"you are a unique snowflake"

"you are a unique snowflake."

Well you're not and I'm not.

If you weren't given the gift you can't get the gift so the best you can do - if your goal is important - is work as hard as you possibly can, pay attention every hour of every day and then maybe, maybe if you've done enough and been smart enough you'll emerge from the muck of mediocrity to shine a bit brighter than you shone before. Then, upon reflection you might decide your goal is a bit more important so you'll start paying attention every minute of every hour of every day. You'll find people who are better than you and you'll take an empty cup when you meet them. Their example will destroy or inspire you and if it's the latter you may stay and learn. You might imitate, doing as they do because you've already accepted that you do not know best - if you did you'd be leading the group they were trying to join. Perhaps being exposed to their superior ability will drive you to work harder than you thought possible, or necessary. Maybe you'll overcome your self-imposed (or worse, society-imposed) limitations and shine even more brightly. Wow, you're getting it: positive reinforcement for hard work and suffering. So maybe you give your goal even more significance and you begin cutting away the ideas and the expectations and the people who you believe prevent you from achieving it. Now you become a real selfish prick, and you begin paying attention every second of every minute of every hour of every day, and you sustain your awareness for weeks and months at a time. You no longer think yourself a unique snowflake, you're a steel-edged blade shaped like a snowflake and you're spinning at warp speed. You're the biggest fish in the pond. You're a badass. Now you have options.

-Mark Twight

Aiming at Nothing and Hitting Your Mark

I am currently sat in an office with 5 other people, we inhabit this space for 5 days a week and as you sit doing your mundane, unimportant tasks it slowly eats your soul. I walked in this morning and began the pleasantries, i asked who had had a good weekend, "mmhhh it was alright" was the unanimous reply. This is a concept which baffles me. You give away 5 days out of 7 for minor monetary compensation and then on the 2 days on which you are free you do nothing worthy of mention.

Well i am not prepared to fall into this trap, i took my weekend by the scruff of the neck and shook it until it gave up all it had.

It was a weekend of several different chunks of joy and it began with a glorious lie in, a late rise is infrequent nowadays but with rain forecast until 11ish i had no other option. Midday rolled around and i was up and heading for the Newstones. On arrival i had the entire crag to myself so set about a pleasant solitary circuit before having a short session on my new project, its strange, I've been going to the Newstones for 5 years and have only just seen this line, stranger still is that it is next to a problem i climb all the time. I failed but had a very pleasant time.
I sat down took off my shoes and checked the time on my phone, i had a text from Eddie, he was Chapel bound and wanted to know if i was up for a session. I was planning on a continuity session anyway so i packed up and headed to Macc. The idea of an easy continuity session soon disappeared as i got stuck into my hanging arete project. This had seemed tricky last week as i couldnt make the heal hook stick, today was different, the heal stuck and i was victorious.

Time to head for my old mans house for food and football. Fajitas and Barcelona is always a winning combination and indeed i was not disappointed, it was the finest footballing display i have ever seen.

Sunday saw an early start in the Dale and the Cornice was the destination. We had a quick warm up which consisted of lapping a pleasant 6c and then the plan was to jump on Clarion Call, unfortunately it was occupied by the only other people on the crag so we jumped on what we thought was Armistice Day another 7a to the right CC. Adam made a valiant flash attempt and then dogged to the top, i made a less valiant attempt and found the middle section difficult but managed to work out a way through it. It felt hard and after Adam checked the guide again it turns out we were on Whose Line Is It Anyway a 7a+.
Greg turned up, jumped on it and did the crux section in a much better way so i stole his beta and jumped on for my first rp attempt, i fell on the big move to a good side pull which is the last move of the cux section, i lowered down and rested. Next try i arrived at the big move and stuck it, mega, it was game on, the last section is fairly steady until the last move, which for me was a heart breaker, its a blind deadpoint slap for a good flake, on its own its an easy move but at the end of the route it feel much harder, i arrived at the move and spent no time thinking about it or about the pendulum fall you would take and just lay one on, i hit the flake and all was good.
Im new to this sport climbing/rp'ing malarkey and have no idea what i can rp in a session, i was very happy to get a hard 7a+ on my second rp.

Greg wanted to head to the Embankment so we headed off. We passed Maxs Wall and a stopped for a play on Max to the Wall. Greg shot up it placing the draws and i had a quick play to learn the moves, after a rest i tied on and shot up it, i found myself at the 2nd to last move without much left in the tank and just chucked for the hold, to my surprise i caught it, i then then went to pieces, panicked and dived for the finishing jug, i didn't catch it and was left with a plummet. We left the draws in and wondered up to the embankment for Greg to try a route that had spat him off last week, after a half hour of him falling off this and giving up due to fatigue we wondered back down to collect the draws we had left in Max to the Wall.
By this time i had cooled down and started to feel stiff and tired and was resigned to dogging my way up the route and getting the draws back, but i decided that if you don't try you don't achieve so tied on and went for the lead. I fumbled the bottom half and arrived at the crux feeling weak (the crux is a press off 2 side pulls to a good edge) and didn't expect to make it, but i did, clipped and plowed on to the top.
Victory is sweet but unexpected victory is all the sweeter.

"Nothings better than aiming at nothing and hitting your mark" -P.O.S

All that was left was a solitary walk out of the dale, happy and contented i replayed the events of the day as the sounds of Dessa played through my headphones.

in a nut shell

Kylie Wheeler, the 2006 Commonwealth silver medallist in the heptathlon, said of working and training: “You do have to put your life on hold and you might not have as much time as you would like with your family and friends, but when you get to stand on the podium, all the sacrifices are worth it.

Deciding to try

How hard should you try?

I know people who climb at the weekend and train twice in the week and they think they are committed to training/climbing and that this is a satisfactory amount of effort to put in to improve and achieve there goals in climbing.
I was one of these people and i believed it, and maybe it is enough effort to get better, but, what if i went the extra mile, put in that little bit extra effort, what would i achieve then?

With the arrival of the games next year i checked to see what kind of day you have to have to become the best in the world and unsurprisingly it puts myself, and everyone else, to shame.
With full time jobs, full time training and friends/family commitments they still manage to be the best in the world, this is a truly humbling thought and makes me feel very very slack.
The most effort i have put into climbing (or anything else for that matter) was the 6 months before i went to the forest, on a good week i would do about 6 hrs of training and climbed after work and at the weekend. At the time i saw this as an acceptable amount of effort to put in but since it was interspersed drinking, smoking and missed sessions, i am left wondering how much better i could have made a very successful trip.

I feel it is now time to shake up the game and start to put in some real effort for a decent amount of time.

Currently I'm in the very fortunate position of being able to dedicate a massive amount of my time to climbing, no girlfriend, no family commitments, an easy job which is neither stressful nor strenuous, 24/7 access to superb training facilities and quality climbing on my doorstep. This could all add up to great things and since this situation wont last forever and i feel that now is my best, and possibly last, chance to really achieve something i can be proud of in my life.

OK, so that last bit is a little over dramatic but that thought may be a good thing, this fear of mediocrity i now have can only serve me well in my ensuing challenge.

C,T,E,S,R.

The days roll on but little changes, climb,train,eat,sleep,repeat, this is the motion to which my life is currently flowing and will hopefully continue to flow for the foreseeable future.

The lime loving has continued in the last couple of weeks and surely it must be here to stay as i enjoyed a day at Masson Lees quarry. Despite the fact that its a hole in the ground, despite the fact that getting brained by falling rocks is a distinct posibility and despite the fact that 1 wall is apparently held together by sikka we had a good day. We began on the easy side of the quarry but due to the fact that dodging falling rock is not on my to do list we quickly moved to the safer side. The highlight of the day was a route called Grand Theft Auto which took a line up a corner with excellent moves through a small roof at half height, one of the better routes i have done and certainly one of the best in the quarry.
The day after dodging death at ML we headed for Litton Mill end of Water-Cum-Jolly but after the walk in it began to rain, trad and wet lime dont mix so fled for drier pastures. The rain persisted and then increased but Adam had a 2 day ticket so was eager to find something dry so we ended up at Cow Dale. CD is a small steep crag just off the A6 and stays dry in the rain, however, it is normally wet until May but with the recnt dry spell it was bone dry and ready to go. We spent a good day climbing the 2 easier routes, i bagged Much Monkey Magic on my first RP after a quick dog up it and missed out on The Philandering Sons of Magic Women by a whisker, dropping the last hard move(which isnt very hard)due to being tired.

The usual sunday depression at the thought of having to go back to work was alleviated due to a week off. The plan was to go to wales for a bouldering trip but due to a dodgy forecast and a lack of funds i stayed at home. The training plan deemed a rest week was to be had however this was not exceptable, a week off was not to be spent sat around doing nothing, so i went climbing instead. The week was a mix of training, soloing in the day and a cheeky trad session with Adam at Turning stone Edge. TSE is a nice quiet crag with some good lines, the best of the day and maybe the crag is Master of Suspence which we both got 2nd try after first taking the plumit.

