4 Star Open Canoe Training...

Since returning from my climbing trip to Spain the past few weeks have been spent working on Uni assignments and refining my skills on flat and moving water in open canoe. So when a place on a 4 Star training course became available I snapped it up!

The intensive 2 day course was run over the weekend of 17th - 18th November. The course was conducted on both open water on the river dart estuary on Saturday and on moving water on the river dart on Sunday. The course covered all aspects of the BCU 4 Star training syllabus. On the Saturday we were focusing on effective and efficient open water skills, leading and managing a group up to force 4 on open water, a variety of canoe rafts, canoe sailing, navigation and a night time paddle. On the Sunday we were on the river and focused on personal paddling, safety and group awareness, leadership techniques in a moving water environment, equipment, environmental awareness, rescues and traditional skills such as tracking, lining and poling.

The course was run by Gary Peverill of Inspiring Adventure and is a coach I would highly recommend.

Constructing A frames for sailing...

Sailing in the evening...

Night paddle back to base...

River running on the lower dart...

Tracking on the lower dart...

All in all a great training course which has helped me understand effective leadership strategies and techniques which will benefit me when leading groups. A course that I highly recommend.

Fun, sun and via ferrata...

Hello! AJ here,

Late Tuesday morning, myself and Richy set off on our long journey to El Chorro. After a 2 hour drive to the airport, 3 hour wait at the airport, 2 1/2 hour flight and an hour drive from Malaga airport we arrived at our home for the week, The Olive Branch B&B.

Wednesday we woke up to a cloudy sky but this didn't stop us on our adventures! After we had packed our climbing gear and made some lunch we set off to our first European crag, Frontales- Sector Austria. We managed to bag 3 routes before the rain came down. 

Edelweiss F4

Finkastinker F4

Nitti F5+ (First pitch only) 

Photo of our first European Climb!

Thursday we woke after a tiring day so we decided to hide away from the rain that was pouring out of the sky! 

After not climbing the day before we woke up early on Friday morning to get a full day in. At breakfast we looked out side and it had started to rain but we didn't let this ruin our plans. We quickly packed our bags and made lunch then made our way to the entrance to the gorge. As we walked down the steep road the rain kept falling, heavy. This made us feel miserable. As soon as we got to the start of the traverse the rain stopped and the clouds started to thin! We put our harnesses and helmets on and clipped our Via Ferrata lanyards on and made our way across the traverse and Via Ferrata to get to Caminito Del Rey, 'The Kings Walkway'. 

The start of the walkway saw us clipping on to the safety wire then make our way across the metre wide walkway which is 100 metres (300+ ft) high. The walk was incredible!! the views, the adrenaline and the golden eagles flying high above us just made the experience even more exciting! After a few 3 inch wide steel pole (Photo to the right) which looms above the river rapids below and bridge crosses we exited the lower gorge. 

The walk along the path contouring above the river was beautiful. We were stopped on the path when around 10 mountain goats with BIG horns on their heads were on our path. after a quick D tour to dodge them we were back on track. after a half hour walk we eventually got to the Upper Gorge. 

This gorge was completely different to the lower gorge as it was narrower. this made it feel even more gnarly. Only the most dangerous parts were protected with wire and the rest wasn't! When the cloud started to come over and time passed very quickly we decided to turn back and head to the lower gorge in order to leave before dark. 

Saturday morning we had a nice healthy continental breakfast and then packed our bags to go to our local crag Las Encantadas, 'The Enchanted Crag'. We were very luck with the weather today as the sun was out and shining on the crag the whole day! We only managed another 3 climbs then we headed to the pool. 

Play Mobil F6a

Atenea F4

Geisha F6a

The sky is clear tonight with a full moon and the weather looks good for our last 2 days so we are going to go to Escalera Arabe tomorrow to do lots of climbing then to the upper gorge and maybe some climbing in the gorge. 

Bye for now! 

AJ Harrison

New gear tape...

Just a quick post to say that I have finally applied my new gear tape to all of my climbing equipment. Heres hoping that I don't leave any gear lying around the crags in Spain as it may well never make its way back to me...

 

 

 

No excuses if you find this lying around :)

 

 

4 days to go...

Life...

