Thursday 24 November 2011

Eastern Grit

With a weekend planned in the Peak District and the forecast looking good we were set for a good few days of climbing some eastern grit. Friday night traffic was not a problem and we got to "hardhurst" camp site in good time. We pitched up the tent and headed to the pub. With it being to late for food orders we called out for a Chinese which was was delivered to the pub. Tubby tommys eyes where bigger than his belly, he moaned about not having a full portion of rice to himself so we gave him one, he barely touch it.
Good to see him laying of the carbs tho!!

Phil was psyched for climbing and woke us up at 7am. It was a foggy start to the day, we sorted kit, had a brew and headed to the cafe for breakfast. Once feed and watered the fog had burnt off and it was perfect conditions for climbing.

We headed to "Stanage", I paired up with Phil. I seconded 6 really nice routes and felt I was climbing really well with my Strength and confidence back.

Heather wall VS 4c
Rug os ity crack HVS 5b
Prudence hVS 5b
The tippler E1 5b
Queersville HVS 5a
Via media VS 4c

The banter on the crag was awesome a good bunch climbing, Tommy does seem to be at the end of most of it.... Normally from me! But he does tee it up.
10 of us were climbing in total, most of which will be attempting Denali in 2012. Good luck to them all and there preparations.

Saturday night we were back in the pub. After dinner the yaga bombs where flowing as well as the cider! Tommy was complaining on shot No 3 that his face was numb!!

Sunday was another foggy day, it didn't lift tho. We headed to "froggatt". It was cold and Phil and I got to work. 3rd route of the day being the funniest. Phil leading a route called "three pebble slab" he got half way up and paused. The next reach completely messed with his head and he could not move to progress. 30mins later I'm still belaying and he has gone no where.....

He looks down at me and said we need to get someone to lower a rope. Phil needed rescuing!! Nick and Tommy set up a ab rope and helped Phil off the route. Phil was not the same man after that!!! Being rescued of a HVS does nothing for the ego. Tommy then had a go and froze one move above. Put of buy a passer buy telling him the scary move is higher up.
Nick and I then flew up it on top rope. I don't see what the problem was!!!! Apart from getting your head around no gear and dealing with a possible 15ft fall!!!

I lead my first trad route. Placing gear is a art as gear selection is so important. I need plenty more practice and hopefully be leading tougher routes in the near future.

A great weekend with a good group of people and great climbing, im really looking forward to climbing there again in the future.
The weekend was topped of nicely with an amazing roast dinner and watching Armageddon, what a great movie!!!

Moody Start
Taken by Tommy Harris

Phil on "Tippler" E1 5b
Taken by Tommy Harris

Scott on Bold "Ratbag" E2 5b
Taken by Tommy Harris

Will on "Motorcade" E1 5a
Taken by Tommy Harris

Me Leading "Heaver Wall"
Taken by Tommy Harris

Charlie looking stuck on "Todys Wall" HVS 5a
Taken by Tommy Harris

Tommy on "Strapoiombante" E1 5b

Phil on "Tippler" E1 5b (Amazing Backdrop)
Taken by Tommy Harris

Me seconding on "Tippler" E1 5b
Taken by Tommy Harris

Me off
Taken by Tommy Harris

Monday 14 November 2011

Ice climbing trip - Pegglers Ice Fest January 2012

On the 21st January 2012 I will be heading out to France on a ice climbing trip. 7 days of frozen faces and long days on the ice. With this being my first time on vertical ice it was time to look into how I could prepare best to make this trip a enjoyable one. Training tips for winter from Planet fear, now this seems to fit the bill.

Rob Gibson on Classic Route "Pink Panther"
Ice Climbing and the fun you can have!!!!

As standards rise, training for winter is certainly increasing in popularity. Whether you are new to ice and aspire to lead your first grade V, or if you are regularly cranking VII's in the Corries in hope of doing M8 abroad, there is much value to be attained from specific winter training. Most will make do with a few sessions at the wall interspersed with the odd run; but winter climbing is an entirely different beast to rock. Forget the conventional forearm pump - 'thumb cramps', 'jelly wrist' and burning calves are the new enemy.

Specific Strength and Endurance Training

1 Ice axe pull-ups
The first and most basic specific training exercise for ice/mixed climbing. Use a bar or beam and hook your axes over it. Avoid using your leashes for strength work and perform the exercises footless, with a weight belt, or even on 1-arm if you're up to it! For endurance work, keep your leashes and try using a foothold or bungee stirrup for assistance in order to perform more reps. See guidelines for number of repetitions below. Useful variations incolude pull-ups with arms at different height or travelling ice axe pull-ups where you mover from side to side at the top of each pul-up.

2 Isometric ice axe locks

These exercises are superb for developing static strength for place pro or for locking-off whilst making your next placement. Perform them on their own or in combination with any of the above three exercises. Use three key positions: fully locked, 90 degrees and 130-150 degrees. Experiment with 1-arm work for strength and for maximum specificity, try swinging your free axe above your head 3 or 4 times as if trying to make a placement. 2-arm work, with a possible foot for assistance is best for endurance (no longer than 30 seconds). Time guidelines are given on the table below.

