Cold Fusion Blog

Hurtling towards my next visit to Spain I couldn’t quite hold my training plans together in the final week. Feeling knackered from work and shutdown from a touch of impingement syndrome in my right shoulder I had to accept the fact my body was telling me to rest. I hadn’t quite managed to achieve all my training goals but hopefully the gains made would collectively contribute to good performance.

The campsite ‘Chalets’ in Siurana.

Thursday 15th – Monday 19th. My trip didn’t start ideally when making my way out to Reus through Luton I began to feel sick and feverish. I suspected food poisoning from something I eaten for breakfast or dinner the night before. Feeling weak and shivery I tried hard to fight the urge to throw up. I had a strong temptation to turn around for home but pushed on to Reus, collected the hire car and struggled around the shopping centre before heading up to Siurana. The temperature on arrival was below freezing, not the warm Costa Durada air I’d been looking forward to. I sat in the hire car with the heating on full to keep warm, at this point my stomach finally gave in. Luckily, the next day I was set up with a sick bed in the campsite chalets and slept away most of the day. Struggling to stand after two days without food I tried hard to eat some bread. This turned out to be a bad idea as the enzymes in the bread lead to a serious case of shotgun bottom as my digestive system restarted. Pumped up harder than a rubber dolly I’d never been happier to spend a night at the refuge. On Saturday I fought the urge to pass out and managed a little climbing up to F7a+. On Sunday things slid down hill again and I fought dizzy spells through the morning at sector Campiqi-Pugi. These passed over long enough in the afternoon for me to succeed 1st RP on Eixuga-me-la i tornem-hi 7c+. Sunday night was rough, after a cold shower I got little sleep because of a sore chest and more trips to the bathroom. On Monday an early start was required to get around the less than ideal Siurana resurfacing roadworks which closed the road from 8am-6pm mid-week. I returned optimistically to Margalef to try La Puta Rue F8b+, with a poor nights sleep and a sore chest I couldn’t get very far and narrowly came away with repeating the moves. Disappointed I returned to the refuge only to get locked out the back when lighting my stove, requiring a rock climb in the dark to get back in again. As I settled down to sleep for the night another one of he guests threw up behind the sleeping room door. So ended the most physically and psychologically challenging starts to a trip in my life to date.

The line of Obrin Pass F8c on the right of sector Paret del Vent Santa Ana.

Tuesday 20th – Wednesday 21st. With heavy rain arriving to break the cold spell I rested before deciding to take myself off to investigate some of the other venues north of Lleida documented in the Salvatage Oest De Catalunya guide. I estimated them to be a 2hr journey from Suirana. Driving out past Vilanova de Prades and out towards Lleida the landscape became increasingly industrial, run down and dirty. I can see why Toni pulled a face when we mentioned it. My first stop was at Santa Ana to check out sector Escaleras al Cielo. This turned out to be a disappointment as the routes looked manufactured. One of the routes Stoke F8c that I noticed listed on Dave Graham’s scorecard turned out to be 6m pile of shite. Sessio de Rabia F8a looked alot better if somewhat artificial but seemed onsightable. The adjacent sector Paret del Vent looked amazing and I could clearly see Dani Andrada’s line Obrin Pass F8c on the right.

Cova Grande home of many futuristic lines, Santa Linya.

My next stop was Santa Linya to search for the Cova Grande, home to several of the worlds hardest routes in the F9a up bracket. I didn’t have much luck finding the correct road down to the cave (double right on entering the village I’m now told) but spotted some cars at the base of the hill so parked up and walked down. The cave didn’t disappoint being some 50m high and overhanging by 30m. There were a dozen or so people to entertain me including Chris Sharma now resident in Lleida. I later found a up to date topo online and it turned out everyone was trying things F7c or harder. It wasn’t then such as surprise as to why Chris was having hard time on his route as it was an F8c+! If your planning a visit bring plenty of strength, fitness and a long rope.

Sector Balco del Segre, lots of nice F7’s-8’s, Alos de Balaguer.

My final stop was Alos de Balaguer to check out sector Balco del Segre. The routes mainly in the F7c-F8c region all looked amazing being 15-20m climbing pocketed tufa’d rock. L’orde del Fenix F8a looked great and again onsightable, but maybe I’ll wait till the top is well chalked up as it looked like the crux. With the light fading I headed back to Siurana.

