Ralph’s Place

It’s well and truly back. Not been climbing (outside) for a few weeks, and not been to the wall since *gasp* Monday! Plans for the summer are starting to swim round my mind, but more on that another day.

Last night Mark and I went to listen to Leo Holding talk about Para-Alpinism at Kingston Uni. Para-Alpinism is essentially BASE jumping off cliffs… read: incredible, but stupid lol.

Was a great talk though and still climbing focussed. He told some cool stories about ascents he’d done and injuries he’d suffered, and showed some awesome photos/videos as he went along. I can’t say it’s inspired me to take up BASE jumping, or Deep Water Soloing (never mind how fantastic it looked, it’s still falling into the sea from anything up to 20m lol!) but it has left me wondering where abouts exotic I can go and climb, for cheap, this summer.

If only the summer wasn’t so far off… back to work *sigh*

Just don’t.

Anyway, long week! Too long in the office yesterday, but the thought of maybe having to be there again today was enough to stop me caring (too much) that it was 7:20pm and beer was long overdue. That’d be why I’ve not been on here much anyway, that and I don’t want to talk about last Saturday night

This weekend is gonna be quiet anyway thanks to the “vigorous” storms battering the UK at the moment. Climbing in Pembroke is not so much fun in battering rain and 30mph winds! Probably head to the wall soon instead, need to try and get some routes done at some point though! I’m in danger of becoming a boulderer At least physio went well on Thursday, got an open appointment to come back before Xmas if need be, hopefully won’t have to though… much better!

Gotta go anyway, more later…

Thought this was a brilliant article on Dave McLeod’s website, looking at how your mind and confidence (or ego!) play a such a vital role during a dangerous climb or solo.

Hurlyburly F8b free solo

What a predicament! I want to climb hard on a weekend away, yet still have a few (read: lots) drinks in the evenings. Sadly the 2 don’t go hand in hand. Thankfully though, whichever wins over, I’ll still have a great weekend

This weekend’s trip to Portland was no exception. Drink won over but still did a fair bit of climbing considering! I definitely ache today anyway! Weather was everything we could’ve asked for, especially compared to the washout we were expecting to get in Pembroke.

My first route turned out to be the hardest I did all weekend at 5+, but that’s at least partly because I spent the rest of the weekend feeling quite worn out! Probably could’ve done more if I really tried, but I enjoyed what I did so I don’t care.

Maybe a few photos to follow, not many tho…

Well, a good 2-3 months (I forgot it’s so long) after seeing the doctor originally, I finally saw the physio about my elbow yesterday morning! The outlook actually isn’t that bad. To sum up, I learnt 3 things:

My right arm has “significantly more muscle development than my left”
Ok, so my left arm’s weak, probably due to the injury

My left tricep is very tight
This is more useful, as it could be part of the cause

It is probably a nerve causing my pain, not a tendon at all
Despite the fact that this actually makes perfect sense (as the pain does tend to “wander” up and down my arm) it was still a shocker to hear. Also means that continuing to climb probably didn’t make a great deal of difference afterall… which is reassuring.

So what next? Well, 2 weeks of stretches to both loosen the tricep and do something to the nerve, then another appointment to re-evaluate and (if progress is good) possibly begin strengthening my left arm. I’m dubious about 2 weeks of stretching solving a problem that has dogged me for best part of 18 months now, but I’ll remain optimistic, and besides, the physio said I can keep climbing at the level I am now without too much worry (for now anyway)

More as it happens…