Leading ladder 2011

I thought it would be good to mark my progress by entering the leading ladder again.  As before I qualified for the finals which were held in Cardiff this year.  The organisation of the final was pretty poor with lines overlapping and people falling off very close to the climbers beside them, which meant i really did not enjoy the day at all.  However it wasnt a wasted trip and I came first this time.

On the 7b route

Looking gormless trying to pose

Norway 2010: Ice climbing

A fellow instuctor down the local wall- Elaine and I headed over to Rjukan in Norway to experience ice climbing for the first time.

Rjukan valley

We were lucky enough to have great conditions very early on in the season in December.  I had never seen icickles like it...

Playing some tunes

Crampon tehcnique took a bit of getting used to to compared with toe placements typical of rock climbing, but the ice axe swing came quite naturally to me and I found it easier to feel when I had a good ice placement (with a deep thud!) than i had expected.

I found the lack of day light a bit weird and I did find myself of dreaming of sport climbing in a bikini on occasions where my my feet and hands were in agony from the cold.  That said I had a great time and I think ice climbing is something I would definately like to pursue in the UK when the conditions come in, its just a shame its a seasonal sport.

Kalymnos 2010

Having heard and read about kalymnos I was desperate to head out there after a pretty tough year (final year PhD) and I was looking to get my first 7a onsite but have a nice relaxed holiday at the same time.  We headed out as a three (Collette, Chris and I) on a two-week trip.  I had a good deal compromising to climb all morning till around 1/2 and then sunbathe (and read the guide for the next days climbs) for the afternoons. Chris came to watch climbing for one day and decided he wasnt really interested in watching whilst dodging rocks and snakes.

Scooter and sceeter; the only way to travel in Kalymnos

Kalymnos seemed to have it all slabs, steeper stuff and massive roof sections.  Grande Grotta was my favourite crag and a crag I will come back to once I have trained for endurance and power considerably more!
It was fustrating I took a couple of stops on the famous DNA (7a i think) of grande grotta due to a bit of a strangely placed bolt, but it was enjoyable nevertheless.

Grande grotta: DNA  7a - seconding to get my quickdraws back

Lowering off grande grotta

Crags such as Kastelli and dolphin bay were great for Collette for the grades and we ticked off all the routes at these crags over the trip. 

Victory shot after the scramble up to the top of Kastelli

Luckily as scooter and sceeter we were able to get to plenty of crags further out form Massouri, such as sybelgades rocks which had some memorable low grade 3d routes.  It was great to get out to more isolated crags and scrambling up rocks for some good views.

Nice view of Telendos during an evening climb

Possibly my first 7a+ onsite route?!

I did manage to achieve a first 7a onsite, but then when i checked the guidebook realised this included a 7a+ extension which i was thrilled with!

Some well-earned cocktails at the scorpion bar

Cheddar gorge

For my brithday I decided on a trip to Cheddar gorge, although being June we were expecting it to be a bit warmer than it was. 

"The bus the bus" every hour or so



Loving the helmet on this one, this was Collettes second sport trip in the UK



Leading

It was a nice short-trip and definatley worth another trip in the future to visit other sectors

Leading ladder 2009

For the first time I decided to try the leading ladder.  I qualified and was bumped up to the recreational category for the final in Sheffield at the Foundry.  It was my first real leading competition and it was a good experience but I found that i got unneccesarily nervous which was fustrating.  I came third though and with a prize of a guidebook for Portland I was very happy!

Leading on the 7b route just before I took a whipper

Lord Rootes Fund: Rock climbing in Thailand

During the second year of my PhD I applied for a pot a money available from the Lords Rootes fund at Uni (Warwick) to go and climb in Thailand.  The whole idea of the fund was to pursue something non-academic that you are interested in, and although I couldnt see projects from other years relating to sport or rock climbing I thought it was still worth a shot.  After an extensive application form and interview in front of the biggest panel I had ever experienced I was given the funds!!!

I booked my flight and was off for 3 weeks, unfortunately my first flight was delayed by a day and so I missed my internal flights to Chiang Mai, so I headed straight to Krabi province instead.

I arrived at tonsai early in the morning and got myself straight on a boat to the DWS.  This was my first experience of DWS -not a bad place to start!

I was a bit unsure where any of the routes went!

I was suprised how high some of the routes went and on day 1 i was reluctant to fall off...

The following days I met up with a Canadian partner for a day, and then Ian from Reading, and Mark from New Zealand who I spent the next 3 weeks climbing all over the tonsai/railey area with.

The team!

The biggets adjustment to the climbing in Thailand was the heat and humidity, we were there during the hottest day of the year where temperatures reached 45 degrees.  We spent most of our time focusing on single-pitch mileage during this trip rather than pushing the grades. It was great to spend time in the jungle and on sea cliffs. 

Old snake 6b:We hired a kayak to get across the bay to Easle wall some isolated routes in the jungle, lots mosquitoes...

A memorable tricky route at Wee's present wall, Monkey crying 6b+

Abseiling off a multipitch the beauty and the beat, a+ at Monkey world -what a view!

Mark and I did a few multipitches together, the most memorable of which were orange chandeliers(6a+,6b, 6c) on Ao nang tower (a sea stack between Ao nang and Tonsai) and the 5-pitch route humanality up the huge cliff which overlooks tonsai beach.

Ao nang tower required a taxi boat to the sea stack which waited for us whilst we climbed.  We then abseiled back down the route to the boat - with thunder and lighting and winds around us at the end of the route this made things a bit tricky.

Mark abseiling off Tonsai tower to the awaiting taxi boat

The three weeks in Krabi was a great unforgettable experience to clock up the miles and develop my experience and confidence in sport climbing - and it was all about onsighting routes.   It was nice to return to Krabi since I had stopped over two-years previously and I wanted to return strong so I could climb all the fantastic routes on offer.  It was nice that I had achieved this sooner than I expected.

SUIBL

Over 2007-2009 I was part of the uni SUIBL team with four competition rounds held at different walls.  I was fortunate to be part of a team with Jonny and Dave which won overall in the first year (07/08), I managed to win one round and i think i came second in a few and a third and fourth place at some rounds.  Although bouldering isnt my preffered form of climbing it was good to train to be more powerful and nice to experience different types of routes around the country.

Undercover rock, TCA

Defying gravity...TCA, Bristol

Cant remember which wall this was

Undercover rock, Bristol

The A team, at Undercover rock, Bristol