December 8th 2008

The last three months have been spent mostly on working on the French guide. The whole of November was spent driving around the south of France, checking out routes, and taking lots of photos. This may sound like fun, but in fact could there be anything worse than walking into the crag each day, with ton of camera gear and a laptop and spending the whole day just looking at the routes when you’re there on your own and can’t climb them! Still, I’m sure there are worse places to be.

A very wet Orpierre

Actually the first two weeks were better as I was climbing with Audrey, though the weather was not great. Starting at Orpierre where it was so wet the crags were almost black, we checked out Sisteron, though didn’t climb there, instead we went to Volx and had two days there. It doesn’t matter how much it’s been raining, it’s always dry at Volx! After that we went to Buoux and the sun came out. We did some great climbs, I think my favourite was Le Rut on Excaliber, a brilliant way to the top of the crag in six pitches up to 7a, I took my camera and got some shots. We also had a day at the far end of the crag, where we just ticked everything. My best effort was to finally tick No Man’s Land, I’d been on it years ago and just got pumped silly, this time I got it – what a brilliant route.

>> Audrey on Le Rut, Buoux

It was a shame to leave Buoux, our next stop was Claret, where we spent a couple of days in the sun. Audrey returned on the TGV, and I hit the road to get some crag shots. I visited Seynes first – I wish I could have been climbing as it was in perfect condition depsite the earlier rain. I got the crag shots from the road, I had hoped a track opposite would give a view of the whole thing, but there were too many trees to get a viewpoint – a common problem. After Seynes I went up to the Gorge du Tarn, where it was pretty cold. It was of course stunningly beautiful and I soon realised that I would need to get to the other side of the gorge to take my crag shots. I found a path and followed it for what seemed like forever, until I could get a perfect view of the crags, but by then it was too dark. I marked the spots on the train with twigs with the idea of returning early the next morning, but the next morning it was cloudy! Getting good crag shots is a pretty big job sometimes! I quite the Tarn with a plan to retun in the spring when the sun is higher above the horizon and I’ll have more time to get the shots I need.

Some crags in the Gorge de la Jonte. I fancy that crack on the right...

Next, I drove down the valley to the Gorge de la Jonte. Another beautiful series of quite large crags. I bought the guidebook (another €20 – I’ve spent more money on French guidebooks than I have on French diesel) and tried to get more crag shots, though I reckon it will take a fair bit of hiking, and again I’ll go back in the spring when the shadows of the opposite side of the gorge aren’t making life difficult. From the Jonte I went straight to a place called Thaurac that Dave Jones’ Europe guide gives two stars to. I wasn’t too impressed as there was a busy main road below the crag ane the river looked like more fun. From Thaurac I headed over to Russan. I’d been here once before with Tim Glasby and Steve McClure some years ago. This time I was just taking photos. I had hoped to cross the river and get the best vantage point, however the other side of the rive was a tangle of vegetation, no paths that I could find, and to cap it all, the army were conducting exercises at the time. The next day I bush-whacked my way to the rive from the crag and found the idea of crossing the river to be quite ludicrous. I took some shots from the wings, which are good but not quite as good as I wanted, so in a bit of a huff I got in the van and went looking for a Decathlon in which to get a boat. I couldn’t find any Decathlons, which was odd as when I don’t need one they seem to be everywher, so drove to Buis-les-Barronies to visit Ollie. I’d had enough of van camping – all the campsites were closed now so I hadn’t had a shower in over a week. I checked into Ollie’s gite, and spent the remaining few days visiting the local crags and checking out the lines on my topos.

Russan and the river that will be overcome... next time.

Plans for the next couple of months involve rebolting a crag from my past – Rams Tor on Gower with bolts from the SWMC bolt fund, I might even get some help. In January I’m going to be going sailing in the Carribean – and I’m hoping I don’t get too seasick. In February I’m going to be hitting the road and after a week or two of ice climbing, it will be back onto the rock to finish this guidebook before Easter.

September 8th 2008

Well, Winter Climbing+ is now out of my hands and into the loving custody of Alan James. Neil, Ian, and I are all really pleased with how it’s looking. Ray Eckermann is doing the illustrations again, though not as many are needed as was the case with Sport Climbing+ and Trad Climbing+. One thing that is going to need illustrating is the ice axe arrest: to communicate to Ray what we need to have illustrated, typically I have supplied a sketch or photo. To detail the complex technique needed to perform an ice axe arrest, Ian Parnell and I met up to go to a park in Sheffield and look completely daft mocking up an ice axe arrest on a grassy bank, in August. However just before we headed out, I noticed that Ian was bringing a book that clearly showed the arrests, and the plan was to use this book to ensure we didn’t miss anything important. It quickly dawned on us that all we had to do was refer Ray to the book and we could miss out all that silly messing around in the park with offensive weapons.

The last two weeks of August were spent away from the frustrating weather. Audrey and I took her van down to the South of France and spent a couple of weeks lazing around on the beach, and climbing at Chateauvert and Céüse. I was particularly impressed by Chateauvert, what an amazing crag, a shame it won’t be in my French Rockfax. Céüse was of course brilliant, though most of my time was spent taking crag photos. We were a bit unlucky in that it was quite cold in the shade for the first three days, but then just a bit too hot in the sun. On the fourth day I got to see what made so many people go to Céüse in August – the conditions in the shade were perfect, and we did a few routes which were just immaculate, and made the walk-in worthwhile, and that’s saying a lot.

I’ve relocated to London now, and will be dividing my time between London, where I’ll be available for coaching on plastic, and France, where I have a heap of research still to do. I’m hoping to get some ice climbing and some snowboarding done this winter.

August 5th 2008

So far this summer has been mostly spent divided between coaching in the Peak District and working on Winter Climbing+. The book is almost complete now, with a cover chosen, and just a handful of photos and illustrations to be placed before I hand it over to Alan to cross the Ts and dot the Is, beautify it and get it ready for being printed. I’m very pleased with the way the book is going to look – there are some amazing photos in there, and just like the previous books (sport+ and trad+) it takes a tight focus on one aspect of climbing and takes it all the way from the very basics to the most technical details, it’s certainly got me motivated to do more ice next winter, and fortunately I won a bouldering comp down at The Arch in London a little while ago and got a pair of La Sportiva Nepal Extremes as a prize – so I’m pretty happy about that – it’s all I can do not to wear them around the house!

