Black Diamond video of Fight the Feeling

The video of my 8c+/9a from last autumn ‘Fight the Feeling at Steall is now up on the Black Diamond digital catalogue here. It’s on page 9. While you are there you should check out some of the other videos and articles from fellow BD climbers. There are pretty damn good. My favourite has to be The Wheel of Life footage of James Kassay. Would LOVE to go there sometime soon.

End of the line, for a short while

 Oops! Time for a little phase of finger strength training

In my last blog post I mentioned that I had a few wee routes to finish off before I was completely done with Steall. I do like finishing things before moving on, so I was eager to get them done. I’d bolted 5 new routes on the left side of the crag, two on the left arete of the main crag and three on either side of the big slab to it’s left. All needed a good brush since they are a bit slow to dry compared to the other lines, but the rock is great with lovely little pockets and every so often these weird letterbox jugs that are just the most satisfying holds ever!

End of the Line 6b+, first ascent, Steall.

I’d bolted the routes and partially done the hard work of cleaning them on previous visits. With three dry days gone, three of us went up to try and get them cleaned and climbed before they got wet again. All was going well, a new 7b, 6c and 6b+ were in the bag. But then it went a bit pear shaped.

Kev took these pics and had a fine view of my tumble down the bottom bit of the slab into the birch trees

It turned out, the 6b+ slab was quite long and the rope I was using which wasn’t mine was a little short. As I got lowered off, the rope ran out about 6-8 feet above the small ledge at the start of the route proper. Neither of us noticed in time and so I plummeted, clipping the ledge with my foot and somersaulting down the turfy scrambling ground below, eventually coming to a violent stop wrapped around a birch tree on the slope below.

As I was flying head over heels I was wondering what the hell was going on! Normally I always take a long rope to the crag so rope length issues don’t arise and it hit me that the borrowed rope I was using must’ve been too short and the end had gone through the belay device. For a minute or two I thought I might have got away with it but very quickly my right foot started to get bigger and severely object to being weighted.

A rather nauseous hop/clamber/crawl down to the wire bridge followed. The bridge was fine thanks to my practice on the Stac of Handa. After that, the machine that is Kev Shields carried me most of the way back through Steall gorge to the car and a trip to the Belford. A good man to have around when things go wrong! It appears my ankle is not broken but it looks likely I have a grade II tear of my plantar fascia (foot arch) and will be on crutches for a few weeks. It’s still early days to get a close idea of exactly what’s been mashed and bashed inside my foot.

On the bright side, I was about to start the yearly retreat to the fingerboard to avoid the autumn deluge and begin my foundation of strength training for the season anyway. So now I’ll have a even more focused start to that. I might even finish writing my book too. A few weeks out of immediate performance goals to really build a base of finger strength is something I should have been doing much more of in previous years. It will be really interesting to see if it yields a positive effect. I know where I’d place my bets!

I took day 1 post-injury off since I felt pretty damn sore all over and sorry for myself. But yesterday (day 2) I started gently with an hour and a half session of deadhangs, pull ups, antagonist work and flexibility training. My neck still felt a bit sore from the somersaulting down a crag, so I felt pretty weak and tentative. But that will give me good motivation to climb out from the hole.

I feel awful I’ve had to cancel a coaching trip I was due to go on next week, and a trip right afterwards to the trad area of Bohuslan in Sweden that I was greatly looking forward to. But both can be done when I’m stronger, healthier and have the book finished. 

So no there is no time to waste! I’ll be back on the cliffs in 4-6 weeks and have a lot of deadhangs and writing to fit in before then. Best get stuck in!

[UPDATE] I wrote the above on day 3 post accident. It’s now day 6 and I’ve already made a bit of progress. I started early mobilisation on day 4 and have got 80% ankle range of movement back from about 20% on day 1. I can rest the weight of my leg on the ground now and even get 10kgs of force through my forefoot pain free. Looking good!

Dam That River 7b, first ascent, Steall

Higher highpoint, out of time

After the frustrations of not feeling good enough to get through the crux of my Steall project, I took a small break from it which consisted of some diligent training, family time and writing some more of my book. I could probably have taken more time doing those things, but the prospect of some better conditions and a trip away getting imminent demanded going back up for another couple of sessions.

