I'm still out here in Kalymnos, now enjoying climbing for myself as opposed to coaching. Don't get me wrong, I love coaching, but its also good to have a lie in in the morning and head up to the crag with no pressures or responsibilities (other than project pressure of course). If you read my last blog post, I mentioned that I had tried a route called "Nadir" on the first day of the trip. Well, I hadn't been back since then and because my draws where in it still as well as being one of the last remaining f8b-8b+ routes I haven't done on the island, I figured I might as well return to finish it off.
"Nadir" consists of a sustained f7a+/b start to a good rest before the crux. This section doesn't add much to the route as a whole, it doesn't get you pumped at least and with the rest, even if it did get you a little pumped you'd recover quite easily, however, what it does do is build up nerves and anticipation of the crux as you approach ever closer. The crux is a gnarly fingery boulder problem, probably weighing in at around V5/6 (F6C/+)? This is how it felt for me anyway, it's definitely one of these problems that if you had it on the ground you wouldn't want to go repeating it regularly, which makes Redpointing this route a bit grim. The holds through the crux are all at best, flat half pad crimps and the two worst holds being a sloping non-hold you use as an intermediate and a razor blade disc you crimp the hell out of to get to the good holds.
Once through the crux, your into an ok rest on some slopey pinches before a very sustained section of f7b+ climbing until a tufa knee bar rest. To the top from there it's not over, there is still a slightly awkward finish, not hard really but a little dodgy when you've just climbed through some very techy/filthy terrain that you don't want to have to repeat.
Yesterday, I had two blasts on the route... The first failing at the crux move once again (the same move I fell on my onsight burn and all the goes previously). I then discovered something amazing, so subtle and seemingly pointless that made the crux move so easy it would not have taken another try to do after employing it. All I had to do was drop my pinky of the undercut crimp and simply use three fingers for a stronger front 3 full crimp... Sounds like it would make little change, however, it made all the difference in the world! Not only was I now doing the crux solidly every time, I could practically chalk and blow on the move! Psyched on my progress, I did it from below the crux to the top just to further build my confidence and on my next go (7th overall), I ticked it! YAAASSSSSSS!!! "Nadir" has now been added to my tick list as my 9th 8b+ this year.
Today I headed to the crag with a couple of new friends of mine, Lee and Sam Cujes. Lee and Sam are from Queensland, Australia. Lee is also a climbing coach and has been coaching out here for the last two weeks, check out his website and blog here. We headed up to Iannis sector so that Lee could try "O'Draconian Devil" (8b+) and so that I could try the 8c in the left-hand sector of Kalydna called "Fake Friends". Lee had been on "O'Draconian Devil" on his trip last year and had been very close but with no cigar. Sam and I egged him to get back on it and from what i saw today, I think he could definitely finish it off before heading back to Oz. Check out a video of Lee and Sam coaching trip below - theres also a guest appearance of me on "O'Draconian Devil" : P
Upskill Kaly 2.0 from Upskill Climbing on Vimeo.
Meanhwile, I had a bash on the 8c "Fake Friends" around the corner. On my first go I dogged it more or less just to figure out the sequence. The final crux through the bulge at the top was hard but not desperate, maybe V4-ish at the end of a very sustained sequence 33m from the ground. The hardest moves are lower, after a shortish f7c section you do a
bouldery sequence, maybe again around V4 but only around 4 moves of it. After this you get a rest on some 2 finger pockets before doing the final sustained sequence before the end crux.
