OUTDOOR ADVENTURER
  • Home
  • Climbing Courses
  • About
  • Contact

5/12/2016

First E4!

Comments

Read Now
 
So recently ive not been doing alot other than climbing, reading and going to the gym. A few soloing sessions in the Peak, first problem on the blue circuit, (7a-7c+), at the Climbing Works and my first E4! First though last week I read Alex Honnold's Alone on the Wall cover to cover in 5 days, which is alot of reading for me, below are some of my thoughts.

​Alone On The Wall, Alex Honnold with David Roberts

Alex has been one of my favourite climbers and role models ever since I saw his free solo of El Sendero Luminoso a few years ago, he takes risks, yes, but always manages them, saying that he intends to grow old and be around a long time. His book helps you see into the mind of Alex, and what drives him to do what he loves day to day. Covering stuff such as his free solo ascents, big wall speed link ups and alpine experiences. 
Alone On The Wall also covers stuff outside of climbing such as the Honnold Foundation, which helps by supporting projects around the world focusing on bringing power to remote areas and hoping to improve peoples lives in doing so. Alex's nomadic lifestyle allows him to donate alot of  the money that he makes to his foundation.
From the Free Solo that made him Famous, (Moonlight Butress), through to insight into his childhood and epic alpine adventures such as the Fitzroy traverse, Alone on the Wall is a most read, deffiently recommend it! May he have many more adventures and inspire more people.

What I've Been Up To...
Secret Stanage Severe Circuit
​I've been building some endurance up for a project that i've got planned for next year, and what better way to do this than have a afternoon out soloing on grit, and mix in doing all the Severes at Secret Stanage in one go too! There's about 15 severes in the area, most arent in the best condition as the whole area is usually just walked past, this is probaly because most of the routes are a bit long for boulder problems, but too short for a good lead, most with non existant gear. Some are quite nice though, such as Shuffle. I started from one end and worked back towards High Nebb. After finishing the circuit, i sat looking at an arete that looked really nice. Checked in the book to find it was Blockhead Direct E1 5b. Awesome little problem, would be made soo much better if it was another 20metres longer!
Picture
Author soloing Blockhead Direct E1 5b
The Roaches
Harrison a friend from 'down south' had come up to see me for the day and get out on some grit, so i met him at the Roaches, an hour and a bit drive away for me. With harrison having not trad climbed in a while we started off easily on a Vdiff, then a S. Before I decided that I liked the look of an E2 called Ruby Tuesday, a two pitch route. The start is a blankish face with the first piece of reasonable gear under a ledge, which involved a high rock over to pass. Interesting with a full trad rack and shoes attached to your harness!
Picture
Author on Ruby Tuesday E2 5b
Picture
Author and Harrison on the Belay Ledge of Ruby Tuesday
The second pitch was alot easier than the first, finishing up an airy buttress.
Next Harrison wanted to show me his project, Wings of Unreason E4 6a. Admittedly we set a top rope up on it, with me stood at the bottom saying its impossible. Although when i was on it soon figured out the sequence and awkward final move. With one peice of gear at half height was more like a boulder problem than a route.
After id cruised up it Harrison had a go, bailing on the final move, which required a bit more of a dynamic move than me due to hieght differneces! You'll Get it next time!
​Video to Follow!.....

Share

Comments

1/11/2016

Day in Somerset

Comments

Read Now
 

Fairy Cave

Picture
Bit of a change from the usual rural, unspoilt landscape that usually features in this blog. Fairy cave is an old quarry in Somerset, with walls of Limestone, mostly slabs. It's been on my list of places that I've wanted to visit for a while, and with one of my mates now at University in Bristol and with my time living down South coming to an end we went last week.
Took me and Joe an hour and a half to get from Dorset to Fairy cave and we met up with some of my friends, Matt, Dom and Dom's flat mate, James there. Arriving at about 10:30, it was colder than I had expected. With how the quarry is positioned the walls are mostly always in the shade. Still psyched to climb I racked up for the first route of the day, which happened to be an awesome slab E2 up some solid, if slightly dirty limestone called Lumbar Puncture, (may have got a bit too excited and run it out quite a bit....).

