Monday 5 January 2015

It's been a while...

... since I went highballing on the grit...

Narcissus, Froggatt Photo: Guy Van Greuning


The Mint 400, Froggatt Photo: Guy Van Greuning




...or made a little video...


36 Chambers Sit from Alex Barrows on Vimeo.

... or blogged.
I was supposed to blog at the end of October, upon return from Spain as a newly crowned 9a climber. The post was to be adorned with photos of my bulging biceps as I crushed Era Vella into oblivion, and fans would hail my brilliance, charm and modest understated nature on the online forums. Unfortunately my fingers and forearms had other plans, and it turns out 9a is quite hard! It was shitty and hot the whole time but, frankly, I can't imagine I'd have done it anyway. The holds were more slopey than I'd expected, the rests were worse and I wasn't up to it. Whilst there aren't any particularly hard moves, it's stamina beyond reason - comp climber heaven. Pity I'm a shit comp climber! Spring will bring a rematch however, and this time I'll know what I'm up against, so hopefully I'll style my way up it like this guy:

http://enzo-oddo.fr/news/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/dani1.jpg