-commence the training.

Tonight was my first session back, I was keen to get warm and then jump straight back onto a f7c that I'd been trying before my little break. I'd only had two sessions on it, which equated to probably 5 good attempts. I was conscious that my redpoint tactics weren't great but still...I've got a week before the route is changed and have been uber keen to get it done.
I hadn't done the bottom section clean, and I'd done most of the top roof section apart from the last two moves (which, it has to be said are THE HARDEST moves on the route and my god, they are hard).

SO...reasonably warmed up and very fresh (with a large portion of keen served on the side) I donned the power vest and jumped on it. Trusty Matt Harris was at the ready giving the belay of his life...off I went.

FUCK ME...the time off must have helped. The first section went clean, which I was VERY chuffed with. Especially the lower crux which is a reasonably long pop up from an average fingery hold onto a not very good one. I pushed through all of the moves up until the good hold (which is supposed to be a rest), a positive "jug" (of sorts) which I managed to slip off...and take the fall. Damn. I was pleased though. PROGRESS HAD BEEN MADE.

I decided to miss the bottom section out for the rest of the session and get to working the roof (thanks for the nudge Rob). I managed to do the penultimate moves... after working out the way that suits me best I'm confident that on my next session I'm going to have the roof dialed. Then it's time for the redpoint attempt...

I'm writing this post session, feeling knackered, achey and sleepy to name but a few things... (Still got chalk under the finger nails ... and wedged into the callouses, joy.)

Up early to go swimming with Mr. Hull, and then we'll see what the day brings. Definitley some yoga, probably some bouldering.

Got to get stronger. Got to keep pushing my grade.

Got to finish that route. 7c, watch out.


Liam.

Worse for wear...

October 31st was upon us ... that could mean only one thing. The age old tradition ... from times of old ... all hallows eve, more commonly known as HALLOWEEN.

Before I continue ... you may or may not have realised this is a lesser climbing themed blog. We have to take a little break sometime eh???

In true Halloween spirit (which we know is all just a load of commercial crap) we spent lots of money on costumes (conforming to the whole ethic of the commercial crap) and hit the town ... (spending more hard earned cash on even more commercial crap). Fun, fun, fun.

My costume consisted of very cheap black boots (which i destroyed prior to wearing), a very cheap black shirt (which I also destroyed prior to wearing) and a pair of lovely cheap black combats (also destroyed...wait for it...prior to wearing. Aniticpation is great eh?!) Amongst all the very cheap black stuff, there was a shed load of fake blood, an equal amount of crap face paint, a whole load of fake barbed wire, some expensive latex false wounds and a proper good, reet expensive latex mask.

The product of which surmounted to this...



And this... (without the mask & with a certain Mr. S. Joyce)





...and the fake gashes on my nipple and arm...
















Overall...a good night all round. Filled with with lots of people screaming (in surprise and/or fear and/or disgust), lots of people staring (for all of the above) and lots of being VERY BLOODY HOT under a full latex head mask. The taxi drivers, general public, paramedics AND police ALL seemed to have a giggle and a scream at my expense?! Surprising ... I think not.


Back on it again tomorrow, training like a demon for one more week before a full week of NO CLIMBING (a concept i'm still struggling to come to terms with!) due to a break in my training regime...apparently it's going to make me stronger. It better bloody had.

Liam.

The day we SENT BoulderUK...

Yesterday (which would be Thursday) was a day off for myself and it coincided with the day off of a certain Sally Wheatley.
With the weather being somewhat unpredictable and the sunlight hours limited Sally and I decided to make a little afternoon trip down to Blackburn's BoulderUK, the brainchild and venture of Lancashire legend Ian Vickers.

We got there reasonably quickly and without any major hiccoughs (apart from Sally's brief beguilement with having to wave at the Asian man she cut up in the queue of traffic) and ended up at BoulderUK within 55minutes of setting off. Parked up outside the local Salvo Army centre (which looked bery appealling what with all the scum bags hanging around) and headed in...

The set up is cool. It's not a huge spot so luckily it was quiet the whole time we were there...
after signing in and reading the safety rules (which we abided by THE ENTIRE TIME) we could wait no more and got to it.