Talking about competitions, I was out for my once-a-year run a little while back and found myself running past the park where Cliffhanger was being prepared. I was so impressed by the efforts that were going into it that I decided I should enter the comp – it was only a five-minte walk from my house (also a five minute run at my pace) and it seemed daft not to. On the day, the weather was fine, and I was feeling quite strong. The qualifier started and I just picked random problems that didn’t have queues for them, I onsighted the first eight problems, then had a suddent and dramatic loss of power and couldn’t even pull-on. I was a bit disappointed as the problems I couldn’t do didn’t look any harder than some of the ones I had done. I had to be content with a score of 80, which wasn’t enough to get through by a long way – which was just as well as I was back home sleeping in bed before the qualifier even finished – I was that shattered. I came 18th overall, which wasn’t bad I suppose considering I haven’t trained seriously for about four years, and have always been more interested in climbing routes than boulder problems. I came back to watch some of the final, and it was a really good event – I was really pleased for Matt Heason, who’s brainchild it was – I knew Matt way back when I was living in Swansea and he was a student at Swansea University, so great to see he’s making a living doing what he loves, and making climbing better as a result.

As Winter+ starts to take its final shape, I’m turning my attention back to the France guidebook I was working on earlier in the year. While I’m here I’ll be finishing maps and generally doing the bits you don’t need to be in France for. I will be down in France in two weeks and hoping to call into Céüse and Verdon for some climbing and some photos.

It’s not all been work though, I got away to North Wales for the weekend, and managed to get enough time between showers to do a few routes. The slate is looking a lot better for the rebolting that’s been going on. I just wish some of the stupidly bolted stuff could have some more bolts added to make them better routes. I’m tired of the bullshit about bolts on slate – either bolt something or don’t – the reason that there are these routes with crazy runouts is that they were a) bolted by cheapskates who didn’t want to buy too many bolts b) bolting back then was bloody hard work becuase no-one had drills, and c) the ethics of bolting in Britain were highly contested. I know this because years ago I stuck my neck out and bolted a crag on Gower – I was hand-drilling bolts, paying for them out of my dole, and knew there would be a storm. A few years later bolts were perfectly acceptable, those who complained about my bolts had mostly given up climbing (I dont’ think they ever really enjoyed it  – they just liked to moan) and so I returned to that crag and placed all the other bolts – with a hired drill of course.

Well things have moved on – putting up new routes on slate by placing bolts at regular and reasonable intervals isn’t going to cause an uproar, so why preserve these badly bolted routes from the past? How can we be so conservative? There are so many great lines on slate that haven’t been climbed, it’s shocking, I don’t think there are any other parts of the country as accessible and as undeveloped. There are also a number of great lines that are simply ruined by the fact that they happended to have been first ascended in the bolting dark ages, and we preserve these monstrosities because, like in the story of the Emperors New Clothes, no-one will state the bloody obvious. The best thing about slate is that most of the new sport routes waiting to be done are probably going to be in the lower and mid grade range, just what north Wales needs!

June 16th 2008

Well, I was back in the UK for four whole weeks before I felt the need to get away. This time I flew from East Midlands Airport to Milan where I met up with a bleary-eyed Audrey, who’d left London the night before and driven almost non-stop in order to pick me up. I didn’t complain that she was an hour late. Audrey had a bouldering competition in Grindelwald, Switzerland, so I tagged along and took some photos that Anne Arran expressed an interest in using in her column in Climber. Unfortunately I picked up a cold before I left, and it soon became Bronchitis, which necessitated a visit to the Doctor. Within an hour of deciding to see a Doctor I found myself being examined, followed by blood-test, and ten minutes later I’m walking away with a bag of medicines, and only £50 poorer (the excess on most travel insurance policies, hence I don’t bother with insurance much). On getting back to Sheffield, I found out that I could reclaim some of the cost – so popped into the surgery on my road to find out how I could do this and the receptionist admitted she didn’t even know what my European Health Insurance Card was. Why is the NHS always so unimpressive?

Guess where

Anyway, the bouldering comp was a little on the dull side. I was hoping to get some photos of people bouldering with the Eiger behind them, but the wall was covered and so that really wasn’t possible. However, it was nice to go for a walk in some scenery that is so Swiss even Disney would consider toning it down. For me, the highlight of the competition was the Slovenian competitor who found a way of doing a problem that involved moving into another problem. Obviously, neither the setters nor the judges had imagined this might happen. He was awarded the problem (he was the only competitor to top it), which prompted the French to complain about how he managed it. Basically, he climbed off his problem into a groove and then reached to the top hold on the problem. However, to do this he had to cross some black tape, usually indicating ‘out of bounds’, I thought this was a bit of a spurious argument in that the intention behind the tape was to stop climbers grabbing the edge of the board, not passing in the space above it – which is what the Slovenian did. So at the end of the first round the climber was asked to do it again, this time avoiding the invisible ‘out of bounds’ area of space above the top of the board. With some personal delight and avoiding the area in question, he did it. Almost no-one was spectating at this point, but for me it was the highlight of the comp. I love devious sneaky solutions, and full respect to those who find them!

The 'problem' is actually on the panels on the left. But who's counting? Oh, yeah, them.

Avoiding the invisible forcefield

'Don't fuck with me, OK?'

Once the competition was over (can’t recall who won, it wasn’t a Brit), Audrey and I headed to Cresciano, where I’d never been before and got a good couple of hours’ climbing in before it started raining. The rain continued for the rest of the trip. We headed to Magic Wood, but the rain came even more quickly there. Next we went to Arco, a favourite place of mine, though perhaps more for the ice-cream than the polished holds. We had a half day there and ticked off some old favourites, though after being ill 6c+ felt more like 7c+ - though I recall Massone always feeling a bit hard for the grade!

The sign at Magic Wood. I think it say something like 'If a sunami appears. Run.'

Back in the UK, and feeling much better, I’ve been crazily busy with running coaching days in the Peak District, and enjoying it immensely! Certainly the weather has been so much better in the UK than it was in Switzerland and Italy. I went climbing yesterday with Jamie Veitch and Ian Parnell – we went down to Cheedale and worked our way through Chee Tor E2s and E3s – it has been a while since I plugged gear in and, well, it all felt a bit hard and pumpy, brilliant though.

The rest of the month is going to be pretty busy with coaching, plus I’m finishing the layout of the last who chapters of Winter Climbing+ which is getting me pretty psyched for next winter, though I want to have a good summer first!

May 12th 2008

Back in Sheffield now! Travelled up through France to Font, where I had a couple of wonderful days - a bit warm for the slopers but so what? Audrey called in for a few days on her way to a bouldering world cup on Reunion Island, and the weather held out for enough time to get properly tired, then a bad forecast encouraged me to hit the road back to the UK. It had been four months since I'd had to deal with the horrendous traffic, and omnipresent fear of speed cameras, and it wasn't much fun.