Well now that I'm not working 200 hours a week I will finally be back to writing blog posts on a more frequent basis.

Well where do I start...

The last couple of weeks have been quite positive with me managing to juggle time in between University work and working on my practical skills. Uni work at the moment consists of modules covering Anatomy & Physiology, Sports Coaching & Navigation so it is pretty full on considering it is only my first year. Loads of notes taking and plenty of assignments on the go as well.

On a more practical note I have been able to work on my flat water skills in both kayak and open canoe which will help when I come to transfer them on to the river for the white water season!
Moving on from the flat water skills I managed to sneak in a trip on the Upper Dart last Wednesday (10th October 2012) with my good mate Dave and also a trip down the Dart Loop today (17th October) with Dave, Alex 'Mr Protein' and Jo 'Super cool' Nosworthy. Both trips were run at a good water level with some chunky stoppers on the Upper and some good play waves on the Loop.

However the highlight of the last fortnight was the White Water Safety & Rescue course I attended which was run by both Darren Joy and Ollie Vann of Fluid Skills on the weekend of the 13th & 14th of October.
The course covered defensive and aggressive swimming, live baiting, shallow water wading, recovery of a swimmer, throwline rescues, entrapment rescues, recovery of equipment, vectors, 2:1 ropes systems and 4:1 rope systems. Having now completed the course I believe that my knowledge base has grown and feel much more comfortable when I am in a white water situation. Both a course and coaches I highly recommend!

Anvil weir. Very sticky stopper.

Tori testing the 4:1 rig

4:1 rig simplified?

Tori taking a dip...

Well that's all for now I'm afraid. Hopefully you will be hearing from me soon...

6 days until my climbing trip to El Chorro, bring it on...

Long Summer...

Well its been a while since I last wrote anything on here, over 4 months to be exact...

Well where do I start... The summer has been really good as I got to do my 1st full season of work as an outdoor instructor working with PGL. As I was employed as a watersports instructor I was running canoeing sessions on the purpose built lake at least 4 days a week with the odd climbing and high ropes session thrown in here and there. Also I managed to get a few days working over on Portland on the outdoor crags which was really good. Basically chilling in the sun watching people climb all day, what more could you want..                                                                                                   

                
                              Purpose built lake at PGL Barton Hall

                         

                         One of the crags on the island of Portland

Along side work I managed to get a few river trips in, thanks to the very wet British summer, on the river Dart and finally got my 1st taste of the mighty Upper Dart! A section of the river which is graded at class 3 with some class 4 rapids!

                          

               Me scouting a grade 4 rapid (Euthanasia) on the Upper Dart

 

Although I never got do do any outdoor climbing this summer I did manage to squeeze a day in at the The Climbing Academy in Glasow back in July and also a bouldering session last week at the Barn Climbing Centre  to help me prepare for a climbing trip to El Chorro with my partner Aj. Can't wait!! No where near fit or strong enough yet so plenty of training to be done in the next month!

               
          Me on the competition wall at the Climbing Academy in Glasgow

With summer drawing to a quick end and only 5 days left before my first Uni Lectures of the year I think its time to get the drinks in before the end of freshers.

Hopefully be back to plenty of posts regarding outdoor activities very soon so watch this space...

Adios for the time being...

PGL Training...

Well its been a long week but finally its over. This week there has been 50+ of us training to become Activity Instructors/ Group Leaders where we have been getting assessed on group control, examining efficient learning styles, working with challenging behaviour and of course the dreaded first aid!!

It has been great meeting new people and making new friends that I will be spending the summer season working with. I think its safe to say that this summer is going to be a great one coaching kids canoeing and running abseil sessions.

Well done to every one who passed their assessments today. But enough of me raambling on lets get the drinks in...

Lake District mountaineering

Finally after a treacherous trip to North Wales I was keen to make up for it by having a good week in the Lakes with a good group of people.

During the week long eXped we completed a 37km round trip spaced over 3 days with 2 wild camps at Grisdale Tarn and Keppel Cove respectively.

We managed to bag 13 summits, had lunch in a bivvy cave half way up a mountain crag, experience some changeable weather with snow on all the high summits, leave 2 friends behind who traveled to Scotland for the summer to work, but best of all I some how by chance bumped in to my girl friend on the summit of Helvellyn (England's 3rd highest peak ).

