After our last attempts at winspit Tommy and myself was keen to get back and try and tick our routes, but on arrival they were very wet.. the sun was in the sky but with a band of cloud on the horizon which kept coming between the sun and the crag it looked unlikely to dry.. the routes on the adjoining corner of south face was Dry as usual, so we warmed up on the same rotes as before then moving round too a route called "nine years absence" which was a fairly tecnical F6a and good fun..

We then decided to get on something harder and so we chose to look at a route called "agonies of a dying mind" (F7a)  this route starts under a roof and is very bouldery you have to pull up on a crimp and a pinch with very bad feet.. i had a try then pulled over the lip to clip the 2nd bolt, as i did the heavens opened up, so i quickly stripped the route and we sat under the lip for some lunch.
the route didnt get wet and it soon passed over and cleared up with blue skys once again, so Tommy said he was keen to try it and after a few false starts was over the lip and on his way to the lower off once over the lip the climbing is pretty easy and he took the tick.. Pretty Awesome.. and i was psyched to have a go which i did 4 times before pulling myself over the lip and dogging the rest of the route taking a bit of a detour and falling at cutting my hand in the process.. not sure what i was playing at haha.



I think im close to nailing these F7a routes and shouldnt take londg to be as fit or fitter than i was in the summer my sport climbing is consisting of trying to climb at my limit now and im aiming to tick F7a again before the months out weather permitting...

Was a good day and was interesting to meet Scot Tit who is president of the BMC he had lots to say and was very interesting knowligable and also quite humerous..

Sport climbing at winspit...Peppercorn Rate.

Today is the 11th January 2014 and Tommy Harris and myself had arranged to take advantage of the good weather forecast and mild temperatures and go hit some sport climbing, we both have routes at winspit to get done so there was to be our destination.
The one and a half hours drive from Portsmouth to Dorset really made apparent the flooding that has occurred lately with so many field's full of water its really bad at the moment down south compared to what normal lets hope it dryes out soon.
I met Tommy in the winspit car park as usual at 9am and we walked in it was a cool day with a light breeze clear sky and the sun was shining, lovely i thought, now gotta hope the crag is dry after the days of rain we have had..
25 Min's we arrived down at the crag much of the Quarrymans wall was wet and dripping but the far Right of the crag and some parts of the south face was dry so we had a start. We started out on a route called "Pump my Daisy" which is a F5+ route and a nice gentle warm up..



Blue skys...

We then climbed a route called "Tend my Daisy" (F6a) which was also a nice warm up Tommy suggested we headed round onto the south face to another warm up route and to see what routes was dry.. We end then climbed a route called "plaice a bolt"  (F5) which was a fun route with a really cool initial move over a cave.
by now it seemed like a spring day it was very warm and a really pleasant day so far, we had now decided we were warmed up enough to try something in the 7th Grade.. and with the left hand end of the Quarrymans wall now mostly dry we decided to look at some routes there, Tommy wanted to try a Tough looking steep line called "solstice" (F7a+) and i really wanted to try  line called "Peppercorn Rate" (F7a) both of which were dried out well mostly..  Tommy had 1st go and put the clips in as he went working the route bolt to bolt he nailed the initial moves but then had to work a sequence for a harder section which he did and in style with a dynamic move, he worked each section until tired then i had a go on my route i worked the moves as i went and found the initial moves not too bad and the crux also seemed ok but stamina let me down when i arrived at the crack on the head wall, a really awkward blind crack and bitch to climb i spent a lot of energy try to work a sequence and got very pumped i set the top on the route and would have another go on top rope to try and suss the moves on the crack and make sure the 1st section flows ok..
Tommy had another go and lead the route right up to the crux where he had to rest a few times he did manage to do the moves and move up and do the rest of the moves tired he decided to leave it for next time, but having seen him do all the moves I'm sure he is very close to getting it. i also had another go on top rope and this time made it right to the bottom of the crack again which then again gave me problems, my stamina defiantly needs working on but this route foe me is do-able and I'm pretty confident that now have a sequence for the crack, and a little longer at the rest the route will fall, its a very good route and cant wait to get back on it, this year is my year for grade 7's so lets hope this is the start to my sport season..
AWESOME!!!

 

Christmas period 2013

Psyched from my last trip on the tools i was looking forward to Christmas with my Girlfriend and the kids.. all went well had a great time time but then on the 26th my attention turned back to climbing i actually turned down a days bouldering on what was to be the only good day over Christmas, instead i took the kids to winspit put up a rope for them on a Grade 4 and let them take turns... was good fun but missed the opportunity to climb myself on the only good day weather wise but hey... the kids enjoyed themselves
The 27th came and it was decided and the other half gave me permission haha to turn the loft into a training room so i set about decking the floor and preparing for what i wanted to do. The following day i set about building a 4ft box coming down from the ridge and returning back into the roof i made it of solid wood then cased it in 4mm mdf just to make it smooth and tidy, i put my metelious hangboard one end and some other small hold around the box and some on the rafters as feet pegs so i could make foot movements and hand movements consecutively, i also bolted into the rafter opposite the box and one on the same rafter a bit lower to make a pulley system or just to sit in my harness on a fixed rope which can be set at different lengths, this also helps take a bit of the load when a swing pull up is done mainly for the smaller hold such as last two and monos, i also left the top of the box open on the other end from the hangboard.. for bathangs and hanging crunches.. its all good and works well providing a multitude of exercises and work outs...
time to get really strong..