Back in Sheffield, I have a new place to live and a long list of things to do. I did my first Peak coaching session of the year on Saturday, and remember why I enjoy it so much - we had a real fairytale ending to the day. On Sunday (yesterday) I went up to the best bouldering area in the Peak District, and as usual, there was nobody there! I was joined by Audrey Seguy, then later Jamie Veitch. It was great to be cleaning off problems and running around the place looking for more gems - climbing there feels like finding an area of Fontainebleau that's never been climbed on, even though I'm sure most of the problems have been done, it often doesn't feel like that!

< Left Audrey Seguy on an unnamed, ungraded problem on Peak Gritstone, looks good, doesn't it. When you've held the jump to the sloper - you've got to mantle it!

So, the plan is to spend my time coaching, and working on the two books that are currently in production - in particular Winter Climbing+ which I'm producing for Rockfax with Neil Gresham and Ian Parnell - I picked up a huge batch of photos from Ian last week, so lots of work going on with that one. Winter+ will be out for this winter.

April 18th 2008

I can't believe I've been getting around to updating this blog for two months! In my defence, I have been pretty busy with things. I spent all of February and three weeks of March staying at Ollie Ryall’s gite near Buis-les-Barronies. I was joined by Chris Singer and the mission was to check out all the local climbing areas, and start work on a selective guidebook. Much of the time was spent checking out routes, taking crags photos, snapping the odd action shot when the opportunity arose, and then getting back and immediately getting to work drawing photo-topos, maps, and writing the text. It’s surprisingly tiring work making a guidebook! The biggest surprise has been the reaction of French climbers who sussed what I was doing – I had feared that I’d get some flak, but au contrare, everyone I spoke to could hardly wait. At the moment the area is covered by an assortment of hard-to-find local topos, and if you want to check out a lot of areas, it works out surprisingly expensive! The one guide that does try to cover the area, Avignon Soleil is, well... no comment.

So, day’s lead to weeks, and weeks to months. I’m now based in Pierrelongue, just down the road from Buis, about ten minute’s from St. Leger (amazing place). The book is coming along niceley, but in the last week I’ve realised how much work I need to do to do justice to the Dentelles – a big areas about thirty minutes to the west. Also, I’ve agreed to expand the book to cover a number of very well-known areas further east. I will be back in the UK in May for my annual season of coaching in the Peak District, then back out here for more climbing and photography.

Highlights of the trip, from a climbing perspective are hard to sum up. There have been so many superb routes, the quality of climbing here is so high, you could take all the best sport climbing in the UK and it wouldn’t fill half of St. Leger, and hardly anyone’s even heard of St. Leger! In many ways, my climbing has taken a bit of back seat in order to check out the routes, most of which range from F5 to F7a, but I did have one very good day at St.Leger with the Hamer boys Sam and Ed, where they gave me all the beta on an 8a (actually 8a+ in the topo) and I got a flash shortly before Ed redpointed it – his first 8a! My most intense moment was pulling off an onsight of a route at Combe Obscure – Jingo Wobbly actually described the route with a point of aid – so in the name of research I tried to free it – thr crux was the hardest micro-edge pull I’ve ever done, every joint in my hard cracked mid-move and I let out the loudest power-scream ever! But I got it – just! Afterwards I found a topo online where the route was given F7c+ - pretty tough for a one move slab route, and not exactly my forté. The best week was the week the sun shone, and Chris was joined by two friends from Vancouver (Erin and Carrie) and I was joined by Audrey Seguy who I’d been ice climbing with in Chamonix earlier this year. Audrey was climbing well, as usual, and though she wasn’t focussed on grade goals, flashed two 7b+s at Malaucene, I had such a good day at Malaucene that day that I changed my mind and decided to put it in the guide after all! The photo I took of Audrey on one of the 7b+s might have had something to do with it!

Above: Audrey Seguy flashing an unnamed but *** 7b+ at Malaucene

Just another few days in Pierrelongue before Chris and I hit the road again. We’re heading to Font, but may well take in a few more places on the way. Then it will be back to the UK. My coaching diary for May is filling nicely, so with a bit of money, it won’t be long before I’m back down here!

February 18th 2008

Snowboarding

My desire to try snowboarding started twenty-five years ago when  I watched James Bond do it in the opening sequence of Octopussy. So impressed was I by this new sport, that winter I acquired a conveniently shaped a sheet of Perspex, and decided to make it into a snowboard of my very own. I curved the front over the gas stove, and screwed two pieces of timber to the deck so I could brace my feet to something. When the snow hit (it used to snow back then) my family and I headed up to Brecon one winter’s day and I quickly learnt why they use bindings.
Twenty-five years later, staying in Gryon, Switzerland, I had the chance to try it again. Thanks to George Gallop, I headed up to the slopes with a real proper snowboard and a moderate splashing of body armour, though not quite enough if you ask me.

I had been told that my first day would be hard work, and that was right enough. I spent five minutes just trying to stand up. The remainder of the session was a blur involving adopting the posture of John Wayne after several days in the saddle and at the same time imagining I was hovering over the world’s worst dunnie (my lesson was in Australian). Amazingly, after an hour I could actually get to the bottom of the run the right way up. I was quite happy with this, until I was told that I needed to learn to turn so that I faced THE OTHER WAY. This was rather like learning to ride a bike without stabilisers only to be told that you now need to do it sitting on your handlebars facing backwards before you can call yourself a cyclist – I would have told them right where to stick their cycling proficiency test.

Turning is, it turns out, the hard part. I now had a head full of quite important things to think about, and a couple of very important things that there wasn’t quite room for. The general idea was to point the board straight down and then whilst doing my cool cowboy taking a crap impression, to slip in a bit of John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever by putting one hand on my hip and pointing with my other in the direction I wanted to go. At this point I realised why John Wayne and John Travolta where never destined to share a scene.

Ice climbing

After three weeks in Switzerland it was time to move on from snowboarding to try something far less dangerous; it was time to go ice climbing. Now, according to my new hostess, Louise Alexander, I had once announced that I would never go ice climbing, well, I was wrong. I had met Louise a number of times over the years: she was a client on a women-only coaching week that I found myself ‘supervising’ along with Gaz Parry – I can’t recall Gaz’s excuse. Anyway, the next time was as students attending the Extreme Film School, Louise and I made a short film about Tony Lamiche, a year or so later, we ended up making another film following Gaz Parry and Steve McClure climbing Hotel Supramonte, and that was the last time I’d seen Louise. I was quickly joined at Louise’s Chamonix pad by the Castle Climbing Centre’s head warden, Audrey Seguy (Audrey was actually the coach for the women’s week where I met Louise – it’s a small world). Anyway, it was a good job that Audrey came out as Louise had hurt her back in an accident on the ice – the ice between her apartment and her car that is. On the first day we headed to the Creamerie, in Argentiere. We picked a two-pitch route, and Audrey headed off up the first pitch, and, deciding there was only one way to learn to lead ice, I lead through and ticked my first lead.

