Motivation!

Motivation

Defined in the dictionary as:

1. the act or an instance of motivating

2. desire to do; interest or drive

3. incentive or inducement

4. (Psychology) Psychol the process that arouses, sustains and regulates human and animal behaviour

When training finding motivation can sometimes be tough, especially if you are having to train at random times due to work, a lot of the time you can end up with only your own will power and creativity to create new problems on the board.
Having just spent a week in Scotland with the intentions of getting lots of snow and ice routes done and ending up just walking in the rain and low level cloud, i think my desire to walk has slowly been whittled down.
What is the reason you take part in a certain sport? It might be because you are good at the sport and excel pretty quickly. I can remember the first time i came climbing when i was 16 i was shocking, could barely get to the top of the bouldering wall, but one thing that stood out was even though i was no where near as good as some of the other people they were still really approachable and friendly helping out and wanting to see somebody else do well at the sport they are good at. This helped and inspired me to be honest, it made me want to go back to get to know these people and get better myself.
So carrying on coming climbing on and off for around 4 years i finally started to get more into it and climb on a regular basis and built up a group of friends within the scene. These helped me move from wall punter to outdoor punter and actually discover some of the beautiful places around the UK and abroad.
While walking one day in Scotland the weather was grim, my hood was up the wind was blowing so strong i was walking at a 45 degree angle to the side. How is somebody supposed to be motivated to go back out again the next day? What achievement are you getting out of it? What enjoyment are you getting out of it?
I suppose looking back at the days out there is the good times like when the weather does clear and you get a fantastic view of all the mountain ranges.
The point i am trying to get across is that different people find different aspects and styles of the sport enjoyable. For example Rich is just a boulderer and takes the time to train and get out to different venues around the world to climb so beautiful problems and hard ones at that! Chris is mainly a trad climber focusing all his free weekends on getting out to different cliffs and trying the classic 3 star routes. Dave is mainly a sport climber focusing on red-pointing hard routes both in the UK and abroad.
The three different styles can all interlink and the trips abroad are always spent with the evenings sat in socialising and having a laugh with friends.
It's a funny sport when some peoples motivation is to get to the summit of an 8000m peak and others is to get to the top of a 10 foot boulder but up a line thats 8b!
Two contrasting aspects but both have their own personal goal.

Goal Setting

I only started setting goals for climbing two years ago and i found that these can really help, the main reason being is that you can see an improvement in performance. You can go to a different crag and have something in mind to do, this will help you achieve the most out of a session. I find whenever i go to a new crag i try to flash/on-sight all the routes or problems up to 6c then should be aiming to get a 7a done within the session. Being flexible is required when visiting different rock types or places, i know going to Font or on the Gritstone that i should lower my expectations as it is a totally different style to what i am used to.
Using goal setting in climbing can transfer into everyday life, if you don't have any goals it is easy to just be a passenger and carry on day to day life in the easiest way possible. Everybody knows that if you do work hard you will be rewarded, so to me when walking in Scotland last week although sometimes it was tough to stay motivated i know that the goal is to become super confident at navigation in all conditions! This will help when i am on my MIA training and if i am ever in a situation with a group and the weather is bad.
My main goal in life is to be a well rounded outdoor instructor who can be confident of my own abilities in all types of situations from climbing to walking right through to kayaking or canoeing. I feel that this will help me to progress within the outdoor industry and then when at a high enough level specialise in a certain aspect.

Anyway enough chit chat back to the climbing and whats been going down!!

The week in Scotland was a total wash out in terms of ice climbing, heading up to Beinn Dearg we read that Penguin Gully a 3 star grade III is often pretty reliable and in condition from January through to late April. Certainly didn't look in condition to me it was a waterfall, which was such a shame because this meant without anymore cold weather nothing else would be in for that week.
The attention then turned to bagging a few Munro's, Munro's are the highest mountains in Scotland and there is 283 different ones in total. Having the books which gives you the routes is brilliant because you have a plan and a rough idea how long and far the day will be. Managed to get a total of 5 Munro's in the week even with the atrocious weather it was still good at times.
When i arrived home i was really keen to get back out and boulder on some real rock! The weather on Saturday looked as if it was going to totally wash out the whole of the UK for Sunday. But Owen had a back up plan with the new crag in Ruthin staying dry even in the worst conditions so we headed up to their. Wow it's a brilliant venue, it is like a mini Woodwell and some of the harder problems look really good, i was a bit cautious of my finger as this was the first time i had climbed on limestone in around 6 months. Still managed to get two 6c/+'s second go which i was pleased with and had a quick try at some 7a's which i think will definitely go next session.

Some photos below from the week in Scotland:

Scotland soon!

How time flies! Only feels like yesterday when Roger was talking about booking the cottage up in Scotland, but with less than a week i realised i haven't climbed outdoors on a rope in England since November!! Ahh Shit! Will be a bit of a wake up call, hopefully the route training i've been doing at the wall will be transferred to outdoors within a day or so.
Away from climbing i have been converting my recently purchased VW Transporter and this weekend was a big one with changing the triple seat in the front to two single swivel seats. This wasn't as easy as i thought it was going to be, needing to drill four new holes and bolt the seats to the bases. The first one we did we drilled four holes and realised they didn't even line up! So with a bit of jiggery pokery we managed to get them on and learned just to drill one hole at a time and managed to get the other seat lined up first time!
I keep meaning to take photos of it to show it off online but every time i remember its dark outside. This week i'll get some photos up i promise.
Other than this quick update i haven't really done much, just been working lots. The final round of the Winter Bouldering League was on Friday and it was the best turn out yet. Hopefully next year i can improve on a few different things, advertise it more and thus create better turn outs to each comp.
For now my psyche is turned back to the Scottish Winter Climbs guidebook getting a nice little tick list together.