Picture
Joe Leading his first proper E1!
Next jumped on another E2 next door called Epic-dural. Again awesome climbing up slabs. Was amazed how unpolished they were! The rock was really nice.
Joe then got on what seemed like the scariest route of the day, an E1 near Rob's crack called Smell the Glove. Lots of run out at the start and traversing across on tiny feet towards Rob's crack.
When we where abbing back down i was looking at Rob's Crack VS 4c and it looked really nice. So when I got to the bottom I decided that it would be an awesome solo.
The route had bomber hand jams all the way up, from a distance it looked polished, but it wasn't!
Picture
Author Soloing Rob's Crack VS 4c
Then to finish the day off i thought the route a few over looked really cool called One Leg Over, E3 5c. Started by going over a roof, (seen in right picture), where the first piece and last piece of decent gear is, before about 10metres before the top of the route. 

Fairy cave is awesome. My friends that where there also climbed some other awesome lower grade stuff.
If you like slab climbing, it's definitely worth a visit!
Picture
Author on the start of One Leg Over E3 5c
Whats Happening At The Mo.....
Just moved back up to Rotherham, so super psyched for grit and the coming winter season!
Had a brilliant summer working for Land & Wave in Dorset, now bring on the future.

Share

Comments

25/9/2016

Cornwall Trip

Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
Bosigran crag top view
With a few days off work, and catching the last of the summer weather I headed to Cornwall for my first experience on Cornish granite with my friend Joe. The plan was to visit two classic climbing areas, (one on each day), Sennen the first day, then Bosigran the next. Hopefully also to climb something hard while we where there.
Arriving late Tuesday evening to the camp site, (upsetting the owner), we pitched the tent and went to sleep. During the night it rained heavily. When the alarm went off we both decided to get some more sleep hoping that a late morning start will have allowed the rock to dry and for us both to catch up on some sleep.
Arriving at Sennen just before 12 we seem to have timed it perfectly, although a few wet patches remained it was mostly dry. We started the day off with a VS which the guide book described as juggy called Monday Face. Joe then climbed the classic Demo Route, which goes up the face of a wall and over a roof, defiantly a classic, with some really nice bits of climbing. 
Next was what the guide book described as a brilliant intro to cornish cracks, called Vertical Crack. It turned out to be quite easy. Following a layback crack and being in the corner allowed you to bridge all the way up.
After a little advice from the locals I found my hard route. Gillan E3 5c, which is a face climb, on mostly foot friction, but really nice climbing. Incorporating a run out slopper start, into a undercut finger pocket about halfway up, near the best piece of gear. The top 1/4 was a flaring crack going up to a nice belay ledge. Awesome route which required a calm head and trust in friction.
To finish the day my friend lead what is probably the easiest multi pitch VS ive ever done called Hayloft. With me leading the only difficult bit which was a tight chimney rock over at the top.
Picture
Gillian E3 5c, author building belay at the top
During the night it rained again, luckily not as heavy though, and with no time to wait for stuff to dry in the morning, (as we where driving back that afternoon), we headed to Bosigran for a day of multipitch. On getting to the bottom of the crag there was wet patches as the sun had yet to reach most of the cliff. But not letting this deter us we set off up the first route of the day. A nice VS called Anvil Chorus. I lead the difficult pitch which was a full on layback flake followed by a traverse into the 3rd belay. We carried on climbing some more VS, doing Venusberg, Little Brown Jug and then nice HS called Doorpost.
The quality of the climbing continued through out the day, with awesome routes, some in a good level of exposure. Unfortunately we had to leave late afternoon to be back in Dorset for work the next day.
Picture
Joe and Author at a Belay on Bosigran
As a whole the cornwall trip was brilliant and I will definitely be returning. The granite is solid with lots of friction, in a beautiful cliff setting. We had lovely weather during the days we were there.
​I don't think we climbed one route that we thought wasn't nice!
Next trip Fontainebleau........ :)

Picture

Share

Comments

23/8/2016

Mountains & Grit In A Week!

Comments

Read Now
 
Last week I had off from work, I knew that I wanted to go do some more QMD’s, (Quality Mountain days), for my ML and really wanted to get back out on some grit crags at home after spending most of my summer climbing on limestone. With North Wales being the closest UK mountainous region to Swanage and sort of on my way home back to Sheffield, (if a bit of a long detour), the plan would be to go walk for a few days, then drive home for some climbing in the Peak district.
Picture
Monday
Weather pretty good and set off at 5am for the 6.5hr drive up to Snowdonia. Arrived just after noon, and not wanting to waste the day, parked up in the car park behind Joe Brown’s in Capel Curig and started walking. Headed up onto the ridge walking towards the Glyders and Tryfan. The top of the ridge is quite flat in sections and was a bit spongey to say all the dry weather we’ve had recently. Would not want to go up there after a recent rainfall! Kept walking gaining height up to Gallt yr Ogof. With the day wearing on, did not wait around there long and headed up towards Y Foel Goch. From here you get a nice view of the South East face of Tryfan and can see Snowdon in the distance. Carried on walking up to Gyder Fach, then a quick walk down to Heather Terrace and onto the footpath in the valley below following the Afon Llugwy back towards Capel Curig and the Car.

Picture
My knee has been playing up recently and the drive up that morning had irritated it. The original plan was to stay in Wales another day to do some more walking, but because of my knee headed home early, resting all day Tuesday instead.
Picture
Wednesday
On Tuesday I organised to get out with one of my old teachers to go do some climbing, we decided on Kinder South as neither of us had been there. We where hoping for a cooling breeze and sharp dry grit, we where not disappointed with this moorland crag, with the routes being brutal, lots of thrutching and painful hand jams. We started on the Classic Upper Tor Wall HS 4b, me leading. Nice, and at times exposed climbing all the way to the top. Next I followed on Ivory Tower HVS 5b, which was also really nice climbing!
We both agreed that for moorland this seemed too nice, and agreed that whatever we climbed for the rest of the day the 40mins uphill approach was worth it just to climb these too. Next I picked something that looked straight forward following some pockets up a slightly overhanging slab using the crack systems on either side. The route was The Punter E1 5b. There was a lot of hand jamming involved and a lot of skin was lost, not realising it was overhanging till on the route, feeling very relieved when I topped out regretting my decision not to borrow the crack climbing gloves! The following few routes where all pretty much the same sort of stuff, lots of thrutching, hand jamming and nothing seeming easy, even when you dropped a few grades! Well worth the walk though, and will defiantly be returning.

Following day we headed over to Millstone, favouring and thanking the short walk in and quarried grit after loosing skin the previous day. With lots of cracks at millstone, and me being out of practice after having climbed on limestone for quite a few months, it was suggested that I try Embankment 4 and forget the grade, (which is E1 5b). A really nice climb, and glad of the jamming gloves on the first half, surprising myself that I could still jam quite well. I then followed up Embankment 3. With the sun now getting higher the rock started to get slippery and quite humid. Moving along the crag we did scoop crack and Lyon’s House corner, which goes up an airy arete, coming back for me to lead The Mall which it was still just in the shade. Followed by seconding up a very greasy Great Portland Street, glad I wasn’t the one leading it. Ending the day there we headed home.
Rained the rest of the week, but managed to get some bouldering in at The Works, but mostly just spent the rest of my time with my family.
​

Share

Comments

6/8/2016

Drone Footage!

Comments

Read Now
 
I went climbing with a friend to Subluminal the other day and a guy came up to us with a drone. He wanted to know if he could film a bit of us climbing for some footage he was putting together for his company, (Outback Air). We both agreed and I have attached some of his footage below that he took of me, that I stitched together into a video.
Outback Air is a relatively new local business in Dorset that specialise in taking drone footage of action sports with their Inspire 1 Pro in 4K.
The guys where really friendly and the footage is awesome.
Go check them out:
archdrone.co.uk
​
Or their Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/outbackairdrones/
​
You Tube:
​https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYIWGjbx6bZgXQq2ZT_tNqg

Share

Comments

15/6/2016

Forgot your Harness?

Comments

Read Now
 
Everyone will do it at some point in their life, get to the crag and realise that they forgot to pick up their harness when they were packing their climbing stuff in the morning. Most people would just give up at this point, go home to fetch it or change their plans for the day, but if you have 1, (ideally 2), 120cm slings to hand why not make a sling harness!

