Hot work!

Last Saturday was spent helping out on Nicky's BGR and it was a scorcher!

It was 13 Celsius at 2am Saturday morning (it's now 2pm Wednesday and probably cooler!) at Dunmail Raise. Having kipped out, uncomfortably, in the car getting hotter and hotter with the passing traffic occasionally shaking us, we finally got out at around 0130 to see who else had arrived ready for the next leg. It was rather busy as it turned out that a group of 16 contenders from Pudsey and Bramley were heading round.

Nicky turned up about forty minutes ahead of schedule, so it was about 2:15 when we began the slog up Steel Fell. Despite a good pace we lost a minute or so on her schedule to this and also to Calf Crag.  Dawn was on the horizon as we approached Sergeant Crag, a navigation error of turning left too early lost another couple of minutes. High Raise was reached on schedule as were Thunacar Knott and Harrison Stickle, despite not getting a good line on the latter.

It was fully daylight by the time we were crossing Martcrag Moor and we gained time getting to Rossett Pike. Things then suddenly went a bit silly - there's a big climb on to Bowfell, then it gets rocky heading to Esk Pike - Nicky upped her pace and took ten minutes out of her scheduled hour. All this in increasing heat plus the fact that she was suffering with bad guts and couldn’t take food or water for most of the leg.

After a bizarre snowball fight just below the summit of Scafell Pike, it was decision time - do we go via Broad Stand or not? Well it was dry so no real choice. Roy had brought a couple of slings for moral assistance and we were soon over the tricky part (Inov8s may be good for running but unlike Walshes they are useless on rock) and heading up the slabs. It was somewhere near the top of these that the heat and distance got to me and once I was sure that Nicky was on her way down to Wasdale OK, I backed off and just walked down the last steep bit.

In the end she got round in 22:42 - a really good time given the heat. Some photos here .

The following day I went climbing with Steve and Gaz at Attermire but I'd have been as well going sunbathing as I was still suffering from the efforts and heat of Saturday. Still, got some routes done.

The coming weekend may well see more BGR support, certainly I need to recce the Skiddaw leg as I'm supporting on that leg in about five weeks' time and I haven't been on that ground since my own round five years ago.

Summer's here!

Finally all the sprains seem to be going! A run up the local fell on Monday evening resulted in no after effects, well apart from the copious amounts of sweat now that summer seems to have arrived. Hopefully no more need of thermals. Even better was the fact that my time was quite reasonable without pushing too hard - not helped by the fact that I came across the cow (bovine variety) that attacked me last year and had to make a small detour.


Headed out for a longer run this evening along the Pennine Way. Everything felt much easier though there are still one or two tight spots. What's remarkable though is just how dry the ground is, there must have been a total of 5 metres of damp ground in 11 miles! Mind you it did mean that normally springy peaty ground is now like concrete - you can't have everything.

Climbing wise, I was out both days of the weekend - one day in the Lakes and the other on bolted limestone. Climbing quite well both days though I probably should have had another redpoint attempt on the 6C on Sunday.

We had intended to go to Stonestar Crag in the Duddon but on getting there we discovered there was a bird ban. A quick discussion and we went for Troutal Gorge - we only had the current guide and hadn't got any printouts of the newer developments so were slightly limited. I'd done quite a few of the routes shortly after the place had been developed but hadn't been back since nor I suspected had many other people. I was a bit dubious about how clean/dry things would be but since it's only 5 minutes from the car park  there wasn't much to lose.

As it turned out, it was pretty dry, it was however fairly dirty. One HVS then we top-roped an E2, neither of which I'd done before - Mike hadn't been there before so it was all new to him. Mike then did (top-roped) an E3 before we decided that there wasn't much else we could do without a complete cleaning kit. Since there was now bright sunshine we headed across the valley to White How Crag where there's a reasonable selection of routes from VS to E1. I'd done everything, again just after the initial development, and again Mike had never been there before.

After slight detours to avoid dead sheep(!) we got to the crag and it was my lead. A HVS at the left seemed like a good idea so once I'd kitted up I set off and soon came to a halt - I hadn't read the guide and had just headed upwards! A bit of sideways shuffling and I scuttled back to the deck. After reading the description I set off up the right line and didn't have too much trouble with it. Next to this are a couple of E1s so Mike headed up one of these, Natural Progression, all went well until the last couple of metres when his foot slipped. Fortunately he didn't fall but there was more gear in the route from that point than in the the previous 20 metres! Amazing that even after 30 years of climbing we still don't trust ourselves placing gear.

Since Mike had to be away early we just had time for one more route so I headed up a VS. Not in any way difficult, it's just good to be climbing away from gear, especially when it's not bolts. Even though the gear will hold, it is just somehow different being above a wire than a bolt.

