Some outdoor climbing before school starts.

Hi guys,
             On Saturday we went on a wee day trip. My mum and dad took Scott and I up to Dunkeld. I had been told that I should head up and give “Hamish teds” a try. At first I didn’t know what it was so I watched a couple of videos on vimeo and it looked like a good climb. It was a 7b+. When we got there we grabbed the gear and set off up the hill. We got a bit lost but in the end we made. On the way up we found a small waterfall, Scott and I took a drink from it, it was amazing, it was really fresh.

Waterfall below Lady Charlotte's cave.

A little bit higher up we found a cave. It reminded us a bit of the “Goonies” if you have ever seen it. When we finally got to the top we met Koon and John (GCC Climbers), funnily enough it was them who told me about Hamish Teds. My dad quickly turned round and said that we had left the rope bag in the van, so mum and I had to traipse all the way back down the hill. It was actually quite fun going down, but once we had got it we had to go back up. It didn’t take us too long but I was certainly very tired… At first I tried another 7b+, it was really hard and I only managed to get to the 2^nd clip. I then moved on to trying Hamish teds and I certainly had a lot better luck on that as I managed to get up to the 6^th clip in a couple off goes.

Hamish Teds7b+

Koon on her way down.

Looking up at Hamish Teds.

I was really proud to get that far. By this point my skin had teared a little in-between my last 2 fingers. I managed to get to the 7^th clip just not clipping it. My mum and Scott then gave it a try, my first outing to Dunkeld has went well and I’m looking forward to going back and getting the tick on the route .
That wasn’t the end of our outdoor adventures this week, on Tuesday we all went to Kirriemuir hill with TCA outdoor club and our coach Stuart Lyle, Jeans and Paul from MCofS came along with us.

Angus, Scott and my Scott leading his first route of the day.

We split up into small groups of 3 or 4 and got stuck into some great climbing on a great day with the sun shining. Sam, my friend Rihanna’s dad has been to Kirrie lots and he gave belayed me most of the time giving me good beta and encouragement, thanks Sam!

Working out my route.

A wee bridge with Sam Belaying.

I managed to top all the routes at Kirrie except for the last one where I took a fall hurting my shin, Scott my little brother took a big whipper and ended up upside down  a few feet from the ground…. That was a lucky escape!

Break time.

Swarming over the crag.

Can't miss a heel hook!!!!

Lots of laybacks!

After the session finished we stopped in at the camera obscurer for a tour, had a play on the pirate ship then headed into Perth to relax in the swimming for an hour or so before heading back to Glasgow for 10pm.

At the end of the day...all tired, thanks everyone :)

Thanks for reading :)

British #5......

Hi guys,

          I hope your all enjoying the summer holidays, I certainly am. I kicked off my summer by traveling down the Bristol for the JBBC. I traveled down as part of TCA Glasgow. It took us around 8 hours to get there and when we did everyone was shattered…  As soon as we arrived everyone took the bags out of the boot and into a locker. We were all really lucky because we got to stay in TCA Bristol for the night. It wasn’t too late when we arrived so after we all had some really nice pizza we went around and tried some of the easier problems.  Everyone climbed for about 20 minutes top. Afterwards we went around the centre and chose were we wanted to sleep for the night…  Rhiannon and I slept under this really big cave and Eilidh slept just outside it. The rest of the team slept further over to the entrance. Everyone really enjoyed their sleep. 

The next morning when everybody woke up we got some breakfast. For breakfast I had some fruit and a croissant, both were really nice. Because TCA was still open to the public we had to quickly pack away all our sleeping bags and pillows. Soon after that we all set out to the van and headed over to the comp. As soon as we got their it was roasting so we sat outside before we done out warm-up just to cool down a bit. Rhiannon and I went upstairs to the locker area and done our warm-up there. As we were doing our warm-up we could see the whole centre and it was massive. All the walls looked quite the same as TCA. We done our warm-up for maybe 10-15 minutes. 

Not long after we done our warm- up we found ourselves starting the competition.  We all had 8 problems in total for the qualifiers.  All of my qualifiers were pretty easy and I managed to flash them all, along with 8 other girls.  Only 6 were meant to go through to the final, however the 9 of us went through as there was no way of splitting us up.   

After qualifiers we went out for some fresh air and a snack. I had a flap jack and bottle of water. It was roasting inside so it was really nice to be able to sit outside for a while.  It wasn’t long before we got told that finals would be happening soon so we had to head over to isolation.  In isolation I kept warm by doing some jogging on the spot and some light stretches.  As there was  9 of us the first 3 people had to go out alone, I was one of them. 

 I went out to try my first problem and I kept falling off the first move.  I didn’t worry about it though.  As finals went on my second problem rolled in, I found that one slightly easier although I kept popping off at the bonus.    

My third problem rolled in quicker than I expected and I went out , on my first attempt  my foot popped, but I quickly got on my second attempt.  

 Then after finals we went outside to sit for a while.  My results were quickly posted and in the end I came 8^th but overall in the 3 rounds I came 5^th.  We went back outside and waited to watch the older category climb.  We went upstairs to the balcony and got good seats.  The finals were really interesting to watch. 