The summits we managed to reach are:    Angletarn Pike

                                                             The Knott

                                                             High Street
                                                             Thornthwaite Crag
                                                             Stony Cove Pike
                                                             Fairfield
                                                             Hart Crag
                                                             Raise
                                                             White Side
                                                             Helvellyn Lower Man
                                                             Helvellyn Summit
                                                             Nethermost Pike
                                                             Dollywaggon Pike
The three day routes can also be found here at these links to the United Kingdom Hillwalking website:
                                                         
                                                             Day 1
                                                             Day 2
                                                             Day 3

Stony Cove Pike Summit 

View from Priests hole bivvy cave 

Helvellyn 2012

Blizzard...

Well the North Wales climbing trip which was meant to last at least a week sadly only lasted 2 days. 
The 1st day we managed to get on some slate and managed a few routes each before the rain came in and forced us to pack up and instead go on a venture through the immense slate quarries scouting out routes for the future.

 

The impressive Quarryman 'Groove pitch' in the huge 'Twll Mawr' sector of the slate quarries

The 2nd day we awoke to rain battering the tent, and sadly showed no signs of stopping, so we headed over to Holyhead Mountain where the weather didn't seem to be as bad, or so we thought. We managed to get our 1st taste of the impeccable Quartz climbing experience and managed to get a few more routes in before a storm wiped out any chance of further climbing. I say storm however it was more like a tornado, blowing us off our feet on the retreat to the car park and causing a massive swell out to sea with the waves looking at least 12foot in height.

We headed back to Llanberis where we made our selves some food before retreating to the pub in desperate need of shelter, a warm fire and some alcohol to help us forget the 2 miserable days we had . After a few pints, some card games and ridicule from the hardcore Welsh locals, who recommended we 'leave early in the morning with our tails between our legs', we finally escaped the pub 'lock in' and made the long 100meter trek back to the camp site in the thick snow.
The following morning we awoke to a complete white out with the snow in the Llanberis pass as deep as 7 inches in places and decided we would take the locals advice and retreat before anymore embarrassment.

Ridiculous amount of snow in the Llanberis Pass 

The small list of climbs I managed to tick:   First Stop F5
                                                               Septuagenarian F6a 
                                                               King Bee Crack HVS 5a
                                                               Tension VS 4b

Off to the Lake District on the 16th of this month on a walking eXpedition so hoping this shall make up for the poor trip we retreated from this week...

Quay competition time…

Well today was the South West Climbing Competition at the Quay Climbing Centre. Categories included under 18 male and female and 18+ male and female with individuals participating in disciplines including bouldering and top roping and also bouldering and leading. Both me and my partner Alicia (Aj) signed up to enter the bouldering and leading disciplines of the competition. So after signing in and collecting our score sheets we headed for the bouldering rooms. There was 10 boulder problems ranging from V1 up to an impressive V7! After tackling around half these problems within our 3 allowed attempts we set about some of the harder problems… Although not finishing on the final holds of the harder problems we were still racking up the points by completing a set number of moves on each problem. After some intense bouldering on tiny crimps, slopers, large volumes and some attempted dynos from Aj we had attempted every boulder problem and individually racked up over 500 points each.

 Aj busting some moves on he boulder wall

                                                           Me before a tricky attempted dyno
Now it was time for the lead climbing category. Five routes on the lead climbing walls with grades ranging from 6a+ straight through to an astonishing 7c!! A maximum of 100 points for each climb completed with only one attempt allowed. Aj started on the 6a+ first and managed an impressive 73 points then I led to secure my only full 100 points in the category. With the climbs becoming increasingly harder our point scores slowly started dropping… However me and Aj finished on xxx points and xxx points respectively. Not too bad for our first individual competition.

A very enjoyable day climbing with good routes and problems and also very good boot demos by La Sportiva and climbing hardware talks by DMM.

An early night sleeps will go down a treat as a group of us are completing in the Plymouth Sport Relief mile tomorrow morning so I must shoot off.

Results to follow, Adios Amigos…

The Mighty Barn!

Another Thursday and another practical day for college. Sadly the weather didn't look appealing to be climbing outdoors today so we opted for a day at the wall. Having been to both Dart Rock Climbing Centre and The Quay Climbing Centre lately it was good to have a change of venue.

