OK, so maybe the season begun a while back, but I've not posted on any of my bouldering this winter at all so I thought I would begin now :D To be honest, I don't tend to like posting about my bouldering as it is so utterly dissapointing compared with my route climbing. However, this year I have decided to take a big step forward in my bouldering in an effort not only to better my route climbing for 2013, but also to improve myself as a Boulderer. There is no doubt about it, I am a route climber at heart....

I have been so busy lately that I didn't have time/forgot to blog/felt bitter after losing what I'd written twice after not saving it properly to write about my 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th weeks - so here is an update on my recent adventures in which I have been mostly climbing, competing, working and...laughing! A few weekends ago (it all rolls into one at the moment!) I was off to Chamonix to compete in my second Coupe de France round in Difficulty and last weekend I was a bit closer to home in Echirolles to compete in the Coupe de...

The last two days have been so much fun and yet so tiring! Who would have thought that 14 hours route setting followed by 6 hours sleep and a full days coaching would be tiring :P Saturday was the MCofS Prep Event for the Youth Bouldering Open being held in Liverpool in December. I am going down myself acting as Team Coach and will be involved in the selection of the new GB Team on the Saturday for the Lead event and am going to offer my support to those going for the Bouldering as well. The MCofS Prep Events that...

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...

I'm now officially over half way through my stay here in Grenoble - 5 weeks down, 5 to go! Last week was a short working week due to Toussaints/All Saints on the Thursday, so I had a 4 days off to fill with climbing! After the Coupe de France last weekend I was exhausted, and even a few days later I was still very tired. I decided not to climb for 3 days in order to recover - getting up at 5:30am and having a full-on day of competition with 4 different routes and getting back late had certainly taken its...

How time flies when you're having fun! I am fast approaching the halfway point of my stay here in Grenoble and I still can't get my head around how much I've done and how much there is still left to cram into the next 6 weeks or so. Yesterday I took part in the first round of the Coupe de France, which took place in the Mineral Spirit Polygone hall in Valence. Quel beau mur d'Entre-Prises! ;) Firstly though, a brief description of the run-up to the competition since my outings at La Balme and Pierrot Beach last weekend. I decided...

I seem to be spending my life in the Vercors these days, not that I'm complaining - it's easy to see why I could find myself going back there, and in the case of this last week, going there twice in one weekend! The cold, crisp mornings of the week before disappeared and the fresh cover of snow on top of the 3 Massifs rapidly melted away almost overnight as temperatures soared, just in time for my 3 day weekend on rock! The Vercors from Pierrot Beach I had another enjoyable week at work and trained on the Tuesday night at...

I love climbing at TCA Glasgow! It's always loads of fun when you have endless amounts of boulder problems to go at. For me, as I climb and set mainly at EICA, I go through problems fairly rapidly, so having the TCA less than an hour away is really beneficial if I want to step up my bouldering level. This year, TCA are hosting 4 bouldering competitions across the winter months. I am going to use these as personal goals to focus my strength and power training over the winter. I did well in the last two events held earlier this...

I'm now into my 3rd week of 10 here in Grenoble, and so far the last week has definitely been the most full-on - I've barely had time to breathe! It's getting much colder here now and this morning we woke up to snow-topped mountains over in the Belledonne Massif and across the Chartreuse. This weekend I was in the Serre-Chevalier valley and around the Briançon area, and I am still in awe at the beauty of this area of France. On a separate note entirely, I have also just got back from the supermarket and I can announce that Brie...

Last weekend I competed in the 2012 British Climbing Championships (BLCC's) at EICA: Ratho in Edinburgh. I had not competed in a lead climbing competition since the previous years BLCC and have not regularly competed throughout the year in a few years.  It was a bit of a last minute decision to compete as I was supposed to be missing the event to go to Kalymnos for coaching work but unfortunately due to unforseen circumstances I had to cancel the trip :( So there I was at home with nothing to do! I was previously down for setting the BLCC's but...