Sport climbing wake up call

Shaking out on the Anvil project. I get about a minute before my toes are screaming ‘enough!’. Photo: Dave Redpath. More photos of the Anvil on Dave’s Blog.

After two more sessions on the big project on the Anvil roof with Malc, Is suspect my body is beginning to adapt to overhanging climbing again. Not that it feels it since that project is so damn hard. I can pretty much cruise to the start of the crux, but a major setback was Malc’s steel fingers ripping off the crux edge last week – doh! The crux 4 moves were about Font 7c+, but now they feel more like solid 8a to me and a bit more reachy. Right now I’m totally stumped (unlike Malc who is looking in very good shape on it). But I’ll keep trying. Anvil days are so good for fitness and for making you feel weak and psyched to train.

More Anvil Photos

Dave B from Hot Aches has sent me some more photos from yesterday's Anvil action

Setting up for the crux of the Sidewall project.

Dave Redpath mid crux on the Heavy Metal project - a 2 move Font 8a!

Sarah on moving round the crack on Friendly Fire 7a.

Anvil countdown

Respective highpoints on the sidewall project and Friendly Fire (Photos: Hot Aches)

Blood spattered on the ground below Dave Redpath's project. 100% effort on redpoints at your career grade limit are truly brutal. The sharp jug at the end of the hard climbing was the cause of this trauma to Dave's hand. When you have no power left to latch the finishing hold, you have to latch it with skin. Sometimes it works, other times it cuts you up.

Emma dispatching the crux move of Friendly Fire with ease

Our countdown to the summer season has begun – only a week or two before its all change in my schedule at least and time for the Anvil spring sessions to end until late September. Trad climbing and the mountain crags are beginning to call. Normal Scottish service of rain and wind have resumed in Scotland after the ridiculous weeks of roasting sun and parched dryness. The Scottish climate is so much a part of the landscape here – I was amazed to feel that I actually welcomed the return of the fresh damp Atlantic wind and heavy clouds blowing through the glens yesterday.

The midge also made its first appearance of the summer when the wind briefly dropped. Definitely time for the mountain crags then!

It was great to watch and listen to more new people coming to our wee sport crag and trying it out. Emma, Sarah and Dave B seemed to rate the place and the routes they worked on. Emma and Sarah looked very strong on the Anvils power sapping crimps which was impressive to watch. The Anvil is a demanding place though. You need some real grit to finish the routes here, as Dave Redpath was finding out on his continuing battle with the Heavy Metal project. Through the crux this time, but power fade on the upper crux meant he’ll have another week of late nights in the woody before next Saturday’s edition.

Check out Emma and Dave B’s blog posts about the Anvil.

For the last few Anvil sessions I’m going to persevere with one of the two main lines I’m serious about doing there; the sidewall project. Its not as steep as the others but a bouldery crimpfest which would sit nicely among the Raven Tor desperates (but better of course!). About F8a+ to the crux and then a two move stopper that felt like British 7b yesterday. Maybe it was just the humidity rising? Either way, its going to be another high end route. Brutal daily fingerboarding will be the key to this one as little endurance is involved. So I better get off and do that now… Some important Scottish news this week (No, not that the Scottish National Party won the Scottish Election!) is that Es Tressider smashed the Skye Cuillin ridge record, running the ridge in 3 hours and 17 mins. Superb effort Es, well done! More on this: video on Hotaches blog and info on Es's website.

Metalcore

Finally sticking the jump at the end of my Anvil project – it felt desperate! (Photos: Claire MacLeod, click on them for a bigger view)

Starting the upper section of Metalcore, where is joins last year’s route Bodyblow 8b+.

Over the last month I have been repeating inwardly ‘persistence pays, persistence pays’. Normally, hanging in there until I have finally defeated a project comes more naturally to me than most. But for some reason of other it’s felt quite difficult on this Anvil roof project. Maybe it was the walk? Redpath and I estimated we’d made 30 visits since October 2004 which is 240 miles of walking!!!

