Cold Fusion Blog

Saturday 26th May. Time restriction this weekend meant that we couldn’t visit the Anvil. Instead Sam and I decided to head back to Glen Ogle to take care of some unfinished business.

In the early nineties the Glen Ogle Diamond was the focal point for hard sport climbing in Scotland. Here, Paul Thorburn and Duncan MacCallum established Off The Beaten Track and Spiral Tribe respectively, both F8a. A young Ian Pitcairn, then eighteen, went on to have a good summer by establishing Digital Quartz, Scotland’s second F8b. Meanwhile other teams from Edinburgh and Dundee were busy equipping the nearby crags.

It has been nearly a decade since my last regular visits to Ogle. Back then my interests were in repeating the existing routes on the Diamond and in establishing hard new lines. I succeeded in making quick repeats of Beaten Track and Spiral Tribe both F8a. However, I failed on my own lines on Concave Wall and Bond Buttress. These were eventually completed by Dave MacLeod named Snipe Shadow and Solitaire.

Trying to redpoint Beaten Track again back in 2005 for the ‘Chains’ film, I failed. (Pete Murray)

On Saturday against a cold wind I returned to try Snipe Shadow. Given recent training and project success I was hoping for a quick ascent. However, after so much time off the route I struggled to remember and make the moves. The cold wind took its toll cramping up arms and shoulders before I could get a decent throw at the crux. Reality caught up with me again. In the past I could manage the Snipe Shadow crux one in three attempts, whereas now I could barely hang the holds. I was still no where nearly my levels of strength from the past.

Giving up we headed back to the Diamond. Here, I decided to try Ceasefire again, a route that I had come very close to making the first ascent of in 1998, failing on the final crux before autumn rains set in the following week. As I sticked up I was less and less psyched to try it because of the crumbling bolts. I vowed to return with some shiney glue-ins. To finish off I had a couple of redpoints at Beaten Track. It would seem I’m not yet an 8a climber as I was spat off consistently after the crux. I guess I’ll have to concentrate on power endurance training to improve my weakness.

The Glen Ogle renaissance got me thinking of my performance then and now. I now feel like I’m back at these levels and ready to move forward. I shouldn’t feel ashamed that I was too weak in body or mind in the past to complete them. They still are very hard routes which have a narrow window of good conditions to be completed. Hopefully I know enough tactically to finish them off this year. Therefore, I’m setting myself the Burly Shadow Challenge, to complete five of my former projects by the end of the summer:

Snipe Shadow - 15 + 1998

Hurley Burley - 5 days 2000, 8 days 2003

Voodoo Magic - 8+ days 1999

Solitaire - 3 days 1999

Ceasefire - 3 days 1998

Sunday 20 May. After another long week and another bleak forecast into the weekend I found myself digging deep motivationally to return to the Anvil. After three weeks of getting very close to finishing the project I was questioning what it would take to complete. Mentally over the last week I was starting to harbor a lot of self doubt that I’d simply keep failing. Physically, I’d went a long way to addressing any remaining physical weaknesses with a double finger board and stamina session. So apprehensively, I returned with Emma and Sam walking out again through the late spring showers.

The crux sequence of Fire Power at the Anvil (pics Emma Sutton).

The previous evening I dreamt about the Anvil, about trying and failing once again on the project. Having spent so long on this route it was getting hard to shake the automated and routine feel to each day on it. I let myself slide back into the rhythm of attempting the route: warming up, making the down climb, rehearsing the crux and linking the top; all of which felt harder than I remembered. Feeling disillusioned, I decided to redpoint rather than attempting to repeat the crux that expended precious energy. My first redpoint felt sluggish and the crux hold desperate to hang. Lowering I had a suspicion the next go would be better. After unloading excess chalk and clothing I began my second redpoint. Leaving the rest jugs I aimed my all my psyche and aggression at the crux and fired. Consciousness seemed shuttered as I pulled through, popped the hold and held the crux swing. Sure that I had weighted the rope I wanted to simply drop off and try again. Discouraged, I continued to simply finish it for practice. I pushed on grunting my way through the upper crux and to the top, lowering off disappointed. Emma and Sam couldn’t understand my problem. In fact I hadn’t weighted the rope at all!

Its fair to say two redpoints never go the same way. Thinking I’d fucked up turned the tables psychologically, removing my previous nerves when above the crux. Strategically the extra training helped. Though, I feel the biggest factor was changing to climbing on a Sunday, giving an extra day to chill out from work and catch up on sleep.

Good grimace after success on Fire Power. Trying the start of Body Blow. (pics Emma Sutton).

