European Youth Cup and Exams, not a good mix.

As they say preparation is key, in the last month I have had to trim my training to a minimum or beyond to concentrate on my studies, being a bit greedy I have just sat AS exams in 5 subjects (8 separate exams) and needed to commit significant effort to these.  In the final week of exams I had 4 papers to sit on 4 consecutive days, and on my first free day I travelled to Ratho for the first EYC of the year on the following day.  Trying to be realistic with myself I was hoping a top 20 place in a group of 37 entered in the Youth A.

Youth A and Juniors’ were to climb the same routes, and instead of Youth A climbing then Juniors the groups were shuffled together, and would be climbing on both routes at the same time.  This made for a group of 57 climbers, the way the day was run I was up half way through the running order on the 2^nd route (old comp wall), and 57^th up on the 1^st route (articulated wall).  So my first qualifier was on the old comp wall, and was the more technically tricky of the two, not quite my favourite thing.  Things were going fine until my left hand popped as I made a move to the right, this gave me 22^nd of the 37 in youth A. 

Photo: Sandy Carr

Then it was on to the articulated wall. I had a much better climb, passing the two volumes half way that had caused many to fall, I was just about to enter the final roof section when my lack of recent training took its toll, however I felt I had done reasonably well, being the last to climb the overall results were up pretty quickly, I was delighted to see I had 15^th place overall and went out to celebrate in the hot Scottish sun!  Later I found I had been moved down to 18^th, I don’t know why, and when looking at my route scores was a bit disappointed to see I had come 12^th on the articulated wall as I felt I had done really well on that.  I felt I could have done better overall, and some better prep would have helped, but I had had to focus on the day job – AS exams, now I can get down to some serious climbing.

Photo: Nick Pope

It was great to catch up with the rest of the GB team, to watch some inspirational climbing in the finals and the exciting speed comp.

By Connor Byrne

An ausome week on Cloggy - George Ullrich

Previously I have not seen anyone on any of the E7′s and E8 on the pinnacle. It’s cool to see, after a week of pristine weather, three of the E7′s and E8 margins of the mind have been climbed.

James Majot on the walk over the top of Cloggy to access the Pinnacle from the top. 

I went up to Cloggy on Tuesday with James Majot and sole intention of climbing Authentic Desire. I previously attempted setting off up it a couple of years ago, but later discovered that I was trying to climb up the wrong side if the arête. Dough! I was now eager to go and do it, route description to hand and get rid of the niggling feeling which had been eating away at me since getting turned away.

James started us off by making a fine ascent of the axe. We then scrambled around to find Callum musket, Ed Booth and James Mcaffee. Callum had already climbed Authentic Desire and caff was now stuck into ‘margins if the mind’.

I set off up AD, feeling a little bit daunted at first but quickly got into the swing of things. The route just seemed to flow from start to finish with high smears, big layaways and airy moves up the arête with nothing more than small rp’s for protection. An almost improbable looking line which climbed seamlessly.

Me on the final moves of Authentic Desire E7 6b

Having now had a taste for this part of the cliff I returned on Thursday with belay bitch caff. We warmed up on Octo and headed back down to attempt ‘shaft of a dead man’. I started climbing, trying to hide the doubt which was creeping into me from my tired arms. Caff seemed to radiate nothing but upwards optimism, so I carried on. I continued up into a strenuous position to arrange some ok gear (small rp’s and a lal cam) which would protect the crux moves out left. By now I was way to pumped to continue, I reversed down for a breather and a good tug on the gear which I was now convincing myself that it would hold a fall. Back up again, I got through the crux with the skin on my teeth. So pumped, stretched out and feet everywhere a few more moves up to a hollow flake I was convinced my fingers were going to peel away. Without thinking I stupidly placed a small cam behind it and quickly changed it to a skyhook in fear of pushing the flack off from the wall if I fell. The next section looked nails and I told myself I couldn’t carry on if I couldn’t find anymore gear. Eventually I found a small rp slot in solid rock which I think I could trust. I then spent what felt like an hour of shaking out, going up and down, up and down before eventually figuring out how to do the next bit which felt just as hard as the crux section again. Now totally worked I didn’t want to blow it, mainly because I had put so much effort in and party because I didn’t want to have to test out my gear. More tough moves, I eventually pulled my way to the top. Totally exhausted.

