After warming up, I headed down to try "Northern Territory"! I needed to familiarise myself with the moves again, so I looked over the problem, brushed all the holds, then started re-acquainting myself with the sequence. After a few goes, I had already made it to the final hard moves and was only failing to latch a two finger pocket! Then suddenly, on one attempt, I latched the hold I'd been struggling on previously and it felt like the easiest move in the world! It felt so easy now, I moved up statically to grab the next pinch... solid... then statically locked off to grab a two finger pocket... SAFE! After that, I through in a knee bar, reached to the next pinch and the rest was mine : ) SENT! I through in a few power screams for effect : P but the start felt so much easier than ever before. I was so psyched, what a perfect way to end the Bouldering season...

Andru and Tom came down from doing trad and attempted "Prime Time" 7B+. Andru was really close but unfortunately left without a tick, maybe next time dude. After getting some pictures of Andru soloing a severe crack, we headed round the corner to check out some bouldering on the other side of Kyloe i.e. the place I warmed up. It was then that I managed to finally do "Bar Skittles" 7A+ and even flash a very tricky 7A mantle problem called "Smooth Operator". I got shut down on an annoying sandy 7A called "Quarry Arete". Andru didn't get much done here, however Tom managed to do the 6C version of the mantle 2nd go!

It was getting late now, but there was still some light left, so we headed to Bowden to finish the day off. We started off playing in the cave, Andru was keen to do "Cave Right Hand" 6B+ so we spent some time on this fun little roof problem. Eventually Andru did it, Tom close but no cigar and we headed across the crag to the further left hand side of the wave. I soloed a nice HVS called "Shiner" and played on "Working Class" 8A+ a little. By now my skin was wrecked, however, I did try "Working Class" a bit last time and it seemed like it could be a good problem for me to work long run, so I am planning on trying it a little every time I come to Bowden. It isn't too hard until the last move really and its this that you need some guns for, but I think I could do it eventually. PSYCHED!!!

Tom pissed up "Toffs Jump" 7A, being 6'3" makes it quite easy, then he played some more on the left hand version, a lot harder! Andru threw himself (literally) at "Toffs Jump" 7A for well over half an hour, then when the sun set, gave up despite some very close efforts... maybe next time : )

Another good day out at the county... is it ever not a good day?

ROBZ OUT

On arrival, we encountered a strange creature lurking the crag, Ian Small! He had been in search for some climbing to do on his tod and without a spotter had almost opted to head back up to Edinburgh, however, now that we had arrived he joined in with our merry crew. Nat and I had decided to become loners for the day and sneakily crept off to do some bouldering elsewhere whilst the "old-timers" stuck to their pottering : P

I had seen quite a cool little video the previous night of a guy doing a 7B+ at Bowden, so after a quick wander about to try and find the elusive problem, I found what appeared to be a black flat vertical wall with some chalked up pinscars. The problem was in fact "Temptation" and both me and Nat had a little play on it. After about 4 or 5 attempts, I had figured out a good sequence and was slapping the final hold, unfortunately I kept slipping of it and I wasn't committing enough to the move since we only had one mat (I'm a pansy) and so I eventually sacked it off to save some skin for what I really wanted to do... "V CRIMPS"!!!

Nat and I headed down to the little cave to check out the elusive "V Crimps" 7C. I had heard about this problem from a mate of mine, Chris Miele. It looked absolutely sick and took quite a bit of figuring out to find exactly where it went (including a phone call to Andy Latta to give me beta : P ). After the phone call, I started to make really good progress, now managing to go from the sitter all the way to the double crimps (hence the name "V Crimps") but failing now on the cut-loose : ( Andy had told me of some trickery that Roddy Mackenzie had done, by sticking his left foot under the roof and toeing down on a foothold to kill the swing? First time I tried this, amazingly my knee fell against the underside of the lip of the roof and I got a good kneebar, enabling me to complete the next crucial foot manouvre (initially the crux for me) and then make the final move to gain the undercut to reach the final jug! After a few more attempts and failing on the final move each time, at last I gained the undercut without my foot popping, stood up and reached the final jug rail! IN THE BAG!!!

