Hibernating through the winter....

It's been a while since i last posted and this is simply because i haven't been out at all. Along with the rubbish weather, i've been working quite a bit at Ratho and not had much time to get out. In February, i did manage to get over to Ireland and take part in the Irish bouldering championships. Bouldering is definitely a weak point of mine but i still managed to come third which i was pretty chuffed with...
I also visited TCA for the first time about a month ago for a fun bouldering comp, which i didn't do too well in, but was still pretty cool to visit a new wall.

Will hopefully be getting out somewhere this Tuesday depending on the weather!

Mammut Meet

A couple of weekends ago i travelled down to a snowy, wet Peak Distrcit to meet up with the other Mammut UK team members. It was nice to finally meet these guys face to face rather than just having a read of their blogs. We were also joined by two Euro team members Anna Stohr and Jakob Schubert who were giving masterclasses at the Foundry. It was pretty impressive watching these guys stroll up 8as and bs! The Sunday was spent searching for some dry rock to get some outdoor photos. Even though the weather was terrible we managed to get a little bit of dry rock for a wee boulder, which isn't very inspriring when you are looking up at classic routes! Anyway, here are some photos from the weekend, courtesy of Mike Hutton....

Mammut Masterclass at The Foundry

 

 Kickstart a new year of climbing with a masterclass from Mammut Pro Team members and Team Mammut UK

 

Mammut Pro Team climbers, Jakob Schubert and Anna Stöhr are heading to the UK later this month and for a series of masterclasses.  Jakob will be offering tips to lead climbers whilst Anna will be on the bouldering room.  Whether you’ve just started out or are a seasoned climber get in touch to reserve your space! 

 

Check out masterclass times on the Foundry website or their facebook page then call the Foundry to register.  The Foundry will take names up to Tuesday 22^nd January then pick the names of those in each masterclass  out of a chalk bag!  There are four spaces in each class and six classes in total.

 

FREE entry to the Foundry and freebies for masterclass students

Win a place in one of these classes and you’ll get free entry to The Foundry for the day plus a free Mammut goody bag

 

Spot prizes and giveaways

Mammut will be dishing out random spot prizes and giveaways all afternoon – stickers, pens, toys, beanies!

 

Cash prize routes

The guys at The Foundry will be setting a couple of fiendishly hard routes – whoever gets the highest gets some cold hard cash!

 

Harness and belay device demos

We’ll have a range of climbing harnesses and belay kit from Mammut to try out.

 

Mammut Climbing Challenge

The all-new Mammut climbing challenge will be up and running with prizes a plenty!  Twelve routes both top rope and lead from 5+ to 8b will be set for you to try.

 

Team Mammut UK on hand form tips and advice

Cailean Harker, Ethan Walker, Jess McCaskey, Nathan Lee and Oli Grounsell will be on hand for advice.

 

When?
Saturday 26^th January from 2.00 – 6.00pm

 

For more information visit www.foundryclimbing.com or call The Foundry on 0114 279 6331.

The Games People Play

Alien Rock - End of an Era

 

 

 

Ok 10 years is not an era but it feels like it to me! Alien Rock is 5 mins from my house and for the last 10 years it has been like a second home. My parents often said i spent more time down the wall than at home. It started at the weekend kids club to now, when in the winter i could be there 5 times a week, but not anymore.

 

On a Saturday before xmas, i was at the wall with my climbing partenr Martin. We were cranking out the routes as usual, enjoying the company of the regulars.

However, one of the guys that works at Alien on a Saturday invented an incident just to cause trouble (On investigation by the owners, this incident was agreed not to have actually taken place at all!) . Starting out as something stupid, the whole thing blew out of proportion.

 

The manager then made things worse by lying, saying that Martin had agreed to being guilty? (of something that never happened!??) He went to the owners for backing and got sacked. 

 

 What i will miss the most is all the regulars i have come to know over the years. All these people come from different backgrounds, different ages but they all took an interest and encouraged me as i progressed in climbing. To be honest, it was the social aspect that attracted me to Alien as i don't love plactic and im not that desperate to get stronger.

 

 Anyway, hope you've all had a better start to 2013 and hopefully i will have some trad action to report on in a couple of months time. I was gonna go to Spain to climb trad at Easter but this is off now and i will have to find somehwere to climb in the UK, which will still be awesome!

Dreaming of Summer

It's been a while since i last posted and that's due to the fact that i haven't actually done anything in the last month. Obviously it is too cold to be doing trad and well i don't believe that anything done indoors is worth posting about. I have been climbing a little at Alien and Ratho hoping to get a little fitter for next summer as some of the routes on my wishlist may require more endurance than i have at the moment! Bouldering is a bit of a weak point for me, primarily because i find it a little boring and probably because i am fairly weak! Anyway, here are a few routes that are on the top of my wishlist for next year.

