Well the
rainy season is here and finding a dry place to climb is now a major challenge;
apart from the dank and dingy Pixies Hole at Chudleigh, Anstey’s cove is one of
the few local crags that tend to stay dry in the rain. Unfortunately most of
the routes leak like a sieve after a few days of wet weather – Tuppence being
almost the only exception.
I’ve been working Tuppence for just over a month now and
progress is now slow to non-existent, mainly involving me falling off in the
same few places:
The bottom crux: A
bit of a jump from two poor holds. I try this move approximately 20 times per
session with a gain of about 5mm. In a couple of years it’ll be in the bag!
The middle crux: A
move off a painfully small left-hand crimp. I’ve heard that both Adrian Baxter
and Gav Symonds had to train specifically for this move ... time to get strong
I think.
The top crux: A
massive jump. I can’t get anywhere near the hold I’m leaping to but in my dream
last night I could do it easily so I’m not too worried.
All that said, the process of working a route with such funky
moves is great fun, it has become a very enjoyable feature of my climbing week.
I find it useful to have one route to focus on and to train for... I can go
away and hang off left hand crimps for a couple of days, take a rest and get back
on Tuppence ... only to find that this time I can hold on slightly longer before
falling off as usual!
Time to head back down there for another session of jumping, crimping and falling...
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