New Zealand Bouldering

Hey guys, it's took a while for me to get on a pc but I've eventually got on one... It has took 5 days for me to get any climbing in since i set of for New Zealand. It took a 24hr flight to get here and then we was jet lagged ect.

I went to Ti Point yesterday on the North Island above Auckland. It is a climbing venue for sport/trad routes and has no developed bouldering. It is coastal and the bouldering is right next to an amazing beach and clear blue water. I will put pictures up soon and topos of the problems. I have put up problems from V2-v6/7. I'll just give an overview of what i have done...I have not named them yet but i will soon, i put up 6/7 problems. The hardest being Font7a/7a+, it features very power full and flexible moves on sloppers and nice crimps, i don't have any names for them yet but when i get all the picture topos on the pc i'll give them all proper names and grades. The rock is limestone and can be sharp and snappy in places, some of it needs brushing and some boulders have loads of shells stuck to the bottom. It's pretty awesome bouldering on a hot day next to amazing water and beaches. The scenery is just amazing and there is so much potential for new climbs.

Tomorrow in going to AirStrip bouldering near Waitamo Caves to boulder for the day... I don't have much time left on this pc so i'll have to stop there...pictures soon.

Rab junior bouldering series

Rab bouldering Series - I'm going to New Zealand

Yesterday me and my brother entered the Rab junior bouldering series, round 1, at The Edge in Sheffield. I went with a clear mind and was looking for a bit of fun. I found it pretty hard to climb whilst under pressure and i am not too sure whether i like it or not? It feels weird when you are on a hard problem, and there are loads of people watching you, most of them wanting you to fall off so you loose points. It was fun and i will finish the rounds but i hope i get used to climbing under pressure because the problems where good but it doesn't feel to good climbing under pressure. Anyway it was pretty fun, except for the dreaded jamming crack! i had never jammed before in my life, and then suddenly i have 3 go's to complete this V6 jamming crack, well i didn't do it and it lost me some points...i dont like jamming. In the end i came 2nd place, beaten by one point by my twin brother Brandon, who came 1st. It was very close. We both got free chalk bags which was nice, i got a blue Rab small chalk bucket thing. There is a picture above of me climbing in the comp.

I am going to New Zealand Tomorrow! which i hope is going to be awesome, i will be updating my blog when i am over there with pictures and stuff. Oh, and by the way most of my new pictures will be taken by my older brother Callum.

Sunset at Higgar Tor - Taken by Dan Lane

Warming up at Burbage South

Me on Impossible Slab - V7

Me on Huggy Sit-Start V2/V3, taken by Dan Lane

Grit Outing with Sunset Soloing, plus Parthian Shot...

Finally i got the chance to get out on the Grit, i am going to New Zealand in just over a weekso i have had to save my money, but we met up with Chris Weedon who took us ou for the daywhich was pretty cool. We met Dan Lane at Hathersage and headed to Burbage South. We warmedup and noticed somebody was abseiling down Parthian Shot (E9 6c).
We walked over to see that it was one of the American visiters, Alex Honnald. We said hello and then went to do some bouldering, we did various problems but nothing too strenuous. As we headedback to Parthian Shot i noticed that i could see him leading the route, i looked down for a splitsecond and then noticed i had missed him fall off the route, i saw him at the end of the fall but not above the gear. We walked over, and then had a look at The Knock (E4 6a), there was a photographeron abseil above Parthian, he asked us toget out of the shot, the American said "yeah, i'll give it one morego and then chill out and let these guys do what they want", which was nice of him, to say its an E9!
We watched him set off on the route, it was very gripping to watch, i wasn't sure if he was going to pull it off as he rocked onto the slab, partly becuase the rop was in the way on the foothold, but he finished it. It was the first E9 that i have witnessed being climbed in real life which made it fairly special.
We headed to Higgar Tor afterwards. I Onsight Soloed Brillo (E1 5c), which was my first E1. It was a bitgreen/damp/polished but an OK route. I also OS soloed a very green VS, The Reamer, that had a reachy move at the top, i had not mats or spotters so i felt like i may be in a spot of danger, but once i had tested my reach i committed and pulled to the top, it has some nice jugs all the way up and is a nice route. I got to the top to be welcomed by an amazing sunset.
I didn't get much hard problems done but i got alot of mileage in, so it was good, there will be some pictures soonthat where taken by Dan and Chris, overall it was a very good day, thanks to Chris Weedon for taking me.

First Ascents in The Peak

Me and Brandon tried to find The Secret Garden.... we didn't find it and was, well pretty pissed off really as we had walked for ages and was getting tired from scrambling through the heather trying to find it. Anyway as time pushed on and the sun got closer to setting we resorted for settling down and climbing on two esoteric boulders. I don't know why we stopped there but we didn't have much time left and just needed to do some climbing. I have not found the boulders in any guides or on the Internet, so, we have named them the No Mans Land - Boulders. WE named them this because they sit in between the two signs of Sheffield City and The Peak District. Lately i have really wanted to do my own boulder problem, even if its on some random boulder that nobody goes to. I have calculated it and i am really sure i was the first to do these, anyway i did a traverse line which i called The Trench Traverse, i gave it Font 6c+, it starts pretty low and uses bad sloppers and wide moves to come to the very blunt arete and leads to a soft mantelling finish. The other problem i did was a better problem, its called The rise of The Footsoldier, given Font 7a+, it starts underneath a roof, then come out using pockets, then uses sloppers to harsh mantelling top-out. I believe the grades are pretty accurate and have been confirmed by my Brandon. The rock is very sandy, crumbly and can be green in places, on ROTF as you come out of the roof the rock crumbles in your eyes as you try and get over and out...but it was good to something of my own.

Not and average Week

Well, it hasn't been the regular train/climb/rest week. On Wednesday me and my brother met up with a friend who we hadn't seen in a while, Pete Barley, he took us to Curbar, Gardorms, and New Stones. We had never been to any of those places so it was pretty cool. I did Trackside (Font 7a) after a few goes, it an OK problem but not the best 7a around. I then tried Play Hard (Font 7c) and was told to do it the wrong way, so that's my excuse for not holding the crap sidepull thing. When we went over to Gardorms I tried Mark's roof and got to the last move on my second go, I'm pretty psyched to do it but the last move is too hard to get cracked in a small session. I then tried various other things and had fun, best accomplishment of the day was Trackside.

On Friday (yesterday), It was Halloween, so we went to the pumpkin party at plantation. We wrecked our skin before everybody came. I finished Captain Hook - Font 7b/ V8 - on my first go of the day, I had a total of around 20 attempts at it and was very happy to do it. It's certainly under-rated. I then tried other things, nearly doing - Ben's Reverse (Font 7b). At night, when everybody came and I was a bit tipsy I completed the, in a way, rumoured, Pebble Arete Sit Start after a few goes, its very powerful and compared to other problems its probably about 6c+/ soft 7a. It was a very good day out, but the night finished rather, wrongly, we missed our train stop to Scunthorpe and was stranded 30 miles from home, we was all drunk and fell asleep before our stop, I was sick on the train and we had to walk to the M180 and hitch a lift from this guy, the bouldering mat straps also snapped off. We got home at about 2 in the morning. I woke up with red tips and a bad headache. So yeah, another great week of being a climbing bum.