The Rock Climbing Thread

My nearest wall is 10 minutes away and my nearest crag 15.  And I’m still thinking of putting a moonboard mini in the garage 🙂

I’ve been out qute a bit recently but struggled in the heat as most everything is S facing….

I’ve not been out since Feb half term! Exam season for the kids now so planning on getting out after. But I am weak and injury prone so thinking regular board sessions + antagonist somethings… might help with both. Also it’s a bit of fun given that there are already 142,000 problems already logged on the 2016 set.

“Did you see the climbers? They look grubby and very tired!”
Overheard in the CalMac waiting room in Castlebay after returning (grubby and tired) from a week on Pabbay.

I get a touch of imposter syndrome poking my nose into this thread so had a similar feeling of doubt that my climbing skills were up to scratch when joining a wee team heading out from Barra on the Boy James last week.

Stunning conditions for a few days got me into the swing of things before wind and swell built up a bit. Committing sea cliff abseils are always a little intimidating so mellow seas and passing porpoise feeding in tide races made for a bit more of a chilled mood for the climbing than I know that the Atlantic can throw at the cliffs.

My total lack of climbing fitness due to injury/life stuff getting in the way was a bit frustrating, but the rock was amazing, the crew an absolutely sound bunch of folk and the island itself a totally refreshing place to be. Inspiring to see folk getting onto some astonishing and improbable looking routes too.

Incredible wildlife including minke whale, dolphin, porpoise and grey seals, skua, snipe, corncrake, terns, gannets and sea eagles to name a few. Not many cliff nesting birds at all which was a bonus for the climbing. Bioluminescence in the sea during a midnight dip was a mind blowing surprise – I thought it only happened in warmer waters, but it turns out that it’s just more likely that folk go nightswimming without the prerequisite amount of alcohol advised for Hebridean seas.

I’ll hopefully be posting in here more frequently as I’ve realised that need some proper climbing mileage to make the most of such amazing places and really wish I could have done more before this trip.

Bàgh Bàn
Grey Cossack
Spooky Pillar
The Great Arch (not somewhere I ventured, but I’d love to return for The Priest or Prophecy of Drowning some day)

taking my son and his mate to the local climbing wall tomorrow for a spot of bouldering to see how they take to it.

my climbing shoes have seen better days. any recommendations. sportiva tarantulace seem pretty good value from go-outdoors and I could pick some up later but some reviews of them seem a little dismissive…

I wore through my pair in no time at all @jam-bo I was a total beginner at that point though.  They’re very comfy, and not very good if your climbing harder than very low grades imo.  I like La Sportiva Finales, they’re quite expensive these days though.

I was bouldering indoors today at the depot in Manchester, just haven’t had the weather to climb outside at all recently 😕

Pabbay Pink Wall area, attempted new line that went nowhere. Amazing place, I did ten trips there over the years

Am getting back into it after a long break.  Indoors only currently but nice to know I can still climb reasonably.  Hoping to get up to the peaks in the summer and aiming for font next year

I’ve been taking my nephew recently, dusted off my chalk bag and the belt is a bit tighter.

I’ll buy a new harness and encourage him off the boulder mats.

Just before I stopped climbing I picked up some dragon cams. Does anyone retape the dyneema?

I get a touch of imposter syndrome poking my nose into this thread

Imposter syndrome, the actual state of you. I got a nosebleed just looking at those photos. That’s incredible.

any recommendations.

Go to a climbing shop, try on lots.

Just before I stopped climbing I picked up some dragon cams. Does anyone retape the dyneema?

I have retaped my friends.

Not really sure I needed to but they were easy enough.  Trouble is I did them a few years ago and have still not used them outside

Just before I stopped climbing I picked up some dragon cams. Does anyone retape the dyneema?

Think DMM will resling Dragons. Otherwise you could cut off the slings and replace with Dyneema cord tied off with a triple fisherman’s. Knot is a little bulky but does the trick.

Just picked up a set of tarantulas from go-outdoors. For £65 they’ll do for now and will be better than a mouldy 20yr old set of 5:10 ascents.

If the fit is OK then Tarantulas aren’t terrible, especially when they’ve softened up a bit.  There’s a bloke local to me who climbs routes and boulders a lot harder than he should in a pair (8a and 7B in them)

Seem ok, got blue feet now…

Managed a surprisingly calm and solid retro-flash* of a 7a at Moy yesterday so it seems the hard work is paying off.

*After 15 years one might as well call it a retro-onsight!

Nice !!! And nice when you do the training, and climb well and solidly after :-).  That’s what I’d like to do as well, but I’ve flashed a bunch of 6b’s the last few days so maybe…..

And nice when you do the training, and climb well and solidly after :-). That’s what I’d like to do as well, but I’ve flashed a bunch of 6b’s the last few days so maybe…..

I’ve been using the crimpd app to structure training and it really seems to be working for me.

Killing time until Celtman support runner duties. Being very, very careful not to turn an ankle or such like!

