Well done Luke. Some of the lead climbing looked very impressive.

I have seen the setters notes but I am such a newcomer I don’t even understand the difficulties. Lets just say I wasn’t very impressed with them having a team GB demonstration of a route when that person is about 4yrs older and much much bigger. Absolutely no point at all.

Even funnier was the fact that the team GB climber for the Cat E boys FAILED to climb one of the roped climbs despite 3 attempts and they actually reset the route…

What I will say about the boulders is that we are not used to features on boulders at all. A couple of sessions on them boulders in general would have made a massive difference to our climbing. I think we will be having a few trips to ratho over the next 12mths. The place is amazing

Can I ask, did anyones team do much preparation/coaching for this? Our team seems to have realised that a bit of preparation for the event would have been a good idea. Only they realised the day before……

We got an email the day before with an invite to an physio assessment event plus some benchmarking session. I have no issues with this, I agree with measuring their improvement but having checked out a few of the opposition teams training schedules we were basically sent in after a bit of a play on some monkey bars in comparison 🙂

Where did you get to see the setters notes?

I thought the climbs were pretty well set (challenging to everyone, but achievable by the best climbers in the groups).
The boulder problems were far too hard; most of the girl’s in Katys group barely made it off the ground!

The setter’s notes can be found on their Facebook Page EICA Ratho Routesetters

As for prep, as a team, no, we’re too spread out. Although keep you eyes open for an invite to the 2015 Regional Academies as these are coaching session for all who qualified for the finals. They’ll start in September, and are worth doing.

The Boys V6 was hilarious and just burnt energy. The rest I thought were challenging, but achieved their goal of splitting the group from the start.

I thought our route setting was perfectly set to get the best climber to win.

She’s climbing lead at 7? That’s impressive, all the centers around here seem to have a restriction to 14 before they let them move to lead hence why no. 1 son is obsessed with bouldering, he’s got a bit bored of top ropes (don’t ask me why). How did you get that going? Did she so a bunch of NICAS levels in a boot camp or something?

Competed at bouldering recently and as he’s small for his age at the grand final problems he could only just touch the start holds 🙂 – hasn’t put him off, wants to go back next year as ‘my arms will be longer’.

2 of the boulder problems for my daughter had me scratching my head trying to fathom any way of getting started, let alone finishing them. I just smiled at my daughter and wished her good luck

Its been a funny thing brassneck. I don’t fit in at all at climbing walls. I always tend to turn up in trousers, shirt & tie (Straight from work) and I walk around in a harness and this clobber on. Its a different matter when Lily gets on the wall though. Keswick, Kendal, Penrith & Sunderland all let us lead. Basically she proved her mettle and they were quite happy for her to lead. I cant really climb so if we want to practice together, she has to lead. I had to buy a light rope because they make a big difference when she is 20m up, tired and trying to clip in.

Been looking at them Greg. We did a session with the GB Team manager about 3wks ago at Kendal. Really nice bloke (Cant remember his name)

LoL all about 300 miles too far north for me! Our nearest walls are a 60 mile round trip, but the hunger hasn’t waned in him over a couple of years, so I think he’s bitten.

Did you (both) have lessons to learn how to lead? I’m fine with top rope work indoors, but would be interested in getting us on the road to leading as it opens up the outdoors, so your experiences would be appreciated.

Greg, can you explain the grades please. She lead climbed a 6a+ before we went to the event. I assume a 6b is harder then 6c harder the 7a hardest.

I haven’t seen that boulder grading. Ours uses similar to the numbers for the ropes.

Nope, no lessons. I got a lesson off a mate and his wife on how to tie in and belay for a few hours. My mate got sent up ever single climb at penriths wall which was rather amusing while my daughter climbed top roped.

1 week later she wanted to go back and climb. I got my mate to check I knew how to tie the knot properly and off we went. I made sure she climbed within my comfort zone for the 1st few goes but then (As I had been advised I just let her get on with it).

