Liam Copley's Climbing Blog

South Island

2010-10-20T01:36:00.000-07:00

So, we had one more day at the bronx, which was good weather! for the first time. where I finally climbed something else, Pro-Series, but, a variation top out! haha, you do the problem to the sharp flakey jug where you would mantle out from there-on, but from there I got a crimp under the lip and lock leftwards into a sidepull on the other problem and finished up that one, dont see the difference in difficulty really I just personally think it climbs nicer like that! So still about V8, that;s NZ V8 though......

Then I tired Fatal Discharge, which is Font 8A, hardest problem in Wellington, which it is hard. Now IF it does stat on a cresent-y shaped shallow dishy crimp RH and LH on a undercut next to it, which it says in the guide, then I've done it all missing out the first slap. Good progress possibly for one session. Then we got the ferry to the South Island and went to paynes ford where I did 2 (really good) routes then it rained but it was still awesome. Now were at Castle Hill, first day there today, fucking amazing. One word...''MAGICAL''. I just did V5's today, all the best ones at Spittle, mainly barefoot. Third day on today climbing, very tired. Its late, I'm in Christchurch, its late, I need to drive back to castle hill, I'm aching, and I need to get stronger!

Wellington

2010-10-16T19:53:00.000-07:00

So its raining here once again, yesterday we tried to climb at 'the rak' but it was the worst wind ive ever experienced, before it got too bad I managed to do a 7A+ that goes into a 6C, which is one of the nicest problems i've done, Uber-someting. But yeah, I want to do 'Pumping Iron' but that has a big lake/puddle under it. Hopefully things'l clear up soon. Living in a van in the rain is a bit shit, and I keep running the battery out at New World! Some Moari guy put a fork to brandons face and tried to steal the car after pretending to help us jump start it, cheers DUDE!

Probably thinking about heading to the South, maybe Paynes Ford, heard theres a problem called the Great White, 8A, maybe its sunny there?

Coming Clean

2010-10-11T23:32:00.000-07:00

OK guys, i'l admit it, I failed the mission. Anti Hesitor beat me! It took 2 sessions to work out the beta for the full thing, then on the third, I simply couldnt do the full thing from the start. I have done all the moves and done the last half several times, however on the day I just didnt do it...and brandon did. I've seen the video and still have no idea how you could jump to the last hold from a toe hook!? The crux beta for us is basically reach out to the left hand, put the left toe around the corner behind a spike thing, which has cut and bruised my foot pretty badly (yeah, shaking out at this posistion is a bad idea, dont try it!) slap with the right hand, right foot over to the dark foot rail, then (the crux) take the toe hook out, which causes your leg to swing pretty deeply and fuck your arms up! then place is on dark foothold in the roof just where the last undercut is, getting in this position is hard, then swing forwards and backwards maybe twice or something and slap for the last hold, re-adjust and slide your hand along to the jug section of the hold (or you might ov already been able to ge that part) and match and top-out. Certainly 7C+. in 3/4 weeks im driving up to Auckland to pick my mum up so I will stop off there and try and do it, and possibly on video. I'm now fully based in Wellington, and for the first time in 6 weeks I can climb regularly, well, for the first time ever I have outside climbs close by to where I live (hour-ish away) but the difference is the climbing wall 15mins away! at the Hangdog, I had my first session there today and it should be very useful! Psyched now to climb at Turakarie Head, so maybe I will climb something cool there? Hopefully anyway!

NZ

2010-09-29T20:14:00.000-07:00

Hello world,. We have spent a week in Auckland getting brown and ''stuff'', watching palm trees ect. We have a van, with a bed, and curtains now. We are in the mother fucking Waitamo region! its pissing it down :D

We tried 'Anti Hesitor' Font 7c+ at the Airstrip bouldering for a little bit today. it was soaking wet outside the cave, but we did most of it quicly, obviously except the crux-two moves left'- the second one couldnt be tried because of the rain, so one move we couldnt do, but we now have the beta for it, the second ones a jump-campus move anyway so were alright guys. Hopefully be dry and do that tomorrow or whenever, its only had one repeat...but yeah New Zealands pretty amazing! Met a whole bunch of people already from all over the world.

Moving to New Zealand Tomorrow..

2010-09-20T14:13:00.000-07:00

So, for anyone who actually ever looks on here (sad bastards), I can assure you that from this week onwards you will be dazzled with images and ascents of new zealands finest! Me,Brandon, Angus kille and Tom Fenwick are heading to New'z tomorrow. From grot view cave link-ups to Wellingtons testpeices, to Castle Hills V2's.

I leave this country a person with enough knowledge of the system you perceive to be reality that could blow your fucking mind! This last year of research and exploration has lead me to conclude that exiting the western world is the last option for me to live in future peace.

Leaving the negative realm, all my energy will now be focused on my climbing.

Stay tuned if you want some HOT FUCKING SHIT; straight from NZ.....

Peace,

Moors Searching

2010-08-29T04:50:00.000-07:00

Again, this time with Brandon, we went stomping around the moors to find new boulders, after covering some land and getting very wet we did get to a boulder which Lee had seen the other week. With the same rock quality as Rassassier. It didnt take long but working out the sequence was fun, you will probably need spotters but if you up in the moors, Deprivation - font 7a+ is a cool line. From a sit start.

Apart from that I havnt beeb out, next week though. NZ in 3 weeks!

Recent

2010-08-15T02:48:00.000-07:00

So last week we went to the lake district, but, it rained alot and we got a puntchure on my step mums car, managed to do a little bit on the Bowderstone and have a look at Kentmere for the first time, which was the worst mozzy experience i've ever come across, we did however climb a cool eliminate problem on the first big boulder on the left.

Then this week we went back to the cave, mainly pottered around and climbed lots of things, I did forget my down jacket though so I was cold at night in the cave with my £8 sleeping bag from CCC.

Lakes-

Daves Circuit - Font 7C+ (very very nice moves)
Moon Matrix - Font 7C (eliminate at Kentmere)

Parisella's-

Broken Heart - Font7C+ (finished up Lip Service without drop knee method, awesome)
Lip Service CBLS - Font 7B+ - (same method)
Lip Service Extreme Right - (sit start over the right hand side of the cave on the flat hold, same beta)

(Me on Broken Heart)

We may go into the pass next week to try and climb harder, and shorter problems!

Doncaster Update

2010-08-04T10:35:00.000-07:00

On Monday me, Brandon, and Lee from Beta Guides went over to Doncaster to scope out the boulders we found.

We made progress on the prow project (Into The Light) ,photo above, I got higher, all the way to the crimp out right, then I reached my foot onto a footblock out right, you cant do much with that position though but it made it apparent that the wall isn't wide enough to be purely climbed on its on..you could do it without the footblock and climb central but it would be eliminate and people could easily mistake whether you can use the block or not. Still, we couldnt do it, it seems like you may be able to reach across to the arete and then top out, this would still be about Font 7b+/7c or something, I'm not sure though we need to find some new beta, however the crimp feels like it may snap off so an abseil next time will be needed.

(the footblock is somewhere in the red circle)

Also, you could go from the footlblock, upwards, not sure what that would be though.

Backat The Cave

2010-07-31T08:21:00.000-07:00

After half days at work and a mock driving test, on Thursday, me and Brando head to LLandudno, again. Well, we didnt get as far as that, the last train took us to ''Llanduno Junction'', somewhere not too far, after making some decent home made prison style shanks using forks and tin openers, and looking which bush to sleep in, we decided to see how much a taxi would be, but hold on one sec, please dont think i'm a taxi-man, I would never pay for a taxi unless I was next to a council estate and prepared to do whats necessary with a tin opener in Wales. Which, I was, so, we payed 5quid each and she took us right up to the Orme! There was already some people sleeping in the cave, but funny enough it was the same guys from last time. So the next day was pretty awesome because it rained all day and seeped through, but everyone was being tenacious and having a laugh at the same time, which is a nearly impossible combination in sheffield/peak sometimes.

I repeated Ferrino Footless, that Brandon had done the other week, video of Brandon - http://vimeo.com/13433998

I dont think it is Font 8a+, everyone who i've asked there said it was but I would say it is font 8a, again, I can't really say whats 8a and whats not, yet. On the other hand, I do have a campus board in my back garden, and thats really how I train, like when I used to go to the works, I'd spend 2/3 hours footless bouldering, so possibly this thing feels hard for other people? Anyway, soft Font 8a i've given it.

After everyone went home, I had a couple of stella's and got on Lou Ferrino Half Natural, well I just made that name up but its Lou but without the drilled pocket up on the right hand side, apparently its around Font 8A, it was after a full days climbing but it did feel hard, i've worked the beta out anyway for the last rib section and next time I go i'l try and do it.

6 weeks time, New Zealand!

Bowderstone next week...

Moors FA's Pictures

2010-07-26T15:08:00.000-07:00

All pics from Lee at Beta Guides, http://betaguides.blogspot.com/2010/07/sleeping-on-boulders.html

Me on Rassassier - Font 7C/7C+

Lee on Nocturnal Font 6B+ , a hard problem which I couldn't do! Effort Lee, still dont know how you did it

Me on Badger SS, another awesome problem at Badger Rock

Doncaster Bouldering..What!?

2010-07-26T08:26:00.000-07:00

After a disastrous 2 days trying to find dry rock, me and Brandon thought it was time we headed to Doncaster. We only actually got time to climb 3 new problems, but we had to cut all the overhanging trees/bushes/ivy off, then take anything from the top-outs (alot of mud). Suprisingly it didnt take that long after abit of graft to have the boulders nice and clean, the rock is pretty good quality, to say its limestone, certainly better than the quality of the peak, no grozzles or anything really. I'l need at least another full session to do that, we may have to get Beta Guides in... I know some of the boulders are tiny but man, its in Doncaster! To us from Scunthorpe, will know how it feels to have no rock, tell em Jon!

The Video on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/13626564

For now though, its all for the 'Into The Light' Project, first we cut all the ivy off that we could reach, then Brandon abseiled in to make it clean and brush up the top out. What we are basically trying to do it climb the prow and then break off into the wall. Right now we dont know if its going to be possible, there is a good hold which you use to get a pinch on the wall with your left, then to the crimp with right, then to the top? I guess we'l see..But, at the moment its looking nails so i just guessed the grade range to how it felt, we might not

actually be able to climb the wall section or lock the crimp to the top, i guess thats apart of it though, not knowing.

Brandon on 'Proper Glory' Font 7b

The Line of 'Into The Light', it doesnt keep to the left really,just straight up the wall, its also aot bigger than it looks, and better quality!

Moors Madness

2010-07-18T10:04:00.000-07:00

So, the last post could have possibly been an over exaggeration, possibly. We will see about that. However this one will not be. On Friday my man Lee from Beta Guides picked me up to explore the desolate regions of the North Yorkshire Moors. We parked up where the road somehow turned into just a path. Now this trip was certainly the most hardcore searching i've ever done, the terrain was definitely the worst, boggy swampy marshy hills, bracken and bushes came as high as my face, non-vissible streams and rivers...then the sun went down. Luckily, Lee is that much of a psycho that he carried my rucksack for me, as I'm just not hardcore enough! We checked out a few boulders but found nothing worth camping at, until we had to settle somewhere as it got pitch black. That night was, something different. We put the one man tent up, got my cheese and onion pasty and got the beers in! I then explained my how money came to be, how the central banking system was created, and my deep concerns for things like the federal reserve. Whether the agenda's of the bloodline elite are successful or not, there is still going to be some trauma in the process of them trying to achieve globalization/centralization of power. As we learn better when going through great trauma, destroy-offer solution-rebuilld.

Then I found this sick boulder, scrubbed the lichen off, chalked it, and worked it for a couple of hours, it has a hard crux move, the rest is still sustained. Then 'Rassassier' was born, french for 'to satisfy ones hunger' which it did. Sistart round the corner of where I am in the pic, on a jug, then just keep traversing leftwards until you get to some jugs on the lip right round the corner, then you might as well rock up, (its the most logical thing to do) the line speaks for itself though when your there. I'd like some people to repeat it please, it will just take a day to get to! It felt like 7C/7C+, harder than Brad Pit and The Terrace. A larger ape index may possibly dable with the grade, but I still think it would test people. This photo is me going for the crux move, you slap again with your left to that sloper. Big move. It is located on top of a valley above a river, just North of 'Kay Nest'. The rock is amazing sandstone, really nice to touch, good friction but doesn't wreck your skin really quick. Awesome moves on this and some other projects on the boulders near by...have fun if you go!

I Found Something!!

2010-07-16T04:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday... me, my brother, and a driver (who cannot be named for revolutionary purposes) drove to Doncaster, to search for a limestone cave. For a start, we wasn't actually sure if this cave existed, as the only information I had on it, was a few pictures from a local non-climber who for a year now is still un-contactable. The directions to this cave were pretty vague to say the least!

We had this picture....(by the way, I dont actually know any of these people, I just found it on the 'bebo.com' a year ago)

NOW...

LUCKILY.....

At first. We went the total wrong way, we was about 6miles from this place. BUT....

We parked the car at the side of a road, as I though I could see some rock on google maps on my phone, so we headed up this track. About 5 minutes later I looked up into the trees and saw a bulge of rock, as you can imagine, I ran pretty god damn fast up to it, this first piece wasnt the best but good if you are an easy climber. This set me off anyhow. I ran through the woods at about 30mph, then suddenly, I slipped and headed down a hill in the forest. What I then found is amazing. This is like everything I have ever dreamed of, and fantasised about. We had always joked about being in this situation but in Scunthorpe. I found at least 10 perfect over hung limestone boulders, limestone which was completely stable and probably comparable quality to castle hill! Seriously! Brandon then (whilst screaming) found the most amazing line, he pulled tons of ivy and branches away to uncover the sickest over hanging prow in the world! Well, probably.. That prow looks at least V10...This venue may have been found before, but not by any climbers, if they have, they have never climbed any of these boulders in the last 60 years! They are perfect but completely uncovered and in a secret huge pot hole in the forest covered in huge bracken and plants. I then came across a limestone crag, that looked amazing for sport climbing, this rock was different though, with black streaks and real blocky.

After this, we did eventually move on and proceeded to discover the picture above, which is again amazing quality limestone. This place may possibly have been climbed on before, but it is not documented or mentioned anywhere on the internet. However theres no chalk or polish, or any signs of useage. You could maybe some good, quality, hard almost-eliminate problems here, and some decent proper lines.

Doncaster has alot more potential than anyone has ever told me, unfortunately, we didnt take a pad, we had brushes/shoes and chalk but to be honest I was expecting a chalky quarry or something thats falling to bits. Now...I would just kindly offer you the location, but, I've been climbing alot at Raven Tor lately, and for a few weeks now I've been wanting some nice, steep problems. I know that there are secret crags established in the Peak District, people like Dan Varian have formed a small group, kind of like the illuminati of peak district climbing, and I cannot know where these places are, apparently, but I have been teased with pictures of these problems, and the moves look good! Also, for all the people that refused to tell me where Crag X is, ''god knows mate, i've never been''....8a.nu socrecard: Seans Problems - Crag x'

Cheers mate!

So, we are going to develop the whole place, and when we have climbed all the best ones, and made a short film about it, we will offer the location...

Unless however you just email me and say that your an alright guy...

Tumbleweed Video..and thoughts

2010-07-13T12:44:00.000-07:00

So here is the video I put together...annnd, yeah, well, thats about it really...

Brandon is going to repeat it this week hopefully, however the sudden change in weather conditions is throwing two problems into the equation, 1. Our job is (extreme) window cleaning, and completely depends on the weather, if it rain tomorrow and Thursday we will not finish for the week, we are already one day down. 2. Raven Tor can be one seeping son of a bitch after confident rain, and the sit-start of Tumbleweed uses slots and pockets which seep, or become damp...not good. I need Brandon to send it, so we can carry on with our other trips in the UK, places we want to go before we head to New Zealand, the first place is Woodwell in the South Lakes, again, this limestone venue could possibly be off-course if rain persists. You know, I'v got places to be blocs to climb and moves to feel!

I assume there may have been some speculation on the grade of this climb, which is why I am psyched to climb some more hard things, mainly because when I touch down in NZ, I'd like to know what boulder grade I am capable of, when it is at my full limit, all guns blazing...so I have a gauge to work with on my first ascents over there, embarrassing it would be to grade a boulder something like 8A, which, on the north island would be fairly significant, and it turns out, after the locals have a slap, it is much easier. I will also be having the last 3 weeks to say goodbye to the Peak District (for now). Saying goodbye to Stanage will be defiantly be an emotional experience, I used to go every Saturday, when I'd only been climbing a few months, and suck in all the goodness, the ferns, trees, the amber rock at sunset, the rock itself and the feel of it, I'd certainly say it is the place I feel most connected to, it is like a person, especially the boulders, problems like Pebble Arete and The Green Traverse are like old friends that I visit. It comforts me that they will always be there for me. Hmmm, Stanage you sexy beast! Also the Burbage Valley is very important, those last three weeks will just be spent climbing the most amazing moves those places have to offer, hopefully with some good friction and nice people.

Tumbleweed

2010-07-09T12:21:00.000-07:00

So, once again, we located ourselves at raven tor, with pasta and chalk. This time, I was even more tired from work because after we had finished the window cleaning for the week, we had to scrape paint of this house, and then sand it down, great times that was. That evening was very humid and a bit damp at the tor, but I got warmed up anyway and soon tried Tumbleweed from the start, I got to the last 2 moves and peeled off, as I was horrendously pumped, also I tried some wakced out beta with heel hooks in your face and stuff, which brought it all on my arms, so we left it that night and went to the pub to talk about the illuminati, central banking system and the federal reserve, the new world order and RFID chips ECT and then settled down on the floor for the night. The next day, basically, I got warmed up, tried it a couple of times from the start, got ready, breathed heavily and went light headed to receive sub-atomic help via personal trans-dimensional entities, pulled on and sent it. It was my first Font 8a, not really my style or what I do but it was still decent, wonderful last slap to a jug. I did get a video but I am just going to edit it possibly before I put it on. Anyhow there are a couple of pictures...

I may get the train back out into the peak tomorrow, and climb at toms roof at stoney? or NOT... we can have a look but possibly it is disgusting and depressing....we will see....

Quintesscence?... wohoho lets have a look.

Raven Tor

2010-07-02T03:13:00.000-07:00

Me and Brandon went to Raven Tor on Wednesday after work, we climbed Tumbleweed Standstart Font 7C+, and Preverse Reverse-Bashers Footless Font 7C, then on the next morning I tried the sit start to 'the cave problem' , which is also the first 3 moves of Tumbleweed, I did this, its 7C but still tricky with some crazy toe jams in some holes what nobody told me about!!, next week I am going to link those 3/4 moves into the Tumbleweed Standstart, and there you have it, 'Tumbleweed'. I think its a fairly new problem and it may be soft but its given Font 8A. I would like to get on some more 8A's after this, escpecially psyched for Diesel Power and Sub Society in the Pass. I'm hopefully going to film all of Tumbleweed on my phone, as some people get abit touchy.

I think since i've been climbing outside every weekend I am accelerating, and to be fair, these things dont seem thaaat hard, I think after I do Tumbleweed I will start climbing at Rubicon, and try Tsunami, as its more finger power, than power/power endurance. And its just fucking nails, Tsuanam-ish isnt that bad, but matching that sloper is tricky-as. I would like to get my fingers to a good level now, Gaskins has inspired me, haha. In New Zealand I would like to think that next year I could potenially put up some hard lines with some very bad crimps.

Recent Adventures

2010-06-27T11:42:00.000-07:00

I got back from Wales (Parisella's Cave) today, me and Brandon slept there for 3 nights, and Manchester train station on the floor for the 4th. I hadn't been there for a while so I was pretty psyched. The trip was full of mixed experiences, we met some pretty cool people, but also came across some arrogant negative people in the town, and also THOUASANDS of religious preaching elders! haha, I COULD of taken the microphone from one particular male, and slowly disintegrate Christianity into nothing more than a collection of astrological personifications, alignments and representations, with also some Jesus=Horus-One eyed very disheartened.

The cave trip was fun, we met some English, Welsh, Slovakian, Australian and New Zealand people, we went swimming and climbed even in the day when it was hot, I had stomach cramps from climbing steep terrain all day, with a deep hunger in my stomach, my back is also fucked from sleeping in the cave haha, I climbed

Lou Ferrino - Font 7C+

Rockatrocity - Font 7C

Rock-ACampus - Font 7b+ ?

Beaver Cleaver - Font 7b

Clever Beaver Undercut Start - Font 7b

I've also been at Raven Tor abit lately,

Weedkiller Footless - Font 7C+

Cave problem - Font 7b+

Powerhumps SS - Font 7b+

I hope to get back there soon,

I am too tired now to write anything interesting,

stay safe guys,

Bowderstone Trip

2010-05-15T04:10:00.000-07:00

So guys I went to the Bowderstone for 4 days, it was awesome. The mountains and rivers and lakes are so good. We slept around the back in some 'handshake hole' The climbing is pretty decent, just abit sharp! So when you dont know any beta, you can slap to alot of holds you wish you didnt! Its pretty sick climbing though, 4 days wasnt enough, we only just got started, next time I want to try XXXX as well, anyhow, this was the ticklist:

Power Pinch - 7A+, -2nd go

Inaudible Vaudeville - 7B+ - (10 mins)

Impropa Opera RH - 7C, -2nd go

Impropa Opera LH - 7C

Grand Opera - 7C+

Heres a little vid, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkoojX3acBs

Raven Tor tomorrow for some peak limestone action!

2010-05-08T12:58:00.000-07:00

Climbed Mossatrocity on Monday, on and off rain, 2/3 sessions, awesome problem, sick line. Went to Rubicon Wall on Wednesday, made good progress on various things, going to the Bowderstone on Monday for a week, should be amazing. Also going to New Zealand in 4 months, then Hampi in India. Amazing :)

2010-03-29T13:57:00.000-07:00

Yooo, I have been working 6 days a week, bought my ticket to New Zealand I'm going 21st September this year! I went out not long ago made progress on The Joker, got my hand on the jug regularly but its just hard to hold the full swing and everything, it'l go, I want to try some other 8A's in the peak as well, I'm going to the Lakes next month and in May. Getting close to V11 I think maybe, anyway I still love climbing :)

I went up to the North Yorkshire Moors the other Sunday with Lee from Betaguides, found some sick projects and did this nice little problem..

2010-01-01T13:19:00.000-08:00

So, if anyone out there is remotely interested in my climbing...I've decided the give climbing up, its just not worth what you get out of it...

Ahhhh only joking guys,

Yeah, I got some new holds for my wall, so training is more fun...havn't been out in a while, last time it snowed...pretty frustrating...still getting stronger and climbing harder though...

New Zealand this year for an extensive crazy rampage, annnnd lets climb Font 8a soon :)

Below is my project on the wall, its very fucking fingery and hard. Its 8 moves long with some lock-y-off-y moves and some screw on footholds..pretty nails. If I can climb this project, then I should be able to climb 8a outside...I think, maybe, its just nails basically

Pics

2009-10-26T15:41:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of me doing Brad Pit...

Brad Pit

2009-10-21T10:18:00.000-07:00

So Friday last week me and a friend went to Stanage, to try Brad Pit. I had wanted to try/do this problem for ages but never felt that I was good enough to try it. Anyway we had about an hour on it, it took me a fair few goes until I was on the slopers, and eventually was hitting the jug, I did get my hand actually on the jug at one point but was kind of swinging off as I hit it. My mate had two bleeding tips so we had to leave, I'm sure I would of done it that session if we had stayed. Me and Brandon went back on the Sunday, after getting warmed up, I then somehow managed to send it first go, which didnt feel real at all, its fair to say that I was abit disorientated about it, escpecially because Brandon joked with someone that we was guna try and flash it for a warm up, so it looked like I had flashed it. I reassured the guy that I had tried it before, and then asked him if he had a camera so he could take some photos and them email them to me, luckily he did. I mainly just wanted a photo on the crux posistion but I ended up doing the problem again without falling. I'm still waiting for him to email me them but I'm sure it will be within the next couple of days, or today. Brandon was still trying it at this point, it was his second session on it as well. Another guy, called James Jacobs came over and tried it with us, I then climbed it again without falling. Which did seem abit, strange, doing it 3 times in a row. so I didnt try it again becuase I didnt want to fall of it! haha. Its technically not very hard at all, its just, all psychological and technical, once you can find this certain position its fine. So yeah Brandon did end up doing it. I'l post the pictures the moment I get them. Oh If anyones wondering why Brandon has done Brass Monkeys and I haven't, its because I haven't tried it yet. And like Ben Moon said

''Brad Pit, I mean its hard but its not that hard, I could certainly climb something alot harder than that''

Next up: More 7C/7C+'s and The Joker

Grit

2009-10-11T12:29:00.000-07:00

Me and Brandon went to Stanage yesterday so I could try Brass Monkeys and Brad Pitt, but, it was all wet and damp, and there was no wind, some other stuff dried so I did end up doing a couple of problems, Bens Reverse - Font 7b and for randomness did the The Full Green Traverse - Font 7a+, first go, I have done it before ages ago so obviously its not a flash but yeah, its pumpy for me! I was so psyched for Brass Monkeys though, I've only tried it a couple of times ages ago but its an awesome problem.

Even though the rock was abit glassy and moist I had a couple of go's at The Joker, the almighty joker! I gave it a go by myself with one pad and got about 12cm away from the top, so I asked Brandon to spot me and I commited abit more and ended up getting 6/7cm away from the top, which is big progress for me, its scary though! haha, I felt asif if commtted fully I would like go flying 100mph or something but yeah, awesome, I know that then you have to hold it but still I feel that im getting stronger, my fingers definatly feel alot stronger, I think my campus board is going to help alot as well. So abit more training, at least 2 pads and 2 spotters, and then we will see if we can be tapping/grabbing whos knows even holding the top!

But, if I do think im going to do it, I will definatly be getting it on video...

Chew Valley Developments

2009-10-06T00:03:00.000-07:00

So me...from Red Tips Climbing and a guy called Lee Robinson from Beta Guides teamed up and headed to Chew Valley in the Peak District last Sunday to hopefully find some new boulders, we ended up at The Standing Stones. There is a massive pile of boulders below the crag which all looked good, from a distance, most were not as big and some were as good as they looked but just had very bad landings.

Here as some problems that we put up, if you know that they have been done before please email me.

Mine - Popcorn Prow - Font 6a & Dredger Lefthand - Font 7a/7a+ Video at the bottom of the post- That climbs an E2 6b arete, but on the lefthand side instead of the righthand side, this may not seem like much but it does makes a big difference!

Lee's - Red Tips - Font 5+/6a, Pinchy The Lobster - Font 7a & also The Moors Tiger, its around Font 6b is you find the left hand crimp, if you dont and do it the long way which is cupping the arete with your right hand and pressing off with your left its at least Font 6c, maybe 6c+.

ABOVE - Me finishing the second ascent (?) - The Moors Tiger

BELOW - Popcorn Prow

BELOW - Me on the second ascent (?) Red Tips

BELOW - Lee Robinson on Pinchy The Lobster

Below, The Starting moves of Dredger Left Hand

And here is The Video, again, if you know if this has been done before please email me, oh and it was windy as hell so you might wana turn the voulme down a touch!

Anyway, see ya later guys, oh and I have a campus board in my back garden now, I'l take some photos today.

The Terrace

2009-10-02T13:28:00.000-07:00

Last week Brandon did The Terrace at Burbage North, I nearly did it, but after figuring out how to do the second to last move, which was the move I kept falling off on' from doing it from the start, I then couldnt do the first move. So yeah I was abit annoyed that I didnt do it. So I said ''right, next week I'm guna go and do it!''.

So yesterday I got up and got the train to Sheffield>Hathersage and then hitched up to Burbage, by myself as Brandon couldn't come, but in a way I wanted to go by myself as I felt it was some unfinished business that just me and The Terrace had. I warmed up and then headed to it, firstly I tried the second-to-last move, and did it first go, so I was feeling confident then that all I had to do was the first slap and it would get sent. But, I couldn't do the first move, its just, burly and precise and just generally tricky, but eventually I stuck it, but I was abit shocked, which made me abit nervous, came to do the second-to-last move and I was feeling to over-confident and basically fell off. I then took big rests and even had a couple of breaks, but I just couldn't re-do the first move, bearing in mind I couldn't brush the holds and they was getting clogged up, and the sun was blazing the shothole, as it was a warm day. But, eventually, I pulled on and hit the hole, I then went into what I would call ''Execution Mode'' where your mind has no negative thoughts, you not thinking about falling off, you just do each move as they come and do them as perfectly as you can, it was kind of like being in a dream or something, didn't really feel real, so I then did all of the moves and slapped to the top, which is an awesome positive jug thing, topping out felt amazing. So yeah, given the conditions I think soft Font7c+ is about right, although some may disagree, god knows, anyway its an awesome problem with good moves, now onto more 7C's/+'s in the peak.....

Chow

Artificial Intelligence

2009-09-15T13:42:00.000-07:00

So, a few days ago the long standing project got done, by myself, 'the crimp project' had been a project for about 12 active sessions, and features a very hard crux move on pretty small holds for the angle that its at (42/3 degrees). If I still had my video camera I would of made a little video about it but, I dont have one anymore. I named it 'Artificial Intelligence' and gave it Font7c+, it is unrepeated. I am hopefully moving to Sheffield around Christmas time, as my mum is moving, if this actually happens I think I will just blow up, like spontaneous human combustion, it will be that good!

Sometime in the next few days I will be going to try and boulder problem called Mossatrocity at Grindleford Train station, its Font7c and is an amazing line, not really my best style of climbing but I really want to try it purely because it looks so good!

Training

2009-09-03T14:37:00.000-07:00

So yeah, after my trip to Wales I have been training in my garage alot, which is called 'The Tendon Shelter', me and Brandon have put up a few hard problems so far since the wall got good and we got the Moon Climbing holds, these are the problems/projects:

Air Born Killer - Font7a
Jesus Dont Want Me For A Sunbeam - Font 7b/7b+
Dusty Milk - Font 7b/7b+
Homie I Dont Know She's Hot And Cold - Font 7c

Projects,
''Artificial Intelligence'' - Font7c+ (?)

''Middle Vision'' - Font7c

and a couple other unnamed ones.

There are some more photos on RED TIPS CLIMBING

Wales

2009-08-21T03:52:00.000-07:00

I got back from wales last night, it was, pretty awesome...

Day 1 - Tried various things in Parisella's Cave and then chilled out on the beach, (slept in the cave)
Day 2 - Tried Rockatrocity, but then my hands
started to hurt so I had a big rest, except I started doing some crazy traverses which meant I got mega pumped a few times, we then started to try it again, and I fell on the last move! twice!, I was just getting so pumped, this was pretty frustrating, but I will definatly do it next time I go there. (slept in the cave)

Day 3- A full rest day, chilled out on this amazing beach, then we went to Conwy and stuff, (slept in the Car)
Day 4 - We headed to the LLanberis Pass, where the mountains are amazing! This was a good day, we mainly climbed at the Jerry's boulder. I climbed a problem which I thought was 'Johnny's Problem', but it turns out that I missed a handhold out, not sure what the grade is without the hole thing but it was still tricky to flash. I then did Bus Stop Font7c, this was my first 7c and is an awesome problem.

(Me on 'Bus Stop' - Font 7c)

Then I went home...I am now very psyched for everything, escpecially the Grit season!

Keep the psyche people!

RED TIPS CLIMBING

Going to Wales

2009-08-16T13:59:00.000-07:00

I'm going to Wales tomorrow, for 5 days, I may climb some hard boulders, who knows, but it will be fun anyway, Rock Atrocity/Lou Ferrino/Jerry's Roof are the ones I am mostly psyched for.

RED TIPS CLIMBING

Oh and I have made my wall pretty awesome now, wiht Moon screw on's, and both walls are now 42degrees, fun fun, pictures after Wales, if you live in/near Scunthorpe you can come and train :) just email me.

Peace out,

Liam

Good

2009-08-05T16:11:00.001-07:00

Getting stronger, getting more money, feel very light lately and my fingers keep getting stronger, would now like to climb some hard boulder problems, I want to go on loads of climbing trips, I am excited for the grit season....... www.red-tips.com

Wall Improvments

2009-07-13T11:21:00.001-07:00

Sooo, basically, I dont have much money. I knew this would happen so I invested in some new holds for my wall so I dont have to go to Sheffield as much, becuase it's just too expensive. So i'm aiming to buy loads and loads of holds. Here is a link to a video which is a short tour of my woody... http://www.red-tips.com/apps/videos/videos/view/3942372-the-tendon-shelter

Stay psyched!

2009 Grit Trip No.1 - & New Wall

2009-06-15T14:13:00.000-07:00

Day One :

Got up up at 5:45AM and set off to Stanage Plantation at about 7AM, warmed up and then attempted to hold the crimps on 'The Joker' , which went well and eventually ended up with me and Brandon stripping to just our boxers to loose weight, and then attempting to actually do the move (campus method). We could pull on and then slap up (right hand) to about half way to the top, but the holds were also a bit sweaty as it was a pretty hot day. we then tried 'Brass Monkeys' (Font 7c) which is one of the coolest problems on grit, I didn't do it though, it has a pretty hard crux move, but I did all the other moves, which are really good! , I then almost did 'The Green Traverse' footless which was fun to try. by this time the sun was on full power so we just chilled out for the rest of the day, I also seconded 'Flying Buttress Direct' which has some awesome moves on it, Dan Lane filmed me climb it as I gave a fairly comical commentary whilst climbing it. Eventually Brandon and Dan Lane went home and left me and Tom Fenwick to set up camp next to The Pebble...

Day Two:

We was awoken at 6:20AM by the warden who informed us that it was illegal to pitch a tent at Stanage Plantation, which we knew before hand anyway but we didn't think he would be such an early bird! The rest of the day I just took it easy, as I had decided to rest my skin for the following morning, because I planned to get up real early and attempt Brad Pit, which used to look nails ages ago but now looks more than 'do-able'. So me and Tom settled down for an early night, bivvying underneath The Pebble, accompanied by a gang of Mozes's. All was well until....

Day Three:

At 5AM, the clouds dropped all their bombs, within about 15 minutes my bed (Moon Warrior Bouldering Pad) was so wet that if you pressed your hand on it your hand would get covered in a litre of water, now, put yourself in my position, you are wearing the best present you ever got given (for Christmas), a £200 Rab down jacket, and you are half inside a soaking wet sleeping bag, half of your jacket is now horrendously wet, I knew what it would do to the down material, and this frustrated me alot. Basically getting from that position, to being stood up with your shoes on was a difficult task. I was wedged underneath a boulder and the floor outside was soaking, and I was forced to 'sideways floor traverse' with my hands on the gravel outside to bring me close to my trainers, but I wasn't close enough, so I had to man-up and slide on the soaking grass to grab my shoes and then come outside to put them on, now, I know what your thinking, your thinking why didn't you just take your down jacket off? well, there was not enough room underneath The Pebble to undergo such a complex task. I think you have a good feel for the experience now. We ended up gruesomely walking back to Hathersage, and then having a fry up at the Outside Cafe, which reminds me, I would just like to point out something, when they put the word 'Sausage' on the menu board (for the £3.50 English breakfast) they mean 'Party Sausage Slightly Burnt and Full of Air', sorry Outside, but it's your fault for taking so long with delivering products, it been 3 and a half weeks and I still don't have my guidebook. Anyway enough ranting,

So, it was actually a decent trip, just being able to feel the moves on the grit any time you want to, meeting some new people, and generally gaining experiences and memories, and even though this morning was horrible, looking back on it now, it's already a funny memory, and it hasn't even been a full day since then!....But I guess I wouldn't be laughing if I was still in the peak, wondering if it will happen again tomorrow. Anyway, it was a good break, back to training on my new wall now, and then to Parisella's Cave sometime in the near future. Below is a link to a video of Tom Fenwick attempting to onsight a route at Stanage, filmed by me and edited by Dan Lane, and also there are some pics of my new steep wall, which I will be extending soon (I made it steeper so I could also make it longer, two birds with one stone you see).

P.S. in the pictures the wall looks no way near as steep as it really is, just thought i'd clear that up.....keep the psyche!

The Video:> http://vimeo.com/5170853

Red Tips Climbing:> http://www.red-tips.com/

Vamous!

2009-06-01T15:38:00.000-07:00

Guess what...I have been training hard and climbing trees due to having no money...if you've read any of my other posts then that probably won't come as a surprise. I am really getting into climbing trees at the moment, partly because climbing on my woody in my garage when it's clear blue sky's outside is not very nice. You can find some really cool problems on trees, you have to find interesting ones though, not just standard trees...mind you, what is a 'standard tree'? So yeah, I have some cool lines, and even some hard projects.... I am urging so much to go back to Parisellas Cave, I will go soon..

I went to Raven Tor a few days ago, I biked there from Grindleford train station, it's actually pretty far, it's also annoying that I can't stand up on my bike because the gears a f**ked...but I give respect to anyone that prefers to do it the hard way, and bikes or walks to their crags...it's not easy, but it's worth every mile! Ben's Roof had seeping footholds, I tried to dry them but they only stayed dry for a few seconds. I tried this un-named Font 7c problem though, which has some good moves on it, I didn't do it though, it's weird, I didn't want to commit to this move unless I had some more people spotting and stuff, it's because you have a really high and solid heel hook, so the fall would be...interesting. I will go all guns blazing next time though, I only had one friend there the other day you see, and well, he had to take the pictures didn't he! .....

A Blog Post?

2009-05-08T13:11:00.000-07:00

So all of my planned trips didn't end up happening, due to Brandon injuring his finger, which put everything on hold. However, it's now healed, so a few trips will be happening. I am considering moving to New Zealand in September this year, which will be a big thing to do (moving with my Mum), I will be moving for like a year or something, maybe even more is I like it that much. I want to travel to a lot of countries in my life, so I thought it would be good to start early and get NZ ticked, move back to England for a bit, then...Magic Wood? Anyway until then it's just still nitty gritty training, which is always being updated and become harder every week almost! so yeah my skin is always wrecked as well. Really need to get out somewhere, blue skied plastic pulling in Scunthorpe is never a nice experience. However I'm always finding new buildering problems and projects, which is pretty fun, I did two new problems last Saturday, one of which was actually pretty hard, video coming soon for both. Which will be on http://www.red-tips.com/

Keep the Psyche!

Tales From Wales

2009-04-12T16:41:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday morning I was on the computer when my friend Scott asked me if I wanted to go to wales, it was a completely random proposal but after taking a couple of minutes, I decided that it was an awesome idea to head to Sheffield and go. Nobody was in my house... except I had my bag ready to go to Wales. My dad returned from the shop and I said ''I'm going to Wales with Scott for 5 days'', he was fine with this and then I started to get excited. I got a lift to the train station and I was away! all within the space of 2 hours. The feeling of ''adventure'' (as some might describe it) felt slightly new but refreshing. At around 8pm that day we set of to Wales, LLandudno to be precise, or actually even more precise, Parisella's Cave. The first morning was immaculate, clear blue sky and hot sun. Seeing the cave for the fist time was amazing, it was like my dream climbing venue. I tried a lot of stuff that day but only managed to send one hard-ish problem which was Clever Beaver Font 7a+/7b, which is a pretty cool problem with big slaps and toe hooks. The first night we drove to LLanberris and stayed there, although in the morning it was raining, so we headed back to the cave!

The second day I was feeling a bit tired from all the previous cave action, although I managed to flash my first Font 7a, however it wasn't actually in the cave it was up the road at 'Pill Box Wall'. The rock on that wall is really good, and the Font 7a, which is called 'Pill Box Original' , is a really nice problem. I tried 'Rock Atrocity '- Font 7c afterwards and managed to do all the moves really quickly, I was a bit disappointed not to have done it, I could almost do the whole problem, except by the time I was trying it right from the start my arms were becoming a bit tired and I was getting pumped more easily. It's an awesome problem and I will defiantly do it next time I visit there, which will hopefully be at the end of this month.

The next day, in LLanberris, I warmed up but found that my arms were absolutely shattered from 2 days of full on cave climbing, so I rested and explored some of the hills and collected beta for ''Jerry's Roof'.

Then, the next day, which was the fourth day, I finally got on Jerry's Roof after collecting beta. There was only two moves which I didn't do first go, one being the crux, and the other being this pressy move in the middle, I did those two moves with two attempts, I did all the other moves first go, so yeah, I was feeling good. Eventually I could do the whole problem from just two not-even-very-hard moves away from the start, except by this time, my arms were just so wrecked, even though I had one rest day, those two days in the cave just blasted my arms. Although the weather was awesome all day and it was fun to just relax in the sun in the mountains, which provide some amazing scenery.

The next day, Sunday, the last day, the weather was amazing all day, not a cloud in the sky till about 3pm, and from then it was only really small white ones. I tried Jerry's Roof again, but my joints in my arms were really aching and I was loosing power on the problem so quickly. We climbed with Johnny Dawes from a couple of hours, after persuading him to join us on Jerry's Roof he had a couple of goes at the crux and then we talked to him for a while, it's easy to just sit there and listen to him, and just recognise and understand what he's saying. He talked about 'Shape, Sound and Face'. Where you imagine the different shapes that your body has to go into, whilst climbing the problem, to explain this further he talked about imagining like hot air balloons, except shaped like people, and imagining them scattered across the problem in the different positions, and then you have to try and fit into those positions as best you can. The sound, is kind of the vibe which the problem is giving you and the vibe your giving the problem, there are different vibes for different problems just like there is different sounds, and you have to understand the type of sound, or feeling, that the problem has and kind of recognise it, and work with it. And the face is the way that you act on the climb or problem, you have to act differently on different climbs. like some may require you to get angry and aggressive, but some you may just have to relax and breathe more. If you can understand all of that and use it I personally think it would help anyone that's reading this, I've never really thought of those things, but it does make sense. I think what I've written is a fairly accurate interpretation of what he was trying to say. But yeah, hes a pretty cool guy that really does understand climbing to a different level.

Basically.........I slept in a van with Scott and Martin for 5 days in North Wales, I flashed a 7a and did a 7b and got really close on two 7c's. Scott did 3 Font 8a's and one Font8b/V13, which was Malcs Start next to Jerry's Roof, however there has been some people, as usual, doubting that he actually climbed it, so if you are one of those people and you are reading this, you kinda need to just calm down because I saw him do it. All in all, despite being crammed in a van with two oher people and eating porridge without milk or sugar every morning and not having any dinner and waiting all day everyday till the evening to eat again, it was a really awesome trip, my most favourite so far, Wales such a nice place, and I want to go back soon, back to the training for now, after at least 2 days of hardcore resting!

Psyched

2009-04-05T03:41:00.001-07:00

Yesterday it was the BMC Leading Ladder final at The Foundry, I didn't enter it but I did go to there for a session, to boulder and train.. I've been climbing indoors a lot lately, every other day, and my skin is always bad, I never really have fully repaired skin. But it doens't stop me, yesterday at the Foundry I had a right killer session, I even had red tips on my thumbs. Dan Lane was in the Final, and was ready to represent Red Tips, we tried not to both wear the t-shirt near each other much, as it might of looked a bit, well you know.

I'm planning on sleeping at Raven Tor & Rubicon Wall next Saturday for five or six days or so, a few friends of mine will probably come as well, hence the reason why it's been dubbed the Red Tips Rock Trip, see thread here> http://red-tips.webs.com/apps/forums/topics/show/538903-red-tips-rock-trip

Buy the Red Tips T-shirt here: http://www.redtipsonlinestore.bigcartel.com

Red Tips T-Shirts!

2009-03-31T16:09:00.000-07:00

So, this morning the first batch of the Red Tips T-Shirts arrived, I was pretty god dam excited to check them out and see how good they was, and to be honest I was surprised how accurately them came out, and how clear the logo and colours were. I am going to set my pay pal account up tomorrow so people can buy them online, and have them delivered to them. They are £16, without delivery, I will find out how much the delivery will cost tomorrow as well. I personally think they are good value for £16, comparing the quality of design and colours to other leading climbing T-shirts like the Moon Climbing ones, which are all £20. I do like some of the moon climbing ones though, it's just that the Red Tips ones are cheaper, and in these harsh times of recession, price is important! Visit http://www.red-tips.com/ to buy or for more info.

http://www.red-tips.com/

Training & Buildering

2009-03-27T10:36:00.000-07:00

I'm going climbing on Sunday, to Rubicon Wall, as I haven't been out in a while, I've just been training indoors, training quite specifically for 'The Press' (Font 7b+/V9) at Rubicon Wall. I've also been doing some 'Buildering', yeah, it's bouldering, but on buildings instead of rock.

This is what me and my friends have to do sometimes, when were short of money and want to climb outside. Me and my friend Josh Ellis made a video for the other day for http://www.red-tips.com/ . It shows one of the best buildering problems in Scunthorpe, called 'No Parking'. It was first climbed earlier this year and became an instant classic, it starts at the back of a roof, and climbs the full length of the roof outwards on metal girder's.

The link is here: http://red-tips.webs.com/apps/videos/videos/view/2571050-liam-copley-no-parking-font-7a-ish It's about Font 6c+/7a , mostly depending on the degree of heel & toe hooks you use. Regardless of the grade, this is a three star problem and should be on anybody buildering tick-list. Hope you like the video, don't take me too seriously on it please!
More Buildering videos and buildering Topos @ http://www.red-tips.com/

Red Tips T-shirts ready by 1st April! Pre-order now at red-tips-climbing@hotmail.co.uk

OR see the 'T-shirt' page on http://www.red-tips.com/ . I think that's enough links for now, I'll get some pictures and videos on Sunday.

Curbar, Rubicon Wall & The Edge

2009-03-11T15:05:00.000-07:00

My dad had the day off, so he offered to take us out climbing in the Peak, plus, he also wanted to get out somewhere. The day started off good, before we set off my Dad found out he had won
£1000 from a draw thing, which is good! he is going to give me and Brandon £100 to produce the first small batcth (20)of the Red Tips T-shirts. These will be available as soon as possible, click the link at the side of this page to get to the website itself. Anyways! we went to the Trackside Boulder at Curbar, and I did some nice easy gritstone problems. Brandon failed to exclaim that he wanted to climb on Limestone, so after warming up, we set off to Rubicon Wall.

We warmed up at Rubicon, and after Brandon taking some violent-un-attended-spotted-falls (I wasn't expecting them!) we headed to the Kudos Wall. I'll cut it straight, we didn't do anything. But, as they say, limestone was made for training, and that's pretty much what we did, mostly. Just trying hard things, seeing how far we can get. All I have to do is this Font7b+ and then I will be able to do most of the other extensions. The 7b+ is a lower start to a 7b which I nearly flashed (got it second go), called A Bigger Splash Direct. I can nearly do the 7b+. And I mean, nearly!

Anyway we then went to the Fox House Inn, I got 'Hunters Chicken', which is chicken, with bacon on top, and then melted cheese on top. and a pint of Strongbow, then me and Brandon had a short and intense session at The Edge, then did some serious core body, lock-off, static wide move shizzle on this pull-up bar thing on the train. Only serious train-users will know about this amazing 2m+ long bar. It's just one of those little perks of being a 100% committed full time climber.

Rubicon Wall - 21.4 Miles

2009-03-02T14:18:00.000-08:00

Brandon came and got me out of bed at 5am, although I was awake before hand. We biked to the train station, although, today there was a possible disaster on the horizon. We got the 6am train, and the connecting train in Sheffield left at 7:12, we would have 1/2 minutes to get across to the other platform and get the train, with bouldering mats, bags, bikes, ect.

A train station staff member was very mad at us both because we decided to ride our bikes on the platform to catch the train in time, he was extremely mad, he said that he had been watching us for weeks on the CCTV riding our bikes to catch trains, which I thought was pretty funny. After some persuasion, he let us go catch our train, but as we got close, we thought it might randomly leave, so we got on our bikes and biked again, and got on the train. I was happy to be on the train, but not so happy that the guy had actually chased us and was now on our train coming towards us. He threatened us with various things for about 3 minutes, he also said that he would be watching us on the CCTV when we was to come back later on.

We got off at Grindleford and had a painful bike ride to Rubicon Wall, we went wrong at one point and had to go back on our self to get to the wall. We warmed up on some polished eliminate problems, that we made up our self. After we was warmed up we headed over to the Kudos Wall. The first problem I tried was 'A Bigger Splash Direct', Font7b / V8. The sun was out, clear blue sky, I had my top off and it felt like a summers day, I was psyched. I almost flashed it, slapping for the sharp jug, and almost holding it. I managed to send it on my second go, which is my best ascent so far, and I was pretty happy about it. I tried loads of other things, and got close on most of them. I think next time I go here I will be more familiar with he place and will be able to crank really hard. There is a F8a route which I really want to do called Hot Fun Closing, next time I go, if i get a lift in a car, I will take a rope and try it.

We biked back, and also went to check out some boulders on top of this hill at Grindleford, which we thought was White Edge, although we got lost in some woods and came back. In total we have biked/walked 21.4 miles today. All in the name of climbing.

Training, Raven Tor Tomorrow

2009-03-01T07:07:00.000-08:00

So, we're into the third month of 2009, and I've only really had one day climbing outside. This is because I have been training for some steep, fingery and powerful Limestone boulder problems. I've started to go off the Grit for some reason, I guess it's because, in general, I don't actually like the style of climbing that the majority of the problems provide. Except there are some amazing problems on the grit, and too be fair I have only sampled what climbing venues Gritstone has to offer. I've made recent additions to my home wall which is helping, and in general I've just been training on steep problems, with bad/small footholds, and doing big moves. This should help on the Lime. So yeah, me and Brandon are going to Raven Tor tomorrow, except I'm not too optimistic about the 10mile bike ride. And it should be pretty bad for Brandon as well, considering he has no seat! I would tell you what problems I want to try, but to be fair, I am just going to try everything and anything and spend more time on the things that actually inspire me there and then. Below is a picture of me after a 6hour session at The Works yesterday, wearing my new Moon 3/4's which are really cool.

And this is The Motherboard at The Works, which is now my favourite piece of indoor climbing wall.

This Vehicle Was Illegally Parked.

2009-02-24T14:58:00.001-08:00

After a really long period of just climbing indoors and training, me and Brandon decided to go outside to Stanage. I did Zippy's Traverse (Font7b/V8) after about 8 tries, I had tried it before, a while ago when I use to go to the Plantation a lot, but never felt positive about it. Generally the moves are good, but if can be frustrating as you swing out, and there are different options of how to control it. I eventually found a sequence, that probably isn't the easiest, but I was consistent with doing it my way. It means I pretty much use every single handhold, my heel kept popping as I went for the jug, if you get the jug without it popping, you can compose yourself and swing off and match the jug in full control. Today, I didn't find any of the moves hard, and none of the holds felt bad, it felt like what a Font7a felt ages ago, last year. But I think it's still a hard 7b. We then went over to Stanage Far Right and tried the '7b Lip Traverse', we had previously been told by people that it was an amazing problem, and to be fair, the moves were really good, except we just couldn't crack it in a small session before the sun went down. We practically did it though, we just didn't link it from the very beginning. At the start of the day our first train was delayed, so we missed our interchanging train, so we had to get a bus, so we couldn't take our bikes, so we locked them up to a pole. this extra £2.50 for the bus, which we shouldn't of had to pay, on top of the £10.55 train ticket, affected my mental state a lot. So we had to walk up to Stanage, and also when we got back to our bikes at the end of the day somebody had stolen Brandon's bike seat, and there was a large yellow sticker on my bike saying "THIS VEHICLE WAS ILLEGALLY PARKED".

Check out this new video from Red Tips Productions> http://www.vimeo.com/3337244

(Me right at the start, on Rons Slab, then The Steep Traverse, then a while later on The Green Traverse)

Also, check out my new Moon Climbing sticker which I put onto the front of my bike, I'm hoping it will make me bike faster on the 10mile+ bike ride to Raven Tor.

Also, I have a few new pictures of my wall. Which is no way near as steep enough as we want it, we will be making it alot steeper next week.

You can also see the wooden fingerboard that Brandon made ages ago.

Training & New Website!

2009-02-03T15:00:00.000-08:00

I've been saving my money and spending most of my time training in my garage, as I have some new holds and I've set some sick problems! I might randomly go out on the grit one-day to see how it goes but the trainings occupying me for now. Check out my new website in a few days as it will be ready then, its called Red Tips - Climbing, it's basically a climbing website with forums, videos, photos ect and some funky stuff like information about home-made bouldering walls and we might be getting an online store with some cool stuff for sale, pretty much anything that's awesome will be sold, like oldskool jumpers with crazy patters, slate-climbing-holds, and maybe some big climbing posters and cool t-shirts. It will take time but in a few days it should be ready, for a short while the address will be www.red-tips.webs.com , but we may buy a package thing which will make it a whole lot better, then, the address will be www.red-tips.com . I'll make a post when I know more.

...

2009-02-02T09:45:00.000-08:00

So, we went out, and got up pretty early for it, but the rock was soaking wet! and there was no wind so it would just not dry at all. We met Scott, but then he went home, so me and Brandon went to The Edge for a bouldering session. We was there for 4/5 hours and it was pretty fun. Scott got me and Brandon Dosage 5 for our birthday which is awesome!

Right now i'm just training all the time, as I don't have the money to waste on taking my chances with the grit.

Winter Training & Grit List

2009-01-27T05:59:00.000-08:00

For the past couple of weeks I have been mainly training indoors, due to bad weather and consistent bad skin. As a result I think I'm getting better at indoor climbing, which might be helpful. Tomorrow is my last day as a 16year old, and I'm going out on the Grit, so, there is a little bit of pressure to climb something hard before I'm 17. Me and Brandon will be meeting Scott at Burbage North, I going t try The Terrace and Western Eyes, and Boyager, and other things. Below is my boulder wish list for either 2009 or before I have been climbing two years (Oct/Nov 09).

The Terrace - Font7c+ - Burbage North
Western Eyes - Font7c+ - Burbage North
Brad Pit - Font7c/7c+ - Stanage
Danny's Problem - Font7c/7c+ - Stanage
The Storm - Font7b+ - Stanage
Bens Roof - Font7c+ - Raven Tor
Pump Up The Power - Font7c+ - Raven Tor

And Possibly more :)

Another session at the Works, a good one.

2009-01-14T12:51:00.000-08:00

I had another good session at the climbing works, I flashed some more problems at about Font7a, I also did a Font7b on my third go! which is like, pretty good for me, I got even closer on the Font7c on the circuit board the crux move is big and is the only real hard move and after that move you just get a hold a tiny bit higher to the left, because it's a big move, last time me and Brandon was kind of jumping for it, but now were doing it slower which makes it easier to stick the hold, but we couldn't quite get it, but its very close indeed!. But next time I reckon it will go! Also I flashed a F7a+ circuit, which is good because I thought that just bouldering all the time would leave me with no stamina/power endurance, but each move is like V1/2 so its just not tiring and you can keep going. I also worked some of a F8a circuit, I can pretty much do it in two halfs but there is like a crux link-up part, but if I get through that move I can rest and then blast the second half, so if I get the F8a circuit on a second session it'd be cool. I tried a Font8a+ which was nails, It has 3 moves in total, I could do the first one with pushing of the ground with one of my legs, and was kind-of-almost doing the first move properly as well...I also tried a Font8a, I could do the first move (5 in total) but the second move is the hardest, still fun to try.

Session at the Works

2009-01-12T13:14:00.000-08:00

My mum took me and Brandon to the works tonight, was a pretty good session. I flashed 3 Font7a's and got close to a Font7c on the circuit board, it must be a pretty soft 7c, or maybe even a hard 7b+, mind you, I havn't actually done it so it could be 7c. I made some pretty good eliminates on the campus boards and pinches ect. as well...skins pretty bad now. I'm resting tomorrow then back on it :D

Snow!, So, we Escaped to the Edge

2009-01-08T16:23:00.000-08:00

The snow has started melting on the top of the boulders so it left the rock dripping wet. So we retreated to The Edge, I hadn't been there in a while, and me and Brandon both thought the problems were ace. The handholds are all new, skin friendly and positive. Which makes a change to some of the very pollished holds at the works. I flashed some Font7a's there and nearly flashed a Font7a+, I was going good but after finishing one of the last moves I didn't move my foot higher quick enough, so because my body was full stretched out it popped. But I moved it up higher as soon as I did that move next time and got it second go, which is defiantly a measure of progression for me to do a 7a+ on my second go. Rest tomorrow, train Saturday.

Despite D Day, I Guess Its Looking Good

2009-01-07T05:16:00.000-08:00

After our bad day out out, we have decided to stay at home more often now and just train on my wall. This is because recently I have not been able to climb much because of the skin and also I have unfortunately been 'wasting' climbing days like I did on Monday. So I trained the day after in my garage, it was a good session and I made some pretty good boulder problems. My dad has decided that he will take me to the peak tomorrow, which is a rare occurrence. So this should be good because we now have two mats and we should hopefully get a full days worth of bouldering. So, I now have my own bike, my own bouldering mat, and I will soon be moving to Sheffield, and if i get a job, then I will just be even more psyched because when I move my mum has agreed to get me a years pass for the climbing works! so far, 2009 is looking good.

D (For Disaster) Day

2009-01-05T13:44:00.000-08:00

Got up at 6am, left the house, crossed the road and then fell off my bike rather violently (ICE).

Then next it was the train fair has gone up, not by too much but enough to buy a pie and maybe some munchies with!

I met Scott and bought THE bouldering mat, I was late for 'the' train. Brandon was running late, I got on what i thought was my normal train, well it was but it went straight to the end destination without stopping anywhere, hence Hathersage. So I ended up in Manchester!

I had to get back, but i was not going to pay!, I blagged my way back to Hathersage and was about 2hours delayed in time.

Eventually i got to Burbage North to find it was completely covered in snow!, I managed to do a few warm up moves, but everything i wanted to do was in snow. Except for West side story, But i was completely De-psyched for that. I then fell in a swamp, so i swapped my socks for a hat and some plastic bags. I headed to Higgar Tor for no reason, And managed to do some shitty polished eliminates for about 15mins then the sunset, More deep snow, shoe filled madness followed until i was back at Hathersage. Then the trains followed and here i am. I have been up since 6am for nothing really, no improvement of finger strength no advance in arm power, just the Experience. Oh well, Training tomorrow!

First post of the Year

2009-01-02T09:51:00.000-08:00

Me and Brandon kicked the year of with a 6hour training session yesterday, although I must admit it couldn't have been that intense because I am not aching. Tomorrow I am going for a healthy dose of getting shut down on the Comp Wall at The Climbing Works...Only joking, there not that hard!

My Birthday is on 29th January, so, not long now. I'd like to climb West Side Story, or something hard before then. After my Birthday Me and Brandon are planning on heading to the Lake District to camp and climb at The Bowderstone. That boulder looks amazing! If you are up for coming then just email me. Also I just thought I'd remind people of the climbing film my friend is making so if your feeling rather adventurous on the Grit, then email me. And also, here is a little clip from Youtube of me climbing The Green Traverse (Font7a) at Stanage. Sorry about the Strip across the screen. Filmed by Dan Lane

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uwIa78zJNuQ

Winter Gritstone Cragging

2008-12-31T04:17:00.000-08:00

Over Christmas me and Brandon have been getting out on the Grit alot!, We have bikes and we have been getting up at 6-7ish to get to the crags earlier, which is pretty tireing!

I haven't done much hard stuff but I have nearly done West Side Story (Burbage West), I've had two small sessions and I'm on the last side pull, I just need to find the footholds and then pop for the pocket. Yesterday I did Breakfast at Burbage West which is Font7a, I got close on my first go but after that the last move kept spitting me off. I eventually found a sneaky side pull and did it first go with the side pull. Its a pretty funky problem.

I have decided that I am going to concentrate on West Side Story (Font7b+) and The Terrace (Font7c+). The Terrace which is at Burbage North looks like my style of climbing, big moves but not (too) reachy, slappy, powerful and really steep. I would really like to do both of these problems before I am 17 which is on the 29th January. And i just thought i would tell you that m friend is making a climbing film and we are going to try and film the sends of these problems, and many more! ( also including grit solos and bold grit routes, oh, and no headpoint just onsighting, onsight attempting, and ground up ascents)

Bouldering at Castle Hill

2008-12-28T07:27:00.000-08:00

Font6a Slab at Castle Hill

2008-12-28T07:06:00.000-08:00

Pictures

2008-12-22T07:29:00.000-08:00

First Ascent of Coral Defence Systems - Font 5+

The temporary unnamed problem, about Font6a/6a+, I can't remember if i or my brother climbed it first.

First Ascent of The Silver Surfer

2008-12-22T07:25:00.000-08:00

Possible first ascent, of The Silver Surfer, estimated Font7a

walking to the bouldering

2008-12-22T07:20:00.000-08:00

Touronga Bouldering

2008-12-15T18:35:00.000-08:00

In Touronga, where I am, is a short limestone crag with some neglectaed sport routes by the bouldering (short wall) is of good quality. I bouldered there yesterday and today, there are crimps, sloppy rails, pockets, pretty much everything. Today is was 'major' hot, like, nearly too hot. So we had to finish climbing early to go in the sea which had some huge waves which are pretty powerful. We made loads of boulder problems and the rock is pretty cool. We also did some deep water bouldering (wall traversing). Which was pretty intense. The boulders on the shore have amazing friction, i havn't done much on them but there is some good climbs. anyway, tomorow is my last full day.

Castle Hill

2008-12-14T14:33:00.000-08:00

On the Saturday i went to the Roxx, which was pretty good but all the bouldering didn't really have proper problems so i had to just do eliminates. we ended up going to Castle Hill that evening as well, so i got to climb before ot got dark. Then the next day (Sunday) I climbed there as well. We got a bit shut down by the style of climbing, its completely different to anything i'd been on before, some of the footholds were that polished it would squeak loudly when you placed your foot on it. The handholds were also very polished, some of the problems were very highball, in the guide there were signs saying 'potential fatal fall', and this was for all grades. I climbed alot of the easy problems and just experienced it but didn't send anything hard. Amazing place but two sessions was not enough to get used to it enough to send the hard stuff, plus i just wanted climb on loads of the boulders. I'll post all the pictures probably when i get back. I'm in Tauranga at the moment, and i will probably be staying here for 2 nights. There is bouldering here, and i think there is some possible DWS. anyway gtg.

Walls + Castle Hill

2008-12-06T12:16:00.000-08:00

The day after we went to The Airstrip we climbed at 'the wall' in Routaroua. The bouldering wasn't world class or anything, and the matting was a bit shady but it was still a session.

We are going to the climbing wall in Christchurch today, i think its called 'the roxx', but the next two days after that we will be sleeping in the Castle Hill village and climbing at Castle Hill for two days which will probably be the best climbing part of the holiday.

Boulderin in New Zealand No.2

2008-12-02T16:43:00.000-08:00

I have managed to get on another pc...Yesterday me and Brandon went bouldering at The Airstrip, south of Hamilton on the North island.The rock is Limestone but has pretty good friction still, the rock has some weird formations and is mostly pinches. We warmed up on some easy boulders and then moved to Grot View Cave, which is a massive limestone cave, where most of the problems start at the back fo the roof and work out and up, i liked this style of climbing because it requires alot fo body tension. Me and Brandon flashed 'Du Hast' (V5/Font 6c+) which is a total pump fest around the inside roof of the cave, in a sort of circular motion. Me and Brandon then did 'Franks Better Half' (V6 Font7a). I gave it one go and found that our initial sequence was wrong, then Brandon tried it another way and got close, then on my 3rd go i sent it (Brandon got it on his second go). We tried the V7 link-up to this but didn't have enough time to do that, i got very close on that as well but time beat us..oh well. I might be going to the bouldering wall today in Routaroua, if not, then i will tomorrow. We are going to the hot mud baths in a minute so goodbye people...i'll blog again when i can :)

New Zealand Bouldering

2008-11-30T23:02:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-24T05:51:00.000-08:00

Rab bouldering Series - I'm going to New Zealand

2008-11-24T05:36:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-18T04:31:00.001-08:00

Warming up at Burbage South

2008-11-18T04:29:00.000-08:00

Me on Impossible Slab - V7

2008-11-18T03:26:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-18T03:24:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-17T13:56:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-08T06:46:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-01T14:36:00.000-07:00

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.

Mid-week bouldering post

2008-10-23T10:35:00.000-07:00

Me and Brandon got up at 4:50 am, we attempted to get to The Plantation for 8:15 so we could take advantage of the friction. Didn't go to plan really, the train delayed and we ended up getting a bus from Sheffield, as we missed the connecting train from Sheffield to Hathersage. As we got close to the crag it started raining, so we layed in a bush for a short while. Walked to the public toilets nearer to the crag and it started raining again, so we stayed in the toilet for a while.

The Rock was wet, we spent ages waiting. Eventually i got warmed up on the semi-dry rock and then flash-repeated a classic Font 6c. I got super close on Captain Hook, but then it started drizzling. We walked to a Font 7a+ arete on Stanage, then it dried up, nearly got that in a few goes but we wanted to move onto Stanage far right. I on-sighted 'Almost A Hold' - Font 6c+ and OS soloed 'The real 20ft Crack' Which is hard when you layback it rather than jam it! I OS soloed another HVS 5c - Easy Walling, I did a sit start to this and claimed it as a font 6b/6b+ boulder problem. I also did a new line that is a bit of an eliminate but still hard/fun. It breaks of a route called 'sleasy jamming' and goes left onto a blank wall, there is a small flake that can be used. There is a chance it has been climbed before but from judging by the rock and line it looks like i may have been the first to do this eliminate line, so at the moment its name is - Liams Sleasy Eliminate - Font 6c. In the end it was a good day, shouldn't have got up so early though as it was wet for the first part, but ah well.

Early bird catches the worm (friction)

2008-10-17T09:58:00.000-07:00

The title makes it sound like i'm a psycho boulderer that wakes up at 5 in the morning to do The Ace (8b) before the morning is over..well speaking of people that do just that, i met my friend Scott Mclellan at Stanage plantation to find that he had finished The Ace before i had got there (got there at about 10), so yeah he's pretty inspirational to says hes only been climbing nearly 3 years. I warmed up and then got on Captain Hook (7b), i spent a while on it while the conditions were still OK and now i can do most of the problem, exiting the problem (finishing it) is now the goal for Sunday. I walked over the another boulder and on-sighted a Font 6c which is a really good problem, i had a quick look at where the holds go and then went for it. I then did other various random warm down things to finish and then got the train to Sheffield, then home. So Sunday is the day to complete Captain hook, (Zippy's was damp/wet).

Bouldering..Bouldering..Bouldering...

2008-10-12T14:29:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night: finished an indoor V8 at the edge and flashed a V5

Friday Post: Built my bouldering wall (again) in my garage and set problems from V1-v8+/9, i did the V7 but the V8+/9 is, well, nails!

Today's Post: 9:55 train, got the hathersage, got two pies and two packs of munchies. walked the usual long path up to plantation. Warmed up, did the Pebble arete, did the Green Traverse first go (repeat from being worked a while ago). Zippy's traverse was wet so i had loads of try's on Captain Hook, the problem is pretty cool, its got some big slaps on big sloppers. It should get done soon (need more friction and smaller shoes first). Had a few goes on zippys when it dried out a bit, but made no further progress. Tried the sit start to Pebble arete, that should get done soon as well. Did the start of Jerrys Traverse, and also had a general play around on that side of the boulder. I have cut the day short, but i was bouldering for 5 hours..and now im nakerd!! Should be back out soon..

Weekend post

2008-10-08T03:50:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday it was raining so me and Brandon went to the Edge climbing centre, Scott (my Friend who works there) told me that the 'young guns' were in, it was the youth British bouldering team. So the bouldering room was packed. I managed to flash up to V6 and fell off a fair few times on a V8 which i will be attempting tonight when i go there. At night we slept at the Fox House Inn and hoped that it wouldn't be raining. In the morning it was really wet but not raining so we walked to Burbage to see what the rock was like, it was wet so waited it out and wasted some time in Hathersage. Eventually the rock dried out, warmed up, flashed the green traverse (repeat from worked), tried Deliverance Traverse and got close but not quiet there yet. Got on Zippy's as well, Zippy's is going to be a challenge for me. I kept falling off whilst trying to get my heel in the hole. Good day, should be out on the Grit again soon.

Future Project

2008-09-29T13:33:00.001-07:00

After completing the surprisingly short-waited goal of V7, my attention is still directed at bouldering and seems like it will be staying like that for a while. My current problem which i aspire to do is Zippy's Traverse V8 at Stanage plantation. The plantation is a place where i don't feel out of my depth for some reason and generally like all the problems there. To achieve V8 i am still training 4/5 times a week and a day climbing outside on the Saturday's, except my training days have started becoming more specific and personalised including working on many of my weaknesses . This Saturday i will be going to Wales for a taster of what it has to offer in term of bouldering which should be good considering that i have never been to wales.

Plantation Projects

2008-09-27T12:54:00.000-07:00

Today me, my brother Brandon and my Friends Josh and Jordan got the train to Hathersage for a day on the Grit. The weather was amazing, clear blue sky. We bought some pies and walked up to Stanage Plantation. Jordan did well on his first day, climbing at around font 5+/6a. I managed to finish the project which i was working which was The full green traverse V7 font 7a+ , i was very happy when i finished it. I also got far on the Deliverance Traverse except again the sun wouldn't allow me to use the finishing smears, i also did some of the usual problems (face of business, pebble arete etc etc) and soloed a couple of VS's. We finished off with climbing anything and everything, random problems of good quality in the evening sun .Overall it was my favourite day out on the grit so far.

Burbage South bouldering

2008-09-14T14:22:00.000-07:00

Josh climbing, and me chilling at the top

Another saturday on the Grit.

2008-09-14T07:09:00.001-07:00

A week of college, just waiting for the weekend. I got woken up at 8:50, the train was leaving at 9:10 so i didn't have much time to get ready. We met up with some friends i hadn't seen in a while at burger king in Sheffield. We got the bus to Fox house Inn and started walking up to Burbage South. We spent a while warming up on some slabby stuff, before doing a long font 6b+ traverse which was pumpy. We then took a walk up to the crag itself and i did a V2 arete (on sight) and also the first known ascent on this V3* arete (also onsight), the picture above shows me repeating it, its a worthwhile arete which requires a high foot to be able to finish it or your hands may be miss-angled and slip off. I had a look at a very good V7 (electric storm), except the holds had major seepage as it was shaded all day. I also did the second ascent of my brothers unknown slab, named 'Element Slab' V2/3 which is situated on one of the boulders, it's pretty un-noticeable but it is there!. I also did a low traverse which wasn't quide-booked, about v3/4. I had a look at Equilibrium, dont get me started on how hard that thing looks. On the other hand, Life assurance (E6 6b) looks pretty amazing, i may to top-rope it this winter and see how it goes. Simbas pride (E8 6b)...no thanks. Of couse, we went on a trip, so we HAD to loose something didn't we (full bottle of liquid chalk).

Good weather all day, classic bouldering.

A Humid Saturday at Plantation

2008-08-31T04:46:00.002-07:00

We managed to get to Plantation again this week, me, my brother and my friends Dayne and Josh got the train to Hathersage then walked up to Stanage. I warmed up then had some goes at 'Deliverance Traverse' (v7) and made good progress, managed to get the side pull and make attempts to finish of towards the arete, except me smears were literally popping off because of the humidity so i have decided to leave that for a couple of weeks until the friction is good enough. So i had a go at 'The Full Green Traverse' (v7) started on the sloper and a little crimp thing and got to the start of 'The green Traverse' (v6) which i did on Monday, the problem with this one is trying to get you body position around and actually onto the V6 traverse without your feet touching the floor, i got this far on my first attempt and only gave it 4 goes in total so i am feeling pretty optimistic in the fact this may be my first v7, my brother wanted to try something else so we moved on. I found myself on the 'Rose and The Self Employed Business Man' (v7) but found it fairly tough to be honest. After a couple more hours of playing about on some easier stuff and trying really hard stuff we couldn't stand the midges anymore and had to leave. My two established goals are The Full green Traverse, and the Deliverance Traverse.

2008-08-31T04:46:00.001-07:00

My best day in one day.

2008-08-26T01:58:00.000-07:00

Once again me and my brother couldn't take it anymore, we had to climb outside, So even if it was for one day we had to go. We got the train to Hathersage from Scunthorpe at 12.10 and got to Stanage Plantation at about 3.45. We warmed up on some easy slabby prolems (4 - 5+) and then a v3 which i had done before. After some people had moved from the boulder problem i came to do i started looking at the sequence, i spent near 45 minutes getting angry at the hardest move, i could do it on its own but not with the whole the sequence, i eventually calmed down, and found myself on the problem, completely calm, fully zoned out, i finished in, after it felt amazing. I had never really hit 'the zone' like that before and it felt like i was drunk. I was very happy when i finished it, i had completed one of my goals for the end of the year in around 45 minutes... The Green Traverse V6, font 7a.

I also tried the Deliverance Traverse (font V7 font 7a+), i got pretty close, except it was warm and pretty greasy, the sequence is confusing but i have watched a video on youtube and now know how to do it properly, so with a bit of friction, i'll have it in the bag. A picture above shows me trying to work it out on shit smears.

Red Tips, End Of Trips.

2008-08-14T03:41:00.000-07:00

What a trip, it was the best climbing trip i have been on so far. We got to climb everyday.My finger tips are red raw as i write this right now. I started of by soloing some Severes - VS 5a's, and then i flashed some easy and classic problems including Crescent Arete which was really good.The next day i did some problems which wasn't in my guidebook and then my brother found a V5 which was perfect for me, he flashed it first then showed me where to go etc.,i then flashed it, i had to dig deep, it was called Right Spur Traverse, after reading an interview whith James Pearson where he explains about his mental attitude to bouldering it inspired me to think about the climbing in a different way, its a sort of now or never way of thinking, like Steve McClure said "if you really wana do these routes,you will just push through it and take it to the next level" i applied this to bouldering.
On the last day i flashed some font6a+'s, font 6b's and one font 6b+.I quess all the training is paying off and that i have been training right. I met some other climbers called James Oswald,Seb and Johny who where really cool guys.
I have decided that i do really like bouldering, and i am going to narrow my climbing down to sport climbing and bouldering. Overall though it was a really good climbing trip.

Moon Training Board

2008-08-08T05:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my moon board arrived after around 6 days of waiting.As soon as it came me and my brother urgently placed onto one of the beams in my garage where my circuit wall is.I had a one and a half hour session on it, i spent about 40mins warming up on the large holds, i used the large holds on top,the large ones below them, and the large ones down and inwards and did sets of 5 pull-ups on each with 10 seconds rest between each set,then waited for 30/40 seconds and did sets of 3 chin-ups with 10 seconds rest between.I did this regime 4 times, then did some free-style power endurance on the slopping holds till i got pumped,i finished off by dead hanging on the 2nd hardest crimps (the crimps which are on the lowest row and on the ends of the board) using a half-crimp position,holding for 11.07 seconds.I then warmed down and finished.

After doing this session i read the suggested training session on the moon website (see here)http://www.moonclimbing.com/SchoolRoom.aspx?ID=20 , i am going to be doing this plan with my brother at least twice a week.It mentions that you don't really want to be dead hanging for more than 8 seconds, so i will have to listen to the advice there, it also says if you are dead hanging over 8 seconds the hold is probably too big for you, which means i am going to have to go onto the hardest crimps next time.

Overall the moon board seems like the perfect training tool, i think my wall and the moon board should help me break some plateau's which i may find next week when i am in the peak district.

Square Buttress Direct... HVS 5b

2008-08-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

This photo shows me on my first HVS, 6 months after i was introduced into climbing, i top roped it once with my brother before i lead it, as i was unsure if i could do it,it was my 6th outdoor route,the next route i top roped was The Strangler 5c (E4 lead) which was a couple of weeks ago.

Training

2008-08-06T12:47:00.000-07:00

Me doing some bouldering on the wall.

Training Post For today

2008-08-06T08:30:00.000-07:00

The last two days i thought i would have a rest,as a result im getting pumped pretty quickly on the classic circuits on the wall, i didn't think two days rest would hold me back as much as this, i introduced my climbing very progressively, when i first started it was only once every two weeks,and then once or twice a week,then 2 days each week and so on, which means i've played it right so far, but now if i fall back i start to loose it,?, i may be wrong i could just be having a bad day becuase its humid,if i am correct i've fallen into a regieme where i cant slack it anymore.I love it though.

Top training tip for today: Play music that will physce you, and play it loud.

My Goal Chart

2008-08-05T07:36:00.000-07:00

Lakes Trip

2008-08-01T15:34:00.000-07:00

As you can guess, THE WEATHER. The lakes did give me a about 9/10 hours of solid bouldering though over the 5 days with some classic high-ball problems, the granite is lovely but it was greasy (summer) so my on sight highest was V3, got on a v4 to on sight but it was dusk and the mozzy's were out and also the grease, its horrible when its been warm. We wen to the Kendal Wall one of the days which was really good, i did a f7a+ on top rope with two attempts which was good. Went to Scout Scar today, did one warm up (f6a) and it lashed it down so we had to come home. I would recommend Eskdale bouldering and also The Diamond Crag where i made some first ascents (as far as i know), one VS and a HVS/E1 , ill post some pics soon.

Heading For The Lakes

2008-07-26T06:46:00.000-07:00

I'm going away to the Lake District next week for 4 days will hopefully get some good climbing done, i think we are staying at a lakeside campsite near Coniston.I think on one of the first days
we will go to Scout Scar to do some Limestone sport routes there, Ive got a couple in mind

Born To Run* F6b+ - which will hopefully be a enjoyable onsight.
First Blood* F7a+ - something a bit harder so a ground up redpoint attempt for that.

and if the First Blood goes well i may get on 'A vision Of Things Gone Wild' F7b which
i will try and get a top-rope on, if not, ground up again, as i have no clip-stick, so i may
come back with one less quickdraw.

I think we will go to The Climbers Shop in Ambleside and get some advice on other places to climb and which guidebook to get.We will probably do some Scrambling as well which will be change for me and should be fun.

Bags at Burger King.

2008-07-23T14:28:00.000-07:00

Bouldering outside in Sheffield.

2008-07-23T14:27:00.000-07:00

Top out

2008-07-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

2008-07-23T14:24:00.000-07:00

Getting sorted at the campsite

2008-07-23T14:22:00.001-07:00

I have finally got some pictures together of the trip so hope you enjoy them.

Chosen Route..

2008-07-21T16:20:00.000-07:00

So if you read my last post you will know that i top roped The Strangler 5c (E4 if lead) at Stanage Plantation, i on sighted it on top rope yet did need beta from Franco who lead it. In Autumn i am going to lead this, this will probably be my first E4, bit of a step to say I've only climbed HVS 5b (on sight) but I'll be fine once committed. Below is a picture of a Climber on the route (The Strangler E4 5c)

Edges from above.

2008-07-20T03:26:00.000-07:00

Sloppers.

2008-07-20T03:24:00.001-07:00

Crazy,Funny,Cold,Climbing,Camping...

2008-07-18T12:10:00.000-07:00

Just Got back and i am so tired, top tip:Don't take the bouldering mat!
First night:
My brother got off the train at Hathersage,and the doors closed and left him outside, so we had to get of at Bamford and arrange to meet him at the North Lee's campsite, that's where the trip started.A very long walk in (5miles*) with the bouldering mat that had 6 cans of strongbow,A jumper, and a big jacket shoved inside it,AND my 88ltr army rucksack with clothes,food ( for 4 days),full trad rack,50m rope, all cooking stuff including two gas canisters,5 bottles of lucozade,harness,two pairs of climbing shoes, etc,etc,etc and well if you really want to now how it went ill cut it a little bit shorter, first night i top-roped a E4 5c (onsight with one slip) at Stanage Plantation which Franco Lead.Got on 'Right unconquerable' (lead) but needed a bit of help on the mantle (i went to much to the right hand side) then onsight soloed an HVS 5b, and that was it for the first day, woke up went to Burbage north did 25 routes, all solo's VS 5b/5c's and HVS 5b's and some easier stuff.Long Tall sally looked shit so i wasn't physced to do that, especially after doing 25 routes all ready.Next day (raining) so got drunk,walked to Hathersage, eat, tried to chat up some lasses then went home, 'physco legs' was off walking somewhere. I have missed out about 99% of the stuff but thats the trip in climbing terms, ill post loads of pics withing the next couple of days.