Iceberg raccourci (assis)

I took another rest day yesterday... sort of.
I lounged around reading Jerry Moffatt’s ‘Revelations’, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Iceberg raccourci - how quickly i’d done it, how much it suited me and how do-able the moves on the sitter had felt. So, by early evening I was heading back out to Isatis.
When I got up to Iceberg there was a Japanese lad trying the stand and after giving him a few pointers he whipped up it and joined me working the sit start.
We quickly got the hang of the starting moves and were both powering through into the stand, but just couldn’t get the heel to stick for the final move.
A few Canadian chaps came by – real nice guys – joined the siege and we ended up having a really good session. But, despite repeating the standing start a couple of times just to confirm I could still do it, I couldn’t link it all together. We were all in agreement that it was a cool problem though and that we’d be back to get it done another day.

Today I was in two minds about what to do. My skin was begging for a rest day and I couldn’t decide whether to risk another session at Isatis. I’ve come to learn the danger of ‘redpoint fever’ when a problem feels so close you keep going back session after session, getting nowhere in your eagerness to get it finished and by the time you actually send it it’s become quite stale. So part of me thought I should go and do something else.
Of course, despite knowing all this, the lure of my fattest tick to date won over, against my better judgement and I found myself beneath the Iceberg once more.
I warmed up by almost doing it first go. The heel came off at the last move again. Second go I didn’t even make it that far, so I sat down for a bit then spent a few minutes brushing it down setting up the camera. I squeaked my boots, chalked up and set off again. I felt strong through the starting moves, reached up into the slopers, stuck the heel on and started slapping upwards. I was convinced my heel was coming off and as I pulled up to see the final hold within grasp, instead up popping for it or pulling up that little bit more, I just reached out and latched it gently. A bit of a foot shuffle and I was there, standing on top of my hardest problem to date – check it out...



I honestly didn’t know what to do after that.
I could’ve had a look at some of the problems i’d found the other day. Or I could’ve had a look at the low left-hand start that traverses into Iceberg raccourci. But Nick and Deb arrive tomorrow and i’d like to get a full day in climbing with them, which right now means growing some skin as i’m desperately thin at the moment.
I might go back for the full ‘Iceberg’ tick, but if I do it’ll purely be grade chasing, as the moves are easy and don’t really add any quality to the problem, they just take that little bit out of you before the crux. Still, if I happen to be back there in the next few weeks i’ll probably give it a go.
For now the beer is tasting sweet, there’s steak for dinner and a pretty long list of problems to try at Apremont tomorrow with Nick and Deb, so i’m looking forward to that.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, Mr P is fine. He’s been staying indoors out of the heat the last few days, trying to avoid becoming a Mr ‘baked’ Potato. It’s due to cool down a bit from tomorrow though, so i’m sure he’ll be out and about soon!