Last week Blackstone bouldering, got a couple of things done (details of World’s softest 6B available on request) and a few things to go back to. So much good stuff up there – I’m on upwards of 130 boulder problems and still plenty to go at. Bumped into a psyched bunch cleaning and checking for the next Lancs definitive guide. Good stuff. Also had a look at a couple of more local projects and still felt miles off. Hard to train for tiny crimps indoors – they’d be too scared of injuries to set them! Another fruitless exercise on some N Wales limestone at Ruthin. Must Get Stronger.

Organised a sneaky flight to Marseilles with my son to revisit some of my favourite areas. Flight was late landing so we had a rushed 70 minute spree at Sisteron. Creat climbing, shit photo.

Then got fully shouted up by the Gite man for phoning him and saying we wouldn’t arrive till 11

Ailefroide slabs in the sun today.  Did a wee multi pitch in the sun

then fled to Fissure d’ which was also in the bloody sun. Messed about in the easy stuff at the bottom.

Where some halfwits had their babies at the bottom of the cliff… 12 climbers scattered about , all wearing helmets, including the parents of the babies.  The bloody cliff is getting on for a thousand feet high and covered in slime and stuff where stuffs been falling during the recent storms, and they’ve got a 7 month old playing at the foot of the crag WTAF.

Just signed up for a 5 day trad leading/multipitch course in two weeks. 4 days on Dartmoor in my backyard and a day on the sea cliffs down in Cornwall,

Ailefroide slabs in the sun today

How are things looking there? Sounds like the area got pretty hammered in those storms.

We’re off rafting today, so I’ll hopefully tell you later.  A bit scared TBH as the bloke said it was too high for kayaks gonflable.

The main road up the valley is diverted due to the bank getting washed away. And the path to Fissure d’ is diverted as part of it washed away. There’s a lot of debris a long way above the river. Not noticed any difference on the climbs, apart from the fact that the Cascade is too high to climb that lovely easy multi pitch route.

Have a good one! Great part of the world….. but have also had dodgy crag practice going on there before. I remember working a route there and with no warning/shout loose rocks and an ab rope appears and the descending team seemed annoyed at me that I could possibly be on a route that coincided with their descent. Awesome place, somehow attracts entitled idiots. Campsite seemed full of naked blokes too for some reason.

Got any plans for Buoux? That was my favourite crag near Marseille bitd.

photo upload appears to be broken…

First time I’ve looked in this thread, some great photos that remind me of a previous life.

I stopped climbing 16 years ago in 2008, my last route was The Old Man of Hoy. A superb day out, the climbing is a bit poor but it’s all about the position and adventure.

It got very blowy at the end, difficult to forget looking through the final crack to see the white horses on the sea, then sitting on the top in a weird calm before realising we had to get back down.

A great day to finish on but I’ve never missed it once

Just back from 10 days in Wales staying at Dolgam campsite. Climbed every day for 10 days and visited 15 new (to me) crags. Bloody brilliant!

Olympic Bouldering semis on Discovery+ right now. Can’t help thinking they shouldn’t have held this outdoors in Paris in August.

couple of weeks back, did a 5 day learn to lead course. 4 days on dartmoor (sheeps tor, dewerstone) and then a day down at bosigran.

just need to bite the bullet and buy a trad rack…

@martinhutch  was/is the coverage decent? As the BBC showed half then just cut to pin pong or something else I’d rather not have watched given the choice. I don’t mind paying for things if the channel actually shows what I want to see.

Olympic Bouldering semis on Discovery+ right now. Can’t help thinking they shouldn’t have held this outdoors in Paris in August.

Should be down at Fontainebleau.

Should be down at Fontainebleau.

Not in August!

A couple from Latheronwheel last week.

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A couple from Latheronwheel last week. Tide getting close in the first one!

toby1Full Member

@martinhutch  was/is the coverage decent?

Sorry, didn’t spot this, had to miss the final too as I was driving to Cornwall at short notice…

I gave up expecting the BBC to put any of it on, paid for the Disco+ sub and their coverage was great. Shauna Coxsey co-commentating, the only issue was the French TV feed cutting to anyone remotely French just as someone else was trying to top out.

Good comp in the end, setting was spot on – they even found some to give Janja a hard time.

Yes, good coverage on Disco+ with Matt Groom and Shauna Coxsey on commentary. Felt nice and familiar, like IFSC coverage. Setting was very good. I think the setting team should feel pretty happy with their work.

Stunning pics as ever @Spin.

Finishing my MSc dissertation, a month with a bad back followed by COVID have seen me climb twice in about 2 months ?

Really need to do something other than type, but not got the energy to go to the wall tonight. I did do aone of the classic rock routes on Tryfan a couple of weeks back.

just need to bite the bullet and buy a trad rack…

I have a bunch of maybe 6 or 8 quickdraws that I’m realistically never going to use again.  They’re old but they’ve been used like twice, indoors, before I decided that leading really isn’t for me and stuck them in the bottom of my climbing bag.  I’d part with them for a modest fee or postage + a charity donation, if they’re of any interest?

just need to bite the bullet and buy a trad rack…

No need to buy the whole shebang at once. I’m starting to think that the noble art of nut placing is falling out of fashion so there’s nothing wrong with climbing for a bit without cams or on a limited selection of cams.