1 Sling Harness
Simple and easy to make, however can slip down if theres not a continuous pull upwards making it ineffective. If you have a small waist like mine a 120cm will work perfectly. To make pass the sling around your back and bring both ends to the front. While holding these reach between your legs and grab the lower loop, bring this between your legs and clip everything together with a screwgate 'biner.
If you have a slightly wider waist use a bigger sling, but when you pull the loop through your legs tie an isolating knot, (overhand will do), to make it tight and shove the excess away down the side of the waist loops. Because this has to be weighted upwards to work it only really works for abseiling or seconding.
2 Sling Harness
This one works much better than the other one and a friend has actually used this one when he's forgot his harness. To make take one 120 sling and find the centre, to do this double up and shuffle the two ends until the sown part is in the middle. Tie a overhand each side of the sown part and try on your legs. I find that tying another overhand on each side makes it fit my legs perfectly.
Next take the other 120 sling and pass it around your back above your hip bones, as you would with a normal harness. Tie both ends together with half a reef knot, passing one end through to other to finish it off. This allows you to pull it tighter and still easy to remove. Then tie another overhand to make a loop. Pass a 'biner through this loop and the leg loop and there you go a harness. It's not the most comfortable thing in the world and you wouldn't really want to fall on it!
Tie in to the screwgate for both these harness.
Both of these would be more comfortable with thicker slings, I just used what I had to hand. I would not suggest falling off wearing one of these but if you had nothing else to hand they'll work.
You'll never have to abandon a day's climbing again!

Share

Comments

3/6/2016

Climbing In North Wales

Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
Author on top of Tryfan after East Face
Getting a few days off work, I've spent the last 3 days climbing in North Wales and had my birthday, so the blog has suffered! I thought i'd share what I got up to over the last few days to make up for the shortage in posts. Was supposed to be walking to get some QMD's, (quality mountain days), in but weather was just too good.
After setting off from Swanage at 5:30 in the morning on bank holiday Monday to get there for lunch timeish. The journey was pretty good, only hitting traffic heading into Snowdonia National Park. Met up with my climbing partner for the next few days and headed off to the moelwyns.
We decided to go to Craig y Clipiau where the white slab makes some nice climbing, with the steeper exits making a nice contrast. My favourite route here was defiantly Eagle Finish VS 4c, which went across nice pockets to a big overhanging spike, where the exposure was nice, (shame I didn't get a photo), Joe said it looked impressive.
Picture
Not arriving at the crag till 2, we walked back down at about 7, taking the longer route through the disused quarry. Even managed to get a picture of this spruce in the quarried rock.
Picture
The next day we went to the East face of Tryfan. The usual long walk in, we did Grooved Arete. Me leading on the 5th pitch I decided the arete on the right looked really nice. So followed it up to the 7th belay in my approach shoes. Nice climbing up the arete, on looking in the guide books believe its a new route too. There is a massive flake near the top which sounds quite loose but awesome positive holds on the arete.
Getting to the belay below the 7th pitch at the same time as the group ahead which had followed the proper route. Causing some tangling at the belay. Was really windy on the top too, making the last 2 pitches and sitting on the top of tryfan interesting! (Pic at top of post)
Picture
The final day before coming home was just as nice as the other two and seem as my friend, Joe, had not been to Idwal before we went to do Tennis Shoe. Lovely climbing on the slabs, even if some of the route was very polished!
Had an awesome few days in Wales. Brilliant company and nice climbing. Weather defiantly made up for the miserable weather that I had last time I was there.
Picture

Share

Comments

27/5/2016

Prusiks, Which, When & How?

Comments

Read Now
 
After a conversation about Prusiks with a friend, thought i'd write this to save time explaining again & again!
The Prusik loop is a cord loop, usually made from 5mm thickness, typically cut to lengths of 150cm lengths. They where first used & invented by Dr Karl Prusik in 1930's. There is now 3 main variations of the knot; the French/Autoblock, original prusik and Kleimheist.
Picture
Author abseiling on double ropes, was tied off to take picture.
Double Fishermans - Used to attach two lengths of rope together to create either a longer piece of rope/ cord or a loop. This knot should be weighted by body weight to make sure its snug before use. See pictures opposite on how to tie.
Prusik Uses - 
* To Ascend a fixed rope
* As a backup while abseiling
* In rescue scenarios (not covered here)
* Help when dealing with heavy loads (not covered here)

French/Autoblock Prusik

Where the cord is wrapped going up or down the rope in which you are about to use. Best use is abseiling as requires a heavy load for it to engage. However as it slides really easily it's not good for ascending the rope.
Picture

Original Prusik

Used for ascending the rope or when you don't want the prusik to move often. Sometimes requires some fiddling to get it to move when it's had a heavy weight on it.
Picture

Kleimheist

Very similar to the French, but after you have curled the cord around the rope the end is passed through the loop at the start. Its brilliant for ascending the rope as bights when weighted less and does not slip as often. It is however no good for abseiling as it may not grab the rope at all.
Picture

Carrying Prusiks

When trad climbing I always carry one, (two if on sea cliffs), and a 60cm sling on a small d-shaped karabiner on the back of my harness. Its better being there and carrying the slight extra weight than not having it when it's really needed! On the left I have also included how I carry them wrapped up, there are different ways of doing this, but this is the method I prefer.
​First make a loop, then wrap the prusik up the loop a few times, when you get near the top pass the end through the two loops at the top and pull.

