Mental Training.

Shit!Shit!Shit! slow your breathing, breathe in,two, three, four, out, two three,four,Fuck im miles past my gear, Come on keep it together...place your yer tool.. weight it...ok move on it. now the other...shit! this ice is crap! come on stay cool, thats good..looks like good ice and a rest above...keep breathing..screw wont bite! come on ya bastard!!!Relax...thats it relax...shit! come on get in ya fucker...great clip it... Breathe in, two,three,four, thats it relax!nice one! not far now...weight on ya feet...easy ground. ya beauty! stay focused..weight the tool. ok place the other...move up..nice one...




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New Tools

Ive treated myself to some new tools.....

New Black Diamond Fusions

Early Winter ticks

With all the Early snowfall and freezing conditions I couldn't pass on the opportunity to get a few early routes in before Christmas. Myself and Phil headed to North wales this weekend to see what were on offer. We arrived Late Thursday night and parked up in the Ogwen car park, the temperature was way below freezing and we were both in for a very uncomfortable night, even though I was in my down bag with full base layers on I still found myself shivering for most of the night, when we awoke early morning there was a thick layer of ice on the inside of the car window which made it very hard for me to get out from my sleeping bag. Eventually we got up, got the kit ready and headed up the hill towards the devils kitchen area, The walk in was great with the mountains looking so beautiful, I was amazed at how much Ice was formed on the routes, even the devils appendix was not far off being climbable, we headed up to look how the screen (IV) was forming, it looked great so we decided to try it. we geared up and I set on up the first pitch, the climbing wasn't that hard, the ice was pretty fat on this pitch and I managed to get a couple of 22cm screws in, I arrived at the first belay which had a good sized ledge, placed a couple of anchors and belayed Phil on up, By this time another party had arrived and the foot of the climb. Anyway Phil decided he wanted to lead the next crux pitch, brave considering he hadn't led on Ice before, The ice was pretty steep and very brittle, it was hard to find a placement for the axe without all the ice just breaking away, but he managed to make his way up the pitch in great style and bagging is first grade IV ice lead.. after setting up a belay I headed on up, The climbing was pretty straight forward and quite enjoyable, I passed on up past Phil and lead on up the final groove pitch to top out at the top of the route. Overall a very enjoyable route and a great first lead for Phil. after looking at a few other routes and finding some guy half bleeding to death we decided to head on back down. on the way back down we decided to shoot up Idwal stream (II/III). There are only really too good pitches on this which if confident can be soloed pretty easy... a good climb tho and I am glad we decided to do it.. we headed back on down to the car both tired and very wet. sleeping in the car with nowhere to dry our kit out we decided to spend the night in swallow falls to have the pleasure of the drying room. The next morning arrive and the weather seemed pretty settled, it wasn't that cold out which was pretty worrying but we were heading up to Clogwyn Du which is quite high up so fingers crossed. After the long walk in we arrived at the foot of the crag, luckily someone had kindly cut steps all the way up from the car park so is wasn't to tiring. We decided to head up into Left hand Branch (V), the crux pitch looked pretty fin on ice and more of a mixed line, we pushed on up a fairly easy gully to the foot of the difficulties. I set on up the mixed line, the climbing wasn't the hardest but seemed very short on gear placements, eventually I managed to find a nice flake to place a sling over, I carried on up with the climbing becoming a little more difficult. there was allot of powder snow about which was making it hard work, I eventually managed to mantle onto this slopey ledge for a breather before attempting the traverse out right to safety. the original route does go up left but lack of ice meant this was off limits for today and we would join on to the top half of right hand direct (III). I made my way across the ledge and mange to reach easier ground...phew. pretty scary that but an amazing feeling to of lead it... I set up a good belay and shouted down for Phil to come on up. James and Steve had arrived behind us now and were also going to attempt the route. Phil pushed on up behind me, after a few F**ks and S**ts he popped round onto easier ground, we then both moved on up to join the Que on right hand direct. Waiting in the Que for a short while we had the chance to watch some impressive climbing from some guys out left an a very steep mixed route.. (Could have been Rob). We eventually got going and finished on up the route. we all topped out safely including James and Steve, after a short bite to eat we headed back down to the car park where we bumped into Rob, He had been attempting some grade 9 that had only had three ascents...(Nuts). after a little chat we got changed and started our long journey home. Overall and amazing couple of days climbing and hopefully the start of a great winter season. I must go back soon and attempt to finish the direct line on left hand branch.

Me on Pitch 1 of the Screen IV

Phil on Pitch 1 of the Screen IV

Phil on pitch 2 of the screen IV

Idwel Stream (II/III)

Idwel Stream (II/III)



Phil Happy after leading his first grade IV ice route



Phil exiting the difficulties on left hand branch (V)

 

The line we climbed on Clogwyn Du

Good and bad day at hedbury

Today produced some good ticks for all involved..The weather wasn't the best but we still headed out and it had its results. Myself, Phil and Stuart Headed to Hedbury for a days sport climbing.

We did the usual warm up thing climbing easy graded routes, I then wanted to try this route called "Of mice to men" it was only graded at 6b but I have seen allot of people struggling on the crux section, I started up the route and apart from a little balancy point it wasn't that hard, I was happy to clip the lower off a get the onsight, next up stuart decided to try a route called "sureshot" He had been on the route before but hadnt got it clean, he seemed to maneged the first section pretty easy heading on up into the layback crack, he tried clip from a low position causing him to get pumped very quick, after a few screams and nervy moments he manged to get the clip, but had to rest as still to pumped, after resting he moved on up and cleaned the rest of the route.

I was up next and decided to give it a go as well, I didn't find the first section hard at all, I got to the roof before the layback corner and couldn't seem to find a comfortable position to clip from, I kept trying but was getting to pumped and had to rest, I had a quick look around and found a bomber hold under the roof, I finished the rest of the route and clipped the lower offs, the route isn't technical at all, its on of those routes that is overhanging all the way up with no rest and no let offs so you do get pretty pumped on it.

After a little rest myself and Stuart both managed to lead the route clean and get the tick, I was pretty happy with this..

Layback crack on "Sureshot"

Phil was up next, he had been working this route called " It cant be Denied" 7b, he had a little play on it to work the crux section out and then went for the redpoint. He climbed very smoothly and didn't seem to have any problems at all, the crux section looked flipping nails from the floor but he seemed to know what he was doing and after a sequence of moves he moved out of the crux and up to clip the lower offs, pretty impressive stuff overall. We then went on to climb "jumping the gun" 6b and let Stuart have a go at "Bob Ceroc" 6c, I have onsighted this route before and didn't think it was that hard, just had a very balancy crux section. Anyway Stuart set off up the roue with me belaying, he moved on up just past the third clip, he was holding onto an undercut just before the rest ledge, all of a sudden the hold snapped causing him to pop off, a rock probably the size of a child's hand came down the face and smashed me in the chin just below my lip, at first i was a little dazed but the blood was instant, i was thinking this must be bad with this much blood, but fortunately it wasn't that bad, It had caused a small deep cut to my chin, Phil took over at belaying while I got myself cleaned up, Stuart finished off up the route. Myself and Phil both managed to climb the route again clean, I still don't believe the route is 6c, I would give it 6b maybe 6b+ for the short. Phil and Stuart decided to climb one more route before heading home, I didn't bother had had a headache by this time plus I had already done the route on a previous visit to the crag.

Overall a great days climbing with great company....shame about the new scar to my chin tho.

"Sureshot" 6c

"It Cant be denied" 7b

Crux of " It cant be Denied" 7b

Phil on "Jumping the Gun" 6b

The Damage from falling rock