You may or may not have heard or seen the Mammut Realisation Shorts.  For those of you who are unaware, they are a pair of shorts and a climbing harness built into one.

On ordering my pair I was slightly dubious about both how good the functionality would be and how they might look when being used as a harness. As soon as they came out of the box I loved then. They look great, especially in the fairly out there ginger colour, and they feel really comfortable as a pair of shorts too.

We headed down to UCR Bristol to try them out in harness mode. I was slightly unnerved at first by the freedom of movement that they offer, the comfort is so great that it almost feels like soloing! Once you get used to this sensation they feel amazing. Little things pleased me like how when you are being lowered the shorts don’t come tight and just look like a regular pair of shorts. As an indoor climbing harness I would highly recommend them.

The following day I did a few routes at cheddar to see how they performed on the sports routes. They did the job well and it was nice to wear shorts for the first time this year. They performed well outside too. I will have to do a few trad routes in them to see how that goes.

You tie into two small loops at the front of the shorts. These loops are small and unobtrusive. I did find re threading at the top of routes a little fiddly and when attaching a belay device you have to clip through two loops as opposed to the conventional one, but I am sure I will get used to it. It may also be tricky on multi pitch and trad routes. But I dont think this is what they have really been designed for.

I think the Realisation Shorts are a great peice of kit and apart from the obvious draw backs (such as them being shorts and us enjoying the lovely British weather) I already love them and I am sure I will continue to wear them regularly. Let us just pray for more Sunshine!

The second week of March was spent in the wonderful forest of Fontainebleau. We left home with a strong group of 10 Gloucestershire based wads and wadesses. The weather for the week looked bad and on the evening before we left all of the Ferries and the tunnel were closed due to severe weather in Northern France. The advise was not to travel unless absolutely necessary. We deemed a week  of bouldering on the finest rock in the world absolutely necessary so we set off. The journey on the English side was smooth, the ferry went by without a hitch but arriving in France all was not as it should be. There were huge snow banks on the road side and abandoned vehicles everywhere. whilst driving south on the A1 we observed a 200km traffic jam going the other way. There must have been over 50000 lorries nose to tail in a stand still jam. They must have been there for days.

With regards to the climbing; I have been primarily bouldering for the last month or so and am feeling pretty good, I was hopeful of some good results. The climbing project I have spent the most time on in my entirelife is Eclipse at Cul de Chein. With over 300 goes over the last 7 years I was keen to finally see this demon off. This boulder problem embodies my three weaknesses in climbing. The first move is steep, the second move is footless and the last move is dynamic. On the first day it went down quickly in fairly poor conditions. (A good sign of things to come.) I was over joyed to climb this problem and I believe it heralds a new era in my climbing ability.

I had probably my best day of bouldering ever at Bas Cuvier. It started with Hypothese in a few quick goes. This is another problem that I have dreamed about climbing but never got on before. The rest of the day included ascents of La Gaule, Controle Technique and L’Aerodynamite. An absolute dream of a day.

Also at Bas Cuvier Phil Rose and I had ascents of Neverland 8A. This is a really funky problem involving knees, heels, compression and power. The real joy in climbing this problem was that we had no knowledge of the moves. We spent some time sussing the beta. The problem went from feeling holdless and nearly impossible to fairly do able in about an hour. After climbing this boulder I felt a deep satisfaction in going through the whole process of the ascent which is sometimes lacking when you are just given the beta and dispatch the problem with relative ease. Neverland was also my first boulder graded 8A and, although grades aren’t everything they certainly help me to measure my progression and to push my self that one step further.

On a side note: Neverland was the last piece I needed to complete the climbing triple eight challenge (having climbed E8, 8a before and no finally 8A). A future goal for me is to achieve this in a single day.

Colour coded on Noir Desir

I returned from Fontainebleau very happy, with by far my most successful week of bouldering under my belt. I cannot wait to get back out there. There should also be a video of our trip knocking about at some point too, so keep your eyes peeled.

After returning I was straight down to Plymouth to set the Plymouth climbing centres First Birthday boulder competition. This was an event organised and sponsored by Mammut. I drove down on Friday morning and arrived at Midday to be greeted by a totally blank boulder room, a canvas for our setting imagination to run wild. The Saturday was filled with many different competitions including boulder, speed and dyno. The Mammut team were also busy all day running coaching Master-classes and trying to impart some knowledge. The day was pretty full on and great fun for all. The highlight for me was the boulder competition finals set by myself and Ethan Walker. We had a good variety of funky and challenging boulders for the top climbers to go at. Hannah had an amazing day and qualified for the finals with an amazing effort on the final three challenging blocs she came second.

Womens problem 3

Hannah climbing her way to 2nd on womens problem 3

On Sunday the weather looked ominous but myself and the other Mammut boys were keen to get out on some local stone. We headed to Burrator  reservoir to try Mikey Clevedon’s mini classic; Jungle VIP. The problem we had come to climb was the only thing dry, luckily. A bit of arm waving to warm up and we were ready. The easier version or this problem is called King of the Swingers and was dispatched in quick style by all involved including a flash from Ethan (nice work!). Next up Jungle VIP. It is a brilliant problem with one cut loose move proving most of the difficulty and some funky feet first toe hooks to top out. Ethan Oli and I climbed the problem quickly with each of us just taking a couple of goes. The collective team psych must have done the trick. I do have a little bit of video from this and will get it out soon.

Ethan Flashing Kind of the Swingers

Topping out feet first on Jungle VIP

Back home I have done a bit of climbing locally (despite a little finger tweak). The Prince  is a micro route at Avon which was put up in the 90s by Ian Vickers and is something I have wanted to try for a while. On a lovely sunny but cold day I got on it expecting it to feel nails, but despite having to use your nails on the tiny little holds I managed all of the moves first go.I lowered to the ground, had a tactical shoe change and with the no edge technology managed to climb the route second go. I was well chuffed.

The Prince 8a+/b

The route starts with a big rock over/mantle on a long but thin rail and is followed by three moves on very small holds before easier climbing is reached. On UKC it is described as having three British 7a moves in a row, I am afraid I do not quite agree, but then this style seems to suit me down to the ground.

A week or so later a group of us went back to the Prince with about ten pads. I managed to climb it second go of the day, just before the sun stopped play. It is a great little route/problem to do if you have enough pads and a steady head for the top.

The Prince above pads 7C?

Max obviously thinks this is too high to bother spotting.

 

Over all it has been a good month or so and I cannot wait for this finger to heal so that I can get crimping on some lovely limestone sports routes!

Here is a nice little video put together by Mike Goldthorp of a passed climbing trip to the bouldering Mecca of Fontainbleau. Enjoy.

Mammut UK put together a great weekend on the 26th and 27th of January. There was a great day on Saturday with Masterclasses from the World lead champion Jakob Shubert and the world boulder champion Anna Stohr. The Mammut UK were also there to provide their own tips and tricks. Along with the master classes there were two cash prize routes, offering a cash reward for the person who got the highest. Altogether it was a great day and The Foundry climbing centre was packed. Thanks to all the staff there for hosting us.

Team Mammut UK

Anna Stohr Master class

Jakob Shubert Master class

Steve Mclure, winner of the cash prize route

On the Sunday we scoured the Peak for some dry rock. We started the day by trekking through deep wet slushy snow to Burbage west, where we discovered dripping wet rock and a bitter biting wind. The only dry rock we could find was the polished eliminate wall of Minus 10 at Stoney. We spent a few hours showing the champs this classic and historic venue, funnily enough they didn’t seem too impressed. I quite enjoyed my first visit to this wall and managed a few good eliminates including Sean’s problem. We then missioned it over to Curbar for some grit where we found the trackside boulder nicely drying in the chilly wind.

Snowy Burbage

The Champs

Sean’s Problem

At the end of the day we parted company with some people heading for airports others for train stations and just a hard core few braving the elements to continue the search for dry rock. Seans arete was dry and provided some late afternoon fun.

Throughout the weekend the photographer Mike Hutton was on hand to take some photos. Thanks to him for that. Also thank you to Mammut UK for organising a great weekend, even though the weather didn’t play ball.

I stayed up in the Peak for Monday and the conditions in the morning were second to none. I managed to tick off three peak classics in as many hours. First up was Storm at Stanage. This is a problem that I have tried many times over the years but this session it went down smoothly in just a couple of goes. We then jumped on Brass monkeys and with some new beta showed to me by Ben and Nathan I managed it first go this year. Finally I climbed West side story in rapidly deteriorating conditions in several goes, the top out was a little spicy as there was a frozen puddle at the top.

Overall we had a great couple of days.

Gaia is a climb that evokes fear and embodies my perception of hard Gritstone climbing. It has really tenuous and dropable moves in a position where I didn’t really want to fall.

My intention was to attempt Gaia ground up, the idea was that Mike would have a little look at the moves and let me know how they felt before my burn. On Mikes flash attempt he got passed the hard and powerful start and high up into the groove here he decided not to climb into the precarious position where we had seen so many videos of many top climbers taking the fearsome lob, he climbed down a few moves and he was off. The gear in the bottom of the groove ripped and he took a floor scraping fall.

Mikes fall really spooked me so we both decided to top rope the route first. I had a few goes on the top rope, the bottom crux to a while to work out and I wanted to get the top crux sussed so as not fluff it on the lead.

