Frankie

On Saturday i spent most of the day freezing trying to do Austrian Oak. I came close but was just too cold for any really good attempts.

Waking up on Sunday morning i felt beasted. Sore everywhere! So off we went to Kilnsey for an onsighting day. Usual warm up off Directisima then onto Frankie comes to Kilnsey. Its a 7b+ i have wanted to try and onsight for a couple of years. Its a tad bold in the middle so was always waiting for the clips to be already in! Yesterday i couldn't wait anymore. So i set off and felt rubbish. I was nervous, a tad apprehensive about the run out above and the holds were worse than i thought. In the middle of the run out i was a bit pumped and thought about jumping off. But i pushed on, relxed after the run out section and shook my way to victory. I thought i looked sketchy as hell but Arran said i looked pretty steady. Guess you always look in more control than you feel!

Chuffed.

After that i got sucked into trying Masala Martyr, an 8a+ which has only seen one ascent by Jordan since the loss of a hold a few years ago. I belayed him when he repeated it, and have always fancied trying it properly. The start is the crux, a v9 font 7c sequence, into a french 7a+ into a V8/7b ish move high up. Then a scary sequence above a peg. It is though to be solid 8b now.I did the crux at the start pretty quick, got the top wired, but then on redpoints, and the story of my season so far this year, i kept getting to a wet pocket and not being able to recover on it. What is it with Kilnsey pockets and me this year!

Hopefully get back on it this week at some point. Also need to have a look at Dr Crimp again to see how crucial the foot hold was that a certain Foundry owner broke of during the week!