Chamonix 4.5 (Thoughts on Frendo Spur)

Looking back: Thoughts on Frendo Spur.

[If the terms “Engineer” and “Artist” make no sense then that's ok. It means you'll have to read through a book by Mark Twight called Extreme Alpinism. Other than being full of useful information based on his own experiences, it's full of stories and opinions in a blunt and witful style that makes it a fantastic read, especially seeing as it could be quite a boring textbook on alpinsim]

The Engineer

It's seem like all the route we've done up to this one have been training for Frendo. I'd like to think when I look back that Frendo itself was used a training for bigger and better things. Through out each trip into the mountains I've been doing little things like keeping an eye on how much gas we've used so that I don't over prepare, making note of what gear was actually used and what was just left in the pack (like my down jacket, which was left behind) and how much I need to keep on top of a mirad on little things that don't seem important at the time, but in the long run are important... like drinking and eating.

We did almost everything right on Frendo down to spending weeks before hand training up on other routes, constantly getting used to different snow conditions throughout the days, carrying almost only what we needed. We're almost on first name terms with the guides at their office in Chamonix (they have a funny smile, which seems to say “oh no, here come those British Lads again” every time we walk in) after going in over and over to ask about conditions and routes. Hell, this was my 5^th proper alpine route and Andy's 4^th and he's ony been ice climbing since Easter this year! We were lucky with our ascent, not because we needed to be but because we prepared for it correctly.

I don't think it was all a fairy tale ascent though. We didn't drink enough water (barely 1.5 litres each) throughout the day and by the end of it we were both lagging and suffering with dehydration. It also meant that we had to force loads of water down our necks at the bivi. Eating was another issue, but in an odd way. We had surplus food by the time we'd finished which meant that on both days we'd not eaten enough during the day. I know day one seemed to consist of a couple of bars of chocolate, some goats cheese and half a pack of Frites (the cheapest of sweets from Super-U). Day 2 wasn't much different after we'd had breakfast as it was back to the frites from me and virtually nothing for Andy. It's just a small thing to remember for next time I'm climbing. I'll make sure I'll put me food and water in the top of my pack so that I have them ready to hand at each belay or whenever we stop.

I know some people will think it quite sad that I do this after each route, sit down and analyse the climb to see what I could have done better but I don't care. I like to think of each climb as a learning experience (some can be a lot of steeper than others!) and being able to do this might just make me a better performing, safe and faster climber.

The Artist

Looking back how was the route; what did I enjoy and what didn't I enjoy? The first isn't hard to answer at all. The ice on day 2 was my favourite part of the whole experience, made all the better after spending the night on the ledge and watching the sun go down. We'd spent hours deciding whether to go left or right for days really, but in the end right was the obvious choice as far as I was concerned, it stay in the shade till later and was longer, longer being important. I don't get to climb as much ice as I'd like so when I do I'll take the opportunity. Climbing ice is so unbelievably simple, from climbing it to belaying on it to everything about it (ok, I know it's not actually “simple” but compared to technical rock climbing it is). Everything in my mind quiet, like some form of bizarre meditation where all I can here is the screaming of my various muscles (mostly my calves). The screaming sounds like the noise at the end of a tunnel though, it doesn't realy bother the solace in my mind.

The other side of it is when the ice meets the rock. Then the mind is focused, so much on a point (literally sometimes on the point of my axe or crampon) that everything is still silent. I have no worries, no cares, no concerns . Whatever is going on in the rest of my life. The climbing is suddenly engaging, like climbing a steep slab where at any moment your foot could go... but instead it's somethings all your points of connection. Working out how I'm going to haul myself up some steep groove with weird cracks and small amounts of ice just mentally sandblasts me. It feels like my mind has been cleaned out and all the little things don't matter.

Sadly you can't stay up there forever and sooner or later the rope pulls tight at your waste. It's the end of the line and the pitch is over. In the smallest way it's back to reality but you know there'll be another pitch. When the climb is over is when I get really sad. You just don't know when the next one will be.

Oddly enough it was the rock climbing on the first day that I enjoyed the least. There is plenty of rock in England and I get to climb on a lot of it but there's not much ice and mixed. I spent most of the time thinking “once this rock is over then it'll be back to ice and possibly mixed, just keep climbing and waiting”. That's probably quite a sad way to view it but it was just a means to an end. I like rock climbing when it's challenging. 