Next day I came back with caff to return the belay favour. He wanted to finish off margins of the mind. This time he climbed it successfully to the top, despite the glaring hot sun which was in the way of all the holds. Even with what I already knew about the reputation of the route, seconding I was still horrified at how crap the gear was on the whole route. I would be surprised if any of it would hold a fall.

Now wanting to tick off all the E7′s on the wall I returned again yesterday and climbed ‘it will be alright on the night’.

A bit of this and a bit of that - By Jen Wilby

Podey's footprints following an epic run along the beach

"Every day may not be a good day, but there is something good in every day"

There are many jokes about the English Weather, however the the weekend of my 30th Birthday celebrations proved to be no joke when North Wales turned into a lake! Slight exaggeration, but close enough.
I'd had the idyllic plan of climbing in the pass and showing those who had never been before the amazing problems in the Pass, with evenings of eating outside and camping and generally having some fun - how wrong I was.

Arriving late on Thursday night the weather was OK until we were about and hour away from the Pass, when the heavens opened. Deciding it wouldn't be the best idea to stay in the field of the campsite, we stayed in the lay by - hoping the weather would pass.
By Friday morning nothing had changed so we headed to the coast, which was basking in the sun. With so many good problems up in the valley's I was disappointed to be at Parisellas Cave, however it was good fun with everyone being in the same area, the banter and abuse soon began to flow. I managed possibly the hardest V4 in the world and one of the V6 traverses, however I was more than happy to have some banter & grab some rays!

Taking over the cave

Basking in the sun whilst we could

Freddie trying one of the long traverses

Chris on Clever Beaver

After we had all had enough abuse, we headed back into the Pass, no change! So an evening was spent supplying the Vaynol Arms with their monthly takings I suspect. However, the weather had started to settle so I was optimistic.

The rain and wind arrived about 7am again, so it was back to the cave for a second time. That evening we headed to the Pizza place just outside of the village of Llamberis. They do amazing pizzas for a good price and I'd definitely recommend it. With no change by Sunday we headed to the local climbing wall to stay dry and to decide what our next move was to be. It was time to accept that hoping wasn't enough and decided to drive south and do some bolt clipping on Portland. So it was with regret that we started to make the drive South.

I have to admit I wasn't looking forward to tying in, as I haven't done more than about 6 moves since Oct 2012, I excepted a serious amount of pump & pain! So it was a nice surprise to leave 10 routes later with a 7a & 7a+ flash...might start getting excited for routes next year!

It took me a few days to get over that weekend and despite the weather it was good fun due to the good company. A huge thank you to those who made the drive!

With the rest week before Wales & the forced rest post Wales, I had a couple of weeks doing not a lot. So when the weather turned and the Bank Holiday weekend arrived, it was back in the van on the M6 up to North Wales. This time it was the right decision - the sun was shining with not a cloud in the sky!

Lazy morning by the van

 We headed to the Ogwen Valley due to a lie in and the lack of parking spaces in the Pass (Trad Climbers and walkers are really early risers!). We headed to the Milestone Buttress Boulders as we hadn't been before and there were some cool moves:

Jez's Arete V4

Trusting the heel on Jez's Arete V4

Start of Pit Start V5

Hardest moves done coming out of the pit

Crimpy Crimpy on Pit Start

About to top out on Pit Start V5

We then headed to a sweet little crag at Caseg Fraith. I'd ticked most of the crag a couple of years back but repeated the following:

Caseg Fraith Arete V3 ... stunning line!

About to top out of Caseg Fraith Arete

Skunk X - powerful start

Matching the sloper on Skunk X

With an early start the next day we managed to get the last parking spot in the Pass, at 9am!!! We headed up to the King of Drunks area. A problem I couldn't get my butt of the floor a couple of years back due to it being to powerful - lets just say my hopes were slim to none but thought I might as well give it a go as we were there. I warmed up on the puzzling "The Groove" V4, which was desperate! Then spent some time figuring out my beta for KOD with it resulting in some very odd heel hooking. The problem went fine and I was pleased to have made some progress on stuff that not my style :)

Sit start to KOD V6

My hip was very sore the next day

On to the jugs

Making my way to the crimps before the jug at the top

First crimp before the top

With a dodgy shoulder (again) I didn't want to push it, so I stopped climbing on a high and decided to let my climbing partner carry on climbing with a permanent spotter :) I did try some harder blocs but I was done.

We were psyched to get back up into the Pass on the Monday, so with the weather looking to turn by lunch time we got an early start. As soon as the van was packed the low cloud came in and that brought the rain, so it was off to Pete's Eats for a brew before the long drive home - not before letting Podey loose on the beach...

