"As a Coach, my inspiration often comes from those I work with. Coaching kids in particular is incredibly fulfilling, especially with those that live and breathe climbing."   One boy I coach who has in my opinion, an affinity with climbing, is Connor Moore. He has just turned 11 years old and I have never met anybody who loves climbing as much as him. To say, being "obsessed" with climbing describes Connor, is a bit of an understatement... I'd say he defines the term "obsessed"! Anyone who remarks to his piano teacher that the difficult part of his piano recital is... Continue reading

On a beautiful sunny day, where better go than on a bouldering trip to Northumberland! Yesterday, Neill Busby and myself went with the Edinburgh based kids climbing club, the QuickDraw Club, bouldering at the popular Northumbrian crag of Hepburn. I've been here twice before, once on a cool crisp winters day and again on stiflingly hot summers day. Sunday however was neither hot nor cold, it was pleasant enough and perfect conditions for a fun day of climbing on Northumberland sandstone. Rory Whyte warming up on the classic cracks of Hepburn The group of kids attending ranged in ability levels from top competition... Continue reading

It's amazing how quickly time flies when having fun... That is as the saying goes but it's not entirely been true this trip. Time has flown by for me but I haven't been enjoying myself as much as I should have been. It's a common theme when pushing your own personal boundaries, when you're not going well, having fun seems to be a lot harder. What a stupid way to be though right? Why should having fun correlate directly with performing your best at the activity you are doing? It shouldn't realistically, I tell this to all the kids I coach... Continue reading

So we have just had days 3 and 4 of climbing in the mega steep, mega drilled limestone sports crag of Gorges du Loup (Gorges of the Wolf). After days 1 and 2 of climbing here I thought perhaps it was just me, tired after a long drive south and experiencing a bit of travelers exhaustion. Now having climbed after a rest day, I am more convinced that the style here has more to do with the difficulties I am experiencing.   Climbing at Deverse sector in Gorges du Loup is a lot like climbing on a hard competition style route... Continue reading

So we've been in France now for almost a week but haven't actually done much climbing as of yet :/ Me and Nat drove to France with Alex Barrows in his awesome orange van with the aim of first heading to La Balme, a popular locals crag 5 hours from Nice and from there we would then head to Gorge du Loup, an even better locals crag with some steep and  hard lines to get stuck into. Alex high on a 7c at La Balme On first arriving at La Balme we found it to be insanely hot and humid. We... Continue reading

Hey Guys! The last 3 days has been fun from start to finish. Nat and I have been away on a short trip to the UK sport climbing mecca of Yorkshire. As much as we love hopping on planes and jet setting off to sun baked crags in central Europe, we still find ourselves coming back to the land of puddings, rippers and grumpy farmers. To be frank, you can't go that wrong when you've got a 30minute drive radius from three of the biggest and best limestone crags in the country (Kilnsey, Malham and Gordale). I have spent only a... Continue reading

GO OATY! Hey Guys Big news for Natalie and I! We have both acquired a fun and exciting new sponsor to further support our climbing careers. This new sponsor of ours is an Edinburgh based company that many of you may have heard off due to their massively popular snacks, the Stoats Porridge Bars! Me and Natalie first became fans of these oaty bars whilst training at EICA: Ratho. We are always on the lookout for tasty healthy snacks to eat during our training sessions that provide optimum energy release throughout the whole day as well as keeping us light and... Continue reading

Hey Guys Today was another fun day at the big EICA. After all the excitement from yesterday I was unsure of how many of the kids would be there for a second day... turns out a lot! Nat and I were coaching a big group of Irish kids who had come through for their first taste of Ratho and the YCS Finals. None of these kids had competed before and most had only been climbing for a year but they were all mega psyched and keen to rip up the walls of Ratho. CORK YOUTH CLIMBING CLUB The format for the... Continue reading

Hey Guys! Busy day at Ratho (330 competitors!!!) What a day it's been. I've been at EICA: Ratho all day manning the Evolv boot demo stand whilst simultaneously coaching my kids taking part in the finals of the YCS. It's been pretty hectic and I can't quite put into words just how tired I am, it's a miracle I still have energy to write blogs and post pictures (although I just did down 8 Oreos with a glass of milk, that might have given me something extra :P ). David Miedzybrodski getting ready to demo! So, today is the day that... Continue reading

Hey Guys For all those gracing the Malham catwalk last weekend you will have noticed a slightly higher concentration of youth climbers pulling on the harsh polished limestone routes than usual. Malham on the first day... This was because the MCofS had organised an Elite Coaching day at Malham and I was down there coaching. We had two days climbing altogether (and an evening for myself and Nat on Friday) and in that time every kid did seriously well. The team included: Angus Davidson (Team Member)   William Bosi (Team Member)   Alex Waterhouse (Team Member)   Eleanor Hopkins (Team Member)   Rebecca... Continue reading