Echoes (by Nick Bullock)

I've recently been reading Echoes, written by Nick Bullock and I must say what an excellent book it it. I've not been reading much for a long time and it wasn't until I finally started reading this that I realized how much I've missed reading. I'm sorry to say that although Soames lent me the book about two months ago I've only started it this week! It has been a utter pleasure to loose myself in such honest yet scatterbrained literature.

I've not known very much about Nick Bullock, other than he likes climbing at Gogarth and he's a bloody good if scary alpinist who attempts hard routes in good style, whether or not he succeeds is another matter. He book has let me have a glimpse of his lifestyle and the choices that ave led up to them. It's quite clear that his years working in the prison service failed to mould him into just another rat-race chasing person. Instead they've done quite the opposite and caused him to throw his life into a completely different direction. I like his honest approach in how he talks about how his drive to climb had defined his life and has affected all aspects of it, from relationships to friendships, to the changing of some long held opinions about people and society.

After work each day I've lay in my tent, waiting for my trangia to boil (which gives me plenty of time) and lost myself in his writing. I feel like I can connect with him on some level, however small it might be. And on those levels that I don't connect, or with those experiences which I've not had, I find myself wondering if I'll ever be to some of the places he's been or climb some of the routes he's climb.

It's is simply a joy to read, so thank you Nick.

Nick Bullocks blog can be found here. 

And his DMM page with a bit of back ground information about him here.

The New Slate Guide... finally!

Long have I been waiting for the new slate guide to come out. Long enough actually for me to appreciate how good my old '92 slate guide is... and it's additional purple folder! Allow me to explain. I'm only a youngster when it comes to slate. To be honest I've only been climbing for the last 9 years or so of my life (climbing has seemed to dominate those years though) but I've been climbing on the slate for something like the last 3, but I've loved it. I actually recently fell out of love with that series of big purple-hued-grey holes in the ground that surround Llanberis because I'd reached bit of a ceiling. It wasn't that I'd climbed all the routes in there that I could climb, but more like I wasn't inspired to climb them. Soames a few months ago came along and changes all that by getting me the crux of Khubla Khan (I got rained off and I've not been back). But my love of that slatey goodess is back.

When the new guide was announced last week, Soames was the first person to tell me about it.I followed the progress of V12 in getting the order and when a chance came to head to wales climbing for the weekend, I jumped at it. My first impressions of the guide after a brief flick through were that I was impressed. It was clear that a lot of work had gone into this book, and judging by it's thickness (compared to the last guide) there would be a host of new routes and topo's in there. But wait a minute, why has it taken so long for the slate guide to be released. I think that there are a few reasons, well two really. There has been considerable development in the past couple of years throughout the quarries. If you've been following the slate wiki then you'll have seen routes going up all over the place. I guess that they've been trying to grade check all of them. The other reason for the held release date, I think, is the access situation. During the filming of "Clash of the Titans" we can all remember the quarries being closed. Also there was a few incidents with Dali's Hole. This eventually calmed down once the fence went up and the low grade sport routes were taken down (I still think this is a good thing). 


Sadly quarry access is something I've been following with a little interest (primarily because I like climbing there and don't fancy the idea of being banned) but seeing as a lot of investment (both financial and time) has gone into this guidebook, it makes more sense to release it when the access situation is good. Seeing as winter is coming and autumn generally has rather poor weather the quarries will take a beating this time of year. With the release of a new guide, how many people do you think will flock there? I just hope that access is sorted.




Things that hit me straight away are the excellent photographs throughout the book, seemingly the same construction (and therefore quality) as the Gogarth North and North Wales Rock guidebooks. The guidebook construction is something I'll tackle later and good pictures don't make a guide. Having said that I was so please when I opened it and started reading. The best place to start is the beginning and the opening sections about what slate it like as a rock type and what gear to carry I thought were very well put (it did recomment skyhooks as fair gear but mainly useful for bailing in the rain). Then each section is well described (like each area of the quarries). The maps are well drawn and seem pretty simple to use (although this might be a little biased as I know my way round the quarries pretty well). I plan on testing this when I go slate climbing with someone who not been there and make them find the route.