I’ve christened the project Fire Power, a true testament to bouldery sport climbs in Scotland. I’ve been so close to this route for the past month its become difficult to grade, more so because of its short intense nature. On the day it felt F8b. I think its much harder than many other F8b’s I’ve tried a lot, but I’ve not succeeded on (Magnetic, Snipe Shadow, Hurleyburly, Solitaire). In comparison to these routes it feels strange to give it F8b when its taken me 10+ visits over three years to link the crux at Font 7c/+. I guess I’ll have to wait for someone to repeat it and to try other F8b+’s myself this summer to confirm the grade. I’m sure this isn’t my career peak just yet and plan to push onwards to F8c before a certain birthday. I even got started on this by making some progress on the start of Bodyblow. I’m not sure this is a great benchmark though as it might be F8c!

Saturday 12th May. Partners for the weekend were at a premium with the regulars out of town or low on motivation. I was lucky to contact Emma Sutton and find she was up for a return visit to the Anvil. The weather into the weekend was looking poor making a final decision difficult. In the end we decided on a late start hoping for a clearer spell in the afternoon. After biking out we were disappointed to find most of the crag soaking and unclimbable. I was surprised that Emma was still keen to stay and try something after our efforts getting there. A true west coast climbing soldier in the making!

Redpoint X on the Anvil project (Hotaches Images).

We warmed up on the start of Shadowlands, a good bit of steep shelf wobbling. I got on the project again, amazing that it was completely dry. It seemed to be the right kind of rain, although there was drizzle in the air humidity was low with a clear view over to Carrick Castle. Again I couldn’t quite do the crux of the project, so did the top link and started redpointing. My second redpoint was good and I made the same highpoint as last week slapping the top crux. However, light was running out and subsequent attempts didn’t get close to doing the crux again. I’ll put this down to the usually excuses that I need to sort out.

Emma went on to try the rest of Shadowlands. I was impressed to see her do the crux moves first go! I think she even surprised herself, not bad for four grades above her limit. With a bit of work I think she’ll go far beyond her earlier expectations this year. It goes to show how our persistence can shape the level of our climbing.

After a long day we returned to the car only to remember we were nearly out of fuel and the nearest open petrol station was 30+ miles away. After a long stressful drive we just made it to the garage in Jamestown with some nifty navigation from Diff over the internet (cheers!). Must remember to train more, sleep more this week. And top up the car up with petrol.

Writing the past three weeks blog entires up I’ve been slipping into melancholy. I feel like I’m really hitting a plateau in terms of training for my project. Work seems to be taking over completely. It would have been great to have completed it 3 weeks ago, and moved onto other things. Time and time again I’m finding myself back in the same place with all the past projects I’ve failed on, such as Solitare, Snipe Shadow, Devestation, Hurley Burly, Magnetic Fields. Climbing at these high levels takes a lot of determination, persistence and hope. I feel I’ve got no shortage of these. Maybe the failure comes down to getting corrupted by distraction. I’ll keep those Yorkshire trips on hold a bit longer. I need to see this project through.

Saturday May 6th. We made an early start to the Anvil this weekend to take advantage of the cooler morning conditions. Earlier on the week Dave succeeded on his project by sending Metalcore F8c+ on May 2nd, another first for Scotland!

Dave working the final crux of Metalcore a few days before the final redpoint.

My initial tries on the project were very shaky and after five attempts I still couldn’t do the crux. As I started to tire I decided to just redpoint rather than getting hung up on trying the same move. Another stressful week at work with poor sleep had worn me down leaving an unnaturally shaky demeanor. I was starting to get annoyed by the fourth redpoint, so I went up and monkeyed around on the crux hold for a bit. From this I summarised my mistake. I needed to keep my arm bent on the dyno and concentrate the swing on my upper body rather than my wrists.

Holding the crux swing for the first time, sadly off crux above (Hotaches Images).

I went for the redpoint again, this time hitting the crux swing in tension. I now found myself in a new place as my foot swung back in and I got past the crux. I kept going steady on the headwall but got slightly tired when my foot nearly slid out my shoe. Moving on I tensed up for the upper crux sure this was it. I jumped and dragged the hold with a big rubbery arm feeling miles away from holding it. I managed to drag it hard enough to rip a deep flapper in my left ring finger. I had to concede defeat from the Anvil again.

A bad tear means the end of play (Hotaches Images).

There were also some new visitors today with Dave Brown, Emma and Sarah visiting from Edinburgh. Dave managed Friendly Fire whilst looking like a fish out of water without his tools. Emma put in a good effort and nearly made the lower off. Sarah moved onto Spitfire and managed all but a few moves. It was good to hear power cries in the air again, just like those across the Siurana valley.