Cold Fusion Blog

Thursday 9th, Saturday 11th, Sunday 12th. On Thursday evening I finally managed to get back to Glen Ogle to try Ceasefire with Mike Tweedley. However, the closing light of late summer only gave us a couple of hours. Having nearly done Ceasefire some 10 years ago falling on the top crux, I hoped for a quick redpoint. Putting the clips up things didn’t go to plan when I couldn’t do the middle section. Friction was limited in the evening humidity making it difficult to link more than a couple of moves. Mike didn’t have much more luck. On my final go it clicked and I linked the section: “Match on L jug. RH good slope, LH good sidepull, feet low jug and high L jug. RH dynamically push out to lower press. Move LF toe to jug. Pull through to match R slope with LH. Pull in, lift RF to ? then up to small edge with LH. Adjust RH to ?. Adjust LF. LH slap good edge, RH through to good edge. Clip, then onto the next crux.” I even managed the next section. Progress but not the elusive tick.

On Saturday with wet weather forecast for Scotland I headed south. On hearing that Kilnsey was dry I decided to join Owen and Mike for the afternoon. Owen managed to redpoint Subculture his first 8a which went very smoothly. Not bad after nearly a weeks training beforehand. Mike tried a 7c which he finally tried to redpoint later in the day after watching Dalvinda Sodhi try it while eight months pregnant. I tried Full Tilt again after trying another way of doing the crux using a small pocket. On redpoint I couldn’t make the same high point as early June. It seemed I’d lost a lot of finger strength. Conditions weren’t ideal in the still humidity. Even a chap trying Northern Exposure F8b+ packed his bags after a few sweaty redpoints. I’m sure he’d get the F8c tick if he’d done it, wiping and chalking sweaty fingers mid move the whole way. I soldiered on, but felt tired from the effort by the third redpoint. I’m still not happy with the sequence. I just don’t think the small pocket will work on redpoint. Next visit I think I’ll try using the small pinch again with different feet or the higher two finger pocket. Any which way it has to work every time on the link to get the redpoint. On the up side I did manage nearly three links on the route. Surprisingly, the jug wasn’t that good a rest for the 6c move blocking access to the belay. I’m going to have to get stronger and fitter if I’m going to finish this one.

Paul on the V10 crux of Northern Exposure F8b+, Kilnsey.

On Sunday I headed to Dunkeld with Iain Moody. I had intended to try Burley, but for the ninth visit this year it was again wet and unclimbable. Arriving at Upper Cave, the crag was only just climbable through the wet streaks. After putting the clips up Iain made an effortless ascent of Hamish Teddies F7b+ which he was hyped about. I put a rope on Silk Teddies F7c and got to work. The moves weren’t as bad as I had remembered and I got redpointing quickly. On first redpoint I made a mistake on the crux. On second redpoint things went better and I arrived at the crack feeling very pumped. I fought onwards but slipped just before the rest on the arete. It was a very good fight, so much so it wasn’t spoiled by eventual failure. However, it would have been nice to tick my first route in months! I’m sure I’ll get it next go, then I can start working on the proper finish.

Good news this week is that Malcolm, Alan and Dave have been busy repeating routes at the Anvil. Malcolm and Dave managed to repeat my routes Bloodfire and Fire Power thinking stiff F8a+ and F8b respectively. Alan and Malcolm then managed Body Blow thinking stiff F8b+. I think I’m going to have to get focused on a single project now. Over the past couple of months I’d like to think I’ve been agile with my objectives. I’ve been happy to move between different cliffs in Scotland and Yorkshire, giving a larger geographical area for good conditions. The downside of this I’ve now finding is that I’m not getting enough consecutive visits to complete routes. With summer reaching and end and wetter weather on the way I think I’m going to have to select just a couple of my projects to complete. Finishing any of the Burley Challenge routes is looking unlikely, let alone an F8b/+ down south. I guess I’m going to have to play it by ear and keep my fingers crossed. Failing that I’ll be back at the Anvil and Dumbuck for the Autumn come late September

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 14th, 2007 at 5:01 pm and is filed under Sport, Endurance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.