What really impressed me was that the main wall of Twll Mawr, Gideon and the Nant Peris quarries (heaven forbid you'd want to climb there!) had decent topos and frank but excellent descriptions. Twll Mawr really does come across as the very dangerous but equally fascinating place to climb and the Gideon Slab actually looks like I'll be able to climbing on it finally (I've never been able to work out where any of the lines go based on the old descriptions). 


The grading seems to be pretty good throughout the quarries. There haven't been that many grade revisions or changes (from sport/trad etc) but the ones that have I've ran over with Soames (who may as well own the quarries as he's climbed there so much) and he agreed with them. Interestingly there's routes in there graded with British Trad, French spot, Drytooling, Aid climbing (mit peggage) and Clean aid climbing. There's still a good few routes as the magically enticing grade of XS and they've still include the obscure alpine grade of ABO for one route. I don't know why but I like this. I really seems to show the broad diversity of climbing in the slate quarries, which is something I like about them and should stay. I think there's enough rock in there that you don't need to retrobolt every route going. The specific style of traditional slate climbing is so important to maintain and (and I'll make a big claim here) so unique to the British climbing scene. 

Next along the line of things I feel the need to comment on is the historical section. If you read anything I've written about guidebooks before then you'll know my stance with regards to the historical sections. They are important. They stop climbing being reduced down to a number and a grade and keep the flow of stories and history behind each route alive. Since the slate quarries are relatively young (with regards to a lot of the mountain crags in North Wales) they're history is 1, quite well recorded and 2, quite brief and 3, a lot of the people around in the original boom are still alive. The guidebook itself doesn't really have a dedicated history section, instead preferring to spread the history out over the book. These come in the form of "Diary of a Slatehead". These little diary style entries look back at how little sections of the quarries were developed and who put up what routes. Coupled with a sort of "Character Profile" of prolific slateheads throughout the book this gives a great overall history of the quarries and an insight into the driving force behind their development.


Wow! that's a lot of writing about one guidebook but I guess you can imagine that I've been waiting along time for this to come out. Slate climbing is something special and I think on the new guidebook they've done a really good job!

Resoling...

With the current economic crisis and the sudden price increase in shoes I'll be honest and say that I cannot sustain going through 2 pairs of shoes a year. I know the price increase is only around £10 but it puts most shoes over £100 now. So I set out to find an alternative, as I'm sick of retiring shoes because my toes have busted through the end... enter the resoling market.

After a little research I went with Cheshire Shoe Repairs (here) simply because they where cheaper. My other option was Feet First, who do offer discount when you send multiple pairs but you have to pay extra for toe-box replacements. Cheshire Shoe Repairs include toe boxes in the price and are slightly cheaper. To make things even better I got to have a good look at a pair of resoles shoes (by Cheshire) before I sent them off. Needless to say they looked good. 

I'll just point out that if you've managed to put a hole right through the end of your climbing shoe then you'll be needing a toe box replacement. This means that they'll replace the whole front of your toe therefore covering up said whole. I'd managed to do this (in a big way on one shoe). I actually sent off 2 pairs of shoes to them. My La Sportiva Muira's and a pair of Boreal Pyro's belonging to Killian. The Pyro's themselves had a good amount of rubber on them, but Killian hates it as apparently it's not very good, plus I've been raving on about stealth rubber for a while. As for the Muiras they are very good shoes, but the rubber seemed to wear out really quickly. I fid them so comfy that I really didn't want to get rid of them, but managed to put hole through both toes, hence the resole. Cheshire do offer 4 different types of rubber, but personally I would use anything other than 5.10 stealth rubber. 

My first impressions are that they are really good. The toe shape has changed a little and is more similar to my 5.10 anasazis. When I actually put them on you can tell at the front where the new rubber has been applied but they still fit like a dream. They've not really changed in fit and are still as comfy as ever. I'm really looking forward to see how they perform at the weekend on the Lleyn Penisular.

Petzl Gri-Gri 2: first impression

After Petzl produced the gri-gri about 20 years ago I think it’s safe to say that they created a pretty iconic produce there. I mean it’s not just a belay device (although it is a pretty good belay device) but for anyone who’s done much route setting, jugging up and down ropes or general hanging around and rigging I think it soon becomes a pretty indispensible piece of kit. So what if It only takes one rope.

