Engaged

Well now, been a while hasn't it? I've still to post on my recent trip to font but far more interesting is myself and Jenny getting engaged!

That's why I haven't been blogging, to busy living life.

Going to Font!

Woohoo, leaving on a jet plane (carbon footprint++) this evening. My wrist seems to have recovered, sadly I'm not as fit as I'd like to have been. Dunno what my approach to font is going to be, will I do circuits or will I just pick a couple of problems and work them? Probably depends on what the group are going to do. Either way the sun's going to shine on Saturday and Sunday, the temperatures or around 7ºC, perfect conditions so it'll be great.

I'll post the better photos next week and may even get myself an online web album for the lot. Not picasa though, google are tring to take over the world. (Yes I know this is blogger.com but that kinda highlights my point)

Competition Photos

As promised, although a week late, here are some photos of the competition in Galway. I apologise for the poor quality, my little camera isn't the best when in adrenalin shook hands. My wrist is still sore after the competition but nearly recovered, it should be alright for my trip to font (1 week to go!).


 



 

Bouldering Competition

The first round of the Irish Bouldering League was on Saturday in Galway City. This year the organisers have introduced a new scoring system (outlined here) and it was a great success. The basics of the system are that each problem has its A variant and its B variant, B being easier with additional holds but fewer points. Now this way you could try B, score points on it and then try the A variant and score more points. This really encouraged people to try all the problems as scoring points on B meant you had nothing to loose and everything to gain trying the A version. There was a good turn out on the day with over 100 competitors.

The problems themselves were excellent and I scored points on all of them. Personally I think it was the best IBL round I've been too. Sadly I injured myself again by spraining my wrist which scuppered my plans for going to Doolin the next day. This is a bit shit as I was looking forward to the meet in Doolin more than the competition. Still though, with my trip to Font set for three weeks time its better if a rest and heal so I can be in good shape, although my fitness will be affected. It’s been a couple of weeks since I was outdoors and I've only two weekends left to get out, well one actually: Myself and Jenny are spending next weekend at a luxury spa in Co Wexford. We have mud baths booked.

The IBL is an amateur competition so there were no guest star appearances from Dave Graham or anyone. Although the after competition slide-show did have an interesting movie staring Marcin Ostasz and his hula-hoop. It was ás gaeilge too, apparently.

I'll upload photos of the competition later.

To Hell and Back petition

Dave MacLeod's new route 'To Hell and Back' (E10) was on BBC2 Scotland last week. There was a great response in the blogosphere so now Dave is spearheading a drive to get the programme shown on BBC2 National. This means we'll get it in Ireland amoungst other places

If this sounds like a good thing to you then leave a comment on Dave's blog.

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.