Posts

Showing posts from March, 2010

Shoulder Injury - day 5 - pain score 6.5

last night I enjoyed the club meet at the Doffcocker, Gary Gibson was speaking and his lecture was pretty entertaining especially given his controversial reputation. By the time I got home however my shoulder was very painful. same sharp pain and dull ache as before. Earlier in the day I had to leave work to go to the pharmacist as I couldn't concentrate on anything due to the shoulder. when I said that Ibuprofen and paracetamol wasn't touching it they reccomended Diclofenac Potassium as it is supposed to be a stronger anti-inflammatory. I took two before I drove down to Bristol and although I didn't arrive until about half one in the morning I already felt better. It was the first time I had a relatively restful nights sleep, although it was painful getting out of bed, it had definitely got better. Throughout the day I've been taking this at the intervals reccomended and my shoulder really does seem to have got a lot better today. Maybe I'm just not feeling the pai

Shoulder injury day 4 - pain score 8.0

I only woke up three times last night, the usual stabbing pain which seems to be located immediately at the top of the humerous. Having fully woken up the whole shoulder is throbbing from the neck to half way down my arm. Lifting or rotating my arm outwards is still a no no and throbs after the sharp pain. I iced it three times and took all the ibu and paras I was allowed yesterday. The only reason the pain score is less is because if I lie really still it is almost bearable. I hope that the throbbing means it's trying to heal itself.

Shoulder injury - day 3 - pain score 8.5

I woke up about three times last night although I had a straight through sleep from half past one to about five. Waking up at seven was again very painful, on a scale of one to ten it's about eight or nine. Need to ice it before work, then paracetamol. No improvement yet :(

Agony

I woke up earlier than I normally would today as my shoulder was giving me some gip. As soon as I moved I was in agony. My right shoulder is very painful - it appears to be most painful just behind the collar bone although it's an excrusiating dull ache over my entire shoulder joint and when I move in certain directions I get a very sharp spasmodic pain. I know when I must have done it - on Friday on 5.2%abv at WIlton one. This involves a fairly dynamic right hand slap up to a crimp. At the time I felt nothing, no pain or anything and even yesterday it was just a small ache but today the pain is excruciating. I spoke to the Sister in law who is a doctor who examined it and said that the most likely diagnosis is rotator cuff muscle damage. I'm really hoping it is a muscular injury, if it's tendon related I can wave goodbye to climbing in Font. The reason I think it's not a tendon tear is firstly because there was no 'snapping point' followed by immediate pain, a

rain

Went to Wilton 1 even though it was pissing it down. I didn't think that I'd get anything done because of the rain, but I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that the SB wall was still dry. The idea was to test out the finger. I managed to get baby Fae (6b/c) on tape and also after drying the holds I also got 5.2%abv (6b+) on tape from a standing start. Thing is I can't work out how to get the footage off as I need to upgrade my computer, so I'll have to save it up for an edit later in the year... The finger swelling has gone down somewhat and now feels ok even after climibng on it today. Think it'll be fine. It looks like the hold that GCW broke off yesterday could do with being treated as it's quite sandy and fragile. It looks like it'd be susceptible to crumbling. Clocks go back this weekend, roll on the summer!

More Wilton stuff and mashed hand

Thursday 25th March - today was, quite frankly bloody knackering. I had a presentation to give in Cardiff and for some stupid reason I decided to drive it on the day. This meant leaving at 4:30 in the morning and due to delays I didn’t get down to Cardiff until gone ten. Luckily the meeting had been delayed as well which meant it wasn’t a wasted trip as I actually got to do what I intended to. Anyway, I finished there at about 12:30 and then made my way back up – I had intended to get some climbing in at some point and loosely arranged with GCW to meet at Wilton 1 for some Snakey B climbage. In the event, I didn’t get up there until nearly 5 and after spending a few minutes wandering aimlessly I finally located the Lanky one skulking over by at the Graveyard end. He was trying one of the eliminates – the quarry really could do with an updated guide building on the good work of the SouthLancs boys as there are almost certainly more eliminates and problems that have been done since. Aft

Snakey B stuff

Tuesday 23rd March. The weather forecast for today was atrocious, and lived up to all expectations. The rain started to fall at about 2:30 and got steadily worse. I knew that the Lankster was out and about and asked him to let me know the Wilton 1 conditions if he happened to be in the area. Luckily after a trip up to Nik’s neck of the woods he decided to pop over to finish off Snakey B without the crimp and reported back that conditions were dry in spite of the rain. I was amazed as there was quite a bit of rain, but as it was coming from the West and the wall is ever so slightly overhanging, the wall wasn’t wet at all. I was psyched to get back on the Snakey wall. I’d not done much bouldering in Wilton, except at the graveyard end, but I’m really enjoying it at the moment so felt like I need to capitalise on this. I got straight on to Snakey B with the intention to look at using the small crimp that I’d overlooked the other day. The start is easy, and getting the big slopey sidepull

additions to lists

A couple of additions: Baby Fae 6b/c to the retrospective crushes, if nothing else to give me psyche for later in the year, and also I've decided to add Pond arete at Denham to the list - I remember trying this last year when it felt nails, but reckon I could do it this year.

