Cold Fusion Blog

Saturday 17th – Sunday 18th September. After getting past the crux on Full Tilt last weekend only to pump off I really tried to clock up the hours on the board this week. I was rewarded by completing my long standing F8b PE problem this time pulling through on the final 6b crux 33 moves in. To address those fitness problems from last weekend I did more running and lots of laps on the board to really feel the burn. Confident I finally had what it took to finish the job I headed back to Kilnsey along with Alan Cassidy and Malcolm Smith.

On Saturday I made a 6 am start in order to catch the bus to Glasgow to meet with the guys. Maybe it was the tiredness but it felt strange to be at the crag with Alan and Malcolm, like being at a foreign crag. The normally imposing north buttress was but a Olympic standard play park to these guys. First off Alan got a rope up True North F8c, a route he’d come very close to completing in June, only to be denied by a foot slip 3 moves from easier ground. It was impressive to watch Alan working the moves and I had to keep reminding myself again and again that the climbing wasn’t as easy as he made it look. I was silently taking notes on the moves. The knee bar in the sideways position looked good and less strenuous than my higher variation. After the nesting birds had finished with it the pocket at the top looked good, breaking up more of the hard climbing. Alan’s redpoints began but after a long break from the route he was frustrated to have lost his previous level of fluidity. After a few redpoints he’d had enough.

Alan Cassidy on True North F8c.

I got back on Full Tilt and worked though the moves to warm up. I tried out Alan’s sideways knee bar but it felt too strenuous. Sticking with my own method I got redpointing. Second RP I managed to pull through to the jug again and into the knee bar properly. As my legs burnt out I pulled out with fresh arms into the final crux just failing to stick the final hold. Next RP I changed clipping position to save a few moves but couldn’t get the kneebar in place properly and vibrated off under the tension. On the Final RP I pulled out again but was too knackered. Finally, I did manage to find a better position for the final move using a lower foothold such that my feet weren’t round my neck, a position I wish I’d known about earlier on in the day.

In between Alan and I’s tries Malcolm succeeded on Northern Exposure F8b+ second go that day, finally managing to move from the minging crimp at the top. Next he dispatched Urgent Action F8a+, second go and nearly did the Thumb F8a, after playing on these routes previously over the years. Not a bad recovery from the man flu.

Malcolm clipping on Northern Exposure F8b+ just before the V10 crux.

On Sunday redpoint service resumed. I waited my turn as Alan and Malcolm made easy ticks of Bullet, Cold Steal and Stolen between them. I got back on Full Tilt. After straining my RH ring A2 pulley last weekend on the crux pocket my finger ached. Redpointing was becoming a real minefield balancing desire to finish the route with the increased amount of injury time off. On two out of my three redpoints I managed to touch the last hold again but just wasn’t recovered enough from the knee bar, a rest that was far from relaxing for me. As the Autumn rains began I dogged up the remained or True North to strip it - knackered and without the two links I had hoped for this summer. Time was up and the game was over.

I’ve waited until writing up my thoughts on Full Tilt. I had hoped to have made light work of my many projects this summer but have failed on all of them: Burley, Ceasefire, Bloodfire, Snipe Shadow and Full Tilt. I’d hoped to have ticked this lot after completing Fire Power back in May and from pushing my training intensity and frequency. Even my final strategy of picking a project and sticking with it to the bitter end has failed due to injury, seepage and loss of interest in the crag. In all reasons to feel pretty down! I have to keep reminding myself that success is infrequent, short lived and sometimes unfulfilling . Each day trying a hard route I take away much more by competing, working out the moves, doing the training and always making progress. Not so much a means to an end as to the start of the next project. Injury permitting the start of the next project is but a few weeks away.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 at 12:23 am and is filed under Sport, Motivation, 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.