These past weeks have been by and large the most productive period of my climbing journey. I have been climbing my ass off and it has paid off to the fullest.
December 14-15: the opening of a new bouldering gym, Hardbloc. The walls and holds were all new therefore aggressive as hell. For the entire weekend, people were bleeding left and right. On the up side, I climbed a lot (15 hours in two days) and sent more than 40 problems in the 6A-7B range. Under different circumstances I would have only focused on difficult problems but whenever I visit unknown territory, I try to get an overall impression of the route setters' taste and abilities. Globally speaking, the problems were beautiful although some were very reachy with no discernible alternative betas. The circuits were not homogeneous at all but in a couple of months, I imagine the setters will find their way. For instance, despite being announced at 6A-6B, the blue circuit went from 5B to 7A (my personal appreciation). I found the indoor psycho-bloc (the first of its kind in France) to be rather stressful and inadequate, probably because in one of the available problems, falling outside the mattress in the last two moves seemed a probability.
Monday: Back to Murmur Issy. The weekend had taken its toll on me so I only sent 6a to 6c's (as many as possible). Moreover, I had a mini-comp' the next day and didn't want to strain my body.
Tuesday: my second mini-comp' at our gym. I was 10th in November so I tried my best to get a better place. This time, I was sixth. I climbed quite well, most problems went smoothly. Best case scenario, I could have been fifth but nothing above that. The rest of the problems were above my current level.
Wednesday: we tried the Viaduc des Fauvettes despite the cold weather. It was my friend's first time there so I only got to try four routes (4c, 4c, 5c and 6a+). I had sent the latter once before a few months earlier but had gotten quite tired and had to push myself. This time, I sent it like it was nothing. Even though I haven't trained in lead climbing since July, I see that my workout regime is going great.
For the following week, I bouldered like there was no tomorrow and 7B's kept falling one after another at the gym. I got to climb with some cool people and learn new tricks. The most positive thing was that I almost flashed everything within my realm of specialty (vertical walls and slabs). I would just slide on the walls.
And there comes Friday the 28th... The day started in the best possible way: during the night my brain was working wildly so the moment I opened up my eyes, I had found a new idea on how to get sponsored by Weetabix (see last post). So now I have two projects on which to work for the next 18 months. I will reveal more information in a few months, as soon as I have finished the first part of it, but believe me, it's really cool. Anyway, breakfast and off to Murmur Pantin! I was hoping to send as many slabs as possible, at least one 7a+. I arrived at the gym, I wandered around and stumbled upon an 8a slab!!! The holds seemed decent and the moves were very organic. We started warming up, then sent some 5b-6b's and off to our projects! First try on the 8a: I fell a few times but was able to send all the moves. I tried three times to link but kept falling on a slippery right-foot hold. On that last attempt, I was able to link in two parts. All holds were dusty and slippery but I didn't have a brush on me. Unfortunately, my friend had to leave so I decided to go back on Monday.
Fast forward to Monday... I was very optimistic about linking that beautiful slab. I spent an hour warming up on slabs, took a short break and then gave it a first try. For some reason, I kept falling. I couldn't believe how bad I was. Second try was much better and I linked the first half. Unfortunately, some hard moves were rather serendipitous therefore I needed to improve my beta. It took me four or five tries to optimise every single move but by then, I was too tired to link. I was frustrated and disgusted but deep down, I knew I didn't deserve to link. On slabs, you need to be perfect and my beta still wasn't. Now it is quasi-perfect and next Monday WILL be THE day.
I spent the first day of 2014 at a new bouldering gym, Arkose. It was rather small, usage of space was not optimised, and many problems were reachy and with an ugly last move. The grand opening was two weeks earlier and the only shower head that worked had ice-cold water to offer. That's not cool. Definitely not going back there as a paying customer. All my friends seemed to reach the same conclusion: it is a local gym addressed mostly to beginners, maybe intermediates as well, and none of us would join it even if we lived nearby. This said, for a beginner living in the neighbourhood, it would be a reasonable choice.
And there comes Friday the 28th... The day started in the best possible way: during the night my brain was working wildly so the moment I opened up my eyes, I had found a new idea on how to get sponsored by Weetabix (see last post). So now I have two projects on which to work for the next 18 months. I will reveal more information in a few months, as soon as I have finished the first part of it, but believe me, it's really cool. Anyway, breakfast and off to Murmur Pantin! I was hoping to send as many slabs as possible, at least one 7a+. I arrived at the gym, I wandered around and stumbled upon an 8a slab!!! The holds seemed decent and the moves were very organic. We started warming up, then sent some 5b-6b's and off to our projects! First try on the 8a: I fell a few times but was able to send all the moves. I tried three times to link but kept falling on a slippery right-foot hold. On that last attempt, I was able to link in two parts. All holds were dusty and slippery but I didn't have a brush on me. Unfortunately, my friend had to leave so I decided to go back on Monday.
Fast forward to Monday... I was very optimistic about linking that beautiful slab. I spent an hour warming up on slabs, took a short break and then gave it a first try. For some reason, I kept falling. I couldn't believe how bad I was. Second try was much better and I linked the first half. Unfortunately, some hard moves were rather serendipitous therefore I needed to improve my beta. It took me four or five tries to optimise every single move but by then, I was too tired to link. I was frustrated and disgusted but deep down, I knew I didn't deserve to link. On slabs, you need to be perfect and my beta still wasn't. Now it is quasi-perfect and next Monday WILL be THE day.
I spent the first day of 2014 at a new bouldering gym, Arkose. It was rather small, usage of space was not optimised, and many problems were reachy and with an ugly last move. The grand opening was two weeks earlier and the only shower head that worked had ice-cold water to offer. That's not cool. Definitely not going back there as a paying customer. All my friends seemed to reach the same conclusion: it is a local gym addressed mostly to beginners, maybe intermediates as well, and none of us would join it even if we lived nearby. This said, for a beginner living in the neighbourhood, it would be a reasonable choice.