I bolted the big roof project in 2004 and eventually did separate lines starting up it but verging off left (Bodyswerve 8c) and coming in from the right to join the top part (Bodyblow 8b+). But the whole roof link is ‘the line’. Utterly inspiring for any sport climber I think, hence the continued psyche to get it climbed. I came back all confident from Spain in March after doing 8c in a few goes and getting super close to 9a, and thought the Anvil project might go fairly quick. But it seemed to have other ideas – that jump at the end was just nails to initiate and stick. Some problem with sliced up fingers didn’t help progress, but certainly cemented the war mentality – I must get it done!

Our Monday session was just more of the same – battling all the way to the jump and having no strength left to make any impression on it. But all those redpoints were gradually stimulating the fitness and lovely automatic flow you only get when you’ve spent many many days on a hard route you are intensely motivated for. A 1500kcal day yesterday dumped some of that nasty glycogen & water payload and it was game on.

Yesterday Claire came out (goddam lucky charm that she is!) and held the rope. Three times out to the swing with an uncontrollable arc of the feet and downfall. And then, on the last try, enough efficiency below to save a percentile of energy. I pulled up more into the hold and my feet swung back - OH MY GOD CLIP THE BELAY!!

Needless to say it’s a mega buzz to see the project finally go down and have a possible 8c+ in Scotland for the first time. If Redpath nails the Heavy Metal project that will make it even better. It was brilliant watching him nearly hold the dyno on that on Monday one handed. Actually there are several ore amazing projects to go at the Anvil. Nearly all of them are 8b+ or harder. That’s inspiring.

Metalcore 20m 8c+ 02/3/2007
Start up Bodyswerve, but follow the faint crackline all the way to the peak of the Anvil roof, joining Body Blow for its redpoint crux.

I've put up some more photos in the gallery on my main site

Anvil battling continues

More blood spilt at the Anvil yesterday in persuit of nails hard projects. Above is Dave Redpath's hand, ripped up after getting ever closer on the Heavy Metal project. My extremely irritating hole in my index finger only allowed me to warm up before splitting again. Al's super glue saved me from having to fully sit it out on a day of perfect conditions and sunshine. But with all the splitter inforced rest this week I have lost the edge (and a bit more!) off my endurance and didn't even regain my highpoint on the roof project. I always try to find something positive even if it's been a bad day, and I did get very close to the highpoint despite wobbling like a fool through the lower section which last week I could path. I also ran an experiment the night before to see if I could still drink a moderate amount of alcohol and still climb well the following day. Not possible! Two pints of beer, not even finished was enough to take a full grade off my ability.

Alan Cassidy dispatching Spitfire, which was seen off shortly afterwards by another man with big muscles; Robin Sutton. With 4 ascents now the route has finally seen its formal upgrade to 8a+.


Beautiful clear spring air looking across to Carrick Castle. The arete on the left is Anvilfire 7c+, already upgraded once because noone has managed to repeat it yet. Come on guys, get on that one next time and we can see if it's creeping towards 8a??

Back to reality

Return of the westerly winds of friction, but it didn't make any difference!

Spring is great when the fresh westerlies return - sunshine, clear air and nice ambience

Today was back to my normal climbing experience - getting slapped by the desperateness of my project. I got a little excited by getting over my mental block on the big dyno at the end. I did the move again and it felt ok. Now all I need to do is climb another 25 moves into it! The mental block came from 2 things - taking a bad fall, nearly breaking my nose and dislocating my pinky. And also because the harder I try to resist the wild swing the more I can feel my skin ripping on the tiny spike for my left. I was feeling stronger again after three days rest to recover split tips. But seems like my fears on the spike were justified as I split my tip once again on this hold and it was game over for another day (and the next two).

So, back to plasters and office work until the weekend, and worrying about loss of endurance for the Anvil project. Hopefully one handed fingerboarding until Saturday will restore some sense of not being a couch potato. I need to save the frustration to unleash on the Anvil roof on Sat...

Anvil day 4

The long morning walk and psyche up again

Downfall from the final move of the roof project

Iain Hutchinson on Amateur Hacker 6c, a rather balancy bit of climbing!

