Pass the Pasta Pastor

Untitled

2012-02-12T03:34:00.000-08:00

The last five months have been a big motivational struggle. After training hard since the start of last summer, I thought I had my project finally satched up. Alas these two middle finger A2 strains took a long time to heal and upon a two month rehabilitation spree with a zero crimping ban I ended up back at square one which forced me to lay off completely from climbing and work solely on the pullup bar.

The pain didn't seem to be the usual sort of that of scar tissue and I didn't want these strains to flare up again. I'd been making good progress with healing and some good progress on the bar before I acquired a horrendous foot infection that resulted in my inability to walk for the best part of a week. Some stupid triage nurse tried to fob me away from my admittance to A&E but my insistence to speak to a consultant proved correct and they were glad that I'd come at that time. Doubtless I would have needed IV antibiotics had I have not insisted upon seeing the doctor.

I'm about to begin normal service this week and I'm looking forward to my first proper half-crimp in five months. I'm also looking forward to Lore's imminent visit and getting him some good ticks as he's unleashed upon our hallowed crags. Get yourself over pronto champ!

Tips on surviving the apocalypse (aka the recession)

2011-08-04T06:08:00.000-07:00

The present day graduate must be bulletproof. Fully, 100% bulletproof. When the local job centre looks like the student union, you know something is terribly awry. It is incredibly easy for him or her to lapse into a trough of despair; a journey downwards that is further facilitated by his or her inclination to follow any sort of press - be it tabloid or broadsheet. Tales of forty thousand applicants for one graduate job circulate freely, almost as if the act of gaining a position had become established as a Myth. Yes, myth with a capital 'M'.

Not I said the tinman, not I! For this bleak landscape of nothingness becomes the canvas upon which to shine. Let others keel over and perish while your wiliness grants you access to unforeseen prospects. Let the CV's of the others be printed on the finest of papers! Give the masters something of luxury to wipe their tired anuses with!

Nepotism, my friends, is alive and kicking. Do not be fooled that your CV will be read or even used as anal fodder. Permeate the inner core of your masters social circle and be at one with it. Do not be fooled that nepotism is necessarily a force of evil. Do not bask in the comfort of a depressed 'Send' button upon application. Do not suffer the ubiquitous rhetoric upon a follow-up call. Do not consider yourself to be the best for you are not.

Strategy and tactic.

The battlefield

The fauna

The construction

And the beat goes on

2011-07-31T16:07:00.000-07:00

A summary of the past nine months:

- Met a delightful young lady and been going out for over a year now. She's dangerously good at climbing and has fingers that rival Gaskins. Get good now dear but not too good...

- Lost the contents of my world (not said in screaming scouse girl voice) aka shitdrive. Stayed awake for 4 days at the peak encountering chest pains and hallucinating heavily. A phonecall to Mr Donnelly reassured me it was pleural chest pain and not heart pain. Fought on through, redrew as much of a years work as possible. It came off and a 2.1 was sent my way. A torturous shame thinking what would have been otherwise but I live to tell a tale (albeit a boring one).

- Went to the cave after 6 months of no physical exercise and got to the last moves of RA. Wondered why climbing is so odd and the body even more so. Hit training and climbing hardish and gains started to come back. Not climbed last two weeks since getting back on project. This is to be the year to do that (inevitably at a grade of Fb 4 no doubt).

- Sea fishing passion of old has come back. Went through my old stuff from 12 years ago and made lots of new rigs today. Caught some mackerel unexpectedly the other night. Was unusually tasty. I wonder how long it takes fish to get from the sea to Tesco?

Climbing tomorrow. Lovely. Big love.

Unravelling the black hole of lethargy

2010-08-07T05:36:00.000-07:00

Something of a mystery lethargy virus has taken its hold across the NW contingent it seems this week. Not quite cold, not quite flu, stripped of the harshness of a chest cold it's just left me feeling like I've had the life sucked out of me for the past four days. I suppose it's naturally worrying if you suddenly start to feel so depleted of energy but thankfully today seems to be a slight improvement upon the previous days. A good few friends reporting similar symptoms. Weird one.

Ventured over to Llandullas yesterday for an easy volume session but was unable to summon an atom of energy and so instead belayed Paulo briefly before sacking it home. One poor day out is perfectly acceptable bearing in mind the ten past have been good I suppose.

The only thing troubling me this week has been the 'above bolts' issue. As I mentioned, I'm really not sure where this has come from as two years ago I was climbing at the wall daily without any worries. Suddenly I seem to be able to climb perfectly fine with a first bolt preclipped but throw something of an inner whitey the moment I'm above it. Think it makes for comedy viewing for the team which is something of a consolation but I'd prefer to be out and out crushing than shitting dirty water. I watched some video of the 'clip drop' technique linked via UKC and I'm sure something like that would be a good way to sort it out. Either that or just some practice lobs at the crag. Answers on a postcard...

Not so weak a week

2010-08-01T17:05:00.000-07:00

The week past has been the second successive week of indulging in what I could claim to be called 'training' and 'climbing'. Generally, I think four sessions is a worthy week and it's rather a luxury for me to find the time to be able to participate to this extent. I'm aware the final academic year ahead of my BA is going to be a tough time so there does feel something of a hurriedness about my current climbing desires and position. I'm sitting on 65% for second year and having learnt so so much this year past, I've put myself in a good position to go for the win - first class honours. I told myself in my first degree that I wouldn't leave university without a first and this assertion has been made again. Now to deliver.

I had a proper session on Mudjakeewis last week and felt better than the week past on it. The lactic threshold is extending itself to me kindly and I'm starting to relax above bolts a little more and enjoy the business at hand. I'm not quite sure why this fear is here as I've never had it mountaineering or climbing indoors so it's probably down to getting reacquainted with heights and feeling confident in the fact that there are no problems.

Paulo, Mike and I nipped over to Dullas tonight for a power hour and given the lack of available time to us, I decided to jump straight back onto Mudja. I tied on and got straight on it in the hope of warming up in situ and to my surprise seriously floated up it to the flattys. I dropped off purposefully and lowered to make sure my fingers were warmed up properly. A minutes rest then I jumped back on and casually got to the last move to the gaston before the easy top section only to not be able to work out where I ideally wanted my right foot. After a brief rest I climbed back on and think I saw a right foot diagonal smear that's probably the ticket to getting stood up to romp home to victory. As time wasn't on our side, I came down and let the others get a mince on. I think success is near and the climbing brilliant. An important pair of factors in making the whole process an enjoyable one.

Tomorrow evening might be a late one at LPT on belay (or relay as you scousers will know it) duty for the Don and Mike with wednesday given over to project time.

I'm working on some architectural watercolour drawings at the moment so hope to post up some snippets of my early experiments with some new materials in the near future. Should you have read this, I hope you are well dear citizen.

Neither robot nor sycophant

2010-07-27T11:56:00.000-07:00

One of my tutors repeatedly tells me that I have trouble finishing things. I've dwelt pretty hard on this since he passed this comment about seven months ago. I don't quite know why such a comment would stick around for so long, but it's a seemingly loaded statement.

The problem of reflexivity in a self critique is immutable; it's simply not possible to suspend the effect of the self completely in order to obtain an overarching 'picture' of oneself. To this extent, I would be foolish to certifiably account for what I have realised is very true of me. What I can try to do, however, is to try to reconcile this observation with real-time examples.

I do have trouble finishing things - drawings (at times), boulder problems, routes, self-guided tutorials, new year resolutions and so on. I wish not to berate myself in light of this matter but would rather hope to treat my 'self' as a progressive entity. I refuse to argue with friends, family or relations to any extent and I realise the fervour of this sentiment more fully as each day passes. If a dear friend, family member or relation initiates an argument with me then I know that for good reason I have somehow riled them either by way of blind ignorance, an emotional oversight or some other such reason. I think it's important that as soon as this happens, one tries as fully as possible to be as reflexive inasmuch as it is possible in attempting to trace the logical causation of this interruption to an otherwise peaceful existence.

Attitudinally, this may all sound somewhat robotic and it's very problematic conveying otherwise to you perhaps. Let me assure you though that I am neither a robot nor a sycophant; rather I am attempting to document my evolving means of evolving and through this become a being capable of realising achievements based not upon aleatory occurrences but through pre-meditated meditations.

Thinking further, my active plan to work towards some of the recent goals I have spoken about within the UKB Powerclub thread seems to be fully in motion. I hope to write soon with news of finishing some unfinished business I have.

Feeling ropey

2010-07-12T03:41:00.000-07:00

I've spent three sessions now at Llanddulas in a week. Two of them were relatively impromptu and depended upon the ability of Matt and I to remain sober the night before. Thankfully I managed one of them in a state of only tiredness and each session has seen a slight improvement upon the last. It's been a year since I was last on a rope and it wasn't exactly something as a boulderer I was equipped to throw laps on (Zeke 8b). Since then, I've hardly climbed let alone tied on to a rope so I've had to set my ambition bar to zero. Since one can only progress from nothing, I suppose you could say that I've made stratospheric gains.

Now that the return-to-sport-climbing-whitey-fest of climbing above bolts is gradually subsiding and my trusting in Crouch to not have stored his harness in a moth box for the last god knows how long amount of time is passing, I'm slowly starting to improve. It's been a case of jumping on everything and anything in my path and it's an approach I'm happy with. It's also a nice break from my bouldering project and a good way to get fitness back that's been lost at my drawing board.

Matt had an ace session yesterday despite nearly ralphing up the previous night's cider on the 6a+ warmup. He went on to feel "slightly more proper" after this wave of despair had passed and walked up Wirral Whip (7c+) with consummate ease apparently not feeling any sort of pump even after our warmups. I dream of such feats and listen closely at all times to the guru.

Going to hit the injury maker (so dubbed by the Liverpool climbing scene) today and see if I can get back to the 3.5 millies. Always feel solid gains when working the two small rungs so hopefully some repeaters on the medium rung and maximal attempts on the others will infuse some juicy improvements.

Here's some multimedia gifts for your eyes and ears since I rarely seem to pepper this bullshit with anything of note.

Sidney the lad just loves techno.

Crouchie en route to the crag. God help any man who asks for beta.

The design studio where the past year of my life has been lived.

Lorenzo with the guru's awesome child. Such a mellow beast.

1:20 detail from my final library design

One of the best sets in recent times. Extrawelt at Amsterdam Dance Event. October 2009.

Onwards and upwards brothers and sisters.

A compact week

2010-07-05T04:42:00.000-07:00

A week of news and events (albeit it smallfry).

First up, I passed the American Apparel LA photo vetting procedure to work within the company. Is that legal? Well there's a whole reel of blog posts spread across the internet debating it but I see the essence in what they're trying to do. Every job has dress codes and they're no different. As much as I've heard some girls complain about their no makeup policy I'm all in favour of it. The world is a much nicer place without cosmetic strata to people's faces and photoshopped bodily modifications.
I'm now eligible to work anywhere in the world with the company I'm told and fingers crossed this position waiting in the wings locally will come through soon.

Secondly I've been managing to resume normal training and climbing and had a very pleasant evening at Llanddulas Cave yesterday. Considering it's been over a year since I was on any sort of route I'm amazed I managed to do more than two moves. The routes at Dulas are all top quality and nice lengths. I've got my eye on Wirral Whip as a little project. It's a short 7c+ that packs some classic looking moves in and I'm told by Doylo it should suit. Matt has his eye on the filthy one's new 8b Temple of Doom which I have to admit looks absolute quality. It was so nice to be back on routes and I'm reminded from a first session back just how different a game route climbing is to bouldering.

Finally, I received my second year second semester degree result today. All modules taken into account puts me on 65% for second year. I'm happy with this and especially happy with 78% for Urban Studies which I believe is likely the highest mark in the year. And so begins the imminent third and final year of the BA. I'm looking forward to a lack of sleep for a whole year and to that all important piece of paper in my hand giving me Part I Exemption to work in practice.

So the weather is good, my life is good and my prospects hopefully bright in securing some funding for third year.

Sport climbing tomorrow again so look out Fr 5's of Wales!!!

Fuelled

2010-06-12T03:38:00.000-07:00

Went back to project Thursday evening and pulled down. Nice to be getting moving on rock again and also feel pretty light from running. There's been a fair bit of muscular deterioration but I think this is bizzarely desirable. I've noticed over the years that when I'm training a lot with campussing/weights/board climbing, although I might be a lot more powerful than I currently am, I can also lack that sensation I had around the cusp of puberty where I weighed very little and was mostly tendons with some body. I think after some recent examples I've seen, it's possible to get back to this and I know I climb much better for being this type of build. With this in mind, I've altered my training strategy for the project to continue running a lot as well as keeping a close eye on my diet. I figure plenty of hours deadhanging alongside this is just the ticket to success.

What has been and what is to come

2010-06-10T05:41:00.000-07:00

The past three months are something of a blur. I've spent much of it sat in various rooms drawing, modelling and whatever else has been demanded of me. The marks haven't come in yet for the year but hopefully they're not too shoddy. I think I let myself down a bit in the final scheme by missing a crucial drawing but I'm just glad to be out of second year and moving on to third year.

In summary of climbing, I've not really done any but have when time has allowed crushed the fingerboard doing power pulls and hangs. I'm really out of practice but am now at least endowed with four months to train for my project. I've been running a lot which has altered my body shape quite drastically and I'd say I'm a lot less bulkier than normal which is good.

Today is day one back on it so time will tell. Godspeed yall.

Pack it up, pack it in, let me begin

2010-01-26T09:03:00.000-08:00

Since the last time of writing, much and very little has happened. I'm not even sure what did but suffice to say something of significance might have happened.

Climbing motivation is pretty high at the moment. The month past has been spent on the odd occassion fingerboarding in between doing a lot of work for university assessments. After a pretty epic all night stint in studio two days ago, all of my work is now pinned up for marking and the only remaining thing that I'm working for is a slide recognition test on friday. From here it's straight on a train to meet the mule and slam it down to Bristol to party. I'm fuelled.

I'm in training for the project and know it's just a question of time before I acquire the specific micro gains to send it since discovering a great bit of micro beta before the snow came. Fully ready for a training season as of friday and looking forward to being back at the crags.

Hope yall are good now.

Turning 26

2009-10-15T02:50:00.000-07:00

I turned 26 on Monday. I nearly missed it though. Since the moment I stepped off the plane back from Italy, I've been rooted to my drawing board and desk immersing myself in the realities of second year architecture. My dad phoned me on Sunday night as I was sat in studio working away and asked if I was coming to visit the following day for my birthday. I assured him that my birthday was on Tuesday and that I'd see him then. Turns out it was the following day.

I haven't had time to recapitulate the amazing time that I spent in Florence and Siena but for those of you that a)know Lorenzo and b)spend any amount of time in his company, you can imagine how good a time was had. That's a lame attempt, I'm sorry. Dinner in Trombicche with Lore's good friends, crushing at the newly developed boulders at Amiata top (between some pain from training on wood and having poor skin), chatting to many people, drinking great coffee, wine and liqueurs. I could continue but you must get to Florence and Siena and see for yourselves.

Currently, I have just finished a two week project designing a house. The brief stipulated a number of criteria must be adhered to which although presenting some difficulties, made us work within a framework to produce a building 'type'. It's definitely an up of the ante in terms of the time given to complete projects but one can notice an improvement in skills across the board developing in tandem.

I need to mail Lore some short video footage and snaps giving a very vague hint at the beauty and quality of Amiata top so you can see what goes on.

Stay cool.

Girls only want guys with great skills

2009-09-16T06:33:00.000-07:00

Will make amends to talk less about inane fingerboard movements now the new beastly macbook pro is through and post some multimedia. Not used to this level of computational efficiency.

Spent ages trying to get blogspot video upload thing to work but it's not playing ball and saying my tags aren't closed. I have no idea what to do to remedy this so if you know the score feel free to let me know. Pointless putting a lot of things on youtube.

Some small rung assists with bungee. Feel ten times stronger since the board has gone up doing this simple basic exercise in conjunction with overload sessions. Donnelly's coming over tonight to play. That should be fun.

I also wish I was this man who looks like something out of Napoleon Dynamite. And wears weird gloves.

Rock boulderising

2009-09-14T04:55:00.000-07:00

Determined to escape the sole confines of the garage and touch rock, I've managed to hit three venues of altogether different rock types and climbing styles. The week before last was Burbage, the week past Kentmere and on Saturday past it was Rubicon.
Amazingly non of these venues feel like polished wooden crimps and they make huge demands of me such as that of using my feet to propel myself up or across a rock face. The fingerboard makes less demands and asks only that I contract my digits as hard as possible for a pre-determined period of time. He gives me wonderous gains and quick recourse to the in situ Gaskins action shots prevents any potential premature ejection from the rungs. Quite apparently however, he does not gift me in any way shape or form with the mandatory motor memories needed to ascend the rock.

Two days spent at Kentmere permitted a full tour of the venue without needing to thrash about before heading back down the M6. Conditions were less than ideal in the blazing sun but it really didn't matter on many of the wonderful easy problems. Quite simply it was nice to be on rock and in the most beautiful of surroundings. I warmed up on Badger Arete and then the more satisfying Badger Arete SDS. It's a sublime problem and I'd say is quite representative of the techniques that start to become requisite in climbing mid grade problems and includes a joyous pinch on the arete in the most perfect of positions. The Hole was a very basic and Swiss style pit problem involving some long pulls and satisfying moves. It was also thankfully very well shaded and the conditions in the pit were very reminiscent of the micro climates in Magic Wood. Naturally I made some non climbing friends that had come for the ride witness the sheer brutality of Shadow Play. They seemed about 15% in awe and the situation was likened to the journeys they used to go on with their mother to Roman forts and Wattle and Daub museums. Irrespectively, I took a minute out to imagine G on the send locking hideous micro flat pinches and edges doubtless without emitting a single sound. Truly mindblowing.

Saturday past, Matt and I awoke at 5.45 to head to Rubicon. I was approaching the route scene with an open mind and no expectations but Matt wanted to crush Zeke once more. He's been training hard and it's a real pleasure to watch someone who hasn't been on this route in over a decade take to it as if it was a trade route. Of course he had to familiarise himself with the holds and a very specific sequence and it was probably only a wrong hand movement that stood between him and the crush.
In the cold temps of the early morning it was a little difficult to awaken the body for both of us and it probably wasn't ideal that the warmup consisted of some brief jug pulling before hopping onto an 8b. After Matt had spent time ascertaining what he needed to do next session, I felt I should get a taste for what I would be in for should I commit to sport climbing.
To me, Peak limestone is a little like looking at a TV screen of that visually caustic white noise once found on 80s televisions. I can't differentiate one hold from the next let alone decide where I should put my body. From such little outdoor climbing of late my skin was horrendous on the sharp edges and incuts that feature on some of the holds but I still dogged through sections of the route and slowly began to see where I needed to be to link certain moves. It was perhaps slightly foolish for me to jump on this route but currently my fingers are at their strongest ever and no hold felt in any way bad apart from the most knacky pinch/crimp hold at half height. I walked away from the morning feeling a strong urge to rack up the route hours and work hard on improving the elementary skills required for hard redpointing. It's perhaps slightly foolish to have jumped in at the deep end grade wise but it really does feel like a simple matter of accruing a lot more rock hours and listening to Matt's voice of reason who clearly believes in my capabilities and is keen for me to succeed.

And so the campaign to reinvigorate my regimes, rock types and motor memory has begun. Rather than returning week after week to the same old venues, it's clear that the way forward is in seeking out all that is new and listening closely to the feedback from talented peers (as is ever the case).

Yesterday I acquired my new MacBook Pro and it's very alien to be able to interact so comprehensively with the internet and architectural applications. The unexpected death of the ibook G4 has been a blessing in disguise and gone are the days of waiting an hour for a pdf to open. Expect to see much more video and imagery here from now on.

Happy crushing to you all.

Addendum

2009-09-08T07:15:00.000-07:00

I walked away from writing the last post and felt something was missing.

I set this blog up purely as a cathartic means of voicing my aspirations, concerns, and priorities. I'm fairly sure the former and the latter are catered for and only until they become manifest will they readjust. But what of my concerns? Since I left a relationship which was just shy of 7 years, I've found it increasingly difficult to sustain climbing motivation in a consistent sense. Perhaps the stability and regularity of everything facilitated a 'schedule', I'm not too sure.

When I consider my climbing peers, where we were all at and what we wanted to achieve two years ago, many significant developments have occured for them. Around this time, the gulf between myself and an esteemed friend and climbing partner was not vast. As my motivation levels have undergone fits and starts, inevitably I have inflicted a sort of dual effect upon myself whereby because of this inconsistency I've left myself a giant hole to dig myself out of and I have become aware that the time that has elapsed will now delay some of the aspirations that I would have been seeing lately.

Thankfully, a recent month and a half of unerring dedication to the beastmaker propelled me past something of a plateau but again, I veered from the path of consistency to one of hedonism. That's not to say that this is a bad thing but I must realise that the one constant that's always been in my life has been that of climbing. Even despite a lengthy hiatus in my first undergraduate degree I still ventured out on occassion to the Yorkshire crags. The hiatus was in many ways very neccessary for me to focus upon my supreme goal at that time - to gain a first classification in my study. I acheived this and I immersed myself wholeheartedly in doing so but at the expense of acheiving any climbing goals. I stand by the priority I accorded here.

If I am to attempt a self critique, I can say that although outwardly I am confident, I've become aware over the past couple of years that inwardly, I can lack self-confidence in my ability and potential ability. It's sometimes too easy to say that ''I've left it too late'' or rather more simply "I'm not good at this and can't see myself becoming good". Whilst nothing I hear from anybody be it close climbing friends or a new acquaintance can shape my personal goal setting agendas, it's horrible to hear people say about a climber that "I don't think he's actually that good, he just trains a lot". What aural detritus! I should come to appreciate that the type of person that would make this comment will never fully satisfy what potential they might have. It is a comment that is simply too foolish to reflect even briefly upon.

So to vocalise to myself how I will (and I desperately want to) sustain my motivation for climbing whilst stood at the door of an imminent intense two years of academic study; I'll continue making and acheiving micro goals in the home setting away for the majority of time from the climbing wall. Unlike the public realm, I dictate the atmosphere that I wish to operate within and I control my session away from the external influences of children wandering freely underneath falling climbers. Here, I free myself from distractions and commuting times. I'm also freed from the pressures oft felt at the climbing wall by the gaze of others. I'd not be freely exposing to myself my concerns if I didn't include this particular issue.

In summary I hope that the hermitic (of course not totally) decision I've made rewards me with some goals that I now know can be acheived. I won't apologise as perhaps I ordinarily might for you reading this and know that the peers I value will be able to succintly translate what I am saying.

It's good to talk. To yourself.

Getting all Zanussi

2009-09-08T06:07:00.000-07:00

After two days on training at home last Thurs/Fri, I gave the weekend over to socialising and a catchup with Donners. He's been training pretty hard of late and suggested we hit Rubicon up on sunday past. Alas conditions conspired against us and instead of a long haul futile journey, we spent the day relaxing and reclining at his gaff.

Had the third garage session yesterday and despite feeling a tiny bit rundown got through it ok; trying to focus on ironing out some of the inconsistencies with the left arm. Added a 4mm edge this morning and plan to incorporate this into an adapted training routine. Much like repeaters simulate the application of contact/pressure on a problem or route, I've figured out a useful means of training for some of the shorter harder sport routes I'd like to give a bash. The idea being a hang of 8 secs on the main rung, 3 secs rest, 8 secs 5mm rung, 3 secs rest.....
It should prove useful in quantifying gains throughout the month and when I can do this for a considerable period will start to introduce the 4mm edge into the equation.

Off out to the Lake District tomorrow to give a few new (to me) areas a go with Paul. Haven't been to Cumbria in a long time so am looking forward to it. Some pictures to follow.

Compartmentalisationarising

2009-09-04T03:26:00.000-07:00

Perhaps an American style term for "getting your life organised". Had my fill of constant partying now and it's time to focus on making some gains; be it reading new books, devoted evenings of training or actual boulder problems. After some time spent mounting the new board in the garage I took to it for it's inaugural session last night. Am sort of amazed how I can possibly be this ecstatic over a few pieces of wood and incisions into a piece of plywood but there we are. As much as I miss access to the Beastmaker, I've the added bonus of having a beam to suspend a bungee rig from at home and it's pleasing to see that two one armers on the top rung required only a smidgen of a first joint index assistance. It wasn't sadly the case for my left arm where I needed almost every finger to haul myself up. Good to have identified a weakspot but sad to have lost a lot. In any case, it seems like the pullup bar work is helping a lot.

Format for session one went thus:

- Three sets of warmup pulls and finger stretching
- 1 set of repeaters on big rung to get blood flowing
- Small rung hangs (6 x 8 secs)
- Assisted one arm deadhang on small individual edge (x 3 each arm)
- Assisted one armers on top rung (x 2 reps at good quality x 5 sets each arm)
- 3 sets warm down pulls (x 8)

Added a couple of symmetrical wooden pinches afterwards that are a bit more generous than the current 'bounty' pinches. Speaking of the bounty system; I've put two very thin 70 degree-angled pinches at each side of the board next to two very shallow monos routed into the ply. To hang off solely pinches or solely monos results in buying an MPC. The idea being I would like an Akai MPC so badly that I'll be forced to squeeze them into the next side of tomorrow. Sort of an inverted, more appealing version of the seminal glacial swim system Keith and James have been pioneering in Osterreich (braver men than I!). In the meantime the little bastards serve as useful assists on focussing the deadhang load through the other hand.

Going to venture out to a crag at random shortly. Bring the noise!

All I ever wanted, all I ever needed

2009-09-02T06:22:00.000-07:00

Was a means to train my fingers at home in the safe isolated sanctuary of the Wirral peninsula. As the only Beastmaker I have access to is some distance away in Liverpool, I was glad to see senor Doyle link to a picture of a simple solution for mobile training without needing to make any incisions in the parent's prized door jambs. A quick rummage in T Mills snr's workshop led me to all the materials one could need to make a simple similar fingerboard. Just need to stick these Gaskins photos above the big rung and I'll be back two bustin til the break of dawn.

Thanks Christoph.

Like a child at Christmas

2009-08-30T16:12:00.000-07:00

Rather tragically I've been feeling like a young boy the night before Christmas about going back to university at the end of September. It really can't come soon enough. I desperately miss design and the antagonistic atmosphere of the crit. Nothing quite beats the feeling of having done your technical homework and rubbing the face of a critic into the dirt. It's especially nice having served a summer of labouring at the sharp end to inform my working knowledge.

I spent the weekend with two friends helping one of them move into his new abode in Sheffield. Friday night was spent in the worst club I have ever been to and will ever go to. I'm having trouble trying to remember the name of said putrid place but it'll come to me soon enough in a nightmare. After an inadequate lie in, Paulo and I decided to call in to Burbage North for a reunion. Conditions obviously weren't primo but it was nice to be out on the edge and take in some fresh air. A short while later we headed to meet Jim at Burbage South. Everyone was feeling knackered from either work or an uber late night and so the team plan to set some new 8c's didn't unfurl exactly as we had hoped. We all still had a laugh and at least felt like we were climbing 8c in the physical and atmospheric conditions given to us. It's ordinarily against my personal ethics to climb on gritstone but it's time to change that mindset and get involved.

Felt suitably spurred on by a day out yesterday and after a mandatory viewing of L'Etranger neccessary to dig out some type 2 muscle fibres, I enjoyed a bar session at Paulo's. Just need a few weeks of power training to catch up with last month's finger strength gains and it'll soon be time to flex a crush once more. Going to rest tomorrow and train tuesday.

fix

2009-08-26T08:59:00.000-07:00

Made a pigs ear by overwriting some code so header isn't as it should be. Will fix it soon.

Revamp

2009-08-26T07:15:00.000-07:00

An enjoyable week past. Went to a whisky tasting and fine dining evening at a friend's parents abode last weekend and discovered the joyous Lagavulin. This was a nice way to bid farewell to frequent drinking and I think I'd much rather spend my money on a nice bottle here and there than continue to line the pockets of Liverpool's many unscrupulous bar owners.

The week in summary; had a few more sessions down at Devil's gorge, caught a 6lb Thornback Ray at New Brighton, mixed some new records and am compiling a reading list for the year ahead. Fishing's been a nice cheap rest activity of late and it's nice to know self-caught fish cost nothing to eat!

Given the page a bit of a revamp so I can link to anything worth checking out on youtube. Best I can do for now given I may as well be accessing the internet on an Acorn. Some content to follow in a few weeks when new computer arrives.

Big up to Crouch for dispatching Never Ending Story pt 2 last week. Have to head out to Swiss with you at Christmas and get involved!

The Ray.

YYFY

2009-08-18T08:34:00.000-07:00

I've had a pleasant past fortnight. As bad weather forced a lethargic state of affairs in the labouring department my leisure time increased. This was nothing short of amazing and I'm happy to be poor for a relative short term. I've managed a couple of gorge sessions and been given some compulsory reading to do for the design studio. Initially at the commencement of the summer vacation I didn't need any stimulus to motivate me into reading upon on the subject but as time away from the studio has passed, I'm actually thankful for being given some mental fibre.

I'm pleased to report that after a fortnight of no climbing my fingers felt stronger than ever late last week. I've become amazed at how a prolonged rest after a month cycle of committed finger boarding has permitted the tendons to up the ante. My back two feel solid on small crimps and my mono strength has gone through the roof over the past 6 months. I'm fully aware that the past 12 months have fluctuated dramatically in terms of commitment to training and climbing with short cycles of intense focus followed by short cycles of partying. I made the decision last week that the 15th August MuMu warehouse party would be the last for a good while. I stand by this and have begun to think deeply about how the next 3 months of training will be tailored to some specific goals. As of today my diet has seen some drastic alterations; I'm at heart a healthy eater but must make some drastic omissions - that of beer and trans fats. I won't miss either in the least and have exhausted my interests in both over the summer months. In all fairness in fact, I eat hardly any fat but would still like to cut out the bad stuff and offer only goodness to my arteries.

I think one of the major problems with me gaining any specific focus with climbing over the past few months has been my time spent back on the Wirral peninsula. Very very few of my friends have remained here and so most of my days have been spent commuting to Liverpool and dossing at friends houses. Those spent at home have involved prolonged sessions of watching Fashion TV drinking various worldly coffees and listening to around 8 hours of new techno a day. It's a good combination but eventually the mind has come to crave substance.

The past five days have yielded some wonderful news for me. Since I am now 25, the levels of funding for university for which I am eligible have gone through the roof. Ambiguities about being able to afford the course have drifted into the void and I'm thankful at my persistence and belief that all would come good once I had passed through the first year of study. A chance call to the university funding department with regards to the level of one of my bursary's confirmed that as I am now assessed upon my own financial means, I will automatically receive the maximum amount of support unlike last year. It's been a struggle to subsist off very little but the goal posts move closer.

I sound like a scumbag but I can assure you I'm not. Time to achieve.

Inexplicable

2009-08-06T04:56:00.001-07:00

Since I started labouring a few months back I've not really been able to train properly despite my best intentions. Have been partying a lot when not working but this is no bad thing. I hadn't climbed at the wall or indeed any wall in over two weeks but yesterday managed a new personal best on the beastmaker managing to deadhang the smallest pockets on my back two for 6 seconds. What surprised and shocked me was that a month or two ago when I was hitting the fingerboard hard I couldn't really get close to pulling on yet all of a sudden could do this comfortably for a decent amount of time. I find it hard to explain how incessant partying and labouring can have helped me remotely to do this.

Jim called at alpine o'clock this morning (OK 11.15) and despite feeling the dregs of a late night sesh has somehow persuaded me to head Wales bound with the fonz. Be nice to get out eh.

Nothing to report at the moment really other than some welling psyche for the next warehouse party with Sebo K and And.Id a week on saturday. One time.

The sum of the whole

2009-07-21T12:23:00.000-07:00

If I were to describe each day, I would describe it as an existential nightmare. I really would. I'd like not to be misconstrued as suicidal when I say that; I say it because almost every hour of every day, I wonder if what I am doing is what I would like to be doing. If I don't like what I am doing, why should I continue to do it? Naturally , I appreciate that it is very difficult to convey one's worldview and that is precisely the frustration that I am encountering here in trying to say to you what as a variety of abstractions, I say to myself.

I lost my other grandmother last night and witnessed my father cry for the first time ever at her bedside. It's now not the first time I have witnessed someone close to me become painfully frail and perish slowly. I think, in her own way, she thought similarly to me. I can't remember an occassion in her life where she would fail to relish an opportunity to experience something new or somewhere new. This is how to live and it's really quite simple. Rest in peace.

Italians and the art of fun

2009-07-11T05:48:00.001-07:00

There is nothing like a night out in Italy. Nothing. The night begins as you awake with that excited realisation as you rub your eyes that the evening will be long and every last sense stimulated. I remember distinctly the day of our night out to Tartana. There wasn't an alarm clock in sight, only the waft of fresh Italian espresso when the first of us would decide to roll out of bed. With electric energy levels, this was inevitably Ricardo. On most days he would be so excitable as to arise several hours prior to myself and bring the coffee to me in a bid to get me motivated for the events of the day ahead. Knowing the day would consist of a lengthy day out to Amiata and Sassofortino followed by an aperitivo and dinner then on to the club, his efforts weren't required on this particular occasion.

I could continue to reminisce to myself and regale every last atom of my memories of that day but what would be the point? I can remember it like a father remembers the day of his newborn's entry into the world. And who would derive as much pleasure from reading my memoirs on this particular matter as I would? Certifiably, nobody. I think I'd like to revel in the human capacity to selfishly 'own' memories and their associated sensory details and instead write no more only to say that Lore, I'll think today of that amazing day last year and you'll be on the terrace in spirit with us.

de nada

2009-07-08T15:30:00.000-07:00

Attacked fingerboard with Pemb again tonight. Both felt pretty sore from Tuesday's extended session so limited tonight's session to just a fingerboard workout. The scales are proving useful and 25lb was my average required assistance to deadhang the small edge for circa 5 seconds comfortably. Managed to hang the slopers which are circa 45 degree flattys with the middle two fingers of each hand on the edge of the sloper. Felt pretty psyched about this as managed to do it for around 6 seconds. Loving the fingerboard cycle at the moment.

Just scheduled a cobble trip with Jim for next week so plan a light fingerboard session monday to rest nicely for the crush. No point even pretending I might be able to climb at the weekend.

Back two bustin, I ain't got time for dustin

2009-07-07T12:13:00.000-07:00

Thankfully weather conditions have mellowed out over the last two days and putting the roof on has been a relatively simple task in comparison to lifting thousands of blocks in high 20 degree heat. Realised I've learnt so much doing the job so far and know it's definitely going to help come returning to the drawing board/CAD suite. Incidentally that reminds me to pull my finger out and carry on learning AutoCad.