Next up on the agenda was the razor-blades from hell i.e. "Sprung" 7C! Nat and I quickly went over the sequence together, establishing our hand positions then figuring out our foot beta. Two attempts in and I had reached the final hard move, a cross through from a really sharp crimp to a positive edge. On my third attempt I fell after slapping the edge and on my fourth go hit the edge, stuck it and finished the problem off! YAY!!! This was a good day for me doing two 7C's (V9) in a day. I think "V Crimps" was good for the grade, quite a bit easier for me I think because of my height but still a notch harder than all the 7B+'s at Bowden. "Sprung" however I thought was probably a bit soft? I reckon 7B+ would be more accurate, if you've got enough skin and are willing to pull hard then its yours! Both quality problems and I'm psyched I chose them for today : )

After the success on these, I wasn't too bothered about doing anything else, so me and Nat drifted back along the crag to check up on the other guys. They where throwing themselves at "Transformer" 7A+ and Buz and Tony where after the eliminate left-hand variation given 7C. Unfortunately Buz and Tony, although making good progress, didn't finish it, however Ali and Ian both successfully climbed there project for the day and where happy with that.

Nat and I moved along the crag to try our hands at "The Crack" 8A! After 5 minutes of failing on the first move over and over again, we gave up and set off back to the car, stopping briefly to do "Captain Haddock" 7A+. Another good day out at the county : ) I'm off again tomorrow to Kyloe Out with Andru Mols so will blog again with some updates on my progression with "Northern Territory" 7C+ (V10)!

PSYCHED!!!

ROBZ OUT

Hey Guys...

Birthday + 3(Climbing)(Bowden/Kendal Wall) + 2(Setting @ Kendal) + Coaching(Edinburgh) = Northumberland --> Edinburgh --> Kendal --> Edinburgh = HEADACHE!!!!!

This is the equation of my tiredness right now : P I am pretty exhausted after my recent route setting trip to Kendal Wall. I had an absolutely awesome time hanging out with the Cumbrian crew in Kendal setting and climbing for two days, but I can't deny it wasn't hard work! There are now some stunning new lines for the locals to get their fingers stuck into including a windy 6b  and 7a+ on the main wall, a spicy pinchy 7c on the short steep board, a roof tastic 360 degree spinner horror show 7b on the main wall right side as well as 3 sick new circuits, 2 upstairs in the green room and 1 downstairs on the vert boards! I was mainly setting routes on the first day but afterwards, ran up to the green room to check out all the boulder circuits Kendal had to offer (set by Ian Vickers). I managed to flash the entire pro-circuit (the hardest one) apart from one problem (because I missed a volume which I thought wasn't included). I was pretty chuffed with my bouldering that night because of this as the Circuit was meant to be a V6 - V9 circuit, and for me, flashing all those problems was an awesome acheivement!

Anyway, this gave me quite a good idea of how hard their problems where in each graded circuit, so for my boulder setting day, I would be prepared and ready to set some awesome circuits! The Bouldering room I was setting in first is called the "Green Room". Its an awesome little wall with lots of character and some pretty cool angles including a mega roof with additional volumes, mantel board with long slab above and a jutting out flake feature which works well for stemming and lay-backing. As I had done most of the problems in the room the night before, I kind of knew the style of problems already set and I wanted to add something new, something of my own that the locals will love! Perhaps they will hate me for it, but I noticed a serious lack of contortion despite the Vickers setting : P I set two circuits in the green room and made sure to have plenty of balancy rock over mantles, lots of high stepping, a couple of weird ass moves such as bat-hangs to match the final hold and 360's in the roof! A lot of funk-tastic setting if you ask me : P After setting in the green room, I headed downstairs and finished of with the last circuit of my trip, a V4-V6 Green spotty on the vertical boards downstairs. This was a bit more of a challenge and I tried my best to avoid setting total filth, I think I did a good job : )  I set a horrendous slab problem which is probably about V6 in its own right pulling of the ground, but I figured out some cunning beta to balance yourself which involved flagging your foot behind your butt - another interesting and very not-obvious move. My favourite though was the last problem I set, which was on the vert board closest to the main hall. This involved flipping hands several times on nearly every handhold to balance your way to the top! If you can add at least an one extra hand position to every hold in order to allow completion of the problem, then you know you've done a good job!

Anyway, I had such a blast setting down at the Lakeland Climbing Centre i.e. Kendal Wall, and I really hope they ask me back to set. Thanks very much Tom and Liam for all your help during my stay and for genuinely being really cool guys! And cheers to the whole Kendal Wall crew staff and non-staff for all the help and my after-birthday meal : ) Looking forward to next time!

