Chilling at Craigmaddie.

More Scottish summer! A quick dash slow grind out of the city for an evening deposited us at Craigmaddie. I'd been put off going there by the description of it being sandy gritstone, envisaging coarse granular crustiness that would shred my tips especially on a warm evening. Is it like grit?? Is it bollox!! It's a sandstone, almost identical to North York Moors (and bits of T' County), and nothing like Pennine grit. Which made for a surprisingly pleasant circuit even in the mellow sunshine.

I only went to the upper left wall but really enjoyed the fine location, excellent landings, nice rock, and good cranky problems. Typically the guide and online topo are confusing and seem to describe lots of things apart from the obvious natural problem lines. Thankfully they don't take much working out, and this edited topo should help.


1. The Mantle V3 - Good.
2. Left Crack V1 - Nice.
3. ??? V3? - Eliminate up right crack?
4. ??? V2 - Pull on at obvious jugs, reach up to RH crimp and adjacent LH hold, heel hook to top. Good.
5. ??? V4 - Pull on at LH ripple and RH crack pinch, pull up to small flat crimps and direct up to apex. Excellent.
6. ??? V4 - Pull on at LH crack slot and RH large crack, high RF then compress directly up to better holds and final reach. Very good.
7. Lip Traverse V? - Hang nose slopers and use various holds to get into corner crack?

I'm not really sure how these relate to:

Right Crack - doesn't seem to follow the crack and there doesn't seem to be a RH sidepull.
Flake Wall - doesn't seem to have a natural flake to start on nor a sharp crimp you'd gain with LH, nor a dyno. Could be a good link between 4 and 5?
Undercut Crack - doesn't relate to line but does fit the description of 6 above. Could be a good link between 4 and 6?
Right Arete - doesn't seem to exist.

...but at any rate the climbing is nice once you work it out :). I'll definitely be back for the other craglets too.

Ten Tonne Terrible.

Weight is a big issue for me at the moment. Currently (and for the last couple of years) I weigh about 12¼ stone. Back in 2006/07, at my healthiest and most active, when I was climbing very regularly and pushing myself, I weighed about 10½ - 10¾ stone. So I've put on at least a stone and a half. For a 5'8" midget this is A LOT. Is there any need to explain why this is such a big issue for a passionate and dedicated climber?? I thought not. What is more useful to explain is why I am in this state, and what, if anything, I can do to get out of it. There are several possible reasons why I might have put on so much weight, but which ones are the real reasons??

Age:
Some people have said, in a semi-resigned and slightly teeth-sucking way, "Well that's what it's like getting old". I don't really see any evidence or reasoning for this in my case, and since there are extremely clear reasons for my weight gain that exactly coincide with when it started, while "getting old" has no specific coincidence nor abruptness of change in the last few years rather than the previous few, I am certain it is not a factor.

Diet:
Several people have speculated, seriously or otherwise, that my "Glasgow diet" is the cause of my weight gain. The truth is quite simply that my diet has improved since I moved to Glasgow, because I have been more careful with it - I eat less unhealthy foods and less wildly varying portions than before.
E.g.:
Sheffield - often sausages and pastries for breakfast;
Glasgow - usually have cereal and/or toast.
Sheffield - used to buy packs of mini-chocolates for snacks;
Glasgow - usually buy packs of fruit and nuts.
Sheffield - would sometimes have Scotch Eggs and pork pies;
Glasgow - never eat them.
Sheffield - would often have creamy puddings / treats;
Glasgow - usually bio-yoghurt if at all.
Sheffield - used to eat badly/sporadically in the day and have huge evening meal;
Glasgow - eat more regularly and try to reduce meal sizes.
Sheffield - would have starter/main/rice/bread for curry, and attempt to eat them all;
Glasgow - only have 2/3 of the previous and never stuff myself for the sake of it.
There are a few exceptions: I tend to have takeaways slightly more often, albeit with smaller sizes, I sometimes have a Snickers bar as a daytime snack, and I often have diet soft drinks instead of fruit juice and fizzy water. BUT the improvements I've made far outweigh those. Diet is not a factor, if it was I would have LOST weight in Glasgow.

Medication:
I have been on Citalopram since late 2009, just after my DVTs. This is anecdotally known (and possibly clinically proven) to affect weight (usually weight gain) by affecting metabolism. The period of weight gain exactly coincides with the period of being this medication. Furthermore, even before I was aware of this as a possible cause, I was aware of a change in my metabolism as my body temperature (previously running fairly warm) had been fluctuating wildy, from hot and sweaty in bed to often surprisingly cold outside (especially my hands - not affected by DVTs). Although not proven, my gut instinct this is definitely a main factor.

