The Transition - Where is it I am going?

A lot of people have been confronting me recently on my apparent change of focus to trad climbing. For those of you who don’t know, I would probably be regarded as a “sport climber” if you were to file me into a category… and I definitely wouldn’t disagree here as sport climbing is what I have primarily done up until recently.

The real answer to the question, “why the sudden change?” is actually not that difficult to comprehend. In fact the route to this question stems from the reasons why I started climbing in the first place… Challenge!

Me climbing "On The Rocks" E7 6c (Photo by Russell Lovett)I have learned more about myself from climbing than anything else I have done. Climbing has brought me so much in life… travel, experiences, friendships and a pathway. And climbing has brought me to one ultimate understanding… I need challenges or I get bored :P

After climbing “Bellavista” in the Dolomites last summer with Logan Barber, I found myself back in my usual routine at home… training, coaching, setting and looking forward to the next sport-climbing trip abroad. Something was different though and I wasn’t totally happy with my situation. I found myself thinking back to the experiences I had climbing “Bellavista”; being up there in the mountains, the exposure whilst climbing hard, the fear, the thrill and everything that goes along with being pretty out there on a climb whilst trying to push your limit! It really was the ultimate experience and everything else felt so dull in comparison…

I went on a jaunt to Rodellar with a hope that I could rekindle that burning flame J It was a fun trip of course, I was with good friends and I was climbing well… but still it felt a little off, not quite what I was accustomed to. Everything was so easy out there… You get up, make your lunch, go to the crag, clip some bolts, come home, have dinner, watch a movie, go to bed, sleep, repeat… The formulaic approach to the comfortable sport climbing lifestyle just didn’t exhilarate me as much as it had done before. I still absolutely loved the experience of climbing hard sport routes, but I did know that what “Bellavista” gave me was more than just a tick in the guidebook and another grade to add to the list; it was an experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life, it shaped me and made me grow more than any experience I have had in a long long time.

When I came home I did some soul searching… I asked myself deep questions. The truth is that none of the questions can really be answered, but they can be pondered. I think it’s good to ponder about life and choices from time to time as it provides some form of clarity or “feeling of direction”. One of the many questions I asked myself was “Why I climb”? This is an easy one at first glance; because I enjoy it! Simples! However, when I dug deeper I found the answer was a little more complicated as I wanted to understand what I derive my pleasure in climbing from.Deil's Head

In the past I have taken great enjoyment in the experiences I have had when training for a project, sending a project, travelling, meeting new people, making friendships and more recently undertaking a monumental goal to accomplish something really BIG! The social experiences I have in climbing are incredible and to be honest don’t really change so much between what activities you partake in whether its at a wall or at a crag. However the challenges of the climbs I do was an obvious element to look into and what became very apparent was that I gained most enjoyment from overcoming incredible obstacles! Many of these obstacles took the guise of mental barriers such as “Fear” (in one form or another).

“Bellavista” scared me… but I overcame it! I made decisions on that wall to fight rather than give in, to go rather than stop and basically to end a battle with my mind one way or another!

I realized that I needed new stimulation, a new arena to fight in and something else that offered more than just a wall to figure out the sequence and fight my way through it. I still have much to learn and improve upon in the arena of hard sport climbing, but I decided to look into testing myself at trad climbing with a view to preparing myself for some bigger more adventurous stuff at a later date.

Neil working the moves on "Deil Or No Deil" (E8 6b)So that’s it, I have started my trad apprenticeship officially in 2015 :D It’s been a good January of getting into it. I have made a few trips down to Northumberland where with friends I have made some fun head-point ascents of known classics such as “On the Rocks” E7 6c, “Off the Rocks” E8 6c and even took a belter of a fall from “Peak Technique” E6 6b. The other amazing experience I had recently was my first ever trad first ascent alongside one of the key inspirations in my climbing life, Neil McGeachy. Together we climbed the “Deil’s Head” on the Arbroath sea cliffs on trad gear, a line that hasn’t been freed before and we head-pointed it giving it E8 6b naming it “Deil Or No Deil”.

So far the challenges of keeping a cool head and climbing under pressure have been intriguing to say the least. I am interested to see how I respond to more scary trad routes, how my strength of character on the wall holds up against varying styles of climbs. So far the routes I have done have been less technically challenging and more mentally so, but I am keen to explore what the harder more technical trad climbs offer (albeit being safer). Of course I don’t want to limit my scope and I really do want to diversify and experience all styles, so I am hoping to travel around and make the most of the British trad crags and not to only seek out hard head-points but to challenge my skills as an on-sighter as well. I respect that both styles offer advantages and disadvantages and are equally as impressive in their own way, so I would like to do both.

Of course the ultimate goal is to seek out newer challenges hopefully culminating in some first ascent action in Scotland and beyond :D Looking forward to everything that this year holds with a new step in my climbing development!

Neil happy to have topped out on "Deil Or No Deil" FA!!!