3 Ice/mixed bouldering

The best thing is always the real thing and if you don't happen to live near a field of iced-up leaning boulders above a snowy landing then you'll have to improvise. A convenient man-made stone wall or a specially adapted board is the next best thing. With stone walls you can work on technical hooking and torquing sequences whilst balancing your crampons on small edges. Keep your axes blunt and just use big boots without crampons if you're worried about damage. If you are using a wooden board, 5-20 degrees overhanging is the optimum angle (subject to ability) with screw-in metal 'O' rings for axe placements (available from most hardware stores) or, more crudely, pick sized drilled slots in the plyboard.You can even screw or bolt on some thick blocks of wood for simulated ice placements, or a crack section for torquing. Some bolt-on hold manufacturers offer specialist ice axe placement holds which can be worth experimenting with if you can afford to do so. But whatever happens - stay off the crags. It is also worth wearing a helmet or face guard as well as taping-up hammer, adze and spikes. Shoulder presses / dumbbell raises
Lifting your axes repatedly can cause a chronic shoulder pump to set in and these exercises, performed with very light weight for high reps (30-60) can help you do something about it. Both are performed seated; for the shoulder press simply raise a barbell behind your head and with the dumbells, lift them out to the side or the front with straight arms -as high as you can!

5 Tricep extensions
How fatiguing is hacking out a placement on brittle water ice? To make it all feel easier, this exercise is performed with a dumbell behind the head, one arm at a time, by simply raising the forearm and lowering it, keeping the upper arm still and vertical.

Note: for those who don't have access to weights - press-ups and parallel bar dips are ideal alternatives.

6.Wrist Curls.
The most demoralising thing of all is when your pick fires off sideways because you're too wasted to keep your wrist straight when making a placement. To combat 'jelly wrist', use a dumbbell or barbell either seated with wrists placed on the knee or kneeling with the wrists on a padded bench. Simply roll the bar up and down for as many reps as possible, experimenting with both under and an overhand grips for balanced development.

7. Leg conditioning and aerobic
The following exrcises are essential! Calf raises are performed on a step by simply going up and down on your toes until you can't take the pain any longer - no need to explain why they help. Skipping is perhaps the most specific body conditioning exercise for ice climbing, producing that familiar burm in shoulders and calves simultaneously. For those long walk-ins, needless to say running and cycling are all recommended to help you arrive in a fit state to climb.

8. 'Death sets'
Seeing as winter climbing is such a total body pump, you can combine any of the above exercises into horrendous circuit training style super-sets to produce the ultimate training affect. For example a favourite of mine is to do 10 ice axe pull-ups, 10 press-ups and then skip for a minute to recover. Do this 4 or 5 times consecutively (no cheating rests in between) and then take a full 10 minute breather before doing it again, and again, and again.....!

Wednesday 9 November 2011

New Toys in the Post

With winter on the doorstep and the ice climbing season in front of us it was time to purchase some new toys. Ice axes, Quick draw and a new helmet are all on there way. Im really looking forward to the temperture dropping so we can on the ice. The plan is to train and prepare for a trip to Norway in January. Bring on the winter.

Black Diamond Vipers

New Toys

DMM Spectre Quickdraw

Grivel Salamader Helmet

Monday 7 November 2011

Gilimot ledge - Swanage, Lost and Found

Starbucks and a "rise and shine" muffin started a Sunday morning off perfectly. The M3 was quite and the drive to Tommys was an easy one with the skies getting clearer and clearer the further south I got.

I was suprised tommy was actually out climbing this weekend as all week his status on facebook has changed from, Im fed up of my finger, Im fed up of this cold, my knee, my head and on.... and on.... and on, Tommy is getting a "wee little winger" in his old age. Sorry mate it had to come up!! hehe

It was a good turn out 7 of us headed down to Gilimot Ledge in Swanage for a day of trad climbing. With clear skis and a November nip in the air it was a perfect day for climbing.

Tommy and I did two really nice routes, "Ledgend" (HS 4a) and "Tensor Two" (VS 5a). First route was great until the last bit of gear, I was trying to get it loose with a dislodging tool and I dropped it!! yep, butter fingers dropped the tool.... I didnt even manage to get the gear out. I went down to try find the tool and yes, I found it, Result.

The second route was a fun one, this route had some great moves in it and again the gear had me, struggling to realese a cam whilst holding a under cup, I faffed around for over 5 minutes and had the biggest burn in my forearms ever. I didnt come off or give up and completed the route. Ill admit, I was close to chucking the towel in, when Tommy called me a girl!!

Lunch was followed by a treverse of a small wall and a bit of messing around. It was great to be out and back on natural rock and climbing with a bunch of great people.

Tommy, Paul, Phil, Alan, Andre and James it was a pleasure.