Cold Fusion Blog

Thursday 7th , Saturday 9th June. It’s been nearly a year since my last trip down to Yorkshire limestone when I visited Kilnsey to try a very wet Subculture. In the late nineties I was more motivated to visit this area to try the many cutting edge routes at Malham and Kilnsey. At Malham I tried Magnetic Fields, Power Ranger and Transform, at Kilnsey I tried Dalliance and Full Tilt. I made progress on these routes, but never enough to go for a proper redpoint. My desire to do these routes hasn’t changed, rather they now have to compete with my many hard projects in Scotland that some would say are of far higher quality.

On Thursday I headed back down to Yorkshire with Craig Henderson. Firstly we stopped by the Hollywood Bowl to look at a few of Steve Dunning’s new routes from last year. The extension to Kleptomania caught my eye, from the floor at least it looked like the hardest move was in the steep middle section. I guess I’ll find out. We arrived at Kilnsey around 11am after a 7am start, no where near as early as some of my winter climbing starts. Psyched to get started I unpacked my bag to find I’d forgot my harness. Not so easily discouraged I convinced Craig a harness tied from one end of a rope would do for belaying. Craig kindly lent me his for leading. I warmed up on the Directissma which was much better than I remembered it from years back and nicely pumpy.

Gareth Parry attempting True North.

My plan for the day was to try Full Tilt, the first half of True North. Last year I watched Gareth Parry nearly do this falling on the lip. I was especially interested to try his ’shorties’ sequence above the third bolt section that bypassed the impossibly massive reach. Full Tilt was first climbed by Nic Sellars taking in half of Kilnsey’s spectacular North Buttress. Later Tony Mitchell competed the route in its entirety and called it True North. I can understand why Sellars didn’t persist to climb such a stunning line. I’d heard Scot’s based Alan Cassidy and Rob Sutton were making excellent progress toward climbing the route. Malcolm Smith even squeezed in a quick ascent. This was reason enough to try the route to see what these guys are doing.

I dogged up the route to try the section above the third bolt. This turned out to be much more technical than I expected. The sequence moving right was fairly simple. However, this ended in a horrible move slapping left using a small condition dependant sloping pinch with the right hand. I managed to do this once by the end of the day. Time ran out and I couldn’t quite figure out the move above the jug moving right.

Kilnsey chums, Michael, Sophie and Sam.

On Friday I returned with Ian Moody, Sam Clarke, Michael Mullins and girlfriend Sophie, quite a achievement on reducing our carbon footprint. After a late start for the young ones we arrived after twelve to some very humid weather. As it was to hot for making any decent links on Full Tilt so I quickly tried Northern Exposure. I was surprised to find so many good holds on the start of this 12m F8b+. No surprise then that the section above the last bolt was nails, involving a V10 section making a long reach for a small pinch then a heinously high rock over off a quarter joint edge. I couldn’t work out the lower move and fingers weren’t strong enough for the rock over ,so I lowered disappointed. Perhaps the route is still worth a try on a cold day when other routes are wet. In the meantime Sam and others set about redpointing Subculture. I had to keep my temptation at bay to try it myself.

Sam Clarke on the crux of Subculture, Kilnsey, Yorkshire.

Back on Full Tilt I finally figured out the top section and made the link to the lower off. However, I still struggled on the crux middle section and couldn’t make the move again.
Undeterred I pulled the rope and went for a redpoint. Puffing away I managed to make it up to the crux, but had absolutely nothing left to make the crux move. Next time I reckon I’ll try a rock over to move at the undercut more directly to see if that works.

Friday 1st - Saturday 2nd June. My old pal Owen Davis (now resident in Newcastle) was in Scotland this week with his girlfriend Ruth, traveling around visiting folks and doing some climbing. I planned to meet them in the in the North West to show them some of the areas best trad, sport and bouldering.

Looking west down Glen Torridon towards Ben Eighe.

On Friday I meet up with Owen and Ruth in Torridon after another manic Haribo and caffeine fueled drive up from Edinburgh. Here we planned to indulging in Seana Mheallan’s Torridon Sandstone. I last visited this crag nearly ten years ago with the ever eager Chris Hill only to get rained off with only a single route ticked. This time the weather held long enough for us to complete a couple of routes. Sadly the crag classic The Torridonian which I came for was soaking.

Middle of the Road and Rock of Ages at Seanna Mheallan.

Of the remaining dry routes I decide to try Middle of The Road E3 5c. I managed this with some minor problems. It took me nearly 20 minutes to make to the committing and awkward crux move over the roof. After this things got worse when I initially couldn’t get any decent gear in and found the cracks were still wet. My persistence eventually paid and I found some lob-stoppers and the correct line. Owen tried Rock of Ages E2 5c. He shuffled up this gradually gaining a good pump for the grade. Although the crag doesn’t have a massive number of routes, they more than make up for it in sheer quality. The grit like sandstone is quite deceptive, the shadowed holds above being equally likely to be sinker pockets as evil sloppers. To finish our day in Torridon we had a short session on the Ship Boulder. Here we tried unsuccessfully to do Squelch V4, being beaten by the evil technical slopeiness (and the excessive humidity from the bog). As the midges descended we retreated to the Gairloch Campsite for some dinner and a beer.

On Saturday we headed up to Grinuard bay for some sport climbing. My prayers the night before were answered as I woke up to a cool windy overcast day, perfect summer sport climbing conditions. Firstly I had a score to settle on Am Fasgadh after I had been spat of the last move of Tog Balla back in March.