Climbers on sector Espadelles, Margalef.

Thursday 22nd - 25th November. I was disappointed to find out the rest of the gang were of to the Torello Film Festival during the last three days of my trip. Luckily I managed to arrange some climbing at Margalef with Keith, a friend of Emma’s who was out climbing in Siurana for the month. On Thursday we started the day a sector Raco de les Espadelles. After warming up on a 7a in the sun a F7c called Corporacio Antiestetica caught my eye for an onsight attempt. Looking from the ground all the holds looked fairly obvious with a powerful move at the start, middle and maybe at the top. I tied on and went for it. Powering off the starting two finger pocket I managed to stick the next hold to clip. Stupidly I shouted for slack only to look at the empty bolt forgetting to place the draw! Moving up to some better holds I got the next two in. Feeling the next crux pocket I was surprised to find it was slopey. Normally I would sit on the rope at this point but I persisted finding a slopey undercut. Deciding to use it quick I got my feet high, slapped for a good pocket high on the flake above me and luckily stuck it. Moving on I found a couple of good holds to rest on that I hadn’t seen from below. Looking above I spotted a couple more good pockets and I pulled through to the lower off for my first F7c onsight tick!

Locals tearing up a project at Margalef.

Later in the afternoon I returned to try La Puta Rue with a weight hanging over me from Mondays poor performance. I worked through the moves from the start and was surprised to find them much easier. I was psyched. My first redpoint felt good and I moved up to the crux quickly. Making the lip clip I felt good, however pulling my feet up for the crux I faded instantly. The next redpoint was more of a fight to the lip with the same result unfortunately. As the light faded I didn’t have a third go in me.

On Friday I tried to rest but ended up climbing a couple of routes at sector Raco del la Finestra. This was mainly down to temptation as the F6b+ up a flow stone corner looked so good. The F6c wasn’t such a good rest and was a bit too much of a fight for a rest day.

Church bells tolled in the morning of my final day. I was resolute to spend it on La Puta Rue regardless of the outcome. I felt my chances were small given my recent luck but I simply had to go the distance. If not today, then the next day, month or year, what ever it took to complete the journey. It was a cold morning at Margalef so I spent some time warming up running and trying the top section of the route. I managed to suss out an intermediate hold on the lip to help get my trailing hand clear of the rope before the throw. On redpoint the the moves felt powerful but fluid out towards the lip. I found myself at the lip with plenty of reserves, got the intermediate and snatched the next crimper. Pulling my feet up I found a new redpoint crux throwing for the crack and was off. Next redpoint I made the same high point, but only caught the crimper with three fingers. I rested some forty minutes before my final redpoint but was rapidly shutdown before the lip. With no more to give I was done. We finished the day back up at sector Espadelles. I had planned to try a F7c+ but couldn’t get to the first bolt. Instead I tried a short F7b+ called La Gomorra. This turned out to have some fun climbing swinging between positive pockets. The final traverse nearly spat me off when I couldn’t find any finger jugs. Struggling to match the clingon head slopper I thought I was off but held it long enough to find better holds above to the lower off for my first F7b+ onsight.

Last day on La Puta Rue, Margalef. (Keith)

I don’t feel to bad that I didn’t complete my main objective. I think doing so was improbable given two days rather than five after sickness. The route did feel a little harder than I remembered. I guess I’ll have to intensify the training before the next trip to complete the job. After seven months training for La Puta Rue it was humbling to get only a move higher. If it takes me seven years to climb F8c I think I’ll still find it worth while.

Its nice to be enjoying the luxury’s of home again but I’m starting to wonder if the cost is too high with so little hard climbing and good weather locally. I’m increasingly tempted towards a nomadic lifestyle spending the winter months living and climbing in Catalunya. There’s no doubt I’ll return to Spain in the next few months to complete projects, but in the meantime I need something closer to home to focus my motivation. Before I can continue with the intense training I’m going to have to concentrate on sorting my shoulder impingement. I’ve got myself some therma band and intend on doing some shoulder exercises to warm up each session. My roadmap to F8c of completing a few F8b+’s this year has met a dead end. I guess I’ll have to take the direct approach, I think its time for me to get back on Devastation.