We went out to pizza express for dinner and met with some of the TCA Bristol team. There was a balloon festival on and lots of people were dressed up as characters.  I saw 4 hot air balloons.  After that we went back to TCA and slept in the centre again. I was really tired and went to bed at about 11:30.  We woke up the following morning and I had my breakfast, it wasn’t long before we were saying good bye and setting off to leave.  Alan said if the weather was nice we would stop off and do some outdoor climbing. The further we got into the journey it was looking less promising as it was starting to rain.  As we got 3 hours into the journey the weather calmed down and we stopped off at Longridge. 

 It was really easy to get to and the problems ranged from easy to really hard.  As I had competed the day before my hands were a little sore, so we never tried anything too hard, we tried a lot of the easier ones.  We stayed there for an hour or 2 before setting back of on our journey.  We managed to get back to TCA Glasgow for 7pm.  My dad came and picked me up.  It was a great trip thanks to TCA for letting us stay and supplying breakfast.  

 Also thanks to Alan and Stuart for their support and encouragement. 

Thanks also to 8a-agency my sponsor, and to Urban Uprising for their support.
Photos courtesy of Sandy Carr.

Trip to meet the guys from 8a Agency

Hey guys,

               Last Saturday I traveled down to North Wales with my dad

as I had been shortlisted for a possible sponsor…

We left the house at 7:30 and arrived at the Boulder room climbing centre at about 11:45, after a look round and a warm up I was climbing just after 12:00.

Psicobloc....WOW.......

We met with Lee Horsfal from the 8a Agency, who introduced me to the “EB” shoes I would be using.  I started off by doing some easy boulder problems using my usual climbing shoes, after that I done the same ones again but this time I put on the “EB” shoes. I really liked them; they were just so comfortable and positive to climb in. 

Trying out the "EB" shoes

I recognised some of the others there, Emily Verry and her brother who climb at the Boardroom and had been at the YCS finals in Ratho the weekend before.

               After about an hour or so we had a break for lunch then my dad belayed me on the hard top roped routes, I didn’t lead because I didn’t take a lead rope. I found it a bit strange at first wearing different shoes but I soon adjusted to them and I loved it.

We had a short break and I was back climbing on the boulder wall again. I tried a few of the harder boulder problems, climbing with other members of the draft team.

 I really enjoyed climbing at The Boardroom, Queensferry because they walls were awesome. They also had a psicobloc wall, except you don’t fall into water, but onto lots of really thick padded mats. When I done a practice fall got a fright but it was really fun… I felt like I landed on a bunch of clouds, it was that soft. Some people even climbed to the top just to jump off and land on their backs. It was really good to watch. Me and dad left the Boardroom a little earlier so that we could get home in time for a late dinner. Before we left we went up to Lee Horsefal to let him know that we were leaving. He started asking me how I felt the shoes were so I told him they were great and I loved them. He then gave me a bag for my climbing gear, a chalk bag, brush, tape, stickers and told me he would send me some shoes in the post. After a few days two pairs of climbing shoes arrived, I was gobsmacked!  

I am so proud that the 8a Agency has chosen to support me in this way and look forward to being an active part of their team.

Thanks… 

 http://8a-agency.co.uk

 http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/news.php?id=6781

First visit to Dumby - 17.04.15

Easter and my first Dumby trip!

Hi everyone, I’ve had a great Easter Break, getting in some climbing and Bennybeg and at Dumby.

It’s our trip to Dumby I want to talk about today, Dad Scott and I went on Friday where dad had arranged for us to climb with Willis Morris, The weather was great and as we had got there at 11am it was pretty quiet with only about another 8 or 9 people scattered about. I knew most of them by name or to see, Robbie Phillips was there trying out “Rhapsody” with Euan from Finalcrux films there to record his efforts.

We started off with some boulders and I managed to top out on quite a few, Scott was also able to able to top on a few.

Warming up with Willis spotting.

We then moved on to some routes, I spent time working on “Perceptions of vision” (7a+) 

"Perceptions of Vision 7a+" with Euan on the static line behind me.

while Scott worked on “First Moves”( _ ) a new route Alan Cassidy had put up.

It was pretty cool climbing the route as Euan was ascending up a static line he had set up to film Robbie and he took some great photos me, Thanks Euan.

"Perceptions of Vision" photo by Euan Ryan.

At around 4:30 the TCA boulder squad arrived for their evening session and as Willis had to back to work I joined them for some interesting boulders for a couple of hours before heading home to see Mum who had been working away all week.

Finished off the day with TCA Boulder Squad.

My big thanks goes out to Willis who took the time from his busy schedule to take us out for the day, I had a wonderful time, ticked off a few boulders and worked an amazing classic route, Scott had great fun bouldering and climbing and after a discussion with others over the Hobbit and Lord of The Rings, played around the rocks as if he was “Gollum”…… I am so psyched to go back outdoors soon.

Scott took a wee cycle down to the waters edge with Carson.

 Thanks for visiting :)