moving on

well back garden beastmaker is no more, we've been shipping out of Dave's garage for the past few days and its safe to say that CNC machines are heavy, very heavy, as are metal mills, band saws and steel lathes... yep all pretty darn heavy. But that isn't enough hard work so myself and Ned are currently wittling over 200 holds for the awesome new wall in Leeds "The Depot".

This wall should be fitted by next week sometime and we reckon it'll be the finest commercial board in the UK, until We upgrade the works board with even nicer holds at some point in the future. The new workshop is about 1000% bigger than the old one and we should have positive stock within the next month or so, meaning that the website can finally host online purchasing. I'll upload workshop pictures soon. Other than that we've been having late night training sessions in Liecesters premier board venue (complete with cordial hosts and cheesecake!) where Ned has been regaling me with beastly tales of Liecesters dark horses (some of whom are our staff) and their pinching and crimping feats. So board psyche is high at the minute,my gay fingjury seems to be sorting itself with a bit of brute stubborness and trial and error, or should that be error and less error?
Anyway Dowels are now flavour of the week and the harness has been forgotten for now. Ned is attempting to heave his back around the boards for more than 5 moves on the trot in the name of fitness, but is insisting it's not for routes whilst muttering something about Barrows or Barrans or something.

Móðguð 3

Móðguð 3, originally uploaded by Beastmaker. inc.

the rest before the end boulder problem

The Móðguð

A strange thing happened last weekend, i put a harness on! AND I climbed in it rather than using it to take weight off deadhangs! After finishing Uni i just felt having a fun and novel day out in the peak, wise mr JonBoy and i journeyed to Thor's cave, whence upon we came across many a steep route. Jon mentioned a project as being rather ruddy good, and seeing as though it was one of the dryest things in there i decided to have a fettle. After a session of work i'd cleaned and worked a vague sequence, but i was so broken after getting home i went straight to bed and curled up in a ball to stop my abs hurting. This project certainly isn't you average cup of chai, nor is any move on it conventional.
I decided to seize the chance to get it done and returned on tuesday and finished cleaning the line and got a sequence worked, even redpointing into the final boulder problem which currently was a super burly 7c bicep busting undercut span fest, it was meatier than a bath full of spam with gravy pouring out the taps. The little voice in me told me to use some nouse and right at the end of the day i fagged it down to 7a+ish with some spine twisting drop knee action.
So on Thursday all the pins were lined up ready to be knocked down for a full strike. I kidded myself that i was fit enough and walloped it first redpoint with some numb tips and the mojo of the Uk's premier 8c astrophysicist beaming up the rope (and consequently draining Stu's powers for the day).
So Móðguð (pronounced moth goose in a heavy scottish accent) has been born, guardian of Helheim and translated as "the furious battler" it rather fits what looks to be the Uk's steepest 8b/+ it seems closer to 8b than plus to me but the start and finish boulder problems both suit my size and strengths. One thing which is sure to not change is the quality of the route, the line is fully 3 star battling, with double heel toe cam shuffles, knee bars, crimpy gaston shoulder pressing, massive burly undercut moves and a wild finishing cutloose into the respite of the belay cave.
Right... i can take my harness back off now for a bit and concentrate on 2 move boulder problems again

Oh and most of Thors cave is now dry and i can't recommend it enough as a brilliant sport venue, Thormen's moth was still a bit wet yesterday but it was still possible, and all the routes in there are truly outstanding when dry. Móðguð is one of the dryest routes there as well as being the steepest. It will never get wet in rain.

back with a bang

Dead air is a crime! except when exams are conscerned and i've been grinding off more noses than ever in this past fortnight. Anyway the mental training is over now and knowledge can now be once again gained through power, preferrably with the words brute before it but funky, smart or technical will also suffice.

Ned went back to basics after robbing himself in Austria and rarely used more than 2 fingers on the fingerboard over the past few weeks. So come this weekend in Eindhoven... well lets just say there was more than one ginger in the final, whether this is allowed by the IPCC or not remains to be seen, yet it is something which they might be needing to consider if present beastmaker hq form continues. i'll prod Ned until he writes a bit more about the Ned-derlands world cup. With Barrans getting into the finals too this world cup season, british comp bouldering looks to be filling the gap that the Earl left when he left a few years ago.

My Fingjury is on the road to recovery and i've found an excellent non fingery project to try even if it didn't improve which mostly comprises of upside down walking with your feet in huecos.

Where do we go from here?
well we are moving into a new workshop over this fortnight and building some new machines, so production will be down in the short term but will sky rocket in the long term, its time for beastmaker to get web savvy and time for people to enjoy dangling and getting stronger by using the most comfortable yet effecive means.