Redpoint birthday bash

To celebrate the fourth birthday of the Redpoint climbing wall in Birmingham I headed over in the snow (in sub zero temps) to have join in the fun competitions.  As always over at redpoint everyone was friendly and it was a great atmosphere, and the tea and cake is always good too.

Now I'm not really a fan of dynoing or speed climbing, but it was nice to join in and give them a go, especially as the dyno compeition was on the stalagtite and therefore on belay with no chance of a dodgy landing.

Getting ready to power up

Boom, i managed to stick the hold in the first round but couldn't match the winning 4.3m dyno of Will Smith!

I loved giving the indoor dry tooling ago with the fig fours, a great workout for the forearms and quite balancy - next time i have an ice climbing trip planned these will definitely feature in my training!

Fig four route

The best part of the day was the leading competitions, and although I was a bit dissapointed at barn-dooring off the womens final route (although I still came first) I was pleased with touching the last hold on the mens final route (which made me third).  The route went up a panel to the roof and across the roof via a bridge and couple of stalagtites, the features which make redpoint one of my favourite places to go indoor climbing!

Moving onto the bridge

Past a tricky clip and to move between stalagtites

Couldn't avoid a photo with me pulling a strange face, but in my defence i was pretty pumped at this stage!

Momentarily on the last hold, I thought I had this until...

Popped off, but I'm still smiling :) Great fun

I'm just hoping all the winter indoor training is going to translate onto the rock this year... Three weeks until a big trip to El chorro

Thanks to Matt Todd for providing the photos from the day.

Why start a climbing blog?

 

 

Bouldering at the Roaches, November 2011



Perhaps its best to start the blog with an explanation of why I chose to set up a blog about climbing.  As outlined in my profile, I'm passionate about climbing.  Whether it is bouldering, trad climbing, deep water soloing (DWS), sport climbing, indoor climing or ice climbing.
 

   

DWS in Thailand 2008



  

Ice climbing in Rukjan, Norway 2010

Furthermore I am motivated to introduce others to the sport, and to help and mentor people with their own personal goals within climbing.  Climbing means different things to each individual, with different preferences for forms of climbing.  
 

Newly bolted route, unamed, 7b
Koh Phi Phi, Thailand

  

Personally I am currently focused primarlily on training to improve my sport climbing grade.  I have climbed for a few years now, but over the past couple of years I have become very motivated and have started cross-training by including weekly gym sessions in additional to my normal weekly indoor training.  The cross-training has aided my sport grade to increase to around 7b/7c, which has simply increased my appetite to train harder and smash higher grades.  My next goal is to climb 8a, and with a new coach and training ideas, and more climbing trips planned I want to record the next chapter of my journey to climb 8a(and beyond).

 





 

Leading ladder final 2009, i gained a third position in the

 recreational category. In 2011 I came first in the same category

  
  
 







Cheeky autumn sun day

So by some miracle we get 20+ degrees during an October weekend so we did a little trip to horshoe quarry armed with our helmets.  We ticked off most of the routes to the left of the main wall and made a start on those right of the main wall bumping into Ilona and her climbing partner.

Collette spotting me on a 6b+

And concentrating the whole way, well trained

Ilona leading

Thailand 2011

With some time spare before starting my new job I couldnt resist heading back to Thailand again.  This time I wanted to explore beyond the Tonsai/Railey crags to Koh Yai Noi and Koh Phi Phi.  Unfortuantely several days of severe weather and flooding meant I only managed to head to Koh Phi Phi and Tonsai this trip.

Koh Phi Phi had mainly grades under 6c with a mixture of slabs and overhanging routes.  I found a small seciton on Tonsai wall with some very newly bolted routes and a local guide told me one of which was a 7b.

Overhanging route (6c) on Tonsai wall, Koh Phi Phi

Leading a new route on Tonai wall, 7b

I demolished all the routes on Koh Phi Phi so we headed back to Tonsai in the rain.  Once the rain cleared we did a few routes and coll insisted on climbing back through the cave through Thaiwand wall for a bit of adventure!


Coll seconding up Thaiwand wall so we could walk through the cave onto Phra nang beach



At the top of the route into the cave, torches at the ready for the bamboo ladders





Where has the sun gone in Thailand??

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