After working the moves I was ready for the lead. Standing at the bottom I was so “in the zone” that I forgot to don my helmet. The first crux went down smoothly and moving up the rib into the groove was a joy on the ice cold slopers and dishes. As I placed my right foot on the key foot hold out right I realised that my helmet was missing, thinking about my helmet made me loose my concentration momentarily. Up there on those tenuous smears is the last place you want to loose focus. My leg began to shake. I reeled my mind in, moved out to “the sloper”, flicked my toe to the arete and climbed the route to the top. At the top I celebrated my ascent by wiping a tear of relief from my eye.

We finished off the day with a bit of bouldering. The conditions were so good that everything we tried felt pretty easy. The problems we climbed included Non Stick Vicar 7B+ and Route 66 7C.

Mike Goldthorp on Non Stick Vicar 7B+

Kickstart a new year of climbing with a masterclass from Mammut Pro Team members and Team Mammut UK

Mammut Pro Team climbers, Jakob Schubert and Anna Stöhr are heading to the UK later this month and for a series of masterclasses.  Jakob will be offering tips to lead climbers whilst Anna will be on the bouldering room.  Whether you’ve just started out or are a seasoned climber get in touch to reserve your space!

Check out masterclass times on the Foundry website or their facebook page then call the Foundry to register.  The Foundry will take names up to Tuesday 22^nd January then pick the names of those in each masterclass  out of a chalk bag!  There are four spaces in each class and six classes in total.

FREE entry to the Foundry and freebies for masterclass students

Win a place in one of these classes and you’ll get free entry to The Foundry for the day plus a free Mammut goody bag

Spot prizes and giveaways

Mammut will be dishing out random spot prizes and giveaways all afternoon – stickers, pens, toys, beanies!

Cash prize routes

The guys at The Foundry will be setting a couple of fiendishly hard routes – whoever gets the highest gets some cold hard cash!

Harness and belay device demos

We’ll have a range of climbing harnesses and belay kit from Mammut to try out.

Mammut Climbing Challenge

The all-new Mammut climbing challenge will be up and running with prizes a plenty!  Twelve routes both top rope and lead from 5+ to 8b will be set for you to try.

Team Mammut UK on hand form tips and advice

Cailean Harker, Ethan Walker, Jess McCaskey, Nathan Lee and Oli Grounsell will be on hand for advice.

When?
Saturday 26^th January from 2.00 – 6.00pm

For more information visit www.foundryclimbing.com or call The Foundry on 0114 2796331.

Segre 8a Onsight

The second half of our trip was spent exploring many of the amazing crags that Cataluña has to offer. The top three crags we visited were Tres Ponts, Terradets and Siurana.

Tres Ponts

The main wall at Tres ponts is an amazing  and huge  55 meter  overhang which is littered with big flaky jugs, many of which are upside-down. The combination of steep walls and big undercut holds creates an arm blasting, pump inducing delight of a climbing venue. This coupled with its stunning location down by a river and the easy 3 minute walk in come together to produce a brilliant place to climb.

Bruixes Wall

Bruixes wall at Terradets is where we spent much of our time whilst in Spain. We arrived intending to spend 4 day there but left after 15. The beautiful Tufa and jug laden wall as well as the friendly and supportive atmosphere had us returning day after day. Many of the routes at Terradets follow a similar format and style, big rounded skin friendly jugs and huge dripping tufa systems, the routes are around 35 meters long and every route I climbed there was an absolute joy!

Jimmy Sundin on Bon Vitage 8a

Salt De Reina Mora

Siurana village is situated on the very top of the hill with the cliffs working as a magnificent natural defence for the village (I think this is the reason that Siurana was the last Moorish stronghold in Europe). The famous climbing at Siurana is on these cliffs.  I think Siurana is probably the most picturesque place we visited whilst in Spain and it is just a stunning place to climb. The climbing is generally on less steep walls than the other two destinations I have written about. The walls are a lovely orange colour and the predominant hold type is edges, cracks and crimps. The climbing a Siurana reminded me very much of the climbing at home (generally technical moves on small crimps) and was perhaps not quite as downright fun as the other two venues. That being said, the climbing suited me well so I enjoyed my time there.

I think if I had to choose one desert island crag out of every crag we visited it would have to be Terradets, but I wouldn’t recommend it if you are wanting to climb routes below 7a+.

After concentrating on onsighting for the first part of the trip I planned to put some effort into redpointing for the last month or so. At Terradets I climbed Golpe de Gas 8b. This route starts off in classic Terradets style, with lots of tufas and big holds for 30 very pumpy meters. The last 5 meters consist of a tricky boulder problem using two very small crimps which would weigh in at about Font 7A. The boulder problem was fairly steady on its own, but coming at it pumped made the final move to a blind pocket tricky to stick. On my first redpoint I fell with my hand in the last hold. The route took me four more days to complete and ended up being an exercise in resting as much as climbing so you arrived at the boulder problem as fresh as possible. In the end it was as much relief as joy and satisfaction to catch the finishing hold.