Inability to exercise:
My ability to do simple calorie-burning, weight-reducing CV exercise has been HUGELY reduced by having DVTs. Back in 2008 when I had my elbow injury, I wasn't out climbing much and started putting on some weight. I started running, which was hard at first, but I improved well, used the simplicity of going out for a run to get regular exercise and lost weight. I simply cannot do that any more. With sealed iliac and pelvic veins, when I run or walk uphill, my legs cannot return the de-oxygenated blood quickly enough through the adjacent superficial veins, my heart cannot pump around blood that isn't there, my lungs can't supply oxygen to a system that isn't moving, and I quickly grind to an exhausted halt. This is an absolute mechanical limit, irrespective of previous or current fitness. I tested myself once, and while previously I could comfortably do a 40 minute road run, my current absolute maximum is 10½ minutes. This similar applies to walking uphill (simple exercise, usually as part of a climbing day out). I estimate I am working at 20-25% of my previous leg fitness. Imagine going for a 4 mile run around Burbage and only being able to do 1 mile as the utterly exhausting limit. Or imagine walking up to Stanage Plantation and having to rest just after the plantation trees otherwise you would collapse. That is exactly what it is like. Then imagine facing that for the rest of your lift, with no possible surgical or medical intervention, and almost certainly no improvement ever. This makes it EXTREMELY hard to do enough CV exercise to reduce weight, and it is definitely a main factor, probably THE main factor.

Less regular climbing:
Although I cannot do the most simple and beneficial CV exercises, I have found that the regular active climber's lifestyle has definitely caused periods of minor weight loss during the last few years. In particular, 12 days in Sweden, even with their minimal walk-ins, had me at the healthiest and lightest I was all last year. I think this is partly due to lots of climbing but partly due to the general level of activity on a full day out climbing. Unfortunately in Scotland this regularity has proved hard to find, mainly due to the often consistently wet weather that prevents it (the best areas for regular climbing are in the wet West, and there is too little local climbing for regular mileage). Particularly given how bad 2011 was, this is definitely a factor. Actually, thinking back to 2008 and how the temporary cessation of climbing increased my weight then, it too is a main factor.

Less active scene around me:
Related to both of the above, the climbing scene around Sheffield and the Peak District is strong and diverse (if curiously reluctant to escape the Peak itself) and I usually had enough people to climb with and friends to train with and even do fitness stuff with, which was of great benefit to keeping me going and keeping me motivated. In Glasgow the climbing scene is insular and limited and it's been a struggle to find friend people to fit in with. Eventually I have found a few people to regularly climb and train with, but not so many of them, and no-one to do fitness stuff with. When I do have people encouraging me and inviting me out and sharing mutual syke, I know it helps me keep active (beyond just having people to do routes with), so this is definitely a factor.

So:

Age, Diet - NOT factors.
Inability to exercise - The MAIN factor.
Medication, Less regular climbing - Other MAIN factors.
Less active scene - Additional factor.

Next time: What I can and am doing about this. Or trying to.

Utter pessimism?

Regular readers (you poor fools) might notice that I occasionally pass comment and critical analysis on the weather, and given I'm living in Scotland and trying to climb good trad in great areas, such comment tends to be contempt and such analysis tends to be justifiably extremely critical. This moaning and whining and ranting is quite simply a natural reaction to an often ridiculous state of affairs, and whilst it might not make good reading, it does make necessary writing.

It also seems to attract bizarre and outrageous accusations ranging from the spurious ("You chose to move to Scotland") to the obscene ("It's just the weather why moan about it") and downright defamatory ("You are totally wrong about last year's washout"). I'm not sure how people can get away with such....libel but at least I can set the record straight.

To set the setting straight, let's be clear on what "good" weather necessarily entails in the context of Scottish climbing. Given the whole point of Scottish climbing is trad climbing (cragging in my case) in the Highlands and Islands, taking in the approximate Elipse Of Extreme Excitement from Glasgow to Mull to Ardnamurchan to Skye to Lewis to Sheigra to Ardmair to Creag Dubh to Glasgow, naturally enclosing the areas of utmost importance like Glen Nevis, Torridon and Gairloch.

Good weather doesn't require months of amazing conditions, long summers of hot dry weather, or any other spurious nonsense that fools might accuse me of expecting. It DOES entail having two or more consecutive dry days in that area, when the rock is dry enough to climb and the season is warm enough for trad. NOT long periods of sunshine and showers where you might just sneak in a route per day when the rain stops. NOT single days interspersed with rain which is fine if you're a local but plain unfeasible for a 4 hour journey. NOT an amazing spell in December when it's dry but below 0'c. NOT good weather along the East coast as while there is good climbing there it is a wet weather escape and often dry in the East is wet in the West.


