So i tried this last year with Andi, but we were defeated at the last hurdle. This time its different, we feel more ready, the weather has been dry for a while now, we can pick the exact day and time due to the holidays. its now down to us.

we started at 7am sharp on the upper tier, first route of the day was aqua, a pleasent solo, then sauls crack hen sloth. Andi forgot to take the nut key up with him, so had to clamber back down then back up again. the crux of the day, crack of gloom, went quite well for both of us. A little tiring, but still feeing 9/10. soon enough roaches is complete in just over 3 hours!!, thats half the routes. now its the psychological Hen cloud, long sustained routes. The walk over has been a mental drain and we've slowed just a little, but now found a steady pace, which is good. one by one we complete the routes. My psychological crux is Hen cloud eliminate, as ive never lead his one, but i do it easily and im in full swing. We finish on Seconds retreat, which i love to do.

Now its just the Ram left. we get there and find the quick pace again. one by one the routes fall victim to us. Its a masterclass of crack climbing in a day. At this point, all the routes are easy. Soon enough we've complete the day in 7 and a half hours. All thats left is Ramshaw crack. we know we have to do it.

So we have a break for twenty mins and take the slow walk up. we get to the bottom of it and Andi takes the front seat. He gets so far up, gets pumped and comes back down, then again and again. Soon he's run out of juice, which means its my turn. Ive not done Ram crack before. I tried maybe 4 years ago, but didnt manage to get off the floor. However ive done alot since then, and today has been all about crack climbing, so what better way to finish it than Ram crack. So off i go, soon enough i find myself on the final few feet. The crack is to big to get a proper arm in and only half the body fits, at one point im sure i used my leg and head to hang off to rest my arms. then i go for the final chuck, i feel the top, but im fully pumped the top is rounded and its greasy, but why fall now, i have a moment of self talk in my head and muster some technique and maul myself overt the top. First go and what a way to finish the day. Andi comes up not long after, and we stop the stopwatch. 8 hours 41 minutes. A new record and what a day.

So the last couple months my focus has been on working on the whillans / brown day aka the staffordshire nose. practice, practice practice. luckily i work with Andi, so if we not doing one of the routes, then id be out on my own soloing something somwhere, trying to keep my head strong. the last few weeks, summer has officially arrived and heat has been quite difficult to get out and climb sometimes, but normally somethign will be sheltered somewhere. Ive bouldered when i can, but its diufficult to climb hard when you feel like you need to eat ice cream all the time. Any ho, i feel ready for the day now, we know where to save time and any shortcuts  in the form of solo's or  abing from the top..... lets see hey

So I've been playing on the direct to fist full of crystals the last couple weeks aka heredity. A simon nadin variant, which has not been repeated. Goes at e6 6c. So I finally figured to beta, above a horrible landing, and when u get stood up you really aint prepared for the slab. So after I figured the beta, I picked my day to do it and got going. I fell a few times trying to get stood up then when I did get established, I jumped off thinking ill do it on the next go, but I don't get there again.

so today is warm, but breezy, perfec cons for thiroute. i meet dave at the steps of the lower ties, then decide to rig up a rope on it. wanted to do this route for ages, but always pu it off, we get to work on finding the beta and quickly figure it out, just as were ready andi and ky turn up with some support and more pads, wehave a couple more goes each then pad ou the bottom. I up first, im well psyched and confiden. ihave that familiar talk ith myself then get on it, weet i do it first go, straight after dave gets on and does it to. there we go a fist full of crystals (e6 6b) worth 3 stars any day,but what about the direct ...............

so strangely the weather has been dry. a month of snow and dry weather. the perigrines have moved to the upper tier and im thinking about routes as well now.

so since b4xs, i decided to get on my tetris block proj, some almost successful session, but no joy, now it warmed up abit , the window of opportunity has closed.

