Its been a While

Since returning from Thailand Ive been busy.
I spent Two weeks in the South Island ,attempted a summit of Mount Arrowsmith (see photo).This was a fantastic trip . The major dificulty was route finding and the shrinking glacier.
Spent two wet days looking at the Charlston seacliffs (see photo again)

And of course Ive clocked some seriius time on my project on short wall. What ive come to is a massive mental block, well I think thats what it is> I can not,at present link the final four moves and it comes down to committing to a sequence that's desperate. Ive spent countless hours working variations and I believe Ive got it sorted and can complete it on top rope but I just cannot link it.
The problem is strenght and mental.Ive started working on several bolder problems and the finger board to build the required physical needs, with this will come mental strenght.
I also spent three days in the central north island climbing Meed's wall on Mount Reuapheau and a day at Kinlock on the lake both cool venues and very different rock and climbing.

Thailand

Just got back from Thailand. Which is another story. Climbed at Crazy Horse buttress in Chiang Mai. What fantastic rock limestone is, so hard, compared to home. Managed to tick off several top climbs. Ayah was by far my best effort a climb that was challenging and very classic. thin crimps leading to a crack that pushed out over a small bulge got me cranking. Loved it so much I did it twice. The last time I had just rapped off when the rain came. We had to sit it out in these cool shelters that are all around the crag. Chiang Mai Rock climbing is a small business that is the go to centre for climbing in the area and I found them very helpful and really recommend them if you are going up north. The heat was oppressive at times meaning you use a lot of chalk as you sweat heaps and the rock polishes off fast without it. You can arrange for food from a local village for just a few $ so it was ideal the wild life at the crag is cool also amazing birds and monkeys plenty to see when you're chilling out between climbs. My strenght was good and the hand grip was coming on fine. Still hammering the finger board as I need more for the project. I climbed my project once on my return a bit rusty but managed to complete to where I finished before the trip, so happy.

Making the most of the weather

My efforts have been centred on technique the past few weeks. This came about due to bad weather again. I started looking at my climbing style at the indoor gym, probably the best place to concentrate on this as I get side tracked with progressing the project if I get to the Bay.

It is difficult to critically look at what you do but using time and the weather I was able to spend a simple few hours going over basics and getting an expert at the gym to look at me. My flexibility and general movement was fine, real cool actually is it hard to say this about yourself. If you were giving advice to another mate /person its easy to say but the minute you consider yourself all these barriers come up stopping you. Again my stamina was the issue and is the major sticking point on the project.

I am now channelling my thought toward technique and forgetting about the big picture. This has made me concentrate on a fixable reality. Will it work? Who knows but the journey is a gas.

Today

Okay I'm living a life of my choosing and its so cool. I'm beginning to realizing a dream, I'm climbing and just enjoying the process. The experiment of unfolding a problem is just so good for my mind and body.

I've had to process and accept failure . Failure comes often in climbing but from the experience I am able to learn and move on. Add the joy of simple success which is just so intense its too difficult to explain.

Climbing has transformed my thinking I get so much out of simple details of life now. Take this morning it was windy for the first day in weeks, I stood in the wind, I realised that I missed the wind and was glad to remember how it felt.

I've had to train my body in a different manner, I've worked at climbing endurance and power but I've had to loose weight. This hasn't been to difficult with a purpose comes strength.

The strength is to eat healthy and feed my body to preform. I've stopped eating meat both as a health move but as well its an ethical decision. I'm mindful of all the toxins we can inadvertently put in our body just by blindly eating what ever. The ethics and morality of those who choose to; one place chemicals in our food and secondly the morality of selling it to the population as food is just repugnant.

Today I'm happy with the process of living, simple is good with understanding of myself comes acceptance of others. Have a cool day.

Two Fine Days

What do you do with a month of bad weather , no two months of bad weather. I try to hold my form and fitness with gym work outs and swimming.
Today is the second time since I last wrote I've made it to the wall. What happened? Ive linked the start with the first bolt and I'm now happy on the flake. But to my horror,disappointment Ive lost strength and stamina. I found that I had to rest longer and had real problems starting back from a fall. Even with regular exercise Ive lost arm strength alarmingly, I don't know how as Ive been hammering the arms and concentrating on loosing weight. In fact Ive dropped 5 kilos.
On a high the sun was out and it was hot out of the wind took a couple of photos to remeber what the sun was like.

Start Complete

After a wet week I got to climb today (Sunday). The day dawned fine and sunny, so I was able to work on the new start to the wall.
After setting the anchor and warming up I went for it. The first attempt was really smooth with all the moves of the start sequence going very well. I found myself looking straight at the first bolt when I fell. After releasing the shunt and starting again I nailed the sequence.

What was a surprise was the way it just flowed. I repeated it until I was pumped out and hopefully it is committed to memory.

Very very happy stoked!!! I'm now back to the line of six months ago but much happer.

A Day Away

Spent the day in the mountains, it was my first trip this season. Just wanted to test my fitness and test some new gear and ideas. There was little snow, but man what a fantastic day. The sky was so blue.

Worked on two equipment tests. One was the way I laced my plastics. The inner is left loose. The outer is now tightened but skipping the last d-ring on the instep before the lock-off ring (see photo). Major break through! Warm feet all day and no pressure point pain.

Secondly, I've reduced the layers to a Helly Hansen Lifa top with a Therma Tech second layer jacket. Thereby reducing layers by one. Now if I'm climbing and it's cold I put one more layer on being a Gore shell. This traps the heat and allows moisture to breath out. When I stop for any period I put a down jacket straight over the top. Now when walking or climbing the layers are light warm, and removing moisture, allowing greater ease of movement.
Checked out several new climbs with a bit more snow and ice, they look very exciting. Check out the photo.