Last week, Pemb and I decided we might as well begin to train in his garage. Granted it has no beastmaker (yet) but he has the largest available Metolius simulator. It's nicely located on a concrete lintel and is great for doing one arm work as you can pull above the height of the holds without any restrictive problems. James showed me the numbers on the workout Neil Gresham did for him last week and I used this loosely to evolve a current training plan. He reckoned you could do this pretty much most days and takes 20 mins at max. Last nights session was probably closer to an hour and a half but expanded upon a few of the basic exercises. I read something someone wrote on UKB recently about one arm deadhanging technique and decided it's long overdue that I learn this important training exercise. After a few recent fingerboard sessions, I've finally begun to master the art and clocked a solid second on the smallest edge of the simulator. Was quite pleased with this as I was exhausted prior to commencing the session and now I've got the technique dialled, one second ought rapidly to become 10 seconds. In theory.

Last year at Lore's I proposed a sketch of what is my conception of the uber fingerboard. It included a set of fishing scales attached to a multi-knotted sling which would allow for a greater empirical understanding of the exact forces at a given time needed for assistance with one armers and one arm deadhangs. After trialling this last night, it seems to provide a useful indication within the 'peak' period of the hang as to the poundage needed to assist in the hang. You can soon tell when failure is occurring due to the wavering needle and I think it's pretty useful to jot down the ballpark poundage required for future reference. I'm very fond of any scientific approach to training as it allows the closest possible means to monitor just how much you're improving rather than getting disillusioned with simply pinching a tape or knot without ever feeling like you can do it without. Am going to continue doing this and will feed back my findings..

Probably the highlight of the session (yes I'm thinking about compiling a highlights TV package) was the discovery that I can indeed deadhang the smallest pocket with my back two and can do this for a pretty long time. Never really tried before but intend to continue working these frequently overlooked little doigts.
Was nice to see Pemb looking solid and psyched. Nice also to hear he found the only physio in the world that seems to be able to keep him in one piece! Keep at it bestia.

If any dear home boys and home girls are reading and around this coming weekend with an inner techno beast to feed, then come stay in Liverpool for the 4 parties in 24 hours party. I urge you.

Calm down

2009-07-06T06:18:00.000-07:00

I need to calm down, calm the whole deal right down. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place at the moment and living with one's parents at this age no matter how temporary the whole situation might (supposed to) be is hard.It's nice spending intermittent periods at home but also obviously pretty stressful given our contrasting lifestyles. Still, this is part of the bigger plan and the eye must remain on the finish line and an optimistic outlook that society will soon once again need architects. I say this given a seemingly weekly update from the Royal Institute of British Architects under email headings such as "Apply for your practice crisis pack". They're trying quite clearly to convey a positive spirit but it's hard ignoring the fact that so few of Liverpool's construction sites are unpopulated at present. Let's also not forget that buildings don't spring up overnight. The whole procurement process is a long, contrived and complicated affair. Perhaps then in this light the recession might force a more fast tracked procurement method that isn't so bound up in red tape and conflated legislation? It'll be interesting to see.

For the past few weeks, labouring has been tiding me over for a bit of cash towards the 3,000 pound fees target and so far I'm just shy of 300 pound. If this trajectory were to continue, I might stand to make half of that which is a slight concern but I'm confident that hard work will seal the deal. It always feels a bit strange going from working so intensively in an academic environment to scrounging around for shitty admin jobs.
I have to admit that although it's been an intense experience and genuinely back breaking work what with the oversize concrete blocks the architect has specified, I've developed some useful muscle groups and also received a lot more sunlight hours than I would normally. Similarly, I'm grateful of the work whilst many around me struggle to find even the most menial casual work. Mal (my boss and family friend) has mentioned a few times that I can work on future jobs with his company which as well as being a vital source of income is also good experience at the other end of the construction process.

Tuesday past, I was able to enjoy a day off and a day out to Parisella's with Ricardo, Smooth and O. It'd been a year since I'd last been on the Orme and it certainly felt like it. I managed to get to the usual end point on RA which I was quite pleased with and was comforted to see I had at least retained some form of base level for outdoor climbing. Very keen to not veer from the path of motivation this time and get it done so I can move onto something else in there. Was super impressed with Ricardo's form and even more so with his ease in dealing with the Pit of Hell start in the most disgusting conditions. O and Pete finally decided to embark upon their RA campaign and were doing well stringing together much of it despite humidity.

There's a cave trip tomorrow but I need to work through until Saturday for the 4 parties in one night party. Two friends have emptied their uber stylish dockland apartment and moved into a new abode. With another week's lease still on the property, this affords us a venue for the Mumu Moon Harbour pre pre-party. Then on to Peacock pre-party before going to the party before the after-party in what has to be one of the biggest and best new abodes in Aigburth. I'm psyched.

Lastly an apology to anybody losing minutes of their lives reading this. I'm aware that I very rarely link to any photos or video. This is due to the medieval ibook being unable to process more than the most basic CPU operations. I'd also like to apologise for the abysmal standard of writing and content. Ordinarily, I enjoy writing and am fairly satisfied with it but looking back through some recent posts, I'm wondering if it's worth continuing to write if it stays like this. I suppose there's not really anything of interest even to myself in my head at present. In any case, it's just some words on a page that seem to come out.

Be like Jerry

2009-06-24T15:27:00.000-07:00

I was surfing a wave these last few months - a wave of low motivation. Being the somewhat fickle character that we can all be at times, this all changed when I read Jerry's book. I realised that on an altogether different level, I have been suffering from similar self belief problems that he encountered in the early days of competing. Since emulating his tactics, I'm finding myself feeling every atom of wood/resin or in tonight's case , metal under my fingertips. A surge of motivation has begun to coarse through my veins once more.

Currently, I have a goal in my head that would once have appeared perhaps too grandiose for me to entertain. Now that I have seen what I must do, I no longer have been wasting time wondering and instead spend my time doing. Tonight, a late call to Pemb heralded a cancelled training session but my motivation led me to my fathers garage where the only edge to hang from was a small rounded metal one. I can't believe just how perfect a training hold this actually was and I devised a toe -on, toe-off deadhang session stepping between a bandsaw and a lathe every 5 seconds. Where there is a will to train, there is indeed a way.

Brush with death

2009-06-23T09:24:00.000-07:00

Was royally dissapointed this morning to find out I'm very much needed this coming saturday on site. This is something of a downer as I mistakenly thought Cocoon in the Park was in July and only found out last week from Em that it's this month. Pretty gutted that I've tried to see Luciano three times now, each to no avail. Alas, there is to be a 12 hour warehouse party with Martinez playing in Liverpool in July. That's not a bad substitution and I'll live with it.

Had something of a brush with death today. Two Welsh scaffolders were on site with just myself putting the third and fourth lifts in. There I was merrily brushing up detritus when a common brick came whizzing past my ear landing just next to my foot. Now it's lucky that I made a strange decision to start brushing up early in the day as if I would have remained in place painting the I beams, I would now be very much braindead or dead. They neglected to tell me that they were above me otherwise I wouldn't have been anywhere near their clumsy hands. Still, it was nice talking fishing with them.

Felt somewhat dreadful yesterday with a bit of a cold coming on. Ignoring my own wisdom of avoiding training in this state, I couldn't resist going for a potter. This of course led (as it always does) to innane feats on the fingerboard with Crouch and Crypt project time. Spent some time with softlad trying to stitch together a toughie in the Crypt before heading up to the beastmaker. After toying with the idea of making up some circuits on it, I managed to dispatch a front lever on the 45's into a deadhang to a pullup to a double to the 30s. Whilst not impressive in the least, it's nice to know that if I'm feeling ok on an off day, I should be able to perform better in subsequent sessions. Also managed to deadhang the 45s for 17 seconds on the warmup which wasn't too shoddy all things considered.
I suppose in many ways I should be thankful for a stint of manual work which is essentially a 9-10 hour workout every day. Training after doing this is no mean feat but it psyches me up all the more for needing to invigorate my training beast within.

Rest tonight and session two of the guru's masterplan to de-punterise me tomorrow.

Labour of love

2009-06-22T04:42:00.000-07:00

I'm pleased to report that my examination results for semester two just came in and I passed the year with 58, 63 and 76. I'm a bit dissapointed that I only landed 58 percent for my studio projects but I know that leaving a lot of drawings out in the pinup assessment from project one cost me dearly. Not fussed in any case as it's a solid pass and I've learnt so much since that project. I can't really complain with 63 for structures/environmental exam either considering that was the product of two days worth of revision. 76 was something of an unexpected whopper for Architecture and the Built Environment and I'm pleased to know that I can still write essays reasonably well.

I started labouring on a two storey extension opposite my parents home a few weeks back. The house is owned by some good family friends and Mal (who lives there) is a director of a construction company. At only 35, it's been impressive to see how much he knows about many different areas of construction and I can see from the rapport with his colleagues that he's a well respected boss. It's been a pleasure working for a totally likeable guy and he's been keen for me to be involved with the whole process as an aid to my own education. It's also been physically intense and after working 8am to 6pm I'm feeling battered and broken. This seems to be having some repercussions upon my climbing performance but it's also giving me a pair of shoulders I thought I could never own! It's been good getting the tick as the only worker to lift two of the oversize concrete blocks at a time. Even outside of climbing, it's still nice burning people off.

I was introduced to the project architect on Friday who seemed impressed that I wanted to work at the other end of the drawing board and he was keen to take my phone number with the prospect of working for him. I hope this follows through as I need the work badly and would benefit immensely from working with him. We'll see...

After promising to visit Casa di Pearnall for a long time, I finally managed to summon some funds to board the train to Manchester last week. Was super impressed with James and Em's pad and particularly the Cadbury's outlet bulk purchases. Anyone that thinks a top level climber eats only grass and dandelions should check out the size of the mini egg shipment in situ! Had a delightful few days eating nice food and talking dirty so thankyou both!

Headed out yesterday with Matty D at our usual alpine start time of circa 3pm. Despite both of us feeling exhausted from a late night, we eventually ended up at Beginner's Wall pulling on some holds until deciding we were both too tired. Called into crag x on the way home as I've wanted to see it for around 15 years. It lived up to my expectations and I'm fully psyched to get there asap (preferably not after a days labouring!).

In the meantime, if you would like to pay host to a nomad for a night or two, drop me a message and it'd be good to talk to you.

Raging psyche

2009-06-08T11:00:00.001-07:00

Was another edition of the beastmaker last night and by shit did I feel good. Really starting to notice gains from a few weeks of concerted effort. Feeling stronger than ever on monos and introduced the weight belt for some exercises last night. I'm really very psyched at the moment and hope to unleash it on some rock soon. Financially, I've not been in a position to leave the house for the last week save for venturing to the wall with senor Pembridge. I'm using this period of dire financial ruin to put the blinkers on and concentrate on what is actually available to me - training. There's a few things I'd like to tick off over the course of the next month and am super keen to revisit the Flashpoint sector on the Orme to take a look at the highball Seaview Prow thingamawhatsit and Doyle's majestic problem up the scaled down LPT. There's some unfinished business too at Beef and some things there I'd like to open an account with.

Spent an hour today taking my first AutoCad steps. It's been pretty boring but hopefully a few hours of this can at least give me the beginnings of a basic grasp for what I'll need to do with it next academic year.

Boring as sin sorry. Will engage brain soon.

Resumption

2009-06-06T10:14:00.000-07:00

Commenced regular training as of this week. Feeling pretty good on the beastmaker and after printing off the 321 article have begun to think more strategically about training specifics. It was useful to see where my micro weaknesses lie and where I felt better than I thought I might. Felt pretty broken yesterday morning and shoulders feeling nicely sore from weighted typewriters. Have decided this is a useful exercise for me since gangly people tend to have to work harder to climb 'open' (in the words of Mal). Really enjoying being back in action though am pretty worried when I sit down and think about it that I think I prefer training to climbing. Hmmmm. This wasn't supposed to happen. How is it possible to prefer the means of facilitation rather than the mode of climbing? I'll embrace it anyway and if nothing else aspire to the graded feats listed at Beastmaker HQ.

Managed to score some minor hours of work at the Wirral Environment Centre last week. Was interesting to see what they do as much of it is relevant to my study modules. Got a day of power cleaning coming up this week before I start labouring on a new build on thursday. Quite looking forward to pinching some stacks of bricks and seeing how to work to plans; something they don't seem to emphasise in the ivory towers of academia.

Not much else to report really. I had a sort of moment of clarity concerning my thoughts on minimalism in context of architecture the other day but am too tired to unfurl these today. Next time.

Last up, congratulations to Mick and Debs with their newborn uber beast Jack. I dread to think how soon he'll be burning everyone at the crag off! Best wishes to you both.

Rave Mears

2009-05-27T12:29:00.000-07:00

So, that concludes the end of year one Architecture. It should have been the end of year two save for a disastrous year of external mishaps last year. With hindsight, I think it's preferable to be in a greater position of recession proofness (a word?).
I wasn't so sure that two days of solid revision would see me through but I came to experience a position of what can only be described as mental weightlessness; that is to say, the textbooks had embedded themselves deep within my pyche and poured themselves out through my pen and into the exam book. Suffice to say, I'm hopeful that I've at least acquired the requisite 40% for entry to year two.

Now that the academic year is over, the summer job hunt and the hard training is on. I've gotten what post exam partying I needed out of my system and it's now time to turn back to a more wholesome path. I was a little bit puzzled today to read a thread on UKB that had mention of my esteemed Germanic friend Holger crushing my project. At first, I have to be honest and say that I was a little dissapointed that I'd worked hard in university all semester knowing that summer could be dedicated to training and trying to realise this as one of my personal goals. Ultimately though, I was psyched to hear that a fellow partner in crime had stepped up to the oche and crushed (as every good man and woman must). I saw this evening that John mentioned Holger thought it to be V5/6. This confused me a little as a) it's a route and b)I know I'm not the mighty Jonathon but I'd have made no progress since 4/5 years ago if it turned out to fall in this region! I can only assume it's something else that's been done and irrespective, it'll be nice to be back involved with it.

Only other thing of note is the motivation that seems to be welling up for our self-initiated entry for the Liverpool School of Architecture contribution for the 2010 biennale. I'm looking forward to what might come from the team and am very much motivated to have conceived of this independent of the university. The lack of collective impetus within the faculty for anything that isn't spoonfed is insufferable and it's a brilliant feeling to know that we might be snowballing something that might inform future years of LSA-Biennale involvement.

Just returned home from seeing Ray Mears' talk on the environment as part of a new free university lecture series. His enthusiasm for his subject knows no bounds and I was impressed (but not surprised) by his eloquence in addressing a public audience. Very much worth watching as a speaker should the opportunity be presented to you.

Here's a toast to training.

test image

2009-05-22T00:38:00.000-07:00

Never seem to get round putting any images up but here's a condensed watercolour synopsis of my final concept which inspired the eventual design. Should hopefully be able to link to some renderings later...

It's hammer time

2009-05-22T00:22:00.000-07:00

Today's the final test; how much have I absorbed in two days from across the course of a year's work? A lot I think but my propensity for seizing up in exam rooms is common. What would Gaskins do? Well, he'd probably take a moment to compose himself before opening the paper, say a quick prayer and then proceed forth in a spiritually wrapped cotton wool ball of confidence. If it's good enough for Johnny, it's good enough for me.

Last push

2009-05-15T12:15:00.000-07:00

Blogging has been at a bit of a standstill of late owing to some consecutive late night uni sessions but I'm pleased to say my end of year assessment pin up is finally past and all that remains is two exams. I was pretty happy with the Eno house in the end and as long as I've not failed the studio module, I'm happy.

This week is the final push in revising for the exams. Should really keep my head down and stop bumbling about coffee shops like I'm some sort of flaneur. There's work to be done yet.

Been managing the odd beastmaker/wall session combo and managed a new best on the 45 degree slopers last week which was nice. I heard from Mick that apparently Jennings was sniffing around the Beastmaker HQ when Hession's board was being made and that it's possible that some angle exaggeration has occured to rich's board. Whether this is true or not I don't know, but all these tales of people doing doubles between them and the other holds has me at a loss. By all means, I acknowledge I'm far from the greatest climber but I can still deadhang pretty well. Now although I can hang them, I can't ever envisage being able to double from them to another set of holds and back. Either the ply board it's mounted on is warped or Jennings has had his way with the CNC settings and/or both or I really am destined to be this punter forever. In any case, I love that fingerboard.

So, by Friday the academic year is over and it'll be time to give myself a few precious days of mental recovery before the hunt for a full time summer job job starts. I've etched some time staying at Father Doyle's in the diary to slay some Orme beasts immediately after and I can't wait.

Last thing, I'd like to congratulate Crouch on his uber quick ascent of Monoblock once more. It's been amazing deriving inspiration from one of my very good climbing comrades. I recall a few years back we were both stood at the bottom somewhat aghast and not entirely able to spot too many holds. It seems there are indeed some holds and that little thing called belief (with a dedicated dressing and a motivated sauce) can send one upwards. Let's see what some dedicated time and early summer mornings can do...

Psyche, but on a leash.

2009-04-30T16:15:00.000-07:00

You remember that feeling you used to get in primary school when the teacher asked a question and you were the only one who knew the answer and you knew that you were the only one that knew said answer? Well do you remember how frustrating it was as the teacher hushed you as she could see you bursting at the seams desperate to tell her how to spell 'crustacean'? I remember that moment in a spelling contest tie breaker. If it was not for being obsessed with marine biology and herpetology in my youth, I would not have known how to spell 'crustacean' and I would not have won the contest. That restrained excitement is excrutiating yet euphoric at that moment of denial isn't it? That's pretty much the closest analogy I can give to how I feel at the moment. Don't get me wrong, I adore architecture and I'm really enjoying the current domestic scheme for Brian Eno but it's hindering me somewhat in my climbing development.

