A New Season Begins

I needed a break, some time off from the physical training and intense mental aspects of the game of bouldering, I was craving more adventure and exploration in my climbing so I took a hiatus and went trad climbing whenever I could get a chance for nine months or so, It was a beautiful, soulful and adventurous time spent with good mates set amongst vast sheets of rock, teetering on tiny footholds around Ireland, Morocco and Wales, but now I have returned to the blocks and the training with a fresh head and a rejuvinated psyche, so far the new season is off to a cracker :) ...

Would ya look at the hack of me trad shoes, ya can't be bouldering in them !!

I started pulling hard in The Gravity Center again and quickly regained some strengths I thought would take an age to get back. The plan of action was to get out to Glendo and repeat lots of classic lines in the 6C to 7A range to get the flow back before settling into a nice prodge. We had some class days in Glendo and Adam and J did a new variation on Austrain Clamp with a powerful move out right to a wee crimp providing a tougher finish to the original line.

J on Austrian Clamp Right 6C+

Me on Black Art, Glendalough

''I will crush you all''

There is a lot of exciting stuff happening this year, lads are trouncing the old 7A classics for their warm ups and hopping on super hard inspiring lines. Adam is embroiled in a prolonged and sustained battle on the test piece Leftism. What a line !! Its so cool to watch Adam going to town on this thing and one day we had freaky cold windy weather in August and Adam made it from the bottom, passed the crux and 3 quarters the way through the prob, it was deadly lookin' !! :)

Adam battling on Leftism 7C+

Fitzer and Squirrely

Fitzer never ceases to amaze me, he is a true beast, its absurd, he flashes my projects on the board in Grav on a regular basis and continues to improve in his climbing exponentially, a very inspiring boulderer ...

Fitzer contorting himself on Soul Revolution 8B+

Fitzer sending People of the Sun 8A+ , Glendalough

I was lucky enough to be there for Dave's last two big Irish sends, on that same cold August night I was snuggled up from the wind in a cave in the scree watching on as he glided across the diagonal crack to top out People of the Sun 8A+, savage !! and in Glenmalure there was a magic evening in store for Dave again as the temps dipped and he surprised even himself by sticking the first move on Intergalactic about 8 times in a row and finally launching himself at the dyno, latching the lip taming the huge swing and holding on tight to his first 8B send, a colossal effort and again really inspiring to see, well done mate !! :)

Fitzer crushing Intergalactic 8B

After building up some strength on the rings and trusty training board in Grav, getting some good mileage behind me and with a new sense of what is possible I started to hit my stride. I managed to fight my way through the fierce crimpy ss moves on Chillax Low 7B and hang on for dear life through the rest of the moves, when I campussed and caught the jug out right I knew the problem was done and I let out a huge roar, It was my first big send in a long time and I was absolutely delighted :) Next week I did the crimpy start again and finished off Chillax Low left 7B, now the time had come to settle into my project Rebel Wall ...

The big red moon rising up in Glendo