Saturday 3rd - Sunday 4th November. Its been a difficult week. After long days at work dieting plans have left me tired and crabby, a less than idea training state. I’ve also been aware of a drop in my training performance. After three midweek finger board sessions my right shoulder had finally had enough and painfully cramped up on Thursday stopping play for the evening. I was becoming increasingly frustrated at my loss of performance, forgetting that more rest should probably be in order.

Malham Cove in late Autumn, North Yorkshire.

On Saturday I headed down to Malham again with Owen and Mike. I made the prerequisite 6am start to make the most of the available winter light. This weekend the weather had improved a little too much and instead of it being too cold and wet it was too hot and sweaty, easily 18 Deg on the cat walk. Sweating away under Magnetic having just put my shoes on conditions didn’t look good. Ignoring my instincts to bin it and wait for cooler day I struggled upward trying to get to the second bolt. Damp sweaty finger tips made the first section desperate and after 30 mins of trying my fingers were bruised, my feet hurt and I still hadn’t linked the F7c bottom section. With frustration boiling inside I bit back the urge to throw my rock shoes into the Beck again. I had been here in this situation so many times before nearly a decade ago. Had I learned nothing. The only way forward would be cool conditions. I also though that I new pair of shoes and a better foot sequence on the first crux would help. Resolute on the way forward I striped it and went off to try something harder.

Owen trying Bongo Fury F7b, Malham Cove, North Yorkshire.

I’d always been keen to do one of the great looking extensions through the bulge on the right of the catwalk. For me there was a choice of two lines. Power Ranger F8b+, done my Tony Mitchell climbing above Wasted Youth via a 13 move V9 sequence onto an easier headwall. And Transform F8c, by Malcolm Smith climbing above Rose Coronary via a 7 move V11 sequence onto an again easier headwall. I’d tried Power Ranger some eight years ago managing to link it in three and redpointing up to the crux. Returning some years later I found a hold had snapped and I was unable to find another workable way. I’d tried Transform a couple of times but was unable to do a couple of the hardest moves. On this route I was keen to make headway. Climbing Rose Coronary I got too pumped for comfort (I really must learn to use my feet) getting up to the bulge. Hanging out in space I watched as a nother climber got agonisingly close to redpointing Power Ranger. It was great to see someone so psyched to complete a route at close proximity and I only wished I was there myself that day.

Jordan Buys on the crux of Power Ranger F8b+, Malham Cove, North Yorkshire.

I got back to refamiliarising myself with the holds on Transform making massive adjustments to memory. The holds were much better and closer together than I had remembered. However, there was an big absence of footholds. I still seemed like there were two methods. Either to undercut the tufa feature with the left hand and make a long reach out for the poor sidepull crimp, or to use a poor pinch and high foot on the left to gain it dynamically. I didn’t make much progress before the light began to fade and it was time to go., but I’ll be back up there for sure.

On Sunday I meet up with John Watson and co at Aggazzis Rock, Edinburgh to show him some of my problems there for his new book. Working through my old problems they still didn’t feel easy. My main focus was to repeat my traverse Life Beneath the Darkness Fr 8a+. It took me a good 20 minutes to refresh the moves before going for it. My first try was a real fight to make it up to the final moves. Luckily my next goes felt more fluid, the moves flowing nicely together. I didn’t manage to complete the problem but the attempts gave me a good beasting. I’ll have to try and get back soon to repeat it and finish off some of my other hard projects there.

The weekend has given my a lot to think about. If I’m ever going to improve I’m going to have to get my training sorted. Recently it would seem my motivation for training has been my greatest enemy. I should really pay closer attention to my training performance and get a couple of days rest after a heavy session. This week I think I’ll concentrate on doing problems and PE circuits on my board, leaving the finger boarding for a finishing off later in the evening. On the finger board I might also increase the hang time to 12-14 sec to see if this provides a better strength gaining stimulus.

Diet plans in March of to a bad start with my Blue Ribbon sponge.