Which is ironic since the following day I was back on bolted routes. Sunshine, showers and a thin wind drove us to Giggleswick North again. A couple of warm-ups and we decided to have a look at one of the F6Cs at the left end of the crag. I went first and ground to a halt at the second bolt. After several attempts at leaping for the holds it was Simon's turn - he managed the move statically but then couldn't figure out the following bit. After a bit of faffing he got to the lower off. First redpoint attempt and I got the holds I'd failed to grasp earlier but fell off just as I was getting my feet sorted, back on the rock I figured an easy way through the next section. Simon succeeded on his first redpoint. I wasn't too bothered about another go since it was hard on the fingers so we headed off for some footage on slightly easier stuff. My fingers definitely felt the extra effort the day after but it's over a year since I last attempted an F6C so pretty pleased with how I got on.

Now looking forward to helping Nicky with her Bob Graham attempt, though not the 2am start!

A long time coming

For various reasons I've kept putting off adding a post, none of which make any real sense in hindsight. So what's been going on? Well my appointment with the specialist down in Sheffield got put back by a month for some reason and along with that my official physio sessions have come to an end; my climbing has come to the fore once again while running seems to have taken a back seat due to other injuries.

My, hopefully, last visit to see the specialist in Sheffield was as short as ever. His prognosis was that the elbow is unlikely to improve much but that given I can work around the issues caused and that I'm back essentially doing what I want there is little need to operate as the benefits would be balanced by the risks of any surgery. Next appointment in a year if I feel I need it.

The groin strain that I sustained on the Wadsworth Trog at the start of February has proven hard to shake off. Perhaps more worrying is that my body's attempts to deal with it have lead to tendon strains in both my knee and the back of my leg which in turn have lead to an altering of gait which has meant that more strain has gone on to my knees exacerbating the arthritis in those joints.


Despite this, I have been getting out, though not racing,  I've committed to support a couple of Bob Graham attempts and potentially an attempt on the Ramsay Round Round in Scotland. Two weeks ago I went for a run round Langdale and died on my feet after a couple of hours. Short runs on the moors in Yorkshire are no substitute for big days out! Last weekend I was out on the Grassmoor fells and felt much better. Another long day and I should be OK for the first support stint in a couple of weeks time. One problem is that it takes several days for my knee to recover from each run. Will just have to take it steady.


On to more positive things ...

Slowly I've been building my climbing stamina, not been doing much trad but that is as much to do with weather and not being in the right place etc. as anything else. Normally we have been going to Spain in April for a long weekend bolt clipping to get ourselves set up with some fitness. This year we decided that we'd go to Portland instead. It worked out well in that the flight disruption from the ash fallout from the Icelandic volcano was the week before we were heading away. Fortuitous or what! We had three good days on Portland plus a not so good day at Swanage - at least for me. The day was misty with little sunshine to dry the rock. Now I really dislike damp, greasy rock and this combined with some dodgy rock and gear meant that I got a bit spooked.


Back in Yorkshire, I've been getting quite a bit done and starting to go for it again. Overall I'm about a grade down on last year, so not too bad given the total lack of training over winter. I did have an offer of going climbing to the Lofoten Islands in June but after initially being keen on the idea I've now settled on a week in Scotland getting some classics done.

Slowly Slowly

For various reasons it's been nearly two months since my last post, so there's a lot to report!

For quite a while, since before Christmas really, my arm has been unable to straighten out the last 20 degrees. Despite the best efforts of the physio and lots of exercise on my part, it simply refused to move past this point. Some days it would feel like an absolute stop as if bone was the issue then on other days there seemed to be a bit of spring at the end of the travel. In the last few weeks however it has improved to around 15 degrees left to go. Maybe it's just going to take a long time to get it fully straightened.

A visit to the specialist in Sheffield got cancelled and put back to the end of April so I'll have to wait a bit longer to see what he reckons to my progress or lack thereof.

None of this has stopped me climbing however. One trip to Stockport Wall in February was the start then with the winter conditions receding I've been getting out on the crags! First call was Almscliff - not one of my favourite crags but always one that it likely to be dry, or at least drying. I stuck resolutely to the low grade routes on Low Man. It was surprising just how clunky everything felt, probably nerves as much as anything but I didn't get moving freely until the fourth or fifth route.

Last weekend saw a trip to Widdop boulders. Unfortunately the thaw meant that many problems were damp, probably because the snow on top of the boulders had melted. This meant that I had limited things to do, but even Mike and Gaz had soon run out of harder problems so we headed down the valley to Scout Hut Crag and some super steep traversing. The rock here is very rough so it wasn't long before holes started appearing in my soft hands! Fortunately this happened about the same time as my shoulders and arms gave up.

