On the 6th July, I headed to Sheffield to climb in The Peak District with Steve ‘OffWidth’ Clarke and on the 7th. Before hand we decided on Burbage North as it was hot and it had easy access and escapes.
The first route I toproped and succeeded on was a an arete, yes an arete, called Overhanging Buttress Arete. The route has a technical start where the first foothold is a smear – this wasn’t made easier by the fact I was wearing downturned shoes that I use at walls – but the smear held in place. After a move after across the arete the climbing is easy – but I made the mistake of pulling too much and getting myself into lock off positions.
Steve Clarke leading the route I later toproped.
The next route I tried but I didn’t complete was Burgess Groove (M).
Anna leading Burgess Groove (M).
Two small un-named micro routes – one I did on toprope and the other I did as a second.
After my failure on Burgess Groove I did two small routes that at the time were unnamed and not in UK Climbing log books. One of them, which Steve later Grassy Corner (M), I did as a second after Steve rope soloed it and the one, which Steve named Cleft and Wall (M), I did on a toprope. Both of these routes required some pushing movements which tested my antagonist muscles training. Grassy Corner is a lovely little groove that has nice footholds and tests your bridging ability.
Some photos of me climbing the two micro routes at Burbage North which then Steve named. Photos taken by Peter O’Donovan
A very short trip to The Foundry Climbing Wall
After a break I headed to the Foundry Climbing Wall which was a short walk from the hotel which I was staying in. After passing my ropework proficiency and warning up I headed to the tip floor bouldering area as there was nobody to lead or with. I am going to say much but I attempted problems of many grades including easy grades and the hardest grade band. During this time I tried to use dynamic movement on steep problems as we were taught in BMC Fundas 3.
A small review of the La Sportiva TX4 approach shoe.
As I bought these during lockdown, this was the only the second time I wore them on the way to a crag and first time I wore them at a crag. On approach to a climb and escaping the climb I found the shoes to be very supportive and solid. On climbing Mod graded routes – as I did in this trip – the Vibram Mega Grip sole worked really well on the grippy rough gritstone. I found that the shoe was supportive enough even on sideward facing handholds and small-ish footholds.
A quick review of The Foundry Climbing Wall
In early mid September I returned to Sheffield to indoor lead climb with a Mini Mansell – yes that is right, all the way to Sheffield from London just to indoor lead climb – who I met in a FB group called Sheffied Climbers, at The Foundry I lead my first F4+ and lead belayed safely. The Foundry had met all the expectations I had for it. The bouldering areas have a wide variety of problems of all styles and grades but the main feature of that bouldering that is loved by many climbers is The Wave where hardcore climbers can train for routes from F7c to F8c – yes F8c. For roped climbers who don’t have a partner there are many autobelays in both The Fridge and the main roped area – I believe that they go all the way to F7a. For top-rope lovers there are many routes and the grades start from easy F3 all the way to F7a I think. For lead climbers there are many areas – including The Fridge where I did my 1st indoor lead – but the biggest area is the Five Ten Overhang where the highest grade was F8b when I was there last. Training wise, The Foundry has an old school pull up bar and dip bars and the original Jerry Moffatt campus board – I used it before I lead climbed – and near the main bouldering area there are several fingerboards and behind them there is an area with weights, mats and a foam roller.
The Foundry Climbing Wall
A review of The Black Diamond ATC for indoor lead climbing.
When I lead belayed my climbing partner at The Foundry I didn’t use my GriGri 2019 because I didn’t have enough practice on paying out slack with it but what I had used to lead belay was my Black Diamond ATC belay device. I found that light BD ATC could pay our slack smoothly and efficiently and as well as the GriGri 2019. What I liked about using the ATC was there was not much when setting up to lead belay and paying out slack.
A long TripAdvisor review of The Quays Hotel in Sheffield – I have included this because of the training facilities in the hotel.
A long TripAdvisor review of Novotel Sheffield City Centre – I have included this because of that training facilities and the proximity to Sheffied Hallam University.
Photos of Novotel Sheffield City Centre – more can be found on my Facebook page.
Une petite revue de Depot Climbing Nottingham
Last week I met up with Steve again, this time in his home town of Nottingham, to train and climb at Depot Climbing Nottingham and Nottingham Climbing Centre.
In my honest opinion I think it is the best bouldering facility in Nottingham – the Nottingham Climbing Centre has a good bouldering area. It is a large single floor bouldering only wall with a vast amount of problems of different, styles, angles and grades. This wall has the majority of equipment needed to train – I couldn’t see the competition wall or gym area, they may have been out of bounce. I would like to say that like its brother in Sheffield, Depot Climbing Nottingham, has very friendly and very helpful stuff – a member checked to see if they had La Sportiva Skwarmas in size Europe 41.5 in stock.
First Friction Labs products testing – Secret Stuff Liquid Chalk with Gorilla Grip Performance Chalk.
At my last visit to Depot Climbing Sheffied I tested the two Friction Labs products – their excellent Secret Stuff Liquid Chalk and their High Performance Gorilla Grip Chunky Chalk – that I bought from the shop in Depot Nottingham. I tested them out on a competition wall problem that involved huge pinches. The Secret Stuff liquid chalk lasted the whole of the testing part of the session and the Gorilla Grip really held on those huge pinches – I worked the problem as much as I could and each time the chalk gave me the extra edge I needed.
Yes, that is legendary Ben Moon next to me in the following photos.
A very small review of Friction Labs Gorilla Grip and Secret Stuff Liquid Chalk
Even though, this is the first time I used these two products together, they work really well as a team. On large volume pinches both products work very well. In my opinion one application of Secret Stuff is very long lasting and can work both as a base layer with another chalk and solo. It is very easy to use and after words can be easily washed off after the session is finished. I have never used Gorilla Grip chalk before, the chunkiness of the chalk made it very easy to break and apply to the hands. During my time using it I only had to apply it or it two times. In my opinion, I think Friction Labs Secret Stuff and Gorilla Grip are two of the best climbing chalks around and, yes, I do hink they are good value for money.
Thanks
I would like to thank Steve Clarke for helping on the way to Burbage North and at the crag, I would also like to say a big thank you to him for driving me around Nottingham and his hospitality in Sheffield and The Peak. I would like to thank Ania Kaminska for her help on the way to that crag and at the crag. I would like to thank the very friendly and helpful staff at both Depot Climbing Nottingham and Depot Climbing Sheffield for all their help and the staff at The Foundry Climbing Centre for letting me lead climb at their wall.
A little bit about the author.
Savvas holds the Indoor Climbing Assistant award and is Climbing Wall Instructor (CWI) and Foundation Coach (FCA) trained. He has attended the majority of BMC Coach Education workshops and is going to do Development Coach Training this January with Ian Andrew Dunn. At present he is working on getting all the indoor leads. He is doing an online NSPCC course on Child Protection in Sport and Physical Activity and will attend a First Aid Course in the new year. In the near future Savvas hopes to do his Foundation Coach assessment and his Rock Climbing Instructor (RCI) training. Last Summer Savvas was told by Ian Andrew Dunn that a certain Kendal based climber would love for him to do the route Sabotage (8c+) at Malham Cove. This April Savvas is heading to that bouldering paradise of Fontainebleau. Savvas is sponsored by Friction Labs.
BMC Fundamentals of Climbing 3 – Advanced Technique
Can Neil ‘Gresh’ Gresham comp climb?
Finally, after two cancellations – one due to not enough attendees and one due to COVID 19 lockdown – I did the BMC Fundamentals of Climbing 3 workshop .
BMC Fundamentals of Climbing 3
On the 7 June I travelled to Kendal to attend a BMC FUNdamentals of Climbing 3 Workshop at Kendal Climbing Wall with Ian Andrew Dunn on the 8 June. The usual start of introducing ourselves was a bit different as on the introduction list there was two points of coaching – one in clients and one in previous coaching experience. On the point on previous coaching experience I said I didn’t havemuch apart from this and that and on the clients one I said hopefully GB team climbers one day. Unlike the other BMC workshops I attended, the group only consisted of three attendees (excluding Ian) – Adam who I know from Facebook, another person and myself. After the introductions Ian told us he renamed the workshop ‘developing techniques’ and told us how the day would pan out. He then asked us what makes a difficult technique difficult and used the rockover as an example, I said high footholds and flexibility. We then looked at tracking a climber on an indoor sport climb where we observed her centre of gravity, centre of mass and technique. Our next topic was the difference between Base of Support (BoS) – which we covered in BMC Fundamentals of Climbing 2 and Points of Suspension (PoS), to demonstrate this Ian showed us a video of Canadian climber Sean McColl climbing at very hard bridging, smearing and palming problem at CWIF (Climbing Works International Festival). After all the discussion was done the group headed to the Marmot Loft where after a warm up session we climbed easy problems – myself, due to my fall at WestWays earlier in the year – I climbed as high as I wanted to, Ian got us climbing upside down on problems where a small roof was a start. When it came to the roofs I forgot to engage my core so I didn’t get far. After roofs we moved onto the one of the hardest circuits – the murples – where with Ian’s encouragement I tried one with weird sloping holds, here I forgot to read the sequence and missed the foothold on the adjacent wall, so I tried again using bridging and the adjacent hold but at the end I didn’t complete the problem, before we headed for lunch the last problem we looked at was a dynamic double gaston problem where you had run up get your foot on that foothold then commit to that double gaston, I myself had a go but tried it statically and managed the double gaston.
F8c Sport climber versus a Team GB competition climber
After a 45 minute lunch, where before Ian advised me that a take away pizza was not a lunch for a well honed athlete , the group reconvened in the La Sportiva room. Our first point of discussion was advances in climbing including the use of kneepad for kneebars that Adam Ondra is known for – one thing we discussed here was whether a kneebar rest downgrades a route, to demonstrate this we watched The Foundry Climbing instructor Eder Lomba climb Steve McClure’s Rainman (F9b) – the hardest sport climbing route at Malham and possibly in the country. Ian told us that Eder managed to hold the knee bar above Raindogs (F8a) – a classic power endurance route at Malham – because Eder had been doing squats and other leg work but others like GB climbing team member Jim Pope who is super strong couldn’t hold the kneebar rest for long. The next video Ian showed us was a clip from La Dura Dura video where good friends Adam Ondra and Chris Sharma try to climb what was then the hardest sport route in the world called La Dura Dura (F9b+), here we compared the climbing styles of the two athletes and found out why Ondra shouts when he climbs – he breathes! We then discussed the various forms of dynamic movement – slaps, udges, dynos, paddling – and the use of momentum in dynamic movement. To demonstrate the use of momentum Ian showed us a video of the German Climbing Team training using momentum. We then headed to the training room – where the infamous Neil Gresham Malham Board is – to practice dynamic climbing and using momentum. To warm up, we did jumps, first using no momentum – nobody got far – then we added momentum using our arms, I, myself made it half way across the matt but others made it further. Our next activity was using momentum on campusing holds, myself I was a bit scared to let go of over the holds to give it a go. We next visited the very steep circuit board where each of us practiced udges -a short yet accurate dynamic movement – I, myself couldn’t do, others did but I was told I could pull the holds well. After all this we headed back to the Marmot Loft where we learnt and practiced slaps, I found out that I was quite good at slapping technique. The last exercise that we learnt was the dyno, I didn’t attempt a dyno but I did a great big slap instead to finish our activities Ian and the other two group members practiced momentum coordination dynos. To end the day we headed back to the La Sportiva room for a debriefing on what we learned and what each if would d next.
Note: During our time in the workshop we also discussed the life of climbing equipment and when equipment should be retired and replaced. The reason this topic came up was that I was told that ropes have a ten years lifespan and after that they cannot be used as ropes as around ten years ago I bought two ropes and I didn’t know what to do with them. I took one with me to Kendal so I could give it to Dirtbags Climbing – a recycling organisation based in Kendal, but on the way back from Giggleswick South Ian Dunn told me different. As my rope had never been taken out of its packaging, had never been used was kept under my bed in the dark, I decided to keep it – and the other one offcourse.
Una revisión de las instrucciones de GriGri (2019) de Ian Dunn
After the workshop Ian and myself headed to the training room where Ian taught me how to use a GriGri 2019 to pay out slack for lead climbing. I found his instructions to be clear, concise and very easy to understand. Ian is as good instructor as he is a coach. Even though, I kept getting the hand positions wrong, Ian put persevered and eventually I payed out slack using the GriGri 2019. During this time, Ian said something to me that was to do with the Neil Gresham Malham circuit board that was on the training room, where the hardest circuit is F8c training: ‘three rounds of pink circuit with red footholds is Sabotage, no way’. Sabotage is Neil Gresham’s hardest route at Malham graded F8c+. I thought to myself what is Ian talking about. Through messaging Ian on Facebook messenger, I found out what it is all about. To be continued.
Ian Dunn instructing me how to use Petzl GriGri (2019) to pay out slack for lead belaying.
Una revisión de circuit boards en Training Room.
First I would like say, I didn’t use the circuit boards much and definitely not in the proper way so this review will be very short. Since last time I was in the training room, two years ago, there have been changes to both circuit boards. Neil Gresham has done a great job painting the wooden holds, for Ian and myself, painting that holds made it circuits easier to read and use. The other change is that, instead of each circuit bring given a route e.g. Yosemite Wall – a three star classic F7a+ at Malham Cove – each circuit was given a sport grade for example, on the Malham board, one round of pink circuit with red foot holds is F7a+ but if done three times it is F8c, yes F8c – the grade of Cry Freedom and Bat Route! In my opinion out of the circuit boards I have seen and tried to train on (HarroWall, VauxWall East, CroyWall and The Foundry) I think the Neil Gresham Malham board and the other Kendal Wall one are some best if not the best advanced training tools in the UK.
I would like to thank Kendal Climbing Wall for hosting the workshop and having us again. I would like to say a great big thank you to Ian Andrew Dunn for running such a great workshop, helping me on the approach to Giggleswick South the early evening before the workshop and teaching me how to pay out slack using a GriGri . I would like to thank The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) for providing the workshop and for running it with only three attendees. I would like to thank Katherine Schirrmacher and Lattice Training co- founder Tom Randall of Wideboyz fame for designing this fun and educational workshop – I think it has been perfected. I would like to say a special thank toy to Neil ‘Gresh’ Gresham for making the circuit boards more user friendly – great job Gresh!
A little about the author
Savvas holds the Indoor Climbing Assistant award and is Climbing Wall Instructor (CWI) and Foundation Coach (FCA) trained. He has attended the majority of BMC Coach Education workshops and hopes to do Development Coach Training this year and is working on getting all the indoor leads he needs to attend a CWI assessment next summer. He is doing an online NSPCC course on Child Protection in Sport and Physical Activity and will attend a First Aid Course this year. In the near future Savvas hopes to do his Foundation Coach assessment and his Rock Climbing Instructor (RCI) training. In early July 2022, Savvas went back to Burbage North with Steve Clarke and climbed three routes including his first arete and two routes which still haven’t been checked by the UKC moderator – one where was the second.
On the 7th November last year I attended the first day of a CWI training course at Beacon Climbing Centre in Caernarfon with four other people and our course instructor Andy Newton – who was very helpful throughout the two days of the course. After small introductions which included Andy asking us about our climbing wall experiences he introduced us to one of the instructors who works at the wall – I can’t remember his name – he took us to the traverse area where we were divided into two groups to design activities including warm up games and team work games. Some games such as bag on the head involved traversing whilst others used props with no climbing activity involved. After these activities and short time of general traversing we moved upstairs to a different traverse area – but not to use the traverse itself but for some activities on the climbing the plastic elephant at the centre of the room. The next port of call was the upstairs bouldering area where we we did warm up games similar to those that I learned from Indoor Climbing Assistant training and BMC Fundamentals of Climbing Workshops including movement and joint mobilisation games. After lunch when, as far as I can remember, Andy was kind enough to to teach me indoor lead climbing, we went to the main top roping area. Here, the class was divided into two groups where each member took it in turns to climb and belay on different routes. During this time we looked at and used many different belay devices including the Petzl GriGri Plus and the Climbing Technology Click Up – both assisted belay devices. To finish the day we did some bouldering in the nearby bouldering area and then looked at abseiling in the abseiling area – but for me and Andy the session didn’t finish as we headed to a different lead climbing area to practice more indoor leading. At the end of the day Andy kindly gave me a lift and dropped me off close to the accommodation I was staying at.
El segundo y último día
The following day, I got a lift from Andy to Indy Climbing Wall in Llanfairpwllgwyngyll to attend the second and final day of the CWI training course. After we were divided into two groups, we were given the task of coming up with activities for two events, one set of activities for one age group and one for another – the activities for a fifteen year old boy’s sixteenth birthday would have different activities to those of a ten year old girl’s My Little Pony themed party. When we were discussing the activities we broke down the activities into warm up, general and cool down After a lunch a break – where Andy kindly taught me how to lead belay – we looked at the various uses of the Petzl GriGri Plus including games such as bell ringing and emergency use for example when a female climber gets her hair stuck in the belay device or on the rope. When we had some free time, whilst other people did some bouldering, Andy and myself did some more indoor leading.
Una pequeña reseña del Beacon Climbing Centre
In my honest opinion I think Beacon Climbing Centre is one of the best walls in the United Kingdom. The staff here are friendly and helpful – I found this out during the course and when I shadowed here. The centre is easy get around and like most centres the toilets, cafe are marked well and there are plenty of directions to help. The bouldering on both floors is plenty and covers a wide variety of angles, styles and grades. The thing that stuck out about the bouldering in here was the grading system, unlike most of the walls I have been to – where they used the Hueco V grade – here they use the Font grade, the only other centres I know that use this grading system and the two Craggy Island climbing centres London. Route wise, the grading there is the same used in all climbing walls i.e. the French Sport (F) grading system and as with bouldering there are more than plenty of routes to choose from. The training area – I got to check it out when I shadowed there this February – has the majority of equipment needed to train. In my opinion, the only thing that is missing, which Alex said they will have shortly, is a suspension trainer. One other thing about the training area has that only a few walls have is a Kilter Board. The Cafe here serves good food at great prices and caters for everyone – I discovered this too late as I had already got two protein bars for lunch from the reception shop. One thing about the cafe at Beacon Climbing is something Andy showed us – just like the cafe of Outside in Hathersage and Petes Eats in Llanberis it is full of climbing photos but here tht photos are in chronological order. Early this year, before the pandemic and the lockdown, I returned to Beacon Climbing to shadow children’s groups – I did this for two evenings and on my second day there, for lunch, I sampled some of the many dishes there. There is no gear shkp here but at reception along with hiring climbing shoes, you can purchase chalk balls and other essentials.
Una pequeña revisión de Indy Climbing Wall
For a wall just on wall floor I think Indy has a lot of to offer for climbers – including a campus board and pull up bars. Bouldering wise, even though the area is small it has covers mosst styles angles and grades – including a large overhanging boulder. Like it’s big brother, Beacon Climbing, it uses the Font grading system. Lead climbing wise, there are two main lead climbing areas with a variety of styles and grades – one area covers overhangs and just above verticals whilst the other one covers slabs and verticals. Toproping wise, as far as I can remember there are is a small vertical toproping area with a routes of different styles going up to F7a – not to be confused with the boulder grade f7A. There is no cafe as such here but you can make a hot drink at reception and the reception staff are willing to make you a hot drink. In regards to food, there is a small snack stand near reception that sells protein bars and energy bars aswell as regular chocolate bars and crisps. There is a small outdoor shop here that mainly sells climbing apparel and some climbing shoe models from a few brands.
Petzl GriGri tour at the The Castle featuring Steve ‘Rainman 9b’ McClure and Neil ‘Gresh’ Gresham
Una pequeña revisión de Petzl GriGri +
First I would like to say, as I have not used the GriGri + in the all ways it can be used, this review will be mainly based on my opinions. I first used the original GriGri back when I learned to top-rope on a course at The Castle Climbing Centre back when I started climbing around twelve years ago or so. I have used the GriGri + quite a bit in the past few years but not for lead climbing. Apart from it having several moving parts, in my honest opinion I think it is one of best all round assisted belay devices there is.
Construction
Despite it having many pieces – including moving ones – the GriGri + is a solid and well made assisted braking belay device.
Weight
The GriGri +, weighing at 200g, may feel heavy and bulky at first to those who are not used to it but that is because it packs a lot in a small case.
Ease of use
Like most belay devices, you still have to manually belay the climber with the V to the Knee 123 method but what differs is lowering of the climber. The GriGri + has a lever that the belayer pulls back slowly to lower the climber down. For me it wasn’t the belaying I found a bit hard but using the lever at the right pace.
Una pequeña revisión de Climbing Technology Click Up.
As with the GriGri +, due to me not using the Click Up in all the ways it can be used, this review will be mainly based on my opinion. The first time I heard of the CT Click Up and the newish version the Click Up + from a friend I wanted to buy a new belay device and screwgate karabiner. Other than the CWI training course the only time I had used this breaking belay device was on the Indoor Climbing Assistant training and assessment. In my opinion, it is one of best beginner belay devices around.
Construction
On the two times I have used this belay device I have not seen inside the device as the way the rope is inserted is different to that of the devices in the GriGri family.
Weight
Weighting at 115g, the Click Up is lighter than the GriGri +, but according to the Climbing Technology website that weight only accounts for the device itself and not the Concept HGL HC HMS Carabiner that comes with it – which ways a further 77g. The two if them together weigh 192g which is still lighter than the Petzl GriGri +.
Ease of Use
On the two times I have used this belay device I have found it very easy to belay and lower. For top rope belaying the rope runs smoothly through the device. For lowering, unlike the GriGri family of devices, there is lever to pull but instead all the climber needs to do is slowly and repeatedly push the device down. The one thing that makes the Click Up a great device for beginners is when a climber takes a fall – due the combination of belay device and the special karibiner – the device self locks. For this to happen, as advised, the climber needs to use the provided karibiner.
Ahora para algo extra: una pequeña revisión de la instrucción de Andy Newton
Even though, I haven’t had much instruction and other than the Indoor Climbing Assistant course was the only Mountain Training course did before CWI training I learned a lot with Andy. In my honest opinion I think Andy Newton is one of the best instructors around. Andy explains things well and he informs the clients on how the day will proceed. Andy is a very experienced instructor who has a wealth of knowledge that he shares with his clients and instructor course attendees. For what I have seen of Andy, Andy makes his courses fun, interesting, informative and educational. I enjoyed talking to Andy about the issues of the day and climbing.
Steve ‘Stemac’ McClure on the Kilter board at Rock City, Hull
I would like to thank Alex Mason – the Centre Manager – and the other staff at Beacon Climbing Centre for hosting the first day of the course. I would like to thank the staff at Indy Climbing Wall for hosting the second day of the course. I would like thank Andy Newton twice – one thank you for providing the course and a huge thank you for teaching me indoor lead climbing including lead belaying and all the lifts you gave me during the two days in North Wales. I would like to thank Joby Maw Davis for recommending Andy Newton to me. would like to thank the two members of staff who gave lifts and dropped me off close to my accommodation during my two late afternoons/early evenings shadowing at Beacon Climbing.
A little bit about the author
In November 2019 Savvas attended Climbing Wall Instructor (CWI) training at Beacon Climbing Centre and Indy Climbing Wall where at both walls he learned to indoor lead climb thanks to the group’s instructor Andy Newton. He is getting climbing wall shadowing experience and building up indoor lead climbs so he can do the assessment -he hopes to get back to shadowing as soon as climbing walls start to have groups and courses and do the assessment by winter 2021. He is also looking into getting the forty indoor leads he needs to do before the assessment Being Foundation Coach trained and BMC Fundamentals 1 and 2 coached he plans to do the Foundation Coach assessment in the near future. He will do Development Coach Training with Ian Andrew Dunn once he has done BMC Fundamebtasls 3. Savvas is trying to arrange a Petzl GriGri Eurortour by train.
On the 7th October last year I headed to Sheffield to attend a BMC Physical Training for Climbing 1 workshop at the Awesome Walls Climbing Centre there on the following day – the 8th – with Katherine Schirrmacher . My reason for choosing Awesome Walls was that it Awesome Walls is a National Development Centre. For Sheffield, my reason was purely personal climbing based: I knew the (hard) grit season was starting in October and I was really keen to go and climb and had some routes in mind I wanted to do.
After the usual introductions Katherine (Schirrmacher) told us how the day plans out – her schedule was different to other coaches as she mixed theory and practical work through out the day….
Katherine pointed for things for us to discuss first:
Training Styles
Different Goals: examples of goals: to boulder V8 on grit, Red Point Raindogs at Malham next year, to onsight End of The Affair at Curbar Edge next winter.
Facilities: The climbing walls available and what they have.
Enjoyment – climbing for fun
Our next topic of discussion was the requirements of the sport on different types of climbers and the physical characteristics : boulderer vs sport climber vs high altitude mountaineer/alpinist. But before we looked into climbing specific needs we compared a marathon runner to a sprinter – physical characteristics wise and why they are different. We then discussed the duration and intensity of each climbers discipline, for this there was a graph with intensity on the vertical (y) axis and Time on the horizontal (x) axis. As the class predicted the boulderer came at the top left of graph with the highest intensity but the least amount of time for the discipline, the mountaineer was at the bottom right of the graph with the least Intensity but the longest time taken for the activity in between the two, quite close to the centre was the sport climber.
Katherine then chose three different disciplines of climbing and discussed with us several aspects of each discipline, these were number of moves, time, angle and character. One example she gave which is/was in=-line with my Petzl GriGri Eurotour trip was bouldering in a Fontainebleau or as many boulderers call it Font:
As far as I can remember the next topic that we discussed were energy systems – I will not go into this a great deal but just state a few points of the discussion.
Anaerobic (Without Oxygen): Energy is accessed quicker and must be replenished. If it is not replenished it can lead to ‘being pumped’ like a foarearm pump – a drastic version of this is called ‘power out’.
Aerobic (With Oxygen: Last longer than Anaerobic but it takes longer to access.
Both systems require energy in the form of food and ATP (Adenosine triphospate.
We also had a quick look at the Krebs/ TCA (tricarboxylic acid) Cycle.
Types of Training
Our next discussion topic was types of training and how to go about training for them. The types of training are strength (power), strength endurance but some people call it power endurance, anaerobic capacity, anaerobic power (long) and endurance.
In relation to finger strength and grip strength Katherine showed us a diagram of the forearm and told us that is where finger strength comes from.
We talked about the different kinds of strength: Finger strength which is usually trained on a fingerboard. For upper body and arms we came to the conclusion that bouldering was the best form of training but pull-up came a close second. When it came to power the number one piece of equipment for training power the spot was taken by my friend from the power endurance training days and that I will use again for various goals – the Campus board. For strength endurance the main activities were hard boulders and circuits. For endurance training the main activities were routes and hard circuits.
One more form of training we talked about was body conditioning.
Body Conditioning:
The main categories of body conditioning are:
Stability such as core stability – bird dogs are great for this
Flexibility – mainly for the lower half but also needed for the upper half for injury prevention. For this I do yoga.
General body fitness
Strength training practicals
After all the discussion had been done we moved to the training area to warm up then do our first practical which was proper usage of fingerboards. Katherine asked one of us to demonstrate how to dead-hang properly and after everybody had a go we measured our fingerstrength by seeing if we could dead hang on a fingerboard for ten seconds on large jug holds then each one of us tried on small holds – I could do it! She then asked us to pull up on the holds – I couldn’t pull up. So as a result Katherine told me to do pull-ups….
Moon Climbing athelte David Mason talking about dead hanging.
….. After fingerboarding we examined upper body strength by doing pull-ups. I could not do them well and properly. Another way we looked to train the two different strength types in a different way – bouldering…. Katherine divided us into two groups: one group was asked to select two problems that trained finger strength whilst the other group looked for two problems that trained upper body strength – I was in the latter. There was two options we could do this: use existing problems or create our own ones – not setting them of course – both groups decided to do first option. Before we started the actual exercise Katherine asked us about the holds and styles of the problems needed to train the two strengths….
Upper body strength – steep with big holds
Finger strength – any angle but with small holds usually crimps.
First each group demonstrated how to their chosen problems then members of the other group attempted them. When it came to doing the finger strength ones I had no problems holding them apart from pulling on them. The first problem I attempted had big jugs before the crimps and I couldn’t pull through – I wish I had used some of the stuff I learned from BMC Fundamentals 1 and 2 here! The next problem I attempted was one of from a very hard circuit – V6-V7 (approx uk tech 6b/c in trad climbing terms and F8a in sport climbing ). The problem itself was vertical and slightly overhangingand the holds were large but flat crimps all the way. As I had a strong core and strong fingers I felt no pain and I could stand on small footholds. After the bouldering session we headed of for lunch but i stated behind to do a few pull ups before heading to lunch…..
Endurance training practicals
After a forty five minute lunch break we headed back to the small meeting room to discuss what we are going to do in the afternoon which was endurance training. First we had a small discussion on climbing based activities. We were then divided into small groups with a chosen activity. At first I was with the circuit board group and had a few goes on the easiest circuit but because I had not much pulling power I found it hard so me and another member of my party headed first to a traverse wall to train – traversing is also a very easy way to improve footwork – then to a top-roping bay where we could traverse for longer. To avoid me each other hitting the ropes one climber held the ropes back whilst the other traversed. After the time in the top-rope bay Katherine and the other person I was there with came to the conclusion that I have a bit of a problem with transferring weight from one leg to another on large holds when in a bridging position and I agree with them 100% – nothing wrong with my endurance though.
Here the legendary Adam ‘9c‘ Ondra is demonstrating how to maximise your endurance by using a circuit board.
After the endurance session was done we headed back to the office to discuss training needs and summed up the day, but before we discussed training needs we had a further look into strength training and endurance:
Essentials of strength training
Warm up -very thoroughly
High intensity
Specific parts of the body
Good form
Long rest
Long recovery – around 2 days between each session
FINGERBOARD ESSENTIALS
1/ 2 Crimp
Engaged Shoulders
Age appropriate
Goal Specific
BOULDERING:
Design Approprate
Grade e.g. V4-V6
Style – e.g juggy but overhanging
Task: Split into two groups
Essentials of endurance training
I am not going to talk much about endurance as I was told to focus on upper body strength training due to me not being able to pull through.
Warm up – very thoroughly
High volume, low to moderate intensity work. This should be the major part of the exercise
Climb routes well within your ability, lead climbing if possible
Climb at normal climbing speed
Keep rest times between routes short
Essentials of strength endurance workouts
There are two forms of workouts High End where the Aim is achieve high levels of pump – pump is just means how tired the climber is or how much lactic acid is in a part of the body, for most climbers the build up is in the forearms and Low End where the Aim is to become ‘powered out’ meaning the climber cannot do anymore training.
High end
Warm-up – very thoroughly
Longer intervals(40-50 moves)
High intensity
Complete rest between routes
Aim: High levels of pump
Low end
Warm-up – very thoroughly
Short intervals (12-15 moves)
High intensity for the major part of the exercise, typically climbing climbing close to your maximum (~ 4 grades above RoG)
Rest between intervals, at least as long the duration of the interval if not twice as long
Complete rest between sets
Aim: Powered out
Training needs
Two simple rules:
BEGINNERS who are climbing below F6b – lead and top-rope – should focus on technique and try to climb on a broad range of features for example grooves and their opposites aretes – but one form of training I recommend is Yoga. I started Yoga around the same time I started indoor climbing because I was very inflexible. Start with going to regular classes – like I did – then try topping your yoga education using Internet sources. How did Adam Ondra and Chris Sharma became so flexible and do La Dura Dura (F9b+) at Oliana? Yoga of course! Just for the flexibility – they did other forms of training to.
INTERMEDIATES who are climbing above F6b should do the above along with Physical training including psychological training.
Principles of Training
Katherine then discussed with us the key Principles of Training:
So far:
Setting Goals
Specificity
Intensity
Time
And….
