I was planning to do a whole series of the new "Fiend with fucked fitness in Scotland" blog theme, but I doubt I'll be arsed to do it retrospectively, so in summary they would have been:
Analised at Aberdeen - Nice sea-cliffs but got utterly thrashed on the easiest of routes.
Weak at Weem - Managed to get so pumped I was dizzy and nauseous....on an easy slab.
Relief at Rockdust - Despite the 10 minute walk-in feeling Alpine, I managed to climb okay, climbing as a team of 3 gave me longer rests and I had better route tactics.
So, back to Ratho. Normally of course indoor walls wouldn't be worthy of mention, but Ratho is Alpine in a whole different way - it's MASSIVE in both scope and wall height - bottled oxygen would be welcome. I was very impressed, it doesn't feel like a UK wall, but rather something of the next generation. And for me, at the moment, it's very good training. The routes go on for ages and I got pumped and pulse-racingly tired on every single one which is partly demoralising but partly inspiring that it's a good facility to get my fitness back. The next stage of course is to go with the pump and start falling instead of resting...
Things are (very) gradually settling down in Glasgow so I can focus more on training (all with the hallowed goal of exploring as much Easy Trad as possible ;)), and I suspect Ratho will play a large role in that.
2 comments:
Only been once to the new Ratho, but I miss the old place before it was developed. What a class venue it used to be.
Almost all the quarry is still there - I climbed outside there just after it opened and definitely intend to do a lot more trad routes there. And there's a pretty easy back-up plan if the weather craps out ;)
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