On one session, when it was still feeling a bit hot and windless, I couldn’t even do one of the moves in isolation. I lowered off and felt pretty dejected. I was practically ready to leave it until next season. When it was my turn to climb again, I went for another go as a formality. A small breeze started up at the same time as I did. The holds instantly felt stickier and next thing I knew I landed the last of the crux moves.

I soldiered on in extremis for a few more moves before falling, completely pumped, from the last really difficult move at the last bolt. That was a real eye opener. For one, I learned that conditions matter even more than I would ever have given credit. To go from unable to do single moves, to almost succeeding on linking the whole thing in the same session, because of a few gusts of wind is a massive effect.

Second, I learned for the first time that the route is definitely possible for me. I think If I could replicate that effort a few more times, I’d struggle through to the belay one time. After that session, I must admit that a wave of utter determination to try my best to finish it came over me.

However, maybe that was my best effort, and I’ll not be able to match it before the autumn monsoon? I’ll find out. It doesn’t matter really. I’m just pleased to know I’m not wasting my time trying the project. Next session, I held the last crux move again but sadly my foot slipped straight afterwards. A good sign of consistency. 

I battled on for a couple more sessions in crap conditions, hot, humid, still and midgy. I still got really close even in those conditions. I had a sick feeling in my stomach that the temperature would drop and and wind would arrive just after I ran out of time before leaving, and that’s exactly what happened. So I am a coiled spring, and will somehow have to try and keep my powder dry for a while. I must admit I'm struggling with that more than I ever have right now. I suppose that's inevitable since it's biggest project I've ever tried. The likelihood is that I’ll be back again next spring for another scrap, unless I’m lucky and late September is dry enough to keep the seeps at bay.

Of course I’m well pleased to have got as high on it as I have. I’ve certainly put in a lot of work, both at the crag and in training and really feel stronger for it. On my last attempt of one session, I climbed the lower section in full knowledge I was too tired to have a serious shot at the upper crux. As I climbed through the first crux (Ring of Steall 8c+) I took my hand off to reach for the hold, felt tired and hesitantly went to grab the quickdraw and end the attempt and then changed my mind and carried on reaching, statically. When I did the first ascent of Ring of Steall in 2007 getting through that move was the hardest link I’d ever done and now I can do it nearly every attempt in decent conditions. At that time I couldn’t have imagined doing the move statically. I’ve really realised that I have so much room to step up my training and effort level yet.

Getting out of a hole

So, I’m close to my project, but close is nowhere. If I had a run of cold windy days, I could see it happening. But It’s August, the wind is set in coming from the humid south, and so it’s not happening. The Steall midges are very well fed on my blood and I’m only getting the same highpoint and more and more frustrated and restless.

What to do? Sure I could just keep at it. Motivation is not a problem. Call me a mad man, but I don’t really care how many midge bites I get or how long it takes. My will is much stronger than a few thousand tiny midges. Another day of overheated redpoints in long sleeve top and midge hood might wont send me over the edge, but there are other issues. I don’t want to get too used to having bad sessions and forget to try really hard when good conditions come along. Also, climbing on the same route too much isn’t so good for the body. I’m waking up stiff and sore when I ought to be fine.

So the coaches prescription is to go and do something else for a bit. Keeping going in the current crap weather might be too risky for injury and the negative mental aspects might overtake physical strength gains.

Tomorrow I’ll see where the mood takes me and try something new.

More progress on my project

Conditions have been dry enough for another 2 sessions on my Steall project albeit in the heat and more than a few midges. Objectively, they were pretty good and still showing progress. Diminishing progress, but still progress and as good as I could expect. On the first session overlapping halves more consistently than before, and then overlapping halves for my warm-up once. I ought to be happy with the progress but it’s hard not to balance this against restlessness that such good links and feeling strong on the moves doesn’t translate to getting any higher from the ground yet. 

All of this renews my respect for the route. On some attempts I did notice a ‘head problem’ creeping in that I was feeling the inevitability of how I was likely to get on in the attempt. That usually means it’s time to take another tack. I’m 95% there. I can see I don’t have much to do, but not much more to give either. My endurance training has worked well and I’m not really feeling pumped when I fall, just ‘powered out’. It seems maybe my strength to weight ratio is just not quite there. 

