The accident was stupid. One of those seemingly minor things that have surprisingly big consequences. All I did was slip on some mud when walking in the Brecon Beacons. My right foot flew out from under me and I started travelling down the slope, but my left foot stayed behind. Continue reading I’m Finally Back
Winter was ending by the time I turned up. The weather system nicknamed The Beast from the East by the media had combined with Storm Emma to bring freezing conditions, blizzards and strong winds to the UK. This late season storm had been the last blast of winter. Continue reading The End of Winter
My main priority in my return to rock climbing is to build up my strength and develop my climbing technique in a way that reduces the chance of injuring myself again. To do this I need to reassess how I climb. My hope is that if I do this now, I can stop slipping back into any bad habits as well as stop new bad habits developing. I decided that the best way to do this was to get an expert to assess my climbing and coach me on what to do to improve it. Continue reading Learning to Climb Smarter
If it were not for bad customer service, I wouldn’t have been bouldering at Fontainebleau this week. On my first trip to Fontainebleau a year ago I tore the meniscus in my right knee while pulling hard on a heel hook. Since surgery on the knee, I’ve been trying to get back into climbing in a way that is slow, gentle and careful enough to avoid injury. Bouldering outside on boulders that often have sloping holds and rounded top-outs wasn’t necessarily what I would have picked as my reintroduction to climbing on real rock. Continue reading Mostly Yellow in Fontainebleau
I’ve taken my first steps back into climbing following surgery on my injured knee. They’re just small steps at my local climbing wall, because I worry that anything else will see me injure myself again or at least slow down my recovery. My physio was clear about how to not hurt myself – avoid jumping down or falling off from boulder problems until my legs … Continue reading Back on Plastic
I was unlucky, uninformed and an idiot. It was near the end of our second day of my first bouldering trip to Fontainebleau and I was with a group climbing just a few more problems before it got too dark and late. Some of the group had climbed this tricky problem up the flat front of a split boulder and I wanted to do it too. It was different, a challenge and looked fun. This was partly because completing the problem required a right heel hook and I don’t do heel hooks often. Continue reading One Year On
the Severe climber 