Although I might have been a bit slack in re-releasing my old climbing diaries, back in June and July of 1990 I was definitely not slacking. Fresh from my success on Hubble, the worlds first 8c+ my attentions have turned to the world cup leading comps in Spain and Italy in a few weeks time. After focusing on strength for the past few months it’s now time to work my endurance and on sight skills in preparation for the up and coming competitions.

24^th June 1990

“Kilnsey. Warm up. Try Dreamtime. Fall. Do it second try. Bad weather, tried The Bulge. Fall near top. Felt good on it. Pumped out. Try redpoint, fall same place! Very greasy. Medium day”. I vaguely remember this day, both trying and failing to onsight both these routes. 25^th June 1990 “Filmed Hubble then pumped out hard. Body Machine, up and down Indecent Exposure, Chimes of Freedom, In Brine, Rooster Booster. Short rests but felt good stamina. Hard day.” 26^th June 1990 “Light day top roping Great Slab routes on Froggatt with 2 and 1 hands. Did Hairless Heart one-handed. No big deal. Must do more grit.” This day of doing easy routes on grit might seem a bit weird when thrown in amongst this strength and endurance training but actually it’s great and I obviously thought at the time I should be doing more. It’s great climbing on different rock types and it’s active rest which means it’s helping you to recover from your hard climbing days whilst still climbing. 27^th June 1990 “Kilnsey. Did The Bulge 2^nd try, Man with a Gun 2^nd try. Fell on The Ashes at top, felt okay, stamina all right, technique terrible. Got to work hard. Medium day.” 28^th June 1990 Cornice. Did 2 E5s, Weakling, fell off Yorkshire 8b, fell off Rumble in the Jungle, Did Yorkshire 8b, did Rumble in the Jungle, did Empire Burlesque, alright, bad technique. Hard day.” I always felt that the UK and especially the Peak District was not a great place to practice your on sight skills. There was just not that many routes to go at and a lot of them were short and bouldery but maybe that is just an excuse for my weaknesses. It didn’t stop Simon Nadin winning the World Cup! 2^nd July 1990 “Malham. Warmed up on right hand side. Did Justin’s route 7c on sight. Renaissance and Herbie on sight then Lobsession. Felt brilliant, everything easy. Hard day.” Maybe I am starting to find my groove… 4^th July 1990 Malham. Warmed up, did 7c badly. Onsighted route right of Appetite. Very pumped but climbing well. Did New Dawn and Maximum. Felt good really.”