So I’m stepping up the attack on both sides of the ratio with a beefed up fingerboarding routine, using a 10kg weight belt to up the intensity and decrease volume on my circuits and a very organised diet which isn’t something I do often. I tend to ‘train heavy’ most of the time since my somatotype is heavy, and only get slim when It’s totally clear it will be worth it. The main reason is that it’s logistically difficult to balance a routine of hard climbing and training without running into various problems of underfuelled training, injuries, illness etc. But in the short term it works really well.

Fingers crossed for the route be dry enough to get a try or two next week. I definitely feel that working on it and feeling strong in bad conditions might still set me up to be in a really great position if we get some cold and windy weather sometime.

Another Steall milestone.

Michael gears up for another scrap with Steallworker (8b), a cloud of midges above. Get tied in, whirr your jacket around a few times to disperse the midge pack, rip the bag off your head and go!

The other day I completed a new 8b+/c at Steall. ‘Irn Age’ climbs pretty much all of The Fat Groove (8a) to the roofed groove and then pulls right to climb pretty much all of Maxwell’s Demon (8b+). Although it has two no-hands rests on it low down, it’s still a good test of stamina and a mega trip up the crag with a tough finale. I certainly felt I needed to be quite fresh for the crux of Maxwell’s Demon which is right up near the last bolt after 35 metres of climbing.

After I got a nice sequence on the crux I did think Irn Age would be 8b+ and Maxwell’s Demon could actually be 8b. But Michael pointed out that it is way harder than any of the 8b+s or even the 8c’s I’ve done abroad. A classic case of a route feeling easy when you do it. Too many of the routes at Steall are my own and there’s noone repeating the harder ones them despite attempts, so I don’t have much info to go on to figure out what grade everything might be. Moving on...

Finally I can feel the effects of my circuits in my arms, climbing The Fat Groove without getting a pump and actually recovering on the better holds high on the route. Although it’s obviously miles easier than my 9a project just to the right, it’s still a confidence booster that these routes can go despite wet holds, bad weather and the odd midge.

I’ve put in the hours on my harder project, so I have the moves really smooth. I’m feeling 85% there fitness wise. But I think the real issue might come down to conditions. Last week I had a brief go on it again and just couldn’t even hang the two crux edges. Unless it’s cold and windy the tiny crystals just cut my skin. The northerlies of this week have turned out to be way too weak to be of any use at Steall.

So there are still some hurdles, but I’m making enough progress to want to keep at it for now.

Failing higher

A big jump on my project today. New highpoint three moves higher!!! (yes that does deserve an exclamation for each move). The move I fell from is probably the hardest on the route, but after that one, the climbing eases off to a 12 move sprint of maybe 7c+ to the belay. I’m still just getting fitter on the route and stronger on the moves, increment by increment.

This was the last big link to do before it’s time to get serious. And so that’s what I better do. What does that involve? Well, it partly depends on the weather gods, who seem in a grumpy mood. I’ve been blessed with a dry crag and cool conditions for over 2 weeks. Now it’s looking wet.

Worst case scenario is I have to take a few weeks of dedicated training on the boards while the route drips. It might be no bad thing. Best case scenario is the the unsettled weather keeps bringing cool winds but not enough rain to start the bogs oozing from above Steall crag. In that case, I could just keep trying and see if the pattern of getting higher continues?

I’m not so sure it would. Some circuit time would surely give me an edge, as will more runs, good sleep and rest. So not much has changed except now I know I’m not wasting my time. In good conditions at least, I can now start up the route knowing there is a slim chance I could get through all of those tiny holds and actually get to the top.

This is what hard projects are all about. Although I’m partly in the hands of the weather, making that final hurdle from ‘close’ to ‘complete’ is the really difficult and really important step. Anyone can make progress on a project just by showing up with no pressure. But when you know there is a chance it could happen, can you keep making the right moves without feeling the strain and the moment fizzling out.

Send me those gale force easterlies please!

Confidence materialising?

That’s the fourth session on my project this week, every one with progress to speak of. So I can’t be close to my limit yet. Yesterday I was with Michael instead of alone on my shunt. I made the big step of linking from the start of the Ring of Steall crux to the top of my project. It’s the first time I’ve felt like I was linking on a route instead of doing hard bouldering moves on a rope, if you know what I mean.