We are looking to get her outside in the next few weeks to see what she thinks of it. I trust my pal with her safety but he knows I am watching like a hawk as I want to learn too

Brassneck, our local climbing team is currently setting up an outdoors coaching session for bouldering and roped climbing. I am not suggesting you come along but I looked on their website and they do coaching days. For 10 people it works out at about £10each for half a day. Surely one of your local instructors would do it for similar where you are based. I wouldn’t go outside unless I was with someone I trusted 100%, no way am I ready for that.

Not on the NICAS scheme. She started some NIMBAS thing but tbh its a bit like childcare and she ends up messing about. If she wants messing about I take her to the wall and have a competition with her. It seemingly very funny to see an overweight man with very dodgy knees fall from the top of the walls in a sweaty heap.

@LittlestHobo so the grades for the roped climbs range from 1 to 9b+.

Most walls use the Sport Grade system, and there’s a table here

It is impressive seeing loads of 8 year olds leading 7b.
Less impressive is the way it doesn’t translate into seeing more folk on the best Scottish crags.

chickenman, I haven’t really got an opinion on inside or outside. TBH I would love to climb outside on Scottish crags (My daughter rather than me). BUT I finish work, I have a son who I coach football and it got rained off last night. 15mins later me and my daughter were on the climbing wall practising. Its so convenient I cant see any issues with it.

Its going to happen for us, its just a case of when

Less impressive is the way it doesn’t translate into seeing more folk on the best Scottish crags.

I don’t see that as a bad thing.
Indoor climbing is a very different animal to outdoor sport and trad .
A lot of people get all they need from climbing indoors.

A lot of people get all they need from climbing indoors.

+1 – I have the opportunity to go outdoors with some of my mates, but i’d rather be off MTB’ing or playing hockey when the weather is good
Indoors i can hit loads of routes & problems

Less impressive is the way it doesn’t translate into seeing more folk on the best Scottish crags.

Well, it’s a bit of a drive for some of us 🙂 – the aim is to do so when both I and he have some experience and sufficient competence (and a few like minded people to start us off). If you don’t live in a traditional climbing area it can be difficult and dare I say a little intimidating to get going.

Thanks TLH for the answers, but of course it generates a few more questions 😀 – that sounds like top roped though? Don’t have a problem with that, it’s the transition to lead – my understanding is there is a different technique for belaying, and the climber needs a few extra skills to clip themselves in as they climb.. maybe some extra gear (I don’t even have a rope) that’s the bit I’m trying to get my head round. Seems like you and your daughter have made that leap, when the centers locally here seem to want him to 14 and climbing 6c (that bit isn’t a problem) before we can do a course.

Know what you mean about NICAS / NIBAS – he had some good groups, some bad. Main issue for us was hitting the timetables available, so I took it up to give us the flexibility.

FWIW on the grades – boulder problems seem to be harder than the top ropes for the ‘same’ grade IME – I’m certainly climbing higher grades than I’m boudering, mini B likewise.

Thanks TLH for the answers, but of course it generates a few more questions – that sounds like top roped though? Don’t have a problem with that, it’s the transition to lead – my understanding is there is a different technique for belaying, and the climber needs a few extra skills to clip themselves in as they climb.. maybe some extra gear (I don’t even have a rope) that’s the bit I’m trying to get my head round. Seems like you and your daughter have made that leap, when the centers locally here seem to want him to 14 and climbing 6c (that bit isn’t a problem) before we can do a course.

No, we started top rope for the 1st session with friends. My pal went up and put the top rope in for us each time and off we went. Then when we went back a week later it was lead climbing (Or am I confused about what lead climbing is?) otherwise we couldn’t climb.