After figuring out what to do I came down and rested for an hour whilst Sam and Lee did a 6c. This gave me time to reflect on my sequence, even giving me some more ideas for the lower crux (I hadn't quite got that dialled). On my second go I was feeling really good, despite being my third day on I was fairly fresh and was flowing through the lower sequence. I made my way to the rest before the first crux and eyed it up from the steep knee bar... I gathered my beta from the ground that I had thought through and employed it, this seemed to work well and despite being hard I managed to scrape my way through. Before I knew it I was eyeing up the final run from the last rest... I visualised the sequence in my head as I had remembered from my first go, and off I went! I moved quickly and decisively, I wasn't really pumped, just quite tired. I was heading into the bulge, I could see the chains... I made the first hard move of the crux, the second, the third... I had done the crux moves and was only two metres from the chain! I saw it but I was tired, I made a bit of a flail for the wrong hold and was soon rushing past each QuickDraw not really knowing what had happened but also enthralled that my first 8c could have been second go!
Well... That's just it isn't it... Second go? 8c? It just didn't add up, the moves felt way too easy, I wasn't really pumped on it and even by comparison to a route like "Unjustified", I would say this is easier. The sensation reminded me of what Alan Cassidy had once wrote about after on sighting his first 8b in France. The glory is there, you want it, you can take it, but you know in your heart that it's not real. Alan took 8a+ for his 8b, and I guess If I do this really amazing route, then perhaps its probably more like a soft touch 8b+? Still a really cool route though! Flying about skipping bolts literally with the ground 40-50m below you (the route starts on a ledge above a cliff, so your already about 20m off the ground when you start).
I will have to decide what to do tomorrow now, either rest or climb again. I'm inclined to do the latter as that will put me in a better state to tick "Fake Friends", but whether or not I can find someone to belay me on it is something else entirely... I am running out of people to follow me to crazy crags with sky high 8b's and 8b+'s.
Anyway, I'm sure it will all work out. I'm looking forward to coming home now, I've had my time in the sun and it's time to train hard for Spring. The day I get back I'm going to be heading up to Aberdeen to coach the awesome little dudes from the GCRS climbing team and meet up with my mate Phil Jack to help him re-set his new and improved 45 board and hopefully head back to Orchestra Cave as well, maybe I can sneak a cheeky dangle berry ; P
That's all for now folks - 8c is still a dream : )
ROBZ OUT
I haven't updated the blog since arriving for a a few reasons: 1) I've been so busy working! 2) I've been having too much fun : P It was am epic adventure first of all to actually get to Kalymnos. My flights where delayed by two days meaning an extra wee while at home waiting around. When my flights scheduled for departure finally came through, I had to make three connecting flights just to get to Kos (from which I had to take two taxis and a ferry to reach my final destination). I then spent the good part of three hours scouring the main town of Massouri for a place to sleep since the apartments run by one Nikki Pizania (remember that name) sent me this email after having booked the accommodation and flights the week before:
"HELLO AGAIN! WE DON HAVE FREE ROOMS ANY LONGER, BYE!"
This is after booking the room and the flights literally the day before I left to travel - not very good... Anyway, onto bigger and better things - I am now coaching on the island and have been for the last week. I am working beside two of the top coaches in the country, Simon Rawlinson (Welsh Team Coach) and Adrien Berry (Avid Kalymnos Bolter and UK renowned coach and author). It's been a great experience working beside these guys and seeing how they both work as individual coaches. Every coach has his or her own ideas on what works best, it's been educational to say the least chatting about climbing/coaching/training with these two.
Also, just flown in from the UK, the big cheese himself, Neil Gresham has just arrived. He's super keen to take me to a new crag he's developed on the island that apparently has some of the best lines Kalymnos has to offer. I'm eager to get the second ascent of his new 8b there through which I can hopefully help in confirming the grade.
The coaching i have been doing over the last week has solely been involved with a nice Welsh couple, Jackie and Sam. It's been great to just focus on them for the week, they've had a wondeful time out here and have definitely improved a lot in the short time. We've worked hard and identified key weaknesses in their climbing - this they have taken on board and through the help of myself and a training program I will be building for when they get home, they should hopefully weed these out and improve more consistently over the next year. Jackie's hardest climb before the trip was 6a+ - on this trip she has onsighted 6a+ as well as numerous 6a's and has been looking strong on 6b's and even a 6c she got on. Sam on the other hand, his personal best before the trip was 6c (after a couple of days redpoint). This trip he has succesfully red pointed two 6c's 2nd go as well as on sighting many 6a's and 6a+'s, even coming close on a few 6b's.