Abseiling on 8.5mm half rope

Time passes and ropes have got some thinner making the old gri-gri which only took 10-11mm rope a little out of fashion, or at least a little less useful. Also in this time other devices have been produced to encroach on the gri-gri’s market (namely the Trango cinch and Eldrid Eddy). I guess it was time for an update.

Having used an Eddy and found it useful for jugging up and down ropes but not very good for much else (I wouldn’t like to belay on it) and it’s really heavy and seen had really good reviews of the cinch how did I end up with a gri-gri? Well it works on a variety of rope diameters, it’s light, it’s pretty obvious how to use it and I got some discount on it! 

My initial impressions are pretty good. It works just like a smaller more compact gri-gri. So far I’ve been lead belaying on it, jugging up rope and abseiling on it, plus plenty of belaying too. After watching the video on how to lead belay (here) off the petzl website, it makes sense and is pretty easy to use. I found it works fine. Jugging up rope it’s great for and belaying in general it works really well. I used it on 11mm to 8.5 half ropes and it’s been great.

My only complaint is the handle length. I know this might seem quite silly but I find it digs into my palm when I’m lowering someone off or abseiling. But it’s not a big gripe and I’ve used much worse kit.

Andy Kirkpatrick & Tim Emmett

It's been a busy week. I've lost my work keys which is almost annoying to the point of amusement (I'm in a lot of different rooms around school, all of which are now locked to me). I had a really good session at Redpoint on Tuesday that has left the tips of my fingers weeping for days. I missed the opening of the new bouldering wall at Redpoint because I was at lectures. In fact I think it's actually a good reason I missed it, last time I went to a wall opening I woke up the night after with incredibly sore hand (stupid new abrasive holds). 

The majority of my week has been actually going to some lectures. Wednesday night was Andy Kirkpatrick at the Severn Theatre in Shrewbury and Tim Emmett was small and personal at the Old Edwardian Sports club, Solihull. Both night were a success and they are really the only climbing lectures I've ever been too. Having said that I did get to see Katherine Sherrmacher at Plas-y-Brenin one cold Saturday night, for free.

Andy Kirkpatrick has sort of been a hero of mine for along time. In fact I think he's probably a lot of peoples hero's. I used to read up everything he'd written when I discovered his site psychovertical many years ago. I didn't actually know much about him at the time. I knew he'd climbed in Patagonia, the Lafaille Route on the Dru and loads on El Cap, but I didn't really know what any of this meant. At the end of the day he was just another climber to me, but someone who had done the stuff I wanted to be doing.

Andy Kirkpatrick's talk was well structured. He opened with a talk of him growing up, the fact he was going through a divorce (which he seemed happy about) and that he had a new "girlfriend, partner, thing" called Karen, who was disabled. He then went on to explain his motivation for climbing based around Captain Kirk, how he's turned away from alpinism as it's all about suffering and hard work and why El Capitain is the best place to climb. He talked about scaling Zodiac (A2, 5.8) with his Karen Darke (girlfriend) and how he "cornered the market in getting disabled people up big walls) which lead to him climbing it with Phil Packer (injured service man, raising money for charity). He rounded the talk off with a discussion about his own attempts to solo Zodiac in one single day, and the people he climbed it with and how his own ascent went (he failed, but in a good way). The talk was all in good humour, and very frank and open. He took the mick out of himself much more than he took it out of anyone else (apart from Bear Ghyrills). Sadly I didn't think he finished the talk too well, leaving me questioning the point of it all. I think that's how he intended to leave it though. All in all the lecture was very slick, his material very honest and the talk funny. If you get the chance to see him, I'd take it even if it's only once.

Thursday night was Tim Emmett. Rachel has spotted and sorted tickets for this and it was held in a Rugby club house in Solihull. There must only have been about 50 people there, packed into this little room most seemed to be cradling a beer (they had hobgoblin on tap!) and waiting from Tim to start. Tim was walking round, talking to people, fiddling around with his computer and projector, downloading something off the net to stream from us at the end (something we were not supposed to see) and generally being real. I'll get to the last bit later on. Then after about an hour of fiddling he started. This blonde haired, ripped but unassuming guy started off on a talk about his climbing, BASE jumping and wing suiting career.  

