Another week goes by and I'm back on the east coast city of Aberdeen. This weekends work involved 1:1 sessions with four talented up and coming crushers at Transition Extreme (Aberdeen Wall) and a circuit building/setting session with one of my coaching clients and friend, Phil Jack. I also snuck in a cheeky session at Orchestra Cave with Phil on the Monday. This week despite the weekend has been fairly busy... I've had some work at Ratho, a Ceilidh, a night out with two of my best friends (Geek and Buz) and a heck of a lot of training! I've been... Continue reading

Coaching GCRS: Aberdeen Rock Stars! The weekend has been a busy one. I've been coaching both days and have managed to squeeze in a bit of climbing alongside. Since I've been back from France I've been trying my best to get back into a steady training routine, however it's always hard balancing work alongside training. It's easier for me since I'm working at the wall anyway, but still, it can be hard fitting all the training into the rest of the day. On Saturday I got up early and headed to Ratho for 08:00. My first BRYCS club of the new... Continue reading

Only a day after I am back from France and I'm rushed straight into another job : P A fun one though and I was super psyched for it! I've been down in Kendal for the past couple of days route setting for the new and improved Lakeland Climbing Centre (AKA Kendal Wall). Kendal Wall has to be one of my all time favorite climbing centres. The sheer size of it allows for any climber no matter what level to enjoy themselves, theres now epic amounts of bouldering thanks to the new build just completed and they have some crazy high... Continue reading

Hey Guys I am finally home from my 2 week stint climbing in southern France. If you've been keeping up with the blog, you will know that I spent quite a bit of time climbing in the multipitch mad crag of Verdon. I ticked "The" classic of the gorge, none other than the famous tufa, "Tom et je ris" (8b+). It was an amazing experience to climb such an aesthetic line in such an exposed position and it's not a route that I will forget in a hurry. Anyway, things moved on a bit after ticking this epic route. First of... Continue reading

Yesterday morning, Alex and I awoke cursing at the 6:30am alarm. We groaned a bit, made some breakfast (muesli w skimmed milk - cause that's what athletes eat!), brushed our teeth, then drive to the Verdon Gorge (Rivière Gauche - left side). We drove through a huge damp cloud (a typical early morning occurrence in Verdon) before reaching the car park at the start of the walk.  We packed up all our gear and headed off into the forest, on our way to do battle with the legendary tufa, "Tom et je Ris". An hour and a quarter of walking up... Continue reading

I am finally getting my head sorted! No, I'm not getting my brain surgically removed - I know that a lot of people would prefer that - I'm finally getting my head into gear with all this climbing really high stuff. Alex and I did a classic 7a+ the other day called "Surveiller et Punir" which I think pretty much did the trick. It was awesomely technical and fairly exposed - it got me into a better place with regards climbing 120m off the ground and today I certainly felt the difference on "Tom et je Ris" (8b+). We've had two... Continue reading

Hey Guys So we've been in Verdon now for two days. Alex (Barrows) and I had a crazy drive down filled with hours of endless motorway, lots of winding country roads and one very unfortunate encounter with French 16 year old chavs! I left on a train from Edinburgh one day after Me and Nats Yorkshire trip. I travelled down to meet up with Alex in Sheffield before driving down to France the next day. I have never driven such a long distance before, of course I did none ofnthe actual driving, but sitting in the passenger seat took a lot... Continue reading

This weekend was our last in plum jam lovers country. After a whole month of camping, I can tell you we are both looking forward to getting home for a bit of rest (even If it's only a day for me). After my successful ascent on "Zoolook" (8a), I turned my attention to another popular Malham classic, "GBH" (8a+). After having a bit of an epic on "Zoolook", I was a little worried as to how "GBH" would feel. I think though that our previous rest day did us some good as we weren't nearly as tired as when we where... Continue reading

Since our last coaching trip, Nat and I have been pretty much knackered! All our energy, all our skin and all our motivation has dwindled and fallen away, we are empty shells of our former selves... I think a mixture of camping, cooking, climbing and coaching has drained us, without a car we can't get much new food, of which we've been running a little low recently (thanks to Dalvinder for the groceries) and sleeping in a tent has definitely taken it's wear on us. Anyway, enough moaning... I decided next to face a route that has looked good ever since... Continue reading

22/08/11 Today has been an enlightening day for both myself and Nat. First of all, we headed to the crag early on, with no Will to slow us down we were off at 10am, eager to get our renewed fingertips shredded on some Malham razor blade crimps. My plan for the day was more attempts on "Unjustified" (8b+), the previous day having had one attempt working out the moves. Nat was psyched to get stuck back into "Overnite Sensation" (8a+), finally something that has at least provided her with a bit of a challenge. Scoping out "Totally Free" (8b) and looking... Continue reading