Well I’m back in the old routine. Interesting and fun weekends followed by normal, and much less exciting, week days. I did get to Arkansas that weekend… and it did, unfortunately rain. It was raining when we awoke on Saturday so noone made what could be described as a quick start. We did eventually make it to the rock and I lead Swamp Rat for the third time as it had, somehow, stayed relatively dry. Giving it was wet and I’d already led it as a trad route once I lead it as a sports route for the second time. I then lead and cleaned the one other sports route in that area that I’d not done before.
We next headed over towards a route called Horseshoes and Hand Grenades and which a couple of us had been planning on working. Unfortunately it was still a bit wet so one of the others led a nice looking 5.10b arete but unfortunately it rained before any one else had a proper chance to do it. This also led to some interesting attempts by Mary Ashley to get to the top and clean the route. Given the rather wet situation we called it a day and headed back to camp and beer.
On Sunday we again woke up to rain but thankfully this time it started to clear and we were heading to the rock by the middle of the morning. Four of the seven of us had already decided to head home but they missed out as the rest of the day stayed dried. I started by belaying on and then leading a nice 5.9 arete which was a little damp but I still managed to get it. Mary Ashley then did her first ever trad lead. She was all nice and calm doing the route but then got scared at the anchors which was a little odd! Still a very impressive first trad lead. I led a couple of 5.10as in the middle of which I tried, and failed miserably on, a 5.11. We then headed home, stopping for food on the way. All in all it turned out to be a good weekend despite the rain. We didn’t get as much climbing done as I’d have liked but leading the two 5.10as made up for that. Photos are here.
I’d been hoping to get to Arkansas the next weekend and by coincidence Carol asked me if I wanted to go even before I got the chance to ask anyone. Carol was, and still is, broken but she’d already arranged this trip with a couple of friends of her. We headed down to Sam’s Throne were we ended up climbing both days. Miles had only climbed outside a couple of times before and his girl friend never had so he put up a couple of top ropes and I led several trad routes. I led four 5.7s including the one I’d flailed around on with couple a couple of months earlier. This time I had a foot slipping fail on one of the first moves but come back down, removing my gear, and did the whole route clean. I also tried a 5.9+ that Miles had put a top rope on. No way it’s a 5.9+. Really quite powerful with some hard moves as well. I got to the top but I’m not sure I did all the moves as I had a pretty tight rope.
The KU rock club was also at Sam’s that weekend and as Carol and Miles were both ex-members we all wandered along to their campsite for a bit in the evening. As it was their first trip of the year they were doing introductions around the campfire. Made me feel both old (bad) and experienced (good).
Sunday we had an inadvertent late start as none of us realised quite how late it had got. I led another couple of 5.7 trad routes before getting on a 5.10a sports route. Mucked up one of the first moves, thankfully after I had got the first bolt, but I came back to the ground and did it in one go. Given the hour we then headed home. All in all another good weekend. I feel like I need to get on some harder routes but still enjoyed doing a lot of trad. Photos from this trip are here.
This weekend there was no climbing but this was intentional as this was the only weekend when my soccer team had games on both the Saturday and Sunday. Yesterday’s game started with my team only having nine players on the pitch and we were 3-0 down by the end of the first half. The second half things got better as we did, by then, have eleven players and we were more organised so we only conceded one more goal.
Today my thigh muscles were pretty sore (I think I may have pulled one a bit) and I was hoping that we may have some subs so I didn’t have to play the whole game. Not to be however as this time we started a player short. We were soon up to a full team and for a short while we even had one sub until they injured themselves so again I ended up playing the whole game. Was much tighter than the day before although we still lost, 3-2 this time. Was pleased to find that people were planning on heading to the bar after this game so got some food and a couple of drinks. Was all enjoyable and I think it’s definitely done my general fitness some good even if I am now quite sore.
In other news I’ve met my long term weight target. I’m now 12 and a half stone (175lbs for my American friends). This is a 25lb lost since I got back to the US after Christmas and is the lightest I’ve been in over a decade. I’ve been down to 12st 10 before (178lbs) but I also know I’ve not been much below that since before I lived in Bath (i.e. 2001) where I remembering being about that weight. Am rather pleased about this and my general state of fitness. 12 and a half stone still gives me a BMI of 24 so I’ve now set myself a target of 12 stone (168lbs) although I’m not going to go quite so mad as I have been in my attempt to reach it as I think my energy levels have been a bit down recently due to not eating enough. We shall see how things go.
Nothing much else to report. Work is going a bit better although I’ll be a lot happier once I’ve fixed the problem I’ve currently got as then I’ll hopefully be able to get some final results and write a paper. Still trying to finalise plans for the next few weekends so not sure what I’ll be up to – you’ll have to wait until my next exciting blog post to find out.