As well as my little trip down to the Lakes, the day before I was also at Kyloe In and Bowden with Nat, Sean and Andy for some boulder action! It was definitely the best trip I've had down so far purely due to the weather which was close to perfect, if it hadn't been for a slight drizzle. First we headed to Kyloe In the Woods, we had a quick we warm up on a few traverses down on the left-hand side and then a really fun highball V1 which Andy was crapping himself on : P

After warming up me and Andy had a little play on "Crouching Tiger" a spicy 7B+! It wasn't too bad actually, I did it up until the last move on one of my first few attempts, however, the holds where tiny, sharp and painful and my feet weren't really standing on much, so after a few goes and my skin looking a little like grated cheese, we stopped : P Then we moved onto "Cubby's Lip" 7B+. I had done this before and managed to repeat it comfortably to the last move (matching the jug) when my foot popped, but I wasn't too bothered since I had done the problem a while back. Nat however made an almost effortless flash attempt straight to the last hard move, then her heeled popped and she was on the ground again : ( Every attempt after that looked good but her finger was bothering her a bit and so we sacked it off for Bowden, not

before Andy however got a few glory shots of his attempts on a 7B dyno : P

At Bowden, the temps where absolutely perfect and because we got there a bit later in the day, the sun was right over the crag warming us at the same time when we weren't climbing : ) Absolutely perfect if you ask me! I had some fun on a 7A dyno which took a number of goes. When I finally did it, Andy and Nat had been looking the other way and neither of them beleived me that I had done it, even though I was matching on the final hold when they turned! Andy claimed I had somehow cheated (Dick!) so I was forced to repeat it on the spot... luckily... I did! Then I moved slightly right and did another 7B+ in a few attempts called "Poverty", similar to "Transformer" that I did a week or so ago, I reckon this is probably now in the region of 7A+/B? Then I tried my hand at "Working Class" 8A+! I was really surprised at this, managed to do all the first moves and straight to the second last move really, which happens to be the crux and probably 90% of the difficulty of the problem, then I gave up hahaha! I'll be back though!

After gathering our stuff, we headed back towards the others at "Transformer", but on the way I spotted the much tried and classic  7B+ "Vienna"! There was no chalk, but its a pretty obvious one when it comes to sequence. I tried it once and slapped the final jug... second go and it was despatched! Probably another 7A+/B in reality for me, especially since I am a bit taller, but I can admit that I reckon it would be tougher if I wasn't as flexible since I managed to make a high foot that Andy reckons not many get?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nYx-8tjLQk

Then we headed back to the others who where trying "Tranformer RH" 7A. I managed to bag a quick retro-flash of this and then went for a repeat of "Transformer LH" 7C/B? Which I fell off on the final move (pretty tired now : P ). Nat played a bit on LH which she looked strong on but lacked the height to make the crimp to undercut move as easy as I could and fell of at this point a couple of times. As soon as I can drive, I am forcing Nat to come down with me every week here and I want to see her dispatch everything in the county - I reckon she could with her fingers of steel : P

After a lot of fiddling with strapping getting the mats on the roof of the car, we were back on the road and heading straight back up to Edinburgh for my 21st Birthday meal : P  We were a wee bit late, but it was a good sacrifice for such an awesome day out at county with my friends : )

What a good weekend! After my two days of Kendal route setting, I then had a coaching session with the young masters of rock, William and Alex Bosi. We spent a good chunk of the session setting a hard project for them (v7ish?). Since I will be gone for 2 months of Williams training, it is essential that I get him kitted out with training to do whilst I am away, so we made a circuit of boulder problems together for him to go at every boulder session and the project is something he can work on every time he comes in for a bouldering session, although it looks like it might go pretty soon? I have been increasingly working with Alex more and more and I can tell you, he is a kid we need to watch out for. He has been ripping up the boulders at Ratho recently making quick ascents of most in the V4-6 region, even flashing his first V5's last night! BEAST! Lets hope for a YCS final placing this year dude!

And now its only 5 days until Spain, I have all my kit ready and accounted for, my fitness may be a bit crap but I am just hoping to be healthy and well before I get there, no last minute bugs or injuries! Bring on Spain and 2 months of nothing but bolt clipping! PSYCHED!!!