Ive been on hols the last couple weeks,so caught up with some different styles of climbing> ivehad 3 sessions at staage and burbage north for some snowballing. on my first occasion, i warmed up on archangel onsight, folloed by cemetry waits (e7 6c) on my 4th go. after, we did some round the plaintation, bread line (e4 6c) onsight and finished on silk. wewas climbign with fon fullwood, johnny dawes, ru davis and co today. 2 days laer im back at stanage and burbage with dom and eddy barnes. we head straight to burs for 3 blind mice e7 6c. i decide that its a slab, so should be ok for a warm up. im right, i onsight it. Sweet, then we get o the awesome looking arete just right , ai no something something e6 6b, onsight again. next we head back to stanage. try silk ,but its warm, then do breadline again, big air e5?, don (e4) and white wand (e5), then finish on careless torque,bt obviously wit no success, so not a bad day.

a couple saturdays ago, me andi, dave and john perrin head to tremadog for some multi pitch action and do cream E4, im almot out of my depths, but thats wat i need to ge better on. a few days later, i decide to head to hen cloud and project myxi for the first time this season. Its gonna be hard to tick this because th last move is difficult, but more because getting the spotters will be hard to, as i plan to highball it.  get to the last move a few times but the roc is hrrible on the skin, and im done in no time.

a few days later i had back to stanage on me tod, as  head ulassess bow (e6 6c) is in nick, and some sno still remaining, i kno this will be my last snowballing opportunity and go for it. It was raining all the way,meven when i got to hope valley, so i pull over to take a look at the guide for a plan b, but i notice a blue sky patch over stanage way, so risk it. it paid off, dry, not cold, but not hot and the rock is sticky. i hea stright for the goal of ulyasses. notice the condioinsr superb and go forit, onsight, sweet. i have anothergo to get my petrols worth, but fluff the top.. not destroying my success i go again anddo it, then decide to have a 3rd ascent and get this to. after i head down to get ont he joker, but dont ge to fr wth it, but was an nch from the top of delivrance a fair few times, but sadly it raind at this point and it was hoe time.

so font has been and gone. i prob didnt have the best trip out there, although conditions were perfect everyday, we were on alot of reachy probs and i struggled abit. Biggest tick of the trip was modula - a 7b+ prob at cusinere, coinsidently a morpho problem.

Since returning from font, ive been focused on routes. my first stop is hen cloud, andi has the project b4xs to do, i try this with him and i think it within my capabilities, just abit more reachyt for me, so i have to improvise abit. However my focus is on the nth cloud. only one tick i want to do - ageing adolescent. After planning the day well, me and ky meet up and set up a rope on it., we figure the beta quick. i have 3 goes on rope and decide its game on. i decide for the e4(tree) option. and i flash it. no worries. next ky's get up and he takes a proper whipper and wrecks his ankle, after that he's struggles abit with the confidence, but he's keen. dave rolls up and decides he wants to do it, after a while he also completes it (see vid) www.vimeo.com/artofclimbing

so today i managed to get an hour at the tetris block, this is still ear marked on my projects list for the lines supermario and donkey kong, but today i was on my own> its cold and bloody windy . I had 2 pads and thought about a line starting as for super mario and finishes up Trust, now dubbed as Sonic Boom after street fighter 2 game.

A few goes in a find myself rocking up onto the slab, but i wuss out as the mats keep blowing away and i have no spotter, bnut i know this is the time to do it, so the next go, i try to (and fail) to pin the pads down, find myself at the slab point again and just go for it, the mats blow away again as i was rocking onto the slab and im scared, but figure what the hell, luckily i dont fall. and there it is. Sonic boom - soft 7b.

