No more Capoeira

After a few days of jet-lag, I'm just about getting back up to speed with the world here back in London, a feat that's been double hard thanks to the fact that there is just so much ar y gweill at the moment. Work is busy, PhD viva soon, and I am preparding for the move to Spain, both professionally and logistically. The upshot of it is that play time is in short supply at the moment yet, as I have said before, all work and no play makes Alun a dull boy.

Recently, play-time has been split between climbing and capoeira, but I'll be honest the situation hasn't been ideal. I have reached the 'first peak' in capoeira - I can confidently step into the roda and play a simple game, and enjoy and appreciate and enjoy a good game when played by others. Yet rather than being happy about this, it's actually a little daunting: I've scaled the first peak, only to see the huge mountain range ahead, and realised just how much hard training is required to scale those mountains.

The mountaineering allegory is a good one, because it leads back to climbing. I realised last night, when riding home from the wall (or rather, the pub next to the wall), that climbing is still my number one. It is what inspires me and motivates me, drives me and pleases me. Because of capoeira, my climbing has suffered over the last few months, and I'm not happy about it. I have realised that I have to dedicate to one or the the other - trying to do both means that I will never improve at either, and risk getting bored with both.

If this reads a bit like a confessional, then it's probably because it feels like it is. I love capoeira, I think it's brilliant, and strangely I feel guilty for stopping. But stop I must. You know you've made a correct decision becuase once you've made it, you feel this massive weight lift off your shoulders. That's how a felt last night.

Bouldering in the Peak District on Sunday. Alright!

Katherine Schirrmacher article

Katherine Schirrmacher, who recently recently has been signed up for the Moon climbing team, has written a short article for moonclimbing.com, "10 ways to revamp your climbing".

It is only a few hundred words long and yet I can't think of any other article that contains so much excellent information that is so concisely written and expressed.

https://www.moonclimbing.com/index.php?form_action=school&school_id=27class=

Portland sport climbing

It's been a busy weekend so I'm treating you to two posts in one day, you lucky things! Saturday morning found me loitering outside Hammersmith at some god-forsaken hour, waiting to picked up by Paul Mac on the way to Portland. We picked up Paul Mealor on the way, and after boring them to tears telling them just how good Casino Royal is, we met Darcy for breakfast in the Blue Fish cafe at Fortuneswell (nice place, incidentally, good food, though a little overpriced for what you get) at around 10.30.

The slightly late start suited us nicely actually, as it meant the sun had time to get round onto the Blacknor crags on the west coast (see pic), where many of the routes are a decent 28-30m long, so you really feel like you're getting your money's worth on every route. The last time I did any proper climbing was in the Wye Valley with Alastair in September, so it was good to get back on the rock again. I climbed with Darcy and we did several routes around the 6a-6c range, all very pleasant - yet the problem with this cliff is that all the routes follow the same pattern: 5m of heaving on dusty jugs, 10-15m of delicate conglomerate balancing, followed by 5m of really good clean limestone at the top. As a result the routes feel rather similar to each other, even though they are very good if considered individually.

So we spent a night in the old lighthouse (now a bird-watchers haunt) and got up bright and early (well, ish), and set off for The Cuttings, where the route of the day for me was The Cutting Edge, which I was quite chuffed to onsight, especially given that I've been off climbing for the last few months. Then I went and burst my bubble with a fall off New Saladin, though I wasn't too miffed as it was a juggy pump-fest, a bit more fitness would have dispatched it. So another good day was had by all. Special commendation should go to Macca who is a having a bit of a purple-patch at the moment, it seems that a summer off has done him good and he's come back with a vengeance. Oh yeah and props go to Paul Mealor who red-pointed his first 7a during his recent visit to Thailand!

And I'm really pleased because I had a brilliant weekend which has relit my passion and enthusiasm for rock climbing. Roll on some decent training over the winter, I'm looking forward to Easter at Pembroke already...

Barcelona and Montserrat **updated photos**

Last weekend Djanira and I returned to Barcelona (rapidly becoming our favourite place to be) for a quick holiday, and to catch up with a few friends. Dan (as in, Dan-I-used-to-live-with-in-Chalk-Farm-Dan) is still living in the city and appears as settled as ever. It was really good to catch up with him; we had some tapas for dinner before going out to meet a few mates for drinks. I still can't believe how cheap Barcelona is compared to London. Everybody out there thinks it's an expensive place, but when three of you can eat as much yummy tapas as you like and drink several glasses of beer/cava in a fantastic small place which has a great vibe, for €50 total, you know you're in the right place. Better still, when we left we got a free shot of any liquor we could see behind the bar - when I saw they had some decent 12y.o. Islay single malt, I very nearly fell off my chair. Awesome.

So we ended up in a bar down in El Raval, which is reknowned somewhat as one of the dodgier areas of the city, but one which is now 'up-and-coming'. In terms of character, it reminded me a little bit of somewhere like Hackney - still dodgy, but with enough cheap cool places opening up to attract a less-rough crowd. Incidentally, you can imagine my shock and disgust at having to pay less than 9 euros for a round of four bottles of beer. That's about £1.50 a bottle, exchange-rate fans. Sigh. Anyway we stayed there til about 1am (just as it was warming up), but felt that we had to leave because we had an earlyish start later in the morning.

So after not-enough-sleep and quick breakfast, we caught a cab to the north-east of the city to meet my friends Raquel and Ferran. I met them both in North Wales last spring, at the BMC international climbing meet, and they were kind enough to invite me and DJ over and be our guides for Montserrat. They are both so, so sweet; really friendly and outgoing, and they were fantastic hosts. Unfortunately my injured shoulder (and lack of fitness) precluded us doing any hard climbing, so we just did some walking, and one easy route.

Montserrat is an awesome place. It's basically one big mountain, 45 minutes drive from Barca; it's about the size of the Snowdon massif, but littered with enormous rock faces and (literally) hundreds of 'needles' - rock pillars anywhere from 20 to 200m high. It is a rock climbing mecca and, quite frankly, it puts all of the fuss we in Britain give to our small crags to shame. On saturday we took a 'grand-tour', walking along the whole of the north face, which is Ferran's home-from-home - he even runs a website dedicated to it, which has gradually extended to encompass ther whole of Catalan climbing - check it out at www.caranorte.com, though both your Catalan and Spanish will need to be up to scratch. Saturday night we walked up (in the dark) to some hermit's cave in the middle of the mountain - just big enough to sleep four people and with a breathtaking view out over Barca and the med beyond. Sunday we climbed an easy route but to my shame I backed off the lead on my pitch. The climbing was barely harder than VS but 'protection', such as it was, consisted of rusty old bolt heads that needed to be threaded with a nut. Needless to say, I couldn't spot any small, grey/brown dots hidden among the (grey/brown) pebbly rock and, between you and me, I don't like running out 30m without knowing where the next belay is, especially on unfamiliar rock and with a bad shoulder. So I let Ferran take the lead, which he of course made short work of, and we arrived at the top of needle, with brilliant 360 degree views. Amazing.

The only problem with the whole weekend was the fact that our return flight on Monday was cancelled - that's the third time in a row that this has happened to me! I couldn't believe it! Anyway, we still had a brilliant time, and I shan't imagine that'll be took long until we're back!

**UPDATE:**
DJ's and my photos are now on the web too, here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/alunthomasevans/Montserrat_Nov_2Alun



Raquel's pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/alunthomasevans/MontserratNoviembre06RaquelSPhotos

E11 film review

Earlier this year, Dave Macleod, the Glasgow based professional rock climber, finally got to the top of what is now the hardest traditionally protected rock climb in the world, Rhapsody, grading it a mighty E11. The route takes pretty much the most direct line up smooth overhanging face of Dumbarton rock, a large basalt outcrop near Glasgow, and is undoubtedly the biggest thing that has happened in the British rock climbing scene for several years.

It is only right therefore, that there should be some sort of film record this effort - yet I wasn't expecting an entire flick dedicated to it! 41 minutes focusing on one climber and one route may not sound too exciting, but what the chaps at http://www.hotaches.com have done is not just document the story of how the route was conquered, but painted a picture of the determination and hard work required to reach this level. Most poingantly, we get to know Dave's wife, Claire, almost as well as we get to know Dave himself, and we see the strain that she is under - the strain that must affect the partners of all professional athletes who are completely obsessed with their goals.