I know that to have proper attempts to complete the route, I need to be at a stage where I’m really confident on the moves and don’t feel that they are low percentage. So now I’m getting the Ring of Steall crux static which is good progress. I can’t be fully confident until I’m actually getting highpoints on the headwall above where the route leaves Ring of Steall. Although I’ve got very overlapping halves on the route now, there is still one more big step to make before it’s time to get properly serious. I must get myself through that desperate cross through move.

The other thing is that conditions have been perfect. Yesterday it was 9 degrees on the drive up the glen! Windy too. Warm weather has to come sometime and that might put me back a bit in the coming few weeks. Although I feel strong (for me) and climbing not bad, my power endurance still feels about 50% of what it could be, maybe less. The past week has been great. Totally the right decision to take advantage of relatively midge free windy conditions to get more time and confidence on the route. 

Although my more dedicated power endurance training on the circuits has been delayed, it will be all the more useful when I’m finally forced indoors by the weather. If wet or midgy weather comes next week and I have a stint of circuits and runs, I could be in good shape for starting redpoints after that. If conditions stay windy, I have a backup plan of trying a new link up of Fat Groove (8a) into Maxwell’s Demon (8b+) which is pretty much perfect endurance training. It has some good rests so it might be 8b+/8c. I can have two or three good attempts on my project and then get a workout trying the link-up.

Today I can see the midges outside my window as I write (they are after the CO2 from my boiler exhaust!) and the trees are totally still. Board time!

Tempting Fate

Current highpoint on my project at Steall - a horrendous gaston/cross/backhand/fingerlock move to a perfect little edge I have to hit with my fingers and thumb in just the right spot.

In my blog post last night about my recent efforts on my Steall project, I knew that if I said out loud that my sequence wouldn’t couldn’t be improved much, I’d immediately prove myself wrong. And so it was. Today, With fresh body and mind after a seriously needed rest day I found five new bits of of beta which help my sequence. Of course, most of them are small; a change in body position or momentum in the move. But one change in particular might make a significant difference in how consistently I can get to my highpoint. So maybe I can get a little higher sometime soon?

I still am two steps (links) away from doing proper redpoints. I have yet to climb from below the Ring of Steall crux to the top. That’s a pretty important link that still feels a good bit away. After that, the next important link is from the ground to two moves higher in the crux than my current best effort. If that ever happens I’ll be on seek and destroy mode immediately. I’m feeling good enough on it to justify keeping on training my endurance on the route, at least for another session. Maybe next week I’ll do some targeted training elsewhere in case I get stale on the route.

It’s helping that England is currently getting the chains of rain bearing fronts that we normally get up here right now. Apparently thanks to the Jet stream? In the easterly today it was around 13 degrees at Steall with a 30mph wind. Sticky holds and even the hungriest midge grounded. A good session!

Following a good vibe

After returning from my travels I was interested to see how the effects of 2 months bouldering followed by a week and half of sedentary time in the car would affect my fitness on my Steall project. After a couple of sessions, it’s obvious I can pull a few % points harder on the holds. Endurance is pretty poor, but not quite the disaster I expected. After doing Seven of Nine last year (3 months not climbing anything longer than 10 moves) I went to Tunnel Wall and took 3 tries to do Fated Path (a stamina 7c+!). Despite the moves feeling like V-Diff, I just got pumped doing virtually anything. That was a memorably depressing session. Of course it only took four sessions to be able to lap the routes there aerobically and then move back up through the 8s.

At the end of my lecture tour I did have just a handful of short but good sessions on endurance. I made a good decision to start on some pretty easy but steep ground and err on the volume side. This seems to have been a good kickstart. After a few of those I managed to get through the crux of Ring of Steall (8c+) again for the first time. Great, but on arriving at the real crux of my project finish, I could only slap uselessly at a tiny crimper I must get static and perfectly.

I’ve had two more sessions trying to work on the climb on my own since then. Although there is no dramatic progress to speak of, I know from experience that these sessions do get you closer to making breakthroughs. I’ve learned all sorts of little things about how to do the moves better. Dare I say it, I don’t think my sequence can change a great deal now.

So it’s down to 30 move power endurance. Training for the route by trying it sometimes works really well so I’m keen to take advantage of the easterly winds at present and get on it. But It’s not a great route for training on, mainly because the hardest moves are a bit too hard! They only really work if your arms are completely fresh. Ideally a mix of circuits and maybe one session out of three on the route would be right I think. I might even try a bit of power endurance work on the campus board for this.