The following day we headed off to Italy and got on a three-pitch route that weighed-in at 4+. Up to this point I’d found ice climbing nothing short of pure fun. A sport involving lots of sharpened spikes and bashing things really spoke to me. The fun ended when half-way up pitch one, a huge chunk of ice fell exactly where I had been minutes before. I decided I had enough ice screws and climbed at double-speed to the belay. Audrey led the crux pitch with her usual combination of finesse and determination, which I attempted to emulate, only I went slightly the wrong way, making life very hard for myself and realising that no-one had ever taught me how to go sideways. It was a great day, but one that reminded me of the objective dangers you don’t see too much on a crag.

Our final day was spent dry-tooling. I’d never tried dry-tooling, and always thought it sounded a bit daft, pointless and easy. I was wrong about it being easy.

Back to the rock...

And so it came to the time to hit the road again, this time to more a more familiar environment. I’m currently living near Buis-les-Barronies, getting back on rock after a two month break, and working on various book projects.

January 16th 2008

After my last post I had a couple more days in Spain before returning to Sheffield. By far the best thing to happen was climbing Espolon Centrale on the Puig, though only 4+, it's a mega route, and a proper day out. Climbing with Helen Dudley, we managed to simul-climb a fair bit allowing us to do the whole route in only four pitches, which meant climbing for hundreds of metres without stopping - brilliant fun, and a great antedote to hanging around steep shady crags!

Back in the UK I spent Christmas with my family in South Wales, the first time in two years I've done that. Wanting to take a good break from climbing, I had just the one day at Dynamic Rock with my cousin's daughters Martha and Sophie, who I hadn't taken climbing for far too long. Both had a good day, with Sophie doing her first lead. Sophie has decided she wants to be professional climber now that she has her photo in 'Trad Climbing+'. I was also really pleased to meet up with John Bullock, my very own climbing mentor. When I first met John Bullock back in the late 1980s, I was 16 and keen, and he had his photo on the cover of the Gower & South East Wales guidebook, needless to say I followed every word of advice he gave! John recently retired and is now more active than ever.

In the new year I packed my car and headed off to Switzerland where I am currently staying at Chalet Martin, in Gryon. I was very keen to try out my new satnav for this trip, and was quite impressed by the the efficient way it took me to my destination. Unfortunately I typed in Gruyere by mistake, and I can vouch it is a nice place, though not one I would otherwise have visited. It's a good job Switzerland isn't a terribly big country.

This very pleasant and remarkably inexpensive hostel is run by Matt Tomlin, who I had met each October in Kalymnos. So far I’ve had a go at skiing (up-hill as well as down – actually, I find it easier to go up), and had my first go at ice climbing. Ice climbing felt oddly familiar considering I’d never done it before, though I have to confess that this is probably because I’ve spent so much time last year laying out Neil Gresham’s words and Ian Parnell’s photos for Winter Climbing+.

>> This was the approach to the ice climb we did - A few minutes later I had to follow in my approach shoes as we didn't have enough crampons between us, fortunately, they lowered a couple of axes!

The day didn’t get off to the best start as the area we headed to had a large group in place, fortunately we’d driven past an icefall not far from the road, so went back to that. Soon we were plodding up a snow slope, we consisted of Matt, who has done a fair bit of ice climbing, and the other three of us, who hadn’t. Matt lead on up a snow-filled gulley, and we duly followed. As it steepened, we found ourselves kicking steps into the snow, and then it steepened further and turned into ice. I forget to say that everyone was wearing mountaineering boots, apart from me, I was wearing approach shoes, but they fared quite well. Eventually it got to the point where ice tools had to be lowered, and I got my first taste of ice climbing: un-roped and in approach shoes. When we’d all reached the safety of easy-angled ground, Matt lead the route, and set up a top-rope, and we all had a play. Fortunately, twenty years of climbing has made hanging onto ice tools a pump-free zone, but I did get a taste of the dreaded hot-aches! After we’d all done there, we returned to the road, and checked out a free-hanging column of ice that was formed by the concrete structure that protected the road from rock and ice fall. It was only about five metres long, but a lot of fun, the only thing to belay from were ice-screws, so were all got a taste of trusting them too.

I’ve not lead anything on ice yet, but later this month I’ve been promised some lessons by Louise Alexander out in Chamonix. I first met Louise on a women-only coaching holiday that I had organised in Sardinia, then bumped into her again at the Extreme Film school. The last time I saw Louise was in Sardinia where she helped me film Steve McClure and Gaz Parry climb Hotel Surpramonte. Louise now runs ‘MountainGirl’, a company providing women-only guiding and workshops from Chamonix. I’ve always been a bit of a girl when it comes to the cold, so I guess I’ll be in the right place.

Before I head off to Chamonix, I’ve been promised some snowboarding lessons. I’ve always wanted to have a go, and it’s been chucking down snow all day, which is just as well as I suspect I will be spending an inordinate amount of time falling on my arse.

December 9th 2007

I am currently sat in the salubrious splendour of the Orange House down in the Costa Blanca, I have to confess that I’m feeling the strain of three weeks’ climbing. Having a book at the printers always seems like a good time to run away, and so I was pleased to join Lucy Creamer and Tim Glasby on a short trip to the new bouldering must-visit destination of Albarracin in northern Spain. Meeting us out there would be Helen Dudley and her partner Jason. Helen forewarned us that there was a chance of snow, so I packed by biggest down jacket I own, and was glad I did as it was pretty cold! The climbing was great but you couldn’t really stand still for very long or you froze. Tim was shooting for the forthcoming Marmot catalogue, as well as a magazine article, so I’m sure the photos will appear at some point somewhere.

Above: Albarracin, Spain

After just two days, I was feeling pretty wrecked by the climbing, and took a rest while everyone else went out and had a really good day, I was hoping to be on form for the last day, but I just seemed to go into ‘rest mode’ and found myself unable to really get going – I think I would have been better just climbing each day. We live and learn.

After Albarracin, Tim and Lucy returned to the UK (Lucy is the new competitions officer at the BMC), but the rest of us drove down south to Calpe where warmer weather was waiting, and expedition down jackets just looks a bit silly. That was two weeks ago, and so far the highlights look a bit like this:

L’Ocaive: sector Cuevas: had a go at flashing the ingloriously named, but highly rated ‘Route 9’ (8a). I’d watch Steve Mac fall off this one a couple of years ago, so shied away from trying it onsight – just as well, it was far pumpier than it looked and I got as far as the wet tufa. I was probably too pumped to carry on even if it was dry, but it was a pretty good excuse…

Gandia: Had a go at onsighting Negue Gorrak (8a) but couldn’t do the crux, which felt more like Font 8a! Oh well, I settled for ticking Patatas a lo Pobre (7b+) and Botoia Sakatu (7c), both of which I’d been spat off on previous visits, which was quite satisfying.

