Monday, May 17, 2010

Hot, hot, hot

Tony on Nahkhiirmees (7a)

Me on the aptly named Kesäpäivä ("summer day") a great climb but rather under-graded at 4

Summer arrived with a bang (or perhaps a sizzle) and suddenly Finland was the warmest place in Europe last weekend. Of course every birch tree in the country decides to dump its pollen at this point ensuring many people like me spending the weekend sneezing, rubbing their itchy eyes and falling asleep from taking antihistamine. I went climbing at Hyttyskallio with Tony and Anni, although my climbing was pretty lethargic and pathetic. Tony put in a sterling effort on Nahkhiirmees (7a) but didn't get the redpoint in sweaty conditions and took a whopper of a fall in the process! I belayed and enjoyed the sunshine. Thanks to Anni for snapping pics.

4 comments:

Tony said...

Not sure it was such a big fall. But well held. We should go back on a cooler day, with a bit more practice I'm sure you could tick pyromaani.

Toby - Northern Light Blog said...

I conciously didn't say how far you fell on the basis that climbers falls are like fishermen's tales and the reported size is generally twice as big as reality. Nevertheless it looked a bloody long way!

I'll start doing some pull ups in preparation for round II with Pyromaani!

Tony said...

I honestly don't think you need to do pull ups for Pyromaani. You're certainly strong enough. I think you need to work on body position. As a certain coach says "It's a myth that you have to be strong for climbing overhangs, when done well you hardly have to bend your arms at all". There are many girls climbing mid 7s who at least claim not to be able to do 10 pull ups.

Toby - Northern Light Blog said...

Probably right, although I'm totally with those girls in that I don't think I can do more than about two pull ups!