I have a choice really between getting serious about this project and really putting some dedicated work on it, or going to play on other things. Even if I’m on project mode, certain other venues and routes will make good training, and my gut is telling me I’m getting high enough on the route to get serious. I know that my power endurance has never been good, and it would be a great experiment to see what could happen if did train it properly for a spell. It seems pretty clear that the bouldering trip has given me a base of strength that really ought to be enough to make this route possible. It would be crazy not to give it a good shot then.

Clocking up some training hours

Greg Boswell working on Leopold, 8a.

A great three days at Steall with Michael and Greg. The first morning started grimly wet after 24 hours of heavy rain. All the streams were in spate, and that was just the ones coming down the crag. Nevertheless we worked our moves and got sequences dialled on our respective projects. 

Today the sun was out and spring was well and truly in the air for the first time. The crux of my project was still seepy, so it was simply time to put in the reps on the first half. To get steely strong and fit on the moves. This bit is both hard and easy. Sore fingers, pumped arms and tying right back in for another burn right after you lowered off. On the other hand, there’s no stress. Hard work is not scary on it’s own. You can’t lose; just put in the hours in the knowledge that the big progress happens right here, not on the eventual redpoints, which are just the very end of the process.

In the last week I’ve gone from bouldering strong with zero endurance to almost getting through the crux of Ring of Steall 8c+. It’s a great start, but just a start. I have some killer beta for the crux, but could do with a bit more. The bit above Ring of Steall gets properly hard. It feels good to be able to rep the easy lower part without getting pumped. But to even get close to redpoints, I’d need to be doing the same on the upper half. I couldn’t even imagine that right now. About a month or maybe six weeks of uninterrupted power-endurance training on the right sort of terrain will be needed.

Soon I’m leaving for a long trip with a fair bit of bouldering. So I’ll rack up some more sessions on the crux, and hopefully get a confidence boosting link before I go. While I’m away I can continue to build up some iron crimp strength and the sort of fitness you only get from trips. Exciting stuff.

Two new routes at Steall

The belay in sight at the end of Maxwell’s Demon 8b+, Steall during the first ascent. Pic by Steven Gordon. Steven has uploaded a nice gallery from the day on his site here.

It’s not so often I get to the chain on two sport projects at Steall in one day, never mind two first ascents. Finally a break the humidity allowed me to get some redpoints in. First off, I took an interest in an old project climbing straight through the central cave, taking in the crux of Arcadia and breaking out onto the headwall to join the finish of Ring of Steall. Duncan McCallum had first tried the line in the nineties but abandoned it and it was de-bolted after some unnatural holds briefly appeared (and were filled in very well). 

I re-equipped the start and finish (the middle bit takes in a couple of trad placements on the Arcadia crack) but it was always either too cold or seeping or I had a crap sequence. Anyway, the other day I managed to do it and thought it was excellent. I had originally thought it was 8b but after a bit of a scrap for a few attempts even in dry conditions it felt a bit more like 8b+. 

Next up I went straight onto an excellent link-up possibility that Michael first pointed out to me. Climbing pretty much all of The Fat Groove (8a), across the lip of the roof of Maxwell’s Demon, reversing the crux traverse of Arcadia and finishing up most of Leopold (8a) to give a 40 metre diagonal stamina monster. Michael’s proposed that if it would go it would be a ‘5 star mega classic’. I can confirm that’s pretty much how it climbed. It takes in a lot of cruxes of 8as and harder, but with some good, if body pumping rests. I called this one Steallworker (8b).

What a nice way to round off a couple of weeks climbing at home before I leave tomorrow for the Gore-Tex Experience Tour trip to Norway.

Throw in another kneebar and press on! Halfway along the big link-up on Steallworker 8b during the first ascent.

Ring of Steall project sent!

Ring of Steall, 8c+, Steall Crag, Glen Nevis. Photos by Claire MacLeod. Click on the pics for a bigger view.

Yesterday I climbed the Ring of Steall project at Steall hut crag. When I got to the belay I had to slap myself and confirm with Claire that it had actually just happened and I wasn’t dreaming. In fact, a dream like state was exactly how I climbed it. The whole thing flowed with effortless ease and perfectly focused effort, on the very first time I made a proper redpoint attempt. Ascents that happen so perfectly with no mistakes, no hesitation and no consciousness of self are so rare. Nevermind on a route I’ve been trying for ten years! I’d say that was by far the most focused moment of my life so far. It was so unexpected, but maybe it had to be to occur in the first place?