The following day was back to Yorkshire Limestone and the usual suspect of Robin Proctor's Scar. Again I was really awkward in my movements on the first couple of routes, both F5+, but by the third route, an F6a, I was moving much more smoothly. Steve fancied the F7a+ at the right hand end so he led The Marshall Plan a F6b+ to get to the shared belay so he could get the quickdraws in and have a work of the moves on a rope. I followed and again my lack of stamina showed and I struggled, not with the moves which weren't too hard but with linking them together. Still, things will improve. Then it was over to Crummackdale to grab one of the brilliant HVS slab routes - Olympus - in the setting sun.

Monday and Tuesday I certainly knew I'd been out climbing! My shoulders and arms were quite sore.

As for running, I've done very little this year. The deep snow around us has made things awkward plus all the back lanes were icy (and actually harder to run on than off-road) so for most of January I hardly did any running. In fact I nearly doubled my mileage with just one race! The Wadsworth Trog in early Feb was perhaps a little ambitious given the lack of miles in my legs. And so it proved, I got to the halfway stage then really began to struggle. This wasn't helped by slipping Bambi style on ice and picking up a groin strain. Thus I lost about half an hour on the second half. In the end I finished in 73rd out of around 120.

Having done the Trog, the following morning I was on a plane to Atlanta for work! Nine hours in an airline seat is not the best recovery  regimen. On my return from Atlanta - a bit of a nightmare in that it took 48hrs due to cancelled and delayed flights following about a centimetre of snow at the airport, plus my bag took a different route to me so only got back home 60hrs after I did - I picked up a cold. So that stopped me from running for a couple of weeks. Currently I don't have much enthusiasm for running and when I do go for a run as I did on Wednesday evening, lovely sunset and just perfect conditions, the groin strain flares up and I struggle to even walk the following day. I suppose I'll just have to take my time with it. Very frustrating though.

Hopefully this year will be better both weather and luck wise - last year nothing seemed to go to plan.

Good to be Back!

Well, having got itchy fingers for getting out climbing before Christmas I finally managed to get out!

The cold weather that put paid to getting on the rock continued and as we are all aware is basically still with us nearly four weeks later. This meant that climbing meant winter climbing - yeehah! So the first day out was going to be heading up to Brown Cove Crags on the west side of Helvellyn. However we ended up on Tarn Crag on Dollywagon Pike, it wasn't that our navigation wasn't up to much, rather Steve didn't want to take his new car over a possibly icy Dunmail Raise so a change of venue ensued.

Unfortunately Steve parked at the bottom of Dunmail not at the top so we had a couple of extra miles and around 800ft extra climbing to do. This wouldn't have been so bad if the snow was in decent nick but everything was unconsolidated so post-holing was the order of the day. Very hard work. We had intended to head over to Jogebar Gully on Nethermost Pike but we'd have taken hours to get there so settled on one of the easy gullies on Tarn Crag. To save time (there were three of us) since the wind was quite strong and blowing a lot of spindrift around we settled on climbing on a single rope. Everything was deep unconsolidated snow so any steps that were already there tended to collapse when you stood on them. Four months of not climbing meant that sizing gear (such as there was) took time and the placements weren't that good anyway. Pete (the third man) and Steve tied into the middle and end of the rope so we just moved together with poorish gear about every 30 metres. The cornice was "interesting" as the spindrift meant I couldn't open my eyes! Eventually I was on the top trying to hide from the wind.

After a short attempt to walk up to the summit we decided that we'd better head back. Our footprints from the morning were filled in so it was more hard work. Just before the col between Fairfield and Seat Sandal I went through a snow bridge into waist deep bog! After getting pulled out by the others it was just a case of carrying on - it was no place to stop and change socks. I use the Paramo system rather than Goretex and within ten minutes I was warm and dry. Eventually we got back to the car - Steve had carried skis most of the way up so got a jump on us on the way back. All in all a hard day out, showing just how hard winter climbing can be and that there are different types of hill fitness.

The following Friday Steve and I decided to get a night climb in - Low Water Beck above Coniston. It had been getting ascents through the week and should be in condition plus we'd avoid the crowds. A slight delay in setting off meant that we weren't ready to leave the car until 9:20pm. Also I seemed to have lost one of my axes the previous weekend - to make things worse it was the newest of the pair! Mind you it was still 23 years old! I was thus using one of my wife's axes. An hour or so later and we are gearing up at the foot of the falls. There's still quite a bit of water running and some big holes in the ice but it's climbable.

Steve heads off, he's not done much winter climbing so this will be a decent step up. Plenty of gear, some odd line choices and he's up. Following the pitch his line choices don't seem too strange, mostly to avoid spray from the running water. There's a step or two of Grade IV but mostly it's kicked out. Just above the belay there's an awkward chockstone to get round then some gear up and right before a delicate pull onto the base of the final ice slab. There's nothing to belay to at the top so a ice-axe-T belay is needed. Then it's a wander up easy ground to Low Water and off back to the car. There's more cars parked up now (2am) with sleeping occupants so it's quietly away. It's 4am by the time we get home. Someone posted on UKC that they got to the foot of the route at 8am to find 8 climbers on it already!!