He was so enthusiastic about his climbing and life that the fact that he'd not quite prepared (or had prepared too much material) didn't matter. He talked us through his rock climbing, then

his ice climbing, a mountaineering trip to the Himalaya with Ian Parnell and then base jumping and wing suiting. He went on about told us about amazing adventures he'd had around the world, how he's tried to combine things into para-alpinism. He was pretty open about how he makes his money from sponsor ship deals with various different companies. He finished his talk off with a little about "the big climb" with Dave McLeod and Muy Caliente (E10 hard letter, hard number). He actually had loads of really nice things to say about Dave McLeod especially about focused he is about his climbing. The little section on Muy Caliente was sort of old news for me as it's been all over UKC for a week or so, but he did show us a film from Bamboo Chicken Productions about the climb. It was pretty cool to see a guy like Tim Emmett struggling at the height of his grade, just the same as anyone else pushing themselves to do something hard. 


He finished off with a short film about climbing and BASE jumping off the Old Man of Hoy with too friends. It's worth a watch here. I've seen it before but this time I saw it through Tim's eyes as he described the journey of climbing to the too and jumping off with too close friends, both of which have never really climbed outdoors. His enjoyment seemed to come from seeing his friends achieve what for them was the impossible and enjoying it along the way. 


Going back to "Tim being real". What did I mean by that? Well Andy Kirkpatrick came across and real the when I saw him. I could see him on stage, listen to what he had to say and enjoy his honesty and humour. I came away from the lecture, sort of wishing I had not gone and just left him as this hero in my mind. Tim's lecture was same, in a bar. I could see every expression and every smile. The passion he had for life, not just for climbing came across with every breath. He seemed much more real to me than just another hard climber who puts up E10's.

Goretex or Event? Whats the deal?

I've managed to get away with only owning 2 lightweight outershell jackets over the years. Both have been the cheapest deal I could get away with so I've not paid over £160 for either. My first was a RAB latok Alpine. You could almost say that Outside gave it to me to test as they put it through the till wrong and sold it me for £1.60 instead. I didn't notice at the time, only after when they sent me a polite note asking for the grand sum of £158.00 for thier mistake. I didn't pay.

RAB Latok Alpine

When I first got the Rab jacket I was very impressed. It was cut well for use as a climbing jacket (I prefere it a little larger) had nice big pockets and was dry. Having a dry jacket was new to me. Because I didn't really know any better I didn't see many faults with it. It did all I asked of it. 

Then it stopped being dry, so I cleaning it and retreated it. That didn't seem to do much, so instead I cleaned it off and tumble dried it (as per instructions given to me by a RAB seller). This also didn't work. The jacket soon became worn less and less and subsequent rainy adventures stopped being undertaken. It was quite sad, but I also completly lost my fair in Event. The same thing happened to my friend Latok alpine. Maybe I was asking too much of the jacket? Maye it just wasn't up to the use I was giving it? either way it sucked.

Outdoor Research Yellow Thing

Then I snagged a Outdoor Research jacket from V12 at Half price. I've only got a few items of OR kit but they've been really werll designed and simple. The Vert Work Glaves are excellent in winter. Turns out I'd managed to get thier flagship do all winter, alpine, superalpine etc jacket. It was made of Gore-Tex Proshell and a nice yellow colour (a bright colour is of most importance). It was made of stronger fabric than my old Latok. The seams sealed better, pockets slightly better designed and a hood that really does work with my helmet. I've plowed it through crap wet britsh storms, days of scottish winter, digging snowholes and occasionally wearing around school when I have to do a duty in the rain (this kids already think I'm an odd teacher)

The big difference for me is that the jacket is still water proof. So what if the sleeve leak a little, thats acceptable, I get heavy wear there. The Goretex Fabric is pretty good to say the least. It's breathable, waterproof and yellow.

So Goretex or Event? Goretex everytime I think for me... or maybe I should try paramo?

POD Black Ice, first impression.

This is not a full review, far from it. I've carried the sack around for one weekend? hardly putting it through it's paces but I wanted to write up my first impressions anyway. 

It's a size 3 POD black ice. POD are famous for bombproof simple packs tha really stand the test of time. This pack is no different. I did already own a Lowe Alpine pack, but it literally hurt my back so after 3 years of good use I've decided I don't want another winter of backpain and thought I'd upgrade. I've been thinking about packs quite a bit recently and decided to try a POD sack under the premise that I'll probably end up with one anyway. My choice was between the new style sack with the roll top closure and the old school Black Ice. The deal clincher was the heavy, stronger fabric that the black ice is made from, meaning it'll be more hardwearing. 