Chris Boutell on Way out West 6b

Iain on Hammertime 7b+

Iain about to complete Hammertime 7b+

Redpath's elbow turning slowly out above the crux of the Heavy Metal project

Resting arms but destroying my toes on my roof project

Rested and going for it! Well actually I was still pumped solid, but going for it anyway...

Closer still on the big roof line at the Anvil... touched the good hold on the end of a big dyno... but didn't hold it. The belay is one move further. Work will prevent any visits until next weekend. Until then!

If Redpath's shoulders get any wider they'll have to widen the forestry track down Loch Goil, but the training seems to be helping him stick the huge moves on his project with increasing regularity, with power screams that scare off the local sheep.

Iain seemed to enjoy the fingery Hammertime, but pointed out some sandbag grades for the other routes. Shadowlands is leaning towards 7c now. I wonder what he would have thought of Spitfire, the hardest 8a in the west?

Anvil project day 3

Today's highpoint on the Anvil roof... yes, above the last bolt. A good place to get to, but a bad place to know you have to return to many more times. Such is the routine of sport climbing. Tomorrow hopefully I'll be back staring at those last two hard moves at least three times...

Stunning today; sunshine perfect temps, sleeping in the sun between attempts. A huge contrast to yesterday's 14 hours in front of the screen working. need to go and get some more hours work done into the night to justify tomorrow's climbing...

Anvil season begins

The Redpath and I began our spring pilgrimage to the spiritual home of mica schist roof crimping; The Anvil. The atlantic finally struck back at the high pressure which has given us such unaturally gorgeous weather for over 2 weeks. Normal Scottish service was resumed with drizzle, damp, wind and cold. Even still, the Anvil was inspiring, and still bone dry. The angle of rain attack was such that even the less steep sections avoided the wet (just) and a wee project I bolted up last year could be dispatched. My first redpoint didn't go so well; at the crucial moment as I lurched for the finishing jug a gust blew a big faceful of rain in my face (Ah now thats Scottish sport climbing fur ye!) and I went flying. Next time, I reached the belay and another Anvil 7c was born. Those of you who have been on the routes will know what 'Anvil 7c' means.

The rest of the day was spent refamiliarising myself with the the line formerly known as 'project mcfuck'. Now that its secrets have been revealed it might have to be demoted to 'project a wee bit nippy' at a mere 8c. Once again I was noticing the absense of my lost half stone, and the holds were feeling a touch bigger than last September. The psyche is on.

Video of Bodyswerve 8c

Hot Aches have produced an ad for Scarpa with footage of me doing Bodyswerve at the Anvil. You can see it here. I've been getting more and more into gear testing work for my sponsors and getting involved in design - its pretty good fun. I guess I have the good job out of the whole process in that I get to go climbing and then come back with ideas for how to make the kit help you get up even harder routes. I pass my knowledge on to the rest of the team and some time later, hey presto! you see your ideas turn into products. It's easy to take for granted the work that goes on in between.

Anyhow, here are some more shots from the Anvil from Tuesday. The one of me on Bodyswerve is by Hot Aches.

Tom Charles Edwards enjoying the transition part of Spitfire 8a (transition from 'crimpy-balancy' to 'just plain burly' on the second half). The arete to the left is Anvilfire which is 7c+. to the right are two brick projects, and then some more amenable things... There is a full guide for the place here.

Diff starting Amateur Hacker 6b. Great rock architecture on a 6b!

Diff adding yet another hi tech repair to his Duvet. Good as new?!

Hopefully I can back there soon to keep having fun on some more brilliant projects, but no climbing for me in the short term since I need to fit my kitchen. I feel Ikea rage coming on...

Bodyswerve 8c, and new shoes!

The successful redpoint on my Anvil roof project, Bodyswerve 8c (Hot Aches Images)

Well happy to finally hit that monster finishing jug (Hot Aches Images)

Things have been steadily coming together on my second roof project in the Anvil's massive cave. This one is the left hand exit to what Alan anc Robin called "project McF**K" after they had a look at it. Its about 8a up to a decent edge, then hard moves one after the other all the way to the ledge. A superb new foot sequence was the final straw that got me through those last few moves, although I broke a couple of PBs on the fingerboard the night before and got a bit excited that it could go the next day. After one failure, going flying sideways after a violent slip on the last move, next time I hit the jug and screamed! I reckon it's about 8c and I'm certain its the hardest sport route in Scotland now. I've put up some more pics of it in my gallery here. I think Hot Aches video of it should be making an appearance on UK climbing sometime shortly. I'll let you know when I hear its up.