Overload
Supercompensation
Fatigue
Recovery
Under and over training
We then looked at other methods to measure volume which included but were not limited to:
Before summing up we concluded the workshop with a brief discussion on profiling and assessing.
The main questions to ask a climber at the start of profiling should be based on the following subjects :
Age
Length of time climbing
Recent Climbing
Aims
General physical fitness (health etc)
Job, lifestyle & family
Other sports & commitments
Upcoming evebnts (diary commitments).
Time
Climbing facilities (and home training)
Injuries
Case study example:
Frankie is 35 years and has been climbing for four years. For the last two years she has been climbing at 6b+.
She wants to climb 7a.
She currently reguNotelarly onsights V3 boulders. She has good technique but pumps out towards the end of routes on 6c lead.
She currently climbs for two hours twice a week, typically one session she boulders the other she climbs routes. She is well motivated nd wants to improve.
Note: the above just covers a tip of the iceberg. There is a lot more to profiling and assessing as we didn’t cover this topic in great depth I decided not to spend too much time on it.
Note: There is a lot more to Physical Training for Climbing but I wanted to make sure that even non-climbers can understand what the workshop was about and make the post a pleasant and enjoyable read.
Un revisión del coaching de Katherine Schirrmacher
Well, what can I say…. I only got to spend a day with Katherine in Sheffield but during that day I learnt so much on a wide variety of climbing related subjects. Her coaching style differs to that of Ian Andrew Dunn’s due to the fact that Katherine mixes theory and practical throughout the day whilst in my in my opinion, Ian does it theory first in a room then does practicals later. One thing I liked about Katherine’s style was that she got group members to demonstrate the activities for the rest of group so they could see how it is done. Although I didn’t get to know Katherine, I found her to be a very friendly and very approachable person who is always willing to help and answer any questions. For Sheffield based climbers I would definitely Katherine Schirrmacher as she local to the area and knows The Peak very well. Like Ian I would give her 5 stars out of 5.
Una pequeña reseña de Awesome Walls Climbing Center Sheffield
In my honest opinion, I think Awesome Walls Sheffield is one of the best all round climbing centres in the East Midlands – all round being it has bouldering, top-roping and lead climbing at a variety of angles and styles and grades. Myself I didn’t do ant leading but I could see many routes of various styles and angles from the cafe they have there. For the main activity I did which was bouldering there is/was more than ample problems. Like most walls the problems here are circuits graded in the Hueco V Grade for example V0-V2. For me, but of no significance, the only drawback was that there was no Campus Board in the training area but instead has various circuit boards with grades starting with F6a (easiest) all the way to F7c (hardest).
Una pequeña reseña de Depot Climbing Sheffield
The day after PT1 I headed to Depot Climbing Sheffield as my main climbing partner Deacon couldn’t make it – he told me this the previous evening. This was my second time at Depot Climbing Sheffield as I want there to meet my god friend Jim Pipe a months earlier (see this post for more details)
Well what is there to say about Depot Climbing Sheffield. In my honest opinion I think it is the best bouldering wall in Sheffield – I have been to three of the four walls. It is a large single floor bouldering only wall with a vast amount of problems of different, styles, angles and grades. This wall has everything but what really stood out for me were two things one which was there the first time I visited – the weights and body weight training area – and the other one was brand new – dedicated crack climbing area designed and setted by the crack master himself Tom Randall of Wideboyz fame. This crack climbing area has almost all types of crack width and not just vertical cracks but horizontal ones – the only thing that I feel it is missing is a finger crack.
Una pequeña reseña de La Sportiva Tarantulas
Bare with me…. This is my first ever climbing product review. Back in a November 2018, when I did the Foundation Coach training Joby Maw Davis – the instructor – told us to get a comfy pair of climbing shoes for coaching that we could wear all day. Later when I did the BMC FUNDAmentals of climbing Ian confirmed this therfore I looked into finding a comfy pair of La Sportiva climbing shoes and I found the Tarantulas on The Urban Rock website. I tried the lace version at HaroWall – London’s National Development Centre – a while before and tested them on the traverses there. I found that they were very comfortable and fitted my feet very well, footwork-wise I could place my feet well on small holds and do it quietly. Like my very first pair of shoes – the Boreal Spiders – the laces are very easy to do and undo making the Tarantula laces easy to put on and take off. Instead of testing shoes I had planned to test and compare two different brands of climbing tape – Lyon Equipment and Beta Climbing Designs – but things didn’t go to plan so I went to The Depot and trained for the routes I wanted to do and some training based on recommendations Katherine gave me….. The velcro versions are very easy to put on and take off due to the simple yet brilliant double strap system. Like their lace counterparts the velcros provide all day comfort and when fitted well they can be a techincal shoe as I found out at The Depot Sheffield.
Purpose and technique
As I wanted to use the shoes for smearing on gritstone slabs, corners and grooves as well as for coaching and instructing I tested their ability to smear on the various slabs, grooves and corners there. The Tarantulas can smear perfectly on the slabs and features I used them on and when I weighted the smears they stuck to the wall like glue.
Construction
The velcro version, like it’s laces brother, is well made and a solid shoe. The various materials work well together to form a great beginner to intermediate shoe. So far I have seen no problems with stitching or material. The Tarantulas may seem to be a bit flimsy at first sight and feel but they are very solid and stable shoe.
Rubber
The rubber is very sticky and can stick to plastic and all rock forms (gritstone, slate, limestone, shist etc) equally and easily – I was told this at the walls I tried and tested them and I read it on the La Sportiva website.
Who for? Best for?
Even though, according to the La Sportiva website, these shoes are designed for beginners who want to improve, in my honest opinion, I think they are more of beginner to intermediate shoe due to the shoe being assymetrical. I have messaged Ian Andrew Dunn a link to the shoes and he agrees with me and the La Sportiva website that they are ideal for coaching and instructing. They are a popular shoe as I have seen quite a few people where them at the many walls I climb at. I would recommend them for both outdoor and indoor climbing but for the competition only climber and 100% indoor climber I would recommend the La Sportiva Pythons or similar.
My pre pull-up exercise recommendations
Before I do pull-ups for example Crimp’d on the minute work out I do a set of several exercises including but not limited to the ones below.
My first exercise is I-Y-T for shoulder stability, strength and mobility.
OllieTorr from Lattice demonstrating the standing correct form.
My next exercise is the low to reverse fly – a great two step exercise for shoulder strength and stability and body tension.
Here the gym goer is demonstrating the TRX low row to reverse fly.
My final exercise that I carry out is a great body tension/core strength builder – the reverse fly.
Ollie from Lattice demonstrating the Reverse Fly – sometimes called Reverse T.
Even the best climbers do them- I think only Adam Ondra is better than Chris Sharma….
Two further exercises I recommend are Pull up Negatives and shoulder engaged deadhangs. I would also advise two yoga poses if they can be done: the Dolphin Pose and Four Limb Staff Pose/Chataranga Dandasa – I do the second in a sequence that includes Downward Facing Dog and Plank Pose.
I would like to thank Katherine Schirrmacher and Tom Randall from Lattice Training for developing such a fun and enjoyable workshop. I would like to thank The British Mountainering Council for providing thiseduvational and fun workshop and others. I would like to the thank the staff at Awesome Walls Sheffield for having us. I would like to thank Katherine again – this time for hosting the workshop.
A little bit about the author
In November 2019 Savvas attended Climbing Wall Instructor (CWI) training at Beacon Climbing Centre and Indy Climbing Wall where at both walls he learned to indoor lead climb thanks to the group’s instructor Andy Newton. He is getting climbing wall shadowing experience and building up indoor lead climbs so he can do the assessment -he hopes to get back to climbing walls as soon as they reopen and do the assessment by winter 2021. Being Foundation Coach trained and BMC Fundamentals 1 and 2 coached he plans to do the Foundation Coach assessment in the near future. He will do Development Coach Training with Ian Andrew Dunn once he has done BMC Fundamebtasls 3. Savvas is trying to arrange a Petzl GriGri Eurortour by train.
Two weeks after the BMC Fundamentals I headed back to Kendal Wall to attend the BMC Coaching Children workshop on the 28 June held there by my coaching mentor Ian Andrew Dunn. My main inspiration for doing this course was my good friend Jim Pope – who needs no further introduction.
Training day followed by Castleburg Crag
Since I loved Kendal Wall so much I decided to return a day earlier to train by implementing some of the stuff I learned from the previous workshops – I went two days prior so I could do a full day of training in the day and go to a crag in the evening with Ian. My first point of call was the children’s traverses on the ground floor to practice accurate and precise footwork by placing my feet slowly and carefully on the footholds. After a few rounds on the various traverses I tried a variety of the boulder problems there and using good footwork I managed to get to the top of a few of them. I next went to the Marmot loft on the fifth floor to do some problems including a view V4 problems and the the two V7 I tried during the FUNdas workshops but my main objective was to get to grips with the Neil Gresham Malham training board on the training area on the fourth floor which is where I headed to next. In the afternoon, after lunch, I decided to rest as I wanted to save energy for the crag.
After training Ian, myself, Phil Sparks from Tower Climbing – who was there on Ian’s Physical Training 1 workshop – and another man who was also on that workshop headed on to Castleburg Crag in North Yorkshire for some climbing. After an easy-ish approach Ian set up a top-rope for me to climb the route Settle Festival (F4a), the route, looking up from down below, although on slabby terrain, looked like very long. I started climbing up the route on positive holds and good footholds but using good footwork and managed to remove the rope from the first quckdraw then continued upwards to a tricky sidewards-upwards reach move onto two oddly shaped but positive jugs, after a few goes and a lot of encouragement from Ian – including him telling me ‘think of this as training for ‘The Oak‘ I decided to give up and come down.
Me On Settle Limestome. Ian Andrew Dunn
After I my attempt on Settle Festival Ian told me ‘don’t forget your helmet or you can contact your sponsor to give you a knew one ‘, I don’t know what he meant by that as I am not a sponsored climber. He also was happy that I climb at CroyWall which is a new wall very to me that is part of the Lakeland Climbing Centre Group – the same group that Kendal Wall belongs to. Ian then rigged up a toprope for me to belay him on Practically Everything (F7a) – Ian told my belaying was good and I just needed more practice. I took a step back and saw Ian lead climb Shock Treatment (F6a+) and later Victoria Hall (F6a). Phil lead climbed Settle Injuries Clinic (F5+) and 3 Peaks Bunk Room (F5). After all the climbing was done Ian, Phil and myself headed to the nearby Indian restaurant for a curry – the other gentleman had went on his way back home.
BMC Coaching Children Workshop and Indoor Climbing Assistant Reassessment
The following morning I arrived at Kendal Wall to attend the BMC Coaching Children Workshop. Like the BMC FUNDamentals the first thing we did was introduce ourselves but unlike them there were only five including Ian in the La Sportiva room – Ian, Phil Sparks, a lady called Liz and myself. Ian then told us what the day would involve and how he planned the day’s activities. We were split into two groups to brainstorm about what affects children’s social and emotional development. Ian then told us about the different windows of climbing development and how not to train children an example of this would be getting a 12-year-old boy to do 1-5-9 feet-off campusing. Why? This activity would not only severely injure him but will affect his growth dramatically. We then discussed the training pyramid including climbing technique – which was the bottom as the basic starting block and the most important aspect.
The next port of call was the main top-roping bay on the ground floor… The fists game we did was a tactics and strategy game where Ian put playing cards on the floor and we had to get across the floor by using a feature the playing cards e.g. red even numbers after each of us got across the cards Ian would change the instruction to make it more difficult for us e.g. only using even-numbered black ones. Staying in the top-roping bay, we moved on to a footwork based game that was all about edging – using the edges of our climbing shoes (we covered this in BMC FUNdamentals of Climbing 1).
Here Neil Gresham is demonstrating the Outside Edge footwork.
We put some red tape on the inside edge of the shoe and some yellow tape on the outside edge of the shoe and Ian put some put red tape on some footholds and some yellow tape on others to match the shoes. Each person had to traverse the marked part of the room using any handholds but only using the footholds with the matching tape i.e. red inside edge on red taped holds and yellow outside edge on yellow taped holds. I found this game to be a bit tricky at first but then with a little help from Ian and the other group members I managed to get across quite easily. Our next task of the day was to my favorite footwork training game called Chalk Game which I described in my previous blog post. Our next destination was the Marmot bouldering loft up on the 5th floor where did some basic reading – the group was divided into teams of two where each person tried to read a problem and guess who many moves it takes to reach the top. As far as I can remember, after this game we had lunch at for around forty five mins.
Me counting the moves on the problem. The bits of tape on the climbing shoes are from the footwork edging game I described earlier. Ian Andrew Dunn
Me on a problem during the game – I think it is the same problem in the photo above. Ian Andrew Dunn
After the lunch break we met back at the La Sportiva small conference room where one of the main topics we discussed was good lead climbing technique including clipping – restful versus stressful positions, straight arms versus bent arms etc. To demonstrate this Ian showed us some videos from The BMC with lead climbing etiquette and bad lead climbing etiquette.
How to indoor lead climb – I learned to do this on another course.
When the discussion was finished we headed back to the Marmot loft for more climbing games and finally before the closing talk Ian took us to the training room to show us some of the equipment he suggests for massage and climbing warm up, he then divided us into two groups of two to come up with a warm up and to help us he gave us some information sheets with photos of people doing various exercises, After a short while he came back and we had to demonstrate each activity that was we chose – three in all – then, as far as I can remember, the people in the other group repeated the activities….
…. A few months before I did The BMC FUNDamentals workshops I attended a Indoor Climbing Assistant training and assessment course with Phil Sparks (the same Phil who came with Ian and myself to Castleburg Crag) at Tower Climbing in Leicester. The day went well apart from one thing which was by the afternoon my belaying became a but sloppy which lead me to getting a defer and not a pass. Phil advised me to get some more belaying practice among other things – which I did. On the previous evening I was communicating with Phil via email about re-doing the assessment part of the course, many options were discussed and the final decision was that I retook the assessment with him at Kendal Wall after the Coaching Children workshop….. After the rest of the group had left, Ian, Phil and myself stayed behind to do the assessment in the main toprope bay. The first thing we did was a buddy check – check each others ropework set up e.g. the belayer checking the climber’s knots and making sure the rope is going through both loops on the harness. The next thing I was assessed on was my belaying including set up and the use of thePetzl GRIGRI + – during this we played the bell ringing game. Last but not least K was assessed on sorting out another person’s knots i.e. doing threading the rope through the loops on Ian’s harness and doing the re-threading on the re-threaded figure of eight knot and finishing of with the double stopper knots. At the end of the afternoon I was very happy to here that I passed.
Una revisión del coaching de Ian Andrew Dunn (A review of Ian Andrew Dunn’s coaching
Well…. What can I say? During the three days I spent with Ian up in Kendal I learnt a great deal. One of the things I really enjoyed about Ian’s style of coaching and the way he assessed us is he made it fun and interesting through the use of various games. Ian although a dedicated climbing coach and manger to the GB climbing team is very relaxed, friendly and open. Throughout my conversations with Ian and throughout the three days I found that Ian is very encouraging and motivating along with being honest – I could ask him about anything climbing or training related and he would give his opinion. During just three days I felt and saw great improvements in my aspects of my climbing including – but not limited to -footwork, use of holds and body positioning. Ian is a true gentleman who tries to get climbers to be their best and achieve their ambitions. I have been coached by quite a few people on various aspects, in my honest opinion, I would say Ian is the best coach – if not the best, one of the best coaches in the country. If I gave Ian a star rating out of 5 – he would definitely get a 5. I would definitely recommend Coaches Climbing for all great improvements in all forms of climbing.
I would like to thank Ian Andrew Dunn for all the help – including the lifts to and from Kendal Wall – he has given me and for teaching me a great deal. I would like to thank Phil Sparks for assessing me again and helping me at getting to the crag. I would like to thank Kendal Wall for having us and hosting the workshop.
Kendal Wall – one of the best climbing walls I have ever been to.
BMC FUNdamentals 1
On the the afternoon of 9 June I headed to Kendal to attend BMC FUNdamentals 1 on the 10 June at Kendal Wall and BMC FUNdamentals 2 on the 11 June also at Kendal Wall with GB Climbing Team Manager and owner of Coaching ClimbingIan Andrew Dunn – we were going to do BMC FUNdamentals 3 on the 12 but it was cancelled due to not enough bookings – so I spent that day training at Kendal Wall. I chose the to do the Fundamentals based at Kendal Wall with Ian because I had heard a lot of great stuff about Kendal Wall – after all it is the main training wall for a lot of top climbers including Neil Gresham and Adam Hocking and I had discussed doing all three Fundamentals with Ian consecutively. Ian and I communicate frequently and I knew a lot about his work with GB Climbing Team before meeting him.
At the legendaryKendal Wall the first thing we did was an introduce each other and talk about our climbing experiences – I don’t have much experience on real rock and as many people know I have a lot of enthusiasm and I am known to be ambitious when it comes to climbing – so I talked a little bit about my climbing goals. The group consisted of Ian, myself and as far as I can remember five other people. After the introductions Ian talked about what was involved in the workshop and how the day was planned out. Ian then divided us into two teams of three and each team was given the task of designing a warm up routine for the other team to do. After we finished drawing the routine both teams headed to the main lead climbing hall, where the famous Petzl Wall is, to carry out the routines – my team’s routine included two of my favorite exercises that I do everyday: the dish hold and I-Y-T.
A warmed up and fully stretched group then headed to the main top-roping area where we practiced the rockover on slabs – as someone with Dyspraxia I sometimes find this move quite hard but with practice in the class I found it easy. After rockover practice on slabs we moved onto vertical ground to practice twisting which is a form of the drop knee – I found this a bit tricky to start of width but with practice I got the hung of it. From here on Ian made the day workshop fun and interesting by using games to improve technique – to do these games we went back to the slabs. The first game was called one armed climbing which is climbing up a route on a slab with one arm behind your back so you are using your legs and feet more and climbing more efficiently. The next game we played was tennis ball hands – we were climbing on the slabs with tennis balls in our hands on the slab and placing the balls on the hand holds instead of our hands. The next game we played was blind climbing which, to start with, I found quite hard – my belayer had to keep telling me where the footholds where as i kept misplacing my feet. We concluded the games with the very tricky cup on head game where we tried to climb a slab route with a plastic cup on our heads – I was useless at this as the cup falling of at the start of the climbing.
After around a forty five minutes lunch break we headed back to the La Sportiva room – where we started the day of – so Ian could tell us what the afternoon was about. We headed to Marmot Loft where the main bouldering is/was and we warmed up again including some games including shark in the water- which tested our knowlege of handholds -we then did some bouldering. After some general climbing we went to the main bouldering slab to play a great game to improve footwork accuracy and precision called the chalk game: Ian put chalk on certain parts of footholds on a slab and we had to go across the slab using any handholds but only using the chalked parts of the footholds. The aim of this game was to go across the slab with getting a small amount of chalk on your feet as possible. I have to admit at the start I was not that good at this and I often went for poor handholds but eventually I got quite good at it and now it is part of my training at the many walls I go to. Ian then changed the game to the the cork game which is similar to Chalk game – Ian put corks on various footholds and we had to traverse across the slab using the footholds but not knocking the cork off after each try a person would put more cork on the footholds making it more difficult for the next person. Before the workshop concluded we played a completely different game which I call the hols identification game. The group was divided into two teams and each team had to create a traverse problem – for the other team to do – using as many different handholds as possible. Each team was given some tape and a pen to label the holds with what each hold was , a number in the sequence and how to use the hold. As a little extra Ian took as to the famous training room there where he showed us Neil Gresham’s Malham Board – a circuit board with Malham Cove routes circuits, designed for people who want to climb at Malham Cove – Ian told us this is the prefect tool to train footwork as it had small polished and dirty red rectangles as half of the footholds and the other footholds were small green rectangles.
My first trip to Malham Cove in North Yorkshire
Before I went on The BMC Fundamentals I communicated with Ian about going with him to Malham Cove in North Yorkshire the evening/late afternoon after the first BMC Fundamentals workshop. After the workshop finished Ian, his wife Chantana and myself headed on our way in his car to the world-class steep sport climbing crag called Malham Cove. On our journey there Ian and myself discussed climbing and specially the Spanish climbing scene – including routes at the famous power endurance crag Oliana – as I speak Spanish and I want to climb in Spain. When we discussed the routes we talked about a certain climber’s chance of getting up them. On our way on foot to the crag Ian and myself discussed what we were going to do there, Ian wanted to work on his project G.B.H.(F8a+) but I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to climb or learn a new skill like using clipstick or leading outdoors – Ian did kind of joked about me having a go on John Dunne’s Austran Oak (F8b) aka ‘The Oak’. The funny thing about ‘The Oak’ is that a certain former employee of the BMC who I call Tiburón has been trying to do this route por doce años (for twelve years in Spanish) and had not done the route yet and if I had a go and completed it it would wind him up. Ian told me about the only climbers who had flashedRaindogs (F8a) – a lovely route I really wanted to do here. There had only been four flash ascents of Raindogs and all done by legendary climbers: Adam Ondra, Chris Sharma, Alex Megos and another climber who I have forgotten his name.
On our way to Malham Cove. Malham cove is in the background. Feeling psyched here.
After the smooth path finished the approach to Malham Cove became tricky due to uneven and loose ground – I am not sure whether it was my Dyspraxia coming into play or not having experience on such ground – but I had a bit of trouble walking along it so Ian and wife Chan gave me support. At one section close to ‘The Catwalk’ – the Catwalk is the most popular part of Malham Cove where Raindogs (F8a), Rainshadow (F9a) and Rainman (F9b) are – I had to traverse using my hands and footwork to move along. Before Ian showed me where those routes are/were he pointed to where some other classic routes including called a route called Yosemite Wall (F7a+) that the undercut handholds are very visible and The Oak – the route with the funny story aka Tiburon por doce anos, I was so psyched to be at Malham Cove.
I am looking up up at The Oak and all the other super classics. No sign of senior Tiburón.Psyched to be near Raindogs (F8a). The three photos and others can be found in Facebook photo album called ‘Evening at Malham after BMC Fundamentals 1 in Kendal‘.
After a while, we got attacked by midges so we decided to head back to the car and talked about what we were going to do dinner, after a short discussion we headed back at our hotels and I had dinner at The Tannery Bar and Bistro located in the hotel I was staying at. On our way back to the car Ian and myself talked about gritstone trad climbing including routes at routes at Curbar – a crag I visited before and whether Tiburón would get up them or not.
BMC FUNdamentals 2
The next morning Ian, myself and a smaller group were back in the La Sportiva Room at Kendal Wall for BMC Fundamentals 2. The first thing that we did was recap on what we learnt from the previous day. After the recap the group was divided into two teams and each team was given the task of writing down as many climbing techniques as possible and categorized them according to their usage – this included what stage they are used i.e. a heel hook is an intermedaite/advanced level technique and at what angle to use them at i.e flagging is used on vertical to steep ground. We then looked at body positioning for vertical and slightly overhanging rock – the three main factors for this are weight distribution – creating a stable base , centre of gravity and centre of mass….
The basics of Body Positioning.
……To demonstrate how these factors work Ian put videos of people climbing followed by some freeze frames for us to analyze the climbing, we were given one final task before heading up to Marmot bouldering loft which was to choose a technique and demonstrate it in the loft – as I wanted to do Ben Moon’s Statement of Youth (F8a) at Lower Pen Trwyn in Conwy I chose the heel hook, I found that I could do heel hooks quite well and even tried them on the start a V7 competition problem. Whilst at the wall we were divided into two teams to design a warm up routine for the other team to perform -since we my team chose the rock-over we did a routine that focused on the legs including a fave yoga pose of mine called the half moon pose that activates the hamstrings ( the other team chose bridging). Once we warmed up we practiced both techniques, during this time, whilst one person climbed the other people observed and analysed to look at the three things we discussed earlier..Just before our lunch break, we started to look at steep and slightly overhanging ground and how to climb such as terrain using straight arming, twisting and heel hooking along with being at the same angle at the rock. For this as one person climbed another person watched and recorded the first person climbing using a smartphone and analysed the techniques used.