I ventured to the wall tonight and set about session two on the beastmaker with Pemb. I'm a bit dismayed that I started to develop the beginnings of useful power for harder problems but seem to have lost much of it through the lack of psyche over the last few months due to uni work commitments. If I'm to be honest with myself, it wasn't just the university work responsible for the downturn but a lack of interest in slow progress. This is foolish and I've always set about concerning myself with activities which require gradual gains over long periods that require sustained commitment. So why did I lose interest? I think probably because of a desire to party and immerse myself further into the depths of the city's developing and flourishing techno scene. It's just been too hard to swerve away from seeing some of the best producers work their magic on my doorstep. There has to be balance however and my psyche has returned. Come end of semester on the 22nd May, it'll be time to get back to 4 times a week training. My ultimate goal is to tick my short route project; something that has what I know will be the single hardest move I will have to work for. I suppose it's very difficult repeatedly having to shun outdoor trips with the clan every weekend in favour of slaving over the drawing board. Consider this less of a moan and more of an expression of intent that I so badly NEED to reinvolve myself with the sport and get back out with you hommes. Thus for the next few weeks the psyche will be restrained by his leash and the inner beast will be tamed. Keep pulling friends.

Return to outside

2009-04-17T02:26:00.000-07:00

Currently on easter 'vacation' (though it's no rest!) and managed to get out a few times within the last seven days to the South Lakes with the usual suspects. Lost a fair bit of gas in the tank but starting to feel a surge of motivation once again. This is particularly good news as it's never easy just 'ticking over' with a wall session a week here and there. Been good to see Crouch flying high on form and improving as much as ever. Also a sad reminder that I've shunned living the dream any longer with him! In all seriousness, the boy's motivation is infectious and I can tell he's keen for me to stop under achieving which spurrs me on somewhat. Right now I have a million drawings to do and a lot of exam material to revise so I'll keep it short and sweet. I've not forgotten about coughing my lobes out here and will try to mention anything of note to you holmes of mine amidst the maelstrom.

Keep improving...

Goethe and the experiment

2009-03-20T02:55:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted as nothing of any relevance to climbing has occured of late. I've just 'finished' (they never are until final pinup) a scheme for a land yachting and windsurfing centre and I'm pretty happy with it. I made a decent model out of 3mm laminated hardboard and it ended up looking fairly fly for an architectural model. I managed to skip the review which was silly of me but I'm confident what I have is beyond satisfactory.

The last two weeks I have been making something of a return to frequent climbing activity. It's always nice in the early part of a project to have relatively little pressure upon oneself and to focus some much needed attention on training for a summer of project crushing. It turns out I hadn't lost too much and only really feel something of a power endurance drain present. It'll only take a few dedicated sessions of volume to correct this and I actually feel slightly lighter and stronger on crimps than I did when I was training 3 times a week. I have some psyche to get back to the cave and mop up some unfinished business as well as to forge connections with other classics in there.

The post title is dedicated to something from yesterday. Whilst strolling through the Sydney Jones library, I started to wonder what cluster of knowledge I might gain if I was to indulge in a chance experiment. What might be the learning outcome of walking down a random isle of old books, picking a book at random, a page at random and a paragraph at random? I started to walk along a level (at random) and made a sudden left turn after some 30 paces. I continued forward for about 10 paces, picked a shelf, picked a book and picked a page. The book was published in 1849 and was an account of Goethe's travels in Italy and his letters written in Switzerland. Upon turning to a page at random and glancing at the first paragraph in the middle of the page, what I read had a particular poinancy; it was an account by Goethe of the condition of the 'youth' at age 25. This is of course my age and I read with great interest what the polymath had to say. He spoke of every last attribute of two young men he was to draw in great emotive detail concerning their physical attributes and their spirit. I felt an eery sense of self conveyed through his description and after the extended paragraph spanning a page and a half had finished, I walked away completely stunned by the outcome of the aleatoric process. I'd like to return to the library today to take out the book and transcribe it here.

Lastly, I'd like to pay formal homage to Lorenzo Frusteri's ascent of the pure direct roof line at Amiata. This is a very impressive feat of climbing, especially considering the man's occupation and time allowances to frequent the crag. Rich and I witnessed it the summer past and acknowledge the dedication Lore has given to the line. His unwavering commitment to such an aesthetic and perfect line is inspiring and I hope to emulate this performance in time on projects of my own. Congratulations Lore, I know but just the surface of the attention this problem commanded.

Embarkation

2009-02-24T04:44:00.000-08:00

Commenced the second installment of return from injury last night and for the most part felt OK. It's amazing how much gas was lacking in the tank though after 3 weeks. It was a case of feeling light as a feather but having no muscle to lug the feather up the wall. Finished with steep incline press ups to try to iron out imbalances.

I've just hit another of many brick walls I'm likely to encounter over the next two years; that of paying fees on time. Thanks to the classy fuckup of the LEA in not generating my Financial Notification on time, I've just been hit with a bill of £1,572 and told essentially that if I can't pay it, I'm likely to face problems. Naturally, this moves away the laser like focus I have for my studies and transfers them back to more sleepless nights amidst spiraling visions of figures and failures. I've been advised to send an email to the head of fees and explain the inadequacies of the university admin system and my LEA. I've been somewhat foolish in thinking that I'm guaranteed a high level of support from the RIBA and the ALF (but I should be) and I'm counting down the days until they get back to me. Nobody said this was going to be a stroll in the park and I knew I'd be facing many more situations like this. I just have to accept that glory will come in a couple of years and all this CAN be overcome through persistence and a reliance on that of the pen as the sword.

EDIT - Just realised I said 3 months at the start of this post. 3 weeks I meant! Shit what would life be like to a dedicated climber with 3 months of one's climbing life missing? Answers on a postcard!

Lull a bye

2009-02-20T01:17:00.000-08:00

Well, the last month has been a period of gross climbing inactivity. I've been sucked back headlong into university and motivation has been pretty low for climbing. I think my attitude towards climbing has changed a lot these past few months from that which it has been over the last year. After a difficult time early last year, I 'lived the dream' subsisting off about 5 pounds a week for much of '08 and consequently got pretty light and made great gains. Alas, as I started to drift back into a clear state of mind, I saw that this wasn't the path I wished to carve for myself. To the contrary, I think I have elected for one of the most difficult and time consuming paths. It is one I know will grant me economic as well as personal satisfaction and it seems a far cry from scraping rent pennies together and knowing the intricate differences between various supermarket value ranges. I know I have made the right decision and as soon as I'm settled in the city centre normal service will be resumed.

It's an interesting agglomeration of people on the architecture course; all with varying intentions and motivations for being here. Personally, I can cite my own but chiefly I'm interested in the contribution I can make to social housing and the lives of people who are not accustomed to the sort of attention to detail the middle classes receive in their living and working environments. To the simplest extent, architecture is about the manipulation of space and for me, giving integrity to form through materials. It amazes me that this prime consideration seems to be factored into the mix as a sort of afterthought in the design school when in reality it should be articulated with a much greater onus in the early stages of design. Perhaps if this was to happen students might grasp a better idea of working with cheaper materials and gain a better understanding of the ways in which to harness their properties and qualities. At a greater level, it may then ultimately make a difference in the drive to banish insipid and depressive Barratt style housing. What a naive notion I hear you cry! And you're probably right.

Climbing wise, I was invited to the Portland trip today for Mick's birthday. Sadly I've had to pass on this attractive offer in favour of a fascinating day of U Value lectures and will thus probably try to pull down somewhere locally tomorrow.

Last thing of note is that the Jennerator and I have agreed on a King's palace of a residence on Gambier Terrace. Situated on the top floor, the view is astounding and offers views of Clwyd and Snowdonia. It's so clear I can even see your micro Doyle!
Stop by for some sea bass and a tipple won't you?

blurgh

2009-02-05T01:11:00.000-08:00

The saturday before last was the last time I managed to get out. Hit Tremeirchion with John, Doylo, Mule and a welcome rare siting of the arachnid! 36 Chambers is an awesome problem on a clean sweep of compact limestone. Sadly, being a vertical pinch punter, I had to eliminate 3 powerful movements and instead perform a deep lock off a shallow and sharp mono to reach a decent crimp. Felt a little stiffness in the palm the next day (yes Doylo, I knew this would happen) and so took the week off. John managed to fight on through the power sap to bag a second ascent of the problem and I made some agreeable progress but need to give a little more to the sloper slap next time. Pretty confident it will get crushed soon.

The palm soreness presented no major tears anyway as I've been getting settled back in the studio. It's so good to be back.

Might try to venture to the wall tonight after studio but am slightly put off by an epic snow journey to get there. M. Chadwick called last night with news of board building this weekend. With Friday night being 161 time again, I'm not sure I'll be any use but should have some time to invest in the space when settled back into study.

Sorry this has been a piece of shit to read. Will write soon when something is worth mentioning.

The surprises within

2009-01-21T05:12:00.000-08:00

Hit the board hard on Monday. After a step wall warmup and managing to flash some nice little crimpy numbers, I turned my attention briefly to some of Crouch's sandbag efforts. His grading has now gotten truly stupid and it makes me laugh. I assign no meaning to their numerical value whatsoever and it's funny to hear others expressing genuine disdain at their inability to climb a V4 when they "can climb V6 at other walls". Welcome to the nonsensical side people. Your heartache will only continue!

In essence, a Crouch V6 can be anywhere between V9 and V12 if you buy into the idea that you can grade problems indoors. I don't actually believe it is possible to grade above a very easy level as there are generally less ways to climb an indoor problem than an outdoor one.

Managed to make some good progress on the board project and it's now the last move that is the crux for me which involves a big move from a slopey pinch with a slight catch to a distant slippy wooden pinch with no catch. I feel some way from actually being able to helicopter my foot back on and match to glory but isn't that the joy of a project? Was very surprised to climb well considering I was on a mega coffee comedown when I got there. Oh the inconsistencies in climbing, how I love and hate you.

It's perhaps indicative that I am rambling about a board project of the fact that I haven't been outside in quite a while now. Wonder what the saturday crew have planned this weekend? Would be nice to get involved.

I'm finally pleased to report that the LEA woman called to tell me she has received my return to study form which means my financial situation is going to look rather more rosy in the near future. Also of great delight was the news in the RIBA student newsletter that they are practically throwing money at architecture students in this time of financial hardship. On the cusp of handing in my application, this made me smile.

Bouncing ball

2009-01-19T05:34:00.000-08:00

I feel like one. The University of Liverpool is staffed by defective robots fuelled by rohypnol tea. They seem to delight in bouncing me back and forth between endless sub-departments. I have had a wrenching feeling in the chest for 3 weeks now thanks to these fucking morons. Anyway.... Breathe. Nearly there.

Alora. Under the Bridge beta to failed wet finish moves.

Under the Bridge beta snippet from Tom Mills on Vimeo.

Board tonight with a huge onus on power endurance and core work.

Movin on up...

2009-01-11T11:34:00.000-08:00

Time to break free, nooooothing can stop me. Sorry. That's the one ridiculous and frankly inane song that has somehow remained in my mind since it's heady days in the charts. I want to shake it so bad but can't seem to. Must try harder.

Talking of trying harder....

The day begun at the leisurely time of 11:00 AM this morning as Mr Pembridge arrived for his first visit to the mighty Mwyn. Approaching Deeside, we remarked upon how the clouds in front us were some of the most ominous to be witnessed by man. I optimistically declared that we were located beneath a fat but localised band of dark cloud that we would soon escape from as we dropped down into the neighbouring valley. Sure enough, and despite a relative lack of meteorological comprehension, my prediction was right and we were lucky for the best part of the day in avoiding any prohibitive showers. A nagging fine rain kept plodding away into the gorge for much of the day but thankfully, this never became truly enough to saturate the majority of holds I needed access to. After a warm up of champions (i.e. Mr Bradbury) proportions at the right hand end under the bridge, I devised quite a cool sequence for a relatively independent up problem. One of the crucial starting hand holds and some of the (already poor) upper holds were slightly sodden which meant no real ascent in the end. There's a jug on this line at a nice finishing height and it's probably worth doing this if it's dry enough next time.

And so to the main meat - the project. In order to warm up for the very small and sharp crimp on it, I decided a quick repeat ascent of Under the Bridge would be worth capturing on film and for the sake of encountering it's joyous and wonderfully subtle moves. After a few warm up goes of pulling on to the guppy, I was getting the violent crux toe hook to fit in place nicely. I'd forgotten just how slow and controlled the release from the heel-toe to pure toe-hook had to be but upon this recollection, no further problems where encountered. I was left with two attempts at hitting the flatty but was sadly thwarted continually from the mist-like rain which was by now starting to take it's toll on the slightly slopey and unusually polished handhold. After conversing with a few familiar local faces who had come to enquire as to the condition and for beta on the problem, my attentions turned to the matter in hand.

I told Pemb of my previous progress to a distant left hand diagonal small crimp. He humourously questioned my statement remarking that "I don't think you can get to it". "Behave" I told him and then proceeded to forget all useful foot beta and question whether or not I had dreamt of locking this hold. It looked a million miles from where I was and I thought some time out for a small flapjack was a necessity. Thankfully, the anti-amnesia properties of the Fabulous Baking Boys kicked into touch and I had flashbacks of a high right foot. From the ground, this appeared an unreasonable proposition for a man of my height but in reality, this was to be the dealbreaker with this particular move. The first move involves a mid-height left juggy sidepull and a similar hold but higher for the right. One pulls on with a left foot on small slopey edge, and wraps the right foot around a similar but slightly better hold at a height level to it. Standing up, a reach is made into a joyous horizontal quartz pinch above the head. A little flag with the left leg and space can just about be made to match. (N.B. I know matching is not macho but I challenge the G to find something for his left!). Upon the slightly burly match, the left foot 'wraps' and torques into a decent slot out left. The right foot is bumped a bit higher and the left hand makes a big lock to a piece of shit (N.B don't fall for moving out to the red herring diagonal crimp in future, this is NOT the way!). I say piece of shit and I mean piece of shit. I manage to lock it at full extension and use this moment to capitalise upon the lack of a step ladder which for further future reference is too big to fit in the Clio. Balls.

Whilst frantically scanning the blank wall in front of me, I saw a right hand flatty sidepull that if cleaned, would probably afford me just enough purchase to make the super crux move of getting my right foot up to make the dynamic left hand press into the finishing slot. Basically, a ladder is needed to sort this and the finishing slot out. Upon re inspection of the wall above, I'd say that it is very much possible to finish it as a route should I get to the boulder end point. It's probably still not a total path but it doesn't look enough to upset me. Thankfully, there are two lower off bolts in place. Perhaps somewhat dubious looking but at least they seem to be rust free.

Sorry if you trawled through all of that, but I need it on file for future reference!

I took some video for you Lore but it's not too exciting I'm afraid! Also have enough footage for tall beta on under the bridge slapping the wet flatty to upload. Will hunt out firewire cable tomorrow.

Very keen to look at 36 Chambers at Tremeirchion soon. Could be an aim for this year whilst the crimp is on heat, although a 7c+ (I think it is?) of Danny's is guaranteed to present some difficulties! After all those footy shirts I gave him, you'd think the lil bastard would give me a soft touch somewhere in Wales!

Tomorrow see's flat hunting for a property in the delightful Faulkner Square, some more watercolour action and a finalisation of the ALF form.

Bring tha motherfuckin Ruckus.

The prize

2009-01-10T09:30:00.000-08:00

I made a vow to myself that I wouldn't engage with discussions pertaining to "controversial" issues on UKB and yesterday and this morning I did just that. The reason I don't ever contribute is that a) who am I to be involved with them? Especially given I rarely route climb anymore. b) I have an incurable propensity for wandering off topic both in print and in speech. In a debate which I shouldn't even be in, this is no use to anybody. It just seems a tad tragic to see some probable talented youngsters going about things in all the wrong ways. It's an innocent naivety and it should be acknowledged as such. I'm of course no agony uncle...

Tomorrow I go to try the project I have been training HARD for. Based on the recent board performances, I hope to feel better on the first of the two (and only) hard moves which involve the use of a very specific (and painful) small quartz crimp and undercut pinch. It might transpire that the project is either still way above me or indeed a non-entity. It was when I mentioned to Doyle and Mule some time back of my intention to clean and climb this line that they commented upon a lack of holds. To hear those words from that company was slightly disconcerting but I think the project encapsulates every single element of my strengths in the sport. There are two hard moves which lead to a natural finishing point at a relatively comfortable height to dismount. It's a cloudy memory as to whether or not the other half-height (+) of the wall will make it a potential sport route but inasmuch as I can remember, this could well be the real prize for me. It's nice to have something to invest a real amount of energy into and even nicer that it would be a first ascent I would very much cherish.

I'm packing the step ladder and some serious quantities of Strappal. Can I envisage a potential grade for this? No. I have climbed a problem to it's left in good time which felt significantly easier than in attempting the first of the two moves on my project to it's right. Essentially, I'm sure it would possess no real difficulty to a crimping beast but I am confident in my own ability to retain contact on small holds and know that only through repetition will the project holds come to feel comfortable. They might feel so now but I can't say as it's only been tried in the heat and grease of last summer.

University wise, things are feeling much less stressful thanks to the help of the disciple. He also informs me that over the summer period, I am fully entitled to university financial assistance which would allow me to work in practice over the long summer months. This would also free up time to go to Berlin and Tuscany spending happy hours cleaning up lines at Amiata with Lore , Ricardo (and Keith?) and killing it on the terrace. So Bruno might get Richie Hawtin to Tartana!? Shit Frusteri, that is heavy!

More green tea, watercolours and the Bauhaus this afternoon. Rather pleasant.

Meditate or menstruate

2009-01-09T04:37:00.000-08:00

Ventured to the board last night with Pemb again. Felt decent and managed to stick what I thought was the crux move from small sharp left hand gaston to the right hand deadpoint every time I tried it. It's a problem which focuses intensively on working my left hand crimp strength on small holds at a steep angle. I realised recently when an old ring of my mothers would only fit to size on my left hand index finger that the lack of bulbousness in my left digits means they need a workout.

The other problem locking to the mono and then a further deep lock to slopy flatty is starting to feel better by the session and I'm becoming pretty happy with specific mono training for the Charante trip. It's amazing just how hard one can crank through on a shallow mono if time is invested. I always thought the prospect of gaining mono strength was an intimidating one but am really enjoying working this particular area.

Resting today and tomorrow in anticipation of a trip out on sunday. Asked D if he wanted to head over to hook up for a reunion with Master Doyle but the man is quite rightly psyched for some things in south Lakes that he's very keen for.

Was extremely grateful for the help of a family friend's friend who came over from Liverpool to help me with the Access to Learning Fund. We worked out that inclusive of all fee's, rent, materials etc, my budget needed to be £260.00 per week to successfully sustain myself. Quite a sum! He seems to think that my track record from degree one, current university results and the design competition success should be more than enough to substantiate my need. Feeling much more at ease with things now thanks to the work of this kind disciple!

I don't get it..

2009-01-06T02:22:00.000-08:00

Hit the board with Pemb last night. I felt light before I got to the wall and felt light climbing. I can only imagine this is a result of losing some muscle mass as I've eaten horrendous amounts over the festive period. Anyway, I'm pleased to report that my current board project will probably go down in a few sessions. This left hand middle mono strength is getting a crazy work out for Charante!

Also managed to find a new project with a tricky first move on little crimps. A big lock to a reasonable edge, lock tiny sharp gaston with left hand being at full stretch with feet still on kicker and make right hand deadpoint to reasonable edge. Just so this project doesn't get forgotten, it's on the far left of the board.
Temps at the board were out of this world. -5 degrees outside meant crisp, non-sweaty holds. Imagine if these board conditions were 365!

Been offered a hookup with O Bling to head to cave this afternoon though think I'll have to venture to the delightful Birkenhead to have some beaureaucratic intercourse with the LEA.

Have we ever known such a run of sublime winter conditions incidentally!?

Public/Private?

2008-12-30T10:43:00.000-08:00

The Christmas period has been nice. Lots of catching up with familiar faces from the near and distant past, destruction of mince pies and port and the odd bit of physical activity resulting in (largely) upward inertia.

I've been spending many hours each day trying to re-learn the art of architectural conceptual drawing and have developed something of a love for watercolours. Steven Holl is something of an inspiration to me and as such, I've been trying to emulate some of his conceptual works in attempting to gain some form of mastery over the artform. If you have spent any time whatsoever with watercolours, you'll have come to learn that they require a lot of patience, practice and experimentation. Luckily, I'm a fan of all three and am happy with some of the things I've developed. I figure that as I fall straight back into university via the vertical school studio project, I best possess some form of 'edge' if I'm to be amongst the top three again this year. I'm not actually sure that every single person in the school is bothered about the outcome of their entry, but I most certainly am. Firstly because of it's competitive nature (which the profession is centered around) and secondly because after the 5 days elapse, there is a friday night party in the studio. It's an amazing space for a party and hopefully this years installment should be decent.

I titled this post public/private; I'm not sure that many people at all read this blog but for those that do, I'm quite sure it is hugely sedate in comparison to a blog such as Keith's. After all, Keith is operating in the upper echelons and actually speaks about climbing. I seem to touch upon climbing in the most briefest of manners and probably get way too enthusiastic about small gains than is healthy. With this in mind, I'm going to forge a seperate blog for architecture/drivel and try to keep this one for climbing-related matters. The blog title also pertains somewhat to a paranoia I seem to be developing. Of course, very few people know of the existence of this page and I ultimately say nothing of consequence. Perhaps it is a fear of insanity, I don't know. I'm rambling. I'll shut up. I'm losing my mind!

Time to stop festive eating and crush! Seasons bests humans. x

Oh what a night...

2008-12-27T11:26:00.001-08:00

After a general lack of interest in going to see Luciano at Circus last night, at the last minute a fellow willing homme and I ventured forth.

Stupidly, I hadn't bought any tickets in advance and hence we had to arrive at the Barfly for silly o'clock. Being my favourite DJ and rarely in town, I wasn't going to miss this. At 8pm there was nobody at the venue door so after a brief beer in FACT, we returned at 9.15 to queue. We were about 40th in the line as others started to gather behind us. Some stupid dick from the venue decided to tell the line (which was significant and swelling at this time) that there were only 50 tickets available on the door. Cue endless nobs trying to queue jump and rumour mill to work overtime about ticket prices going up to £60.00 in an effort to get people to leave the line.

Eventually, some of the door staff loosely erected a gate to queue within which seemed temporarily to restore some form of order. Usefully, one of the door staff said to the people about two rows back from my man and I that they wouldn't get in. Needless to say, they stayed in their masses in some hope of getting a ticket. Bang on 10pm as the doors opened, the queue had become akin to the Hillsborough disaster and I could barely breathe let alone move my arms. To cut a long story short, not long after we started to queue, I met a guy I had once hung out with who was sleeping on the clifftop at Porth Ysgo two summers ago. We had a surreal conversation and met a couple who seemed quite friendly.

As Paul and I got to the door with 1000 tonnes of force behind us, the bouncer announced that there were only two more tickets left. I attempted to run in but he saw me and I expected a castration for said behaviour. In the end, the girl from the friendly couple had got one person ahead of us as Paul tried to help prevent her from having her ribs crushed on the gate. Both her and I pleaded for each other and our respective peers to be the candidates for the tickets but ultimately (and I suspect entirely on account of her looks), the bouncer let her and her man have the last two tickets. I was irate to say the least as I watched the bouncers let a swarm of tanned shitface girls in from the flanks without having to queue. I suspect they issue sexual favours to them or are the devil spawn of their other bouncer counterparts. "That's it lad, no more tickets". We waited for another 10 minutes on the offchance that we could somehow get in but this was not to be.

Why did I write so much about that? I don't know. I think I just needed to express something about the ephemerality and insincerity of clubbing queue culture where everybody is a hero and villain in equal measure. Making walls and ensuring that your micro culture triumph when in actual fact you need to be the black sheep and keep your eyes down like the slight-of-frame young man in front of me did. He knew he would be the first brick in the wall to crumble if he didn't stick by his own game plan. And to that wiley young skeptic, I salute you.

After wiping tears, we ended up taking plan B to Mumu (Liverpool's premier techno night) with an intimate and likeable crowd. It's our usual night of choice and run by an awesome small team. Trevor (the organiser) had enlisted Geddes, Reboot and Gregor Tresher for the boxing day marathon and a good time was had by all. There's a million short stories there too but I won't furnish you with the irksome details other than to say that you need a slice of Gregor Tresher in your life!

Here, have a set. I haven't yet listened to it, but anticipate great things.

Hit me. Please.

Rouhling rules

2008-12-15T12:27:00.000-08:00

The weekend past was a pleasant one. Saturday I helped T Mills senior rip the existing kitchen out and then headed over to the studio to help Dan with the rather laborious task of rendering brickwork on his model. It felt good being back in the studio but I was slightly alarmed by the volume of students sat in there on a saturday evening. I know 98% of them play the last-minute game but even some conscientious faces were in there. I think the reality is that many of them are just slow to get things moving and the others have been indulging in a student loan sized party. It made me realise that I'm very keen to avoid doing masses of weekend work upon my return in any case.

After a pleasant evening spent at D & C's, I woke up feeling fresher than ever. I've been enduring a period of insomnia recently and last night hopefully signified the end of that spell as I woke feeling a new man. After hearing that Mick might be over this way this week and keen for me to get involved, I thought I'd leave the fingerboard alone and stay fresh. Alas, the allure of some specific exercises I've been wanting to commit to proved too great and I dangled a few well-spent hours away. It was particularly pleasing to see that all of the mono/shallow pocket work I've been doing recently is starting to come together; I managed to one arm deadhang the moon board pocket with the front two fingers utilising some very minor assistance from a sling tied over the pullup bar to the rear of the board. I made sure to concentrate on driving as much force through these fingers as possible and was pleased to feel that only half a pad of the index finger snagging the doubled-up sling was all that was required.

I made a point of spending time locking off on the sloper at varying angles and concentrating on the negative phase of the motion. Unusually, all I could think of whilst undergoing the exercises today was the work that Fred Rouhling put into training for his many impressive routes; specifically, the first joint exercise he did on micro campus rungs to "increase his pain tolerance". If that ain't micro-beta, I don't know what is!

I had a nice moment of surprise on the board last week when I managed to deeply lock a shallow mono pocket to poor flatty at close to full extension with feet on small screw ons. I also managed the second ascent (!!!) of a wall benchmark undercut pull on. With Mr D being the only other ascentionist (please don't take this seriously), I'm dining in good company! For me, training is all about cherishing these moments as it is a reflection of progress and an indication of things to come.

Speaking of micro-beta, I thought back the other day to when Mick first used to bandy the term about. Crouch and I would laugh, but I've ultimately realised the importance of this concept in everyday climbing situations. How many times have you located a 0.5mm spike or divot with your thumb deep into the siege of a project? I'm willing to wager that the answer is many! Nothing quite beats the feeling of discovering such a thing in such trying moments.

Oh and here is a video of the man himself. I can't wait to get to Charente and my current training I think reflects that.

Don't forget to leave home

2008-12-09T10:12:00.000-08:00

I'm climbing better than ever before at the moment. I have spent recent months working uber hard on increasing my core tension and it has been the exacting requirement in the hunt for better body positioning. Unfortunately I haven't managed to get outside in a long time but figure time spent on the board will ultimately pay off.

I'd like to have the mental resolve to write an opinion on the red tape nature of almost every interaction I have with public and private sector organisations of late, but ultimately the process has consumed me. It seems nigh on impossible to make a phonecall which doesn't involve an array of "security checks" and referrals to other departments. A grinding, tiring process!

Enough of that world against me shit! Last night, after a day of meticulous calculations, some procrastination and a very long and unforgettable phonecall with Mr Donnelly, I made the decision; I'm returning to architecture in January. It is a decision which both liberates and terrifies me. The endless 'what ifs..' are over and I must accept that the future is very much uncertain and a few more years of heavy paperwork will continue, but ultimately, I will be in a better position.

I've really met too many arts and humanities graduates working in jobs that they shouldn't be in to indicate to me that this is the right decision. My results were good and I really did enjoy the course immensely.

Roll on '09. I'm really very ready for the reset switch to be pushed!!

EDIT: Need I really say the word really anymore in this post?

Don't forget to go home.

2008-12-02T03:05:00.000-08:00

Have to be a quick one today as am nipping out in a moment.

Friday past was the second installment of the 161 party. After hearing that there was to be some sort of techno ban, I threw my toys out of the pram upon hearing that dubstep would be played all night long. Alas this was not to be the case and to the contrary, techno boomed through the annals until I hit 'stop' on the decks circa 9am. Of course, the mixer was taken upstairs to the afterparty room and the party continued. A proper house party you might say.

Climbing wise; I attacked the 45 with a vengeance yesterday. I've managed to devise some isolation exercises involving very wide open feet positions on slopey screwons and very wide hand positions on wack slopers. The idea being that donning the weightbelt and making one big move to a hold near the top of the board will serve to rigidify my core. I've been focusing hard on core strength of late and am starting to realise decent gains. A couple of variations on the guru's hand-foot matches went down except utilising pinches and screwons where possible. I worked as hard as I could in the session and feel beautifully sore right now. It's worth noting to myself that the session was fuelled by Catz & Dogz latest album and the Feiern soundtrack (just in case this is some sort of magical psyche bullet).

As I've said before (as have many before me), the importance of learning from others in the upper strata is paramount to any increase in personal performance. I remember the tenet of something Keith mentioned quite some time back that in the development of personal performance, everything centers around the individual's use of time. Whilst this is hardly an earth-shattering revelation, it is an important one and one that I have never forgotten since hearing it. It is particularly relevant to me right now given my situation and it reminds me that I love training, apply myself 100% to it, and will never shun it. Nothing beats the feeling of training in solitude knowing that the mental fortitude you possess will ultimately be the driving force behind one's greatest acheivements and that all the muscular gains were just a by product of that.

I have simple needs and desires that can be inscribed quite easily on a sheet of A6 paper and I think it's high time to start chasing some of these up.

Last thing of note is that we have a premier training facility in Liverpool now. I took a walk-through video of the space last week and will put it up in the near future.

Morning job seekers!!!

2008-11-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

JSA Part One: The Telephone Interview in pictures.

So this morning I went to the job centre to sign on for Job Seekers Allowance. Ordinarily, as I'm sure anyone will testify to, this is a laborious, repetitive, and depressive affair. Today, however, gave me some surprisingly useful leads as to language courses and work trials, therein making it one of the better 'interviews' I have been subjected to.

I made the decision to sign on in a different Job Centre this time. Partly due to the local demographic (less screaming children) and partly due to the architecture. It sounds bizzare I know, but this really was a factor in my decision making process when presented with a choice of centre to attend; Upton's centre is poorly ventilated with a distinct lack of climatic control. Coupled with this, it has a low ceiling and gives more of an air of a WW2 medical camp in a trench than it does as a likely place to source a job.

Hoylake turned out to be a good choice; it's impressively high ceiling with wooden arches straight out of the industrial revolution and red brick construction very much conveyed at least a vague scent that thought had gone into the space and I suppose, by proxy, into the willingness of the staff to help me find gainful employment (or at least that is how I read the situation).

First up was my 'financial assessment' with Jan. Despite being subjected to a 1 hour telephone conversation last week, and reaffirming every last detail down to any property I might own abroad and whether or not I have £16,000 of savings or more, Jan was there to quadruple check my details. Poor Jan seemed to think that I was some form of non-sentient being and as such, spoke to me as a senile old lady might speak to her Chrysanthemums. In any case, I let Jan dictate the pace of linguistic and intellectual convergence and decadently cast my thoughts back to a friend who had yesterday told me about a derivative of Ritalin he had obtained from a pharmacy in Chile whilst there travelling. Apparently, intermittent erections are a well known side effect of a dose but the calming effect of the substance I'm told is quite desirable. We toyed with the idea of taking a few yesterday but decided the likely side effect would render the situation untenable. I wondered if Jan had ever taken this Ritalin variant and thought how different the turbo-charged interview might have been had she had indulged in a few.

Whilst Jan waddled off to the photocopier, I couldn't help but notice that a bite-size chunk had been taken out of the arm on her generic Job Centre chair. I wondered if this might have been a previous claimant in response to the tiresome, repetitive verification process. It could quite easily have been my DNA the police would be mopping up had I have consumed just one more cup of Columbia's finest this morning.

Jan has clearly been working in the Job Centre for a long time and I was probably less memorable to her than a two foot long shit she took back in 1983. The upside of her desperation to pass me on to the next cherry picker (the 'employment advisor') meant that I could at least stop repeating myself as to the state of my numerous off-shore bank accounts.

Jan shat me out at Julie's desk where the state of my current employment history was assessed. Thankfully we didn't go back as far as I had anticipated to the days of being a milk monitor in primary school and instead, Julie seemed content to know just the previous year's history. Whereas Jan was clearly hyperaware that she was something of a patronising-obese-gargoyle-come-to-life, Julie spoke in equally patronising but seemingly sympathetic tones. It's probably actually quite hard to differentiate here given that the average Job Centre lady is operating at a transcendental level of belittlement. In any case, and as I suspected, there were to be some details from past claims that we had to mull over and some slight innane tweaks to be made to 'my agreement' but on the whole, this was the least tedious of the three phase interview.

So there's just a brief overview of what you can expect if your boss catches you surfing the net during working hours.

Anticipatory vibes

2008-11-06T09:51:00.000-08:00

Had a decent week of training/climbing all in all. Was up in the Pass on Sunday past as well as yesterday where me, O and Crouch went up to check out the deal with Lizard King. I've looked at it in the past and been pretty motivated by it but never had enough pads/balls/power. After some serious sequence interrogation, we devised two main methods to do the first move; one a sort of Piranjaesque lock with the left hand to a decent (but awkward) rail for the right hand. The other was an equally painful but also powerful lock to a sharp cluster with the left hand leading. The problem was somewhat damp, yet despite this, Crouch managed to fumble the good slopey jug on a late attempt and would have no doubt topped out to glory given better conditions. O was exactly the same and only shut down by dampness, not power or ability. I managed much of the problem but the previous month's layoff means I need to do a couple of campus board touch sessions to get back to (and indeed beyond) power. Really nice line and a nice day out with a small team.

Today I sent off my application for trainee project co-ordinator. Initially I thought the role pertained exclusively to information architecture, but on closer inspection it seems the placement would open up a few different avenues within the company. I'm pretty happy with my personal statement for it all and am told I will hear within 20 days if I have got it or not.
The UKB contingent were as helpful as ever with knowledge/opinion dissemination. This reminds me to make a considerable donation to Bubba when I'm in the black.

Tonight is more studio time and recording. The partytime schedule is pretty intense throughout the next 2 months, but here's to a dedicated attempt to crush as well as party.

Richie Hawtin: A night of homming.

