DCU IBL

Bit of a late post as always but the joys of work at this time of year :)

Anyway, I'll start off first and foremost with a big thanks to the organisers, especially Jonathan and Nicole, for the organisation of the event - they know why I'm thanking them for keeping the IBL going this year....

My other observation was in relation to the fact that this is the wall that I started to climb on. I now understand why I've got strong fingers - it's really not very steep so to make problems harder in my four years of university, we just made the holds smaller and further apart. No wonder I sucked so much at steep climbing :)

As always, the DCU event is ace, a compact wall, it's in Dublin so big crowds and the features on the wall always lead to as much love for them as loathing. Locals were crushing left, right and centre with their knowledge of the good and bad ones. I couldn't call myself a local, I'd forgotten where they all were but there's still that vague familiarity that comes after years away, like riding a bike.

In all, it looked like everyone was having fun, the social element was high, and the debates over the IBL grading scheme were as active as ever ;) 

Still though, I had a laugh, Naomi did also, and we both walked away tired after a fun day. Interestingly, and as I see at many of the comps, the strongest person didn't win from what I personally thought (he came third as it happened) but a little bit of competition experience and age won out in the end. In the womens, even injured Hannah was crushing, and Joan was as strong as ever - Naomi and many of the girls were inspired.

It was interesting watching the standard in comparison to the Sheffield-based comps now. Basically, the problems (especially in the bigger events) are all much steeper, with only a single problem on a vertical wall, the rest all overhanging from 5 degrees to fully horizontal. I really can't recommend enough to people to come over and check out the Climbing Works international comp in March 2011 for a fun weekend a loads of inspiration. The qualifiers take place in the whole climbing works and are of all levels, no matter your grade. You can then hang around that evening for the big semifinals and finals and watch some seriously high level bouldering going on. Always a place to crash here in Sheffield........

Campusing

The fingerboard I've always used. The original one that lived in my parent's house for many years! Pulley system which is still in use in Sheffield :) Let me know if you want to know how I use the pulley.....

I'm wondering where to go with my training for the winter right now. I had originally said I was going to focus on campusing, with the recognition that I have puny weak shoulders (especially after watching some of the guys at the Works one night). I was of the belief that it would help me with some power problems.

But then, I met one of the guys who could comfortably static 1-4-8 just letting go on the bigger holds. I was ticking problems that he wasn't near on while in Font. So, now it's got me thinking about how useful campusing actually is? Don't get me wrong there's a basic level that is really useful, but like on a fingerboard, is none of it particularly useful unless it's on the smallest rungs? (the guy I mentioned above was doing this on the largest rungs on the campus board). Is it like fingerboarding, that hanging from the smallest rung (10-12mm) really the only place that you see gains - that all the other multitude of holds on a fingerboard are really just window dressing?

Weirdly, I've noticed that I can 1-3-5 on the smallest rungs, which is only slightly less than what I can do on the bigger ones - i.e. I can pretty much throw almost the same distance regardless of hold size. Yes, that means I can't do 1-4-7 right now......but does it really matter. At one point, I was doing 1-3-5 on two-fingers and easily up and own on monos 1-2-3-4-5......is this more useful?

as you can see there's a lot of questions to be answered above - all thoughts welcome :)

Just another visit to a new crag: Almscliff

Walking into Almscliff. Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/timmymarshall/

Title says it all and unfortunately no photos to show for it! For some reason, I've noticed that while I'll happily take a camera with me on a foreign trip, I never remember at on a weekend?

Anyway, had a great day up at Almscliff just exploring the area with Brian, Sophie and Lindy. Basically a high mileage day just getting to see the area. It's an outcrop of rock up on a hill with a surprisingly high concentration of problems and routes, many of the boulder problems being steep which is a nice change from Stange and Burbage. As UKC says, 

"Over 180 climbs and even more boulder problems packed onto one tiny hillside. Classics abound......world class bouldering" 

Amusingly, I got to experience one of the 7a+'s which involves a big cross through off a 2-finger pocket. Since I'm strong on pockets, I'd say it's only about 6b-ish. Trish was talking about merits of open-handed over crimping and I definitely get impression that crimping is the way to go here in the UK, but that it also means that many of the climbers aren't very strong on pockets!

