Bouldering at The Roaches: Spring Boulders

Today seems to be the only day this week that it's likely that The Roaches will get no rain, so we decided on another trip out. This time, we kept it exclusively at Spring Boulders. Most of the green/green circuit problems have been ticked off now, and I managed to bag my first orange problem - a V0+, to boot!

There was only one other climber who was working on a hard boulder a little further away, so we had free run of everything.

Notable ascents for me were:

Runnel Arete which we both struggled with last time before Alex realised today that it's easier to start on the left side and swap to the right than to keep trying to struggle up the left side with no apparent holds for the left side of the body!

Bog Slab, which was my first V0 (Alex's was Left Slab which he did last time), achieved by the technique Alex did to conquer it - just run up it as fast and hard as you can. My right hand found a little pebble sticking up that did actually help!

Gentle Slab on the Gentle Slab Boulder was achieved by running up it again! Peak Bouldering says to "smear up the right-hand side of the slab" and I later found that "smearing" is a technique where you place your whole foot on the rock to gain a foothold where there isn't any. We tried again but couldn't finesse it. Hey, an ascent is an ascent, if I brute forced it, I count it as a send!

Wavy Slab on the Gentle Slab Boulder: apparently "smear" on this too but I managed to get my hands into a high horizontal groove and pulled myself up to the apex from there. My first orange problem, though it's also on the green circuit. Alex struggled with this one but he'd already sliced his hand open again by this point. Hopefully next time... and hopefully I can bag Left Slab on Blister Slab next too, to even things out...

Spring Boulders

Bog Boulder: Bog Arete Left (VB) - Both, Bog Slab (V0) - Both, Runnel Arete (VB) - Both

Little Boulder: Blunt Arete (V0) - Both

Gentle Slab Boulder: Gentle Slab (V0-) - Both, Wavy Slab (V0+) - Me

Alex up Bog Arete Left (VB)

Alex having ran straight up Bog Slab (V0)

Look at all this beautiful food!

I don't want Facebook to be about everything I cook either, so here's some things I've made in the last few weeks...

Spiced lentil, nut and vegetable roast, ready for the oven

Nawabi Kheema Pilau

Mixed vegetable curry. Veggie dishes rarely fill me so I made a Tarka Dhal to go with it.

Just a quick stir fry with a packet sauce

Kheema Shahzada

Kedgeree, an old favourite

As is this Feta, Spinach and Lemon Rolled Lamb, ready for the slow cooker..

Bouldering at The Roaches: Spring Boulders and Lower Tier

Well, the original idea of this blog was to talk about two things:

1) The problems in the world that exist today (basically, that the world is run by a devil worshipping sex cult that wants to murder the majority of us, that has been manipulating and lying to us for years)
2) The way forward for humanity, solving those problems and moving forward together to a brighter future (and unlike everybody else, I know the way forward, for sure...)

I feel I can talk about these things with authority due to a groudbreaking religious/spiritual experience I had about five years ago, where for six days I actually lived as a human being was originally supposed to, giving me a concrete understanding of the true nature of reality.

However, over the last five years I've come to realise that the best reception that I can expect from anybody, whether a conspiracy theorist, spiritual, religious, or none of the above, is apathy at best, ridicule at worst. It's no big deal though. It's not fair for me to expect people to grasp such abstract concepts and unprecedented events. I'm meeting more likeminded people these days who are on my wavelength to some degree, so that's cool.

Furthermore, I am very busy, and I have so much I could write and so many notes that it's hard to know where to start... and I'll get to where I'm going no matter whether I write about such subjects here or not.

So, I'm gonna use this blog to also log my bouldering adventures, and the stuff I cook, because I'd rather not stick it on Facebook.

Anyway, my son is a fairly experienced indoor climber. I personally have only done one indoor session. We both did a day outdoor climbing and bouldering the other day so decided it was something worth getting into, since the pricks who run the world have proven that they can shut down anything they want under any false pretence at any time. Having already acquired a chalk bag and shoes, we just needed a bouldering mat, which came today.

Just a quick session up The Roaches, this is what we bagged (routes from the book Peak Bouldering)

Lower Tier Boulders

Blister Slab: Left Slab (V0) - Alex, Slab 2 (VB) - Both, Block and Crack (VB) - Both

Spring Boulders

Little Summit: Summit Arete (V0-) - Both - and my first V0-!

Little Boulder: Slabby Seam (VB) - Both

Bog Boulder: Poxy (VB) - Both

Since managing to get to the top of White Rastafarian is a V3 climb I doubt I'll ever get any good but it's fun and a decent enough workout!

Alex conquering Left Slab on Blister Slab

Peak Bouldering helps to de-mystify things