Gandia – El Bovedon: I tried Arcadia (7c) but just wasn’t up for it (way too steep!), which felt a bit disappointing, then got to the last move on the flash of ‘Route 10’ (8a), which made me feel a lot better, even if it was only about 7c+ to that point – maybe even 7c!

Altea Col: Had a good day here, though the crag isn’t quite as good as it looks in my opinion. I got a (technical) flash of El Paso Blanca (7c+) which was good, I say technical as I had watched Helen work it, but I did do it a completely different way, so would have been no harder onsight. I onsighted Pure Obsession (7c) which was a bit sharp for my liking, and some chalk would have helped a lot. I didn’t fancy trying the 8a to the right after that.

Bernia: I finally got back on The Magic Flute (7b/7b+) after getting beaten up by it several years ago, even on the redpoint, it felt tough, and I’d give it 7b+, just. The route to the left, Tufa Groove (7b+/7c) was just as good, and I managed to hang in for the onsight. It felt pretty tough for 7b+, and only today did I hear that many consider it 7c (I’d agree) and some consider it 7c+.

>> Photo: Fran on Magic Flute (7b/7b+)

So, nothing too amazing so far. The best route I’ve done is probably Esto Escampa (7a+), a four pitch outing up Pared de Rosalia at Sella, though the last pitch was shorter than some of the boulder problems at Albarracin!

Coming to the end of the trip now, I’ve got some coaching work to do before Christmas, then it’s off to France!

October 24th

I’m back from what has become an annual pilgrimage to Kalymnos, and have to report having had a very good time. I managed to finish off a 7c project I bolted last year (Dream Line Extension), bolted and climbed a new variant to Anaphylactic Shock (Lactic Shock, 8a) and even managed to drag my sorry ‘desk-evolved’ state up Helios (8a) onsight – much to my great surprise – I was even more surprised to find it had originally been given 8a/8a+, so fingers crossed it won’t be down-graded. Actually, I know it won’t be down-graded because not long after I did it, my partner for the trip, Helen Dudley, pulled off a pretty big hold out of the crux sequence making it rather a lot harder. Shame too as she was about to redpoint it as her first 8a. But all was not lost as she soon ticked my Anaphylactic Shock –but promptly downgraded it, quickly removing another 8a from the island.

I had the usual epic getter back: the wind cancelled the ferries leaving us stuck in Pothia. Fearing missing flights we attempted to track down the local ‘private’ ferryman. A stark lesson in both the international language of Hollywood and the nature of this individual was soon learnt. When the coast guard was asked where we could find the captain of the Anna Maria, one of the Coast Guard staff gave a lengthy reply in Greek, the only discernable words being ‘Jack Sparrow’ somewhere in the middle of the sentence. Fortunately, the Greek Gods were on our side and the ferries did run in time to get to the airport, where I bought the last ticket on the flight to Athens only to stopped by security who were very interested in my pair of (rather heavy) Hilti batteries hidden at the bottom of my hand-luggage. I started a mime that was intended to explain ‘hammer drill’ but stopped when it became abundantly clear that, to the uninitiated, the method of holding an enthusiastic hammer-drill was not dissimilar to that of holding a WW2 sub-machinegun.

Trad Climbing+ is now in its final proofing stage, and is booked to go to the printers in the next couple of weeks, so now all attention is to be turned to the ‘Winter book’ and if the weather is kind, some good coaching days out in the Peak.

October 9th 2007

Finally, Trad Climbing+ is out of my hands and has begun its final journey that will see it in print before the end of the year. It’s been a year since I started this book, and I’ve been around the world getting photos and ideas from New Zealand, Australia, the USA, and Canada. As always, when you embark on a project to write down what you know, you realise how much you don’t know. Fortunately, John Arran was there to co-write this book, and I got a huge amount of incredibly interesting information from research conducted my manufacturers, and folk like Dan Middleton at the BMC.

I’m happy that Trad+ is as good as it could have been, and that we didn’t compromise anything. Once again Ray Eckermann did a brilliant job with the illustrations, and we got photographic contributions from far and wide, including Alex Messenger, Nick Smith, and Simon Carter. We were also very fortunate to have help from climbers willing to dress in bright clothes and get on the routes that have the best light, rather than, perhaps, the best holds. Alex Hughes, Alex Mason, Alex Barrows (are you noticing a theme yet), Steve Ramsden, and plenty more all deserve a hearty pat on the back. Similar thanks should go to DMM, Wild Country, and Black Diamond for their help in supplying the latest kit.

I’m now about to leave for my annual pilgrimage to Kalymnos. I was going to try to go somewhere else this year, but it was not to be. So I’m currently working out how to get all my gear through an airline with a 15kg luggage limit – I mean, my Hilti batteries alone weigh about half of that, so it’s going to be another interesting journey. This time tomorrow I will be either handing off a tufa or swimming in the sea. Then back for some more coaching on the grit to pay the bills – well, you don’t think we earn any money from writing books do you?

August 31st 2007

It's been a hectic summer on the coaching front, and I've been out coaching on the grit more than I've been sat behind this computer finishing off Trad Climbing+ - which can't be all bad, though I was expecting to be finishing today, and there's still a few things to do. We do have a front cover though, and it appeared in my latest piece for Summit. I have to say I'm quite happy with how it's looking - it's a much bigger book that Sport Climbing+, with a lot more photos, and more of Ray's wonderful illustrations! I think more would have been done by now but for the fact that my computer decided to die about three weeks ago - after endless to-ing and fro-ing, I decided I couldn't wait any longer and went out an bought a new bunch of bits - and so I can update this site. A couple of weeks ago I realised that the book didn't have any photos of Scotland in it (!) so got in touch with Jo at Cubby Images www.cubbyimages.co.uk and now the book has loads of great photos from Dave Cuthbertson in addition to the shots I took when I was on my trip, and the superb photographs from Nick Smith and Duncan Skelton (who took the cover shot for this book, and Rockfax's up-coming guide to Northern Grit).

John Arran, my co-writer on the book has just returned from a successful rock climbing expedition to Pakistan, and with him back, I'm hoping things will be ready to hand over to Alan James in the next week or so, so should be on the shelves before not too long.

July 9th 2007

Well, I'm finally back in the UK from three months away, and pleased to see that there isn't too much sign of the bad weather everyone's been talking about. If it makes you feel any better, I was seemingly followed by bad weather regardless of where I went. it was too hot in Thailand for climbing anything that didn't allow thorough rechalking between moves.