We reckoned that with the long freeze the waterfall beneath Hellifield Crag (Crookstones) would be frozen so four of us headed up there to check it out on Sunday afternoon. I'd been into Skipton and splashed the cash on a pair of new ice axes (DMM Rebels) so was keen to try them out. Deep snow meant slow progress, only to find that there was very little ice there! I reckoned that I could get a line up the edge of the fall where the ice looked solid. Rope around my waist - modern climbers eh? - I set off and removed most of what was there with one tap! It was powder snow  covered with frozen spray. What was left was about 30cm wide and maybe 20cm thick at the thickest part. 10m later I'm on top. I drop the rope so Steve can lead it and the others follow as seconds. We think it's a possible first ascent but can't be sure.

Steve on thin ice

Unfortunately the thaw has now set in so I might have to wait a bit to do more ice climbing but it's good to know that I can do some climbing. With all the snow and ice I haven't done any running for over a week so might start getting more done now that things aren't quite so bad.

Itchy Fingers

Some time since my last posting - seasonal holidays and all that. Shortly after my last post I began to get itchy finger about going climbing again. Unfortunately on that weekend no-one was available to head out so I went for a couple of long runs instead. The arm still isn't straight (there's about 20 degrees to go before full extension) but I was definitely keen to get out.

As far as running goes, well the last two months of last year saw me do a lot of miles, perhaps because I've not been doing any other sports like climbing or cycling. In fact I felt confident enough to offer to help Mark Smith (Swiss Toni on the FRA forums) in his attempt to complete a mid-winter Bob Graham Round on the weekend before Christmas. His help on leg three had pulled out so he had turned to the forums for help. In the event five of us turned up at Dunmail Raise at 4am on Saturday morning. With temperatures of -6C it was a case of wrapping up warm rather than going light. A few slight mistakes in the navigation during the dark hours but once sunrise came spirits lifted and we had a great session from Bowfell to Scafell Pike. Ultimately Mark got round in just outside the 24hr limit but being out for that length of time in such temperatures it can hardly be described as a failure.

With the holiday season over and the cold weather continuing, yesterday we headed over to the Lakes for a bit of winter climbing. The original plan was to go to Brown Cove Crags on the west side of Helvellyn but Steve didn't fancy driving over Dunmail Raise in case it snowed so we changed plans to Jogebar Gully and headed in from Grasmere! After three hours of post holing through the unconsolidated snow we changed plans again and did one of the easy gullies on Tarn Crag on Dollywagon Pike. The wind had picked up and the spindrift meant that often we couldn't see anything. At the top of the route I was nearly being blown off my feet by the stronger gusts!

On the way back it was more post-holing as our tracks had filled in with drifting snow. I managed to break through a snow bridge and ended up to my waist in bog water! Fortunately since I was wearing Paramo salopettes my legs soon dried out though my feet remained wet inside my plastic boots until we got back to the car.

An accident on the A65 and long queues of slow traffic meant a long drive home. I'm definitely not as fit as I used to be :-( a sedentary job doesn't keep you fit like scaffolding does. Mind you I'm also nearly thrity years older!

My arm felt OK, though obviously it was quite weak since I haven't really been using it in anger, a bit of real life stresses and strains should help it rather than the formal exercises I've been doing.

One down and one to go!

Managed to drive down to Sheffield for my latest session with the experts. Finally managed to get to see both of them on the same day so didn't have to waste two days on this.  Things started well when heading in to the hospital car park when someone on the way out handed me a ticket with several hours parking time left on it.

First up (after a visit to the x-ray department) was a visit to the wrist specialist. After a quick view of the new x-rays he says that I don't need to see him again and I can try to use the wrist in as normal a manner as possible. Suitably buoyed by this news I head off for some lunch. Actually pain in the hand/wrist is a bit of a limiting factor at the moment, still at least there's no medical reason to hold back.


The afternoon saw me at back at the hospital and queuing (well sat down) and waiting to see the elbow specialist. Soon it's my turn and I'm partly dreading the result of the x-ray from this morning: if the bones are fused then it's an operation and even longer away from being fit again. Fortunately they aren't fused but he's still worried about the lack of progress in the ability of my arm to extend more. I get a partial all-clear : I can bike and go to the gym but he'd like to see me again in three months. No mention of climbing so I'll have to see how that goes.


This Monday was another visit to the physio in Skipton. Again lack of progress in my elbow is a concern. More exercises and pushing and pulling eases things a bit. One exercise I've been given is to hold a time of beans in my outstretched hand trying to stretch my arm until I tire then hold it for ten seconds more. After twenty minutes, ten seconds extra doesn't do much! Will have to use a heavier weight I reckon. So visits to the gym are in order I think.