I felt the need to be honest and update my earlier posts regarding what I intended doing this year... Well... None of it happened...
 
I only have myself to blame unfortunately! However, I do still have the same ambitions and, having come through the worst of what can only be described as a self-inflicted period of self-doubt during which many things led to a lack of climbing or; more specifically, a lack of motivation and enjoyment of climbing; I have realised that the thing that makes me most psyched, most inspired and most happy is being in the mountains and being outside... and CLIMBING! A long sentence, perhaps, but it sums up how I feel... So all of my previous ambitions are re-instated! Only problem is, my indoor climbing training sessions are virtually non existant at the moment and my outdoor climbing has been sporadic at best for almost 5 months! So a LOT of training will be required to get back to where I was, I fear!
 
It's amazing that all of this has also coincided with a better control of my bloodsugar and insulin; and that lapses in that control (however small) seem to coincide with a resurgence of the problems so quickly... Food for thought perhaps...
 
The thing that really inspired me to get out of this rut in my climbing (and there have been many many other things too) was seeing a short film called 'Single Handed' about a climber who I was lucky enough to climb next to in some dry-tooling competitions last year called Kev Shields (look him up...). Kev has most of his left hand missing and has still managed to solo the dry tooling route 'Fast and Furious' (D11) as well as soloing a collection of super-hard Trad routes up to the grades of E6 and, lately, E7! If that doesn't inspire you to stop being so soft and getting wobbly legs on a V Diff or a Severe nothing will!
 
I don't think I'll do anything like that, but it seriously makes you realise that if you have the ability to do something and the only thing stopping you is you, then there's absolutely no reason you can't get through that.
 
There are a couple of things that I've been up to lately that are worth a mention: I recently had a brilliant day out on Cairn Gorm climbing a classic route called 'Fingers ridge' (Diff?) with a good friend... As the climbing was relatively easy, the emphasis was on technique and just enjoying the exposure, but we managed to climb the route in very quick time which was absolutely fantastic!
 
The other brilliant bit of recent action was a trip to the Isle of Skye in May during which I spent one day on the Cuillin Ridge traversing the (perhaps?) most technical part of the ridge. Having only ever been on Britain's only truly Alpine ridgeline once in an incredible snow storm in 2006, I felt it was time to get to know it a bit better. The day began (after a fairly late start) with an incredibly steep wander up the Great Stone Chute and onto Sgurr Alasdair, before heading to one of my favourite mountains for what the name represents in mountaineering history; Sgurr Mhic Choinnich (Mackenzie's Peak after the great mountain guide John Mackenzie of Sconser... Look him up too!). I was already having great fun before climbing the most feared of the 284 (or 283 now...) Munros that the Scottish Highlands has to offer (Mountains over 3,000ft/914m); Sgurr Dearg, or, more aptly, the Inaccessible Pinnacle. And with a speedy scree run back down to the glen below it was absolutely amazing standing on the top of this exposed shark fin pinnacle watching the sun begin to fall gracefully. One of my favourite mountain moments of all time I reckon!
 
Having done this section of the ridge in reasonably quick time and still feeling fit enough at the end of the day, I feel that after a couple more recce trips I would love to attempt the classic full ridge traverse of the Black Cuillin, probably over two days rather than going mad and attempting it in a one-er! Maybe next year?!?! Who knows... But soon hopefully!
 
Anyway; the point of this post, really, is to admit to my appaling lack of effort in my climbing lately, but also to come to terms with the fact that I really do want to get out there and do things. As well as this, I really don't see why diabetes should be seen as any more of a problem than anything else; such as self-doubt and stress, which I've personally found to have a far worse effect on my motivation and ability than diabetes ever has!