Australia was interesting as I'd never been there before, I spent a day in the Blue Mountains - which was pretty good, plus some bouldering in Sydney before hiring a car and driving to Arapiles. Arapiles had a good vibe to it, but seemed to have more to offer climbers looking for multi-pitch routes from VS-E2, the harder climbing being untypical. I was looking forward to climbing at The Grampians, and though I had seveal good days there, when it came to visit Taipan Wall, it rained, and it continued to rain for my long drive back to Sydney - much to the delight of the locals. Back in Sydney I spent my last weekend bouldering in Sydney with James Perry, and was impressed by the quality of the venues - whilst not extensive, the problems were as good as any I've done.

My next stop was New Zealand, and James was insistent that I couldn't visit NZ and not go to Castle Hill, so, an internal flight and a hire car were taken to the fabled bouldering area. By the time I got there, it was completely covered in dense cloud, and soaked, I started to wish I'd saved the money, but after a day, the clouds cleared and I had four superb days bouldering until my body ached and I was all done with manteling!

The next leg took me to L.A. and an Amtrak ride up to Yosemite. Highlights here were a retro-flash of Midnight Lightning (I had done it about ten years ago) and an ascent of Astroman in the most appauling style (bouldering doesn't exactly get you fit for a thousand feet of crack climbing!) After a couple of weeks it was time to stop dodging rangers and head north on the train again to Vancouver, and Squamish. I'd had a day of rain (rare) in Yosemite, but Squamish was getting a daily dousing. In between the rain it was of course, great climbing as always, and the rain was probably a price worth paying to avoid the heat.

And now I'm back, and busy with coaching in the Peak and working on Trad Climbing+. On my trip I was eager to learn of any tricks and techniques, plus testing the ones we've written about, and got a fair number of photos to add to things.

March 28th 2007

Back from a good couple of weeks in Turkey. Spent half the time climbing and half taking photos, with three months of climbing around the world coming up, I wasn't feeling the drive to push myself, so took things easy and enjoyed some brilliant routes - did manage a quick redpoint of the classic 8a Turkish Airways, and got to the last moves trying to onsight Plastik Fantastik - another 8a.

>> Photo: Me on Kiskanirim (6b+) Akyarlar Sol, Antalya, Turkey. Photo by Martijn de Kwaasteniet

Since getting back I've been working on the Mind section of Trad Climbing+ which is looking like it's going to be a major section - far more to it than in Sport Climbing+. Also, I've done a lot of layout work on the next book in the series - Winter Climbing+, written by Neil Gresham and Ian Parnell. Looking like there will be a bit of trip in Wales next week, though a smaller affair than last summer, then I'll be flying to Thailand on the 10th before heading off to Australia, New Zealand, California, Colorado, and British Columbia in Canada. I'll be back on the first week of July to do a summer of coaching, finish the Trad and Winter books, and start thinking about the next book project.

Many thanks to the folks at JoSiTo for being so accommodating - see you soon!

March 5th 2007

I've been pretty busy with the Trad Climbing+ book that I'm working on with John Arran - about half the chapters are looking close to ready now, plus I've been doing a lot of coaching - when the weather has been on our side. I'm off to Turkey tomorrow - back to Antalya where I'm staying at the Josito campsite and hoping to get some new routes done. This time the forecast makes it look a lot more inviting than last time I was there - when it rained almost every day - which was just bad luck.

When I get back from Turkey, I'm going to be coaching for the next nine days ( 21st - 20th March) then over to Wales for a road trip, then I'm off again - with many thanks to mu air mile angel who has let me use his surplas airmiles, I'm off around the world - Thailand - Australia - New Zealand - California then hiring a car and making my way to Vancouver before returning in early July. Hope to tick some classics and a few that got away last time - plus get loads of photos for the book!

January 15th 2007

I've not got many 'rules' for my climbing - but one I've always had is as follows:

1. Always have a project
2. Always DO your project
3. Never have two projects!

Because of this, I've always been quite careful as to what I will actually bite off and call a project - there are plenty of lines out that that I've had a go on - but haven't quite made the project mark. Last month I mentioned that I was trying a line in Burbage - and yesterday, much to my genuine relief, I watched as James Pearsons made the first ascent - in excellent style. He has named it 'The Promise' and boldly graded it E10 7a.

It's funny, a week ago I ran into Neil Bentley in my gym, and I mentioned that I'd had a couple of gos on the Burbage North line - "what do you want to be doing that for?" he asked me, "you've done that now!". He had a very good point - I wasn't in a positive frame of mind about it.

Though of course it would have been nice to have done it, I wasn't burning for it - partly because it didn't feel like a harder route than Blind Vision, and it's not easy to get motivated for something that isn't cutting new ground.

I was out in Burbage yesterday, just for a walk when I saw James Pearsons and entourage on the line - I was interested to see how he was going about the moves - which I'd worked with Nicholas Ecoffet the previous year - I reckon we'd got a much easier sequence for the lower half, but James could reach the last move - where I had to jump. James also found gear in the shape of a sliding nut that they seemed reasonably confident in. Interestingly, Miles Gibson, who made the first ascent of Superstition (E8 7a) to the left, had tried the arete, and considered it technically easier, but didn't choose it for a project because he didn't think it had any gear.

Watching James do the route was actually a huge relief: the lure of unclimbed grit is hard to resist, and I wasn't looking forward to having to do a 6c dyno that far about the ground!

It's funny how sometimes, it seems as though our lives are being directed by fate. Last year I had a great time new routing in Kalymnos - with my drill and bolts. That conversation last week with Neil Bentley got me thinking, then yesterday, watching James make the first ascent of the line I'd tried, and today I got a message that Lucy Creamer and Tim Glasby have found an amazing, undeveloped crag in France, close to where they are currently living - and are in need of someone with a drill. I think it's time to respectfully close one door, and throw open another!

December 29th 2006

Well, the good news is that Sport Climbing + is in print, and seems to be going down very well, with good reviews, and the news that Waterstones will be stocking it in their main shops - not usual for a specialist title, so pleased with that. I've been putting work into the next book in the series - which will take the same approach for trad climbing, and have agreed to work with 'the trad climber's trad climber' John Arran to make sure it's as good as it can possible be. Many of the photos were taken on the UK road trip I did last spring, together with Duncan Skelton. I am going to be doing another UK road trip around Easter 2007 - anyone can join in so long as they're not afraid to wear some bright colours and have their photo taken - a lot. Hopefully next time around my car will be working, I finally got around to getting a new gearbox and clutch installed, only for the starter motor to fail. Sometimes it feels like I'm buying a new car - part by part.

Coaching seems very busy at the moment - which is good! I've been running one to one coaching sessions at the new bouldering centre in Sheffield - Climbing Works (www.climbingworks.com) and for a climbing coach - it's pretty close to perfect with loads of technical problems - and guaranteed to leave you stronger after each visit - though it probably won't feel like that for a day or two afterwards!

