YCS round 2 Avertical, Dundee.

On Saturday morning I woke up tired, I had been at my cousins 21^st party the night before and we hadn’t got home till after midnight. I had to get up quite early but we were out the door and on our way in less than an hour. Our big white van was very cold so I sat in a sleeping bag on our journey up to Avertical world in Dundee. 

Listening to Scott giving the briefing.

When we got there I met up with the other contestants in my group. We went round all of our routes and boulders. The routes certainly looked a lot harder than the others in the previous round but maybe that was because I hadn’t been to this centre before. We were all soon starting our warm-up, this was taken by Rachel Carr and after this we got into our group. We then went to our first boulder, I was second in the queue and I managed to top it. It was really hard though and I nearly fell off while going for a sloper. It wasn’t quick but we were soon on our second boulder, which I also managed to top. 

 

Full stretch.

We then went up the stairs to our first route; I think everybody managed to top that.

 I soon found myself climbing up my second route it was a little bit more difficult but I persevered and managed to top that route. I was really pleased as only a few managed to top this. We then went over to our final route which looked very, very difficult. I was one of the last up to try this route. Every move was very hard it took a lot of effort to stay on, my mum said she could see the relief on my face when I managed to clip in the rope at the last clip. 

This was hard!!!

The last boulder was a crazy traverse with every type off hold on it…but it was good fun but not one person managed this boulder. 

We waited anxiously for the results and I was surprised to find that I had drawn with both Carla and Hannah. This led to us having a super final.  Carla was first to try the route, I was second out. I tried really hard and managed to get to the second last clip.  That put me in first place. I was so pleased.

First Place.......

I am looking forward to the next round at Alien Rock which also happens to be my birthday. 

Thanks for all your support.

https://twitter.com/CaitlinClimber 

https://www.facebook.com/lifeisforclimbing 

CC

Final round of TCA Winter series.

Yesterday morning I woke at 8:45 for the final round of TCA winter bouldering series. My dad and I left the house in our big white van at 9:45. We managed to get there just about 10:00, ready for the registration.

I had a look at all the 15 problems we had, and I read them with my friend Carla. Afterwards we done our warm-up and stretches, we also done some purples (easy), greens, blacks and blues (all reasonably easy). Not long after that I found myself on problem1. I managed to flash all the problems up to 8 then they got really hard.

 

 

 

I did manage to get a few after problem 8 but not all on my first attempt. Problem 13 and above were so hard I didn’t even manage to get off the ground.  I came in 3^rd place in the qualifiers but because I rushed in to the problems I was early finishing so that lead to me having a lengthy break in-between qualifiers and the 2^nd round (snakes and ladders). 

Snakes and ladders was a bit confusing at first but after it had been explained I understood it better. For snakes and ladder there were 5 different problems, some age groups had the same as others so that made the queue quite long. Everybody started at problem 1 and if you topped problem one then you could move on to problem 2. I managed to get to the last problem but just missed the bonus hold.  We had 2 hours to do that round but I was quite lucky and didn’t have to wait as long as some others, so I finished in less than an hour. All that meant was that I got an extra-long break! When we found out the results we still had to wait another half an hour, I managed to draw with Carla in 1^st place.

Just before the finals started we were allowed 6 minutes viewing time. When it was my turn to go out I went to the wrong problem!!! The judge quite quickly noticed that I was meant to be on one at the other side… Ooops! Despite the fact that I only had 2 minutes to read the route and also climb it I managed to flash it. It felt like it was only 3 minutes I was in isolation but it was actually over 10 minutes. When it was my turn again I went out and did go to the right problem but went up the wrong side of the volume so that I got on my 2^nd attempt.

2nd time better....

 

 And finally when I went out to my final problem I did manage to flash it but it was definitely by far the hardest I had  topped all day, not to mention the fact that I also pulled my muscle in my thigh on the last move. Carla and I drew first again so it came back to our score in the qualifiers, which meant I came in 2^nd. That's the winter series over and I am happy to say I came in 3rd overall after 5 hard rounds. I'll definitely be looking to improve for next years series :)

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

YCS 2015 @ Glasgow Climbing Centre

Sorry couldn’t post this yesterday but the computer crashed.

 I woke up yesterday morning at 7.30am. I got up and had a hearty breakfast and got my kit packed for the day ahead. My mum made us a pack lunch. We packed the van and headed off for the Glasgow Climbing Centre where the first round of the YCS 2015 competition was being held.  We arrived at 9am and registered for the competition. It was good to see lots of familiar faces.  After meeting everyone we set of to find our routes. The first two were on the lead wall while the final route was on the big brown wall. After going over the route several times we headed downstairs to check out the white boulder problems. Our first boulder look fairly easy however the other two looked a lot more difficult. Not long afterwards we all gathered round and done a group warm up. I still felt cold so I headed downstairs with my friend Carla into the alcove and done some more warm ups and some stretches. I was feeling really excited and ready to start the competition.

 

Warming up.

Not long afterwards we all found our judge and belayer, our judge rushed away to find out what routes and boulders were free.  We went down stairs to tackle our first two boulders. I flashed the first and got half way on the second.  Hannah and Carla were the only one who managed to get to the top. Well done! We then went upstairs to do our second route (as our first route was occupied).  About half of the group topped the route, I was one of them.

