A Week in the Life of an Unbelievably Psyched Climber: Bouldering, Training, Hero Worship and Philosophical Thinkings
 
This is the end of what has been an unbelievable week for the development of my climbing both on and off the rock and ice – in fact, mostly it’s been a psychological and philosophical workout of epic proportions and has left me feeling relaxed; tense; psyched; frustrated; happy; confused; victorious and beaten but always wanting more of the same.
 
The week began on the 13th/14th of February 2010 with a trip to Aviemore and then Glen Nevis before the magnificent Jimmy Marshall Lecture at the Fort William Mountain Festival with Jimmy, Dave MacLeod and Andy Turner on the Sunday evening. Anyone who has not heard of these three masters should definitely look them up – you will be amazed… These are the stories of the events leading up to and following this momentous occasion which has well and truly changed, or perhaps solidified, the way I feel and think about my climbing (but more of that later on…).
 
Bouldering and Training (Sessions 1 & 2):
 
Session one of my bouldering and training adventure was a total shutdown. I had travelled to Aviemore on Saturday the 13th, hoping to have a look at some problems on the powerful and steep Cuca Boulder which lies literally five minutes walk from the town itself. Having had lunch and a good cup of tea, I was back in the same chair drinking more tea and reading article after article in the complimentary climbing magazines within two hours, having headed up through the snow to the boulder to find melting ice dripping all over the crux holds of almost every problem.
 
After a few hangs from holds and a good look at the routes I decided enough was enough and that any return trip would certainly involve a couple of bouldering mats and a more sociable atmosphere – spotters are certainly a necessity in my opinion! But at least I now know how to get to this hidden gem for a powerful session come summer time.
 
Sunday saw the longest drive of the week for, probably, the least amount of actual climbing, but also one of the most psyche-provoking sessions I can remember having since my first bouldering trip to Dumbarton Rock in 2007; shortly after Dave MacLeod had climbed his V13, Pressure and his E11 7a, Rhapsody. The venue for session two was the awe-inspiring Glen Nevis.
 
Unfortunately, however, I arrived in the pouring rain and, after a quick bite to eat in the car, ended up jogging and driving the length of the glen searching for dry routes on the boulders. Having driven up and down the glen countless times, but never having bouldered there, this was a new experience for me and was full of excitement, followed by disappointment when I realised every route on almost every boulder was totally soaked. This was until I ran through the bog and spotted the undeniably beautiful shape of the Heather Hat boulder with its five meter roof. Here there would surely be something dry to have a go at… surely?!
 
Well, dry-ish, I believe the phrase is. Even though this roof has probably seen off countless storms without even getting damp, this rain seemed to find the sort of friction that climbers can only dream of and had dribbled right down the horizontal roof and all over the crux holds – nightmare! But I wasn’t going to be beaten, even though I knew that the two driest routes in, virtually the entire glen were way beyond my current limit. And so, I charged back to the car and brought up my bouldering mat and climbing gear and pitched up below the roof in the relative dry, listening to the drips from the roof constantly hitting my bouldering mat and gradually soaking me in the process.
 
I must have spent about three or four hours under that boulder roof, most of which was taken up with cursing the weather; thinking; drying off, brushing and gently chalking the holds in a vain attempt to get some sort of friction. In all, realistically, I must have managed just 4 or 5 real solid moves on the two routes I was trying; The Pagan Direct, (Font 7b+) and Pagan Uillean (Font 7a+).
 
This achievement, no matter how small, was certainly a huge improvement for me and has made me desperate to go back and work on the latter for a possible summer project. I also managed to get some good video footage of my failed attempts which is a brilliant tool to use in order to see what I’m doing right or wrong and to try and improve my movement on the route. I have never been so psyched about not actually climbing anything!
 
From this heightened sense of adventure and possibility, mixed with some rather emotional feelings about being amongst the mountains alone and enjoying such a brilliant experience, it was soon time to pack up and head down to Fort William for what I expected would be the highlight of my weekend…
 
Hero Worship?:
 
… And my expectation was completely wrong. This wasn’t the highlight of my weekend at all… This was probably closer to being the highlight of my climbing life! Not because of who I met or what I saw, but because of the way it seems to have, and is, affecting my thoughts on climbing and mountaineering and what it means to me personally. This is the kind of philosophical and psychological enlightenment, if that’s not too cheesy, that seems to change everything and nothing in one swift and seamless movement and drives you up a gear without even realising that you’ve made any development until you really stop and think about it… Pretty deep stuff!
 
This event was the Jimmy Marshall Lecture at the Fort William Mountain Festival in which the great Jimmy Marshall was presented with an award to commemorate a lifetime contribution to Scottish Mountain Culture before Dave MacLeod and Andy Turner took an inspired crowd through their efforts that week, having re-enacted the famous seven Ben Nevis winter routes in seven days (originally done by Jimmy Marshall and Robin Smith) 50 years to the day since the original, groundbreaking effort.
 
Jimmy Marshall was a man full of fantastic memories, jokes and graciousness, but also a great deal of wisdom; some of which I will mention in my own Philosophical Thinkings. His main point seemed to be that climbing is all about the people and the friendships that are made – this from a man who is known for having progressed Scottish Winter climbing by about 10 years in one single week with primitive equipment! This was followed by a fantastic insight into Dave and Andy’s week, mostly on film, which showed just how hard two modern day superstars found the challenge even with modern equipment and techniques.
 
The highlight of the evening was the Q and A session with Jimmy Marshall in which, a clearly excited Dave MacLeod took the opportunity to get in as many questions as he could himself! This was brilliant because it was the man who is, undoubtedly, one of my climbing heroes being completely enthralled by his own climbing hero. This was not only fantastic because the questions and answers were absolutely brilliant, but also because it shows that climbing heroes are nothing like other sporting heroes. In fact, are they even heroes at all?!
 
As Dave pointed out, you can go up to any boulder problem or climbing route and feel the exact same tension and atmosphere that your hero did when they climbed the exact same route, just the same as what I’d been doing in Glen Nevis. You just don’t get that in any other sport – it’s impossible. And the only difference between you and your hero is their training. The fact is that you too could be that good! An amazing thought! But what’s even more amazing is that your climbing experience can be almost identical to that of your hero, but they are always still completely different. Even if you get better than your hero, you can never beat them in climbing. That’s not what the sport is about at all.
 
But this is the thing… This is exactly what makes them the hero: The fact that they have done the hard yards and earned the reward. In a way, this makes it right to hold them in your mind as a hero for your own personal gain. These are the people that you must gain inspiration from in order to develop your own training and push yourself to the next level in your own climbing pathway.
 
I did also manage to get the final question in to Jimmy, asking how he got into ice climbing from being a middle-class youngster in Edinburgh; comparing his experience to our modern day exposure to all sorts of climbing information. His answer was simple. There was a hill, with some snow, so he climbed it and found that he was fairly good! Brilliant!
 
A memory that I will never forget is the chance afterwards to chat to Dave, Andy, Jimmy and Kev Shields; all of whom I’ve met previously at competitions and at climbing venues or lectures; and all of whom I feel are the nicest people you are likely to meet. But the thing that made this so special was that you can chat to these guys on an almost equal level – they are climbers and so are you, and you’ve probably experienced very similar feelings to those they have felt on some of their most groundbreaking routes. That is one special realisation! Oh yeh; and I got them all to sign my Ben Nevis book – not a bad day’s effort!
 
Bouldering and Training (Sessions 3, 4 & 5):
 
This brings me nicely on to the following three training sessions of the week. The psyche I experienced after the lecture made me want to climb until my fingers bled – and that’s exactly what I did! Having been given some time off in lieu I decided to maximise my outdoor training and try and find some inspiring boulder projects that weren’t too wet to train on.
 
Session three took me to the local bouldering venue of Cummingston on Monday the 15th, where I was completely shut down by every problem I tried for almost the entire day, leaving me frustrated but also, in hindsight, more than happy that I was developing strength and technique on the multiple sit-starts before the failure on route after route.
 
It was only when the light was beginning to fade that I managed to make a breakthrough, climbing two brilliant routes, one called Bat Man (Font 6b/V4) and another which may be a new route (but, then probably not) which comes out of the same cave, traversing the lip to the right instead of the left which I’m calling Escape From the Bat Cave (Font 6a/V3?) until I find it in a guidebook elsewhere. These problems were brilliant for working my footwork and precision as well as my finger strength and body positioning – and that’s why I repeated them about 30 times as the sun went down, making sure I made each move cleaner and more fluid with every attempt.
 