The day was spent at the The Barn where there is a free standing boulder with around a hundred routes and a grossly overhanging lead wall built to resemble Ansteys Cove. We spent around 3 hours bouldering and I also led a few routes on the overhanging wall, which was tough to say the least.                                

      Briony pulling shapes on the boulder wall              

                                                                               

This was perfect training for the competition this Saturday at the Quay. My arms are burned out so i'm going to stop chatting away now, peace out...

Competition promises to be a good'un ...

Head climbing at Sanctuary Wall...

Well the sun was out again today and me and Jack decided it would be rude not to go climbing. We decided to hit one of the hardcore crags of Torbay and attempt a line that we have both had on our wish list. The crag was Sanctuary Wall, a massive overhanging cliff above the sea with the only realistic chance of escape being the dreaded drop to the sea far below. The route was Incubus, a HVS and possibly the most traveled route on the crag due to the grade and ease of start.

The belay to protect the leader on the 1st pitch.

The 1st pitch was led by Jack. A very technical sequence on side pulls gains a ramp and easier climbing leads to the belay ledge. After stripping my belay I nervously followed Jack and we met at the belay ledge. I got to finally see my 2nd pitch as its impossible to see from the base of the crag, unless however you are in a boat below the fiercely overhanging wall. I said to Jack that my head wasn't in the right place today and so he reluctantly gave in to my asking of following him on the 2nd pitch also.

Jack on the technical 1st pitch, note the steepness!!

So Jack set off on the 2nd pitch, a tricky layback which soon eases off and the holds become more positive before reaching a wire and peg belay at the top. The communication was poor and Jack had to phone me from the top to tell me that he was safe and that I could take him off belay. I quickly undone the belay and started climbing. I got to the tricky layback move and overcame this by some super funky bridging before reaching the jugs and pulling positively to the top. A quick handshake and I told Jack that I owed him one.

 It just goes to show that a big proportion of lead climbing is all in the head, a mental thing. I easily made every move on the climb but was terrified at the thought of falling off and hanging in space above the sea. I'll be back to lead the beast that is Incubus.

Cheers once again Jack and the next pint is on me!

Granite jamming shenanigans...

Well the day finally came and me, Will and Jack met up prior to our North Wales climbing eXpedition in order to get a days multi pitch climbing done. We discussed at the beginning of the week that the Dewerstone was probably the best area of South Devon to go for the climbing that we were all looking for and so the decision was set. An early morning drive down the A38 had us in the car park by 9am, considered an Alpine start by some of the more lazy inclined individuals. A quick stroll up the approach path had us at the base of the crag within 10 minutes.

The 1st route of the day was chosen by Jack and not surprisingly the route of choice was Central Groove. A magnificent corner on the left side of the main crag and one of the best HS' in South Devon. Jack led up the 1st pitch comfortably and established a hanging belay on the belay block, Jack does have an obsession with hanging belays! Whilst hanging Jack belayed me up followed by Will and a quick changeover of gear ensued before Will took off and led the 2nd layback pitch before bringing me and then Jack up on belay. There is something cool about climbing as a trio, I enjoy the company at the belay rather than shivering away alone on a cold day!

Me on the 1st pitch of Central Groove

 Belay at the top of pitch 1 of Central Groove

 Me and Jack on the block belay of Central Groove

Jack on the 2nd pitch of Central Groove

 After some discussion at the bottom of the crag we all decided on the next route, Climbers Club Direct. ''One for the jamming master'' as described in the © ROCKFAX  guidebook. As me and Will hesitantly took a step back from leading the 1st pitch Jack was brave enough to stand up to the challenge at hand. After a gnarly jamming session Jack managed to overcome the crux with only 2 falls before using an in-situ tree and climbing the roof above to gain the belay stance. Once established at the stance Jack belayed Will and then me up stopping only to hold both me and Will at the same move that he had himself fallen on, nothing worse than blowing the on-sight!! Another change over of gear at the belay saw me taking my 1st lead of the day and heading up the 2nd pitch. A huge groove big enough to body jam and then a juggy roof saw me progress up the route quickly before getting stopped in my track at the last few desperate moves of the climb, and I do mean desperate! Whilst here I placed a bit of gear before a karabiner wildly swung from my harness and chipped my front tooth, a mouth full of gritty enamel, nice! After 10 minutes I finally ''manned up'' and began jamming my way to the top, however I did suffer from a severe case of sphincter twitching and sweaty palms before I finally reached the top.  I quickly belayed Will up followed by Jack who both agreed than Climbers Club Direct was full value for a HVS 5a.