Exiting the crux of Tog Balla and starting up Mactalla, Griunard (Owen Davies)..

After a quick dog to refresh the hideously technical moves in the middle section I was starting to feel quite sore from the previous day. I decided not to mess around and went for the redpoint. I grunted through the crux a little easier this time, but was sure I was much more pumped on the final rail. Hanging in there I though that my arms and skin were going to be too sore for another go and that I definitely didn’t want to blow it again. With elbows out I managed to pull through to the chain, the crimps feeling nice and sticky in comparison to my last attempt on a warm March evening. Owen also tried the route but struggled commenting that he thought it was harder than Chiseling the Dragon at Malham. Wall climbings is not my strong point, highlighted by my continued argument about the downgrading of Sufferance etc at Dumbie. I’m sure both the Am Fasgadh routes I’ve warrant an extra grade. To finish off we went back to goat crag to try the excellent Mactalla F7b. Being unsure about my fitness I was happy to bolt to bolt the route first. When I redpointed the route first go I was surprised not to pump off, the holds were all big enough to get something back on right to the chain. Knackered we decided to head home, stopping off at Dunkeld of the way home for well earned burger and chips, yum.

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.

With high pressure set over Scotland. I planned a day off work to make a Sat/Mon attempt on my Anvil project. Deadlines at work had been grinding me down so I was looking forward to chilling out in the sun.

Saturday 28th April. With a decent warm-up for once in the sun I felt good on the project. Suspecting I could do the jockey seat link I pulled on and slapped at the quartz edge, swinging I popped off at the last milli-second. I doing so I managed to rip four deep flappers in my little finger as I skidded over the sharp quartz. A bit of finger mummification managed to keep the gory bits in place for another go. I couldn’t bear the pain of more dogging and ripping my finger again so decided to start redpointing. This I found more settling, break the three year cycle of dogging and making some progress. On redpoint I managed to catch the sloper twice, once lifting my foot. On my final go I felt good. Lifted my foot and slapped at the crux hold. Funny that Dave read my body language. In that second before I slapped the hold negativity crept into my mind. Thoughts of pain and failure from previous efforts. Its weird how a place and position can hold such a strong association and how fast this can alter mood. Dave suggested that that it was down to expectations. If we find ourself exceeding those expectations then we can become lost. This is why I prefer to back link my routes to reinforce positive engrams with each movement. I hope I wont fall into this trap again.

Sunday 30th April. With another outstanding forecast I was really keen to improve on Saturdays effort. First I tried a back link from the crux to the top. After holding the crux swing I continued but fell off the top crux, showing how hard the route might actually be. Spent some time on this move and sussed out a better way to hold the crimp with a thumb wrap, leading to a more controlled swing. Managed 7 redpoints in total today, 2 failed, 4 got crimp, 1 slapped hold - but couldn’t hold final arch of swing - very, very close! Temperature starting to become an issue. Weekday traffic meant a really late start and didn’t start redpointing until 4pm in the sun. Will try and make an early start for the coming weekend.

Dave seemed to be suffering on his project too. Having made good progress early in the month he was now fighting to gain the same high point. The full tactical assault was on using various sequences, speed and psyche to adopt a winning method. Given this much effort I’m sure the route with yeild soon.

Saturday 20th April. The weather was back to the west coast norm today with a forecast of heavy showers. It didn’t turn out to be as bad as I expected when we arrived at the Anvil. The crag wasn’t too wet but closer inspection revealed a lot of surface dampness. Dave’s project was too wet to climb, so instead he tried another one of my projects into the direct start to Body Blow. This he managed to climb to half way so it looks like my project could be F8b and the continuation into Body Blow a potential F9a/+!

The dampness didn’t effect my project too much, it just being dry enough to climb. I managed the crux, then concentrated on the jockey seat link managing to slap the hold once. Slight progress but not the link I had hoped for.

Saturday 14th. A change in spring weather away from the cooler temperatures was welcomed by many across the country. However, training mid week at 11pm in my T-shirt I started to doubt how good conditions at the Anvil would be. On Saturday I returned for another go on my project along a psyched west coast team.

Conditions at the crag we’re as I had feared, positively pleasant! A stark contrast from the shivering belay duty the week before. It was great to see so many ropes and chalked holds at the anvil. Everyone was enjoying the sun and I even seen a bottle of sun block out. Every sport climber know the rule that “If belayers aren’t winging about the cold, its too hot to climb”. I was happy to enjoy a little sun too, but knew this would make life hell on the project. Still, I was interested to see if I could do the crux again and that last weeks effort was no cold weather fluke.

First hit of the crux sloper from the jockey seat, but not enough. (MacLeod Col) .

As a warm up I worked through all the moves on the route, something I was now close to contemplating as a whole. Next session I was surprised to do the crux first go. I kept going afterward but was surprised to fail on the top crux. This might be a redpoint crux yet. On subsequent sessions I concentrated on linking from the floor and from my jockey seat. In a total of 15 goes over the afternoon I only managed to catch the crux sloper (very badly) twice. Even from two moves in my fingers were feeling damp on the hold. I wish I’d tried the higher link a few more times for practice rather than coming away with this pathetic amount of progress. Still, considering the conditions, maybe it wasn’t too bad.

Dave seemed to be having more luck with conditions on his cave project, making it to the final move. It was pretty inspiring to see him climbing the entire Anvil line via a fine fusion of power and technique. I still remember my first look at that roof, thinking it would take us decades to work it out. Now, it seems like all the lines could be complete before the decade is out. Hopefully I’ll be back soon feeling stronger and cooler to complete my contribution.

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.