Another big development for me this week was a change to wearing some new shoes from Scarpa. It's obviously extremely important to love your rockshoes as they affect your climbing standard so much. Even more so for me as I'm comparatively weak and need to squeeze every last drop of advantage out of my feet. With Heinz Mariacher designing at Scarpa now their new shoes are somewhat inevitably rather brill, so it was time to move. I've been wearing the same shoes for nearly ten years and it's amazing how used to a certain shape and feel. As I'm now starting to realise trying new ones out on my new route, designs have come on a bit in that time!

Anvil diary

Overlapping halves on the groove project. 6 x hard moves higher to get (photo: Stone Country)

Niall McNair grunting on Spitfire 8a which was seeing queues the other day!

Power screams were not enough this time...

Some serious progress has been made on my Anvil roof project It's perma dry and its just as well as the Scottish autumn deluge is in full swing. This project has been causing my muscles serious aches and pains. It's really the perfect angle for a workout - 45 degrees and 8c so most of the holds are first joint but still positive. Except for the pinky pocket that is. I needed some serious sleep to recover from my efforts, but I had to get up early and go to a job interview - I know! - me? job? working for myself has meant 19 hour days at times during summer so I thought some regular work might help things out and allow more time to climb. I'm such a rubbish blagger though, so left the interview feeling depressed.

Some more stuff on the Anvil and our Argyll adventures in general on Michael's blog.

Sport climbing - The Anvil season begins

Karate Kid

Dave Redpath - Gagging for a Hob Nob or just enjoying using his bolt drill?

Iain on the excellent Shadowlands 7b+

Well I can't say I felt amazingly strong on the Anvil left-hand roof after 4 months away. In fact I managed exactly the same links as last time. However, the scotch mist was thick in the air and it wasn't just me who was complaining about the grease. I love this place - new projects, that I bolted myself, mega hard, steep climbing on 'real' holds so you get really worked, relatively unaffected by the west coast rain assaults and excellent moves. It's so nice to have new rock thats so convenient to get to and hard enough that I know it would take a looong time to get through all the projects.

slapped again (yesss!)

big roof, tiny holds. hardcore.

Cassidy on Shadowlands 7b+
A bit of Friendly Fire 7a

Its great to be back into the Anvil's horizontal landscape of roof projects. Getting slapped around by projects is the best part of the whole process. It's exciting to see if you can turn a line of miserable holds into a solid sequence you might grunt through with a pump on, one cold day sometime in the future. The Anvil seems to be upholding it's reputation for providing a good slapping and a hardcore workout to all comers - it's reassuring it's not just me having a hard time. Another repeat of shadowlands by Cassidy who rated it. And Consensus is definitely that Spitfire is Scotland's best 8a. Roof project number two was seeming more like 8c today, but at least number three went down a notch from 'ridiculous' to 8c and the (exquisite) moves done. I crimped until my fingers felt like they'd been stamped on. Good day. Tomorrow I'll pull on some slightly bigger holds on a huge prow I've seen from the road. Tweedley tells me it's 'Dalriada the 2nd'. But this one might actually be E8. I hope so, will let you know what I find.

Hammering the Anvil

Tweedley on Hammertime

The Anvil has been taking a hammering of late, with Redpath, Tweedley, McGhee and myself all bagging some very nice projects. I managed to slap my way up Body Blow 8b+ on my 4th day. The first 4 moves are cellar style Font 7c+ to a jug, then an awesome 8a+ 45 degree wall to the top. This is the second half of what will be a mega route when my fingers are strong enough to handle double the length of climbing at the same difficulty standard. The full details for this crag are on the Scottish Climbs wiki now. It’s a lovely place, but don’t go there unless you are feeling fit unless you want to be humbled.