This project has been an inspiration simmering in the back of my head for ten years. It was equipped and tried by Cubby in the early nineties and he worked hard on it, coming very close to getting past the crux section before injury and work got in the way and the momentum was lost. I’ve talked with Dave about the project many times since and it was always a huge goal for either of us. If Dave had done it in ’92, it would have been one of the top five sport routes in the world at the time – an incredible effort.

Dave was (still is) a massive inspiration to my climbing, and climbing his hardest routes was a huge goal of mine, in my progression in climbing. Although I managed to climb most of them, the Steall project always remained as a huge test I wanted to pass, but that crux just felt brick hard. Every year I had a day on it, and every year it seemed above my level.

The crux Egyptian of Ring of Steall

It’s about 8a+ to get to the big undercut in the centre of the wall, then you have to get an evil sloping crimp with your left hand, that is so smooth, it’s almost like its been buffed and polished – nothing but pure strength will do to hold it. Then, it’s the Egyptian. Over the past month I’ve walked down the path from Steall feeling that it’s the most beautiful move I’ve ever experienced on rock, and other nights been cursing it to hell. Last week I finally mastered the correct timing of how to drop the knee and then push in the exactly correct direction with each foot. It’s the ultimate move – when performed with technical excellence, it's easy. But if you don’t move the limbs in the correct sequence of subtle shifts, no amount of strength or psyche will make any impression.

This type of climbing suits Cubby’s technical mastery perfectly, so it’s a shame that he wasn’t able to finish it. It’s no surprise to me that the route left such a big impression on him as it has done on me – perfect movement in a beautiful place.

Having completed this route, if I had to give up climbing tomorrow due to some disaster, I’d be satisfied with my effort. It’s the first time I’ve ever felt that. Climbing it has confirmed in my mind something I felt for the first time after climbing Rhapsody; We can really do anything, and I mean anything we want. Circumstances are indeed barriers, but never impenetrable ones. We are limited only by knowing exactly what we want and having the pure motivation to find it. I always heard this idea from ‘motivational types’ in the past. As a sceptic I’ve spent over ten years trying to refute it by repeatedly trying seemingly impossible projects. Every time the result is the same – Tasks you are not truly motivated for may always remain beyond your reach, tasks you are deeply motivated for take you on a long and convoluted route around the barriers that circumstances create. Sometimes, in the thick of the maze of circumstances, you realise your motivation is not deep enough and its best to try something else. But when the motivation remains through deep frustration, the results are always… always… just around the corner.

How cool is that.

Traffic jam, Glen Nevis

Trafiic problems on the evening commute down Glen Nevis last night.

Hello pretty, nice hat...

I love living in Lochaber!

The other day we went looking for new crags, and found some! Peter inspects a pristine arete of Gneiss which is now on my list of routes to do asap.

New 8b at Steall - Stolen

The air this morning was autumnal – cold, damp and fresh. Michael and I were headed to Steall for the last day of his visit. We were both wasted and happy with good links the previous day, so today was just a day for playing on new projects and doing some intervals. But we comented that it would be a good day for redpointing, if one had been going for it today.

I was going on a superb line right of Lame Beaver that I bolted two weeks ago. Lame Beaver is an E7 6b freed by Cubby in 1987. I remember seeing a cool picture of him on it in Fort William Nevisport when I started visiting the glen in 1997. That year I tried it myself, but it was above my level at the time. So it was interesting to come back and do it last week for the warm-up for the days climbing. Good to have a yardstick to measure ten years of strength and technique gain. By the way, such is the lack of keen climbers in the area right now; Lame Beaver, like many other trad routes I’ve repeated took two full days of hard graft to clean it up again properly. So while it’s clean please all you fit Scottish climbers come and get it done!

Anyway, the new sport route is unlike many a Scottish sport route, being long, exposed and with consistent difficult climbing that wears you down, rather than one brick hard move and then cruising. After my fuel up with Claire’s rather fine baking (gaining legendary status now, as it’s been responsible for over five routes of 8b+ and above!) I dragged my sore muscles into action and worked out the first section up to a quite amazing no hands back and foot rest in a bomb bay. Once in the bomb bay, I pondered that the night before I’d done a long link from here to the last hard move. Really I might as well just make this a redpoint and do the thing now?