It's a big sack, about 50 litres. You can remove the lid, the waist belt and back frame should you ever need to. All are really simple to do. Normally I cut off everything from my pack that I don't need but I'm struggling to find something to cut off this pack. I can fit everything I need for a days cragging, plus a belay jacket for staying warm in winter and double ropes. I've also packed it up with my normal winter pack and low and behold... it all fits (that includes crampons in the pack too!). But when it's been emptied down the sack compresses quite well and seems fine for carrying whilst climbing.

How did it fair this weekend then? Well tramping to the sea cliffs of Gogarth with full rack and double ropes was no problem for it (unsurprisingly). I even managed to snuggle down in my belay jacket with my flask of coffee to wait at the crag. Seeing as we moved from crag to crag trying to find somewhere that wasn't rammed full of people we walked for about an hour and there where not problems carrying it. As for Sunday walking up to Pant Ifan across the boulders field and scree terrain there was no problem with the packs stability.

So far it's living up to expectations.

Alpkit Gourdon 25l... first impression

Ok, so I'll admit it. I probably don't need another sack. I've already got 2 as it is (both Lowe Alpine sack that seem pretty bombproof), but the chance came up to aquire one of this little drybag-come-ultralight sack jobbies I thought I'd go for it. My first impression is that it's very well made. The previous owner hasn't treated it badly, or looked after it overly so it's had general use. I don't think the thing is completly water tight anymore, but who cares? I'm not not going swimming with it!

I've managed to pack out a cragging sack with a whole rack, harness, water, food, waterproof jacket, belay jacket, first aid kit and then the helmet and ropes on the outside of the bag. I was suprised that I managed to get it in all, but I did some careful packing. As a cragging sack for somewhere where you only need a small rack then this would be perfect. It would make a pretty good day sack for a fast and light day out in the british mountains if you've got a good weather report for the day.

To be honest I've been after one of these sacks for ages. It's a small and light pod shaped sack that seems pretty much perfect for carrying on mountain routes where you need food, water, shoes and pretty much nothing else. I'll see how it goes over the next month and see how hard wearing it is... but I've got high hopes!

Superlight Rocks...

There's been a bunch of reviews written about superlight rocks since they came out. I'd like to say ever since the days of sharing a rack with my friend I've loved these nuts, but that's not the case. When I first found them on his rack I was pretty dubious about them. A single wire? really? Also they had a pretty odd shape. Eventually I started to carry them and then used them regularly. I've been pretty much using them every weekend for the last 2 years and then on all my trips and during winter. So are them any good?

Yes, Yes they are. You get 6 nuts for the weight of a pack of peanuts. That's pretty impressive in itself. But how do they perform?

As with all nuts I think if you carry them then you'll find a place for them on your rack, but I think these come into their own for the mid-grade climber (HVS - E4ish). An extra 6 wires on those long leads can really come in handy. Because they pretty much wild country rocks cut in half any Rock user should be able to find a place for them easily. Having said that they are rocks cut in half, they're actually cut at an angle giving them a little bit of an offset shape. This I think increases they're usefulness. On more than one occasion I've found them to be the only thing that will fit in a placement.

Of course with everything there is a downside. I've found 2 limitations. The first is visible when you inspect the nuts. Sizes 1 & 2 are rated to 4Kn, Sizes 3 to 6 are rated to 6kn. Now seeing as the average fall has been calculated to between 4 - 7kn, you've got the be a little careful where you use these. Having said that I've fallen on them a couple of times and they haven't broken. The second problem is what I'd tend "cable bend". They are pretty prone to having the cables bent through over enthusiastic cleaning. I've always just bent them back but over 2 years of use they have started to show a little wear. Actually I've noticed a wire fray so I'll be replacing this as soon as I can. Also the head of the smallest wire became loose at one point. This was easily remedied with the application of some epoxy.

These little buggers are a great addition to any rack, but as I already said I think the mid-grade climber would benefit most from them. They can take an absolute beating when it comes down to it, I've used them week in week out, and sat on them aiding, hammered them in place with ice axes, fallen on them and god knows what else... and they've survived, then again I've got 1 wire fray from over use and glued back one head. I would still recommend them highly, with the amount of abuse that I give them I'm not surprised they've suffered a little.