Enjoying the journey – reflections on learning
After I climbed my first 7a last year, I had a little bit of a rough patch with my climbing. I got into a mindset where whenever I found myself struggling on what should be an easier climb, I’d get discouraged. “I shouldn’t be finding this hard, it’s only a 6b…” or “I know I […]
To wish the impossible
I have mixed feelings about New Years’ Resolutions. On the one hand, I like the idea of using it as a time to think about what I’m doing, what’s working and what isn’t, and refocus on new challenges. In practice I’ve never been very successful with them. Usually I’ll come up with a bunch of […]
Learning curve
As you’ll probably have picked up if you’ve been following my social media recently, Steve and I have been spending most of our free time this year climbing stuff. It’s funny – we’ve been climbing together since we met, but this year things have really taken off and I’ve properly got the bug. I think […]
It’s a long way down…
“The next time someone says to me ‘oh, it’s not hard, it’s just sustained’, I think I’m going to punch them in the teeth” – Steve, 3rd belay point. Well, we did it! It took longer than we were expecting, and it wasn’t pretty. There were a few belay change overs that… let’s just say, […]
Dam(n)!
After arriving in Milan airport this morning and then driving up to Luzzone, we got our first look at the dam this evening. This is what we intend to climb tomorrow (although if the weather isn’t good, or anything doesn’t go to plan, we’ve left Friday as our backup). I’ve been meaning to write a […]
Nearly time…
Just a few days left before we fly out to Switzerland for the assault on the dam…. so here’s a little of what we’ve been up to over the last few weeks. Aside from our regular sessions at the local climbing wall, where we’ve been climbing lots of laps for endurance, we’ve also made a […]
Training update – Luzzone Dam trip!
With the end of July approaching fast, things haven’t gone quite as smoothly as I’d have liked. Business has been hectic these last few weeks (I’m not complaining – please don’t stop booking in to see me!), but it’s meant a slow start to the training plan. I got up to Awesome Walls in Stockport […]
The tallest climbing wall in the world
I know things have been a bit quiet round here. I’ve been meaning to reboot this personal blog for a while, but now I have a good reason to. I’m mostly keeping a record so that in a few months time, when I’m inevitably wondering “why on earth did I let myself get talked into […]