This is how it drops - Super Sonic Body Tonic, up there in the V scale, uncut & saved to mpeg for the dvd ala' Watson - a new Skye-line deep in the red-line...steep - radical - awesome - cave line - it's so Coruisk- An Garbh 'esk. James is on a homeward yaw as well, the new 2006 Skye bouldering guide tucked under his arm, covering all the new Coire lines, from Font 5+s to the new Font 8bs & beyond, into areas where I have a 3% success rate - each glorious boulder now has an individual gps reference. Dave may well of done all three Font 8b's in Scotland, as he puts it, but he hasn't managed a single one of the five that we now have on the Hebridean Isles....not even a V12 ironically. Three V14s & two suggested V15 lines also wait silently here without a single repeat {unless you count my own, for the dvd}...& Font 8b has become fairly industry standard as far as hardcore elements of boulderings glitterati go. Ten, eleven years ago, it would have been a big acheivment, nine, ten years ago, Karma at Fontainbleau was, with it's Font 8a tag, but the goalposts shift with technique & approach. Seven, eight years ago, had he cared about or been deeply involved in, Scottish bouldering, Dave may have had a vaguely controversial or cutting-edge point, but he is a truly exceptional trad-climber & bold to the extreme, not an exceptional boulderer or sport miester, that's just how individuals specialize, not a point of contention. It's a smiley thing climbing aye...when you try to wave your willy for effect, only to find out you're not as big a boy as you thought...The best bit is how he can try Trace Element say, agree on the 8b grade I gave face to face, despite being unable to do the crux [which is a weird time for grading anything to my mind]... & then suddenly deny it's existance...Some events are best tailored to suit individual agendas aye...I've been amazed at the shere amount of 'supportive' stroke 'what a total chinless wanker' emails Dave has generated from the vast climbing community towards my inbox as well. Anyways, each to their own, who knows though, with practise, maybe his magicians skills will grow to such a lofty stagger, that he will be able to, at will, make any problem around the world vanish in a puff of smoke, when he climbs an equivilent grade at Dumbarton...two-step he can then declare his own lines the hardest whilst safely pushing the ones he failed on out of existense - a ridiculously flawed yet interesting way of getting to kick your own football & outwardly appearing clever whilst doing it, when in truth, there are far more skilled players on the pitch...
Tension mounts as an obligatory grade discussion trundles toward uncomfortable ground
Apart from completion of the steep & awesome line Iniquity within Coire a' Ghrunnda & her complex erratic savagery, another infamous Coire slab got ripped, & dubbed Jumptime - if you can jump, it's a pish path big V, if you can't, you iz dwarfs.
It has also been rumoured that echoes of frenzied drilling have been heard drifting across the high amphitheatres of the Coire, yip...it's true. Johnos drill is getting super heated on the gniess & gabbro. The Clach Ceann-Feadhna is getting a few rings but the mountain sport venue we are working on will remain undisclosed until at least a few lines are finished. Having already top-roped the soaring rh arete of the Clach Ceann-Feadhna I would say it is a strong contender for f8b+ ..quite possibly f8c on a 3 bolt clip-up lead & red-point. So lets find out aye, & see who we can make whine about it, in the process of sparking off a few flames...it's all good...As an aside, with a tope-rope in place above the arete, you can get a huge arcing pendulum in by arsing it full turbo down the rh slab & flinging yourself out above the crevassed talus - brilliant fun after to much red-pointing.
As for the other side of me.. it takes time to heal, to truly realize & understand the psychological & physiological elements of warfare within the body, & i don't fully yet, but the process of repair & relapse, is akin to pushing a car to the top of a hill. The effort incinerates you from the inside out, but for the last few steps, where some weight is lifted & the reward for staying planetary & corporeal, through uncertainty, through each fought foothold & broken attempt, is to regain a familiar freewheeling momentum on the otherside, slowly at first, but try stopping it, when that taste of life is on your lips again....yip...that's true as well...true as a life free of C2H5OH & smoke, re-filled with fish, fruit water & stone. Fixing it, has been a tough ride through, but the rise is on. The Chinese have a saying: One illness, long lifetime, no illness, short lifetime. I translate this as: Having the courage to see, & face your weakness ultimately gives you a greater strength...The blog is back, the bouldering is on it's way, strength is asleep in muscle memory soon to be awakened.....now wiggle your big toe....wiggle - your - big - toe...
In-depth preperation is everything
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