This weekend I took the
long trip up to Sheffield to compete in the
British Bouldering Championships. I went up on the Saturday to check out the
wall and it looked sick, not too steep but technical, and the senior problems
looked awesome!
I came back on the Sunday
to a very muddy GravesPark, with the section
below the warm up wall being a muddy puddle! The problems looked good, and as I
was in the second qualifying group I watched the first group to get a bit of
beta on the problems. They all looked doable to reasonable and after warming up
our group were called and I got straight in, being the first to climb. I got on
the second easiest problem to warm up, and got up it easily. The second problem
I went on was one of the hardest, and getting on it so soon could have been a
mistake on my part, falling off 3 times in reasonably quick succession. I was
frustrated, so forced myself to rest, but again I got on a grey problem and
fell on my first attempt, despite it being a reasonably easy. This attempt was
the difference between making the podium and not in this competition, and
although I dispatched it easily on my next attempt, the frustration was there
so I moved on to some easier problems to boost my confidence and bank some
points.
My second go at problem 6
I got up the rest quite
easily (apart from a shaky top on a black press problem) and was drawing with
Pete for 3rd place, but he had all 3 attempts on the final problem
that I also had goes left on. Despite him coming off low down on his first 2
goes, he just stuck the bonus on his final attempt and that pushed my back a
place to 4th. I had a final attempt, in which I very nearly topped
it, but greasy hands and a small sequence error kept me off the finishing hold.
Very close, but extremely far.
Overall I placed 11th
(Against Youth A, B and C) and in Youth B I got 4th.
Doesn’t matter, bouldering
isn’t real climbing anyway… ;)
It’s been a while since I last wrote on here, but I’ve had no good news to talk about! However, I do now, but we’ll start with the not so good stuff…
On the 3rd of March I had an assessment day for the British team, and this has been my focus for the last few months. The idea was that we had 5 routes to attempt, a 7b, 2 7b+s and 2 7cs. Completing 3 would qualify you for selection to European events this year.
The day started well enough, a bit numb (because of the cold!) on the first route but got up it, and the second route was fine, although I was pretty shaky (not sure if it was nerves or excess caffeine…). Then it started to go wrong. The third route started up a steep wall, before turning a small lip and moving into a technical corner. I started off up the first wall fine, but as I was moving through the steepest part I got the worst flash pump of my life! It was incredible, my arms just didn’t work! By some ridiculous fluke I managed to pull the last few moves before the no hands rest in the corner, but it was very close! In the corner I had a rest and a breather, and moved on into the technical, crimpy, slopey corner. It was fine up until one move, where it turned out you had to use the feature screw-ons (which were a different colour to the wall and all chalked up!) which I thought weren’t in! Even without these, I managed the move with difficultly and cruised to the top!
Then it went really badly! After a good long rest, and some exercises to clear the remains of the pump it was time for our4th route. This one was all about endurance, but on the crux, my foot slipped going for a good hold. I wasn’t happy at all… The worst part was I did the route the next day all the way to the top (we were only going to 2/3 height) with no pump at all, very frustrating!!
My final climb was even worse, I was frustrated about the 4th route, so didn’t rest long enough before my attempt, and as a result I once again flash pumped at around ½ height. This time there wasn’t a no hands rest to save me, so I was off within a couple of moves! A lesson to be learnt there somewhere…
After the day I was selected for the Ratho EYC in May, along with the Imst EYC in Austria in August (just after Ceuse so should have some good endurance!). Then after that there’s the European Championships and the Kranj EYC that haven’t been selected for yet, so I better get cracking!
CWIF and Peak
A week later, I took a train up north to Sheffield to compete in CWIF. I’ve always seen this comp online, but this year was the first time I actually got a chance to compete, so I was pretty psyched! Looking at the problems, they all looked hard, with just one that I could confidently say I could do every time, although most of the rest looks like they were do-able. I started off on some of the slightly easier ones to begin with, but quickly moved on to some of the harder ones before they became too crowded. Apart from the occasional route with a long move, it went quite well, and I ended up scoring 156, putting me in 58th place overall and 4th (I think) in the under 18s! I must be better at bouldering than real climbing…
On the Sunday it was looking really nice, so we headed out for a bit of a boulder at Stanage. Turns out it may have been a bit TOO nice, as the rock was really greasy! After a bit of a mess about on the pebble we moved on to the only problem we knew would be in the shade, Brad Pit. I looked at it last year when I was up there, but never had a go, so this time was my first session. The beta is generally match the rail then heel up to the left of the rail, then go left hand up to the bottom of the sloper and then match with the right. From the sloper, hand up to a rubbish crimp then slap or just dyno off the sloper. Might as well start with the tall beta!