Jack setting off on the 1st pitch of Climbers Club Direct

Will reaching the belay on the 1st pitch of Climbers Club Direct

The last route of the day was chosen by Will and after telling him how cool a route it was he chose to lead Leviathan. Will must of been in a hurry as he made probably the fastest ascent to date of the route climbing it in less than 5 minutes, a feat than Dan Osman would have been proud of him self. He quickly set-up a belay and belayed me then Jack all in the space of 15 minutes. I know know that Will rushed as he had left his lunch in the car and was running on an empty stomach!

Will speeding up Leviathan

Not a bad days outing in preparation for our Wales climbing eXpedition due to take place the 1st week of April, super psyched and cant wait to get back!

All photos curtosy of Will Cattell.

Sea, sand & seals...

Well Thursday finally arrived and after the last few days of wet, un-climbable, weather I was keen to get back in a boat and top up my sea skills. Thursday is our practical day at College and for the last few weeks we are completing a module in 'Alternative Pursuits'. These alternative pursuits include both sea kayaking and surf kayaking and today my group was sea kayaking, yayyy.

As I headed for college this morning the sea mist was still exceedingly thick and I didn't fancy our chances at getting the opportunity to paddle today and I also didn't like the thought of  being stuck indoor doing written work either, and it was looking like an 80 - 20% chance in the written works favour. However upon arriving at college it was good news, the mist was to clear around 11ish and we were told we were boating!

To give the mist a chance to clear we had an hour long tutorial from our college instructor Luke. The tutorial covered about the effects of the sun and moon on spring and neap tides, equipment specific to sea kayaking and coastal and tidal navigation. Its always good to cover these topics before setting out and gives students the opportunity to ask questions about such subjects before committing to a practical session.

After the tutorial we collected our personal equipment, group equipment and grabbed our sea boats and left the college grounds, next stop Brixham (Fish town). When we arrived at the harbor we simply unloaded the trailer, got kitted up, outfitted our boats and finally got on the water! Whilst in the harbor we played about for a while letting every one get used to the boats as not every one within the group had been in a sea kayak before. Everyone responded well to the feel of the boats and after spending time dusting off the 3* skills we set off on a paddle along the coast to Elbury Cove. 

Me and Briony on the water, still looking quite misty...

Whilst we headed for Elbury Cove the group were constantly working on their skills and paddled well as a group with some good banter along the way. The conditions were extremely calm throughout the day with the water resembling glass and the wind minimal, although this was nice for paddling I prefer choppy water, surf and big swell just to make it more interesting!
Whilst paddling along the coast the group were also rock hopping and getting a feel for the slightly less maneuverability of the boats compared to the boats we usually use on the river. Rock hopping involves moving between and around rocks which are not joined to the land, quite spicy and technical in big swells. The best of the rock hopping today was a large cave with just enough water passing through it to make the cave paddle-able. Whilst the majority of the group made it through poor Briony got wedged in the cave and had to make a hasty retreat backwards to exit the cave, unlucky Briony hahah!!

POV photo of me entering a tight maneuvering spot

After some rock hopping we made our way to Fishcomb cove where the group stopped for a quick bite of lunch and a drink. After lunch we set off and headed towards Elbury cove passing the 7 sea quarries and scouting out some of the climbs that only Mick Fowler would be interested in as they are basically composed of brittle rubble!! On the way to Elbury Cove we also had a brief encounter with 'fluffy the killer seal', those of you who know me will know by now that seals hate me and will go out of their way to give me a bloody hard time. This I suppose was not such a bad thing thing as I paddled as fast as my arms would allow to dodge 'fluffy' and made Elbury cove in record time. Whilst at Elbury Cove we had to demonstrate 'Advanced Skills' in a sea kayak in order to gain our distinction criteria in our alternative pursuits module. I chose an Eskimo roll as my skill and and cracked one out with no hesitation as I didn't want to hang about just in case 'Fluffy' made a re-appearance!!