CRUSH was not the word. I was on it. After a rest day and a good warm up I was ready for a hard session and quickly flashed a number of V3/4's onsight. I was psyched to say the least. Sally was on it too...of course. She cruised up pretty much all of the same problems as I did throughout the afternoon. Good work Sally.

After pottering around on more V3/4 problems I spotted a really tasty looking problem in the corner of the room. Steep powerful looking start, postive crimps and long dynamic reaches to good holds ... just my style! Thinking nothing of it I jumped on, pulled on the starting holds, they felt good. I cruised the first couple of moves up out of the steep overhanging prow and then after a quick rest and a moment to compose myself on a good hold, despatched the top moves through the overhanging finish. No bother. Went over to the board to check the grade ... V5! Shit me. My first V5 Flash. Nearly fell over I was that shocked!



Well, after that I was "super psyched" to say the least. There was clearly some serious bouldering to be done. After eyeing up a couple more V5's and two V6's that I was keen to try we got to it again.

I sent 3 or 4 more V5 problems and one V6. There was also an AWESOME V6/7 problem that ran out through a tunnel type feature. It had a delicate move to a stalacite, sweet hands off rest, overhanging blocks, heel hooks, toe hooks, heel toes, smears and slopers and ... I was like a bloody kid in a sweet shop. Both Sally and I had a few good goes on it...I did every move in three seperate sections but unfortunately couldn't muster the energy to link all three sections up at once...definitely one to try again if I'm back in the near future!



There was also another good bouldering room upstairs as well as a climbers shop (that had a sale on ... oops, might have spent some pennies there...sorry mr bank manager)



After a solid three and a bit hours of formidable bouldering effort we were well and truly frazzled. The psyche was still there but our fingers and strength reserves were dissipated to the extent that we called it a day.



THE VERDICT: Great success. In retrospect the gradings might have been a little (only a little) soft, with the problems maybe needing downgrading half a grade or so. The shop was awesome, the staff helpful and friendly, the atmosphere was calm and positive. I would definitely head back down there for another session of crushing on plastic even if it was just to fall on to the SUPER SPRINGY mats.

Cheers BoulderUK.

Liam.

**Apologies, poor light + poor camera = poor picture quality**

The blog...

...so, It's here.

The first of many blogs I presume. I'm doing this for a couple of reasons, one because George Foster's blog is bloody cool (I want to be as cool) and two because I want to be able to look back along my journey of attacking and crushing climbing grades the world over and see how i've done it, when I did it and what the hell I did it for. Kind of a public diary if you like...

So this post will officially be the taking of my 'blog virginity' so to speak. Nice thought. If you are reading this you'll probably want to what the bloody point of my blogging & ranting is. Read on my good fellow. I've given myself a target. To hit the magic grade. Sport climbing's notorious French 8a.It's by no means the hardest grade in the world at all however most climbers can only aspire to such grades. Some try but never commit or truly believe they can achieve it. I've set myself the goal, with a time limit of Christmas 2010, just over 12 months from now. Some people say i've no chance. Some people have wished me well. Some people have said, "cool, is that hard then?". Mixed responses would be an understatement.


I started well intentioned and just thrashed at grades at the local indoor climbing wall. Can I hear it for Kendal wall please? LCC ladies and gentleman. Then ... I realised, this was really getting me nowhere fast ... i've now got a training plan, short term goals, long term goals and an array of partners, some more committed than others. I'm trying to combine training indoors with performance days outdoors where I go and crush like a demon on the real rock that my local area, the Lake District, the rest of the UK and the rest of the world has to offer.

I'm working on everything from Aerobic to Anaerobic fitness...Strength, power, movement ... the whole lot. I am under NO ILLUSIONS that doing this is going to be easy but i'm going to give it one hell of a shot.

My blog will generally consist of the trials and tribulations encountered during my training, people I meet and climb with, the routes that inspire me, the people I aspire to climb like...also the highs & lows of training to climb hard.

I hope you enjoy following my progress, i'll do my best to keep it a bit interesting. Please do feel free to comment, mock, praise, abuse, acclaim and just generally give me feedback.

As someone famous (or not) once said in his best Cumbrian accent ...

"Stop wendying about and get the hell on with it..."

'Tis time for some sleep now...how do I expect my body to keep up with my brutal regime if I don't let it rest and recover?

I bid thee farwell for now.

Liam.