New Year, New Routes, New Waves

Mid-January saw a sunny and calm period with light winds, if a little on the cold side. That, combined with some decent ground swell, provided some perfect surfing conditions. As a warm up to the North Coast, a cheeky little early morning surf was had down Bantham in 3'+ clean waves, with some super fun waves to be had. Two days later, and I was up at 0430 for the long drive down to Perranporth in Cornwall. I arrived just before 0700 and was over the moon to find the surf forecasts correct, with clean overhead waves in the six foot plus range. I couldn't get changed fast enough, and was soon jumping off the rocks for the paddle out before first light. With fantastic surf, and no one else out, I had an amazing two hour surf to myself - with every wave to choose from, I was like a kid in a candy store! Wave after wave, I surfed the solid powerful waves, and had some insane rides - steep drops, cranking bottom turns, high speed down the line rides and gouging cutbacks. I was in heaven! Stoked for sure! :)

The calm, dry, and sunny conditions were also perfect for a spot of climbing too, and once the surf had gone flat, I wasted no time in heading over to Anstey's Cove in Torquay to get my climbing fix. Having already pre-inspected a route called 'The Lumpy Universe', an E3 5c, I could barely contain myself to actually send it. Without a doubt, this is my new 'favourite route' - with some amazing climbing snaking its way up a huge, fairly blank looking, impressive wall in a kind of massive amphitheatre high above the cove. The whole route was fantastic, providing good hard technical climbing, broken up by some nice rest spots, which was perfect for me. The route was a delight from start to finish, due in part to my very relaxed state of mind (the surfing maybe?), and as a result my climbing flowed really well, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Well, until I'd completed the route and it was over, anyway. ;)

On a couple of other days, I on-sighted an HVS 5a called 'Acheron', and an E1 5b called 'Moonshot'. Both were good routes, but not a patch on 'The Lumpy Universe'! :)

Might and Main

Mid December saw cool, dry and sunny conditions for about a week, allowing us to eagerly embark on a flurry of climbing activity over at Anstey's Cove, Torquay. 

On the first day there, myself and climbing partner Simon Kitchin found a nice warm up route called 'End of an Era', which is a F6a. After that we placed the quickdraws on an adjacent route called 'Time Bandits', F6c+, and I managed to flash the route on my second attempt (after a small fall on the first metre of climbing on the first attempt). Then it was onto 'Cocytus', E3 6a, (about F6c), which I led ground up on my second attempt. The first attempt didn't go too well, with one fall, and on reaching the second clip I realised I had no quickdraws on my harness, so I had to down-climb and jump, and then be lowered off again. On the successful lead, I found out that you were supposed to place some gear for protection in the upper part. The only problem was; I didn't have any with me, so I had to basically solo the last part of the route - meaning a fall from the last move at 40' would have probably resulted in me hitting the ground. But I didn't worry, because I knew I wasn't going to fall. 

A few days later I returned with my partner Elisabeth, where we had a pleasant afternoon in the sunshine climbing a couple of lovely Trad' routes. During a snack break we chatted to local climbing legend - Ken Palmer, and admired the stunning view from our elevated position, out across the beautiful cove below. 

The next route on my list was 'Might and Main', a 70' F6c+ up the stunning arete between the Empire Wall and the Mitre Buttress. I returned early the following morning with climbing partner Simon, and managed to send the route ground-up on my first proper attempt (after a half-hearted go at the first few moves, followed by a jump off). I really enjoyed this climb, and it seemed to suit my style of climbing; involving lots of steep, powerful, bouldery and technical moves, that were broken up by good rests in between. Perfect! I wouldn't say it was an easy climb, but I led it more easily than I have other's at this grade, and did it smoothly and in good style. It felt good; darn good! Loved it! Woohoo! Happy Days! :) 

Looks like it's onto F7a's next then?!?!?!?!? :O

Photo courtesy of Simon Kitchin. Climber: James Mitchelmore lowering off 'Might and Main'.

