Embrace the Web

Not much to write about this week. We had a bank holiday weekend here in Ireland but the only day I could get out was Sunday, and it rained. That's how it goes I suppose. I'm back training and trying to improve my finger strength but taking it easy as there's a competition on this weekend. I'm looking forward to it but I'm not giving it my all as Font awaits at the end of the month and would rather save myself for that. Still though, it should make for some good photos. Theres a meet planned for the next day in Doolin if the weather holds.

The Mountaineering Council of Ireland (M.C.I.) have an exciting new website, its about time too. The last one was really, really, really bad. Seriously, it looked like somebody's kid brother developed it using the MS-DOS editor or something; Think <blink></blink>. The all new http://www.mountaineering.ie has finally dragged Irish Mountain Sports kicking and screaming into the late 1990s. Internet un-savvyness is quite a common thing in Ireland, as a nation we really haven't embraced internet technologies. Seriously I only know of one person who teleworks. ONE! She's actually on the MCI commitee come to think of it :/

Injury and entertainment

I'm out injured after a spill on my bike and had college at the weekend so nothing happened bouldering or training wise. I'm back at the wall tomorrow for a few tentative problems to see how everything has healed. God bless Arnica is all I can say, that injury could have seen me out of action for a few weeks.

Just to keep you entertained here's Chris Webb Parsons climbing Wheel of Life (Font 8c+) in the Grampians, Australia. An incredibly long problem, this second ascent is a study of climbing in 3 dimensions.

Foolin' in Doolin

Spent Saturday afternoon in Doolin and got a good bit done this time. There's no photos but I might be able to salvage something from my previous trip. So I spent the first 40 minutes just wandering around looking at the different sectors. When I was about to start local climber Paul, who is originally from Dublin, turned up with his two dogs George and Rosín. Paul showed me around and we worked the problems together and tried a new line, FA going to Paul.

Doolin rock has been mentioned briefly before but I'll now elaborate. The rock in Doolin is mostly on small cliffs although there are some boulders. Its sharp due to weathering and has high friction. The cliffs themselves are mostly overhanging, probably about 3-4 metres high and pockmarked with cracks, pockets and breaks. Very sharp and fingery. One sector has problems going to about 7m, too high for me. There looks to be some really good slab problems too which I'll have a crack at next time I'm down.

The boulders themselves are good, they can be quite like the cliffs but at different angles. The tend not to be so sharp as they've been weathered by the sea instead of the elements. Most of them are big, probably weighing in at 20 tons+ and here's the thing: they change from year to year. Over the winter big storms roll in off the Atlantic moving the boulders around and bringing in new ones. Cool.  

A few more people turned up and sandwiches were munched much to George and Rosín's delight and we waffled for about an hour before I headed off. Jenny was at a conference in Limerick so we had a hotel room for the night. The next morning there was a spillage of orange juice at the breakfast bar, nothing spectacular, just some orange juice. However, the dude who was cleaning up cleaned the floor with his manky old grey stringy mop and then mopped the breakfast bar with it. How vile is that? I won't name the hotel for fear of legal action against this blog but I won't be staying there again.

Glendalough

Good session up in Glendo on Saturday, even if conditions were a bit greasy, and a good crowd too. Last few times I've been out it was me on my lonesome. Did the usual warm up circuit by the path and spotted a possible new line which looks kind of easy but still interesting. However there was a smell of *ahem* animal droppings coming from where my mat would have to go so I left it alone. It will go next time. I did get the path side traverse problem on my first attempt which I'm pleased with, tried Greg's Problem which I could hang but couldn't get the campus move. Greg's problem is basically a jump to a couple of slopers and then either campus or try and get a foot on under the overhang and slap for the next hold. Followed by the obligatory mantle.

We tried the fin slab (6a version) but it wasn't to go for any of us and neither were the Rails (for me anyway). Then we tried The Butcher of Glendalough AKA Howard's roof. This is a hand jamming crack along a roof and then up and around for a mantle finish. I got the first two moves before quitting but its on the 'To Do' list. It really is a butcher of a problem. We headed over to Big Jim to do the slab problems and give our hands a break. As long as I've been going to Glendo I haven't been able to do that fecken slab problem at the back of Big Jim and I'm despairing for any future attempts. A dew started to settle in the valley at this stage so we called it a day.