Abseiling With a Prusik​

To abseil with a standard belay plate and Prusik I thread the rope you're going to ab with into the belay plate as if you where going to belay with it. Then do a French prusik underneath, put a screw gate karabiner on the end of the loop and clip it to the inside of your leg loop. Weight and make sure prusik does not touch the belay plate as if it does it will not engage. If it does extend your belay plate from your harness using a short (60cm) sling, larks footed to your abseil/belay loop at one end, belay plate at the other.

Ascending The Rope

To ascend clip one kleimheist or ordinary prusik directly to your abseil/belay loop on your harness using a screwgate, then put another kleimheist above with another screwgate attached, but this time put a 120cm sling or 240cm halved into the screwgate. Use the sling to stand up on the top prusik to release the weight off the one connected directly to you, slide it up, re-weight and slide the foot one up. Repeat process until you get where you need to be!
As a backup if your ascending a long distance put knots in the rope below the prusik so that if the knot does not engage you won't slip all the way to the bottom.
Hopefully I have covered most things, feel free to comment below! :)

Share

Comments

24/5/2016

Hidden Gems In South Wales

Comments

Read Now
 
​Last Month I visited South Wales with a friend from work to do some climbing. It was the second time I have been to South Wales and the climbing surprised me yet again! On my first visit we went to the usual tourist spot of Three Cliffs Bay and Fall bay on another day. On both days we enjoyed routed on mostly unpolished, rough limestone, perfect!
This time we started by visiting Little Tor, just around the corner from Three Cliffs and as with three cliffs can only be accessed so many hours either side of low tide as the whole lower few metres of the crag is underwater at high tide. The routes again where brilliant, not at all chossy as you would expect from limestone! Most of Little tor was made up of a surface of flakes, (as you can see in the picture), with some pretty killer cracks in between.
With the day starting miserable I Lead first picking Scout Crack, a vertical crack about fist wide. As it was a bit drizzly I elected to keep on my approach shoes. Brilliant climb and you can see why it has 2 stars, perfect fist jams and foot jams all the way, improved by missing the ledge on the left and only using the crack.
The weather soon improved and we moved on to some of the harder stuff at the crag. There was a really nice looking line going up the middle of the face that included a few jams, big moves and small pockets. When looking in the guide book found it was called 'Super Direct', given E1 5c. Nice line and glad I had my Alien’s with me!
The following day we only had a few hours before we had to start the long drive back for work, so we had to choose a non tidal venue, picking Boiler slab. Took longer than it should have on the walk in due to getting slightly lost! Again we started on the easier stuff, my friend leading ‘Classic’, a really easy route, but supposed to be one of the oldest routes in the Gower so a must climb and it was okay.
I preferred the harder stuff which had a nice amount of exposure, which when you added a quite strong breeze made the climbing rather interesting! Again the gear was bomber and the rock mostly solid.
Over the two days the routes where nice and the scenery postcard perfect. I will defiantly be returning to do more climbing in South Wales in the future, hopefully I’ve psyched you to give south wales a chance too.

Share

Comments
Details

    Categories

    All
    Adventure
    Awesome Read
    Baking
    Books
    Bouldering
    Bushcraft
    Careforyourrack
    Climbing
    Coasteering
    Cold Water
    Cornwall
    Cracks
    Diving
    Dorset
    Drone
    Festival
    Food
    France
    Gear
    General
    Gower
    Grit
    Healthy
    Instructional
    Kouba Climbing
    Lake District
    Limestone
    Maintenance
    Makeyourself
    Mountains
    Must Read
    North Wales
    Peak District
    Photography
    Review
    Sandstone
    Scotland
    Sea
    Skills
    Soloing
    Somerset
    South Wales
    Spain
    Sport Climbing
    Sun
    Swanage
    Tips
    Trad
    Travel
    Verdon
    Wales
    Walking
    Winter
    Winter Climbing
    Woods

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Climbing Courses
  • About
  • Contact