Competition Time...

Well its that time of year again, competition time! This year marked the 4th annual National College Climbing Association competition which took place at the Rock & Rapid Climbing Centre in North Devon. After a 90 minute drive from Torbaydos we finally arrived at the wall. We came equipped with two reasonably strong six person teams, tonnes of confidence, Reynolds and his mix tape and most importantly cake.

 After being briefed on all the rules, regulations etc we set off to try and warm the muscles in the extreme sub Arctic conditions! After a bit of warming up we split up in to our two teams and also our categorized teams. The teams were as follows: Team A speed and boulder: Myself, Stan and Andy B. Team A top-rope and circuit: Briony, Ellis and Andy W. Team B speed and boulder: Chelsea, Sam D and Sam F. Team B top-rope and circuit: Craig, Callum and Luke.

Team photo...

 A quick flash from myself Stan and Andy on the first boulder problem ensured that we got off to a great start with maximum points. Whilst Stan flashed the 2nd boulder with ease the rest of the team were off gaining valuable points in both the speed and top roping categories. After a few attempts on the 2nd boulder and watching Stan pull some moves on the 3 boulder problem we went to the main area to compete in the speed climbing category. Roughly 12 metres in height with a slight overhang was the chosen line for this category. After aggressively pulling on big jugs, myself, Stan and Andy recorded some good times with 11 seconds, 11 seconds and 15 seconds respectively. By this time the others in the group were also raking in valuable points on the circuit and bouldering routes. Next up was Ellis on the circuit route, circling it 6 times with ease ensured that maximum points were achieved! Now that the team categories were completed individuals were given the option of competing in a leading competition. Starting at a grade of 7a and then 8a it was not surprising that Ellis took the opportunity to show us all some flair and bagged 1st place in the individual lead competition. Well done mate! 

                   
                                       Ellis on the circuit problem...

                    
                                         Stan on the 7a lead route...

Results
Lead Competition
1st Ellis Butler Barker South Devon College
2nd Matt Parkinson Duchy College
3rd Dave Bryant Bicton College

Team Event
1st Bicton (A)
2nd South Devon (A)
3rd Bicton (B)
4th Duchy (A)
5th Bicton (C)
6th South Devon (B)
7th Petroc (A)
8th Truro (A)
9th Duchy (B)

All in all a great day had by all. Massive thanks to Briony Martin for organising the trip!
All photos courtesy of Briony Martin

Now time to get training and take 1st place next year...

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...