Atop Rhythm and Stealth (7a) Glendalough

Me on top of Rhythm and Stealth... Good times! :)

Photo taken by: Mark Hand.

Weak as Tim?

There was little else I thought about for the last week... It was plainly obvious to those I work with that my mind was somewhere else - I spoke to various non-climbing folk about it but they just looked puzzled... Rhythm and Stealth meant nothing to them but everything to me.

I crossed the river over to Big Jane this morning and I knew I had it in me... I just wasn't sure it would all come together. Dec sounded certain as he repeatedly told me that I'd get Rhythm and Stealth today...

So we arrived at the problem having warmed up in the ruins. I was strong on the opening sequence and slapped up to the crimp, but like last week - I narrowly missed out each time, spinning off only to be caught by Mark who's spotting made working the problem easy as I never had to think twice about going for each move. Dec sent it after 2 or 3 attempts and I said 'right, one last go'...


I moved easily through the opening sequence and slapped up to the crimp and caught it, I looked down to the right to move my heel up but my left hand greased off the crimp and I was spat off the line again.


I was delighted I'd caught the crimp - and it felt positive from the angle you catch it - but I was so disappointed to have fallen off. I said I was happy to walk away, but the guys were so encouraging of me to try again. I slapped up but failed to catch the crimp and fell once again.


I said 'ok that's it, I'm done'


Again I was delighted to have caught the crimp once and knew I'd be back in the morning...


Mark said he'd like another go on the problem and I kept my shoes on, happily using his last go as an excuse to take one final shot at sending Rhythm and Stealth after he was done.


I stood under the problem knowing that I wouldn't waste this attempt. Dec had suggested marking my arm with chalk to know how much of it disappears around the boulder before the crimp is caught. I did so and felt like I was writing notes on my forearm before I went into an exam!


I pulled on and felt really positive through the opening moves. I slapped with way more effort than ever before up to the crimp and caught it. My heart was racing as I easily moved my heel into the opening jug. I reached up with my right hand to the finishing hold and thought, 'oh my god, this is it - I can send this!'


I knew the top out was hard, but had just seen Dec make it look easy, so I thought just do it his way!! I matched my left hand up and moved out right... I asked Dec to give me some beta and standing on the boulder behind he talked me through it.


With arms shaking as I refused point blank to let go, I moved my left foot up to the finishing jug and rocked over.


It was mine, Rhythm and Stealth was sent!


My first 7a.


Haven't stopped smiling since.


We had icecreams in the car park after.

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!