Full Circle

So that's it I'm back home at my parents place and my "climbing year out" has come to an end. Observant readers will of course say it never ended up being a year, 8 months in fact. if id gone to the US I would have pushed on through I think till 2010 but certain events saw me back in Europe for the fall and a good job opportunity here in London has meant Ive needed to adapt the schedule somewhat.

So has the climber in me sold out to get back in the rat race? Probably a little but for me being successful in a financial markets career is all about running with it when its good and flying for the hills when its bad. It was pretty darn bad in March when I left NYC and now its seems to have turned, so I had to take any re-entry opportunity seriously.

Anyway enough of the job chatter this is not the place for that but I feel that is some justification for why I cut the climbing year short with more thoughts on that to follow. First up how did my last few days before my journey back to blighty finish up? Sending Appartenance was the highlight. A superb highball arete, powerful down low, then balancey and scary up high with a subtle roll out onto a hanging slab using a very rounded rib like feature. As you slowly tip your weight onto the slab you have to make a long reach to a good crimp that marks the end of the difficulties. Problem is to reach the crimp you have to roll loads of weight onto a very high left foot that is smeared precariously on a sloper just waiting to explode off and send you ground ward. it did quite a few times before success. Aside from that I climbed some great low 7's on the final day and managed another quality 7c - Symbiose Gauche at 95.2.

Regrets; I didn't manage to climb the other 2 problems that constitute the big 4 at Rempart. Big Boss I tried and tweaked my shoulder, Big Golden I ran out of time to get on. They are very high on next years tick list as is Beaux Quartier at Bouligny. Talking of ticks I did think about jotting down a graded list of what id climbed over the course of the year but I think that would bore most people and its all on 8a anyway. Stand outs are the 3 8a's since Feb (especially getting one in Font), the slew of top top quality 7c/+ classics i did in Font (and I'm still only about halfway through the list) and sampling Rocklands/Africa in general.

However with highlights there has to be lowlights for sure. Weather was often challenging. More specifically though when I started this year out I stated I wanted to climb the real classics whenever I ended up, but also I did admittedly want to try and push my grade, 8a+/8b was the target. In the 8 months I pulled on one 8b problem for 5 mins, that's it. Not a massive commitment to the cause that. In terms of 8a+, well to be fair I was close to this target. Jack's Broken Heart was a whisker away before it rained for 4 days straight and Swine Flu killed me off when Tea Time With Elmarie had been linked in two halves.

However despite the agonising last day failures Ive come to realise as the year has gone on that genetically I'm not gifted enough to climb this grade (8b). What I mean by this is that just because Ive climbed a lot this year does not mean my body has suddenly got loads stronger or technically superior. I thought by climbing loads my level would have kinda gone through a super cycle and shot up. Unfortunately it didn't, in fact I'm weaker now than when I was going regularly to the gym after work. That does not mean I cant climb 8b full stop but ill have to siege something for months/years even to do that and a trip where you are moving from venue to venue is not the best way to do this.

This in part is the other reason why Ive decided to step back from this full time climbing thing and back into a more balanced work/climb/booze/sleep type lifestyle. If your not super gifted then the best way to push on in a sport is to train I guess and I haven't done that properly really for years...not since I used to climb with Tyler/Geoff Landman on the board at Mile End, 2005 I think. I'm not going to start campussing tomorrow but 2010 i want to put some training plans into practice and go back to short focused trips to US/Europe. When I was in the US I climbed a few 8a's just by existing in one place and being able to pick the great conditions, by being used to the rock type and training a particular crux move of a project at the wall in the week. Basic stuff but it suited me better because my body takes a while to adapt to a very hard move or a very small handhold - that's what I mean by not being necessarily massively genetically gifted at climbing.

So since I'm back into short sharp trips and sieging things ill need to get a UK ticklist I can focus on for late 09 and 2010. Brad Pit is one and id like to get an 8a done on limestone - Tsunami fits the bill. Ive got to decide whether to keep this blog up..its no good just saying I did some campussing 3 times a week is it so a lot will depend on how often I get out and about once the job life becomes normality again. In the meantime ill try and get some piccies up on here. Ill climb a bit now but some proper rest/time out is key and then its Christmas boozing before the new year plan comes into effect.