2008-10-20T17:05:00.000-07:00

Friday night saw the extended posse hook up at the Warehouse Project, Piccadilly station to see Richie Hawtin and his Minus counterparts churn out the good stuff.

It really was a sublime evening and the choice of venue unique. I took plenty of pictures of all hommes and hommettes homming it to the maximum. As per my usual unfulfilled promise, I'll be sure to upload some of them soon.

The art of homming is a true skill to be learnt and a lengthy apprenticeship must be undertaken by any man wishing to appear homosexual in an entirely heterosexual way.
Fortunately, the posse comprised of some of homming's finest members and all killed it to Richie in the most respectful manner possible; sleeves rolled above the shoulder, fists a pumping and gyrating from start to end.

It was a great pleasure to see many women in attendance for a change thus making the event less of a fathers meet in a sausage shop.

The moral of the story? Women, please start coming to techno events more often.

25

2008-10-12T04:52:00.000-07:00

25 today. I love the number 25.

A certain friend has promised me big numbers this year. On account of his achievements in his 25th year, I'm psyched!

Got lots of stuff brewing at the moment job wise/uni wise but it's all pretty exciting. Been offered some paid work at a top architectural practice too which should help me cement a decision one way or the other.

Doing the parents flavour this morning and a lark lane hit this afternoon. Think I need to calm down about seeing Richie on Friday as was rightly pointed out to me via SMS last night!

Mutilate friends...

Layoff

2008-10-07T09:01:00.000-07:00

Wow, I've had a layoff without even realising it; I last climbed 10 days ago. This is no bad thing as my body has been thanking me for the interlude. I've also managed to get a sinus infection on the back of a shitty virus but am hopeful that the doctor will dole out some antibiotics tomorrow as this headache is beyond chronic.

Not much to report other than I am beyond psyched for Richie on the 17th. Tickets have now sold out but all key hommes are in receipt of the neccessary piece of paper that will grant entry to the room of doom.

Have a ton of amusing photos from recent techno nights and will upload them when I can prise out this 3" CD from my slot drive.

Training resumes asap.

Phlegm gem

2008-10-02T03:52:00.000-07:00

What a whiney effort that last post was. I apologise if you had to endure it.

Saturday at Circus was superb. I was however, distraught to hear Luciano wouldn't be playing as he is suffering badly from the flu and has had to stay home. Rather sweetly, a lengthy letter was sent on behalf of him from a member of staff at Cadenza stating how he was genuinely aggreived that he wouldn't be playing back to back with Loco Dice for 4 hours. As it turned out, this gave Loco 4 hours on his own to do his filthiest. After a bit of a slow start entering the building for Doylo (online ticketing for you), all hommes were reunited to the sound of that phat dope shit (sadly Loco never spun that classic, but if you don't know it, type in 'phat dope shit' into youtube and you can hear it).

So from the weekend I have developed a virus complete with phlegmy chest action. Not too bothered as it's clearing up pretty quick, but I would love to know how I seem unable to get a cold without it going on my chest. Any docs have the answer? I'm sure it'll be pneumonia I eventually perish from!

After that brief lull in climbing psyche the other week, I'm back in the game for full guru training action. I have some serious aspirations for the next climbing year and a surprise I've administered to myself. I want to do Walk on By. I can already hear a sea of punters tittering at my aspiration! I can't suppress my love of wall climbing and to me, that represents a good and beautiful challenge. What better man than Dolph Lundgren to have guide me through the motions.

For weekend techno action, there is the option to go see Phil Kiernan (a man who's played Cocoon a good few times) on Friday, but I sense a weekend free from techno hedonism might be in order. Especially given the tech-marathon that's to come on the 17th and 18th October.

Loose plan for that: Train it to Manchester with various other stallions. Kill it to Richie. Find somewhere in Mancs to retreat to and sleep for the next daytime and early evening. Train it to Liverpool for Mumu and kill it to Sebo K until the next day.

Next week I will panic severely for I hit my quarter century. I realise that I will realise that I "haven't yet done anything with my life". Of course this simply isn't true, but it seems an inevitable liklihood given that I'm sandwiched somewhere between a costly second undergraduate degree and a life of temping in menial office jobs.

To get a graduate job or to study? That is the question!

Gateaux in the ghetto

2008-08-23T04:03:00.000-07:00

After receiving a marginally greater pay cheque than usual, I've been able to eat foodstuffs other than value beans and chocolate. Training is back on track and I had a cracking session the night before last on the board.

Tomorrow night is the Cadenza showcase night in the Magnet which I'm off to, closely followed by a daytime after party where Clive Henry (DC10 resident) is playing for the day. Will need to rest hard today and tomorrow in the A.M to deal with this.

I think the Mule will come over and possibly even Doyle (the elusive techno monster that he is). D will be out as will Jenn. Should be good.

That's about all the energy I have to write about anything. The recent weather has broken me mentally and I'm not sure how much longer any human can sustain interest in anything with conditions like this.

Anyway, I got some greif for never including pictures. So...

Here's some of my favourite techno homs doing hommy things.

Content and Concept

2008-07-30T02:57:00.000-07:00

Travelling home from work on the bus last night, I overheard two men talking about their experience of a play they had just been to see. One of the men was keen to usher the point that in the production of a 'radical' piece, the concept should not be allowed to overule the content. Although his friend appeared to be replying somewhat disengenously to his provocations, I thought the main protaganist was proffering something of substance through his meditations. He acknowledged the value and neccessity for conceptualism but remained ambiguous as to where boundaries should be drawn. This is of course the fundamental component behind our drive for creativity and it made me think further about all that I've so far learnt in architecture and most recently, the film and it's concept referred to within this post.

There seems to be an increased frequency in the amount of drivel flowing around my brain at present and I'm struggling to ascertain where I should mark the edit points. I suppose that's the joy of keeping a blog in which I am answerable to nobody, but free to write as much or as little as I like without practical consequence.

This week, I've had the pleasure of watching Keith's film - 'L’Etranger: 85 days in Font'. I'll be stunned if you consider yourself a climber and haven't at least heard of his excellent production. As one would expect of this scientifically minded gent, the film wasn't merely "put out there", but had experimental roots in freeconomics. That's not to say he was giving away a laptop or penthouse suite with every download as some of you materialists might be accustomed to by now; rather, he was intrigued to see how the climbing 'community' would respond to an above average climbing production and the concept of donating an arbitary amount (a similar experiment to Radiohead's recent album release). I need say no more as you should be reading Keith 'Karl Popper' Bradbury's own words via his blog (unclesomebody.com/blog).

The film was a refreshing change from skipping through 20 minute car journey scenes (granted there are some short scenes in this vein, but they have been well considered) as many productions are wont to do. It was nice to see plenty of shots of failed attempts on hard boulder problems rather than just an edit of the successful attempts. This is especially humbling for those out there who aren't Fred Nicole or John Gaskins as attention is drawn to the 'act' of slaying problems toward the upper echelons of one's ability at a given time; the bizarre differing of responses by Keith in surmounting the different problems was of most interest to myself.

My only piece of constructive criticism concerns the typographical choice. I understand the semantics behind what Keith has tried to do but feel that there's a whole world of other typefaces that could perhaps better represent the intention. Please feel free to correct me in this assessment Keith if I'm seen to be uttering gibberish. My love of type sometimes overcomes me and reduces me to the nerd that I am!

I've been keeping some scribbled notes in my Moleskine (read: he definitely is a pathetic nerd!) about some things I wish to comment on. Although of little consequence, they amuse and entertain me at the present time and I hope to document them over the coming week. I feel the supermarket value milk chocolate review will be of great use to you in particular.

Lorenzo - The guru's training plan is starting to pay dividends. I feel as though I'm coming to occupy a new shell; one which is more powerful and more subtedly aware of itself than before.

I'm considering keeping a seperate architectural blog at the moment in preparation for the months ahead. I can't say it will be of interest to any of you but it'll hopefully act as a suitable repository for my ideas and inspirations.

I hope you are all well.

Builder done good

2008-07-22T15:21:00.000-07:00

Not normally akin to making two blog posts in a day but I thought this little observation warranted a rant.

Working in a large climbing wall situated within a large city, I get to see all sorts of people from all sorts of backgrounds. From 4 year old gypsy children from the neighbouring wasteland popping in to steal milk to 40 year old upper middle class business people undergoing 'team-building' exercises (quite why the cut-throat environment of modern day competitive business has any business to do with 'team-building' seems a grand irony).

My favourite observation though has to pertain to women. On a daily basis, highly attractive women come to the wall alongside their boyfriend. Never, ever, ever will you see an attractive woman at the wall with a high level climber. Instead, she will be seen with the mandatory template 'V0-campus-in-poor-style' awful haircut and mildly offensive gut specimen. He will thrutch and lunge at every jug through the top section of the step wall, ultimately culminating in the 'will he, won't he' last move which although never graceful, is always amusing. He will hit that jug in the least helpful manner, and from possessing a 13 second lactic threshold will fall dramtically and awkwardly back to the dusty old blue mat that swallows up thousands of his type every year. Despite this, his uber attractive peer will wow at his 'big' muscles and later at home comment on 'how strong and heroic' he was today at the wall. He will deposit semen across her breasts in an act of masculinity and tomorrow they will dream of buying an SUV or a deluxe Barratt home in Congleton.

All this, despite Crouch mounting the campus board to the tune of 1-4.7-7.7 on small rungs in elegant style subsequent to your man's thrutching display. And it's this that makes me realise why attractive women never adorn the arm of high level climbers. In order to be a high level climber, you live that sort of monk life referenced earlier today. Women like the aforementioned want to watch X-Factor in between a fuck before heading to the News bar. Shit I'm so judgemental but I know I'll see the same tomorrow!

My time at the wall will soon be over as the hedonistic lifestyle must end and the dollar must flow into the bank. But I have to say, this daily sight pleases me greatly and it's almost a satisfactory substitute for poor pay, inadequate hours and valuable training time.

Destroy the boulders friends and maintain the hunt for that Spanish sport climbing beauty you know is out there.

The Monk Life

2008-07-22T05:52:00.001-07:00

Is exactly what is required to crush hard blocs. I'm in the 1% of people that can't see Keith's video yet as ibook g4 is now too low spec. However, I just watched the trailer and it awoke something within me. It was a strong feeling and it combined everything I love; bouldering, techno, and devotion. Don't even know why I'm writing this post. I'm going to destroy today's training plan installment.

So solid poo

2008-07-21T14:37:00.000-07:00

Headed to crag y on saturday past for a meetup with M. McShane, Hession, Jennings, Adams and Sugden. Conditions were in our favour and shit was getting sent like UPS by the majority. Despite feeling strong, I didn't send anything new and indeed struggled to find the crucial toe scum on The Fool (7c+ to 7b+!). I attributed this to me not having my old soft top V10s, but M. Jennings being the wisened old dog that he is suggested it was a mere balance transfer issue and insinuated that I am a technique punter. Indeed I am, who needs feet? Shall sort this next time out.

I'm now ensconced within the guru's training plan and can feel the onset of some serious gains. Deadhangs with 2 sandbags and a weighted belt have never felt so good!

Deep into the hunt for temping work at the moment, so not much to report. Due to a lack of money and food, I'm at my parents Ivory towers for a week or two in the hope that I can eat more than dry Weetabix in order to sustain and prolong my existence. Crouchie, we must end this lifestyle and go on an Awesome strike!

Parisella's express

2008-07-13T04:23:00.000-07:00

I have a confession.

The guru's plan was to commence on Monday just passed except it hasn't yet started. Last Sunday I did the tests as required, but knew this would be the last week where I could get outside for quite some time and hence intend to start tomorrow.

As some of you know, I have some unfinished business in the cave; a problem that has conspired against me continually. The gaps in between sessions on this problem have been too great and thus so far denied me of success. On Friday, between groups at the wall, D and I headed to the cave for a 1.5 express session. D has a similar affair, albeit not quite as tried, so we hit the theraband hard, made sure all muscles were warm and got stuck in. Pleasingly, I managed to pull onto Trigger Cut and hit the trigger. I never used to be able to even pull off the floor, so this micro goal was a satisfying one. I didn't do the main event problem but instead realised something interesting.

If you come to have a protracted siege on a problem that becomes a bugbear to you, you find yourself evolving around the problem - "I could never used to do the second move but never fail on the crux move" becomes "now I can do the second move whilst asleep but not the crux move." You come to feel finite improvements in one particular sector of your bicep (at least that's how it feels). The distance between the holds seems to dimish tenfold and their size becomes exaggerated.

Now, there are no moves I cannot do and can in fact do the finish footless on repeat. I'm quite aware that in order to do a problem you have to be both stronger than it and be able to perform that succession of moves so that you are essentially still fresh at the endpoint. In a similarly protracted manner, therein lies the simple explanation for non-completion (it's not failure). To climb things close to your limit (except it feels nowhere near in the strength department), you need to get on them more frequently. But will the next few months and years afford me the time to continue developing physically and technically? If the return to architecture is still such an appealing prospect, I sense not.

Speaking of which, the final decision is to be made this week. By Friday, my future will be dictated by this. I need to sit down and do some number crunching/feasability checks, meet with an architect and then make a fully informed decision.

Bring the noise

2008-07-03T12:07:00.000-07:00

As many of you will have noticed, the last two weeks have been vile, humid times. Humidity is my number one enemy, making me feel sleepy and downright lethargic. Lethargy isn't a great friend of high intensity, small crimp based indoor bouldering sessions and as such, I've resorted to a month of hardcore routing. I've been having a lot of simulated clipping sessions on the step wall in preparation for some things I'd like to clean up at the Tor in good time. I've actually really enjoyed it and seem to be making fast gains clipping off small edges on overhanging boards with minimal footholds. Granted Crouch has been doing such circuits with a weightbelt but I'm still catching up from the lack of training from the first semester of architecture.

Speaking of which....

It's been time for the thinking to end and the action to start. Some simple facts; I am not Dave Graham or Chris Sharma. Nobody wants to pay me to climb. I'm good at Architecture and would dearly love to work in the profession. I can't work such cushy hours as I'm doing right now for all my life. I need to be challenged in a working capacity. I don't deserve to be paid coppers when I'm in possession of a brain. A sedentary state of mind breeds a mental malaise.

The sum total of this realisation is that next week is a week of direct action. I have two meeting's lined up with architectural associates and I'm going to probe their minds about some issues that I need to address. I'm trying my ultimate hardest to get decent hours in an architectural practice doing anything that can immerse me in that form of environment.

So next week sees 2008's Raven Tor season start. Myself and Mr D will be at the Tor at Gaskins O'Clock to receive optimum temps thus preventing prime excuses for failure. There will be no grease to fight and no crowds to negotiate. There will only be success.

The Gay Bar

2008-06-29T11:27:00.000-07:00

Friends, I'm sorry I haven't spouted shit at you all in a few weeks. The lack of internet connection saga continues and I've had to devote and divide my time between some new ventures (which I'll keep you posted on).

OK, I suppose I ought to start with climbing spiel. It's been around one month since I last managed a trip outside and I'm itching to get on rock now. This has largely been due to increased work hours and an indoor training phase that just had to be done. This urge will be curbed this week as Sir Matthew Donnelly has a three week enforced vacation between jobs and the man is telling me he will be treating climbing "like a job". Evolution is firmly on his agenda and various stuff at the Tor is on mine. I anticipate big things from the team and hope to blog about them very soon.

I'm working hard with music production at the moment on a techno venture with 2 comrades. Access to the West Kirby studio can only serve to produce good things. I'll be sure to upload the fruits of this labour in good time and will have to upload some sets for you to all wrap your lobes around.

Friday night saw myself and Mr D head out to town on somewhat of a bender. After finding the Magnet as dead as could be, Matt persuaded me to go to gbar ( a "slamming techno gay bar"). I consented and we had an awesome night. Bizarrely, Kate Lawler of Big Brother shame was DJing and I was alarmed to find that she was dropping some decent tracks. She'll be opening for Hawtin soon I'm sure.

Nothing much else to blog beloved ones. The Euro final is about to commence and I'll have to have a think about blogging about something worthwhile some time soon.

Keep crushing crusaders.

In the meantime, if you don't know what a Pacemaker is, you should be ashamed of yourself and put yourself on the waiting list. Check it:

http://www.pacemaker.net/

Recapitulaton time

2008-06-13T07:56:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a few days since Crouch and I arrived home and this is the first opportunity I've had to write here at the library as my home net connection is still down.

The trip to Italy was overwhelming beyond words; the people, the climbing, the food, the drink and the rest. It's perhaps best for now if you point yourself in the direction of Crouch's blog as he's in a position to upload the photo's on his home net connection. Now that I have all the footage compiled, I'm going to edit together a small video of some problems and gym footage.

I worry that Lore will tire of me now that I know I can get return flights from the top of my road practically to Pisa. In all seriousness though, I'm sure he got as much from the experience as we did.

I only have a few minutes left to cobble together something worthwhile here before my designated time allowance expires. And so I'd like breifly to touch upon something I've been thinking a lot about:

Bums.

Not the gluteus maximus you understand, but the 'surf/climb/skatebum'.

It frustrates me greatly that athletes in the traditional sense are held in high esteem, yet the travelling surfer or climber is labelled a 'bum'. Perhaps it's a sense of envy that overcomes certain individuals within society? Perhaps it's the monotony of the traditional athelete's routine that they can relate their careers to; running 20 laps around a track with no discernable sensory differentiation on each occassion. There's no real envy in that is there?

But in seeing new environments outside the constraints of a stadium or arena, I'd be astounded to meet any individual who would consider this an unenviable experience.