Look! Scotland in the sunshine! Isn't it pretty! But in a climbing context... This is the start of March, still too cold for normal trad - that doesn't make it a good year. This is after a day of heavy showers and light snow, not a sustained period of dryness - that doesn't make it a good year. This is down near Stranraer, notoriously escaping the wetness that blights the most important Scottish climbing areas - that doesn't make it a good year.

So, two or more consecutive dry days with dry rock. Preferably three or more for Skye, or a short week for Lewis. Quite a low standard so even more ridiculous when Scotland fails to meet it. In that context let's look at the last couple of years and the climbing days I got out during the spring/summer/autumn period, in the Eclipse Of Excellence, on 2+ day trips:

2010:
April: 2
May: 3
June: 4 + 2
July: 0
August: 0
September: 6 + 3
October: 3

= 21 North West 2+ day trip days.

Bear in mind there was plenty of shit showery weather throughout the summer. By English standards this was fairly mediocre. By Scottish standards it was probably normal, and actually tolerable. Also bear in mind I spent all of August pissing around at Dumby so might have missed weather windows then.

2011:
April: 4 + 4
May: 0
June: 0
July: 2
August: 0
September: 0
October: 0

= 10 North West 2+ day trip days.

Bear in mind that this year I had more keen climbing partners and more determination to explore areas, as can be seen from taking advantage of the single month of summer in April. However I did miss a short dry period in early July, though that would have hardly caught up much.

Hmmm. Even I hadn't realised how low this was! Nor the difference. Suffice to say that when I say last year was bollox I am....totally right.

Despite my utter pessimism I will still keep my fingers crossed for this year, of course. Because despite it all, Scotland is ace and Scottish cragging is ace :).

Aimless although amiable amblings around Aberdeen.

Bit late with this, I've been lazy / busy (delete the latter as applicable). Last weekend I had another weekend in Aberdeen to escape the Wet(-ish) West. The Aberdeen coast is a sometimes good and often useful climbing venue, sheltered from the regular soakings that afflict most of the mountain areas in Scotland by, errr, most of the mountain areas in Scotland. It was criminally missed out of Gary's Scottish Rock books, his "reasoning" that it's often birdy or greasy being particularly insubstantial given that the rightly much-lauded Highlands And Islands are pissing with rain 33% of the time, submerged under snow 33% of the time, and heaving with midge death squadrons 33% of the time. Not even the slightest mention of Aberdeen or the Costa Del Moray Coast as useful alternatives, instead the space being taken up with gimmick photos of Mull non-move-wonders and verbose page-filling descriptions of exact protection for mountain E7s....hmmm....

ANYWAY. I went there. It was fairly dry. It was also fairly cool, a brisk south-westerly meaning it was either cold in the sun or cold in the shade. Not really a problem for me but it made it tricky choosing the right venues overall. In the end I did a bit of bouldery trad at Long Slough (short but quite fun and interesting rock), a bit of bouldery sport at Cambus O'May (not as bad as I feared, quite inspiring for Aberdeen sport climbing), a bit more bouldery trad at Clashrodney (nice enough although not much choice left there for me) and a bit of bouldery bouldering at Boltsheugh (fun but very limited easy circuit).

As much as actually getting out on the rock, the highlights of the weekend were hanging out with some of the friendly posse around Aberdeen, both deliberately and inadvertantly, and sampling the hospitality of The Neuk and Newmachars, and also making a new best friend in the tiny rotund form of Sir Voleington Volealot Of Volesbury:



They're not very good pictures as the wee bugger was all of a frisk and fond of frolicking around in dark clefts. He was exceptionally cute tho and no slouch on the routes either, here he is on the first ascent of Vole Corner VS 4c ***


Ho hum.

20/20

...the clarity of hindsight. This is what I see:

I had an interesting opportunity at the end of the Costa Blanca trip: A couple of recent friends were staying out there and as well as meeting up climbing they'd been pretty keen to have us over for dinner and even stay over with their family - a welcome and positive invite! I came up with the cunning plan ("pin a tail on it and call it a weasel"...) to prolong my side of the trip by seeing if I could stay with them (apparently again I was welcome for this too!) and climb with them for their remaining few days, thus requiring changing my flight, extending car hire, and arranging transport in Glasgow. At it happens I balked at the extra costs and flew back as normal.