I got a great tour anyway, and am definitely psyched for a trip up again, some of the harder lines actually look really appealing here. I had a short two hours yesterday out at the Plantations yesterday also - tried the old classics Brad Pitt and The Storm. Amazingly improbable problems (heels at head height and somehow let go a hand without pinging off), they're so much more about movement than actual raw strength so I feel I'm going to learn quite a bit from them. Having said that, I'm keen to find some power/strength-based problems soon, something that I'll be able to use and transfer onto sports routes after the winter is over!

Weirdly had a great session in at the Works last week, managed almost a full lap of one of the more difficult circuit in two hours. Just another sign that a week-long bouldering trip can show nice gains!

Font 2010: "strike, what French strike?" edition

All the important essentials for a fun trip - copious amounts of breakfast material and a bouldering guidebook to Fontainebleau :)

I thought I'd start off the post with a photo climbing related, but not climbing related. It also signifies part of the fun of the climbing scene - food with a community. Each morning and evening is spent hanging out with a bunch of amazing friends chatting about life, food, fun, climbing (duh!) and everything else in between. What more could you ask for in life?!

As always, Font was the excellent, challenging and fun location it always is. What I especially love about the place is the focus, or lack of focus on grades that seems to (personally for me at least) suit the place. I just couldn't care less about what I'm trying here. Don't get me wrong, I'll jump on most levels I think I'm capable of, but I'll also spend even more time just running around ticking off problems of all shapes and sizes. Trish alludes to it in her blog post about the trip but I just love how much experience and knowledge in movement skills can be picked up here - Font is definitely a place where raw strength cannot hide gaps in your technique or movement.

Honestly, it's always cool climbing with other people on this sort of trip - you get to feed off each other's different skills and energy levels (depending on who's getting frustrated or motivated with the respective problem!). Everyone was going well - even if some people are beating themselves up they weren't (see above)! 

For me, this year's trip became the Year of the Aretes. All levels, all heights, all angles. I gave it my all on them all and by the end of the week, much knowledge was gained. Who'd have thought that sometimes you have to put your feet beside your hands and balance (somehow) in perfect movement? I know I didn't, but I now know it's possible! That also led to a headtorch ascent of one of the classic 7a's of the forest, Excalibur. Thanks to Al (STILL the Energizer Bunny he always is - at least 2 7a's a day without rest for a week) for the beta and knowledge on this one! A positive sign that something has been gained is when, by the end the week, a quick ascent of another 7a arete can be had.

Other than that, probably the best problems of the week were a 6b in one of the Franchard sectors, and some more beautiful 6's that the gang ticked together on a very soggy day at an area near 95.2 sector. Awesome - beautiful movement and one of the many reasons why I climb.

Of course, I mentioned that it's not always about ticking slightly easier than max level problems. Pierre also mentioned this in his recent post with the fact that while many people say they don't care about grades, pretty much everyone really does in some way, they just don't apply themselves always in the right way. So, on the last day, I had a play on Carnage, one of the classic problems of the forest, climbed way back in 1977 (I think). 2 hours later, I had the ascent with only 15-20 goes on the problem. If it wasn't for the Fontainebleau trickery that I was missing, I'd have probably done it in 10 minutes so I'm happy out with that. Maybe it's time to spend a season bouldering.....

Finally, I mentioned Al was on the trip. Well, I'd driven him to Font and back, and since neither of us were working on the Sunday and we'd gotten home late on the Saturday night, where else were we expected to go except onto the grit :) A fun day out in zero visibility at Stanage led to a quick tick of a 7a and b so a great way to finish off the trip.

Naomi using the expression we all had at various times of the week - deep concentration while moving between lots of non-holds. These holds are vertical, photo is tilted. Random 7a in Franchard.....

Al going for it on day one. we never did get the problem, but I'm guessing it would have gone by the end of the trip with Font experience behind us.

Theo going for it in Bas Cuvier. Love this picture for some reason!

Trish cruising up a problem at Bas Cuvier. the open-handed queen of climbing!

going for it on the first move of Carnage. Awesome movement, pure bouldering at it's best