Baby Fae crushed, Snakey B confusion

After various discussions on UKB here I decided to head down to Wilton 1 to take a look for myself at Snakey B, and also Baby Fae, an eliminate from Mr Emery and named by GCW. I arrived at the crag at about 5:20 and got straight on to Baby Fae - It took a couple of goes to work out the start, but once I'd worked it out, I quickly realised that the crux is getting established on the intermediate juggy sloper. The right hand side of the hold is better than the left, so I concentrated on cranking at that end. The final reach looks impossible, but once established on the big hold it becomes reachable - I could do the two moves in isolation after a few tries and it didn't feel too hard so I went for the link up. After a couple of goes I nailed it. My method goes from the starting sidepull (great holds!!, then matches the big hold before getting my left toe on the top of the sharp sidepull and going for the jug. It was in the bag. There's a useful little crimp on the edge of the

Wilton burns, and Hacker crushed.

I had the morning working from home, but really wasn't getting into anything so I decided that an hour at Wilton might well shake me back into the working groove... (!!). I got to Wilton at about a quarter past nine. Last night when on the way to the LCCC Committee meeting at about 7:30 I noticed that Wilton was on fire - there were loads of people about and I was already late, so I didn't think it was necessary to stop. When I arived this morning the heather was still smoking in places, and a considerable amount of the quarry has been burnt - all but one of the hillocks opposite the Prow have been burnt as well as half of the other side of the hill. I guess this happens every now and then, and given the lack of rain recently it is not surprising. It has only been a couple of years since virtually all of the moor on the way to Tockholes burnt. When I got there there there were some United Utilities lads checking out the fire damage to the Telegraph poles. Anyways, the objective

Easy Brownstones pickings

Image
After a couple of non eventful post-work Brownstones trips last week I managed to also get over to Broughton on Thursday afternoon with Ste. The more I go to this wall, the more I like it. There are just so many problems to go at, and although a lot of them do cross over each other, I reckon this is one of the best walls in the country. The Taffman hasn’t been out in ages, so on Sunday, an easy doors trip out was the order of the day, and it looked like the rain wouldn’t make an appearance. Taff came round at about 10 and after tea we headed over to Brownstones. The conditions were excellent, about as good as they get, it wasn’t too cold to make climbing unpleasant, but there was still good friction for most of the time. The lack of rain recently has meant that seepage is virtually zero, even the Ash Pit walls aren’t wet like they usually are! We didn’t some across any damp holds the entire time we were there. As well as messing around on other things, I ticked the following: Pocket ho

Working away, Brownstones and Wilton.

Working away...hotel room training Working away last week was a bit manic. As I was mostly in North London, with no crags or climbing centres within twenty miles my only option was to make use of the hotel room. The desk in the room was one of those long desks with a telly at one end and a kettle at the other. As it was quite long, it was possible to traverse from one side to the other from sitting and build up quite a pump - good training for Elemental at Thorn! Other exercises included situps, crunches, twist crunches, side sit ups, push ups and dips. It's surprising what boredom can do for the imagination... Brownstones and Wilton After relative inactivity this week I decided a trip outside was in order. As time was limited I decided a local hit was the only viable option - we had food to prepare for Grandads 90th on Sunday so Brownstones seemed the best place to go. The Pond end although being waterlogged still is a lot drier than a few weeks ago when the water level had totall

Funeral

Image
Two weeks ago a climbing friend of mine died at the top of the main overhang at Wolf Mountain Climbing centre. He had a massive heart attack having clipped the last bolt, and never gained consciousness. Last Monday I travelled down to Shrewsbury with friends to go to his rememberance service. The day was very sunny, and the mood sombre. Robbo was a longtime fellow member of the Lancashire Caving and Climbing Club and his attitude and good nature will surely be missed on the crag. Although a very sad day, the large attendance bears testament to how many people have enjoyed his company over the years. We all went to Royal Hill Pub on the riverside and had curry and beers before heading back up. Some of his ashes were buried, the rest will be scattered down Bishops rib, his favourite climb at Chair Ladder, in Cornwall.