Me demonstrating an Eskimo roll

After demonstrating some advanced skills we chose to make our way back to the harbor. By this time the wind had slowly picked up and we had to remain consistent with our forward paddling in order to out do the wind.  We stayed at roughly 5kph the whole way back to the harbor, not a bad effort I think. Whilst back in the harbor Briony, for whatever reason, ended up swimming and made a few unsuccessful attempts at rescuing her boat, much to the amusement of the local population. After this slight embarrassment  Matt capsized and had to show Briony how to truly rescue a boat, bragging rights for Matt and a red face for Briony.Once we had de-kitted and sorted the boats out we made the drive back to college to hose down the kit and boats and be debriefed by Luke.

All in all a banterful day on the water...

Photos and video curtosy of Matt Woodmore

Also congratulations to my mate Dave for passing his Moderate Water Endorsement (SEA)

Shoe repair, who needs shoe goo...?

 Tuesday 13th March 2012

Well it is with much sadness that my first pair of rock boots finally died on me yesterday whilst climbing Caesar's Nose. The toe on the right shoe has finally came right through and produced a hole. Although having bought them for a mere £45 2 years ago when I first started climbing it is fair to say that they have done me very proud. However, being a student and almost all of the time having next to no spare cash I simply cannot fork out £60 - £70 for a new pair. So here it is, I have decided  to repair them myself. 
I set about this challenge with the following ingredients; rock shoes, Stanley knife and a gas cooker hob. Not the most exciting job in the world I might add but never the less I gave it a go. Slicing some of the hard rubber from my rock boots and hot knifing the rubber on to the hole of my right toe did take a while and may not look very impressive but it does save me money for a little while...

 

Before the carving and burning...

 

After the slicing and melting...

I have a day of climbing coming up this weekend so here's hoping that the rubber lasts...

Fun times at the Dewerstone

Monday 12th March 2012

Well the sun was out again today and the temperature around South Devon was almost hitting twenty one degrees Celsius, with weather like this it would be rude to not to visit the crag!

So after deciding to go to the Dewerstone for a day of climbing fun me Joel and Sam girl all decided to meet up at our college outdoor ed store room, the local adventure sport students hangout. From here Sam borrowed a helmet from Jon, our tutor, and then headed to the car and set our sights for the stone of the dewer! A quick rally down the A38 towards Shaugh Prior by Joel had us in the car park within an an hour and by this time we were all eager to start climbing so we grabbed the kit and headed straight for the crag. The walk in to the crag is a spectacular trek through Shaugh Prior woods and along the majestic river Plym, quite a stunning location to climb at! But enough about the walk in, on to the climbing...

Having lost out on the 1st climb of the day on both Saturday and Sunday I wasn't letting this happen to me for the 3rd day running so I quickly grabbed the chance at pointing out a route that I fancied the look of. After gearing up I set off up Caesar's Nose and quickly reached the top where I belayed Sam and then Joel. Quite a tricky climb considering it is only a Severe 4a, fine by me and another on-site for the logbook.

Me on Caesar's Nose, S 4a

Having now ticked off the 1st route of the day it was Sams turn to have a go at her 1st lead climb! Sam picked out Agag's Slab as her intended route and got geared up at the base of the route. A few minutes later she set off and I climbed along side her guiding her on the route and showing her the most effective way to place protection. It wasn't long before we topped out and a quick congratulations on her 1st lead climb before Joel was belayed up for his 2nd route of the day.

Me guiding Sam on her 1st lead climb, Agag's Slab (Diff), belayed by Joel. Congrats Sam.

Having now all climbed our 2nd route of the day I suggested that we should get on one of the classic routes on the main face of the crag, not for the faint hearted. So we grabbed our kit and wandered round to the main face. When we go there we paused to look up at the soaring tower of granite that rises well over 100foot from the river Plym which covers grades from V-Diff to E3, very breathtaking to say the least. The route I had in mind is a spectacular line called Leviathan, a 26 metre grooved arete that has been on my 'to do list' for several months now and a route that deserves the three stars that it has been given. After convincing Joel that we had enough time to climb it he eventually agreed and so began another round of gearing up.

