Jordans Buys recent ascents - on the road to recovery from finger injury...
6th May 2011
A bit of an update from Jordan Buys who's been 'on the bench' (to steal some footy parlance) for a while with a seriously bad digit....but seems to be getting back into it....
"Hi Richie,
You asked about France so here goes.... you know I've had this stupid finger injury since Feb, but we had already booked our St leger / Buoux trip. I seriously considered not going but eventually decided I would go along for the ride to soak up the French atmosphere (bread and cheese!).
Anyway, I did some easy climbing on day 1 and the finger didn't drop off so I eased into things the first week and managed to OS / flash several routes up to 7c. Not what I had originally planned when we booked it but a lot better than I imagined on the flight out there. We stayed at Craig and Vicky Entwistle's B&B (Les Airs du Temps) in a caravan for the first week and then moved down to Buoux via a day at Venasque, which was a funky crag with lovely big non-fingery holds on the sector we climbed at.
In Buoux, I just decided to seek out some classics, as recommended to me by Craig Smith when I bumped into him at Bridestones recently. We did some amazing 3-star routes like 'Diamants sont Eternels', 'Rose de Sables', 'Scorpion' and 'Jolinouille' – 7a at Buoux was challenge enough with some serious skills being required. We also went to Buoux West, which was uber-classic, some stunning lines on offer like the soaring, rounded hour-glass arete (7b). I basically used the trip to remember how to climb and just enjoy the flow.
The great thing about it was, when I got back to England, the limestone trad fell into place. I did a day at High Tor with Nao's brother, ticking Darius E2, Supersonic E5 and Flaky Wal E4l, then a couple of trips to Malham for Mulatto Wall E3, Slender Loris E4 and Doubting Thomas E5. I realised my finger was holding up ok so the past couple of weeks I have been rebuilding my fitness on my projects at Malham and Kilnsey – no sends there yet but watch this space! Naomi had a good week last week though – she made short work of Raindogs, after only 3 days previously of effort. It went down on Sunday, then she had a day on The Bulge and sent it on Thursday night.
Then we were off to Wales last weekend where I managed my first 8a onsight, a Neil Carson route called “Stark” at Pigeon's Cave, plus 2 other 8a's in quick time (Battle of the Little Big Orme and Stiff Upper Lip), then stepped in for a speedy repeat of Pete Robins' extension of Stiff Upper Lip, 8b. We also did a day at Gogarth North Stack Wall. Nao warmed up on Blue Peter E4 5c and I did The Long Run E5 6a, which was maybe the most crimpy, fingery thing I have climbed since the injury – I was feeling pretty tentative and got quite gripped as the gear was almost non-existent. Fortunately, I had taken lots of 'zero' friends and tiny micro-wires which I managed to wiggle in behind some tiny flakes and slots. All in all a great weekend and I am feeling back in the game! : )
Jordan"
See more about Jordan and see all his videos here...