A Day On The Tools....

OK its 23rd of December the weathers been all over the place even more so than usual, were currently experiencing mega high winds and loads of rain.. today was a bit of a break in the weather, id already organised a day out with a friend called Tommy Harris a big guy with a span of a gorilla.. he is a Strong boulderer, sport and traditional climber but his favourite game is alpinismn.. he loves being on the tools and is pretty good at it too.. and is also a dab hand behind the lens..

We met at 9am in the winspit car park, worth matravers, Dorset.. this crag is predominantly sport and trad but there are a few caves which have been used for dry tooling..
we arrived at the crag after a nice 25 min downhill walk the sun was shining and after recent storms and bad weather felt amazing to be out in, the crag was fairly dry due to the high winds but the caves were we planned to dwell was seeping a little but Tommy assured me it was OK so we started warming up on a easy'ish traverse this was the 1st time for me on the tools and i loved it i found it pumpy and before too long i ended up on my behind, ouch haha.. awesome

Pure focus..

so after a bit of playing around Tommy suggested wanting to repeat his almost footless traverse he put up called "Smackdown" (M7) apparently named after how many time he ended up on his bum from placements popping, so we had a go Tommy went 1st and managed i think the 1st 5 moves this route is pretty much footless and very power full there are places to just get the feet up but by no means good more like smears.. I had a go and think i made to the 4th move which i was quite surprised at, we both chipped away my self falling off the ridiculous crux move which entails you dropping down on one tool while cutting looses its crazy hard but i did eventually manage it.. Tommy had another go and he went all the way this time move perfect, the last move is a soul destroyer after doing all the powerful moves there is a blind reach around a corner and in the distance a small chip of rock to make placement on and that being the one move i ended up not being able to link... i was so close but that's gonna have to be one to go back on but very good fun line if you have power in abundance..

both tired we headed back up hill all the way back to the cars a very enjoyable day and really enjoyed getting on the tools so a special thanks to Tommy for showing me what its all about..
AWESOME!!!

 

 

A day in portlands Boulderfield...

So the end of this year is fast approaching its now the 8th of December and my thoughts are with trying dry tooling on chalk and rock and bouldering as the temps have dropped a bit. so today it was Dorset and Portland's boulderfield to be the focus for some bouldering accompanying me on this trip was a young guy called Sam Austin who works at my local climbing wall the Cellars situated in fort Purbrook Portsmouth.. He is a good climber with real potential.
we arrived on the isle for 9 am and proceeded to head past the cuttings main cliff and down to boulderfield via the northern approach we headed to the tank boulder for a warm up. We Quickly got through easier problems on the boulder "Tufty" (V2) being the 1st a fun little problem up the arete also "Hard labour" (V1) and "captain cook" (V2) Sam also done "crouching start, Hidden agenda" (V4).. which i skipped as it was my 1st session bouldering all year and wanted to save some energy for a V6 problem.
From the tank boulder we headed to the sunbathers slab home to a few really good quality problems "coronal mass ejection" (V5) being one "lost decade" (V6)
being the other.. Ive tried both these problems the previous winter and not done well on the 1st but got close to the latter.. and this trip was to be the same at the moment i cant get the toe hook beta to stick on "coronal mass ejection" or hold the wild swing on the crimps either... but one i will definitely be back on.. "lost decade i pretty much had dialled just a lack of skin started to hold me back i started to tire so called that one quits but that is my next tick on the list and will go next session for sure..
 
Sam mentioned about getting on the "V for Vendetta" (V6) on the boulder behind while we were there which is quite a powerful start then a couple of crimpy moves so i had a rest then a go at that,1st go managed to latch the 1st hold and make the 2nd but could hit the jug 2nd go failed the same way but 3rd attempt i tried different foot sequence and bang hit it all sold before i knew it was rocking over the lip....yessss
 
I was well happy with getting my 1st V6 on my first boulder session of the season, it was now Sam's turn to get on his problem which is a hard V7 called "Declassified".. awesome powerful problem he had already sussed the moves so just had to hit them all bang on, 1st go he latched the initial moves but come off before the jug then he kept over shooting the 1st hold for about 5 attempts before hitting them all perfect and in that moment he also was rocking over the lip of the boulder... Awesome.
 
A great days Bouldering...