This was fine of course, I'd still had a great trip, but with hindsight I pretty soon realised the other decision, to stay for a bit, would have been the better one.

Why?? Not merely for a few more days climbing, that's for sure. What would have made it worthwhile would be the overall path of that choice - a small step on the path of action, the path of doing, the path of going for it (obviously in quite a minor way!). Doing more climbing, hanging around with different people, soaking up more Spanish vibes, the interesting social situation of staying with the folks of someone I hardly know, the whole experience being probably worth the extra cost - and making a positive decision on the path of action. A path that I often struggle with for various mostly internal reasons, but a path that, when I follow it, is distinctly "true to self", something I've realised quite strongly recently.

(Actually had another minor example of this recently - I was out bouldering near a trad crag recently, and as I was packing the car up, I saw two people who were unmistakably climbers coming back to their cars. Said a quick hello, yes they'd been doing routes, yes it had been cold, but yes a nice day out. Fair play to them. However the path of action I DIDN'T take was to ask them for their numbers, I had a brief umm and ahh and just drove off. Which is pretty daft given how much of a frustrating struggle it is finding regular trad partners up here and any chance to meet more people would be worth taking. If in doubt, do, rather than don't...)

Bolting.

Since I have started doing more sport climbing, I have started encountering British bolting on a more regular basis. Except there is nothing regular about it. British bolting is like the British weather that has forced me onto the bolts: Variable, unpredictable, unreliable, is frequently bollox and doesn't do what it promises.

Noticeably often it's not sport climbing in the truest sense, but dodgy-clip-stick-reliant-badly-positioned-mixed-semi-sport-climbing-semi-aid-climbing-relics. Partly due to our trad-orientated heritage but seemingly partly due to the archaic, insular, and sometimes downright cretinous attitudes that perpetuate and promote a heritage that is no longer suitable for that genre of climbing.

It's simple: when I, or indeed most people, choose to go sport climbing, we want to go sport climbing. If we wanted bold climbing with dodgy fall potential, we'd go trad climbing. If we wanted mixed climbing with long run-outs above bolts, we'd go slate climbing (well, the slate climbing that hasn't been retro/grid-bolted to fuck - now there's a more worthy target for the "sport climbing traditionalists"). If we wanted varied and weirdly spaced fixed protection, we'd go on some trad limestone.

But if we want sport, we want sport. That doesn't imply, as some people like to transparently foolishly extrapolate, grid-bolting, over-bolting, adding dozens of bolts to everything, regular bolting on the easiest ground etc etc. There are some modern overbolted routes around and these could do with a few bolts removed just as much as some of the relics from the 80s could do with a few bolts adding. But what it does imply is sensible, proper bolting. Bolts that are well spaced, that don't require clip-sticks unless they're impossible to clip otherwise, that are clipped high from resting jugs, that don't encourage ground-fall potential from clipping nor single bolt failure. As I say, it's simple, sport that feels like sport. Almost invariably, every example of shoddy bolting I've come across, could be fixed by adding merely one or two bolts, and rearranging one or two. It might be impractical at the moment, but it's by no means excessive or unreasonable.

And yes, I understand bolting requires a lot of effort, I am grateful to all those involved - particularly those bolt well. And I will donate to bolt funds when their effects trickle down to my lowly level and I see an effect on the climbs I'm interested in.

In the meantime, my friends with clipsticks and my trad climbing heritage gets me through these inconveniences - but they shouldn't have to.

Bouldering grades

Reasons why V grades are better than Font grades:

1. Visually simple linear scale.

2. More easily combined with English tech grades for crux moves.

3. Simpler and better applied in the lower grades.

4. Not confusable with other grading systems. Font grades are confusable, visually and linguistically, with English tech grades and sport grades. If you're telling someone "I did a 6b today", that could be English 6b, F6b, or Font 6b. If you say "I did a V4 today", that's clearly a V4 boulder problem.

^^^ The last one is perhaps the biggie and most conclusive.

Non-reasons why Font grades are apparently better:

(1.) "More accurate in lower grades." Whilst it's true there are a few more subdivisions, they don't seem to make a significant different and are universally badly applied, especially in Font.

(2.) "British climbing is most similar to Font climbing." Simply not true as both British climbing and Font climbing are very diverse, there's no reason why the Font system is any more applicable than the V system.

Okay, unfortunately it seems Font grades are catching on, for little reason other than fashion, trends, and probably the justifiable popularity of Font. So once again I am fighting a losing battle and will have to give up and learn the sodding messy Font system. But once again I will go down fighting and being RIGHT :P.