By this time I was mega keen and rushed to the start of the route and made my way up the initial blocks and headed for the groove. Quickly getting in a few wires for protection I started bridging and made good progress up the arete finding plentiful 'bomber' gear on the whole way up. After around 15 minutes on the route I finally topped out in the sunshine and took in the amazing views of the venue before picking some anchors and putting Joel on belay. Joel decided that he was game for seconding and slowly made good progress up the route which he very much enjoyed, suffering from a case of 'disco arms' and 'granite rash' and even going as far as saying it was the 'hardest climb i've ever done'.
Well I think its safe to say that Leviathan is one of the best single pitch climbs that I have ever had the pleasure of climbing, good effort Joel on the second.

Joel in the groove of Leviathan, VS 4c, whilst I belay from the top.

All photos curtosy of Sam Ramsey.

Granite, limestone and sunshine...

Finally the sun has got his hat on and the crags around Torbay & Dartmoor are habitable once more. After not being at the crag since my winter mountaineering trip in Scotland its safe to say that I have been relishing the sun shine with a busy weekend of climbing.

Saturday 10th March 2012

Finally back to the good old granite climbing, it is the connoisseur's rock type after all. The day was spent on one of Dartmoor s most impressive tors that is Haytor, a beautiful outcrop of granite which can be seen from several miles in the distance. Having routes on the main tor which reach a whopping 27 metres and a grade range from V-diff to an astonishing E5 6a its safe to say that its fairly busy, all the time!!

My climbing partner Jack stepped up to lead the 1st route of the day, Aramis, a crack climb which requires bridging and jamming in order to bypass the crux. Jack led easily and I seconded, followed by Joel.
The 2nd route of the day was down to Joel, a novice of lead climbing, so me and Jack pointed out an easy route which he could attempt. Unfortunately Joel took a fall on this route, Bulging wall, and didn't have the confidence to try again so this turned out to be my route of the day and Joel was happy to second me.

       Jack on Aramis VS 4c

Unfortunately due to faff and time wasting we opted to call it a day, however the weather for the following day was forecast to be sunshine all round. Hallelujah... 

Sunday 11th March 2012


I met up with Jack in the morning and we made our way to one of our more local crags, Ansteys Cove, a huge coastal arena with a vast amount of both sport and trad routes in a beautiful location.

Sneakily Jack shotgunned the 1st route of the day and chose to start off with a crack climb named Tiny Tim. So we stood at the bottom of the route gearing up and looking at the line when a young blonde female strolled past with her boyfriend (probably on the way to a dogging site) when she let out an almighty scream, and rightly so when she discovered a bee the size of a small karabiner attached to her left hand. A giggle between me Jack and the blonde soon settled down and Jack started on the route. Swiftly pushing Tiny Tim aside and belaying me from the top of the route me and Jack both knew the friction today would be perfect.

The next climb was mine for the taking and I chose to attempt Cocytus. A climb that has been on my wish list for quite some time now. Graded E3/E2 6a and is a technical master piece. I tried the first few moves of the climb and realised that the moves were extremely tricky from the start so I kindly let Jack have an attempt. After a few falls, and some foul language, Jack topped out on the 1st pitch (good effort mate) and then lowered to the ground to let me take my 2nd attempt on the route. After seeing Jack climb it I was more determined to lead it my self. So I geared up at the bottom and led the route clean without falling or resting on the rope before screaming 'yeeehhaaa' to let Torbay know I had finally ticked off the beast that is Cocytus.

Me top of pitch 1 on Cocytus E2/3 6a, Britain or Spain? you decide...

 

Jack on 1st pitch of Cocytus E2/3 6a

Me and Jack were both happy with our achievements of the day and decided to 'cool down' on the Might and Main to Crook Bruce Traverse and then again swapping shifts on Tiny Tim before calling it a day.

Tomorrow is Monday and the weather is dry yet again, climbing possibly...?

All photos curtosy of Jack Hatton

The Blog!

Well it has certainly been a long time coming! I have finally decided to create my very own blog. This is where I will share my experiences of life whether it be rock climbing in North Wales, white water kayaking in Slovenia or sat in the library complaining about course work! There will be more to follow in the next few days, so watch this space...