Singing From the Same Song Sheet

Today was a GOOD day!

Rock climbs went down, Spirits went up, fun was had & we didn't run out of fuel.

The day started with a win for me. (the best kind of win quite frankly)
I've been trying Choir Boys sporadically over our time here, never with fresh skin though and always at the end of the day. This approach was leading to me getting nowhere. I had however worked out most of the Beta and thought nipping in for a quick send before Jon jumped on his proj would be a great way to frag & clear.
I was wrong, an hour and a half later I was still punting around. By this time Alex had found us & joined in the general team effort of trying to cheer me up the climb. In between attempts highjinks & Harry Potter scenes were acted out, with occasional cameos from the kid in Gladiator. (Me, Will & Jon had watched part 1 & 2 of the last HP film in bed the night before)
Finally (when Voldermort was about to kill Harry, or was he…….) I stopped being rubbish and went from the bottom to the top in one go, what we in the business call a send.
Much jubilation was expressed from me & my comrades. Im not great with grades at these levels but to me Choir Boys felt like the hardest V9 I have ever done, I was probably just punting but JeeWhizz!
Little Vid below.

Having wasted quite enough of his time already, I hastily packed up & hustled over to Jon's proj. We arrived and found James & Shauna, the wolf pack was complete minus the Terminator (more on him later). Group psych was high whilst James & Jon did battle on the wall.

For details on how Jon did check his Blog *Hint Jon is bloody amazing.
Like wise for James *Hint James is also not shit.

After all this action we smelt the overpowering sent of burnt burgers & charcoal, this can only mean one thing… Chris was bouncing towards us, although always a happy chapy he seemed especially happy today. He was and to find out why, guess what…. Blog

Not wanting to sit on our laurels Jon found himself a new Proj that apart from trying to eat his hand alive looks brilliant. (even if it is a blooming long walk & he made us go twice on the same day (I'm not bitter))

I confirmed El Techo de los Tres B as my most coveted goal in the park having the ill sense to fall of here:

Video Still

Having started way back in the cave, not over by any mean's but close enough to warrant another session to get it done (hopefully).

The climbing day ended by making lose plans to get a commercial tour too East Spur tomorrow, for some unfinished business on all fronts.

Then the real fun started.

We climbed back into our car, neh Truck! And remembered that the Range 'O' Meter thing had been saying 0 Miles for the last 10 Miles. Being as we were 30 Miles from our Motel, a good 20 Miles from the nearest gas station & in the middle of the dessert with night falling, having this engine could be a problem.

Hopping in the car and setting off I for one felt this was very Top Gear. Sticking with Top Gear mentality we took a short 5 Miles detour for some random unimportant & unrelated shiz. After this we really started to think we were going to have to push our 50 Ton (probably) goliath. Pressing on with a militant eye on the rev counter we finally made it to the high-way, this filled me with a sense of relief. As although still a way from the nearest gas station I was buoyed by the knowledge that with this smile and some english charm, hitching to the gas station & back would be a formality. Thankfully this was not put to the test as the luminous fuel price sign came over the horizon. continuing my Top Gear antics I had convinced Jon to floor it as soon as we could see the sign to see if we would make it. He agreed. We did, I suggested that we should double or quits to the next station, he said no. We filled up, had MacyD's for dinner & I saw a S.W.A.T instructor with a gun.

Great Day!

A Journey

I've been having something of a weird time at the moment, I haven't really climbed anything since Loaded & that was on Wed the 25th! I've been laying down skin all over the park, trying new stuff, finding projects & also being totally shutdown. For me not getting bloc's done on such a short trip is hard to rationalise, however the project list is growing and with a one session send of Dean's so is my psych. the project list so far stands at:

1. Free Willy
2. El Techo de Los Tres B
3. Mojo
4. Power of Silence
5. Sunshine
6. Darkage

The grey ones being the ones that are more pipe dreams than projects.

Anyway here is a Vid as I have finally done a boulder. A great boulder that is totally un-Hueco, there aren't really any holds for the crux and it feels like you are just slapping your way around volumes (bloody hard volumes at that)

8-9-10

After a rest day that consisted of eating & cinema going...

IHOP Is a must!

Cinema's the world over smell the same

...I woke up feeling highly rested and ready to mix it up on north mountain.

On arrival we trekked straight over to Baby Face, one of the best problems in the park & on Will's uncompleted list. We dropped the pads/kit & left Will to warm up as we went in search of a new Jason Kehl line that is ment to be amazing.