Wednesday’s session four saw me travel across to a beautiful spot near Ullapool called Ardmair Beach and the Tigh-na-mara outcrop. This must be one of my favourite places just now and although I didn’t actually climb anything and spent most of the day working on one or two moves between vigorous brushing and drying sessions (as the wall was soaked by bog run-off after the latest snow-melt), I felt that the trip was more than worthwhile as I found a couple of routes that I can certainly do with the right conditions, but will take a bit of concentrated effort and will hopefully see me develop my technique on roof problems.
 
This is why, on Friday, session five saw me return with my flat-mate Sam to try the same problems. However, this time the drips had turned to ice and the holds were still far too damp to give any help with friction on the horribly sloping holds and tiny crimps.
 
Session five at Ardmair Beach was, however, one of the most positive sessions as I got very close to climbing three fairly hard routes, but also managed to seemingly impress Sam who, earlier that week, had been surprised that I was struggling to get any routes done, even those well within my grade. It was also an exercise of climbing in front of someone who wouldn’t mind telling me what they thought and realising that the only affect that this should have on me is to help me progress. I left the beach happy that I had made some huge improvements and had found some great problems to work on for the next few months if conditions dry up a bit.
 
… What a week!
 
Philosophical Thinkings:
 
This week has truly been a whirlwind of activity, with major highs and lows and a constant and complete dependence on nature and the weather for breaks. I have spent a lot of time sitting under boulders alone staring out at wonderful scenery and contemplating my connection to it and my aims with the sport that I have fallen completely in love with.
 
To go back to what Jimmy Marshall had said about climbing being more about the friendships and the people that you meet more than the routes that you climb, this is an incredibly accurate message and is one that I am constantly banging on about to people that ask me about my climbing. It is my opinion that climbers are the best people in the world. They are people who have an undeniable appreciation for their environment and their relationship to nature and to the people and places around them.
 
On this note, as I sat under the Heather Hat boulder roof in Glen Nevis watching the rain I had a bit of a realisation: I would have been more lonely sat at home in front of the TV than I could ever feel alone in the midst of a bog in Glen Nevis. The reason: Because the surrounding mountains are coming to be some of the truest friends you could ever imagine having. I have seen them in many guises and have sometimes come to hate and despise them, but always love and enjoy them after the initial frustration and I will always hold the memories of our meetings in the highest regard. It certainly felt to me like I was amongst friends as I sat waiting for my arms and fingers to recover and let me have another go at conquering the next desperate move. In situations like this, loneliness doesn’t even exist. This is one of the many almost magical wonders of being able to go climbing.
 
Another thought that I had was about the sheer pointlessness of climbing! It is incredible how much time, money and effort we throw at such a wonderfully pointless sport! My biggest achievements this week can be totally crushed in general conversation because people who don’t understand just don’t tend to care, yet to me they are phenomenal! How wonderful it is that you can have something so intensely purposeful yet meaningless to dive into and escape from the usual trials and tribulations of life.
 
I think Andy Kirkpatrick said it best when he said something about how climbing is totally pointless; the point in it is to end up exactly where you are stood at the start via the hardest possible route. In any other sport or, indeed, life venture, this would be seen as complete stupidity.
 
But this is exactly what makes it have so much of a point to the individual involved. This is their chosen mission. This is their challenge. This is exactly what they are living for at the very moment they are trying it. Without it at that very moment, their entire being is the thing that is pointless, not the climbing.
 
The most beautiful thing that I found about this week, through watching one of the great climbers of the old generation and two of my modern heroes (yes, heroes!), as well as climbing my own problems and replaying the moves in my head is that whatever it is you experience as a climber it is the inspiration that you draw from the past that drives you forward to the future. It’s no good looking to the future with no inspiration or realisation. You need to be psyched and motivated. There is nothing else that can do that, it has to come from somewhere in the past… So, my message to anyone who has managed to get to the end of this essay without going mad; is keep looking backwards and you’ll almost certainly find the inspiration that will take you forwards. I know I have.