Two weeks down, two weeks to go before Spain. On the whole still very psyched to get a F8b+ done this trip and willing to make the sacrifices for it. Making some progress so far:

• Finger injury – Still taping and keeping off the crimps, should continue to get less achy as the weeks go on.
• Finger Boarding - Over the start of the past fortnight my performance got slightly worse despite frequent sessions. One evening getting annoyed I made an adjustment to my grip position pre-weighting my fingers then digging my skin and nails into the back board. This improved my hang time by 4-5 sec which I was very excited about. I’ve also been try to get more psyched before and during hang time which seems to be helping. I think the influencing factors between a good and a bad day are definitely rest and psyche levels, although the weight loss is definitely helping. Starting to dab a one handed lock for a second on the left hand, but the right one needs a bit more work. I can’t help feel that a longer hang time in the 12-14 sec range would be better for building strength than the recommended 6-8 sec range. I might next try and alternate sessions between heavier weight with less hang time and a lighter weight with greater hang time.
• Power endurance – It took longer than I thought to set a PE problem similar to La Puta Rue, being tired late at night and trying to fit it around the existing holds on the board. Finally I got something set that felt similar to the route. On the first session I kept falling off on exactly the same move as my March redpoints so it seemed spot on. On the second session it felt easier and I nearly did it. As a quick comparison I tried my F8b problem from the late summer that I managed just before getting very high on Full Tilt. Maybe it was tiredness or poor familiarity with the problem but it felt a little harder! This means I need to make the F8b+ much harder. I don’t have the time to adjust the problem so I’m going to try and make the down climb harder with high feet and no resting jug. Failing that I might go and find myself a weight belt. I also spent a lot of time setting another F8b+ problem similar to Mr Checki. On this one I couldn’t make the first move hard enough and couldn’t do the press and two finger pocket moves. I’m starting to worry that setting such specific problems takes time away from getting a simple beasting on crimps.
• Weight – Been counting the calories obsessively. By skipping lunch and the treats midweek got my calorie count down to around 1000-1500 kcal’s a day. Drinking lots of tea has kept the hunger away. Over the weekend I’ve been slacker (within reason) to help maintain motivation. Managed to lose a kilo in the first week, but locked disappointingly at 65 this week. I’ve been worried about how a low calorie intake is affecting my training and recovery. Feel quite wasted before training even after eating around 500 kcal 2 hours before training. The sugar spike has been a little dizzying. Worried that I’m eating too much too soon, so going to try and spread my intake over a 4 hour period prior to training. Going to have to trim the numbers back further to get to my 63 kilo target.
• Sleep – Getting more sleep on Friday (in preparation for Saturdays climbing) and on Sunday morning but still not getting enough sleep mid week to feel good enough to train very hard. Must stop getting distracted late at night and go to bed earlier!
• Early training – Still not training early enough. Feel tired and burned out after work, low calorie intake probably not helping. Hopefully calorie spreading on training days will help.

Previous high point on La Puta Rue F8b+ in March, Margalef, Spain.

I’ll be heading back to Spain in less than four weeks to try and complete the unfinished projects from my last visit. Top of my agenda is to complete an F8b+ at Margalef I tried called A La Puta Rue which crosses a cool roof. In March I spent 4 days on it and got as far as doing overlapping halves and getting to the crux a few times on redpoint. This time the brutal crux span to and from a two finger pocket might give me problems because of my finger injury. Still I’m hopeful. I might also have a go on the F8c next to it that Dave managed as it looks just my style, but I’m not sure about the mono crux. At Siurana I’d like to try Mr Checki F8b+ again, having only had a brief play on it last year. Finally I need to finish of the F8a+ on the Can Marges boulder that I fell from the final moves on the last day of the trip in March. To make all this happen I’m going to have to get trained up fast to the specifics of these routes. Lots of pocket strength and power endurance are the way forward.

Short Term Objectives

• Finger injury – Icing and massage.
• Shoulder problems – lots push ups to build up antagonistics.
• Fingers board – hang an edge for 5 sec, currently 12 kilos to go.
• Power endurance - create specific problems in the 30 move range similar to target F8b+ routes.
• Endurance – laps in the 30-60 move range to fight the chain fever.
• Target weight 63 kilo – 4 kilos to lose, ditch the cakes and puds.
• More sleep – 6hrs isn’t cutting it.
• Train earlier – 9pm-1am is getting taxing on above.

