Night Sessioning at The Classroom

Managed to get off work relatively early yesterday, well early enough to head up to the classroom for a night session with Marijus and Calvin. I've been working "Exam Stress" (8A) there, and although I was rather close to the send last year, it didnt quite work out. The problem has a hard slopey match move which is probably the crux, and is basically the last move before the top out. So I warmed up and re-acquainted myself with the moves. Managed to get the crux match from a standing start, as well as do Marijus's version of the topout, which seems to be better. The trick for me seems to be the pain threshold at the moment. After some crimpy starting moves, you move into a slot, which is directly above you. So at first you get pretty much nothing out of it, and only after you adjust the feet you actually get something out of it, and then move through two left hand crimps, and a biggish move into the sloper match. So the problem seems to be that your pinky gets twisted and crushed in the slot, while you're trying to pull as hard as possible, so it really seems to mess with the moves. Anyway, my fingers haven't hardened up yet after being sick for three weeks, but they're getting there. Nothing a Rocklands weekend shouldn't fix. So I'll be back at the classroom when I'm feeling nice and fresh and hopefully it'll go down. I really should just send it, its not the nicest line to work. My fingers are feeling tweaky, and the tendons are aching here and there, so a few rest days before the weekend are in order.

Getting ready to move past the crux and into the topout via the sloper in the top left corner. Photo by Calvin Kemp.