Wednesday 27 January 2010

Archives

Ok, so sometimes I write a blog post but don't post it. I had a look back at some of these and I've decided to post them up. I don't really know what I was thinking when writing them so no longer feel liable for saying things that are boring or offensive... (mostly boring)


Kilnsey

I think a large part of my failure to get a lot done at kilnsey was due to my shoes being too sore. Think a new pair of shoes would be excellent, some really comfy ones, maybe even so I can wear wooly socks or something.

Sport Climbing. hmm...

no name

My favourite bit of last weekend was running through a wooded hillside looking for a good place to shit. That, or climbing on my own. Both were done away from the powerscreams, spotters shouting at me and the need for success. What they did have was something I could actually feel and see with my own body and mind, personal experiences that I have and are not some product of training and pushing but just something that made me feel awesome at the moment.

Ruthven Boulder

I don't mean to put a downer on the psyche levels of Dave Macloed after his amazing effort on Echo Wall, but I thought his problem, Dude Direct, at ruthven was particularly easy for 7C!

Climbing vs Maths

Some of the underlying human instincts are common both in a mathematics problem and in a boulder problem, I've noticed.
The first way is that they're both exercises.
The Second is that you strive to perfect them, do them automatically, like a "well oiled machine" (as my lecturer put it).
The third is they're baffling to anyone who hasn't studied them, not only in terms of method, but also in terms of "why???"
Which leads me to the final similarity, an easy way to the solution is round the back...

Wednesday 13 January 2010

Christmas and New Year

Got a bit of climbing in over the Christmas hols around Inverness. With the snow, options were limited for rock climbing I think I did ok considering.

Headed to Brin a few times, with all the snow it was great fun to begin with, following deer and rabbit tracks around the wood and sledging down the hill on pads. It was pretty cold though. I got one good tick - Pitbull 7B+, a Dave Redpath problem from a while ago. A vid is here which also shows snow going into my wellies from crossing the treacherous field. Here's a not so good video of a different trip to brin. Enjoy... well, I say enjoy...





I think I had fun that day despite not really climbing. Just brushed up the problem which turned out to be too hard for me. Then went home. err

Another place I went was Am Fasgadh which probably has been one of the most popular Scottish crags over the past few weeks. Some of the routes were seeping and there was a risk of being impaled by fallen icicles, but apart from that, it was good fun.

Back in Glasgow now and here's a taste of life in my flat: