Today was the second heat in the Youth Climbing Series. It was at Glasgow Climbing Centre (my main wall). I was pretty psyched and confident for this comp with it being at my usually wall but still extremely nervous at the same time.
I arrived early and began to route map our boulders and routes. They all looked pretty good and our last climb (Robbie's red) looked especially interesting with technical parts and big moves. The boulders look ok except from our last one which looked quite technical and had some big moves in it.
After route-mapping we had a group warm up and began with our boulders. We started off with our most straight forward boulder which was blue tagged holds. It was a juggy problem which everyone breezed up with no problems. It was probably V0/V1? We then moved onto our hardest boulder because the area around our second boulder was filled with other people. I was a bit worried about having to do our hardest boulder so early on but after some careful thought about it and some wise words of Robbie I was good to go. I was near the end in placings so I got to have a good look at different people's styles at trying to climb it. I got past the first bit quite easily as it was mostly on jugs (although a slight misjudgement of my hand placement nearly had me going the wrong way.) This made me realise I really had to think about the route more before starting and not just rushing onto it. Once past the easy part at the start it came into a side edge then down onto a crimp. I managed this ok, then it was out to the edge of a volume. I grabbed the volume and held it which meant i got the points but when trying to match it my hands slipped off. This didn't bother me too much though because I knew I still had another two shots to go. I watched Jamie breeze it shortly after it. Beast! My second go resulted in the same way because matching on it this time my hand was on the tape so it slipped off it. On my final go I got to the same place and felt my hand slipping so I lunged my hand forward so I would get extra points. I wasn't really too bothered by this because we still had all the climbs and another boulder to go. Probably V3/V4?
Our mid-graded boulder was a tan in a corner which needed reach and careful foot placement. I watched a few poeple go before me and worked out a sequence in my head. Abi crushed it without any hesitation! Taostaah! When it was my turn to go I found out that the moves weren't as hard as I thought they would be and managed, because I was slightly taller than others, to reach to the last hold without having to get my legs in any awkward, stretchy position. For taller people I think it was probably V2?
We stopped for lunch then went straight onto out easiest route. This was a white juggy climb on the wall that moves to the side at GCC. I watched Robbie demo it and when it was my turn to go I tried to get as psyched as I could and started. I wasn't very confident at first making fumbly movements with both my hands and my feet but as I moved up in the climb I got more confident. I managed to top this. When I came down Robbie went over with me that I was still being very static in my moves on the climbs and that I should relax and loosen up a bit, be more dynamic. I took this in and tried to relax for the next climb.
The next route was a red problem up one of the easier lead walls in GCC. It wasn't too bad, with only a few technical parts in it but after closely watching Robbie demo it I managed to wrok out a sequence which worked well and got me to the top.
I had gone 4th in the second route which meant I was going to be 2nd in the final route. When it was time for the final route we all sat down to watch it being demoed. I was pretty shaky think about where I could go wrong and whether I could reach some of the holds but I knew I had to get this out of my head so I sat down and just thought about getting to the top. Robbie made it look easy (beast!) After watching the person on front of me it was my turn to go. I walked up still full of nerves facing up to the route. I tied my shoes, chalked up and tied in. I shook of my hands trying to stop them from shaking and began the route. The first part up until the over hand wasn't too bad with some juggy and pinchy holds. Then it was onto the overhang, the first part that looked hard, with a massive move in it. I got onto the middle of it and shook off before the big move and just went for it. I got my finger tips on then bumped my whole hand up onto it. It was a massive jug so I managed to hold it. I moved up onto what was another jug and clipped. I was pretty reliaved to get past this part but I still had 4 more clips, and another big move to go. The moves up to the next clips were on quite small holds and required a SAAHH! Then it was onto a good hold and then a big move up to a side ways jug. I got into position for the big move and hearing everyone shout my name I jumped for it. I got it with my fingertips and my feet came loose. I thought I was coming off but slamming my feet back on the wall and a SAAHHH I managed to get my hand right into the jug and clip. Then it was 3 more decent holds and I topped it. It felt amazing and I was pleased I had managed to top all the routes even if it was with some power screams!
I watched the other try the route and there were some pretty awesome attempts, Jamie was so close to the end just missing out on the holds near the end and Euan managed to leap for the jug on the overhang and hold it which was a pretty amazing sight. Well in mate!
After everyone had climbed I was the only person to top the climb, I was pleased with this and it has really brought my confidence up for future competitions. Overall with the points from the route I came 1st! I was so pleased that I had managed this, and at my home wall! haha.
Well done to Jamie for coming second, Abi for coming third and everyone else at the competition. Also thanks to Robbie for the awesome support (and demoing) at the comp!
Next, Dundee :)
Saturday 20 March 2010
Tuesday 16 March 2010
Robbie's Coaching
Last night was me, Jamie and Abi's coaching session with Robbie. We were all pretty psyched for this because we know his sessions are usually "a muerte!" and that we manage our best grades whilst climbing with him. This was probably my best session with Robbie as I think he managed to get me up climbs I otherwise wouldn't of even thought of trying.
We started of by being given routes Robbie wanted us to try and onsight. Jamie and Abi had the purple n the old comp wall and I had the yellow. As this was an onsight attempt Jamie had to stay in the bouldering room whilst Abi climbed, this gave us the chance to get warmed up and psyched for the onsight attempts. After we were warmed up it was Jamie's turn to try the purple, which was graded at 6c. It looked like it had some really tricky moves in it and a very powerful roof. Although none of this affected Jamie and he breezed the onsight.
It was then my turn to try the Yellow 7a+, if I managed it, it would be my best onsight grade at ratho. Robbie went over different onsight techniques like making sure my shoes were tight and that my figure of eight knot was right so that whilst climbing I would know nothing was wrong. We then went over route-mapping and I took a while to look over the route. I managed the first few clips well then I found a good rest before moving onto what looked like the crux of the climb. I moved through it trying to believe in myself that i was capable of doing it, finding rests where possible. I got past this part and all that lay ahead of me after this was the roof and up to the finish. I got onto the roof and rested on the jugs before reaching above and onto the sloper above it. As soon as i grabbed the sloper I freaked out and couldn't move off of it, not knowning what the next hold was like. I thought about clipping off the sloper but by this time I was pumped and had to ask Robbie to take. This was really annoying, being so close to the end then messing up because of what was going on in my head. Robbie talked to me about this and after I felt like I was ready for my next onsight attempt, the blue 7b+ on the old comp wall.
I stayed warm whilst the others tried their next onsight attempts and route-mapped the blue. When it was ready to try it I went over everything in my head, shoes, chalk, knot and looked at how I would clip the first few clips. I then started and found the first few clips okay. The next part was on a slight slope and this was the part I wanted to get past. It wasn't actually as bad as I thought it would be and I got passed this part and onto the crimps above it. I then moved up a few clips above and moved out to small undercut with my left hand. I gripped it then my left foot popped and I came off. I was gutted, this was the best I had felt on anything graded above 7b and my foot had popped. I was completely un-psyched after this but after another talk with Robbie I was thinking about trying it again later on in the night.
Near the end of the session I decided to try the blue again since i was back into the right frame of mind. I got the same part again quite easily this time and moved out to the undercut making sure this time that my foot was firmly on the wall. I moved past this and onto the crimps on the arete. When I grabbed this I wasn't sure where to go and didn't want to move off it. My arms soon got pumped and again my head was running through lots of thought that could happen if I missed this next hold. I fell off here. Again my head had stopped me from going "a muerte" This is something I am going to have to work on as Im sure I can improve once getting over this.
This was a really productive session, nearly getting my best onsight at Ratho and doing well on a 7b+. I am now looking forward to the second heat of the YCS on Saturday and our next training session.
We started of by being given routes Robbie wanted us to try and onsight. Jamie and Abi had the purple n the old comp wall and I had the yellow. As this was an onsight attempt Jamie had to stay in the bouldering room whilst Abi climbed, this gave us the chance to get warmed up and psyched for the onsight attempts. After we were warmed up it was Jamie's turn to try the purple, which was graded at 6c. It looked like it had some really tricky moves in it and a very powerful roof. Although none of this affected Jamie and he breezed the onsight.
It was then my turn to try the Yellow 7a+, if I managed it, it would be my best onsight grade at ratho. Robbie went over different onsight techniques like making sure my shoes were tight and that my figure of eight knot was right so that whilst climbing I would know nothing was wrong. We then went over route-mapping and I took a while to look over the route. I managed the first few clips well then I found a good rest before moving onto what looked like the crux of the climb. I moved through it trying to believe in myself that i was capable of doing it, finding rests where possible. I got past this part and all that lay ahead of me after this was the roof and up to the finish. I got onto the roof and rested on the jugs before reaching above and onto the sloper above it. As soon as i grabbed the sloper I freaked out and couldn't move off of it, not knowning what the next hold was like. I thought about clipping off the sloper but by this time I was pumped and had to ask Robbie to take. This was really annoying, being so close to the end then messing up because of what was going on in my head. Robbie talked to me about this and after I felt like I was ready for my next onsight attempt, the blue 7b+ on the old comp wall.
I stayed warm whilst the others tried their next onsight attempts and route-mapped the blue. When it was ready to try it I went over everything in my head, shoes, chalk, knot and looked at how I would clip the first few clips. I then started and found the first few clips okay. The next part was on a slight slope and this was the part I wanted to get past. It wasn't actually as bad as I thought it would be and I got passed this part and onto the crimps above it. I then moved up a few clips above and moved out to small undercut with my left hand. I gripped it then my left foot popped and I came off. I was gutted, this was the best I had felt on anything graded above 7b and my foot had popped. I was completely un-psyched after this but after another talk with Robbie I was thinking about trying it again later on in the night.
Near the end of the session I decided to try the blue again since i was back into the right frame of mind. I got the same part again quite easily this time and moved out to the undercut making sure this time that my foot was firmly on the wall. I moved past this and onto the crimps on the arete. When I grabbed this I wasn't sure where to go and didn't want to move off it. My arms soon got pumped and again my head was running through lots of thought that could happen if I missed this next hold. I fell off here. Again my head had stopped me from going "a muerte" This is something I am going to have to work on as Im sure I can improve once getting over this.
This was a really productive session, nearly getting my best onsight at Ratho and doing well on a 7b+. I am now looking forward to the second heat of the YCS on Saturday and our next training session.
Sunday 7 March 2010
SYBC - Aberdeen
Yesterday was the SYBC (Scottish Youth Bouldering Championships) in Aberdeen. I qualified for this by placing top 5 in last years YCS, although earlier in the week they had made it and open competition so everyone could do it. Jamie and Abi also qualified so I went to the comp with them.
We travelled up to Aberdeen on the Friday night, to save having to get up early on the Saturday to get there in time for registration. The car journey was pretty fun and actually went quite quickly. We arrived at our hotel, which was better than I thought it would be, and Gary and my Dad went to get Chinese (really healthy for the night before a competition) We got to bed at 12 which was probably a bit too late.
I got up at 7 the next morning, had a shower, had breakfast and we headed off to find the climbing centre. Registration was at 9 so there wasn't really any rush. After a couple of de-tours and asking people on the street we finally made it to Transition Extreme. It's a pretty cool climbing centre with some awesome looking routes. I walked in a saw that a lot of people were already there checking out the boulders (numbered 1-20) I got registered and got given a number (28) I was in the 14-16 category (more like 14-17) which meant we had to do boulders 11-20 and we had 4 hours to do them in. 10 boulders to do in 4 hours, we had hundreds of time, so we just took our time going round them together, along with Ali. We had to finish the boudlers with two hands on the top of the wall which was quite odd because when I get to the last hold I am used to just coming down after matching that. So that took a bit to get used to.
Most of the boulders weren't too bad, a couple of tricky crux's but I wouldn't say anything was over V4. There were some juggy powerful ones and some small crimpy ones, a good range of stuff. I think the best one was number 17 tan. I was the first to try it out of Me, Jamie and Abi. It had a few good holds then onto a horizontal roof which you cleared with two juggy holds. Then it was out onto another jug then across to an edge then up to two crimps then quite a good hold to finish. Watching others I noticed that you were meant to rockover above the roof to get up to the two crimps but when I got there I thought this seemed two hard so I missed out one of the holds and just campused to it. Jamie also did this.
I managed to top every boulder first time except for number 20. Not being able to do this was down to my height. It was a sit start on an edge then a big move up to another crimpy edge. This was the move I couldn't do, even standing up I was about 2 inches too short. This was soo annoying because all the taller people managed it fine. All of my three tries resorted to the same end no matter how many different ways I tried. It was set to use a triangular feature for your hand but this just wasnt possible, only Chris Sharma could of held this feature. Jamie managed to get past this part and onto the "Bonus" hold which gave him one extra point and meant he qualified for the semi-finals. Abi also qualified for the semi's.
I was the only one out of the three who didn't get into the semi's and needless to say I wasn't very happy and I was in a bit of a mood for about an hour or two after. Although another pep talk off of Jamie helped. We went up to the cafe and had something to eat and watched the skating, whilst we waited for the semi's to begin.
One thing I should point out is that the three people ahead of Jamie were 17 and basically built like tanks, which made the competition a bit unfair.
I watched the semi's and Jamie and Abi did really well ! Jamie managing to get the furthest on the second boulder. This second boulder was a sit start up to a massive sloper then you just had to palm yourself up to the top, nobody topped it but Jamie was inches away. Their first boulder was a slopey black one and Jamie didn't quite manage to top this but the other did which meant two of the older guys went through to the finals. Abi also just had a place in the finals taken from her by a few points. Well done to both Abi and Jamie for doing so well and getting to the semi-finals !
After this we packed up and began the journey back, not before a stop at Burger King though. It was a really good weekend and I ended up coming 5th.
We travelled up to Aberdeen on the Friday night, to save having to get up early on the Saturday to get there in time for registration. The car journey was pretty fun and actually went quite quickly. We arrived at our hotel, which was better than I thought it would be, and Gary and my Dad went to get Chinese (really healthy for the night before a competition) We got to bed at 12 which was probably a bit too late.
I got up at 7 the next morning, had a shower, had breakfast and we headed off to find the climbing centre. Registration was at 9 so there wasn't really any rush. After a couple of de-tours and asking people on the street we finally made it to Transition Extreme. It's a pretty cool climbing centre with some awesome looking routes. I walked in a saw that a lot of people were already there checking out the boulders (numbered 1-20) I got registered and got given a number (28) I was in the 14-16 category (more like 14-17) which meant we had to do boulders 11-20 and we had 4 hours to do them in. 10 boulders to do in 4 hours, we had hundreds of time, so we just took our time going round them together, along with Ali. We had to finish the boudlers with two hands on the top of the wall which was quite odd because when I get to the last hold I am used to just coming down after matching that. So that took a bit to get used to.
Most of the boulders weren't too bad, a couple of tricky crux's but I wouldn't say anything was over V4. There were some juggy powerful ones and some small crimpy ones, a good range of stuff. I think the best one was number 17 tan. I was the first to try it out of Me, Jamie and Abi. It had a few good holds then onto a horizontal roof which you cleared with two juggy holds. Then it was out onto another jug then across to an edge then up to two crimps then quite a good hold to finish. Watching others I noticed that you were meant to rockover above the roof to get up to the two crimps but when I got there I thought this seemed two hard so I missed out one of the holds and just campused to it. Jamie also did this.
I managed to top every boulder first time except for number 20. Not being able to do this was down to my height. It was a sit start on an edge then a big move up to another crimpy edge. This was the move I couldn't do, even standing up I was about 2 inches too short. This was soo annoying because all the taller people managed it fine. All of my three tries resorted to the same end no matter how many different ways I tried. It was set to use a triangular feature for your hand but this just wasnt possible, only Chris Sharma could of held this feature. Jamie managed to get past this part and onto the "Bonus" hold which gave him one extra point and meant he qualified for the semi-finals. Abi also qualified for the semi's.
I was the only one out of the three who didn't get into the semi's and needless to say I wasn't very happy and I was in a bit of a mood for about an hour or two after. Although another pep talk off of Jamie helped. We went up to the cafe and had something to eat and watched the skating, whilst we waited for the semi's to begin.
One thing I should point out is that the three people ahead of Jamie were 17 and basically built like tanks, which made the competition a bit unfair.
I watched the semi's and Jamie and Abi did really well ! Jamie managing to get the furthest on the second boulder. This second boulder was a sit start up to a massive sloper then you just had to palm yourself up to the top, nobody topped it but Jamie was inches away. Their first boulder was a slopey black one and Jamie didn't quite manage to top this but the other did which meant two of the older guys went through to the finals. Abi also just had a place in the finals taken from her by a few points. Well done to both Abi and Jamie for doing so well and getting to the semi-finals !
After this we packed up and began the journey back, not before a stop at Burger King though. It was a really good weekend and I ended up coming 5th.
The Grey Boulder (number 20) I couldn't do
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