A 7b called Lucy

Hey Everyone!

Me and Simon had a great weekends sending so thought I’d put up a blog about it! We have both had projects since we got here 2 weeks ago, Simon an 8a and me a 7b.

Simon’s project was again a very bouldery route, probably more so than his first 8a. It started with what looked like a nails hard boulder problem, Simon said that this was a boulder problem at his limit so around 7b, really cool moves! Which then went into a short hard route, Simon was unsure how to grade this part of the route, he thinks maybe 7a. The last part of the route looked very committing, basically reaching round a bulge to sloapy crimps and then throwing a right heel up there by his head to then clip the belay! It went quicker than his first 8a, was a great effort!

I chose to do a 7b as so far I haven’t felt as thought I’ve been climbing truly at my limit on routes and it’s kinda been bugging me, I was pretty sure 7b would be hard for me so decided to get on it and see what I could do if I applied myself to a route! Simon even told me after I had sent it that it was 7b+ in the old guide so defo solid for the grade! (He didn’t wanna tell  me before as he thought it might physce me out! Bless him!) The route I chose was called Lucy, it is to the right of a beautiful 7a that I did last time we were in Siurana, so I spied it from that route and thought it looked really cool! It is super bouldery with big moves between reasonable holds which is perfect for me! (I say reasonable holds I doubt I would said the same at the beginning of the trip! :P) But yeah it really couldn’t have been more my style! And the fact that it was called Lucy aswell was kinda funny! Simon said he would describe the route as he would describe me, ‘Short, engrossing & difficult’ my comeback to this was ‘don’t you mean short, engrossing & strong?!’ hahaha :P

It took me 2 sessions to work out the best beta for me, I think I would possibly have done this in 1 session but in the first session I was trying Simon’s beta, well actually more our friend Jason’s beta as this is what Simon used when he climbed the route, seeing as Jason is over 6 foot and much stronger than me it turns out his beta didn’t suit me that well (surprise, surprise!). I also had to limit how long I spent on the route when working out the moves in order to keep my injury in check.
Once I had worked out my beta I started to go for it, on my first day I did too hard a warm up so ended up really tired and couldn’t actually do anything usefully! I do think I was tired from working the route as well so first session was a write off! After that I was getting stuck going past the crux, I couldn’t work out why it was happening, it was very frustrating! I always say when I watch climbing movies how annoying it is when people fall off stuff and scream really loudly but this is exactly what I was doing so I take it all back!! Haha :P Falling when redpointing really helped though as I didn’t realize but not wanting to fall was sketching me out a bit, I don’t generally have a problem with falling anymore but it felt really different doing moves so hard for me above bolts but once I had fallen afew times was totally comfortable again. In the end I realized that I had to take a certain hold as an undercut rather than a gaston and after that I could get through the crux everytime. From then on it was small progressions each time I got on the route, it took 11 redpoints over 6 days. The day before the last day I fell off after clipping the last draw. As u can imagine this was the worst time for my blood curdling scream! There were afew people around this day so I was sorry to have been ruining everyone’s peaceful time!! I realized the reason I fell off was down to bad beta, basically this part of the route was the ‘easy bit’ so I didn’t really have a sequence here. So I worked it out properly and did it I think 6 times one after the other when I was super tired and in the hot sun. So then I knew I could do it in any state!

So the next day was our last day……under pressure much?! I had put so much effort in I knew I would have been gutted to walk away and not have done it. I was thinking that morning about Dave Macleod’s training blog’s and his book as his stuff has really helped me with my climbing, thanx Dave! Haha. And I was thinking about his scientific approach, trusting in sports science etc. And I knew each time I had gotten on the route I had made clear progress each time and that the only logical progression left was to get past the last draw to the belay! The only thing stopping me was how knackered I felt!! My warm up this day was atrocious! I climbed so badly and felt quite unwell to be honest so I thought my chance of sending was pretty low, but I tried to keep positive, before I left the ground on the route I counteracted any negative thoughts with positive ones and went for it. The crux didn’t go as smoothly as usual but the top section which I usually found really awkward and pumpy I cruised it! Could not believe it when I clipped the belay I was so physced!!

All the effort I put in was totally worth it, I think I could get used to this redpointing business!

I learnt a lot from this process so hopefully the next one will be quicker! What I learnt was (this info is for Jim!!) –

1. Do not try and use someone’s beta when they are way taller & stronger

2. Be sure your crux beta works (I wasted 3 redpoints due to this mistake)

3. Make sure your comfortable falling (which should happen anyway as if your not falling your not trying hard enough!! haha)

4. Don’t underestimate the ‘easy bits’ of the climb, have a definite sequence for each section

5. Positive thinking and enjoying the route will get you up it so make sure you love the route! J

6. Always go to the top of the route at least once during each session so you know the moves like the back of your hand (shouldn’t be a prob in brizzle as wouldn’t leave my draws anyway but don’t clip stick it at the end of the route when tired, this is the best time to do the moves anyway as you may be tired when you crush!)

7. Always do a useful warm up, don’t be afraid to just take if you end up getting on a route that is too much as you don’t wanna sap all your energy! (this was my stubbornness wanting to onsight a certain route the day I was too tired and that cost me a redpointing session!)

8. Aim for small improvement’s each day and be happy with your achievement’s! Again keep positive! (i.e. Doing the moves, linking the crux, getting new high points, getting good links etc)

So now we have just 3 weeks remaining! Can’t believe it has been a fantastic trip, I have gone from my hardest lead being 6b+ to now 7b which I never thought would be possible! We r heading to 2 bouldering area’s in Spain called el cogul and savasonna, these r small local areas that you wouldn’t really come to Spain especially for so thought it would be cool to check them out while we are here! Then over to France to Venasque and Buoux for some routes, then Font, then home! Can’t wait to see everyone! Really excited! See you all then!

Much love!

Lucy x