Humble Day In Glendalough ... But I Can't Wait To Pop My 7A Cherry !!

I was all set to head to Glendalough really early this morning, but when I woke up I realised that the dreaded frost had reared it's ugly head again and that a trip to Glendo was not on the cards !! So instead I showered, chilled out a bit, went on the internet, ate breakfast, had coffee and I packed a bag for the Co op. Just as I was  about to leave for the big smoke a.k.a Dublin city I noticed the frost beginning to thaw, the temperature rising and a wind picking up ... perfect ingredients for dry granite :)

Ever since my success on Chillax last week I had been day dreaming and fantasizing about all 6C's being below me now and cruising up my first 7A. The reality came crashing home today though as I found out that 6C's are still hard and 7A's seem just as beyond me as Chillax did 2 years ago. A great day trying to climb problems and failing was had. I warmed up a little and tried a nice Unamed 6C on the Egg boulder. It's a tricky crimpy layback sit-start to a mad slopey mantel just to the left of the Egg problem, I worked out the start moves quick enough but expended a lot of energy trying to figure out a sequence for the mantel, progress was made however and I will try it again next time I'm in the valley.

The main focus for the day was to scope out The Cherry  and to see if it was inspiring enough to make my next big project and my first attempt at a 7A ... it didn't fail to impress me. What an amazing problem. It is very similar in style to Chillax. It overhangs about 50 degrees starts on vicious crimps and has 2 powerful moves to open handed slopers. The crimps are unbelievably small, one in particular I can only bite down with about a millimeter of pad. After about 20 attempts I nearly stuck the first move ... progress :) Very slight progress. I have been sufficiently inspired and motivated by this line and it is now the main focus of my bouldering training. I will need way stronger fingers than I needed for Chillax so the fingerboarding will now become a staple of my training regime. Psyche is at an all time high and I will work my ass off with this gorgeous powerful problem always in the back of my mind :) I've been doing loads of stamina training in Naas and it's going well, but it's time to steepen things a little with a stamina session in the Co op tomorrow !!

For those who don't know or have never seen the Cherry, it is just in the scree where you have to cross a small stream on your way up the path towards the Uberhang, you can check the problem out in this video at 2:01 and yes I know the lad in the video makes it look like a Font 4+, what a beast ... I can't wait to do this problem, must train harder :)