Climbing Log

Indoors again

2009-03-08T17:12:02+01:00

Never did take my camera to Iffley in the end! Was going to be going with someone who cancelled at the last minute. Went on my own anyway and worked at Suicide Squad with no luck. On my penultimate attempt I had my finger tips on the last hold but couldn't quite stick it. Then on my final attempt I pulled a tendon in my finger pulling up in a shallow two finger pocket. Was incredibly painful. For the rest of the week if I tweaked it it would flare up. Was pretty much the worst timing as the Saturday after we had the Varsity climbing competition against Cambridge in Warwick. I rested my hand for the week and then on the day took a bunch of paracetamol and codeine tabs and a couple of ibuprofen tabs and then taped up my finger, which seemed to do the trick.

Varsity was great fun, even though we didn't win. My climbing wasn't particularly good, but I think it showed me where I need to focus if I want to do well in competitions in the future.

Saturday after Varsity was the Iffley bouldering competition. That was also great fun and my first time back in Iffley since pulling my tendon. I competed in the Rookie section and won that (good for a bottle of wine) which was quite cool, although next year I guess I'll have to be in the Veterans section, where the competition is much tougher...

Anyway, all that aside, on Friday morning last week I went to Brookes with Rachel to have a shot at that 7A. I had tried it again the Thursday previously and managed to at least do all the moves. All I had to do on Friday was link it. After warming up on three easier routes (3, 6a, 5+) I took a shot at it and sent it! Felt really easy when I did it, even the dyno to the crimp. The top section was a bit of a struggle, but there was no way I was letting go having reached there without falling. Was incredibly pumped after, but still managed to make a fair attempt at a traversy/overhanging 7A+ which was a very cool route. Felt great to have finally made a 7A, and I'm going back on Tuesday to try this 7A+ again. I think I might be able to do it, which would also be incredible.

As well as the 7A I've also done the 6C from the list I was aiming at. Still haven’t done the 6B+, but was speaking to someone at Brookes who thinks the hard move on it is actually 7A so there we go...

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Indoors

2009-02-14T15:13:48+01:00

So, this term I'm not climbing outdoors at all, which is the main reason that I've had nothing to post in a while. I have exams in about four weeks which is slightly terrifying considering the amount of work I’ve done for them, and the amount still to do. Of course, a lack of outdoor climbing doesn’t mean a lack of indoor climbing, so that’s what I’ve been focusing on most recently.

I never managed to climb the 7A I was working on last year. When I came back to Oxford (after a Christmas of bouldering in the new Bristol Climbing Academy, which is amazing) I tried it a few more times, but could never get the crux move. The problem was a tiny slopey hold on an overhang that I couldn’t hold my weight on. I could skip it, but that messed up the sequence and I never managed to progress that way.

Anyway, the centre was all rerouted at the beginning of this year so I never did it. Not sure how long it would have taken me, but I think it’s likely that it could have been months or years. The new routes are amazing however. Lots of very cool things to be getting on with. The grading is interesting and probably wrong in some places. One of the routes I’m working on is graded 6B+. I can do all the moves, but haven’t linked it yet. It’s all pinches, and goes over an overhang. Its very draining and by the time I hit the crux moves I’m fairly sapped. The first move in the crux section requires a heel hook around a corner to hold you while you clip. I was trying it yesterday and might have made it if I hadn’t missed getting the position on the hook right and had to search for it while my arms were dying. After this move it’s still a powerful lunge over the overhang to grab the next pinch. Maybe I’ll get it next time with a bottle of Lucozade, a can of Kick and a lot of screaming.

But yeah, that is supposedly 6B+. On my first time trying these routes I on-sighted a 6C and since then I have sent a 7A in three shots (and another 6C in two). I think most of the grading is fine, but I would upgrade the 6B+ to 6C (probably hard in the grade) and downgrade the 7A to 6C (easy in the grade). I definitely don’t consider myself to have climbed a 7A, I’ve climbed many harder climbs then this one, so would be dishonest to say I can climb 7A now. (The supposed 7A was a very fun route though, very worth doing.)

Having said that, I did start work on another 7A yesterday. Took ages to work the first moves and I had to skip one. It’s a pretty cool route. Starts with hard technical moves and then becomes overhanging and powerful. Very much looking forward to putting more work into it.

Also tried a 6C that I’ve been working on, and I’m pretty sure I know how to do it now. After that I tried a 6C+ which was in a corner and was very technical and amazingly cool.
So lots to be getting on with.

I’ve also spotted another 7A that I want to try. I think if I did it would be considerably the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But I’ve decided not to even attempt it until I’ve done all the things I’m working on at the moment.

So the list is:
6B+, 6C, 6C+ and 7A. Hopefully I’ll be making some posts soon to tick these off...

As well as Brookes, I’ve been climbing a bit more at the Iffley bouldering wall. I might go there this afternoon... There are a lot of cool things there that I didn’t appreciate at first. Have been working on a number of problems and its easy to get enthusiastic about them. There are four I want to do currently, Central Pillar (B0 5b), Analogue (B2 5c+), Judean People’s Front Crack Suicide Squad (B2 5c) and Wedding Bells (B1 5a). The grades are Iffley grades, not British Tech grades, which make a lot of sense to some people but not much to others. The best I’ve done is a problem called Naked which is B2 5c. Hopefully I’ll be able to knock the others off soon. With all but Analogue the problem is one move.

Another problem I want to do is Shelve It (B3 5b+). Its different from the others, in that it only has two holds. The problem is just a mantle shelf onto one hold and then standing up and holding one near the top of the wall. I really want to get it because my ability to mantle is fairly nonexistent and its fairly important for outdoor climbing...

Anyway. Have to see how it goes. I might take my camera there this afternoon, because really you have to see Iffley to understand it. Or not as the case may be.

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Dartmoor

2008-12-18T18:14:28+01:00

Another pretty late post! Been fairly busy for the last few weeks, but made the time to get away to Dartmoor over the weekend of the 29th of November.

It was a very cold start on the saturday, with the ground covered in frost. We desided to go to the Dewerstone, which is sheltered, it was much warmer at the base of the crag then elswhere. The routes here are generally multipitch, either two or three short pitches. Was great to get more practise at leading. First route turned into a mini epic. I was to lead the second pitch, but while belaying on the first I couldn't hear or see my leader. Was hard to tell when they were safe and when I could take them off belay. Ended up having to wrestle the belay device off a pretty tight rope, and somehow I managed to drop the it. Didn't realise until I got to the belay and only had the krab clipped to my harness. We desided that the thing to do was for me to climb to the top, set up an anchor, get safe and then untie and decend, get the device, and then climb back up the decent route. All this took time, especailly as all the best anchor points were taken by people we hadn't seen before climbing on either side of us. Finally I managed to get into postion and belayed my partner up to me. As it turned out another pair had had to wait for ages too as their belay site was the same as ours.

After this we did Needle Arete which was a very cool route. I led the second pitch and set up a hanging belay. This route was further up the valley and was very exposed. My hands were freezing and I could feel nothing but pain as I seconded the final pitch. By this point it was much later then we realised. We went to get lunch, but as we were eating realised it was nealy 4pm, the time when it started to get dark and we were supposed to be picking up some people who had desided to spend the day bouldering.

Our campsite was behind a pub, and we went here for a welcome dinner and a few pints after which we played a variation of Killer Darts.

The next day we got up later then planned and headed to Hound Tor. The forcast was for rain or snow, but it wa dry and fairly sunny all day. It was freezing in the wind though, and after doing Suspension Flake with Aeron I joined everyone else on the sheltered side.

Was a very cool day, had a go at top roping Aerobic Wall (E2) and it didn't go to badly! Might try leading that one at some point in the future. Also watched Mark climb Limbo Dancer (E4) which was incredible. The crux is unprotected, so lots of bouldering mats and spotters were needed.

All in all was a great weekend, and very much looking forward to doing more trad next term!

As for indoor, came very close to getting my first 7A last week, I'm sure I could get it in a few more sessions when I'm back in Oxford after christmas.

Last tuesday I went to the Climbing Acadamy, the new bouldering centre thats opened in Bristol. It was very cool, looking forward to going again once I get back from Sheffield this weekend!

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North Wales

2008-11-18T00:50:12+01:00

Bit of a late post...

Was the Michaelmas North Wales meet over the weekend of the 1st of November. Fantastic weekend climbing, and a number of important firsts for me!

Drove up friday night and stayed in a hut somewhere in North Wales. We were hiring a London based club's hut. OUMC actually does have their own; there are records of it, but its been lost. Some time over the last century, it seems, a committee failed to pass down important information regarding its location to the next years committee. Its probable that they didn't do this due to damage to the hut, e.g. loss of a roof or similar. Apparently someone has worked out its location to maybe 10 square miles, but no one really knows...

Was pretty comfortable in the hut and very cosy, everyone was sleeping in big, but overfilled, bunks:

Was pretty fun.

Next day I went off to Llanberris with 5 others to do some slate sport climbing. Was my first time sport climbing and so my first sport climb was also my first sport lead. Was on a very easy F4a called 'Binky Bonk Central':

Binky Bonk Central - F4a

Spent most of the rest of the day climbing more slate climbs. I did nothing overly difficult, (at least grade wise) and once again it was a case of getting used to a different style of climbing. Lots of technical slabs.

Sunday was my first trad day! Went to a place called Little Tryfan, which is a big slab. There are no hard climbs there, but it was a good place to practise gear placement and anchor building. I led two trad routes, neither of which was difficult, but was great to practise the technical aspect!

This weekend just gone was also a meet weekend, this time to the Lakes. I didn't go because I had too much work, which really sucked. I'm definitely going to go on the next one, which will be the weekend after next, to Dartmoor. Really want to try leading some harder trad routes... Did get to do a bit of climbing indoors this weekend though, and it went well! Finally knocked off a route which I've been stuggeling with. Did it by missing out the last quickdraw before the lower off. Was a real pain to clip. Thought it was a 6B+, but was happy to learn after climing it that it had been upgraded to 6C!

Oh and also, I think I put in an earlier post about a bouldering competition I was going to do on the 8th November... Unfortuantly I had to miss it due to a tutorial...

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Climbing news!

2008-10-21T23:35:01+02:00

Quite a lot happened since last post! Been to Brookes a couple of times with little success at anything I've been trying to do. Failed miserably at a 6C that I've been trying and have pretty much realised that it is out of my league at the moment. Bit of a shame, but it is very crimpy which isn't really my style (read weak). I'll work on it though. Definitely want to be at that level before too long, especially as I want to climb 7A within a year.

OUMC stuff has been great though! Went to Brookes with some other OUMC members, and they are all really cool. Also went to Iffley with a bunch of them. Was also really cool, was able to do more with a bit of guidance about what problems are good. There is a lot of interesting stuff concealed in a pretty small wall.

More amazingly, went on my first Trad meet on Sunday! We were at Stanage. Was absolutely freezing, but no rain, so good for climbing. Would have been perfect without the wind... I only seconded routes this time round, as I felt I needed to get used to the style before trying to lead. Gritstone climbs are massively different from indoor climbs and it took a little while to get used to removing gear from the cracks, but I think I'll pick up the technique(s) alright with a bit of practise.

Didn't catch many of the names of the routes I seconded, but we did about seven. Started on a VS which was apparently very typical of gritstone style. Was a little bit of a culture shock really, but very cool. Then moved onto 'The Right Unconquerable' which is a classic route. Seconded this with a little trouble at the top, but was still pretty pleased to do it. My partner fell off on the top move before sending it, so I didn't mind fluffing it a bit myself. After that did a bunch more routes generally at VS or HVS, which was cool.

The Right Unconquerable

Was a great introduction to trad, looking forward to going again and learning to lead. After seconding 'The Right Unconquerable' I really want to lead it. Was a very cool route. 'The Left Unconquerable' (climber in the picture is on this) also looked amazing (and well protected) and maybe could be a long term target for first E1...

That’s pretty much it for now! Starting a rope works course on Thursday which I think will be really useful. Oh, and turns out I can't go to Bristol to do the competition on the 8th Nov, as I have a tutorial that Saturday. Shame, but at least won't have to miss an outdoor meet because of tutes...

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OUMC!

2008-10-09T13:44:32+02:00

I am now a member of the Oxford University Mountaineering Club! Very happy about this, will mean many more oportunities to climb as much as I want.

Went down to Iffley bouldering on monday and it looked pretty good with a lot of potential! Still impressed on me the need to improve my bouldering and also that bouldering is best as a social sport... Iffley looks like the kind of place where a few people working together would give the best results.

Also went to meet people from the club last night in a pub in Oxford. Was very cool, and paid a cheque for the first meet which is trad in Stanage, 19th. Really looking forward to that.

Going to go climbing with some people from the club in Brookes tonight. Meeting more people is good, will give me the chance to climb much more then when dependant on only one partner. We'll see how it goes...

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Brookes Leading

2008-10-04T02:06:04+02:00

Pretty successful climbing today! Spent about four hours at Brookes climbing wall, although unfortunately time spent climbing was relatively short. Lots of belaying and watching...

The time I did spend climbing was good though. I started with gentle bouldering and an easy lead route (5 something) to warm up. Then I red pointed two 6Cs, both of which I had only tried once before. Feel pretty pleased with them individually, but more glad to get two at once as this might suggest a bit of an improvement in my endurance. I’m not sure if I’ve cleanly climbed two 6Cs on the same day before, as much as I hate to admit that...

The 6Cs themselves were nice routes, the first being a bit more powerful with a cool crossover move over an overhang, and the second one (on a vertical wall) was fingertips the whole way up, with a few two finger holds and one mono. A few slightly deeper holds helped it go. I was pleased to get this one in its own right as my finger strength has been a bit poor recently, and the climb was all fingery. It felt good today though.

After this I put some work into the 7A I’m trying (slopers/pinches big reaches). I made one move further then I had before, but the next move was a struggle. Will take a bit more time to work out how it goes. I think next time I’ll skip this move, because it looks easier higher. Be interesting to see whether its just this one move I can’t do.

Finished with a 6B (the ex6C I thought should have been downgraded) which was fine.

Looking forward to next time, and looking forward to trying out Iffley in maybe a week... I think next time I’ll try and climb more routes although this does depend on my partner (‘s speed). It would be good to do a bunch (6 or 7?) around 6B/6B+. Helpful for endurance anyway, and I really didn’t do enough routes today...

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Bouldering...

2008-09-29T17:13:53+02:00

So. Was going to go climbing today and try some of the leading routes that I want to do in Brookes, but unfortunatly my climbing partner has lots of work to do so decided she couldn't go until later in the week...

Went anyway just to boulder, and that went okish I suppose. I don't really like the bouldering in Brookes. I think I might like it more if I was stronger, but I generally prefer the problems in Bristol. There is nothing in Brookes bouldering that leaves me with a sence of 'oh wow, what a cool problem.' The routes are pretty cool though. Maybe after doing more training for forearm strength and so on I'll improve my bouldering to a standard where the harder Brookes problems become doable. Maybe then I'll enjoy it more, because at my current bouldering grade there just isn't much to do. Basically I'm rubbish at bouldering and need to get better. I'm going to put a grade here of V1, as a grade I can climb in Brookes. This is because I seemed to be messing up anything above this grade today. Its a little embarassing as V1 should be really easy, and I've definatly climbed V2/3 in Brookes and harder climbs in Bristol, but as I climb harder Brookes grades I'll post them here. Hopefully that won't be too long.

I think bouldering is much more enjoyable as a social sport. Can be hard to get motivated by yourself, and can be pretty boring, especially if you don't climb anything particularly thrilling. I think a group of people working on a problem is better. Was quite good at Brookes today, because there were a couple of people there also just bouldering and so we chatted a bit about a couple of problems.

All in all, not too bad a session. Didn't acheive much, but good at least to do a bit of climbing, hadn't been since last Sunday previous to today.

I'm planning on going back to Bristol for the 8th November. There is a climbing festival in the Bristol Climbing Centre that weekend. Should be a lot of fun, hopefully I'll be able to drag some people with me from Oxford, but not sure who'd be interested. There will a bouldering competition that day as well, and hopefully by then I'll have improved enough to get a decent score. Should give me a goal for this months training at least!

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Introduction

2008-09-28T18:52:55+02:00

Hello!

Welcome to my climbing blog. This really is intended to be a personal record of how my climbing progresses over the next few months (maybe years) and so I apologise if at times it's poorly written or boring.

Why do I want to write a blog on my climbing? I think probably it's to motivate me to improve. I started climbing a long time ago; I was in year 4 at school. I suppose I must have been 7 or 8. If I had kept up climbing regularly from that age I'm sure I'd be a very good climber now. As it happened that wasn't to be. I loved climbing, but I'm not from a climbing family and I had no friends at the time who really liked climbing. I think at that age most people would need outside help for them to progress in a sport. I only climbed rarely: I used to have birthday parties at the Bristol Climbing Centre. It wasn't until perhaps year 7 that I started more regularly. At this point I did a 4 hour beginners course over two weeks. This taught me to belay and tie knots. After this I was able to go to weekly supervised sessions to the centre. I think I went pretty regularly, and started leading pretty early on.

Even at this age I could have been really good if I'd climbed more. Chris Sharma started when he was 12, and Beth Rodden started when she was 14. Not that I ever have been (/will ever be) close to as good as them, but still, I should be better then I am now.

I started to climb more regularly during year 11 (I think). I already had full membership of the climbing centre by now so didn’t need supervision. During year 11 I also gave up rugby at school. I never was very good, and it meant I could climb as a school sport option. This consisted of an hour long session once a week. I climbed with a few people who also had full membership of the centre, so we always stayed after the school session and climbed for a total of 4 hours normally. We also tried to go on Sunday afternoons and get two sessions in a week, but this was rare.

I suppose my problem was I would improve over time, and then take long breaks off climbing. Summer always seemed to be bad. Climbing partners away on holiday, and then me away on holiday and so on. I also had a few injury problems. I lost almost all my fitness when I had appendicitis in year 8, and then I suffered Achilles tendonitis. This prevented me from running for a year. In around year 11, I injured my knee down climbing an easy bouldering problem and needed surgery. It seemed like every time I improved my climbing I suffered a setback and had to start again.

More recently, the setbacks have been my fault. After finishing school, I did no climbing for the entire summer. I had been climbing at my best previous to this, which still wasn’t very good. I could climb generally at the level of 6B+ and red pointed some 6Cs I tried with several attempts. I had red pointed one 6C+ with several attempts over many weeks.

Coming back into climbing after that summer, I started climbing with a new friend at university. I struggled with 6A+s which was hugely depressing and motivation became virtually impossible. Routes I would have easily on sighted before were now hard. It took me a while to get over the drop in confidence this caused. As well as this, my new climbing partner, Rachel, was fairly new to lead belaying, so I had to teach her. Having never taken a fall with her created a bit of a mental block about falling, although I’m sure it would never have been a problem if I had.

Starting university gave me a chance to join a mountaineering club, the Oxford University Mountaineering Club. I’m studying medicine, and although I had intended to join the club before, on arrival at the university, I thought I might have too much work to go away climbing on weekends. I now know this was a mistake. The current secretary of the club is a medic in my year, and both of us passed our exams. I also had plenty of spare time which I wasted last year. I could have fitted in several more hours of climbing.

Despite not joining the club, my climbing has improved over the year. It took me ages to get back to level I was before. However, once I’d climbed with Rachel more and started to take some falls, my confidence came back. Soon enough I was making dynamic moves, or moving on tenuous holds in difficult positions above the last clipped quickdraw. It still took a long time, and I really only felt good about climbing during my third term at uni. At this time though, I couldn’t really focus on climbing as I had exams to think about. I still did quite a lot, but I didn’t join the club.

This summer, I decided that there was no way I was going to drop my climbing level. My partner from school was never available, (working or snowboarding in Canada) so I went bouldering on my own. I met a few people who also needed partners doing this, and so managed to keep up climbing routes. In Oxford I’d managed to get back up to red pointing 6Cs. Back in Bristol I red pointed a 6C in two attempts, a personal best, and a massive cut down on my previous best. Recently, I went to the climbing centre in Stockport with friends, and managed my first 6C on sight. Since returning to Oxford this year. I managed to on sight another, but I felt it had been over graded.

So that’s the position I’m in at the moment. I’m far from being what I’d consider to be a good climber, but it’s what I love doing, (to a point of obsession sometimes) and I really want to push my own personal boundary.

What do I intend to do in the future? Firstly I’m going to join OUMC. This will allow me to get into outdoor climbing, something I should have done a long time ago. I only have the smallest outdoor climbing experience; a little bit of bouldering in Stanage is the most recent. I’m really looking forward to doing much more. I also intend to push my grade indoors. I found a 7A I like in Oxford, and I’m going to work on it. My endurance is also abysmal so I need to work on that.

Joining the club will also give me free access to Iffley bouldering. This means I can start training my strength without having to spend vast quantities of money going into the Brookes climbing centre several times a week. I intend to really work on my finger strength and arm strength this year, working on finger boards and campus boards. On top of this, I hope to work on my general fitness by jogging more. Hopefully the combination of this will help me start pushing grades again, something I haven’t done in a while, and also help my bouldering which is poor.

So that’s it! A condensed version of my climbing history and what I hope to do now. I’m going to use this blog to keep a record of how my climbing goes. Hopefully writing it out will allow me to see how I’ve improved, and this will keep me pushing. At times my entries here will be short (always shorter then this one) and boring, but maybe occasionally I’ll have something interesting to say…

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