To cut a long story short, we didn't find it & by the time we came back Will was on top of the boulder, a screaming & a yelling, a screaming & yelling. He'd just sashed Baby Face! An amazing effort! Having never tried the top two moves (which are pretty airy) he just busted them out with no spotters and a few pads. Will to me is now the Alex Holland of the trip.

After this early bit of excitement Jon showed us several ways down to Adjust Your Attitude, until he found the correct one. However Jon's imfamous wack Beta stopped there; as despite having been a head boy at Dr Challoner's grammar school for gays. He provided me with solid Beta that lead me to a super close flash go & then a respectable 2nd go accent. 8 (Will spent this time finding very arty shots of me climbing~ see video)

To leave the area we had to walk past fern roof. I've always had a little fizz in a certain private area when walking past this bloc & seeing as the guys needed to wait for there blocs to go into the shade, I put my pad down & my boots on aiming to throw some shapes on this great bloc. A good flash go right up to the crux move left me brimming with confidence, this confidence diminished some what when I spent quite a while being shut down by the crux move. It evaporated even more when having done the crux on the oner I made mistakes ranging from silly dabs to completely forgetting my sequence. After saying 'two more go's & i'll definitely leave it' & having a small paddy, I did it third go. (climbings not a sport for rules) Apart from having great movement through a cool roof, one of the best things about this problem is the cool top out up quite a long slab! 9 (totally unexpected to get this in a session)

Now came the main event. We had waited for the Loaded Bloc to go into the shade so Jon could throw some shapes on Loaded Direct. I fancied throwing myself against Loaded With Power too. Being as I felt pretty beat up from my mornings shenanigans I sat back and watched. This didn't last long. Me and Jon were taking it in turns to try are bloc's. Will was jumping on an exploring the early moves. Our guide from the other day (kate) turned up. As did others, & with them more pads. Group Psyche was high. Me, Kate & Jon were all making progress through are moves, surely someone would have to break the deadlock soon.

Kate was first, floating up Loaded, I was next much less gracefully battling up Loaded 10. Jon brought the train home with a great send of a probably amazing line in a probably amazing location!

Here's a Vid of my day

Here is a Vid of Jon's wicked accent



This a link to Jon's Blog to hear his thoughts.



As if that wasn't enough, Will finished the day by making some great links on Free Willy (apt)

Great day all round can't wait for more.

Protein & Advil

Waking up in our quite frankly pimp motel for the third time, I felt beat up all over. I addressed this situation quickly with a protein shake & 400mg of Advil!
Soon after we were in the Truck rolling on down to the gate.

We'd sorted out getting ourselves on a commercial tour to the East spur, this was done by entering a TeePee in the middle of the desert and negotiating with some random hippy chic (kate). A unique start to a climbing day for me.

She was very good though, taking us straight to this good warm up wall and then this little hidden gem called Uncut Yogi that had cool movement with pinches and tension. Once Dispatched we got into the meat of the day by hiking over to Maze and setting up camp around Crown of Aragon, Wheaties & Sweeties. I kept the warm up going, getting stuck into Sweeties while Jon waved his hands in the air looking confused trying Crown.

After Sweeties I turned my attention to Wheaties, it's harder better looking brother. This was my main aim for the day, however no matter how much skin or energy I gave up to it I only ever really got one good burn, which was thwarted by bad foot beta. This poor showing did slightly dampen my spirits, however we & I soon moved on found tones of call blocs and the day was totally turned around.



I will go back & I will do Wheaties, Jon was also looking super strong on the 'Crown' so I'm sure this will go down on our return too.

The day was concluded with our standard romp down an american highway, with the added extra treat of my very first Taco Bell (The best fast food I have ever had! Ever!)

Today is a rest day (thank God!) we aim to fill it with Cinema's & American Diners.

Classic Bashing

I really like climbing here! Day one was a blur of running around being shown boulders by Jon. He felt the need to 'show us' by Retro-Flashing everything in sight (show off). Super useful for beta though, even if his sequences are often wack!

After 24 hours of travel and an interesting night spent between Will & Jon, I've definitely felt more rested going climbing. Settled in for a great day classic bashing however. Personally highlights for me were getting way to high off the ground on See Spot Run, a mini battle with Baby Face & making progress on the start of Power of Silence.

