Burning Volumes

A sad day for all of Ratho... the day Buzby burned the volumes in a moment of madness and what I believe is potentially the pyromaniac inside our faithful chief setter. Ewan Davidson cranking it at the comp

With the exception of a few tears from a few Ratho boulderers (and myself), the EICA Winter Bouldering Competition and Bonfire went exceedingly well. The day before the competition it was myself, Buz, Geek and Lisandro setting in the bouldering room. Although I never felt that my setting head was screwed on quite as tight as usual, I somehow managed to turn out a few good problems that caught the attention of those competing the following day. 

I set a funky White V6 right up the 45 board manoevering through the huge triangular volume from right to left. In my mind I wanted to set something that wasn't immediately obvious what to do and which would catch those out who wring handed or moved out of sequence. Watching climbers on the day, it did the right job with those who took the wrong sequence being either spat off early or forced into much more energy sapping moves which affected them on the final move (mantling the lip and undecutting the pinch to reach the final jug).

I also set a Fluro Yellow problem graded at around V7. This stopped most in their tracks but was techy enough and not simply brute force that meant those that took the time to work it out and plan their strategy actually managed to get high rather than just getting stuck on one move. Angus Davidson came close to a flash but had to settle for a 2nd go whilst Alan Cassidy flashed it whilst crimping the broken corner of the volume that everyonelse was pinching (it just looked painful!).

Alan Cassidy (TCA Coach) making awkward work of my Yellow V7 Volume weirdness!

What was great to see on the day was a good selection of Youth Teams from around the Scotland South region showing up to compete. We had our local youth team competing obviously, all of them doing well. From Glasgow the TCA Squad came through as well as a bunch of the Sterling climbers.Connor getting high on the Pink V-Board Bloc It is impressive to see how far Youth Climbing in Scotland has come since I started climbing, not only in the standards but also in the volume of kids taking part in the sport and enjoying the competetive element to it. I hope this continues in years to come as it is really a fantastic thing to see.Rory Whyte competing for TCA at EICA Although competitions can be stressful, they can also be great fun and provide valuable lessons to all those taking part. I know that Competitions have taught me a lot over the years and I know from watching the kids growing up in the comp scene now that they are too.

After the competition, we all headed outside into the darkness of night where the Ratho garden was lit up in flames by our Bonfire and fireworks. As I said before, the fuel for the bonfire was the much loved and missed volumes :( Gilles better get building some more soon :P Although it was cold, the bonfire and fireworks made up for it not to mention the tasty (though slightly raw) hamburgers cooked by Lisandro and Christian.

Thanks Guys for the food poisoning - only joking!