Training plan

• Mon/Wed: 30min runs.
• Tues/Thur: Finger boarding 45-60min: warm up pull ups, 50 push ups and stretching, strength hangs 7 sets 8-10 sec at limit, 4 min rest. Board work 2hrs. Problems: three harder problems on board. PE: 6-9 sets on PE problems Fr 8a/b+, 7 min rest. One armers: 3 sets. Endurance: 3 sets as many laps as possible on board.
• Sat/Sun: Climbing or more finger boarding and stamina.

Saturday 7th and Monday 9th April. Given the choice of a couple of days off work I wasn’t going to say no. With Monday booked off I took the chance to live like a full timer and get two visits to the west coast.

My optimism was high after a particularly good training session from Thursday night. Interestingly the magic numbers 1-4-7 have seriously slipped by me since late January. Despite persistent efforts I quickly went down hill and was unable to repeat the feat. That is until now. Wednesday nights training session wasn’t happening due to work stresses, leading to a 13 hour sleep to recover. Revitalised Thursday night was on. Warming up I felt very strong and suspected 1-4-7 could well happen. However, it was still pretty special to latch rung 7 again feeling a lot more skippy than I have in the past few months. Somewhat confused, I’m still trying to attribute this improvement to one of the following factors:

• Better diet - eating healthier for a week,
• Finger boarding - all two sessions, and,
• More sleep - all thirteen blissful hours.

Its quite likely that all three were beneficial.

Niall ‘Monkey’ McNair Bat hanging at Dumbuck, a man in full control of his feet.

On Saturday I headed back to Dumbie to try Sabotage again. My warm-ups did feel better than the previous week and my shoulder’s held up to the punishment. Again, I was getting irate when I couldn’t do the final move. After 30 minutes of trying I had to stop and ask myself the question“What the hell I’m I doing wrong”. Luckily, Tom Charles Edwards “Renowned Scottish climbing technical head doctor, was on hand to give me some advice. After a quick chat we figured out that my body position was too tight in and I was pushing my own feet off the foot holds. Once I tried hanging my body in a slacker position on the move I managed to do it again. Suddenly a bout of deja-vu struck – I’d had this problem last year too. Its amazing just how technical steep hard climbing can be. Reunited with the gen I ran out 4-5 reps from the start to the crux which was feeling much harder. With that I was knackered and headed home.

On Sunday I headed back to the Anvil with Dave Macleod. The weather this time was back to the west coast average. Pedaling out on the bikes through the drizzle was quite cold and mucky. We arrived at the crag to find our routes dry but damp from the wet air. The boulders underneath we’re also treacherously slippery. Dave Managed to fight of his aches to climb a new route, The Atlantic Strikes Back graded Anvil 7c. I was surprised to see him come off first go from a blast of drizzle to the face, he must be going soft from all those sunny routes abroad! I got going on my project and was surprised to be doing last weeks link 80% of the time, hitting the edge, lifting feet then slapping for the better hold. After a few goes I started to drag it, but the swing was still too violent to hold. After a quick dog, I figured out a smaller but more positive foothold to use. Confident this would work I managed to hold the swing second go!

Its strange that when all the moves are completed on a project how overall perception of difficulty can be lowered. Next session on trying a lower link, plus two easy-ish moves, I was eating my own words. The route felt desperate. Once I’ve completed the project, I’ll be keen to compare it with Dave’s route Body Blow. Despite the crap weather it was worth it to feel some improvement. I really hope I can continue this and complete the route as only six weeks of spring remain.

Finally liberation! I managed 1-4-7 again three times each side, but whats in a number. For me this one spans 7 years, 6 months and 26 days back to a time when my life was very different. Then there was no university, job, mortgage or partner. Since then these factors have made it more complicated to fit in a days climbing or even an evenings training. This is why the benchmark I set myself 10 weeks ago has been so important for me to reach.

Board metaphors, trainings all snakes and ladders.

Over Christmas I came ridiculously close but then bad weather and an extensive home DIY project started to grind away at the progress I had made. After another tiring day at work the stormy commute home through the wind and rain seemed to signal an end to any outdoor work. After some dinner and a sleep I awoke at 10pm feeling sluggish. Determined I got out the house to the board again and got warmed up. I felt a labored strength after so many days rest but felt mentally rested enough to fight through it. Under a still starry sky I flipped the doors open an got on the campus board. 20 minutes later at 11.25pm I pegged 1-4-7 followed by much ecstatic jumping up and down. The adrenaline kept me going through 3 more repetitions. I’m told the compensation factor explains this turn around in the fortune of ones day. Works for me.