Im now the crag moderator for the five clouds, so feel like i have some good responsibility, but i like the job, it keeps me keen.

font is next week and training is coming to a close. fingers are feeling strong, but tips are splitting so some TLC is required. TBC

so after a break in the weather, theres a couple cold days. i finish work at 4 and head straight to the clouds. my goal is to work on the super mario 8a??? project again. a few goes in and ive got the beta to the crux and where i need more pads and a spotter, but at least ive found the beta again, but i do get a reminder of the painful parts of the traverse and destroy my knee. but i know i can do another extended link up into the problem "trust" - 7a+ from the start of super mario, this will make it about a 7b problem and im still debating on a name for it.

yeasterday i was going to head back to fourth cloud to finish off the unnamed climb and take an extra pad for super mario and knee protection, but seb is about nd the conditions are just super emence, so we decide to head east. we decide that going to gardoms will be the option, and it proves to be a good choice. Its well busy wit folk but we have our goal in site, mine is to do suovito - 7b, ive tried this a couple times before and a big deadpoint move in the middle of the wall always stops me. we warm up and do china in my hand - 7b on the second go and i feel good, we get on souvito, just as a large crowd of boulderers turn up, seb is having major problems with his skin, but i feel good, i re sus the beta i already know and get to wat i think is the crux, after a short while ive figured how to get through the crux and its game on. after a couple falls going or the top, i manage to catch it will a ballsey throw above the pointy boulder, which ive already scrapped my ass on , on a previous go, but seb is spotting, so my head is clear. top out is ok and ive got the mega buzz again. 

the only thing left i want to do this end of gardoms is jackalobe, a notorious 7a offwidth crack, i get it on the second go and then take the long wet walk back.

below is a pic of suovito at the deadpoint crux and a picture of the tetris block with the new  added project lines and also all the originals

happy days

so today was supposed to be good weather,but wtf its raining, theres been a week of snow, now its warming up. Melt everywhere, bloody cold wind and random showers. I just get to ramshaw to meet dom at lower> i get hit by a bad ass snow shower as i run down, just tofind out its wet anyway.  Now we debate weather to go to the wall or head to roaches where dave and andi r sheltering in the hut. Dom sets of and i cant resist but to go to roaches to check the conditions.

I didnt regret it, Upper tier was superb and everyone must of thought climbing was completly off the cards, as i has the place to myself, i do my usual circuit, mainly traverses to keep the stamina up, but it is cold and avoiding the wind is the subject of the day. Now at least ive got my fix.

I head down to against the grain where andi has set up a rope. I got a chance to try it now, never done it before ont his route and im psyched. i pull on and takes me afew goes to figure a reasonable sequence, just the last move that caught me out, but by this time my fingertips were there but i couldnt feel them, but i know for sure that this is exactly my style of climbing thin, and fingery. relying on just as much finger clamping as balance. about 7b/+ sequence i reckon. As font is only a few weeks away, im gonna leave it and concentrate on bouldering, but ive definatly got this climb earmarked for when i return to the ropes.

watch this space...........

So font training has begun again and im feeling in full swing, but the only thing not playing ball is the weather. It has literally been a month of virtually rain everyday and what days there are no rain, the rock is no good. Im on ym 2 week winter break from work and ive been let down by the heavens virtually everyday. 

however we did get out yesterday, me and seb took a trip to black rock in the hope of some bouldering. The rock was dry but it been unseasonabally warm, so conditions were not the best. After most the day there, we both left empty handed, not a single problem done. So en route back we stopped off at the stride where andi, dave jordan and niaomi were tearing up the grit, only about an hour left of light. we join them on a 7a+ slab route for a warm up. First problem of the day - depressing but i feel better. Then seb gets to work on bens wall - 7c. Jordan did it not long previously so gives us the beta. Seb gets to the last moves, but its quite commiting. Im struggling, its a reachy problem for sure. Whilst me and seb are working on it, jordan whips a rope up on big al queda, by time we get round he's already flashed it, but the pads are still down so me and seb get on it, a few goes later i do it, grim damp top, but some quality moves for sure and a new tick for me, a couple goes later and seb does it to. Good end to the day.

watching the weather today and it looks like the weather is gonna start cooling down again mid week onwards, so some projects, and most notabally my super mario project on the tetris block will be on the cards> lets see what the wind blows.