Yup - those are his paw prints all over - nutter.

Since that weekend, I've not been up to much. My shoulder has been very weak and unstable so I have been working towards getting that better and I've generally been De-motivated. I've got back into it this week working on being able to lift my own body weight and general conditioning to stop the injuries from occurring.

Since the weather has turned I've been torn between tying in or making the financial commitment to head to North Wales for outside climbing. This year I really want to focus on my bouldering and feel that routes will not benefit me in that area, but then I can't afford to head to N Wales each weekend, however then I feel guilty about training inside on such nice days. Decisions decisions...personally I think I am happy to make the sacrifices this year ready for Swissie in Sept - not sure my climbing partner agrees :)

Until Next Time

Happy Climbing x

The Stunning North Wales

Some Spring Sends - Tom Newberry

Spring shock to start the sport season, or not!

Each spring I start to think about getting fit and returning to rope climbing. I never find this easy though, the simplicity of bouldering keeps drawing me back. Which means despite to good intentions of the odd day out in March/April it is usually July time until I start to abandon the pads for a rope.  I hoped this year would be different, having completed most my boulder goals I thought it could be easier to focus on what I want to achieve on a rope. I even changed my fingerboard routine from max hangs and general messing around to a little more focus on PE repeaters/encores. As I said I find the transfer hard, but to help with motivation I managed a few early season sends off this year’s tick list. First was Zulu Wall, an amazing 8a on the Gower in South Wales. It was so good that it made up for the £6.20! toll bridge charges. In fact, I think finding a better 8a in the UK would be hard going indeed! It’s steep and follows a stunning flake line with a brilliant crux sequence at 2/3 height and is hidden away in your own private zawn. This was followed up with a couple visits to Cheddar, where I began to work through the more popular mid and higher graded routes on the north side of the gorge. Lion Rock, Remnant and Wave areas were my preferred crags and although not the UK’s finest rock it provided an enjoyable way to get some fitness back and get used to going for it on a rope again. For me this is the easiest and best way to get my fitness back up again getting in milage on routes that you can redpoint in a couple goes. That way they are hard enough to push you but generally you dont have them dialled so end up fighting at the top and you can still get several routes done in a day.

 

Despite this push to get back on a rope, as with every year, the lure of bouldering has kept me dabbling. So whilst in the area, I jumped on the Bristol bouldering band waggon and visited a few of the areas, in vogue, bouldering spots. The highlights were a quick tick of fellow team member, Ben West’s 7C classic - Tombstone (Mossatrocity the grit problem at Grindleford’s  limestone counterpart) and a skin of my teeth flash of The Prow 7C at Sand Point. Both are cool steep compression problems and I thoroughly recommend combing them when doing routes in the area. I also reaped the benefits of the clock change, now making it out more regularly for after work sessions. Unfortunately, Lynmouth is the only place that is doable but I have been able to add a few new problems to the circuit (sometimes after a cheeky surf when its working). These have mainly been traverses so I guess that’s sort of sticking to the plan of improving my power endurance. The best and hardest of which is Behind Enemy Lines 7C+ the full R – L traverse of the bum Cheeks boulder. This had been on my to do list for a while as it was an obvious challenge. However, my initial efforts were from L to R which didn’t climb well and was very awkward. The idea to go the other way popped into my head when driving to work one day and after a session figuring out a line I returned to dispatch one sunny evening. 

However, the best of the new problems I have put up recently was back at Hartland. The left hand line through ‘The End is Nigh’ cave had always been in the back of my mind. But, after completing The End is Nigh the thought of the ½ mile walk in and fact you need 6+ pads had always meant I’d put it off. Until last week, after giving Dan Turner the tour, and him clearing up in quick time, I showed him the project. Still I lack the enthusiasm to open my account with the new line. Dan on the other hand was psyched and quickly set to work figuring out most the moves. I soon started to get keen. It was a great process, as being two completely different body sizes and having different climbing styles we worked out different beta for nearly every move. Before long I had done it from 1/3 of the way in to the top. After getting wacky with the start few moves it was on. I had four or five good burns getting through to move 9 of 12, but fatigue was setting in. After 4 hours of working the moves I lacked the fitness to pull it out the bag at the end of the day. I left the crag and psyche was high. Now I just had the crux task of talking someone back to help hall the numerous pads down the coast path again. The next day I was super psyched, so much so that I went down on my own carrying 5 pads down the coast path, down the fisherman’s rope and across the pain in the ass rocky beach. A quick warm up and a few laps on the finishing moves and I was feeling good. 1^st go I got all hesitant due to being on my own and scared, I semi dropped off taking the ride down the pad slide. 2^nd go I manned up and went all out to establish ‘The revolution is Coming’ 8A, another north coast classic. When I showed some fellas from the peak around they said that in the peak this roof would have about 15 lines and links through it. So I guess I will be back here at some point to climb another line, but think I’ll take a break from lugging pads past confused walkers. After, I took a walk along the northern beach hoping that something else would pop up, and managed a funky new 7C roof. Not the best problem by any means, but a cracking finish to the day. 

