flynn067

Last night I worked till around midnight (editing Mick Tighe's voice) which is kind of early for me normally. But I didn’t get to sleep and so was a complete mess when the alarm went off at 7 to belay Alicia at Laboratori. I belayed until noon and felt so sleepy I decided not to even climb. As we packed the car I changed my mind and decided to have a play on Photo-Shot 8b. After a couple of ridiculous tries where I first fell off the hardest move by fumbling the hold, and then fell off the easiest move by completely missing the jug, I got it done in full roasting hot sun. This was not a very professional performance. But it was a good fight nonetheless. Lesson. Get your work done early, go to bed. Wake up with a functioning brain.  Video above.

Pleased to redpoint Aitzol 8c. Definitely my first 8c warm-up! After a long drive from Magic Wood we arrived in Catalunya feeling a bit tired. I had a bit of realisation that going from pulling on for a couple of seconds on a Font 8C to trying to do stamina routes in Margalef was maybe not going to be easy, especially as I still couldn’t pull on pockets properly after straining a lumbrical in Magic Wood. My goal for the week was not too ambitious. All I wanted to get was revenge on Aitzol (soft 8c). In late 2013 I was here for a week with Alicia. We’d had the trip booked for ages and in the interim period I needed to get my second ankle surgery and the date for that fell just over two weeks before the trip. Not ideal. I said I would still go and just do what I could - probably just belay and feel sorry for myself. I arrived in Margalef still barely able to walk 100 yards and still taking antibiotics for a painful wound infection. On the first day I was almost in tears just walking from...