Southside DAWG, keeping it REAL.

Whatever. I've heard American gangsta-speak used in bouldering winds up po-faced miserable Brits, so that's as good a reason as any. Anyway...

~¤§¤~

New problems on Glen Nevis Southside:

(NB Blogspot might do that shit-awful slideshow thing - to see fullsize map, right click and open in new window).

Described from NE to SW, from the Weir Crossing. New problems in bold, established problems in not-bold.

Tim's Arete
(aka Evening Boulder aka Finch Boulder)
Squirrel Groove V2 5c *** (FA Hazel Robson Nov 2011)
SS tiny corner to crimps, gain slim groove on left and pull onto slab via ripples.
Black Orc V6 6b *** (FA Fiend Feb 2012)
SS tiny corner to crimps, gain bulging nose, palm to apex and barbaric topout.
Bear Island V3 5c
Bear Rib - V3 5c * (FA Fiend Feb 2012)
SS just right of Bear Island, pull up to arete pinch and hidden crimp, gain top on left and rock rightwards.
Finch Arete - V1 5b * (FA Fiend Feb 2012)
Obvious arete L of Finch Attack from a standing start.
Finch Attack V4 6a
Punch And Judy Man V8 6c
Tim's Arete V5 6b
Wee Wall V1 5c (FA Fiend Feb 2012)
On right of high face, link good shelf to good shelf via a crimp, escape R.
unnamed 3b
unnamed 3c
unnamed 3a

The Rocking Stone
Unnamed 5a
Unnamed SS V2 5c (FA Hazel Robson Nov 2011)
SS as below but gain groove instead.
Thousand Year Egg V4 6b ** (FA Fiend Nov 2011)
SS on big sidepull, pull up to distant ripple then to higher seam on faint nose, rock onto ripple (no crimp in groove).
Rocking Stone Slab V2 5c
Squirrel Rib RHS V3 6a (FA Fiend Nov 2011)
SS RHS of arete with RH sidepull, slap up arete and stand delicately up using micro-ripple on slab.
Squirrel Rib LHS V2 6a * (FA Hazel Robson Nov 2011)
LHS of arete using good sidepull for left and slopey arete for right to good finishing holds.

Mole stones:
First Stone
unnamed 4c
The Art Of Shredding V2 6a * (FA Fiend Feb 2012)
SS down and left using arete and crimp, grind up blunt rib.
unnamed 5a
unnamed 5a

Flying Roof / Boothill Roof
(huge roof hidden behind Slug)
Flying Fiend V4 6a ** (FA Fiend Nov 2011)
Left side of roof. SS at obvious flat holds, pull up and use roof crimps to gain lip, swing rightwards to rockover finish.
Flying Roof V5 6c
Sheep Skull V2 5c

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A few things to note:

• The weir crossing (wellies needed) makes it a 5 minute walk. If it is too high then the alternative is 20 mins up from Whale Rock parking.


• Most landings are flat and very good! A few are boggy but only a couple are rocky.


• There are LOADS of very easy / trivial problems, all described in Glen Nevis bouldering.


• The rock is great and super-rough in places. Much more like gabbro than the flakey horrors of Dunkeld.


• I'm not sure how quick it dries - it doesn't get any sun in winter, but it's quite open and there isn't any drainage.

Festive fun.

Balls to Christmas, but at least en-route South to meet with friends, family, and food, I got to briefly indulge in the fourth festive F - fun climbing. Northumberland was, as usual, the only dry place and the obvious choice. Bleak grey weather made everywhere much of a muchness, so I decided to explore esoteric Edlingham, a useful recce if nothing else. In the end I only recced the Homo Horizontalis and Whale buttresses, which was enough. The latter was dry but a bit "under-appreciated". I got to work with chalk dusting and gentle brushing and the holds started feeling good. Just as I got it clean enough, it started raining. Woo-fcuking-hoo. Homo Horizontalis turned into Homo Coweringus Shelteringus and luckily it passed. A quick romp up the Harpoon problem, a quick fiddle on the harder wall next to it, and that was enough.

The next day I visited my old haunt of the Climbing Works. It's getting very grubby but the atmosphere is good, the amount of problems is vast, they keep tweaking it and the comp wall structure is ever-fluctuating. I had a pretty good session there, which made Christmas sedentation more tolerable. I think the latter has outstayed it's welcome with me so I need to get back gymming/training/climbing ASAP.

Rainy day stuff.

Yup after a not-too-brief respite, the rain is back. Hopefully it will be bringing some snow onto the mountains to extend to the somewhat tapering out ski season - I've only had one slushy day at Glen Coe this year - but in the meantime it is shutting down the continuation of the recent good climbing I have been enjoying.

So I have retreated to my plethoric collection of geeky indoor activities. Actually I should be retreating to more GYM, more CAMPUSSING and more LEADING/FALLING PRACTICE. But I'm kinda having a week off that because I'm being fucking lazy. Instead in recent times I have been indulging myself with:

Models:
Have had a wee urge to paint recently and completed a couple of figures....old figures. Have a few more in progress but am generally very lazy about painting so these will do for now:



(Not to relative scale - click for more normal size!)

Music:
Although I'm back on the DRUMS and the BASS at the moment, I had a splurge on some metal recently which was very pleasing to my ears....but less pleasing to those of my friend Wendy who came out with the awesome quote:

"YUCK!!! i had to turn that off after 30 seconds, thats SHITE!! LMAO thats what u listen to? have you not killed enough brain cells?"

Yes it is what I listen to. Yes I genuinely REALLY like it. Yes I feel the same way as your quote about pop music. So the following CDs have been recent favourites...

Behemoth - The Apostasy & Zos Kia Cultus


Burzum - Belus


Gorefest - La Muerte


Immortal - All Shall Fall


Kataklysm - Prevail


Games:
I've finally got around to using my new (in October 2010) computer to it's full potential. As well as the usual Starcraft 2 (very good, very refinded indeed) shenanigans with my buddies VULTURE and DRAKE, I've got back into quality FPSes...

Bioshock - Excellent, a very distinctive and intruiging take on the FPS genre. Strong atmosphere, rich background, some emotional involvement and many interesting combat options.

Crysis - Superb, great graphics and great gameplay, the latter was refreshing after COD4. The nanosuit gives you many options and makes you feel in charge of your own gameplay destiny.

Call Of Duty 4 - (aka Modern Warfare) Pretty good but obviously overrated as a typical "crowd pleaser". Great looks and atmosphere and some strong scenes, but average gameplay, twitchy story, and too much war/weapon porn.

Next up will be: Thief 3, Far Cry 2, then maybe Crysis Warhead, Bioshock 2, and I might end up buying Singularity, COD5, Bulletstorm, Dead Space 2.....hmmm actually maybe the weather will improve and I will sack it all off ;)

Recent stuff.

Bleh, forgot to blog. The weather has been merciful recently so I've done some climbing. Yay for climbing. Bouldering at Clashfarquar and Loch Sloy, trad at Cummingston. Here's some stuff...






P.S. Blogspot seems to keep randomly changing font faces and/or sizes on my blog. Can you please post if it's doing the same for you, ta. Or if you know a fix! double ta!

10/12

Hmmm... Things are moving on, a bit too rapidly for comfort. I'm quite busy with a lot of different and scarcely compatible things at the moment, and unfortunately climbing isn't one of them, neither is blogging. More information "soon".

Keeping sane.

Painted over several days in rooms 4 and 5, Ward 02, Royal Hallamshire Hospital. I'm rather happy with her, I could take my time and got the style and atmosphere I was aiming for.

More updates on progress as it happens.

Edit: Progress! I've been booked in for an MRI Venogram on Wednesday, and I am out and free until then. The consultant is sure that unless the MRV turns up something drastic, I will be discharged permanently after it. My legs are still feeling okay, although they sore and tired after a few minutes walking. Slow progress, but progress...

4/12.

Bit slow with this one but never mind.

1/4 of the way through the year. Jeez. Scary. I don't mind time passing in general (as long as some of it passes well) but this is passing somewhat quickly and I have a lot I should be doing. This last month "a lot I should be doing" has gone fairly bollox (has gone? I've made it go, more like...). On the other hand, other life "stuff" has been pretty exciting... And climbing has been pretty good, in fact the best for a year, I reckon: Injuries still present but very slightly lessening and usually manageable, fitness okay, tradding good and bouldering good. I just feel ready (and syked) for climbing, without being too desperate. Where's my mofoing party poppers??

So this month has gone quickly but it's gone fairly well. Now I need to make sure I do fairly well, and soon...