 

Finally, good effort to the Barn Crew who have done a great job revamping the boulder, the comp circuit was fun and another win was nice despite feeling totally burnt out when I rocked up in the morning.

European Youth Bouldering Championships by Rachel Carr

It was this time last week that I began my journey to Gatwick where I would meet the Junior GB Bouldering team and leave for our first ever European. I didn’t know what to expect, whether I would be good enough, or how I would react in the new situation. When I met up with the team at the hotel we were all pretty psyched. It was a long journey to get to Grindewald, almost 12 hours, but it was worth it. 

Two plane journeys, 3 trains and 1 quick car journey and we were at the hotel, right at the bottom of the Eiger. The scenery was beautiful and I was glad to see our hotel room looked comfortable because I really needed a good night’s sleep after getting up at 5 that morning. We had a team chat to decide whether we'd go to registration or not and we all chose to go along and see who we’d be competing against. 

We ate first in the centre and watched all the teams show up one by one to register. I recognised some of the competitors from lead competitions and even the Denmark team that I had previously met in Font. After registering some of us went back to the hotel to get our bags ready and have a bit of a relax so we wouldn’t get stressed before the comp. Nathan, Tom and Michelle all stayed for the technical meeting to give us the information later on. 

After playing a few card games and double-checking our kit for Saturday Tom returned to give us another team chat and tell us any final rules.

The next day we woke up sharp at 8 and headed for breakfast. Tom thought it would be a good idea if we had a bit of time in the morning just to relax so that we wouldn’t stress out about the comp. This really helped me as it was so different to all the lead competitions I'd been in in the past. We watched a bit of German TV and played more card games. For some reason playing really quick, high-intensity card games took the pressure of the comp. My Youth A Girls category was to start at 12:30 and was the first category for our team. We headed to the wall for half ten to scope out the climbs and watch the Youth B boys as we knew we would have some of the same problems. When we started warming up the area was almost empty, but by about 20 minutes before starting time the warm-up zone was filled with competitors, at this point I was glad to have Gracie and Tara with me as it was nice to see familiar faces in a crowd of unusual ones. With 15 minutes to go before the start we headed to the competition area to see what problems would be ours and for Tom to give us some last minute motivation.

With 45 climbers our category was one of the biggest so we had a 2 hour qualification time and 8 problems to attempt. Gracie and I managed to be first and second on problem 5. Gracie went first and fell off a crossover move, I went on and did the same, but looking back I think I could have made it if I had more confidence. We worked our way through the problems, not always together, but still helping each other with beta. I managed to reach the final move on the slab problem 3 times but didn’t trust my foot enough to get right into the wall so just missed the last hold. That raised my confidence as I knew I’d beaten a few girls by getting closer to the hold, even though I knew it wouldn’t show in the results. I got 5 bonuses overall but I didn’t top any. I wasn’t disappointed as I knew no one ever does well in their first comp. It was a totally new atmosphere and I just wasn’t used to it yet. I made it to the last move on 3 of the problems and made it past the crux on 2 of the others. I was pleased with how well I did on each problem and knew that the main reason I’d fallen off them was because my foot had slipped and not because I lacked the capability. I finished 31^st out of 45. If I had topped one I would have been 27^th and if I had topped 2 I would have come top 25. I know I have the ability to get top 25 next time and I’m already working on my weaknesses. 

Hopefully next time I’ll have a better mind-set and I’ll be able to move through the hard moves first time. It was such a good atmosphere with the team over the weekend; everyone was so relaxed and had fun the whole time. We were focused when we needed to be and everyone made sure that no one got stressed out. Tom was really good at talking us through and gave me some great feedback. It was always so positive and I know next time the whole team will improve; we will get better from here. I’m so psyched for Bulgaria, it can’t come quick enough.