It's interesting how some problems that are easier than most just won't go. I'm sure everybody has something that they think 'For crying out loud I should have been able to get this years ago'. Try and try again you just can't do it. There must be a way around these mental blocks, a NLP technique or something. I'm going to start experimenting with NLP again as it helped me break into a new grade a couple of route climbing years ago.

Anyway I forgot my camera but Neal showed up with his so I've stolen a few from his photos below. You can find the full album here.

I've now got two short trips away planned: Bouldering competition and meet in Galway and The Burren 3rd/4th November. Then Fontainebleau 22nd-26th November. One of the things I love about climbing is the travelling. Admittedly Galway isn't exactly exotic but you know what I mean.


  

Going Off Route

Well I went to the wall again tonight. Haven’t been in a week and now I’m a weak too. Nothing exciting to report other than I fallen off the training regime and need to sort myself out.

Obviously I’m not a bouldering bum who just eats and sleeps between problems. If I were this blog would be about my score on 8a.nu and not about me faffing around on 6a probs. This entry is about me off the rock so to speak.

What do I do for a living? Free lance web development, more in the coding side of things than the design. This means that you don’t get to see a lot of what I do in your browser window, although I’m thinking of branching out a bit and have downloaded fireworks. My current main project hasn’t been released yet so it’s a bit hush hush but it will be high profile when it published. This is something I’m getting paid to do and is taking up lots of my time at the moment.

I love all things web. The things that really get my attention don’t make any money for me. Like this blog – I’ve put some customizations into it by hacking the XSLT template and including the CPDT. It’s a non-standard blogger.com blog. There’s a couple of other sites I’ve got sitting on my server at home (yes, I’m a nerd) which are slowly being developed. It’s the social aspect of the web that gets me, I’m a moderator on http://www.boards.ie/ too. The symantic web would be a growing interest of mine.

Oh yes, I’m studying homeopathy part-time as well. Homeopathy is a somewhat controversial holistic therapy where the body’s energy is stimulated to heal itself. Mentioning that might get me flamed, but I won't publish those comments. :P

Flap

Good session at the wall the other night. With the dark evenings closing in and the climbing season coming to an end people are looking forward to the bouldering season. Sessions are the best way to boulder. I love getting out on my own but when there's a group of you the energy goes way up, plus more people means more problem solving skills. However, I tore an enormous lump out of my finger. The calluses on my little fingers (pinkies to any Americans) have been building up and finally the left one let go. Sore is the word, worst flapper in a couple of years, it looked like the muscle fibre was visible underneath.

There is of course a photo, I'll post it later.

Good Morning

Got out to Dalkey quarry yesterday morning for a while around the Ivy Chimney area. Its been quite a while since I climbed in the quarry, probably 2 or 3 months, and even longer since I bouldered. The quality of the problems surprised me - I don't remember them as being that good. Of course the day was fantastic, sunny, warm, clear blue sky and it was quiet. Really quiet. All I could hear were the occasional cries of 'Climb when ready' coming from people on routes and that's about it. It was so quiet I could listen to the bees buzzing amongst the gorse. A little robin was flitting about watching what I was doing (they're curious little birds). Its rare where I live to have quiet - it really was great. I love days like that.

Problem wise I got a couple of hours in before I was called away. The grades in Dalkey have me confused: are they Font or British grades? Might be a bit easy for British but I've never heard of Font 4c. The goals for the day consisted of two 6a problems. One is quite highball (its problem 4 in the new Dalkey guide if anybody is interested) and it's a brilliant fingery problem. I didn't send it but I'm close, I'm really close. Foot work is vital too, I'm tempted to say its delicate but considering how hard I had to pull it doesn't seem like an accurate description. The starting slab on Fang would be delicate, not this guy. My left forearm is still stiff. The other 6a I had a quick go at after the phone went calling me away. Just a quick scope of the problem really but it looks good. If you have access to Dalkey go, it seems there's a bit of a revival on considering the amount of chalk on the rock.

Sadly I don't have photos as I forgot my camera. But I'll include some photos from my recent trip to Doolin featuring the Cool Photo Display Thingy© as promised. They were taken over a couple of days. The problems weren't difficult and don't make for exciting photos, but the location was amazing. Just click on a photo to see it full size then click on the right or left side of the photo to scroll to the next one. The arrow keys on your keyboard work too. (If you're using Internet Explorer you may have to open a photo twice to get it to work)