Time for something new

So days are passing by and i feel stuck in a rut, i've heard plenty of people say "life's to short!"
What next i keep asking myself, I am enjoying work at the wall but the simple fact is i don't want to be here for the rest of my life! Looking at what other people have done since finishing university makes me think why aren't i off doing that? There is people in Canada, Fiji, Nepal... people have been working the UAE. And here is me still in Liverpool.
Before this gets on to a rant i'm going to stop myself and get to the point of the post.
The job i was hoping to apply for at Plas y Brenin came up on their vacancies the other day and i read through it and decided that i haven't got the relevant experience at this time, so i called up a few friends who are in similar positions but with a bit more experience and they suggested applying for the Nightwatch scheme at Glenmore Lodge, so i looked into this and it sounds perfect.
I mean being based in Scotland for a full year (a full winter) i got super psyched and downloaded the application form and started to fill it out, turns out when i think about it i've got quite a lot of climbing under my belt. Pretty varied as well from bouldering font 7b+ to leading winter grade V. One vital thing i think is missing from my CV is my D1 so i got on to sorting it all out.. more complex than i thought it would be have to apply for a provisional, and get a medical from the GP at £80!! Well i know it will be worth it when i get it as it is like another NGB award in itself.
I feel I am actually making a concious effort now to move on and get the experience i require, also my finger is feeling better so gently started to train on it again indoors over the past week and it feels good, now to get fit for Fontainbleau in November!!
Even feeling slightly down i realised it wasn't just me who was feeling like this after reading Owens blog (Raw Edge Days) i realised the psyche level in Liverpool is pretty low. Lets hope the weather picks up and people get more motivated!!

Falling! Falling! Falling!

So for years now i have always been afraid of falling, even indoors i found it hard to pluck up the courage and take a fall. I would always either grab the clip, grab a jug or down climb! I just couldn't get my head around falling off.

A couple of months ago having read Dave Macleods '9 out of 10 climbers make the same mistakes' i realised how much of a problem this was, but since reading the book i did very little route climbing as it was bouldering season.

So the issue of falling just fell to the back of my mind. Right up until a couple of weeks ago when i took my first trad fall! Started of having a good day down at Holyhead Mountain got my first trad route of the year boxed off managing Bruvers (HVS 5a) and an excellent route, moves round and i thought why not give the classic King Bee Crack a try, from the ground there only looked to be one tricky little section. So as i goes on with the lead i gets to about a meter above my gear when 'pop' my foot comes off and i was in space! My cam held and i was ok, Heather lowered me down i had a breather and got back on the route and finished it off.

As you can imagine i was gripped and boxed out of my mind at the top of the climb and just releaved to have finished it!

Next trip out climbing we headed up to Scotland for what would be my last winter routes of the year. Heading into Coire An T'Sneachda and my trad fall was not even on my mind i was psyched to be getting back out in and getting more winter stuff done!

Turns out that the fall a few weeks before wasn't going to be my last this year, as half way up my lead on Fluted Buttress Direct my axe popped and i was off again! This time falling onto a hex and having quite an awkward fall trashing both my shins and my left knee, although the cuts and bruises only superficial i think this fall shook me up more than the last as i landed hanging upside down!! George i think was just as shook up as me, luckily i managed to keep my axes and crampons away from my body so was ok to carry on with the route. Again getting back on and finishing it off!

The walk back down from the top was a fairly quiet one, i think mainly the two of us just reflecting on the fall. When down and in the cafe Kris said i looked 'wired' and Roger said im due for my pilots lisence soon! Ha.

That night checking the forecast things didn't look good for the Sunday and i was thinking i was going to finish this winter season on a fall! Start trad season on a fall finish winter on a fall!! Not good.

But luckily for me it wasn't and we managed to get back out and do Red Gully back in Coire An t'Sneachda and i got on a lead another pitch which put my mind at ease.

Looking back at the two falls i cant quite think how they have affected me. Hopefully as Rich said i will only improve as i should now not be afraid of falling and i think he is right because it has put my mind at ease that the two pieces of kit i trusted least have both just saved my life. Back out again this weekend over to Wales for two days with Heather so hopefully no more falling but plenty more crushing!

Winter Wonderland

So we headed upto Scotland for a week last week, the weather forecast wasn't great but i knew we would at least get something done.

On the way up we thought we would stop and get a nice walk in, the weather wasn't great but nevertheless it was a really good day out, good start to what would turn out to be a belter of a week.

As the week unfolded the avalanche forecast was getting worse with most Northern aspect slopes on a Cat 4 avalanche risk. Another couple of days walking, with a quick route in on the East Ridge of Beinn a'Chaorainn although its only a grade II we still roped up just for the practice.

Coiling the rope on the top of a perfect Meggy

Thursday came and the forecast was set out to be a stunner. So we thought we would make the most out of the day by heading upto Creag Meagaidh, wow what a trek in 2 hour walk in for one climb, thats a new record for me.

We checked out the guidebook the eveing before and all had a few routes in mind, but one we all fancied was The Pumpkin grade V, 4 but a **** so as far as classics go this was a good one!

Walking upto the base of the climb i had a few butterflies, got a slight bit of nerves just before.

But when i started climbing the butterlfies went and the climbing was definately the best i have ever experienced, it was amazing. The weather was perfect, at one point i was even belaying without gloves on!!!

First ever grade V and i can definately say i have caught the Scotland and winter bug now, so psyched to get on some more routes and head back up for another trip, already been planning for a weekend away soon.

Me on the second pitch of Pumpkin