Five days previous to this I'd had a look at a route called Killa Gorilla, a F7b, whilst out climbing along Magical Mystery Tour at Berry Head as part of my training for our Portugal Deep Water Solo trip. The route looked fantastic, with a long and super-steep rising traverse into the entrance to the Great Cave leading to a fingery crux near the end before the finishing jugs. It was then that I got all psyched to try and climb the route before we flew out to Portugal in just one weeks time. I decided if I was going to climb my first 7b, I wanted it to be on a route that inspired me and was on my home turf.
Killa Gorilla fitted the bill perfectly for me. The race was on!
Over the weekend of 14/15th September I managed a couple of sessions down there trying the route in the mornings before work. I made pretty good progress on the Saturday, making it up to the final crux, but failed to unlock the right moves to victory. On Sunday, with some of the finishing holds chalked up, I had a couple more goes on it, but inadequate rests, a broken hold, and lack of time put an end to any chances of doing it that day too.
Time was running out for me with our flight booked for Thursday, and on top of that the weather was conspiring against me too with rain forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday!
Not only was I getting fed up of falling off the route all the time, but I was getting extremely frustrated as my likelyhood of climbing Killa Gorilla before we flew out to Portugal seemed to be quickly slipping away from me.
Monday was the only option, and with a forecast of sunshine and showers it would be the best chance I'd have before we flew out.
However, as the rain poured down outside my heart sank, and I started thinking that it was 'game over' for my attempt on Killa Gorilla. Then I got angry, and remembering the forecast of strong WNW winds and showers, I got even more determined to try and climb the route that morning - the crag would be sheltered from the prevailing wind and rain, and any sunshine should dry the rock out pretty quickly I reckoned.
After breakfast I walked the dog, and it wasn't long before the sun started to shine down on me again. Things were starting to look a bit better for the attempt!
Once down in the Great Cave I discovered that the rock was indeed very dry providing superb climbing conditions. Excellent!
It wasn't long before I'd traversed around to the big ledge near the start of Killa Gorilla with my dry bag of gear. I climbed on up the long way around to the last few holds on the route to check out that broken hold and re-chalk it if neccessary. Luckily the hold was ok, as only a small part had broken off, and it was still useable. I lowered down onto it, and the other crimp, and climbed back up to the finishing jug, just for my own peace of mind that I could do that move and hold onto the holds okay.
Back at the big ledge I made sure that I had a good half an hour rest before my first attempt on the route that day. This had been my downfall the day before, and I wasn't going to make that mistake again! This gave me plenty of time to visualise the climb and the moves on the crux I'd need to execute correctly. During this rest period I chose to listen to some tunes on my MP3 Player, something I'd not done before climbing a route, in the hope this would help me relax and put me in a positive mindset before the ascent.
At about ten to twelve, and with Bonnie Tyler's 'Holding out for a Hero' still playing in my head I started to climb the route, now that the tide had come up enough. I climbed quickly and relatively smoothly through the first fingery bit of climbing, before heading up the line of jugs through the ever steepening roof ahead of me. I made use of a couple of semi-rests to shake-out a bit and help me relax some more, prior to my arrival at the corner just short of the final crux. From here I made the strenuous move out rightwards and matched on a thin slot, but my foot popped and I took a wild cut loose swing. Managing to hold the swing, I didn't waste time trying to get my feet back on, and instead lunged out rightwards to gain a couple of jugs on the very lip of nowhere. Once I'd got these holds I swung a heel hook back on and had a quick shake-out whilst I eyed up the next fingery crux holds. I tried to reach up to the righthand hold but couldn't reach it as my body was too bent in the middle. I quickly re-positioned my heel hook further away, which then allowed me to reach the hold. I wrapped my thumb around it too for extra grip, then launched up to latch the lefthand crimp. Yes, I was almost there! Don't blow it now! Focus! I re-positioned my feet again and set up for the dynamic move to the finishing jug. One two three, bang! I got it! Yes!!! I quickly matched on it, before blasting up through a few more jugs to a more vertical and less strenuous position. I'd done it!!! I'd climbed this amazing route; my first F7b!!! I let out several massive hoots for joy and punched the air! Yeahhhhh!!! Woohooooo!!!! I was SO happy man!!! Yes!!! :D
Climbing Killa Gorilla really meant a lot to me. Obviously being my first 7b in pretty much my back garden was extremely special to me, but added to that was the fact that I'd done it on the last possible day before we flew off on holiday, which had added a lot of pressure. The relief I felt on completion of the route was overwhelming, and in fact a bit emotional really.
Overall though, I was just filled with emense joy and satisfaction. And that sure felt good!!! What a perfect day!!! :)
Really amped and looking forward to Portugal now! So excited!!! :D
Sunshine, jug-fest climbing over the beautiful Atlantic, what could be better?!?!! :D
PS: I think listening to music prior to climbing really worked for me and I'll be trying it again whilst I'm away climbing in Portugal too! ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment