Old Gregg clip

Since I haven't been up to much other than training, here is something else to share - a short clip of Ryan sending Old Gregg (7B+, Echo Valley) with some rather agricultural beta, but then what should you expect from the Zimbabwean climber of the year... It was shot using my iPhone so excuse the quality!

Slow progress

With a new year comes new psyche. And a lot of that was driven by Harris chastising Dom and I about a lack of performance and improvement in the past 2 to 3 years while he has not been climbing. I think that may just have spurred us… While last year was all about getting back on my feet again (literally after my knee op) I feel that this year is going to be about hitting top form and hopefully getting up something hard which I haven’t done since 2009. 2010 came and went with me feeling really strong but 2 pulley injuries ruined what could have been a good year and then 2011 never really took off, although I did have a good period of ticking and repeating problems up to 7B.

At the moment I am working on getting a solid training foundation with the short term goal of cracking 80% (currently at 60% as of last night so some way to go) on the moderate EP session on my Beastmaker – why that golden number? Well that was where I was at when I sent Boogie Nights so I feel that will be a good starting point. At the same time it isn’t too tweaky so should lay a good solid base to work off of. Once that's achieved I will reassess. One of the key things I am keeping in mind is that I do need to keep switching training focus around to keep it fresh.

Seeing some of the new stuff around Topside has also been inspiring – problems like Cloverfield (8A) and In search of the new sound (8B) come to mind. There are also a stack of problems in the 7C to 8A range which should make a good starting point. I am just holding thumbs that I can keep on this trail! Here goes.