I am now a 3rd of the way through the training plan and all is going well, im not feeling overly strong but i am definately feeling fitter and that is objective at the moment so it is working. I spent friday and saturday setting the new problems for the next base period and have come up with a few crackers im looking forward to getting stuck into, i will have to be patient though as this week is a rest week with only a couple of very easy sessions thrown in.

Im now back at work, nightmare.

The End of Salvation Marks the Beginning of a New Love

Salvation never arrived, it was sabotaged by the heat.

Since a bad workman blames his tools the true reasons for my failure must be found.

Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.

This is a much better way to think about the way in which the bouldering season ended. Had i knuckled down to training and climbing through the winter i would have had no need for salvation and all problems which i put on the list would have been ticked with time to spare. I guess its another wasted winter.

The misery and disappointment of another crap winter has not lasted long, Why? Its trad season, the season of fear and potential doom, the season when the slip of a foot could be the difference between glorious victory or a helicopter ride to Staffs general.
The year has begun well, an early spate of after work soloing has got the trad head back into gear and some easy mileage days on the classics has got me back into dragging a rope and placing gear. There is, however, one difference this year and it will be a major change in flavour of the summer. Each year i give the limestone a couple of tries to see if i am going to like it, this never ends well, my hatred for the white stuff takes about 4 metres to rear its head and the lime is then left alone as we head back to gods own for the summer. This year something has changed, a monumental shift has occurred, i like the lime.
This perverse happening began with a trip to Chee Tor and continued with a day at Dovedale on Sunday, on both these occasions i walked out of the dales having had a thoroughly good time. These events have left me in a state of confusion, why has this year been the one in which the lime has had some appeal? i can put it down to 3 things...

1) Tom told me to go climb some limestone.
2) I am doing whatever Adam wants for the summer so as to alleviate my guilt of doing only the things i want to do when the winter arrives.
3) The gear is mega.

Which ever one of these is the reason i don't much care as it has happened and that is all that matters. I am now facing a summer of 3 star classics on the limestone.

The futures bright, the futures white.

Salvation Weekend 4

Unseasonally hot weather has persisted and it is destroying the salvation mission. Arriving at curbar at 7.30 in the morning in shorts and t-shirt was not a good sign of what was to come, greasing of strawberry's on the first move set the trend for the rest of the day. After a play on the trackside bloc i headed up to the pit to try Early Doors, i knew what was coming but convinced myself that it would be cooler in the pit and that conditions would be OK, i was half right.

The pit was cooler but the conditions were still grim. I have got ED wired to the top but each time i hit the slopers my tips had become void of chalk and i could feel the grease fighting to keep victory at bay. I managed to have 1 good try when i slapped over the top and hit the first finishing crimp but poor planning had left me clueless as to the location of the victory jug, needless to say i hung on until grease took over and deposited me on my arse in the pit, nightmare.

The sun was now creeping into the pit and the slopers had begun to bake, it was time to chase the shade so i packed up and headed for Burbage South. 3 things were on the list for Burbage, 7Ball, The Rib and Desarete. 7 ball was superb, a truly brilliant problem and it was happily dispatched. The other 2 were a different story. It was now at least 20 degrees and just walking to the problems left me a sweaty mess and misreading the guide had left me to believe both these problems were a grade easier than they were, suffice to say these problems did not fall.
The morning was done and i made my way to High Ned to meet Tom and get some trad done. The rest of the day was spent bumbling along the edge picking off easy routes and enjoying the sun.

Sunday i was dragged, kicking and screaming, into the Dales. Adam demanded we go to Chee Tor as the he thought the grit would be to greasy, i told him grit is never to greasy but he wouldn't believe me and next thing i knew i was wading through the river heading for the misery of peak limestone. Chee Tor is your usual broken, dandelion filled crag, but to my surprise i quite enjoyed it. We plowed our way through some low E numbers and had a generally pleasant time in the cool conditions provided by the towering walls of the Dale.
Despite the polish, the dusty holds, the holds that break and the filthy crimps, this limestone stuff does have 1 redeeming feature, the gear is mega, once you sink in a wire there is no doubt it will hold so it allows you to concentrate on the climbing, this doesn't happen as often on grit.
I think that these lime days need to be treated as a training activity, this way i am more likely to get something out of it.

All in all the weekend was a failure on the salvation front but was a success on the fun side. 2 weekends to go and its not looking Rosy.