Tuesday 21 July 2009

Out to lunch

I write via my phone from a random stopover in a motorway services, heading south to give a lecture and some coaching at a climbing wall opening in llangorse, south Wales tomorrow (Wednesday). Maybe see some of you there?

Yesterday I ended up climbing at the camel with Blair and Murdo. I was wasted after a monster session on my board the previous night. I attacked the board with the kind of lemming like zeal you only get after a week of working away from home with no opportunities to train. I had been away at the outdoor trade show in Germany, more on that later. So, mind and body were still somewhere else, but after a flash of the recent new route Death is a Gift 7c+ (ominous name eh?!) I breifly woke up. Not enough to onsight my friend Dave's route Ubuntu (8a) though. After seeing this off comfortably next try, the previous nights board pounding really started to show and the obvious link up of both routes ended in a stupid mistake at the crux. My mind was just as absent as the glycogen in my forearms. It's been some time since I climbed so poorly. A good call to action. I'm lucky that my work period is almost finished and I should be off for my first decent stint on my new project. Fingers crossed for settled weather in the north.

2 comments:

  1. Death is a Gift has been graded 8a+? Is it just a typo or are you proposing a downgrade ?

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