Ceuse 9 - learning

And so it goes on! One of the tricky items to deal with at Ceuse which doesn't come up on many other crags is the crowds and actually getting onto your route - with only a limited amount of routes at each grade, it's pretty common to arrive at your planned route for the day to find a big gang setting up on it for the rest of the day. So it was yesterday, Bourinator was on, I arrived did the warm-up on it (poorly I might add!), found three other guys on it, so sacked it off for a couple of hours. By the time I arrived back, one of the guys was taking all his quickdraws out which meant a bit more of a challenge as they're not particularly easy to put in. Still though, as ever, surprises were in store, I managed to get most of the way to the chains before my arms gave out. There's always a positive!
It's been a great learning process on this route, my natural inclination is to just walk away from this steepness so learning from the experience is fab. And just showing that you see bigger gains from doing things that you're really bad at (instead of things that you're already quite good and therefore have less opportunities for noticeable improvements) means that I'm already seeing visibile gains in my movement and strength. Life is an education.

Major positives yesterday, Naomi flashed another 7a+ (easily!) and earned the respect of the watching crowd for it. She's moved onto a 7b now, and had her first experience of trying to put the quickdraws in herself. Small steps, and while not completely successful, it looked like a big learning experience for her. She came down with a smile and left a queue of people to try her route after her so enthusiasm is obviously infectious!

Back to Bourinator today, fingers crossed. If it doesn't happen, it'll still be there tomorrow. Every day is a good day at Ceuse so it's hard to get stressed!

have a good day all - positive vibes to everyone!