Me on the other hand, I have not had much climbing. One day at the beginning and the occasional cheeky belay at the end of the day. Even so, I've managed to sneak in a couple of hard routes despite a lack of climbing for myself. The first day I had a look at the classic crimpy test piece of Kalymnos, "Nadir" (8b+). The crux is pretty heinous climbing on micro edges and undercuts, the moves themselves weighing in at around V6 probably. Until the crux it's probably only f7a+ and theirs a really good rest before the crux, but the holds are just so damn small and sharp that you really only have a couple of good goes in you. After the crux, you have a very sustained section of climbing that on it's own would probably be a bouldery f7b. Because of the sustained nature of the crux and final section, it definitely feels 8b+, maybe a tiny bit soft but it's also not my style so maybe I'm just weak : P After one of my coaching days with Sam and Jackie, I had a a play on the famous 8b+, "O'Draconian Devil" as seen on King Lines with Sharma and JB Tribout. I had had a go on it a years previous but hadn't even bothered to go to the top as the crux was too hard for me then (also I had no idea what I was doing). On my first go with Sam and Jackie, I still had no idea, however I managed to climb into the crux from the ground first time which was definitely a good sign. A day later and after watching the Welsh crimp machine Ash Wolsey-Heard on a video, I returned to the devil to try out some proper beta. Amazingly after using the beta, the crux actually felt easy as opposed to impossible.
The next day, I headed up to the crag for a shot at it whilst Sam and Jackie had a rest day. Hopefully with a session of dedicated practice on the route I could maybe tick it that day? Low and behold, I nabbed a belay of my Irish friend John and sent it first go! It actually felt easy - see below for a video of both me and Ash climbing it.
After climbing "O'Draconian Devil", we headed to another sector called Kalydna. It was here that I came face to face with my next big route, "Trous dans l'air" (8b+). I had heard that it used to be graded 8c which initially scared me, however, after trying it only once I felt it was well within my limit and could in fact be another quick tick. In the guide the route is described as being a 7c+ into another 7c+ into a F7B+ boulder right at the top! In reality, the route is probably a soft 8a into a F6C. It felt easier than 8b's I've done in the past and is probably the softest 8b+ I've done, but I was still super psyched to tick it on my 3rd go (almost 2nd go!). Now that the coaching is over, I can concentrate more on my own climbing. Im psyched to go finish of "Nadir" (8b+), that would bring my year total of 8b+'s to 9, a nice consolidation number if you ask me and then maybe I can buckle down to trying an 8c? Today i tried one called "Lucky Luca" in Odyssey Sector. It's an awesome line, quite steep, but has a sick move which involves a very powerful move off a single pad mono with smears for feet on the steepest section of the climb. As much as I'm psyched to do it, i do find myself tempted to do easier routes instead, however, I am going to give it a chance, at least as a side option whilst trying "Nadir" (as they are right next to each other).
The annoying thing with Kalymnos is once you get to 8b+/c, all then routes seem to disappear. There is very little in this grade range, in fact, 8c+ is a better grade if you ask me, they seem more inspiring lines and probably more suited to my style of climbing. All the 8c's are horrible boulder problems which scare me lots : P I need to go home an train methinks!
What I am psyched about this trip though is just how easy 8b+ has felt to the relative difficulty 8b's were feeling last year. This is definitely a step in the right direction and I'm thinking of hopefully stepping my Kalymnos grade up a notch next October as well when I return with Simon for our next Kalymnos Coaching trips. There are two 8c+ on the island that inspire me massively, Nico Favresse's "Inshallah" and the crimpy gnarl fest "Guta Gutarak". I think I'm going to have to really step it up a notch to achieve this, but im not looking down anytime soon, there's only one way, and it's up!
ROBZ OUT!!!