Siurana HURTS!!!
Hey Guys
Sorry for keeping everybody in the dark these last two weeks, in truth I have been a little lacking in inspiration to write a blog. I haven’t ticked anything since doing my 8c “2×30″ - the day after I did it I got on the 8c/+ variation “Pati Noso”, almost ticking it on my second time on the rope! But after getting that high point on the route I also pierced a hole in my pinkie, which then made climbing through the crux impossible for me… This was really frustrating seeing as how I had made such a great first attempt on the route, so instead of doing further damage I opted for a double rest day.
After two days rest, my hole had still not healed and out of haste and my ambition for 8c/+ glory, I taped up and went for it. After warming up on a 7b+, blood was leaking through the tape and I was forced to take further rest. Two days later and there was still no improvement. It’s been pretty tough dealing with this bad skin injury, it doesn’t seem to heal like normal cuts. From chatting to other climbers in the campsite, I reckon the puncture was just really deep and that it will inevitably take a lot longer to heal.
After another couple of days rest (bringing us to yesterday), I decided to get back on “Pati Noso” and see how the skin held up. On my first attempt of the day I fell on the last hard move, pulling the easiest move of the final boulder problem to the jug. My foot popped as I stepped up to grab the hold – another frustrating attempt. The pinkie held out a while but from pulling on the crux shards (they can’t be described as holds) my cut was oozing plasma. I wiped my tears (because I’m a big boy now) and went on for a second go.
Amazingly I felt even stronger on this attempt and I was gunning for it now until… disaster struck! I pulled on a small spike low down after the two initial cruxes and my right index finger burst open, showering blood on everyone below. Funnily enough, I didn’t even notice it happen and continued climbing until I realised that there was a serious lack of friction coming from my right hand – so I dropped off with my head in my hands wondering why this is always happening to me.
Looking back on it now, I feel a bit ashamed with the way I was acting. As somebody who is always striving for perfection in climbing and constantly pushing their boundaries, it’s sometimes easy to lose grip on reality. I put so much pressure on myself to achieve, to hit higher and harder grades and it’s easy to forget that there is more to climbing than just ticking of numbers (even though it’s a highly motivating factor).
Someone who really inspired me here was a new friend of mine, Felix, from Germany. He is only a year or two older than me, but he’s been climbing since he was very young, competed on the world stage and has a long history of being a top climber both nationally and internationally. The way he approached climbing was refreshing and pretty inspiring to see. He really seemed to enjoy just going climbing, being at the crag, having fun on the routes. He put little pressure on himself to succeed yet he still came out and cranked 8c+, 8c as well as numerous 8b+’s and two 8b onsights/flashs. It was humbling to watch, as I built pressure barriers for myself on “Pati Noso”, he just cruised it practically dancing his way to the top.
As I was inspired with his approach, he too was inspired by my dedication and focus to training and improving. Felix was ranked 2nd in the World in Beijing behind Magnus Midtboe a number of years ago, so he has already lived the training lifestyle and now I think he puts less pressure on himself to achieve, but just as Sharma says in the “King Lines” movie - You have to want to achieve in order to do so, but not so much that it causes you to fail due to pressure (a concept I have struggled to put to practice recently). But in the end, that’s what it’s all about really… when your balancing at the edge of your peak performance, so do you have to start juggling with more variables. Just like in real life, if you juggle with more balls you’re bound to drop them, but only by challenging ourselves with more do we get better!
Anyway, right now I am nursing my skin back to health and eagerly awaiting the arrival of my Welsh friends whom I am coaching with this week. The first week of the coaching trips this year is with some top Welsh kids and the second week is with the Scottish kids that I do 1:1’s with back in Edinburgh – it will be good to see how they are progressing with all their hard work and training.
The campsite now is buzzing with Scottish accents. All my friends from back home have arrived and are dominating the crag. Neil Mcgeachy and Jonny Stocking arrived last week whilst the rest, Calum Forsyth, Neill Busby, Gary Vincent, Stuart Burns and Mhairi Thorburn arrived earlier this week. Also Jonathan Field arrived last night and today a friend from Ireland, Lucie Mitchell, arrived today. And tomorrow my Welsh friends Simon Rawlinson and Liz Collyer are arriving – WOOP WOOP! IT’S ALL HAPPENING IN SIURANA!!!
Mr Daniel Jung sporting his blue fuzzy boxers - he climbed "Estado Critico" (9a) a few days later swearing that the boxers give him the 9a POWER!
Even if I’m not climbing much over the next week or two, I certainly won’t be short of company
ROBZ OUT