Countdown to Africa...

Its been a week since my last update and its now less than a week until I jet off to Cape Town and make my way to the bouldering mecca of Rocklands. This is all new territory for me but noises have been made suggesting this is perhaps the best bouldering in the world bar none. Safe to say I'm suitably psyched. 

At the other end of the rock spectrum (no disrespect intended) Ive been bumbling about on the peak limestone for the last week or so. Granted my last post did suggest I was more keen to get on the grit, even trying Brad Pit in June, but since then temps have soared, humidity has gone through the roof and my ideas of doing anything more on grit came down to earth with a bump. 30mins at Stanage the other day, with zero wind, incurring multiple midge bites and greasing off a font 6a most definitely was the straw that audibly broke the camels back. 

With this u-turn as mentioned Ive been back on the limestone. Ive concentrated on volume rather than trying anything really hard for me. I figured this would help maintain my fitness best for Africa as well as avoid any potential injury from trying a certain move too much. To be fair limestone bouldering certainly gets its fair share of bad press and yes its not Font by any means however Ive climbed some great problems this week and certainly feel the better for it. 

I spent most of my time at the Tor and Stoney. At the Tor the Weedkiller Traverse and Powerhumps hardway are two standouts for me...really good problems and the polish and typically slightly damp holds almost add to the atmosphere of the climbs. I tried Powerband a bit too but the finishing move is nails on the link and I only got the thing dry one day with condensation stopping play after that. Still a great, historic boulder prob no matter what people say and id like to come back to do this. 

Still my most fun was had at Stoney. For people who have not enjoyed a session here the place is of course polished beyond belief, not particularly aesthetic  and pretty darn greasy. Its also basically like a climbing wall in that every problem is eliminate and is described in acute detail to ensure you climb up the wall in exactly the right way you should. Still if you have a few hours to kill its great fun climbing here. Part of the problem is identifying exactly what you can and cannot use on a problem...to explain see photo below

On the above hold you would crimp the seam and place you thumb round the sidepull edge when trying Sean's Problem. If you were trying Zippy's sidepull you would grab the sidepull hold at the top and place your thumb in the seam to get a good pinch. However Zippy's sidepull 7c variation would mean you'd grad the sidepull slightly lower down and you would not be allowed to pinch with the thumb (so sidepull only). Finally if your trying Seans Problem 7c variation you'd have the sidepull only (no crimp seam), oh yes and remember no feet in the break - you get all that? So you get what I mean, the devil is in the detail. Still Seans Problem sidepull variation (7c) and Ned's Problem (7b+) were two highlights of many 7th grade probs I did here. 

So thats it for now, monstrous humidity today meant the lime was covered in a weird sort of waxy slime and tomorrow I head back to London to see the family, booze with the uni mates before heading to Heathrow for my flight on Monday night. Next post South Africa!