Summing up the last few months won’t take long really because not much has happened. The weather has been all over the place; hot humid days have mingled with rain, sleet and even snow and so I decided to take to the ‘great indoors’! My finger is eventually feeling better so it was time to recruit a little crimp strength. It is amazing how quickly this comes back if the strength has been there previously. A month or so after starting some dead hanging and campusing I feel back up to scratch, just in time for Colorado!  

  I have managed a few days on rock in these tumultuous times. A long awaited return to the Bowderstone was not quite as productive as I had hoped for. After a week of solid rain we ummed and ahhed about going but eventually decided to risk it and upon arrival I was shocked to find it in stellar condition! Sadly I was not; I hadn’t slept well the night before-note to self always park van on flat ground! However I managed to pull XXXX out of the bag; roofs are rare in this country and so all are worth climbing. This one is powerful to say the least, 16 feet covered in just 3 moves; sharp holds slightly detract from the quality but it is worth while none the less. Mina hadn’t visited the ‘stone’ before so it was fun to see her climb until she could barely lift her arms and Tom and Michelle were just as keen! A much needed face stuffing at the Horse and Farrier in Threlkeld finished the day off nicely. My other day out occurred on the gritstone! Yes the grit in mid May! Again the rainy days seemed to have been endless but last Wednesday shocked us all with blue skies, sun and even a breeze or perhaps I should say a gale at times! Nick, John Welford and I decided to head to Burbage South. Here there is a superb circuit of problems from 6c-7c with the mid 7’s being especially good. Nick and John had done most of them before but I had only been on wet, miserable days and so had a lot of catching up to do! I did my best and by the end my skin reflected a typical day of gritstone thrashing. It had been nice to touch rock again, and do some technical classics before heading to Colorado where I am hoping for basic edge pulling!! And that brings us to today, Tuesday 22nd May, summer seems to be arriving, the back door is open and a gentle breeze brings in the scent of washing and the warmth that our pasty complexions desire. Tomorrow Mina and I are off to Colorado for the summer; we both have the Vail World Cup round and then a good bit of time on the rock. Frantic, excitement is probably the best way to describe the scene at our house. Washing, packing, and all manner of necessary jobs (including blog writing) are taking place! My goals for the summer are to enjoy myself, climb as well as I can and hopefully a little better too, not die from altitude sickness and to not come last in Vail. I don’t do competitions anymore due to not really enjoying them and being pretty rubbish too. I am not good under pressure; I tend to crack, get angry and therefore climb pretty badly. However Vail is not going to be like that; I have no expectations or goals (except not coming last) so I am going to go out and try to enjoy myself, after all its the taking part that counts....apparently!