I suppose for now, whilst university has been suspended and funding to continue with my degree is uncertain, I am a bum. I work what hours the wall can give me and I sit here in the library reading books on things I wouldn't normally even think about.

I have to make up my mind about university fast and I still don't know what to do or where to go. It's an exciting time that's for sure.

......

2008-06-07T14:51:00.000-07:00

There's a lot to say and not a lot of battery power.

In summary, I've found a climbing gym I'm finally psyched for (problematic as it's not in my home country) and have seen the two most incredible cities I've ever been to - Florence and Siena.

A proper update is due on Wednesday upon arrival back in the UK.

You all should get to Italy for so many reasons beyond climbing.

Ciao for now.

The wonderful world of Italians

2008-05-30T06:10:00.000-07:00

My, my, my. Wouldn't the world be a much duller place without the people of Italy?
This morning's television comprised of a soap opera in which the central storyline revolved around a brother and sister having intimate relations. When I say intimate, I mean intimate for 11AM. The whole experience was made uncomfortable by the fact that the woman was horrendously good looking but was engaged in a sexual act with her brother. It was very much an "ah yes!, ah no!" situation. The bloodflow to a man's penis has never been so frantically confused.

The next show up (which is on now) is a sort of Trisha. Naturally, the Italians don't enjoy patronising their toothless simpletons directly and instead patronise them by means of exclusion from their television 'chat shows'. It's clear that one needs to go through the whole casting process merely to sit amonst the audience. Temporarily revelling in blissful superficiality has never been so much fun.

After romping through chapter one of my Italian lessons, we were sat like expectant dogs on the doormat to psyche Lore through a fingerboard/campus workout. I'm impressed with his setup and his idea of attaching a set of fishing scales and sling for gauging the exact amount of force being applied for assisted one arm deadhangs.

Allora, some images.

A light flex for you readers

A gentle swan

A slopey caress

Fuck, all this Italian has turned me into a soppy specimen. Tonight, I hear surfing, dining and apertivo's are on the menu.

Arrival

2008-05-29T06:04:00.000-07:00

So after a hassle-free journey yesterday, we arrived in Follonica train station around midnight. Kindly, Lore had come to meet us and we headed back to the house of power. It's so good to catchup and I know the collective psyche should be able to disperse some issues I think each of us is/has been having.

First impressions of Italy and Lore's town are immense. It's been so good to finally meet Valentina and Lore's charismatic cat (who really does talk to you!). I've spent the morning continuing with my Italian lessons and investing energy into expanding my vocabulary. The Italian language has so many parallels to French and Spanish, both of which I've learnt over the years. Although sometimes frustrating, I hope the Fratalian will soon subside and leave me speaking pure Italian.

Today is handed over to further education, tomorrow to surfing.

Keep crushing all of yall.

Pre-trip conditioning

2008-05-19T04:56:00.000-07:00

So the 28th May onwards, we're in Lore's hands. Work hours have temporarily dried up here so this week can be handed over to full power training. I've had myself 3 rest days to allow me to hit the weights HARD this week. Don't want to risk doing anything bad to fingers from greasing off crimps in this weather so it'll just be weights and weight-belt campus workout. Maybe one or two workouts from hell beforehand wouldn't go amiss either.

Had a good last few days and went for a drink with a lady. Made a nice change from talking about the best way to hold various spocks with Crouch and she even had the same plan in mind to go to the tate that I had. Thursday is handed over to that and I'm looking forward to my third circuit of the current exhibition.

Letting this toast and coffee digest before pressing the living shit out of my weights. A new military PB coming on I can sense it.....

Loves.

Promises, promises.....

2008-05-17T03:53:00.000-07:00

I've realised that I keep promising to upload images without actually doing so. For those who have seen and indeed experienced my laptop, I hope you'll empathise as to why I don't upload images and video more often; it's simply too old and slow. Considering a RAM upgrade but the most likely scenario is that I'll hold out until the new job comes good and buy something considerably better.

Anyway, climbing. Well it's been pretty hot and humid of late but I managed to get out to Fairy Steps with the chaps on Thursday evening. After an express warmup due to fading daylight constraints, I headed over to Aeon buttress with Mr Binks to see how the problem felt one year on. Last year, I managed to do the easy moves through to the undercut but couldn't envisage doing the finishing section. Bizarrely, the other night I could do some of the finishing harder moves but not the easy start! I've attributed it to pure grease and a lack of time to try the problem constructively; running at a problem like an idiot because of fading daylight is no way to approach a personal project. The very last LH dropdown was eluding me, but I think I'll somehow transfer a segment of video with good beta onto my phone as my memory for sequences is notoriously appalling. Upon arriving home and watching it, I realised a couple of reasons why I hadn't been doing the opening moves with ease; a foot swap and a different crimp for the right hand at the start. I'm really keen to get back on it in crisp conditions as those slopey crimps don't respond well to the heat at all. I left feeling a little confused but ultimately satisfied that the drop into the pinch and then out right again felt fine. Progress is progress and all.....

Worked the last 3 days at the wall and climbed the last 4 days straight which is a lot for me. I'm giving myself the day off today as heading out with Monsieur Donnelly tomorrow now that his shoulder is on it's way back to full power.

Last item on the agenda is that Crouch and I have our Italy trip to stay with Lore at last. From the 28th May to the 9th (I think?) June, it'll be a hedonistic lifestyle of boulders, food, drink, techno and surf. I'm really very excited.

Some images

2008-05-13T02:23:00.000-07:00

All unrelated in content really, but anyway.

Witnessed at a service station near Frodsham;

A minibus full of inebriated ladies on their way to a hen party event.

This image of the dawgs at the Mwyn amuses me for some reason:

No day at the crag is complete without a favourite uniform:

Anytime the word Italy trip is mentioned to Crouch:

Arguably the most inefficient method of gaining the sloper on RA with left foot in pocket on the back wall. Can't do this move any other way which is most bizarre:

On the same problem, Lore making great progress on his cave inauguration (sorry photo quality isn't the best):

Another shot:

Summer Lore, come on!

Anyway, I have loads more images to post up soon from Swiss, Architecture-related and Mules birthday. Shall post them up soon.

Feeling hot, hot, hot.

2008-05-12T04:00:00.001-07:00

A week of hot weather has meant early/late starts in the Pass and on the Orme this week. Headed to the Pass on Saturday with Crouch and Dave and met up with the Cattells in the afternoon. We all pissed about on the Sleep Deprivation roof before heading to Jerry's roof. It was uncomfortably humid to be honest, which inevitably led to greasing off problems. Despite this, it was an awesome day as we headed back to Jerry's roof after heading into Llanberis to get some dinner. Jerry's lit well by lantern light and the conditions had improved greatly. Alas, energy had been sapped by previous climbing in the day and by the draining effects of the humidity.

Will post up a load of random photos later perhaps. I don't have the energy to write enthusiastically today. Off to the Park for day 4 of the sun marathon!

Cup of tea with Mr Gaskins

2008-05-07T10:37:00.000-07:00

Last night I had a very lucid and strange dream. For some reason, I was at John Gaskins' house where he offered me a cup of tea before we were to go out climbing. After finishing with the family's finest bone china, we headed out to a 'new venue' John was developing. Apparently it was the future of bouldering and I was told I'd get on well with it. I can't remember the name of the venue but I can clearly remember that a lot of the problems involved pulling on small plant roots and pebbles glued onto boxes. I don't think I can describe the style in which the problems climbed as gravity seemed to subside temporarily on some of them. It was a lengthy session anyway and I remember enjoying climbing at this new venue and heeding some good advice from the man in question.

After awakening from this dream, I headed to the wall today to set some problems upstairs. It was like a furnace up there given the heat and I was actually without an impact driver for 3 hours, tightening all bolts by hand. Progress was slow and tedious until around 2pm when I acquired one. After finishing at 4, I stayed to watch Crouch work some routes until I became bored enough to come home and write this entry.

Had a nice day on the Orme on Saturday checking out an area I'd often wondered about. Doylo thankfully knew the script with it and the day resulted in two new problems and some future potential projects. It'll be nice bouldering here in the heat of the summer as the whole sector seemed to stay in shadow.

Off for a run now and sorry you may have actually gotten to the end of this nonsense.

Italy everywhere

2008-05-02T10:33:00.000-07:00

After a monster session at the wall on tuesday with Crouch which involved the weight belt, board climbing and a Gaskins/Jerry footless roof circuit Toms Roof style, I felt well and truly worked. So much so that I was still feeling the repercussions yesterday in my session. After an extensive warmup, I got on some of the problems Crouch and I set. I really rate his offerings and am satisfied with mine. Felt a bit too sore to have an uber productive session so limited my energy to dogging some individual moves on one or two problems I haven't yet done. Felt good pissing some moves I would have had trouble with a few months back and it was a sure sign the workout from hell has been working. Brilliant.

EVERYTHING is pointing to Italy at the moment. Yesterday, feeling really psyched after feeling a new era of strength, I treated myself to the luxury of giving Lore a ring. We were both equally psyched about similar things and that only spurred me on further to be even more psyched to the point of probably being overpsyched, ultimately culminating in me using the word 'psyched' in far too great a frequency.

Anyway, plans are afoot for a visit just as soon as I can recover some funds from the time I had to take off work. This will be within the next few weeks and I simply can't wait. Today, after a trip to the bank to pay some bills, I headed off to the Albert Dock to visit the Tate. I make a point of going there regularly even if it is to look at the same things. Different moods have a propensity to evoke different responses I think you'll agree. The sun was out today and every man and woman on Bold St and beyond seemed to be either Spanish or Italian. It all felt incredibly Mediterranean and if it wouldn't have been for catching my pasty complexion in a shop window at one point in the journey, I could have sworn I was from the Mediterranean!

The exhibition was entitled 'The Twentieth Century: How it looked and felt'. It was an eclectic collection of everything from Picasso to Riley and I'd recommend you check it if you're in the vicinity.

I'll post up some images from it later.

To Berlin or not to Berlin?

2008-04-27T13:03:00.000-07:00

Techno truly is the greatest thing on the planet. The seed was sown from a very young age when my grandmother gave me the incredible Rolf Harris endorsed/designed Stylophone instrument. It took some years before I got the standard introduction to the likes of Kraftwerk but the love of synthesised sounds still continues to overwhelm me with every new track I hear.

I haven't engaged in any physical activity whatsoever over the weekend as I want to be fresh for the hard week of training and climbing ahead. Had a hedonistic night in Liverpool on friday with the doc and two of his friends. Unlike the doc, they were too geeky (and I think the girl actually has sexual mental health issues) for me and enjoyed cracking all manner of jokes pertaining to blood glucose monitoring, ECG's etc. etc. I was seriously down for some techno and wanted to hunt it down but the collective as a whole weren't feeling my dirty bad boy vibe. Returned home at 4AM anyway and lay down listening to a variety of sets for the rest of the day.

Anyway, after a brief email conversation, I've become super psyched to head to the Sunday Adventure Club at the Berghain club in Berlin. The lineup is immense and the ticket price even more so; 15 Euros!! That is insanely good value to see Dear, Carola, Magda, Hawtin, Wink et al. A ticket to Berlin from Liverpool would undoubtedly be piss cheap if I book it now and the event could be too good to miss. Outdoor party in day, moves indoor by night into the next day). May try to persuade some of you to come.......

Check the site: www.sundayadventureclub.de

Check out these cats enjoying some Berghain action (usual poor camera phone quality but perhaps demonstrative of the atmosphere):

Enjoy your evenings lovelys.

3 dirty men in a cave

2008-04-25T04:31:00.000-07:00

Trained it over to Flint yesterday morning to meet Doylo. After some early morning hail showers, we drove into good weather with a little cloud cover. Headed to Gop Hill first as dirty man number one wanted to crush Push the Button (8a bloc) and I'd never been so wanted to see it. After an extensive warmup consisting of pull ups and deadhangs, I wanted to try Smoke a Bloke (7b+). I felt real strong pulling on and moving but it took me 2 goes to realise I needed to be putting my right foot on first rather than left foot first. The right crimp is small and sharp which gave me a bit of a premature incision but nothing I couldn't deal with for the rest of the day. I love one move problems and the pinch and crimp on this problem feel so good with a perfect distance to a slot. Will try it again if in the vicinity at some point in the future.

Next up, Mule joined us and we stayed at le Gop for a while longer before heading to the sacred Orme. Everyone had something to work in the cave and after a relatively short session in there, we went up to Pill Box. Doylo nearly crushed his sitter project after some beta experimentation but just dropped off around the top. No doubt you're crushing this as I write dawg. Got back on the only section of the Malteser (7c) I have trouble with which involves a very bouncy slap to a beautiful thin crimp/pinch thing. Although didn't manage to latch it, I sussed some beta for a bit of a right foot scum and think when fresh I can nail this move. Did Last Orders (7a) to finish which was an excellent problem.

Plan for today; run, tidy, Keiths wine bar for coffee and reading. I wish I could take you all there, it's simply my favourite place on earth. Maybe I'll try and take some photos in there.

Weather change

2008-04-23T07:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the distinct start of warm weather. I know they call the lime around now in the Peak, but I can't help wonder if we're calling the end on the Orme? Will the cave not just become a big greasebowl? Anyway, there's projects in the pass to be dealt with so this could be a good thing.

Yesterday was another power endurance circuit session. Very similar to the one documented last week but had to cruise through this one quick smart in time for the Champions League game. Riise, what were you thinking? A diving header on a basic clearance? Anyway, I'm going to write a whole entry about Drogba the dirty bastard when I have time.

Wanted to run through the park this afternoon but going to take a walk down Lark Lane (the best road in the world) and decide on my course of action for the evening. Tomorrow, I'll be either cave bound or mwyn bound.

At last, there's some decent nights ahead with Ben Klock, Villalobos and Hawtin all arriving on UK shores within the next few months. Doubtless there are more and the Rhumba night seems to be getting better by the month and drawing in good names.

2008-04-22T09:40:00.000-07:00

My grandmother passed away in the early hours of yesterday morning. My parents were there with her and her passing was said to be peaceful. I'm obviously saddened that I've lost someone who was very close to me, but also relieved she isn't in pain any longer. Her sense of humour remained intact until the very end and that was a testament to her personality.

1 month on

2008-04-20T05:21:00.000-07:00

Isn't it amazing what a month can do (why has this begun like a Sex and the City episode?)?

The last month's seen an incredibly low frequency of outdoor action but a relatively high volume of training. I've been staying with my parents and going to the hospital for the last week so it was nice to seize a moment yesterday to head out to the beloved Orme. I'd set my alarm for a bit of a lie-in and intended to train it to the dudno but a chance call from mad dog Edmonson meant that we were both now going in his van and would head down to Gyrn Goch for Ben's party afterwards.

Met up with senor Doyle, informing him of my plans to check Snout out. Snout wasn't to be as Danny is a rampant rabbit and I simply wasn't strong enough, but the real reason for failure seemed to be the difficulty in getting a heel-toe in quite a bunched position (as I'm sure Doylo will testify to). This confirms two things; 1. Danny is a mutant. 2. One must persist, persist, persist until you sometimes have to rape a problem into submission.

Bearing that in mind, and after some time spent between us trying to establish a FA near Snout, Doylo headed off and I went for a quick blast on RA.

Two things happened; I was at the last move in no time and my arms ran out of gas completely. Couldn't work out if this was from the session up at Snout or if it was due to spending such a period of time away from it. I think it's most likely the latter but it felt good floating through it.

All in all, really good to get out between things. Check out the Sunday Sermon, it's simply magical.

Trainer porn

2008-04-17T12:54:00.000-07:00

OK so it's hardly making amends for the drivel I spouted earlier but I had a breakthrough in the ZX hunt earlier after some exhaustive searching.

Check out these potential candidates;

Seen before but rate them:

These are a hot, hot favourite but I'm not sure the site selling them will import them;

Loving the Kosovan refugee vibe with these bad boys;

Question is, which to go for? All of them?

Ordered this beast today to accessorise;

'Accessorise'? I think I'm bisexual.

Ingenious training facility

2008-04-17T03:03:00.000-07:00

And there it was; it came to me yesterday whilst resting between sets.

I've been searching for a place around the house for a while to put my much needed fingerboard to no avail. It's all really poor quality plasterboard or just not a suitable place. I realised that between rungs 4 and 5, I could place two 2 t nuts in the campus board and using long M10 bolts, I could put up and take down the fingerboard at will.

Due to the angle of the campus board being 15 degrees, I'll need the rear of the fingerboard I'm going to make to sit flush to this angle. This is clearly no great revelation but I needed to write it down before I forgot this simple and ingenious solution.

Reading Lore's posts about power makes me realise I have jack shit in the tank. There's a crimp at the mwyn I can one arm deadhang for a decent period but that's about it. After power season MK 1, I've decided to move on to systematic one arm dead hanging sessions with a counter-weight.

How very fucking interesting this has been for you. I'll try and find something interesting later on to make amends....

Power season MK 1

2008-04-16T11:39:00.000-07:00

As mentioned yesterday, the current onus is on power. From A Level Sport Science, I learnt the great virtues of periodisation and I try to actively adhere to it's principles.

Managed to pop home to Liverpool this afternoon for a campus/weights/CoC session. Due to my time being very limited for the immediate future, I decided to have a sort of climbing-specific circuit training session. So, on went the weight belt and I had a full campus session doing the usual laddering/down-laddering/touches/maximal attempts etc. Could notice a slight sap in power from wearing the belt, but felt good by and large.

Next up was the weighted leg raises and CoC closes. 3 sets of 10 controlled 90 degree raises and straight onto 3 sets of 5 maximal CoC closes; they felt piss tonight and I didn't fade noticably on any particular rep.

