John Mitchener and I decided that we should make the most of the mild November, so on Sunday 6th we set off for a day trip to Portland. We met at Bessells Green at 7am and by 9:40 were sitting in a cafe on Weymouth seafront, having a full english breakfast as the Sun glinted across the bay. Things were looking good.
Slovakia – Maninska Uzina by Sarah Mead
Having been living in the Czech Republic for almost a year now, it seems a shame that I haven’t yet discovered what the country has to offer in terms of climbing, so when I was invited to join the RHM’s annual summer meet in Slovakia, I jumped at the chance. Continue reading
Dalle de l’Amone – Sally Toll
Yet another beautiful sunny day in the Chamonix valley so plans to conquer climb 7 in ‘100 Classic Chamonix Climbs’ was on the agenda; the Amone slab, Switzerland (TD). As we approached the little hamlet of L’Amone the 450m slab stood out clearly with a smooth light grey chute running down its centre, which was our route up. Continue reading
The Magic of Fontainbleau – Paul Highams
Here’s a question for you: Why do so many climbers including many whose fame has taken them all over the world, say Fontainbleau is their favourite place to climb?
I thought I’d share with you my experiences from font and the joys of bouldering and see if there is interest for a club trip to font in the future. Continue reading
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Small splinter group that went to Kalymnos – Sue Paddon
Having heard such rave reviews about Kalymnos and then seeing the excellent slide show about it my friend Kendra and I decided to make a flying visit there. We arrived late on Saturday and had to leave early Wednesday so only 3 whole days, but really worth the effort! Continue reading
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Careful Malcolm – by Dan Brown
All plans need a good back up and looking at the weather forecast, it looked like we were going to need one.
Scotland was going to be blasted by high wind and rain for at least four days, so the chance of doing Aonach Eagach was as slim as finding it fun. So we talked of Pembroke, and the south west, but eventually settled on France. We booked the ferry and pointed the front end of Malcolms car towards Burgundy. Continue reading
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New Southern Sandstone Bouldering Guidebook
There is now a dedicated book for keen boulderers on Southern Sandstone, written by James O’Neil and Ben Read it covers 9 local outcrops with nearly 100 action photos. They have a website where you can see sample pages and buy the book.
Or you can buy it from the BMC shop or local climbing walls.
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Contacting the Emergency Services by SMS
Mobile phone reception in the Mountains can often be intermittent or non-existent. If you are involved in an incident on the hill and need to call assistance but cannot make voice calls, you may now contact the 999 emergency services using a short messaging service (SMS) text from your mobile phone. Continue reading
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Patience Malcolm by Dan Brown
Paklenica Croatia April 2011.
Last year we’d planned this trip and Ryanair cancelled the flight, which was probably just as well considering the Icelandic volcano, so I was absolutely going to make sure that I went on this trip, 5 1⁄2 moth old baby notwithstanding. It was quite a mission to leave my lad at home with Sarah, and I’ll probably have to pay for it, but it was worth it. Paklenica had some surprises for me. We arrived at Zadar and collected the hire car and brand spanking Audi A4 in gangsta black, which whisked us effortlessly to Starigrad, where we were greeted with beer and pancakes by our lovely Croatian host. Continue reading
It’s all happening at High Rocks – Oliver Hill
Below is a link to a good video of Jon Partridge climbing the fourth ascent of Chimaera at High Rocks courtesy of Nick Brown of www.outcropfilms.co.uk . Interestingly, I was watching him last Saturday trying and failing, his feet in the wrong place. He climbed it successfully on Sunday and did it the way that was obvious from the ground. Obvious but not easy. It just required a bit of finger strength and lots of body tension. My back hurt just watching him crank and gaston.
More to the point, it is spring and High Rocks is back in condition. Over the last month John and I have completed most of the medium grade crack routes, which are now in perfect condition. On the Saturday as I was observing repeated failures on Chimaera I managed to painfully inch my way up Steps Crack. The disadvantage of not having quite recovered from ‘flu’ was that suffering was spread out for longer than usual and I better got to appreciate each individual movement as I inched up the crack, which is barely wide enough for fist jams, but fortunately has a good edge for gastoning with the right hand, just like you have to do on Chimaera. Good near off-width practise. This next Saturday Anaconda Corner was climbed. This is one of the top and longest climbs at High Rocks, in my opinion the best of its sub 5c climbs. It requires no finger strength as no finger-holds are present, just pressure climbing mostly using shoulder wriggling, as in backstroke but without arms. Pilates classes more relevant than climbing wall. The easiest way of climbing the route is to start just inside the chimney, wriggle up to get your hands on the break and immediately inch left to get outside the crack. Then using the odd arm-bar you can lever yourself onto the ledge. Here the enjoyment starts, facing left, foot and back wriggle up the overhanging pod in a very exposed position. The higher you get the more you will need to concentrate moving your feet up as you wriggle your shoulders. Advanced pilate-ers will be able to adopt the Cossack or armchair position, both feet on the left wall, arms folded, wriggle shoulders and glide upwards. Best of all, there is no slime nor painful knee moves as in most other High Rocks chimneys.
The challenge now is to complete the list of classic climbs: Boa, Boysens Crack, Adder and First Crack, none of which require finger strength, just good technique and stamina. Boa, the old classic 4b is now much more enjoyable, if that be the right word, at 5c for normal sized people, but easier for the small or thin. If your partner is a strong fingered, muscle bound lump, Boa may be the route to turn round the tables.The race is on for the year’s first ascent of Boa! Please post replies.
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