rginns blog

2014 has definitely been mixed and can be summed up as follows: crap start, ok middle, good ending. The first couple of months weren't too bad, although getting out was difficult, but I managed to meet Nick and Paul at the Roaches, went to Wrights Rocks in the Churnet and then Font in March. March, April and May were spent mostly injured from spraining my wrist on the visit to Font, so no climbing. Life stuff involved organising the restoration of furniture from my Grandfather-in-law's house after he died, with some nice results. He'd be pleased. Easter saw a visit to Torridon with the family, one of my favourite places on earth. managed some limited climbing as I was still recovering from the wrist injury. June consisted mostly of lunchtime stamina sessions at Brownstones, my birthday, Great North Swim (2 miles in 1 hour 16 mins), general swimming in the docks, July saw more swimming, this time in Salford Docks (1 mile in 33 mins 42), visits to Serbia, the Lancashi

Some more videos I've recently put together. First, some Mushrooms in Font when it was wet... Fontainebleau Mushrooms from Rick Ginns on Vimeo . One off the project list: Pigswill Sitter 7A Pigswill Sitter 7A from Rick Ginns on Vimeo . A couple of problems from a brief visit to Font for work: Fontainebleau November 2014 from Rick Ginns on Vimeo . And Lastly, another one off the list: Snakey B Original 7A Snakey B original 7A - Wilton 1 quarry from Rick Ginns on Vimeo .

Some recent videos I've done.... Bouldering mainly. JUMBLES QUARRY Pursuit of Slappiness 7A / 7A+ from Rick Ginns on Vimeo . WEASEL QUARRY Madferret 7B, Weasel quarry, Cadshaw, Lancashire from Rick Ginns on Vimeo . ANGLEZARKE Anglezarke bouldering from Rick Ginns on Vimeo .

There is a movement in Lancashire. Local activism has been taking hold in the last few years. First there was the Jumbles development, 2010 - problems cleaned and climbed, vegetation removed, new routes done. Then, 2013 saw an acceleration in activity at Ousel's Nest quarry, with large blocks removed, trees cut back and new routes climbed. Of course, Tim has been in residence for upwards of 7 years, but only in 2013 did collective action start happening. This year has been the turn of Wilton 4. Of course this is nothing new. From a cursory glance at the old Black Dog new routes book from the 1980s it is clear to see the flurry's of activity in various quarries that are in vogue at the time, the crags sometimes then falling back into obscurity                                         Robin Mueller on Ring Ooze, Ousel's Nest Quarry This activity has always been driven by local, dedicated climbers, usually with a slightly unhinged obsession for their chosen crag. The

I've tried this on and off for a while... finally did it! Not hard, but one I really wanted to do! Snakey B 6C+ from Rick Ginns on Vimeo .

Finally got round to putting a couple of clips together of easy stuff during a couple of hours at the Celtic Jumble in Torridon. My new favourite holiday destination along with Font... Caveat: I was recovering from a nasty wrist-tendon injury at the time, so nowt difficult. What a place though. converted Torridon from Rick Ginns on Vimeo .

I'll start with a nice problem I did tonight at Stronstrey, pretty sure it's not been done before. Nice big moves between good holds: Anhedonia 2 from Rick Ginns on Vimeo . I also climbed the right hand side of the arete of Hoard at around 5+ which is quite a good variation. I've been running a bit, usually doing 5k each time, which is enough for me. An easy form of exercise straight out the front door, but I've never been a runner, I just love the 'afters', natural endorphins are the shit! Aside from running, I've done two swims this year, the Great North swim 2 mile course in Windermere and the 1 mile in Salford: Windermere: 1hr16:12 (position 723 of 1104) Salford: 33:42 (position 777 of 2225) I did both swims breaststroke, but I've been managing to get some sessions in at Salford Quays and Box end in Bedford trying to perfect my front crawl. I'm particularly pleased with the 1 mile swim as I've knocked off 11 minutes from last ye

So here's another update in the life of a punter... The weather has been cracking recently and I've been trying to take as much advantage of that as possible. But first, let's talk about bolts. Bolts are all over the quarries, I don't think there is a popular quarry without them, not to mention pegs, which are even more prevalent. The bolts tend to appear on the more futuristic or harder routes, but not exclusively, a lot having been placed in the 80s and 90s, when the climbs were too bold or too unprotectable to envisage in their natural state. Take Pritchards 'Suspended in Cryonics' E5 6c in Wilton 4 - a relatively hidden wall in a relatively under-used quarry, but a superb looking vertical 10 metre ish climb on small edges with no possibility of protection, and from the crux you're likely to be taking a serious fall. This was climbed in 1986, before the use (invention?) of bouldering mats. Altogether a serious proposition even with several mats. You

Blimey it's been a while since I've updated the blog... here goes. So since getting on G's board a couple of times I was inspired to start training properly, and managed to get on the board three or four times a week for a while, even if only for short sessions. I've had good sessions outdoors here and there, met up with a good friend Nick at the Roaches on a dry/damp day earlier in the year, and been rained off a few times... then snatched sessions where time and opportunity allowed. I managed to get to Wright's rocks in the Churnet on a cold (and wet!) day, - (I need to get back here), and then got to Font at the beginning of March, where things started to go pear shaped. I decided to head to the Elephant, weather was great, warmed up at the rh side and fancied a look at Lepreux. After a play on the 6a to the right, I got on the problem, the hardest move for me is getting off the ground to the slopey crimp, but anyway, trying to move off this, I popped somethin

Last night I headed over into deepest darkest Lancashire for an inaugural visit to the board of POWER recently constructed by GCW . Firstly I was pretty impressed by the general build quality. This is built to last and has proper joist hangers and everything! He's even finished the corners with profile dowels. Nice attention to detail... Anyway, the angle is about 33 degrees and it was nice to get on someone elses board - there are a few more resin holds than I have (I think I need to get some more), but a nice mix between crimps, pockets, pinches etc. It was a good session, interspersed with Christmas cake and coffee. Can't go wrong. Awesome hospitality... I'm feeling it this morning, which tells me I've not been on my board enough. The grades almost exclusively settled on about 6b+. Awesome. There are also bolts to hang a Bachar ladder off. This should be an easy one for me to make and install and would add a good training tool I think It's got me all ps

So I've not updated the blog for a while, and now I've worked out how to reorder the posts so they appear on the actual date they happened rather than writing them donkeys after etc... Anyhow, what's been going on since the walk with my Dad? In short, my climbing has been fairly sporadic. Indoor climbing In October and November I dusted off my harness and had a few weeks of going to the wall and getting back into leading. Now bearing in mind I've not been leading for upwards of 2 years I expected to find it tough. I decided to take a different attitude than I have in the past and actually use the sessions as a training resource. Sounds silly but I've always tended to give a shit about performing at the wall as opposed to maximising gains through training. So, training head on, I decided to LEAD as many routes as possible, avoiding toproping as much as possible. Normalising leading, making it the default, certainly helpedmy head, and I was soon knocking on 6a/6