ROBZ OUT

First thing I did of the day was a nice wee 7A flash, it continued into an E2 that topped out of the crag, so I continued up that on solo! There was a really tricky section just after the boulder problem at about 5m up with some tasty monos and a horrible blind step onto a pocket! But all was good and I topped out with no problems : )  After that wee taste of adrenaline, I headed up to try a route called "The Tube"! This has been on my tick list since my first ever trip to Back Bowden with Neill Busby. When I watched him on it all those years ago, I said to myself that one day I would get on it. Its an awesome line, starting of up a pretty easy crack, moving up on some quite slopey features but still probably f6a climbing. After placing a couple of cams, you run it out straight into the break at the top of the crag! As I arrived here, I noticed the crack was wet and was very hesitant to continue, but on I went, I stepped up precariously and gained the upper break. Fortunately it wasn't too bad, still quite dry on the actual hold, however, there was no gear here that I could find and I had already run it out quite a few metres. After toying with the thought to continue and risk it, the reality of Spain in 3 weeks time shot back into my mind and rather than potential broken bones, I opted for 2 months fun in Spain, so I down-climbed and backed away - it will still be here after Spain and maybe someone will have broken a nice big slot for a cam at the crux : ) Only joking!

After fun on "The Tube", I headed down to check out some of the problems that Tim and Sean where playing on. Basically, they were all absolute filth and I had no real inclination to climb any of them other than the fact that everyone else seemed psyched... oh well!?!?! So I flashed the 7A, which I think may have ripped about 30 layers of skin of each pad on my fingers and I did the 6C after a few goes... really only because I had to figure out how to climb this problem without using any of the painful, blade crimps! So when I actually did the problem, I did it in 3 moves instead of my initial sequence which was 5 : )

After playing on the chossy, mossy, crimp fests, I headed over to the main cave and began work on a 7C that i had had a wee look at on a previous trip with Niall McNair and Nat. The good news was, it felt a lot easier i.e. I did it from the second move! The bad news was, I still can't do the first one, however after talking to Andy Latta on the phone about an hour ago, he seems to have some tricky foot beta which makes the first move much easier : ) So thats for the next trip I think?

I then headed over to see what Tim was on, a funky arete feature that i had climbed last time with Niall, however, this was more of an eliminate variation i.e. avoiding a crimpy rail out right. It was a really nice problem and I basically flashed it, apart from after mantling the top, my foot popped and I fell... a minor issue with the flash... BUT IM STILL TAKING IT!!! : P  Tim continued to try it a bit more as we left for Bowden, but after returning home I heard that it was to no avail and he had to leave, sacrificing the problem for some questionably deserved Belford cakes : P

Me and the guys headed round to Bowden for some more bouldering action, unfortunately, it started to rain as we got round and everything seemed to be kind of wet : ( I decided that Transformer LH looked like quite a good problem, so went for that! Graded 7C, it seemed like it would kind of be a bit folly going for this in such bad conditions, however after the first actual attempt after figuring out the sequence, it seemed remarkable that it might actually go! A couple of goes later I had ticked it, with wet shoes and in the rain?!?!?!?! The speed of the ascent was enough to doubt the grade, but also I think the conditions where another factor... I don't like to downgrade, but there's is no way in Bowden that that is Font 7C! I reckon probably 7B at most, it was tricky for me, but I am a pretty shoddy boulderer to say the least : P An ace problem, very eliminate which i hate, and very over-graded, but definitely worth it anyway, especially if you want to take the 7C tick which is perfectly acceptable in these modern grade hunting days : P

With that in the bag, we headed home... Another successful and fun day in the county : )

Also, well done to Tom for ticking his first "real" 7A, so he says and cheers to Robert for belaying me and giving me a crash course in gear placements before "The Tube"!!!

All photos are by Sean Bell as well - cheers man for the awesome pics!

Finally, I also want to say a big thanks to my sponsors Edelrid (DB Outdoor) for supplying me with all my kit for Spain this week, some of which I was using today at northumberland : )

20 x Beautiful Edelrid Quickdraws

2 x 80m Ropes (9.1mm + 10mm)

New Crag Bag

Lots of new clothes

2 x New Pairs of Edelrid Climbing Shoes (Typhoons + Ravens)

Nice one guys!!! Catch ya's all later!

ROBZ OUT