Scotland 

Shelterstone - Steeple + Needle 

The Ben - Torro + Centurian + Titan's Wall

Carmore - Dragon + Gob + Fionn Buttress

Beinn Eighe - Angel Face + Grooving High

Glencoe - Shibboleth + Carnivore + Big Top + YoYo + Unicorn

Creag Dubh - The Fuhrer + Over the Hill + Wet Dreams

Aberdeen - Prehistoric Monster 

North-West - The Screamer + Miss Moneypenny

England

 - Whit's End Direct + Eastern Hammer + Springbank + Equus + Kipling Groove + Cruel Sister

- Grand Alliance + Bitter Oasis 

Wales

Great Wall + The Axe 

Right Wall + Resurrection + Cenotaph + Cemetery Gates + Super Direct 

and obviously lots, lots more...

Anyway, apart from climbing indoors, i've also been trying to learn A little guitar. I am terrible just now but it has only been a couple of days so hopefully i will be more like Hendrix by Christmas ! My new years resolution is going to be giving up chocolate until i have either climbed an 8a or onsighted an e6! 

Plastic on a sunny day ?!!

Last weekend, when the weather was glorious, i was indoors pulling on plastic. Embarrassing, i know, but this was my last year as a junior in the BLCCs so i thought i'd give it ago before i get thrashed in the seniors! I was hoping to get a place on the podium this year and felt that 3rd was definitely within reach. However, i hadn't expected a Swiss tank to show up! Anyway, i think i did pretty well on my first two qualifiers. My first route was on the old comp wall and was a techy route up a groove, just my style! I climbed all the way up to the second last hold without any difficulty but then i realised that the last move was slightly dynamic, not my style! I popped pathetically and managed to touch the last hold.

first qualifier

nearly!

dancing with ma agent

 Our second route was also on the old comp wall but was slightly steeper than our first! It went through two roofs and was covered in lovely positive crimps. I watched quite a few of the youth A and some junior girls fall off at the lip of the first roof as it looked like quite a powerful rockover/lock. It's fair to say that i was well chuffed when i did this move statically with ease! In the end i managed to make it to the lip of the second roof before pumping out (probably something to do with my sloth speed!). Scraping through to the final, i was horrified to see that it was on the stupidly steep new comp wall. I hate this wall, i just don't think that being upside-down is natural, unless bungee jumping! I also see a pattern on this wall, jugs far apart with lots of throws and heel hooks, just plain durty! Anyway, i started off slow as usual and was pumped after a few clips. I made it about halfway and came 4th in the end.  I was pretty pleased with my performance but unfortunately couldn't take part in the seniors as i was working, or is it unfortunate? :P

Scottish Yoof Open

I know it's been a while since i last posted but i have been busy training....not! I have been busy trying to ride a unicycle! My aim is to juggle on a unicycle (obviously i have too much spare time on my hands!). 

As for climbing, a couple of weekends ago, i took part in the Scottish open. Choosing indoors over trad is totally mad but it is my last year in the junior category so i thought i'd give it a go before i get totally thrashed by the seniors! Last year i was the only junior girl in this competition which makes it a little boring, so luckily another girl entered this year to give me a little competition. 

Our first route was an awkward, up-side-downy 7a. I got to the crux and fell off pathetically, not really going for the next hold. I wasn't strong enough to static the move and well...poppy is sloppy! My second route was lovely and was definitely more my style. Slightly overhanging with positive crimps all the way. I topped this route and then spent the couple of hours before isolation juggling. Our final route was a minging, technical, slopey crimp fest up groove. Every hold was like a foothold, but i think i did not too bad, getting around 2/3 or 3/4 of the way up? cant remember but i'm sure i did well :). 

ooh look, i tied a boline!

starting up first qualifier

must not heel hook! (durty)

looking happy

starting up final

where's all tha huds?

cheesing! with my agent brian :P

Unfortunately the weather has been pretty gash lately so not much has been happening outdoors. I have been back to the Pass of Ballater which is a great wee crag. Although it rained in the morning, it only took a few hours to dry. I did the fantastic but pretty pumpy Pretzel Logic E3 5c. This led to the upper tier where i attempted the classic Peels Wall E4 6a. Still a bit pumped from the previous route, i fought up the bottom section, which is very bouldery and got all the way up to the slab before i came off! Tricky wee route, i was soooo pumped even though i only placed 3 bits of gear!!! Unfortunately no photos!!