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Run of play at the moment is work 6 days a week then have Sunday free and hopefully climb outside. Depending on weather, motivation and fatigue this day can go either way.
So outdoor activity is still on a bit of a hiatus but i have managed the odd problem. I dragged myself up Full Power at Gardoms with a basic slappy method up the arete. I went back a few Sundays to try and get 8Ball. I got a sequence down but work and conditions got in the way so i've sacked this until it gets cold again.
Besides that i've just been training. Setting actually gets you quite fit, especially setting world cup problems for the GB team. WE have 4 bloody hard salmon problems at City Bloc at the moment so im getting on with training on them
By Martin Smith - Posted on 10.5.10 10:39 17 |
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| South Africa 09 |
Rocklands
It was the perfect trip, miles from home, no mobile signal, no internet, perfect.
Morning psych with strong coffee and Dai's diary
Michy says 'hello pet!'
Suus tackles the underbelly of the classic Rhino
Earl warms up
a baboon warms up
a couple of sexy beasts
home for the trip
searching for blocs
this was definately the best trip in years. I'd not been on a two week trip since 2004 and with all the work from City Bloc i really needed a break.
The bouldering in Rocklands is first class, pretty much every climb is a classic taking an obvious feature. When walking to most areas the amount of rock can be a bit daunting to look at and finding the climbs sometimes a bit of an adventure. Most of the rock you see is so heavily featured that its not suitable for climbing so you are on the look out for the more compact rock. Long walk-ins are generally the norm so i was glad to have packed my Raptor approach shoes as opposed to a pair of skateboard trainers.
The bouldering in Rocklands is first class, pretty much every climb is a classic taking an obvious feature. When walking to most areas the amount of rock can be a bit daunting to look at and finding the climbs sometimes a bit of an adventure. Most of the rock you see is so heavily featured that its not suitable for climbing so you are on the look out for the more compact rock. Long walk-ins are generally the norm so i was glad to have packed my Raptor approach shoes as opposed to a pair of skateboard trainers.
Climbing wise we all had a great trip. I was really pleased for Suus to do her first 8a+, which was definately more of a mental challenge for her than a physical one. Andy was climbing well and pretty much did everything he tried in a few goes.
I was pretty pleased with the way i climbed considering my lack of outdoor activity over the last few months. We visited as many areas as we could in the time we had so i was psyched to do as many classics as possible. Standouts included The Shark at 8days of rain, Nutsa, Out of Balance and Creaky Heights at Roadside, Armed Responce at the Fortress. There were many many more but to be honest im terrible at remembering the names(read dont care).
Have to say a big thanks to Liam, Michy and Tom for showing us the blocs. No doubt we would have wasted a few days searching without the beta.
By Martin Smith - Posted on 4.2.10 12:56 25 |
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| R2 |
By Martin Smith - Posted on 22.11.09 13:01 52 |
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| volume2 |
Oops, its almost a year since i last blogged. I wont go into depth about what i've been up to but it has involved injury, bouldering, lots of work and a bit of skateboarding (badly).
Climbing has had to take a back seat due to opening City Bloc with some friends. We opended early February this year and we are very happy with the way the wall turn out. Despite long days at work i've been fitting in some good training sessions on the world cup problems we have plus putting the savage training board to good use.
Anyways, working 6 days a week obviously puts a damper on outdoor activity. Sunday being the holy day of the week means a day off from work. So what do you do with your only day off, do what any normal human being would do.............go to Cressbrook!! Dont think i went last year so i was interested to see how it would feel. Good news was i felt stronger than ever. Hopefully i can get a bit stronger for my trip to South Africa at the end of June.
2days later
Went back to Cressbrook on Sunday after warming up at the climbingworks. Despite heavy rain i was psyched so headed out. Luckily rain had stopped near the limestone and the rock was dry, just. After a couple of the standard blocs i got my teeth back into superman which i was close to last Sunday. I'd seen a clip of strong spaniard Nacho using a heal hook method, i discovered pretty quick there was no way this would work with my giraffe legs. i opted for a spike further out right foot, left hand up to crimp then a campus style move up with right to the 3finger sloper with the small thumb catch, left hand up to top sloper. After a few goes i hit the sloper well, foot stuck and i kept it together for the top. yeahhhhh!! Dont think i've ever been as pleased to do a bloc. Bring on Rocklands.
By Martin Smith - Posted on 12.5.09 18:43 20 |
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