Welcome to punterdom...

...Dictator Supreme and El Presidente For Life: Me!

It's been one of those times. I've done a fair amount of climbing recently, pottering around on grit, but it's all been a bit "treading water" at the lower tolerable limit of Easy Trad(tm) - which often isn't as much FUN. Partly due to weather conditions (dry, windy, and sunny, but lacking in the crispness that was around a little while ago) and rock conditions (mostly green and lichenous on what I wanted to do, it seems), partly due to maybe a bit of tiredness, and partly due to unsykedness.

Also, I think, climbing too much easy stuff gets you too used to easy stuff. Firstly you expect it to be easy, get complacent, and get your arse bitten a bit, and secondly due to general ease you stop putting the effort in, you get used to not summoning the oft-important determination. That's how it can be for me anyway.

I don't like feeling such a bumbly, I know it's not really me (a heady and tumultuous blend of ups and downs, soaring successes and flattening failures). I tend to feel a bit weighed down by trad punterdom and do have the free and easy uninhibited pleasure that I usually get. I'd like to deal with this better - I'd like to use the easy end of Easy Trad(tm) as good practise for good style and good habits. But I tend to climb better on the harder end with more inspiration, syke and all the old bad habits.... Hmmm, a current challenge I guess: do a good job of climbing even when it's not as inspiring and I'm not as syked. Okay - noted.

Anyway, got to a new Matlock-area venue since my last post, that was pretty cool:

Bauston Tor (n.b.b.) - a solitary buttress and pretty damn impressive one, did a couple of cool mid-grade routes and the hard stuff looks class.

Might be it for Matlock exploration for a while....until it gets a bit crisper anyway.