After this and surging with energy, I moved onto the weights and did some maximal military presses and bicep curls. Performed each set after 2 mins rest and overloaded the system good-style.

I'm staying at my parents for the time being and playing each day by ear whilst my grandmother is in hospital. My dad is encouraging me to go away this weekend on the Ysgo trip for showtime's birthday, but I'll have to see.

Read an interesting article in the Guardian's G2 supplement on the bus home entitled 'Blueprint for Style'. It was a humourous overview of the manner in which contemporary architects dress; one of two styles primarily - "either they dress like Le Corbusier, or they dress like their own buildings."

I'd have to agree with this observation on the whole. Strolling through the university faculty's corridors bears a similar resemblance to attending an early 1900's rural French funeral. I think Professor Dunster actually believes he is Mies! If he's not talking about him, he's talking about how much Cognac and how many cigar's he smoked the previous night. A nice guy but a total prick at the same time if you get my drift?

Dunster:

Mies:

Punch n Crush Gloves

2008-04-15T11:45:00.000-07:00

Check out these Superman Punch n Crush Gloves. They're on sale at my local Home Bargain and debating whether to invest in a pair. Not sure what I'd use them for though. Maybe I'll lap Rock Attrocity in them once redpoint stamina steps up a notch.

Also, check out this kid clearly enjoying his pair.

Limestone and ZX's

2008-04-15T11:30:00.000-07:00

Seeing Keith's photos of La danse de Balrog on UKB earlier reminded me of two things.

1. I desperately need a new pair of ZX's that I'm enamoured with. My current pair are going to be preserved and placed in an acrylic case for display in my bedroom. Future retired pairs will be archived in a similar manner. Despite an hour scouring the net this morning for a site which sells them, I couldn't find anything of any use. Even Size don't seem to have any decent stock in at the moment. Recommendations from those in the know are welcomed....

2. I don't want to forget about my limestone ticklist for the next few months:

> Big G Start (7c) - Trowbarrow
> Aeon (7c) Fairy Steps
> New Rose (7c+ now?) Farleton Knott
> Rock Attrocity (7c) Parisella's Cave

Barring New Rose, I've been on all the others and am highly confident I can do/am close to doing them. I've had a couple of finger board sessions over the past week and my mono dead-hanging duration and depth of mono ability is increasing at a rapid rate. Perfect for the end of year Charante trip (Rouhling's home turf).

After Doylo's ever-inspirational Sunday Sermon just past, I've decided to heed his many years of Orme experience and give Pill Box a bit of a rest. In place, I'm going to work seriously hard on power gains and have invested in a couple of weight belts to get started with.

Vimeo

2008-04-15T03:30:00.000-07:00

Finally got involved with Vimeo as a better alternative to youtube.

Will embed future footage via Vimeo. In the meantime, the previously posted video now at:

Untitled from Tom Mills on Vimeo.

Nothing new to note with regards to climbing; I'm at my parents and supporting my mum inasmuch as I can at this difficult time.

Hope you're all mutilating your projects and look forward to seeing you good people out soon.

Recap modotti

2008-04-11T10:13:00.000-07:00

Some good news is that my grandmother has had some positive feedback on blood samples. She needs to eat far more than she is doing, but we're hopeful rest and respite will assist in the path to recovery from this infection inflicted by antibiotics to a former condition.

Bad news for ma homies is that you'll have to ciphern through this waffle once again....

I suppose it's been a while and hence a bit too much to comment on. Mike's wedding reception was an all-round success and the only lowlight of the evening was my being made to do the Twist on the dancefloor with his darling wife. I'm fine throwing myself round at techno but stuff like this brings out the robot in me. Seriously, I make Peter Crouch look like Travolta.

From Rotherham it was on to Font. I intended to approach this, my fourth visit to the forest, with an open mind as to what could go down. As with each trip there, I learn something new every time. This trip taught me the invaluable lesson of spending a longer period in the forest enabling one to take a greater number of rest days. Knowing that throughout the course of my sub-fortnight trip, it could rain at any given moment for an undisclosed period of time, I elected to climb nine days out of ten. Granted some of those days weren't full days due to sporadic deluges, but I was active on each of them.
By day 6, my elbows and general body felt sore all over and I began to climb on Ibruprofen (something I dislike doing immensely).

Met Keith by chance at Bas Cuvier early on in the trip and chatted briefly. Later on, met up with the Jim, Lee, Si, Worm outfit and dossed around Big Boss whilst people got involved.

I managed to send some seventh grade problems I wanted to although my valued session on Rubis was marred by poor skin and bad elbows. I got up high in the groove and know it will go down in a future trip as it suits me down to the ground.

Anxious that any advances in cave strength may have receeded but will find out tomorrow if I choose to train it the dudno. Have made the decision I'm not going to grease out of the RA finishing slot this time and instead mutilate it so hard it breaks.

Put a video of the few things I bothered to set the camera up for on youtube. Sorry it's turd quality but it's all I can offer with my current laptop. The start has corrupted for some reason, but I'll reupload it at some point to sort it out.

Priorities

2008-04-06T14:14:00.000-07:00

I haven't intended this blog to be a place for my philosophical musings so I won't elaborate greatly. Currently, my grandmother is ill in hospital. Barring my parents, I haven't ever met a person who has inspired me as greatly as she has and it saddened me to see her as she was tonight. For now, my attention is focused on supporting my mother and being around my family. Consequently, for you good friends that read this, I'm unlikely to write here for a little while and in the meantime, I hope you are all enjoying your climbing to the fullest.

Thomas Mills the 2nd and rock n roll

2008-03-20T12:41:00.000-07:00

After the big man's TV appearance, he told me to look up tom mills+john lennon on google. Seems he's created a bit of a wave in the rock n roll history archives by revealing Lennon's record from the ATC. BBC news gave some coverage to the story which I thought was cool.

Anyway, I put Mick's video online last night but the first few seconds got corrupted somehow. I'll try again after finishing up here at me parentos. The 3 week holiday begins today!

Oh and I climbed two crypt V5's the other night which equates to around Den 7b+, which equates to outside 7c+. A landmark stage in my career, I'm really very hapy.

Keen Pensioner

2008-03-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

OK, a quick post as it's 9pm, I'm exhausted and I want to socialise for a few hours before bed.

Went to Pantymwyn with O, D, and Mick today. Mule popped along further into the afternoon to join us standing under the roof evading the rain, but not before a trip up the hill to Frodsham. On arrival, we found Hoopla in a terrible state and a team prediction that the gorge might still be in condition lead us on the road to Clwyd.

Sadly, Under the Bridge was soaked in the upper section, as was the wall in general which of course meant no project action today. After a brief conversation with Doylo yesterday, he mentioned the 'blank wall' right of said line. Now, I'll never write a wall climb off as blank. There is ALWAYS a means of gaining upward inertia and just as I predicted, this line will be surmountable, but not without buckets of lank, fierce, fierce boning of small quartz edges and a lot of motivation. Check, check and check.

I despise quartz holds and some of these are a particularly despicable breed of quartz edge (I'm really throwing you off the scent of my project here aren't I?). Nevertheless, I am 100% percent committed to getting to that shothole finish and will be back in more favourable conditions. There's potentially a couple of other similar projects in the immediate vicinity but much will depend on the wall being in condition to afford a frutiful session working them.

Finally took my idiot cap off and did gasoline from a standup, but not without being a complete baffoon in the process impersonating a steroidal Austrian bodybuilder. Note to self - must stop being a complete tool when climbing. Anyway, I'd like to do the whole thing next time the place is bone dry.

Most notable part of the day was Mick doing the direct roof start to gasoline. An impressive span, he mooted it to be around font 7c but not without incorporating his now commonplace disclaimer which reads something along the lines of
"I can't grade anyway".

I managed to capture the ascent on film, replete with dogs barking and men jabbering. Is it possible I might one day film a friend climbing without the sound of dogs or sexually-driven waffle?

I'll have a mammoth post some day soon of all these images and films I keep mentioning. I Promise Rich.

Biceps mou=soft biceps

2008-03-12T12:22:00.000-07:00

Is appparently the translation offered by my French friend. Although perhaps it shouldn't be so literal?

Anyway. Haven't had much time to blog over the last week due to a combination of factors (mostly pertaining to exhaustive work hours at the wall, sorting out uni admin matters and climbing/training a lot). Crouch even told me off for not updating this. Is all this waffle really THAT interesting for you?

Lore came over late last week and it was awesome. Everything fell into place for him in terms of the logistics of the trip. After a night of sleep on the National Express (not to be envied), he rocked up at 6am whereupon I sent him straight to bed for a few hours. After some coffee and fuel, we arrived at the Orme and began the warmup. Doylo, Jim and Ian were down to meet Lore. I remember clocking the expressions on said men when they got to witness their first "Corleone!!". Priceless. I thought Jim had shit himself!

Upon finding out RA was a Jerry problem, the man became even more psyched going on to do it in two halves. With so much to take in in one day, it was a very credible effort and I'm told the following day on the grit and the ale was just as successful.

I have a picture of a man clearly in a state of Zen on the Orme I'll post up post-bath.

In the same session, despite feeling like dog turd and shattered, I managed to get to the finishing slot on the first attempt of RA only to mis stab it and fall off. Shame as there was still loads of gas for the match left. Perhaps I should rename this blog, the "One punter's attempt to do Rock Attrocity blog".

Anyway, manged to do Under the Bridge at Pantymwyn last night 3rd go on my second session which was nice. Strangely it succumbed to beta that I was sure initially wouldn't work for me. I really do think it's one of the most underrated problems around. Incredible tension and slap moves. 7b+ apparently and wonder if a sitter or extension traverse into it would add much in the way of quality? Might have a look this week.

Bath time baby.

Don't blame it on the moonlight

2008-02-29T04:35:00.000-08:00

An eerily quiet Orme session last night, but a good one. Good in the respect of the vibe, not so good in respect of RA. I think it might have had something to do with coiffing a hundred litres of strong coffee throughout the day (thought I was on the brink of palpitations at one point). The comedown seemed to hit me in the car on the way.

Pah! All this is a mere blanket of excuses. Although the cave by evening is a beautiful place (all her nooks and crannies are delightfully expressed), it doesn't seem to be a good plan for working a problem stuck in the middle of a roof where one doesn't have time to linger (well I don't anyway) looking for shadowed footholds . Others seem to be able to climb in a headlamp but it puts me off. Wearing the wrong t-shirt puts me off for fuck's sake! These excuses must cease and the rock must be crushed.

Tomorrow a vist to Sheffield. Whilst others are blasting each others testes with paint on a wet field in Nottingham, I'm going to find someone to visit.

The great quake of '08

2008-02-27T02:21:00.000-08:00

After coming back from Todd's house around midnight last night, I decided to begin the previously mentioned shortlist in the 7&8's guide before going to bed. Suddenly, around 01:00, the living room began to shake immensely to which I naturally released my brown load. At first, I thought Andy had rolled 20 prostitutes out of bed upstairs but then realised even that wouldn't make this much noise and movement for that long. Sat up on UKB with a couple of other lonely hearts, I toyed with the idea of posting that there might have been an earthquake. I then considered this a ridiculous and unlikely notion, only to awake to find it was an earthquake after all!

As a lot of people have been commenting, it's amazing just how loud an earthquake is. Wow.

Capabilities

2008-02-26T08:16:00.000-08:00

Had an interesting, albeit simple discussion with Crouch recently with regards to the UK weather patterns and the realisation of one's potential outdoors. These past few weeks have been kind to our fraternity and it made us wonder whether the community at large could not go on to achieve even greater things given a more stable weather system. An innane discussion on the whole, but there does seem to be an innundation of much sought after sends by various friends and associates at present.

The night out to Liverpool on Saturday for Mule's birthday was decent by and large; as suspected, the somewhat 'diverse' lineup did make things a bit weird and not altogether seamless. Despite this, it was good to meet some new faces and really enjoyed the many conversations. Poor 119 was rammed to capacity, though secretly I think her delicate and aged masonry appreciated a return to her glory days of post-war partying. One of the great things I realised about our house is that we seem to have forged an unspoken but mutual alliance with neighbours on both sides. It doesn't happen every weekend so when we have people en masse around, they let it slide and we'd happily do the same for them.

Despite not having any real sleep over the past 3 days, the company of Liverpool's answer to Mr Motivator carried me through a decent weights session yesterday. Realised I can actually bicep curl a decent amount now and that the last two month's weight training is really starting to pay off. Granted I'm not going to head out and buy a tight fitting, black FCUK t-shirt, get tanned up to the eyeballs and buy a Staffs Terrior, but I'd like to own some guns to be sincerely proud of.

Tomorrow night is a lantern session at the cave. Being my inaugural night-session there, I'm not completely confident I'll be able to see all the holds I need to. Should prove an interesting sampler anyhow.

Some good news through is that there is space in M. Jennings car on the forthcoming Font trip. It's been a while since last at Font and so been reading through the 7&8's guide as well as the current thread on UKB. Perhaps a little pointless as I never usually end up trying half the things I shortlist, but who knows, perhaps this time I might.

Highball

2008-02-23T12:25:00.000-08:00

Wow. Received a call from Mick yesterday enquiring whether I'd be interested in watching him die today and ultimately be powerless to stop it. I agreed on the premise that if he was going to commit suicide at the Breck, I'd do my darned hardest to thwart his attempts.
We departed around 10 this morning for Wallasey's most inspiring (read only inspiring) highball. The car was suitably rammed with as many mats as could physically fit and as much psyche as you can fit in a nu-school 2 litre VW Beetle of your fiance's.

After the usual warmup routine on the Who Wall, we were stood at the bottom contemplating the gist of it all. Usefully, we had no top-roping kit and if Mike was to justify the drive from Rotherham, the Haston Dyno would have to be done ground-up with no inspection as to whether the finishing slot which one dyno's to was in any fit state to be caught. In any case, I perhaps somewhat irresponsibly egged him on, reminding him of Adam Long's ground-up ascent of the Angels Share and how such highball ascents are the future.

After a number of abortive ascents at the crimp line from which one launches, Mick psyched himself up good style with the sequence dialled. Rather than windmilling over with the right hand as had been the case on the initial attempts, a small edge was spotted out left and a high slopey smear for the right foot. After one go of this method, we both knew it was on and it was just a matter of time.

As he set off, I couldn't help but think of the consequences of a barndoor swing rightwards away from the landing zone and onto a pile of tetanus-ridden detritus. Naturally, I didn't voice my concerns and instead concentrated on preventing my dear friend from perishing inasmuch as one could assist.

The deadpoint of the slot was one of the longest periods of time ever experienced by any man. Indellibly scorched into my brain was the facial expression Mick possessed as he looked down in anticipation of a bum landing. I was obviously powerless and hoped to fuck that housebrick didn't have any of the moss in it I'd seen from the top of the Who Wall in years past. Thankfully, Duncan had done a grand job of cleaning it and all that was required was a match and then an equally terrifying dismount.

With the object of today's session in the bag, we headed to Bluebell Wall for an hour before departing for coffee with the chadmesiter.

One of the most memorable days climbing thus far. Amazing.

day or night....

2008-02-21T13:33:00.000-08:00

"So when you call up that shrink in Beverley Hills........... you know the one..." shit I love Prince.

Anyway, headed to the Breck and then Frodsham for a lantern session with O, si and Crouch. I'm really, really feeling these lantern sessions right now and it's keeping everyone pysched moving on rock instead of a scummy indoor wall.
After a warmup, sent the classic Old Shep before getting stuck into a new project. This thing has me so so psyched. A pull on on the dirtiest hold you could possibly envisage for the right, similar on the left. Pull on, low positive edge for your right foot, left foot scums, moving it into a niche. Scum the right foot into a real vague fin. Bone the living fuck out of the right and try to move over the left foot. When at 1000% effort on the right crimp and in balance, lock it making a long move to the shittest imaginable hold - like really, really bad. Hit it (desperate) and attempt to match on an atom before trending out leftwards to finish on the granny traverse. No idea of a potential number because it will be a new personal standard in thin climbing. I can't quite believe i'm so psyched for this thing. Crouch was coming painfully close on sticking the Brundlefly dyno and I'm positive he'll get it next session for the second ascent. Presume he'll then be keen for the sitter.

O is looking real strong at the moment and is managing to surmount some niggling injuries. He's also the key instigator of the lantern sessions and for that, I'm eternally thankful. People who are going to the wall in favour of these sessions are missing out big time!

Have to pop into uni tomorrow to sort some administrative matters out before going for a run and cleaning the hosue for the onslaught of half of Denbigh. Dearly looking forward to the Dear.

Anti wall measures

2008-02-20T03:49:00.000-08:00

Felt crap with this bastard virus the last few days but decided yesterday that I should head to Pex with the others to try and get some fresh air in the system. There's a supreme smugness that descends when you realise 100+ people are wasting 7 quid for a session down the wall when you're out in the best possible conditions under lamplight tearing rock to pieces.

There was a decent crowd down and conditions were immense. Started the usual warmup of working through the gears then moved on to try NW Overhang. Couldn't envisage doing it at first but got heavily psyched and after discovering the most micro of micro beta it went. Crouch sent it and then the sit down. Standup said to be 7b and the sitter mooted to be 7b+ but there's a conscensus reckoning it likely 7c. To the visiting climber it would be pretty miserable to say the least.

I love lantern sessions and it seems everyone is now keen for them which is good.

And so:

Today: Hearty food at the Crouch's
Thurs: Lie in and Frodsham lantern session
Fri: Try and get some kids club hours
Sat: Crush am, party pm.
Sun: A veritable write off.