2016... The Year That Partially Vanished
The slippery slope commenced at the start of winter 2015/16. My energy levels and general health took a steady dive and it would take the best part of two years to recover. In the space of a month I went from feeling close to peak fitness to struggling to cook meals for myself and largely being resigned to the sofa or bed. The Onset The first anomaly was acute exhaustion at my local climbing wall during mid-November. Usually finger strength was my limiting factor, not the hollow, wilting feeling consuming me in the upper half every route. I put it down a lack of recovery after a late finish on Skogshorn in Hemsedal the previous weekend. Back-to-back winter climbing weekends often left me feeling too depleted to train indoors during the week. This winter however I was determined to try and maintain one weekly visit in order to keep the finger strength ticking over until spring. The following weekend I was back in Hemsedal, keen to find some early winter form. Barely halfw...