After our 45 minute or so lunch break we headed back to the La Sportiva Room to talk about what we were going to do in the afternoon. After a discussion on opposing forces and climbing features we headed to where we here before lunch and Ian demonstrated on how to put these forces in use on such features as aretes such as End of The Affair (E8 6c) at Curbar and B4, XS (E7 6c) at Hen Cloud where he showed us laybacking. To conclude the workshop we went to the children’s traverse area where Ian showed us the aretes and other features there.
Did my climbing improve?
One of the objectives of the workshops was to improve our own climbing. In my honest opinion I think I made some good improvements in my climbing but there are some areas that need to be worked on. When it came to the more advanced bridging forms I felt that my core wasn’t stable enough for me to perform them well, with the help of Bird Dogs – an exercise Ian taught me – my core has gained more stability.
For climbing games and more information on technique have a look at Robbie Phillips’s Become A Better Climber series On UK Climbing.
A review of Kendal Wall.
Well what can I say? I love this place. Thinking about it brings back great memories. In my opinion Kendal Wall is one of the best climbing centres in The UK. If If I had to rate it out of five I would give it five out of five. It has everything a climber needs and wants. The staff there are very friendly, approachable and helpful. Climbing wise there is so much to do. The bouldering in the Marmot Loft on the fifth floor covers a variety of angles, styles and grades. As we did not do any lead climbing whilst we were there I can not say much about it apart from that there seemed to be plenty of routes. Top-roping wise there is plenty to do in the main hall next to the cafe and like the bouldering the routes vary in grades, styles and angles – there are even crack features for people like myself who want to practice their hand jamming technique but the one thing that stood out for me was the very well equipped and very spacious training room on the fourth floor. One thing they do at Kendal Wall is get the user to fill in a health and safety form/questionnaire before giving the person a guided tour of the room – also the room has a password door loc k where the password changes from time to time as an added security feature. The Creamery Cafe located on the ground floor has a wide range of drinks and snacks, one thing I love about the cafe is that there is flat screen TV next to it that always shows climbing films. A funny thing about the climbing shop is that it only sells La Sportiva climbing shoes – I have never seen a shop only stock one brand of shoe before. Would I go return to Kendal Climbing Wall? Yes I would, in fact, because I loved it so much there I returned the next day to train.
I would like to thank the staff at Kendal Wall for having us and for giving us such a great ans memorable time. One special thanks goes to Rebecca Holland the Events and Marketing Manager who arranged the workshops. I would like to thank Ian Andrew Dunn for running them – Ian you make climbing training so much fun – and I would to thank him and his wife Chantana for all their help they gave me on the way to and at Malham Cove – let’s hope we have more trips together. I would like to thank The BMC providing such fun, educational and memorable workshops.
Savvas holds the MT Indoor Climbing Assistant certificate and is a trainee MT Foundation Coach, apart from the above workshops he has attended The BMC Coaching Children workshop at Kendal Wall with Ian Andrew Dunn. He will be attending BMC Physical Training for Climbing 1 workshop this October with Katherine Scirrmacher at Awesome Walls Sheffield and hopes to do his Climbing Wall Instructor training by the end of the year. He has climbed unnamed, ungraded and unlisted gritstone routes and problems at Burbage North.
On the 9th May I headed to back to Hathersage to climb on the wonderful grit with some friends. The next day I as meant to meet up Deacon- a good friend from back in my Craggy Sutton days who can already lead E4 on Gritstone – and at least have a look at The Peapod (HVS 5b) at Curbar but because it poured down with rain Deacon went to Wales. Instead I met up with GB Climbing Team member Jim Pope at Depot Climbing Centre In Sheffield to train with him – Jim is an amazing young climber who has climbed at an elite level in a lot of disciplines including sport climbing and competitions and really friendly guy. I have known Jim since I met him at The La Sportiva Climbing Party at The Castle Climbing Centre in Manor House and since then we have become good friends.
Jim Pope cruising his way up The Austrain Oak (F8b) at Malham Cove. Malham Cove is a steep sport climbing crag that has Britain’s hardest sport route – Rainman (F9b). Steve McClure who is one of the UK’s best sport climbers did the first ascent of it.
After my training session Steve Clark – who is the husband of BMC President Lynn Robertson – came and found me at Depot Sheffield, we drove to the Curbar car park and walked to above across and above the top of the crag and had a good look down at the routes and the steepness of the routes – I didn’t want to walk down because it had been raining and I was not wearing the correct shoes. What I saw was the top of the Curbar Eliminates Wall where many great classics are including The Peapod and Right Eliminate (E3 5b) are – I was so psyched to be close to the routes. We also passed The Curbar boulders where many climbers warm up before climbing routes. After a while it rained so we headed back to the car and met up with an Nick Hawkins – who one of Deacon’s climbing partners’ – to go for coffee and snacks at Spar Insomnia in Calver where we talked a lot about climbing among other things. After the rain had passed we all headed to Burbage North for some bouldering to warm up and then some toproping and seconding – not to our surprise the boulders were still wet from the rain so we started with roped climbing. Whilst we were at Burbage North I became psyched when I saw the overhanging huge prow of John Dunne’s Parthian Shot – now graded E9/E10 – over at Burbage South at the other end of the Burbage Valley. Parthian Shot is an infamous route that has a rich history which includes a battle for the first ascent between the Peak District/Sheffield based legendary climber Johnny Dawes and the North Yorshire based legendary climber John Dunne. In between them lies the famous Burbage West boulders where some of gritstone’s hardest problems lie.
Steve first led the classic hand jamming route Bilberry Crack (VD) which I then seconded I got to the first piece of gear – a large cam – removed it and attached it to my harness. I tried to continue up the crack but because hardly practiced hand jams at all I didn’t trust my hand jam so I came down.
A good video on how to hand jam. This is part of a series of videos by the Tom Randall and Pete Whittaker – who run the fun and useful crack climbing masterclasses throughout the country on the basics of crack climbing.
The basics of hand jamming
After my failed attempt to second BIlberry Crack we went to a neighbouring route and Steve set up a top-rope for me to climb to this unnamed and unlisted groove route nearby. The route was technical and involved bridging, smearing, high stepping and matching feet on block style holds – maybe even a rockover or two – and finished with a typical gritstone mantel top-out.
Steve and I – Nick had to rush off home – did some top-rope bouldering on a slabby boulder. Just as a security measure Steve belayed me on the problems. The problems here – even though they were on low angle terrain – they involved some technique. As far as I can remember the first one involved hand jamming, the final one had finished with a traverse and I think the second one we did involved a lot of rock-overs and high-steps.
After all the climbing was done I practiced placing Steve’s trad climbing protection of various kinds in a diagonal crack and I built belaying anchors from both two and three placements – this was done at ground level. Apart from tri-cams which were placed just for fun, Steve told me my placements were good Steve also taught me how to do an America style direct belay set up and how to do a clove hitch knots.
Gear placemenent practice at Burbage North.
Me and my trad climbing placements. This photo can be found on my Facebook page and is on Steve Clark’s UK Climbing profile.
The video below shows how to tie a clove hitch knot
How to tie a clove hitch knot
After the day was done Steve drove me back to Hathersage and dropped me off near my hotel. On the way back we drove past quite a few crags including Higgar Tor that has the pumpy Joe Brown classic The Rasp (E2 5b) and close to where I was staying Millstone Edge that is the home to some scary unprotected arete climbs such as the Ron Fawcett’s The Master’s Edge (E7 6c ) and Edge Lane (E5 5c) aswell as some good crack climbs such as Embankment 3 (E1 5b) and Bond Street (HV5 5a).
I would like to thank Steve Clark and Nick Hawkins for all their help and a wonderful time together in The Peak District. I would like thank Jim Pope for meeting me at The Depot Climbing. To all three: I hope are adventures together will continue.
SavClimbing 