xmas chilling

hey all

lots to talk about in this blog well the first its been xmas hope you all

had a wicked time, we chilled out here had a bit of a easy climb in the sun

then settled down with friends around a fire and enjoyed a roast dinner

lovingly prepaired by lucy and very nice it was, all washed down by home

made eggnog :)

been climbing a fair bit since then not been trying the project as i have

been super achey from the strenuous positions on it, so have been onsighting

and trying easyer stuff. have managed to flash my first 7c so super happy

with that, Big thanks to david and ayla for the amaxzing beta and

encouragement.



Also a bit late but we have finaly found the video from the flour explosion

we talked about when we were in ceuse in august. here it is for your viewing

pleasure :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVo-xoGPueg

Xmas, crushing and wild pigs

Heya all

Another sunny day here in margaleff and another rest day in tres pins on the internet.

well since last message we have had lots of stuff happening, we had a fire one bitter cold night and drank hot sangrea and wine. with the friendly neighbours. At around 10pm we heard what sounded like 2 really big cats fighting lots of schreeching and weird noises then they came closer and closer up the river then grunting and other noizes from what sounded really big, the dogs didnt like it and guess what it was massive wild pigs, theres loads of scape marks in the floor where they have been forraging.

We had a rest day a few days ago where we went for a wander for a while and found a 500metre long cave with a vague trail going through it so i wanderred around with the head torch scrabling and squeezing my wat through all good fun with some weird formations there, if you come this way its worth checking out, from the parking head towards "Calamarta crag" then follow the resivour along the right hand edge then once oyu cross the bridge turn imediatly right and follow this to the cave then squeeze through the first bit and the back and it opens right up.

A funny thing we saw asweel was a french guy looking at a route called Photo shot(8b)  his friend had just tried it was obvious he was going to try and flash it as he was going through all the moves he felt the first few holds then cleaned them then tied in the rehursed what he was doing, there were maybe 10 people watching then he fafed a bit more then he grabbed the first holds and then went for the first move and was off swinging on the rope, so funny, he didnt look the most impressed.

We also have a christmas tree in the van now freshly sourched from margaleff  along with missle toe and other home made decorations.




we went out forraging here and got loads of almonds from a tree also the red things in the bowl next to them in the photo below, would you eat these? we have been told by loads of peopl that theyre edable, they have the texture of a peach with hardly any flavour, the dog loves them but they make her sick :).




I had another really good day  yesterday finnishing off tsunami which is a super bouldery hard 7c i tried the day before then warmed down on a 7b+ that i got 2nd go so amazing best day so far.

anywho thinking of bristol and home, speak soon all

Projects and injuries

Hey all

Well in the last Blog i mentioned that I had found a 8a project and was working on it, i have since then had another 2 sessions on it and good progress has been made, i have linked upto the 6th bolt where there is a hard stopper move that i have come off at a few times due to having a stupid way of doing it i now have a much easyer way. So next time on it i hope to get past this and get a new high point. I have also linked from this point to the top with 1 40 second hang on the rope. So linked in 3 parts with a super short rest at each point. I am now confident that it will go given a bit of effort and time. It has been good as johnathan has joined me on this project it is his first 8a he is trying and he has done super well doing all the moves and linking to the 5th draw on his 2nd redpoint attempt.

We have both been discussing the route and have come to the conclusion that trying to project a 33metre super overhung endurance route is absoloutly exhausting. Both of us have bene feeling it in our stomachs.

However bad news is that the way i was trying the hard move was really tweaky on my knee and i have strained it a bit so will be taking a rest from this route for a few days to let it recover, my new way doesnt hurt it like the old way but still requires the use of a heal hook on the bad leg :(.

 Cheat stone are the only way to start

Missing the frist clip is a nescisary evil less drag and saving energy

 Steep start leads to a steep finnish

 Setting up for the Hero cut loose jump to a jug

 Johnathan pulling hard

 Johnathan on the i feel like a hero jump

Other good and bad news is that lucy has a 7b project at the crag next to where my project is yay, and she managed todo all the moves on it first go up then on the second linked the whole middle section yay. Bad news is that she has tweaked a finger on her left hand just after so is having to rest for a few days :( Its not looking to bad it is similar to what i did in bristol a year or so ago where you pull really hard on a 2 finger poicket with the middle 2 fingers where your ring finger is strait and pullin and your little finger is curled shut it stretches the muscle groupe that controles these fingers. Time will tell.

in other news tala has found a new Boyfriend who is being a bit ambitious and keeps on trying to hump her see photo :)





Climbing here has been good in addition to trying Dr feelgood i have managed to onsight a few 7b's and got a quick ascent of a really sustained 7c so pretty happy to be able to project and still get other things done.

Tray Trying hard
 

Living the dream breakfast in the sun

Siurana, Margaleff and Home

Hey all

Loads of stuff happening here in sunny spain, we have spent another 4 days in siurana after the last message then having picked up my newly resoled shoes we headed back to margaleff where we are now most probably untill xmas,

Siurana was good whalst we were there Lucy managed to get a really cool 7a 3rd go called "es algo" in The grau Del Massets sector. Lucy had a really good attempt at flashing it where she made it through the hardest moves and got 3 moves away from a rest and the start of the easyer climbing. Was super impressive to watch. I had a good rest of hte time there onsighting managed to get anoter 7b+ and a few 7b's including one called "Fridolin" which was a 30 metre crimp fest up a buldging wall, i was super happy with this one as there was no chalk on it at all and it looked super blank it climbed really well but felt like each crimpy section went on a few moves longer than what was comfortable then a better hold to chalk then off again, then a really cool finnish with a mantle onto a small ledge then the chains,

We have now headed to margaleff and stocked up on some suplied on the way, including 2 items im well pleased with i have now got some Slippers!!! sad i know but they are massive warm things kindof like converse but like something off the simpsons. Also we have a doggy toy thats a pig which Oinks when you squeeze it, i think i have played with it more that the dog. She seems sligly miffed by it :)

We have had the sad decission to make whalst in siurana in that we have booked our return ferry we will be arriving back in england on 14th of febuary. so looking forw2ard to seeing you all. good times and sad times. Its been amazing here and were going to be making the most of our last 2 months to crush and achieve our aims, mine being to onsight a 7c and climb 8a,

On the 8a front i have a project here its a 30 metre pump fest called "dr feelgood" it starts super steep and gradualy eases as you get higher most of the holds are fairly good and there are no super hard moves just a really pumpy climb. I have bolt to bolted it twice and worked out all the sequences and clipping positions. Tomorrow and saturday if needed i will be heading there to try and crush, Photos and a report once i do hopefully crush it, I know there are 2 what i think will be redpoint cruxes which if i get past the first i will make it to the second and if i make it past the second i should make it to the top. But time will tell . . . . .