Moving through the first problem.

We quickly moved over to our first route, most of us managed this one. It felt like it was only a 6a.

 

Route 1.

 

Afterwards when everybody had tried the route, we all went for lunch. I had 2 sandwiches one jam, and one chocolate. I really did enjoy them; I also had salt and vinegar chipsticks and a summer fruits capri-sun. I was thirty minutes early so I decided to go down stairs to the bouldering to do a few pinks and greens just to warm-up again.

Feeling refuelled after out lunch it was time for our final boulder problem.  Hannah was the only one to flash this problem.  Carla climbed well also nearly getting it, with me not far behind.

A few minutes later we all headed upstairs to try our final route.  Nobody managed to top this route.  However I managed to get second highest due to a heel hook that I tried. I was really pleased with my effort on this climb. 

 

Final Route.

 

The competition was over and it was a nervous wait to find out the results.  

Scott climbing well.

 

I was delighted to find out I had come third, as it was a tough comp, with some fabulous climbing from all competitors. 

3rd for me in group C.

3rd for Scott in Group D (Scott on right)

 

 Also it was great to hear that my little brother Scott , who had also moved up a category had managed to come third place as well.  We celebrated that night with a fab dinner and ice cream.

We are both now in training mode for our next round at Dundee. Looking forward to going as I have never been there before.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read my Blog....:)

 

Woohoo... came third!

Well that's me back from the first round of the YCS 2015, it was my first time in youth C and i managed to come in third place.
My younger brother Scott who also moved up this year and is now in youth D came third in his category.
My Mum and Dad are over the moon. — feeling amazing.

Well done to everyone who competed today.

I will write up something more when I've had something to eat (I'm starving!).

YCS 2015

Hey everybody, the YCS (Youth Climbing Series) starts tomorrow with the first round being held in The Glasgow Climbing Centre​.
I am really looking forward to it as I will be lead climbing this year as i am now in group C.
It will also be good to catch up with climbers from EICA Ratho​.
The competition will start at 10am and finish around 6pm.
Feel free to pop in and cheer me on if your in the area.
P.S. The Balcony cafe does some great food.
#climbing
#bouldering

TCA comp! :)

Hi everyone,
      i'm just back from the comp held at TCA, it was really good fun!
      I managed to come in at 3rd place, not bad for having a sore knee.
      The first round was the flash format (the flash format is when you have one shot to try and flash the problem. Flashing a problem is when you get the problem first time). I qualified through in 3rd place and then moved on into the semi-finals.
       In the semi-finals it was the bubble format (the bubble format is when your age catagory joins another catagory and goes round the problems together. My age catagory teamed up with the veterans. It was quite confusing at first but in the end i got it) and i qualified in 3rd place again. After that it was time for lunch before the finals...
       After lunch everyone started to warm up again before the finals started.
       when everyone was warmed up we all headed to the pit (the pit is a space in the left side of the center  where you can sit and watch climbers while you have a drink of water, it is really handy. Oh, and if you ever go there it has to be water you drink or else you get into trouble because they say that if you you have juice and you spill it it will make all the mats sticky, it is true though) for isolation.
        Isolation is what people call it when you sit and wait for your turn to climb. You normally can't see the others when you are in isolation, that's what makes is more exciting (and scary) though.
        So back to the comp, we then had 6 minutes to read our routes. Once we had read the route the person who qualified in 3rd place went out first (that was me). On the first problem i got to the hold just above the bonus hold. Then when it was my turn again i got to the bonus. On the 3rd problem i got to the bonus again.
       A little time later they counted up the scores and i came 3rd. I won a 10 pound gift voucher for Ellis Brigam. I now have two vouchers,  will have to go online and treat myself.

Trip to Benny Beg

Hi everyone, hope your all having fun over the October break.

I've been doing a lot of climbing as I'm hoping to go down to Sheffield for the Lead climbing championships at the end of November.

On Wednesday we headed over to Bennybeg. We arrived at around eleven o'clock and it was quiet sunny, we were the only climbers there for the majority of the day. We started off doing our warm-up, my wee brother Scott took the warm-up, after that we done some stretches and I tied in to do the first route.

Stretching!!!

Reading the route.

This was the first time I have sport climbed outside and my dad has spent ages going over everything I needed to know and making sure I practised at home. I was quiet nervous but really excited at the same time.

Scott, making sure I'm OK.

I went up Bill and Ben the Flower Pot Men first this was a low grade (3) but I clipped my own runners on the way up and finished off at the anchor point before my lower off. I'm so glad that I practised how to tie in to the anchor point.

Bill and Ben the Flower Pot Men

Next came Route 2 a (4+) followed by Bennydorm a (5) and finally Benny and the Banshees a (4), we then spent some time doing some low level traversing and Scott done a lead on Route one (3+), well done to Scott.

Ready for the Lower off - Bennydorm.

Climbing and placing my own runners gave me so much confidence as I was having difficulty climbing above the clips at the GCC and kept going for clips as soon as I could reach them.

Scott at the top of Bill and Benny the Flower Pot Men.

First sport climb done....

Just about to reach the lower off on my first sport climb.

Happy after a days at the crag :)

Many thanks to mum and dad and all my coaches (especially Scott :) ).