She roped in, I got the belay ready and off she went. I just feed out ample rope for her to reach the first clip and then I feed out as quickly as she climbs. She has had to adjust her style a little as she was clipping to high to begin with and we have been told to ‘clip at the hip’. Reason being if she is pulling through enough rope to clip in higher up (Shoulder level) then that means if she falls whilst doing it she falls further. We also had to deal with screw gate carabiners which have been tightened too tight at the top of climbs which are a nightmare for her. Not sure if you are supposed to but we tend to unclip the quickdraws as she climbs down and then we top rope a couple of different routes from there to save time.

I think you are over thinking it tbh. I am not in a position to advise but if I was you I would ask someone with a bit of experience to help you out for an hour at a wall and you would be off. Around here a bit of confidence seems to go a long way.

Oh and another thing my daughter struggled with because she has small hands is actually opening the quickdraws whilst feeding the rope in. Its something when you show them feels easy but she really had to work for the first few goes to get her head around it. In the end I bought a quickdraw and a mate gave me 6ft of old climbing rope for her to practice in her bedroom.

I bought a 40m rope (Wish I had bought a 50-60m now)for about £50 from a store in Keswick. Theres some good offers at run rock climb I think.

Not sure if you are supposed to but we tend to unclip the quickdraws as she climbs down and then we top rope a couple of different routes from there to save time.

You can do that if you want, or you can just leave them as they are and climb past them.
Just make sure the rope is always through at least 2 points (normally both crabs at the top, with the screw gate screwed shut).

+1 – I have the opportunity to go outdoors with some of my mates, but i’d rather be off MTB’ing or playing hockey when the weather is good
Indoors i can hit loads of routes & problems

Haha, the exact opposite for me. On a nice day I’d rather be out climbing. Bikes and hockey are for the wet days.

And brassneck, try not to directly compare the french bouldering grades and route grades. Bouldering feels harder as they have to pack more punch into the problem.
As an example, the hardest sports route is 9b+ whereas the hardest boulder problem is 8C+. It’s going to take someone pretty special to find and complete the 9A boulder problem.

Chris, bouldering grades and sports grades can’t be compared as they’re not the same system!

French sports grades are not the same as Fontainebleau (“Font” or “French”) bouldering grades : A sport route graded F8a is usually going to have crux moves of about 7A (about V6 in the US bouldering system, and 6a or 6b in UK technical grades).

There isn’t a linear comparison between sport and bouldering grades, and there’s a huge variation in what makes routes hard – a route with loads of easy-ish moves could get the same grade as a route with one brick-hard move.

timb34 – That’s what I was trying to say, but badly. I was trying to suggest using them as an indication, but not to expect that because you can get up 6a route doesn’t necessarily mean that a 6A boulder will follow.

timb34 – That’s what I was trying to say, but badly. I was trying to suggest using them as an indication, but not to expect that because you can get up 6a route doesn’t necessarily mean that a 6A boulder will follow.

Plus it’s important to remember that whilst route grades seem to tend towards consistency over time, bouldering grades’ primary purpose* is to cause arguments. I know a chap who has flashed 8a but can point to a 5 he can’t do – and nor can anyone else I know – and yet that’s the consensus grade it’s been forever.

*The ranking of climbs according to difficulty is merely a fringe benefit.

That at least explains some of my confusion 🙂

TLH – you’re probably right, just want to start the boy out right as he’s smitten – seems to be his ‘thing’. Sounds you had a good leg up from your mate and just bypassed the top rope bit which I was pretty much starting from scratch with, so I’ve been following the advice from the centers.

Brassneck – Yep, we did one session of top rope and we were advised by her coach and my pal to just get her lead climbing as quickly as possible. I watched every youtube guide I could and took her. I was more nervous than she was tbh.

She hasn’t had a big fall yet though so watch this space……

For brassneck. Don’t pull it to bits. She’s just turned 8 and had been climbing on and off for 3hrs.

Just in case brassneck missed this.

Hi guys,

Any of you guys going to the Mcofs? Scottish champs this weekend, including speed climbing which should be interesting?

We have been for a training day recently to ratho so a little more seasoned now 😉

Be interested to know what comps everyone is doing?