As such this is a film that even non-climbers will appreciate - they won't even get bored during the section of actual climbing footage, due to the gut wrenching falls the Dave takes over and over again. They really are horrendous, if you don't believe me, go and download the trailer here.

So how does the film compare with other classic climbing movies, such as Hard Grit or Stone Monkey? Well it is different to both. Hard Grit is a classic becuase it defines not just a style of climbing, but also an era. Stone Monkey is a classic because it paints a portrait of one of the most influental British climbers of all time. E11 doesn't aim to do either of these things, yet it is undoubtedly utterly compelling viewing; it is the first film that really gives you some sort of inkling of what it must be like to be at the cutting edge of the rock climbing world - and in fact any 'small' sport (i.e. one that doesn't provide big bucks to it's participants). As such it deserves a place on the shelf of anybody who has more than a passing interest in climbing, and I suspect my copy (which has been watched twice already) will see plenty more repeat viewings as the years go by.

More reviews here, here and here.

Climbing: Froggatt slabs

Yesterday the weather was ideal for climbing gritstone, in my opinion - cool enough to guarantee good friction, though not so cold that your fingers drop off. So Damo and I drove up early to meet Dave J at Froggatt, in the Peak District. Last time I climbed there I was just breaking into E1, and since then I've been looking forward to having a go at a couple of the mid-grade classics - no room for error though!

Great Slab E3 5b
What a brilliant, brilliant route, one of the great classics of British climbing. There is no gear anywhere on the slab so there's no point with ropes or harness. Years ago I never thought I'd even consider doing it, but I'm really glad that I changed my mind. It's far from the most technically difficult route that I've done, but it still ranks as one of the finest, most exhilarating moments of my climbing career so far. I'm looking relaxed in the photo but that was before the crux!

Long John's Slab E3 5c
Another gearless Froggatt slab climb, harder climbing than Great Slab but less psychologically draining, as the moves are more obvious. The crux is stepping off the ground, basically, though the landing wouldn't be particularly pleasant. Barely justifies E3, but I suppose it would be a mean sandbag at E2.

Brown's Eliminate E2 5b
Yet another Froggatt slab climb, but this time with two good cams at half height and an easy top-out. The grade is spot on, and the crux moves, stepping off the half-height ledge, are great.

I also did Brightside E2 5c, but I think I went off route which made it rather easier - in which case it's a very contrived line and barely worth bothering with. And I had a play on the start of Downhill Racer E4 6a, but backed off from the low crux, as I wasn't 100% sure of making it. It's still there for the future...and, crucially, so am I!

Climbing: Peak District July 2006

Yesterday I took a day trip to the Peak District to meet with Lau, Alastair, Nienke and Nick. Lau and I headed to High Tor, a crag we had first visited almost two years ago, ticking the classic E1 Debauchery. Back then we said we'd have to come back to the counterdiagonal E2 Delicatessen, which we did yesterday, what a brilliant route - the line is marked out on the photo, belays at the red dots. Then I started up Flaky Wall, an E4 I've had my eyes on for a while, but it started raining - rats! I was pretty confident too. So after a quick pub break it stopped raining and we headed to Cratcliffe to nip up a quick route or two - or so we thought!

Delicatessen E2 5c, 5b High Tor
I took the first pitch, the ever-reliable Lau the second. Magnificent climbing, not at all polished, with tricky 5c moves both right at the start and right at the end of my pitch; the final moves to reach the belay in particular are exposed, airy, fingery, delicate and just brilliant. The second pitch was a delightful delicate traverse, led confidently and in style by Ian; it's only marred by the fact that it joins the horribly polished HVS, Original Route, to finish off.

Boot Hill E3 5c Cratcliffe
There's no two wasy about it, this route beat me up. I didn't fall, but had to rest twice - although the second was only because I didn't see a good foothold, and gave up early as I knew I'd blown the onsight anyway. A brilliant route but possibly not one to do as your first grit route of the year, on a hot humid evening with very little friction. For my arrogance I deserved to get punished and so I'm not too miffed - actually I'm pretty pleased I got up it at all! With hindsight it is a brilliant route with some wonderful layaway moves off the rounded arete - although those weren't words leaving my mouth as I was halfway up the thing!