Here is a little video of our Day 1 Antics



After climbing we decide to frequent the local mexican super market. (the risk of mugging & kidnap being a much more inviting option than the sheer sensory overload of WalMart)
This resulted in the best mexican food I've ever eaten cooked for me by Will & Jon.

Day 2 started with more Classic bashing. North mountain is FULL of amazing problems. You just couldn't get bored (having said that were going too easy spur tomorrow)
For me the day ended trying to work out the Beta on Loaded with power. It went from feeling totally impossible to having a good grasp of how i want to execute two thirds of the climb. (I think this is called progress) I left it feeling totally burnt out.

Jon however had more left to give & got a nice 2nd go accent of Dirty Martini on the Rocks



hoping for more great things on new problems tomorrow.

America Fuck Yeah!

We are in america. I know this for the following reasons

1) We are cursing around in a MASSIVE V8 truck that could fit twice the people and kit we have.

2) we've checked into a motel (this word can only be said in a cool american way)

3) Nipped down the local WallMart (I've literally never seen a 'supermarket' so big) it's like they've build a warehouse & allowed people to wander round it buying stuff.

4) Seen guns for sale, this brings us back to WallMart. They sell Guns next to 52" TV's!!!! Its totally mental. I feel that in a british or european supermarket I have the skills to interpret locations & find what I require in a direct & timely fashion. Not so in america, there is no order, no sense, no logic. Stuff just seems to be anywhere & is sold in twice, neigh 4 times the size you need. (crazy americans!)

5) We went to a burger king. Totally amazing. I had a Double Whopper MEDIUM meal. I've never had a medium meal. In america i am a little girl.

6) combined with burger king, the fist american 'lady' that we had a more than 10 word convo with. said the age old american term for initiating coitus 'I love your accent were are you from?'

Totally brilliant! I Fucking love america! so far nothing isn't cool about. Hollywood did not lie.

Might go do some bouldering today i hear theres some good blocs down the road at this place called Hueco Tanks.

Willpower & Tesco Value Vitamins

Our plane is round the corner. Hueco awaits at the other end. Too soon, too late or just right.

Well thats what we'll find out when we're there. I feel like preparation for this trip couldn't really have gone any better, I think you always wonder 'what if' you had more time, or you'd trained different things in different ways.
For me personally I feel ready, I know I (& I think I can speak for Will) have been training specifically for this for the last 4 & a half months. (Jon's been going like a machine, but with the world cups as a bigger priority for him, lets have another sheffield!) Will for sure is the strongest I've ever seen him! His feats of strength are becoming the stuff of legend. I too feel I'm climbing the best I ever have, which although not saying a lot is all you can ask for.

Added to hopefully the well timed 'peak' in our climbing ability, is the totally rad people we are going to climb & hang with. For me going on a trip with Will & Jon is a total banker for having a great time, but as well as this we've got the new (for me, as Will & Jon are official facebook friends) friends of Chris & Alex. After a sesh at Westway together I'm buzzing for the group dynamic, they seem like cool fun people, who are totally Psyched. James & Shauna are also going to be there & although I don't know these guys, this can only add to the group Psyche.

On top of all this positive news I used Uri Geller  levels of Willpower & an assortment of Tesco Value Vitamins to Nuke these weird cold/cough/mucus based issues that have been hanging around recently.

Here is a Short from Jon's last trip to Hueco, if I do a single bloc thats featured I'll sacrifice a large sheep, or small camel.

Hueco Tanks from Increasing The Calibre on Vimeo.

P.S. I'm going to try to do some sort of updates of how things are going out there on here so stay tuned.

I've got a Blog

So, I've set this up in order to write things loosely to with my up coming trips to Hueco Tanks & Europe.
A bit less specific on the 2nd as we have a van & I've been lead to believe that with the right 'go juice' and knowledge of controls it can go anywhere.

We (Me/Jon/Will) shall be on a plane at exactly this time in 2 weeks. Hopefully by then I will feel strong enough to be there.... In order to achieve this I've taken up 'Not eating'. I'm no Jon Partridge (I'm not purging or feasting on moist air) However I am hoping that a combo of low kcal, pills & lots of training will bring about rewards.

Daniel woods once went to Hueco and climbed stuff....

You may be able to tell that as I started this blog for the trips I don't have much to say....
Hmm Castle tomorrow, love that place I have the best sessions no matter how well/bad I do. Don't know what they do but the setters do what they do & they do it well. Probs coz they stay away from the crack unlike reading.

psyched for Hueco big time!