Damn Ice!!

My enthusiasm and psyche was rewarded yesterday by a thick layer of frosty ice covering Glendalough. I was not a happy camper! There were probably more boulderers down there yesterday than I'd seen in a long time, and everyone seemed a bit shell shocked that the perfect weather forecast had led us all to probably the most popular bouldering location in ireland, only to be shut down by ice.

The river was calm, the sun was out and the air temperature wasn't too cold (though my toes were blocks of ice, as usual!) It couldn't have been more perfect for good friction and loads of sends... Which is why the ice was all the more frustrating!!!

With the river being so calm, it was straight over to Big Jim, and I realised that indoor bouldering is one thing... but outdoors I wanna top out! It's not the same to reach the top of a problem and have to jump off cause the top is covered in ice. It's real king of the castle stuff, but I found myself a bit uninspired to attempt anything I knew I could send, cause I didn't care about it unless I could sit at the top!

So it was off to try something I didn't think I'd get close to! There was a bunch of climbers over at Rhythm and Stealth and I thought, 'perfect! loads of spotters for this highball problem!' Even better than that, Steve McGowan was there, and with his 9 foot of reach, how could you not feel safe!

With good beta and loads of spotters, the first moves on the problem were quickly figured out, though I know that's the easy bit! Over hanging and with cool hand swaps, knee bars and heel hooks, it's a problem I can't wait to try and try again! I love that feeling of finding a problem that I'm excited to do! The initial reach out to the arete (after the first couple of moves that saw me established on the problem) is great. From the climbers angle, the arete on the left looks pretty similar all the way, but there's this perfect handhold low down and when you hit it, you can really relax a bit and take a breath before swapping your right hand from the jug to the adjacent sidepull...

That's as far as I got and I was happy with that - I wouldn't say I tried my heart out on it, but the first moves are dialled for me now and I feel like the next time I get to it, I need only worry about the top (which is the second half of it, it's definitely the highest boulder I've ever tried) and I reckon my reach will help me there - all I need to do is bring along the courage to commit to it!!

Headed off after that for a bit of a wander and found ourselves at 'Jiggery' I believe it's called! I've been on it a few times before, but it's very very dynamic and I struggled on it yesterday... so did everyone though, well except Leo who sent it first try (aside from jumping off the last handhold cause top outs were out of the question). Impressive stuff!

I did find the toe hook though which enabled me to free my right hand completely and statically reach towards the jug, only to realise that my reach isn't long enough to grab it statically and so I'm just going to have to throw for it (Damn!)

I was full sure heel hooking was the way to go too, and there was a heated debate around it, but in the end and rather unusually... I was wrong ;) Leo was right... It was a toe hook and I don't have any photos of him heel hooking as I said I did!!

below is the only image I have of Leo on Jiggery!

I was pretty frustrated yesterday because it could have been a really great days bouldering and for me it turned into a day of trying the starts of things, but as was once said to me, 'it's all money in the bank' and it was great fun to be out with everyone, as usual!!

In a disastrous turn of events though, having been dropped off outside my house and with my boulder mat, rucksack and grocery shopping in hand, I tripped up and SPLAT! hit my knee, squashed my groceries, lay under my pad in a heap - I literally thought I'd broken I knee, but it turns out it's just very badly bruised and I'm missing a good chunk of skin I think I'll need to grow back... pretty damn sore this morning and I'm stuck at home today because of it :(

Note to self: Lift your feet when you're walking!