In Siurana I made fairly quick work of Ramadan 8b managing to haul myself up it 2^nd redpoint. I am happy to be feeling steadier at this grade. Ramadan is a spectacular route up an enticing orange streak and is defiantly one of the most beautiful lines I have climbed. Unfortunately I couldn’t make anything harder stick. I came agonisingly close on Renegoide 8b+ dropping the final hold twice but in the end illness and a lack of time thwarted my attempt.

Overall 2012 has been a great year and i cant wait to get 2013 started.

Here are some of my climbing highlights from the last year:

Hole Lotta Love E8 6c? First Ascent

Masters Edge E7 6b ground up

Ramadan 8b

Golpe de Gas 8b

Segre 8a onsight

El Latido del Miedo 8a onsight

The Bridge of Khazared Dum 7C+?

Who do you say I am E5 6c Highball

I have also had my first year being sponsoured by Mammut, it has been a joy to use their quality gear on all of my ascents.

Happy New Year. I hope everyone achieves their goals in 2013.

There is just something special about this random and fairly meaningless (if your not a climber) number! My life time climbing ambitions was to climb a route rated with this absurd configuration of one number (8) and one letter (a). As my climbing improved my goals changed and I aspired to climb 8a whilst I was still 18, a goal I missed by just two days. After climbing 8a my goal changed again, 8a second go, two 8a’s in one day, 8a flash and finally and 8a onsight.

We have been in the absolutely stunning Catalunya Provence of Spain for one week. There are stunning limestone cliffs covered in tufa’s, crimps and jugs everywhere. For the last week I have concentrated on onsight climbing, with an 8a onsight being the final goal. This area is the perfect place for people wanting to concentrate on onsight climbing because if you fall off one 8a you just pull your rope, move two meters right/left and try again.

After onsighting a few slightly easier routes at Tres Ponts I climbed the stunning route Segre 8a onsight. This route is an incredible 55 meter jug ridden journey through some pretty steep ground. If you climb the route to the first lower off at 35 meters the route is graded 7c+ but if you push on through the pump for the following 20 meters you can reward yourself with the 8a tick.Buzzing with post route psych I jumped on Alt Urgell intending to go for the 7c first lower off, arriving there and feeling fresh I continued on to the top for my second 8a onsight in as many tries!

Segre 8a Onsight

At Terradets I onsighted the classic El Latido Del Miedo 8a. This route is very different to the routes at Tres Ponts. It is a fairly brutal 30 meter affair with a brilliant finale on a beautiful tufa system.

Jimmy Sundin Pulling through the lower crux of El Latido del Miedo 8a

I now feel I have come full circle in my relationship with the meaningless number, 8a!

How do the grades compare to the UK I hear you cry?!

I don’t think the routes out here in Spain are less difficult than other routes in general. I just think they are easier to climb. The sequences are easier to read, the holds are generally bigger but the routes are long, sustained and athletic!

Anyway, enough about grades! Lets go climbing

I think the road tripping life suites me! The routine is broken down into two distinct sections. Number 1; climbing days, number 2; rest days. Simples. Climbing days usually start at about 7:16 am, I wake up with hand sequences, foot sequences and body positions buzzing through my head from the day before. Drop near here, foot swap there, clip, chalk up, shake out, chalk up and inevitably fall off incredibly pumped. Any way first things first, out comes the newly acquired Kindle, I have read 8 books in the 4 weeks I have been tripping. That’s about as many books as I have read ever before. I read until breakfast. Breakfast is either pancakes, cereal, poached or fried eggs on toast and coffee (tea for Hannah). After breakfast more kindle.

The climbing times are predicted by weather, where we are and how sore the muscles are feeling. At present we are in Buoux and climbing is best in the afternoon. We head to the crag for 12 ish and climb until tired.

So far we have visited Fontainebleau, it was hot which inevitably meant some very early starts to try and find some good conditions. Whilst there I worked on a few long standing projects and visited some new areas. The highlight for me was my first visit to the area of Petit Bois. In my opinion this is a must visit.

Next to Chamonix where we met up with a good friend and chilled out in the Park at Gaillands. Climbed a few routes there including a quick onsight of a 7c which I cant remember the name of.

After Chamonix we drove to Ailfroide near Briancon for some bouldering. Ailfroide is an amazing place. It offers quality bouldering, single and huge multi pitch routes, some big alpine peaks and a brand spanking new really fun Via ferrata up a gorge above the river. I used to live and work pretty close to here so it was nice to revisit, felt like coming home. We played on the boulders for a few days and did the Via ferrata.

Next we visited Ceuse for one whole day! (Disgraceful I know, you will have to ask Hannah about that! I think it had something to do with the approach.) I climbed a few cool routes onsight.

We have also visited Sisteron, Orpierre, Volx and Annot.

Looking forward to Spain. More info to follow.