On Saturday I had an unexpectedly good training session. I had intended to take advantage of the good weather to have a day light session on the campus board. As the afternoon progressed however I felt tired from other distractions then it started to rain. After passing out on the couch for 15min I managed to summon enough motivation to start. Warming up I felt fairly sluggish after five days rest. Breaking though this I started to feel fairly strong. On the campus board I rapidly gained power and felt both strong and confident firing 1-4-6 and 2-4-7, so much so that I tried 1-4-7 again nearly latched the rung. Rain started spiting from the skies as shower clouds gathered in the darkness. This prompted a fairly good rant from me out loud about getting a hours dry weather in Scotland. Maybe something was listening as the rain stopped long enough for me to continue. Firing on through 5 sets of 2-4-7 and 1-4-7 I felt good touching but not quite catching the rung. Just as my session finished it started to rain again. Stolen moments indeed!
It was nice to feel strong and confident again, such powers are always but a glimpse of good form to me. Its strange that the best days occur when you least expect them. Hopefully the roll will continue for a few more sessions, its been seven years after all since I did 1-4-7 on my campus board.

After nearly ten days knocked out by the flu on returning from Siurana, I finally got training again. For the second time this month I’ve validated the link between traveling and catching bugs.

On wednesday night I didn’t feel too bad after nearly a two week lay off. Although I was dragging ass I didn’t feel completely weak. The campus session I had planned had to be delayed untill Friday evening because of rain. It was then I found as feared, I had lost alot of the form I trained so hard to gain. I know well that this is the nature of power, so hopefully a few session should replenish it and I can get back to 1-4-7 form in the next couple of months. I was also aware that my power endurance was low as my arms turned to jelly 5-7 moves into a problem. This was one of the factors that was detrimental in my last trip to Siurana.
I’ve also been seriously thinking about building a finger board for the house. After struggling to do dead hangs on the campus board I think I could make alot of gains in this area. Finger boarding certainly hasn’t done any harm to climbers like Dave Macleod, Roddy Mackenzie and Sam Clarke.

Its been a frustrating couple of weeks not getting outside to climb because of the rain. Lucky for me I’ve been coping through the late nights at work and long traffic jams home in the knowledge another trip to Siurana is not far away! I’d like to say I’ve been training like mad but illness and long days at work have left me only a few sessions. After Sundays trip to Dumbuck was canceled I had a fairly good campus board session attempting 1-4-7 again. This was followed by good form on with the pull ups and laps. Sadly Wednesdays session wasn’t so good and I felt tired quickly probably from insufficient rest (2 days) from the weekend. It was probably good it rained all day keeping me off the campus board.

Hopefully I’ve done enough to go back to Siurana to bag Anabolica F8a (at least) and maybe even an F8b. I’ve also found out about another venue nearby called Santa Linya, a massive overhanging cave which looks amazing. Most of all I’m looking forward to relaxing with some long lie ins, fingers crossed that it’ll be a productive trip on that front at least.

After two weeks my man flu has finally receded enough to do some training. However, lying in bed on Thursday after a long day at work training seemed as unlikely to happen as on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday evening. Desire to improve on last weekends poor effort on Voodoo finally kicked me into action for a session. I learnt the next day from the cramp in my arms that a poor warm up before my second go was to blame.

Surprisingly after so much rest warming up wasn’t so bad and likewise in dispatching some easier problems from my circuit. I was glad not to have lost ground after a week of bad diet (the flu’s no excuse) and no exercise. On the campus board a small amount of progress was even made, shoulders holding together long enough in the cold to tick a good set of 1-4-6’s and 2-4-7’s. As good as these felt, a couple of poor attempts at 1-4-7 brought me back down again. Dead hangs and one armers were also poor, explaining why I couldn’t tie the full movement together yet. On the plus side endurance seemed good after I managed 2×4 laps on the wall. Arms felt weird, although tight they didn’t feel pumped, just progressively tired. This is something that can only be good for the next Siurana trip week after next.

Standing in the darkness I felt a little sad looking at the seven year gap in my old training log. Something that has been neglected but not forgotten in my intervening academic years. Although the focus of my problem solving interests tend to drift, I feel like its back on hard climbing again.