Plodding on.

Not much has been happening. I've cancelled my grand grit plans for the winter as the weather is just fucking tedious. No matter how confident and inspired I feel in my own climbing, such aspirations just boil down to unfeasible logistics (grit being several hours away) and fighting against something unfightable (conditions that are only good for single sporadic days). After a while it gets too much to bother with. I keep checking the weather just in case but in the meantime I've thankfully got enough psyche for bouldering and that's something that will benefit my climbing too - if my skin recovers enough.

Here's a quick hit trip recently:

 

Fiend. Back Bowden. February. from Fiend on Vimeo.

Quite pleased with both of those as Sharp Arete SS (not small arete nor short arete!) had felt very awkward on previous attempts in better weather after better warm-ups. This time I got the knack of it pretty easily. Little Pixies always looked too sharp and fierce but it was actually pretty steady especially when I got the right sequence at the start. Both very enjoyable even if I bruised a finger-tip on the latter.

Since then, and as is often the case following a period of feeling good climbing, I got wiped out by the gayflu of a sort. Mild man-flu combined with an evening of hideous nausea left me on the sofa for 19 hours straight, 3 days to get a proper appetite back and a few more to feel normal. Standard stuff but annoying when I can't train nor capitalise on psyche. I've got to Kyloe In once since then for an easy potter around (turns out the Red Rum area is not so easy, but it is pretty rewarding). The crag is getting ever chalkier at the bottom and ever mossier at the top - a pity as the routes have far better lines and far more classic climbing than the indoor-wall-style crank-a-thons that everyone goes for. Obviously I was guilty as charged this time ;).

Next: More training, more skin loss on sharp holds.