A long series of undercuts later, I was clipping the belay at the lip of the overhangs, water pouring all over me from Steall’s permanent (but currently extra dribbly) drip fringe. So it was a good day for redpointing after all.

My I be so bold to suggest it’s the best 8b in Scotland? I’ll post up some photos soon as I get them.

Summer of Steall II – a week of hard training

Michael Tweedley ties in to send Leopold his first 8a+

Life has been just the way I like it over the past three weeks – very focused and intense. After the previous Steall marathon, I used the muscular down time to produce a work blitz. Much keyboard pounding later, the ‘urgent’ section of my task list was empty for the first time in over 14 months. I more than quadrupled my workload last year in order to enable a house move. But at times I well and truly lost my way and paralysed myself under a mountain of tasks. Over the last two months I’ve learned a lot about controlling the volume of work and cutting out the vast quantities of wasted time we are programmed to spend on tasks that are, in the bigger picture, meaningless or at least unimportant. What a relief.

As the summer continues to be defined by the volume of water dropping daily out of the sky, Steall has continued to be the venue of choice for rock climbing. Yesterday we climbed blissfully in the dry as usual, watching in awe during belay duty as the Glen Nevis burns turned steadily into roaring torrents and Steall Falls thundered like I’ve never seen it. It’s been a very up and down period for me – I’m trying some very hard projects and finding myself making apparently negative progress for over a week. It is so hard to accept that stressed joints, poor conditions and too many days on are the reason for your retrograde performance. My knee is complaining from a deep Egyptian move (my favourite move too, although I still take a couple of goes to spell it correctly). This perod of barely containable frustration is what Seth Godin calls the dip. The idea is that if you can stand back from the situation and realise that you have what it takes to get over the problems, it can see you through the temptation to get angry, depressed or just give up. Easier said than done. It helps of course if you really want the reward you are pursuing. Thankfully this is not a problem for me on most climbing challenges, as I tend to think a LOT about them in advance and go for the very best ones.

Drying sodden ropes – a daily routine right now.

I must admit, the desire to match the performance level demanded by this project was the main driving force that kept me trying it through this crappy spell. Quite a poor show really as I’ve got plenty of experience at this type of thing. Nevermind – I kept at it and after a rest day, made a big leap forward on the route. Still miles away from doing it, but amazing and uplifting nonetheless. In retrospect the last couple of depressing weeks were nothing compared to the ones I had on Rhapsody – one session I’d feel on the verge of linking the crux, the next I couldn’t pull on the holds. Naturally, conditions and fatique were to blame, with the negative emotions piled on top.

Hopefully yesterday’s good form and progress can carry on for a wee bit at least, before the next dip…

I’m also super fortunate to have someone else sharing my psyche for Steall. Michael was up for the week again, coolly dispatching Leopold (his first 8a+) after having similar frustration earlier in the week.

Three days of hardcore at Steall crag

By the end of today I was physically unable to push a wire brush forwards across a piece of rock. Steall Crag is one of those weird overhanging crags of extremes of wet/dryness. Most of it is perma dry, but the rest is very often wet. Luckily, the wet bits are only limited to the top and the odd wee seep here and there, but those bits get manky.

This place, like The Anvil and Dumbarton are all what I call ultimate hardcore venues. Most of the routes are sick hard or remain unclimbed due to being that extra bit sick hard. There are few easy routes, but they also seem to manage to be sick hard. That is why I like them. There are a bunch of 8a/b routes there and some futuristic projects.

Michael Tweedley was our first visitor at chez MacLeod to come up for a bit of lochaber climbing action. I am glad he brought with him three days of no rain to follow the 21 days of rain that preceded. While he worked hard on one of the 8as I cleaned some old and new routes. The bottom 20 metres of the routes were totally dry and clean but the last ten metres needed a lot of work to shift the super steely scottish moss. So now the routes are ready to be climbed if I am good enough (questionable).

But now I have to go back to sedentary work for a while, deadlines call... Not to worry, my shredded arms need the time away. On monday, the hardcore will begin again, if the rain does not.