My first attempt seemed pretty promising to me, and I managed to touch the sloper. The next was even better, and I managed to get a bit of a hold on the sloper! After a few more goes, I stuck the sloper with the left hand and then in a few more I managed to match the sloper. Then it started to get really hard! The next move was huge! Even with the top crimp I couldn’t even slap for the finish! I worked out the problem was it was so warm, meaning my hand was slipping off of the sloper when I got to the crimp, so I had to readjust it so it was back on before the slap.
By this point, I was about to miss my train home, so after a couple of incredibly close slaps (almost holding it) I had one final go:
Will defiantly go next time if it’s a bit colder!
Cider Soak
Finally some success!
On Sunday, I went up to Ansteys Cove for a bit of a play, and the draws were up in Cider Soak, the classic 8a of the crag, which I’ve wanted to do for ages, but this was my first real go. On my first bolt to bolt I surprised myself, getting every move either first or second go! I had a few more bolt to bolts that day and was getting mot of the moves first go, apart from the move off of the resting jug. I was getting worse, so decided to call it a day, so took the draws out determined to come back soon.
That day came soon enough, the next day in fact, but I only had about an hour get it done (I should have waited really, I was 4th day on!)! I bolt to bolted it to get the draws in, then went for the redpoint! My first attempt was a flop, my foot popping while clipping the third draw.
The next go I was feeling strong, moving though the first section well, and was quite surprised when I latched the resting jug! The first section is the crux, but the section from the jug is almost as hard and entirely droppable. In my bolt to bolts I’d done the move off of the jug in a very powerful way, and when I was resting and had a couple of test go’s, I realised I wouldn’t be able to do it that way this time. I made up a bit of beta involving a match on a crimp, and I had the sloper. Right hand to the crimp, heel on, left hand to the sloper , heel up, slap to the crimp, slap with the right hand to the jug! I’d done it :D My first 8a outdoors, and come to think of it, about my 10th completed route on rock… Time to get some mileage in! Anyway, I have completed one of my goals, to climb 8a outdoors before I was 15!
A video of the assent is here:
In Easter I’ll be headed up north to Malham, Scotland and the Lakes! I’ll keep you posted!
It’s been an interesting week! TV appearances, articles, leading ladder and a nice day at Bonehill…
Last week I did the leading ladder at DartRock, and after onsighting all but the 8a in the last round there, I was keen to do better this time. The routes all looked crimpy, balancey and technical, my kind of thing! All the routes up to 7b were absolutely fine, although the 6a was solid for the grade!! The 7c looked to have one long move about halfway, and looking at the bolt spaces at the ground I knew that my feet would have to come off, so set off a bit apprehensive. When I got to the move I just committed straight away, stuck the move and got to the top. I’d matched last round, which would have been good enough. Looking at the 8a, it really didn’t look that bad, some rubbish holds at the top looking like the only problem. While I got 1 piece of beta wrong about halfway, I reversed a few moves and got it relatively easily, then on to the top! Technically my first 8a onsight, although I’m not going to count it because it felt a little bit easy for the grade, a great route though. My first 200 in the leading ladder, lets hope there’s a few more like this!
I recently appeared on Spotlight, and I don’t think I did that badly!! We got a call from the BBC on Thursday, and I missed the last 2 lessons of school to go for an interview at The Barn. We were expecting a 15 minute thing where he asked us a few questions, but instead we ended up filming for 2 and a half hours! It ended up coming together quite well, and I was quite pleased really!
Yesterday I had a nice little day up at Bonehill. I did Slopey Traverse and Rippled wall, both great problems which I’ve done before. I was bouldering with a few people and was told about some micro routes that were worth soloing, and thought that I’d take the opportunity of a few pads and spotters to give them a go. I did the E1 arête without a problem, so decided to give the E2 a go! It was defiantly good moves, but the top out was something I wouldn’t have done if it was on the ground, never mind 8m up! It was a horrible rounded thing with not a crystal to speak of, so I made the decision to traverse off, but the lower moves were hard and it was really scary, defiantly more so than the E1, so I’m taking the grade!!
You Cannot Be Serious V3 6a (E2/3 to solo) To the right of the arête is an obvious large hold. Start on this, go direct above, then move right at the top to finish steeply on big holds. Finish direct - scary and high. Wimps can finish direct into the groove (which is still scary!) or traverse right to step onto adjacent ledge.