Spain, my first 8a! By Charlotte Garden

After all the awful weather in England, I couldn't wait to go to Spain! I was to fly on the Sunday morning and the day before was my British Team medical at a hospital in Sheffield. The journey over the snowy roads to Sheffield was proving treacherous! We spent 20 mins pushing a big van up a hill then we were on our way. I spent the day catching up with the team and doing various health checks required by the IFCS to show I was physically fit enough to compete. I had a late night packing and an early morning flight so Sunday was spent digging my toes in the sand and picnicking on the beach, which was an enjoyable contrast to driving over snowdrift-covered roads.

On the first day climbing, we went to Wild Side, a crag that is in the shade all day. This is such a good crag because it has loads of hard routes in the 7’s and above. There is a 6c+, but our old guidebook didn’t have this route in it, so I warmed up by traversing along the bottom of the crag then onsighted a 7a called Sit e Dicen Que Cai.

I then started to look at Ergometria, a 26m 8a. Good job I was keen to test my stamina!

The route can be broken up into 5 sections;

-A V5 boulder problem start,

-Followed by super easy juggy tufas to the first comfy knee bar.

 -Then the heat picks up with another harder section with lots of useless chalked up holds to confuse you leading into a painful knee bar.

-Bridge style climbing takes you to another painful no hands bridge rest,

-And a steadyish burn to the top has a hard, awkward cross through move that finishes you off!

Figuring out the boulder problem beta took me a while with various Spanish makinas (machines) shouting various powerful methods at me, which I had to modify to make work for me.  The trick ended up being to step right through next to a left heel hook. I loved this foot sequence! Sieving through the many holds was my first challenge and it took me around 4 goes over a few days to figure out the moves; and nice moves they were! J

I took a rest day then found myself climbing the boulder problem crux first go which surprised me. Now I had to concentrate, and execute the moves I had practiced, reading the route a few moves ahead when I could. I started to flow through the moves, knowing exactly where my next hand and foot were meant to be. I only broke focus when I was at a knee bar rest and while I had time to think, the grade and the possibility of success starting to creep into my head. I told myself to ‘shut up and concentrate’ ‘hold it together’ ‘you can do this!’ A few deep breaths and I got back into my zone. I found myself clipping the chains with a massive grin on my face!! My first 8a, sent on my first proper red point!

The same day I flashed a 7b+ called Oceano. I was absolutely buzzing! I had climbed my first 8a and flashed 7b+ after just coming back from an injury. J

After one week back home, I went up to Ratho, to the EICA (Edinburgh International Climbing Arena) for a training weekend. This is the venue for the first European Youth competition at the start of June so it was good to get some practice on their steep competition walls! I was training with 5 other guys who were all just as psyched as I was to work hard. The weekend gave me an opportunity to give some technique tips and help them out with their routes. Having received so much help over the years, it was nice to give a little back. It was an awesome weekend, I managed to pack in 3 days of training, at the end of which, my skin was trashed!

So my injury had completely stopped troubling me, and I had climbed my first 8a. I felt like I had a strong clean slate to start training from. I’ve got the Europeans to look forward to and my next trip to Ceuse!!

European Youth Championships 2013 by Daragh O'Connor

My first time competing in a European cup was on the 25th of may in Grindelwald Switzerland. Before I headed out I was concerned that my nerves (as they have before) would get the better of me. But when my time to climb came about all I felt was that I needed to just break the ice of falling which seemed like the easiest thing in the world to do because all that was required was to try the hardest problem (not expecting to get it) and fall. After I got that out of the way it was time to get competing! I tried some of the 'easier' of the 8 problems but I soon discovered that what others found easy, things like compression moves, were a big part of many of the problems...

This was were it fell apart, as I tried and tried  some of the the less 'technically tricky' problems I just found that I was just short of enough power to top out, I tried to not let it get to me so I moved onto one of the harder problems, the slab, my first 2 goes I touched the top hold and finally topped it on my 3rd. I found this very interesting as very few people managed to top the slab as for many it was one of, if not the hardest problem for them. All this told me that I had the technical ability but just lacked the tiniest about of power that would have made a large difference to my result.

So from my first time competing in an Ireland top I learnt a lot, I found out a weird but effective way to calm my nerves, my technical ability is at a good standard and that I need to squeeze more fridges and get STRONGER!!!