VIDEOS: Magnet Finger = Busted Finger!

After a great trip to Petrohrad in the Czech Republic, which is a beautiful granite bouldering area, I had a couple of days off then headed to the Pfalz in Germany.

Check my UKC Article on Petrohrad.

The Pfalz is a really cool sandstone place in the west of Germany, close to the border of France. I had my eye on a classic UIAA 9+ called Magnet Finger. It used to be a F7c, but the holds have deteriorated and it is now considered to be F7c+.

After a couple of warm ups on some easier stuff, it was my turn to put the draws in Magnet Finger and give it a go. The draws went in fine, (I’d been told it was dangerous – erm – there’s bolts every 1.5 metres!) and I thought I’d have it first redpoint.

Went for it, got to the crux and heard a loud crack as my finger pulley snapped. BUMMER!

The route is a really stunning steep arete and actually climbs like an arete too – very gritstone-esque. It’s pretty bouldery, with only really 5 hard moves in the middle. It was first climbed as an aid line, mainly on the ring bolts, before big Wolfgang came and freed it in the 1980’s.

It is a total classic and would suit any British visitors, being short and technical.

Check this video of James Pearson and Gaz Parry doing it on their trip round Europe:

So it is another season of injury recovery for me.

I’m off to France next week for a photographic trip in the south, to take pictures for a forth coming guidebook. I won’t be doing any climbing as the finger hurts too much.

I am following Dave MacLeod’s excellent advice at the moment:

Finger Injury Treatment Videocast

And after this I think I’ll be sticking to the running and easy trad routes for a while – just like last year.

Last year I managed to improve both my mental climbing and my crack technique due to having a finger injury.

This year I will concentrate on my flexibility and cardio fitness. There is always something to train!

Training With A Finger Inury + PHOTO

I tore a tendon pulley about 1 month ago indoor bouldering. Since then I have managed to keep climbing and training, with only one set back. I thought it might be useful to share what I have been up to on this blog in the hope that others might get an idea for what is possible.

My injury was quite a substantial ‘partial tear’ of a my A2 pulley in my right ring finger. Luckily I didn’t rupture the whole thing. It is classed as a Grade II injury (see Climbinginjuries.com).

Hard crimping was straight out of the window, but I continued climbing straight away – the day after the injury. I climbed 2 easy trad routes on Gogarth, and I seconded the hardest section, meaning that if I felt any discomfort, I could sit on the rope.

So, sea cliff trad climbing was a go-er. I managed to combine this with a general weights programme that also involved pull ups on the jugs of a finger board.

I added in this cheesey Youtube stretch routine, plus some more specific climbing stretches and careful stretching of my injured finger. This stretching of my injured finger has been very important I think.

I continued my easy climbing for another week, then unfortunately pushed it too far and climbed some E5 and E6 routes, which I think set me back by at least a week or so, leading to inflamtion of my finger and more pain.

The crucial thing here was that I climbed these route on lead and they were potentially quite dangerous, so when climbing I totally forgot about my finger and thought more about the run out!

Physically, they were probably ok to top rope with my injury.

Lesson: No scary leading with a finger injury.

I have also increased my running, doing 3 x 40min runs per week. I haven’t been doing any more than that, or any longer runs, as I think these are perfect for cross training for climbing.

A month down the line and I am still only climbing easy (or non crimpy) trad routes. I am no where near ready to start busting moves on my finger, but I have increased my flexibility by a noticeable amount, and my cardio fitness has also improved.

When I am back in shape to start cranking again, I’ll be at a good base level to build more specific strengths.

Next up is some indoor training on the finger board, concentrating on open handed grips. I haven’t dared do this until now, even though I have been told it is fine with a finger injury. I shall experiement and report back.

Until then – here is a photo of Pete Whittaker seconding me on the Lleyn Peninsula the other day.

Pete Whittaker seconding on the Lleyn Peninsula

PHOTOS: Slate and Gogarth – Finger Rehabilitation #2 & #3

Well, the old finger is still pretty sore, so I have nipped out climbing on big holds.

Routes climbed have been Dinorwig Unconquerable in the slate quarries and Hypodermic on main cliff at Gogarth.

Here is a topo style shot of Dinorwig Unconquerable, which is billed as a ‘proper’ jamming crack. It’s tight hands, a great size – around cam 2. I did think the jamming was short-lived though, it’s not exactly Indian Creek (thank God!).

A late evening blast up Hypodermic was also entertaining – here’s me starting the crux pitch. Amazing sunset, evening light, all that stuff. I didn’t leave my house until 6.15 pm, so it was a real late evening mission, it feels great to nip down on the Main Cliff at that time of night. We had the whole place to ourselves and as Ian climbed I gazed out to sea, dozing. (I held on to the rope Ian, honest!).

Dinorwig Unconquerable Topo

Racking up for Dinorwig Unconquerable - every cam we could get our mitts on!

Evening sun on Hypodermic - Gogarth Main Cliff