I've also been playing on a gritstone project in Burbage, and although it's a great line, the rock is so sharp that I can only have a go or two on a top-rope before my skin is worn through, add the fact that there is no gear and, well, maybe I'll leave it for someone else...

November 21st 2006

Well, I've been back a week from my travels in Turkey and Greece. I started off in Antalya. My first day was warm and sunny, and I explored all the amazing climbing in the area and got very psyched for a few days climbing. However, after that the weather caught me up, and it rained and stormed for three days. Apparently it was the first rain of the season, that seems to happen to me a lot. Still, there were steep crags where the rain didn't affect play, and the next day I had a surprisingly good day onsighting a 7c+ and watching the amazing Muriel Sarkany and her friend Alexandria as they ticked the crag.

George Hoffmann Agustos Boc (7a), Antalya. I took this photo whilst walking around on my first day, I'm glad I did because it rained from then on.

The rain continued, and to make matters worse my insides decided they had enough of the dark and fancied exploring the forbidden world of sinks and toilet bowls. After a week it was time to move on anyway, so, with a view to returning, I got myself back to the city of Antalya and onto the midnight bus to Bodrum. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the coaches in Turkey, far better equipped than I've seen, well, anywhere in the world. I even managed to get a couple of hour's sleep. From Bodrum, it was a simple matter of getting the ferry to Kos, then another to Kalymnos, amazingly I found myself in Massouri by 11am. Far too early to lounge around, I decided to make a start with my objective...

My drill, bolts, ropes and all the rest of it posed an interesting logistical challenge. My luggage allowance on Thomas Cook was a whopping 20kg, my luggage came in a 70kg. After having my bag weighed, I dutifully made my way to the oversized luggage counter, and, oh, gosh! I forgot to have my bolts weighed! And what's this? A couple of Hilti batteries! I must return and have them weighed too... but I'd feel terrible taking up more of the ground crew's valuable time, much better to just pop it into the surprisingly empty haul bag that's already been checked.

Getting the kit on the plane was actually the easy part, carrying it between ferries, taxis, and buses was a lot tougher. On the morning I flew I realised that I was incapable of carrying all my stuff - could even stand up, so I went to town and bought a luggage trolley - and what a wonderful piece of kit it is, turning the impossible into the improbable simply by the addition of a couple of wheels.

So, with a body that was close to being broken by dragging and carrying more than my bodyweight in kit, I was finally in Kalymnos with an objective. The specific objective was a crag left of Kalydna. I'd had my eye on it each time I'd been there (about four now). Before hiking up to the crag I popped into Glaros, and had a quick look at the new guidebook, pleased that there were still not routes (it's a pretty amazing piece of rock, and why no-one had bolted it was and still is a bit of a mystery). So, with a good 30kgs on my back I hiked up to the crag. Still no bolts in place - I was feeling pretty exhausted now, but the buzz of starting work on developing a whole crag (the missing link in the chain of crags between the Grande Grotta and Poets) was too much and I spent the rest of the afternoon fixing a rope that would enable me to get to the top without walking all the way around.

Me on the redpoint of 'Ivory Tower' (7b,8a) the crag was eventually named The Ivory Tower. Below me is another line (Dream Line) that I couldn't do one move of (just below my feet), and is there for taking... Photo by Bill Wright.

Over the next couple of weeks, I bolted seven lines, three of which had two pitches to them. The weather didn't take long to catch up with me, and with frequent storms and the temperature dropping well below 10 degrees (the coldest it's ever been according to some), I was very close to leaving having only actually climbed one line. Just when I was about to leave, the weather finally did break, and I climbed the first of the harder routes - 'Happiness Extension' I was so pleased with the quality of the route that I couldn't possibly leave, and with the help of the die-hard Canadian contingent who evidently like the cold, I could all but one pitch climbed. Two of the routes came in at around the 8a mark, and I can honestly say that every one of them is worth repeating.

The weather meant it took a lot longer to complete the crag than anticipated. I expected to stay for 14 days, and in the end I stayed 28. I had intended to go back to Antalya, and tried to change my flight, unfortunately the Thomas Cook website wouldn't let me change my flight, and, after directing me to the website (cheers) the call centre took a voice mail, and returned my call when I was out of signal. The meant I couldn't change my flight, but by this point I was so utterly exhausted, I was happy to get back to Sheffield.

I've put some photos, and topos for the new routes in Kalymnos online at this page. Hope you get to do some of them one day!

October 3rd 2006

The law of diminishing returns states that as a project nears completion, the final few things will take more energy to complete than the rest of the project put together, that's certainly true of finishing a book. This week, however, the final illustrations for Sport Climbing+ have been completed, and the final section on 'Self Care' by Mick Ryan has been slotted into place. The work has been handed over to Alan James to work his Rockfax magic and produce a book that does for the 'how to' genre what Rockfax guidebooks have done for climbing guides.

Other than battling with the law of diminishing returns, I've had a few days out on the rock, a couple of weeks ago I got up to Cloggy with Alex Hughes and both did the first pitch of Great Wall - though in a rather damp state, which was more exciting that is should have been. Other than that, I had a afternoon with Alex Messenger and Dan Middleton at Stoney Middleton that saw me failing on Oliver after using all the wrong gear low down, getting pumped trying to protect the crux, and lowering off, causing a dodgy wire to pop on one of my ropes - I think I might just have gotten extremely unfit - and forgotten how to climb. Dan is the technical officer at the BMC, and is interested in organising bolt funds to get routes re-equipped.

I've only got one week more in the UK before flying off to Turkey. I've got a flight to Antalya, but I'm going to be going to Kalymnos first. I'm heading out with a newly acquired Hilti drill and 120 bolts with a view to bagging some of the big remaining lines before the French do them (the Petzl Roc Trip will be running out there later this month). After a few weeks in Kalymnos, I'm going to get back to Antalya, where I'm going to explore the climbing there, and undoubtedly, write up a piece about it. I'll be away for five weeks in all, hopefully I will feel energised when I return, I'll need to be, because I've promised to follow up the Sport Climbing+ book up with another, no prizes for guessing the subject and the title...

September 12th 2006

Well, it's been pretty hectic since my last entry, with lots of coaching sessions out on the gritstone and limestone in the Peak District. I learn so much from coaching, not just about how to coach, but I also learn more about climbing. For example, I get a lot of clients telling me they would like to have more confidence in their leader-placed gear. I now think that this anxiety is less about the gear, and more about being in control - as most people who get nervous about their own gear, also get the same feeling about bolts. Sometimes the obvious is misleading.

I've now got just four articles to complete in my mammoth series on the '20 Best Crags', of course I can't tell you what they are, as it would spoil the surprise. The series started on Monday, and the first crag will be on Thursday.

The best news this month is that I am going to be completing my book project. I now have just a few photos to take, and to receive the final illustrations, and it will be done. The cover is now finished, so I can give a brief preview of how it will look.

In a few day's Summit magazine (produced by the BMC) will be featuring the first of a series of pieces I am writing for them, starting with a look at how trad climbers can make the transition to sport climbing - just in time for those autumn sport climbing trips away. I have also agreed to become more closely involved in UKClimbing, and will be writing some pieces for them, and doing some online Q&A at some point over the next year. A little sooner than that - I have had the pleasure of doing an email interview with Dave MacLeod, which will be shown on his most excellent website at www.onlineclimbingcoach.blogspot.com.

August 3rd 2006

Last month I spent eleven days on the road visiting many of the best crags in the South West. After posting an invite on UK Climbing, I put together a team of eight climbers who were prepared to put up with me taking photos of them, and didn't mind wearing bright red and yellow T shirts. I was joined by Duncan Skelton, who I'd met whilst helping Tim Glasby runs a photography weekend a couple of years ago. As the weather grew seriously hot, we hit Portland, Chair Ladder, Bosigran, Pentire Head, and Lower Sharpnose. My objective was to photograph the areas to complete a series of twenty articles for planetFear. I started the series well over a year ago, but it's taken some while to complete. I'm pretty happy with the results, and the articles should be running weekly at some point soon. I also got a few routs done, the best being three E3s at Bosigran, including Dream/Liberator, which I've wanted to do for a very long time. Thanks to: Mike, Steve, Alex, Al, Rob, Patrick, Sam, and Duncan for making the trip possible. Unfortunately, I had to cut my trip short to get back to Sheffield to try and get my car fixed, it was, but my bill is going to take a fair few climbing articles to be be paid for!

I've still got to cover another six crags, so should have some busy weekends coming up. I'm hoping to get most of this complete before September, which I always find to be the best month for climbing. I may take myself down the South East France for another trip. We'll see...

July 6th 2006

I seem to spend most of the year waiting for summer - and when it comes, find it's too hot to do anything! Certainly is right now. In the last coupe of weeks I've had a day at Malham - being eaten alive by midges and sliding around on sweaty, polished holds, and my only other climbing action was a couple of hours at Rubicon wall, which, for all it's polish and mud is probably the best 'training' bouldering in the Peak. Much of my time is being spent fixing my car - I really don't know anything about cars - and if I did I probably wouldn't have elected to change the heater matrix myself - and wouldn't consequently have as much of my car in carrier bags in the cellar as there is on the road.

Still, later this month I'm hitting the road for a two-week trip around England and Wales taking photos and climbing. I need photos for to complete a series of articles I started a year ago - a count down of the twenty best crags in England and Wales - and before you mention Scotland, I have to say, I don't know any crags in Scotland, and if it's all so great - then you can write that series...

When I'm not hack-sawing important bits off my car I've been putting more hours into the sport climbing book. I'm amazed at how much work is involved. Mick Ryan has agree to contribute a chapter on 'Self Care' which will hopefully be informative, and I am working on the travel section, whilst Steve McClure is working on the training section - with a few more photos and illustrations from Ray Eckermann it will be all wrapped up for Christmas, when it will be nice and cold on the grit - and I'll be dreaming of summer.

June 12th 2006

Got back from a weekend in North Wales having deservedly had a hard time!

I've been back in the UK for five weeks now: in the spring, I went on a five week road trip that got my climbing up to new personal bests (I wrote three articles on the trip that are on planetFear (The 8a Mission) so I won't repeat them here), and I was feeling really fit and strong when I got back - and although it's wonderfully sunny now, it seemed to rain for the next three weeks, and I couldn't face climbing inside after sampling the best sport climbing in the world!

So, anyway, from fit to flop in five weeks. On Friday, I started off with some evening climbing at Pen Trwyn - decided to try a couple of the bolted routes left of Parisellas Cave - I onsighted the one on the left many years ago, and recalled it was 7b+, well, it didn't feel like very 7b+ that day - I'd done easier 8as in Spain, and I dogged my way to the top. The line to the right was 7b, and I did it by the very skin of my teeth - was that French 7b or Font 7b? Answers on a postcard please...

It was good to meet up with Jim (James) McCormack, who I'd had the pleasure of coaching a few years back on a trip to Sardinia, he was climbing in the low 7s at the time, but has climbed 8a since. Jim was happy to let us stay at his place in Deiniolen, which was just as well as the wind was howling up the Llanberis Pass, making it feel uncomfortably like being in a hair dryer.

The next day my partner Tim and I headed up the Pass. After a couple of warm-up routes at the Grochan we'd had enough of the wind, which was still hot and howling, so relocated to Suicide Wall at Idwal. I did both the Suicide Walls routes, and was amazed that Suicide Wall had first been climbed in 1945, it felt pretty serious with modern protection, shoes, and chalk, no wonder it was named as it was.

At both the Grochan and Idwal, Tim and I did a bit of 'Nylon Gardening', removing a heap of redundant tat from two belays on the crags - leaving the best, and most modern piece and disposing of the rest. I had a very neat nut key with a fold knife built into it (made by Trango) which made the removal possible. I'm going to make it a mission to try to clean up any tat I come across from now on.

Sunday saw us back at Pen Trwyn, though feeling tired from all the walking, climbing, wind, and heat. After a couple of warm-ups I rather optimistically jumped on Muscle Beach (8a) and got past the second roof on the flash - though could work out what to do when I was faced with a bolt I couldn't clip and holds I couldn't use! Turned out that clip is usually skipped, Oh well... I went on it bolt-to-bolt a little while later, and gave the holds a good brush, but by skin was far too painful to try for a redpoint.

Tim was as knackered as I was, so we packed and left.

June 21st 2006

I've been doing a lot of work on my sport climbing book - just a couple of sections to finish and it should be ready. It's been surprising how long it has taken - I've been working on it for most of the last year - as has Steve McClure (co-writer) and Ray Eckermann (illustrator). Had some really good feedback from the publisher (Rockfax) which has lead to including sections on technique, training, and self-care. Haven't started work on the travel section, which will be fun to write.

Yesterday, agreed to write a series of performance climbing articles for Summit, Summit doesn't pay for contributions, but I can't resist the opportunity to get the word out - I think it would be fair to say I am on a bit of a mission: in the last twenty years, climbing performance levels in Britain have hardly moves - sure, the cutting edge has moved up significantly, but I don't think that the knowledge held by those at the top of the sport disseminates very freely - I think that righting this has been my mission for a good few years now!