November's Activities

Well, the weather in November wasn't the best with some wet weather to start, followed by much colder conditions to finish. We managed to get some white water kayaking in on the River Dart whilst the levels were up, which was nice. Then, on a brief warm and sunny day in the middle of the month, we managed to get to Chudleigh for a bit of lead climbing. I'd wanted to climb a route called 'The Spider', an E1 5b, for some time now, and finally decided to give it a go. The first pitch was great, if a little run-out on the final slab. Pitch two contained an exposed crux near the top of the 100 foot route. When I reached this point, I discovered that there was quite a lot of water seepage - not ideal!  The climbing was hard enough here, being overhanging on small-ish holds, without the rock being all wet! After placing some protection I gave the last portion of the route a go, managing to make it up and over to, and across the delicate slab, to the safety of an old tree stump - though not without a remarkable struggle! It was one hell of a battle, but I finally emerged triumphant onto the top of the crag in glorious sunshine! Yahoo! Fantastic! :) During the latter part of November, much of our climbing activities took place within the warmth and dry of the DartRock Climbing Centre, near Buckfastleigh. This is a superb venue to train in, work on your technique, strength and climbing skills, and bang out some great routes with your friends. And they have nice tea and cakes too! Ideal! :) Can't wait for my next session!

White Water Course October 2010

Pure Liquid Kayaking ran a super-successful white water course this October, based on the River Dart in Devon. I couldn't have asked for a better group of paddlers to coach on the river, with every single one of them super-keen and enthusiastic, hungry for new challenges and to improve their skills, and up for every task I set them. It was a total pleasure paddling with; Rob Tew, Ben Hipwell, Nick Richards and Jon Roberts. The course ran over a series of four Saturdays during October, with week one covering the fundamentals and basic skills on the Lower Dart. Progression was rapid to say the least (excuse the pun), especially for Ben who had never paddled on moving water before, and by week two we were on the Loop in low-ish flows utilizing the abundance of quality features there. A successful trip was had by all; running every section, including boofing 'Washing Machine' and eddy-hopping 'Triple Falls'. Week three saw higher water levels, with it lapping the ledge on the 'Loop put-in', so a perfect progression onto stronger flows - we even ran the last Km or so of the Upper Dart to start the day off with more excitement and the new challenge of running drops. The faster flowing water allowed the students to charge harder into and out of eddies, and further improve their river running skills. Right at the end of the day we did a safety and rescue session involving swimming down rapids and using throwlines for rescues. For the final week of the course the levels were slightly low again, but this didn't mean that we weren't going to have fun and further push our skill levels on the river. First up, we found a great little spot for having a go at flat-spinning our kayaks, before embarking on the main focus of the day - hitting as many eddies as we could on every rapid on the river. The guys discovered eddies they never knew existed before as we eddy-hopped our way down even the more challenging sections of water such as 'Lovers Leap' and 'Triple Falls'. We also found plenty of surf waves to play on, and in between all that we looked at leadership - with everyone having a go at leading the rest of the group down. Some of the more exciting elements of the day included a 'boof-fest' at the 'Washing Machine', (where we discovered Ben was a boof-a-holic), and trying our hand at some super-exhilarating pop-outs in the first drop of 'Triple Falls'. All in all, a fantastic day was had by everyone, and at the take-out we had a super-positive debrief and feed back session. From my point of view; I'd had a great month of paddling with and coaching a superb group of paddlers, and their progression throughout the course was phenomenal - with all of them looking super-comfy on the 'Loop' and paddling really smooth and strongly by the end. Well done Guys! Keep at it! And maybe not long before we get you on the 'Upper Dart' eh?! ;) 

Photos courtesy of Rob Tew.

October Climbing Update

For the last few years I have had the aim of one day climbing the classic Berry Head HVS route; Moonraker. After pushing my climbing grades this year and spending a good part of the summer Deep Water Soloing, I finally got to the point where I felt ready to tackle this famous route. On October 17th the conditions came together, and Elisabeth and myself made the decision to turn that dream into a reality. Moonraker is 200 feet of serious and committing climbing, accessed by a traverse in through a huge cave which naturally adds to the excitement and adventure of the route. With swell crashing about in the cave, we ended up with wet feet before we'd even started the climb. The first pitch went well, and I managed to avoid getting too pumped by blasting through the steeper sections. Pitch two was easier climbing, and we stopped on the belay for a small snack while we soaked up the beautiful view in such a unique and awesome setting. There was no turning back now that the tide was coming in - it was a one way ticket! The third pitch was much longer than the other two, but much straighter due to it following a natural crack system. By now I was pretty relaxed and accustomed to being on the route in that environment, and as a result I cruised the final pitch to the top, emerging from the shade into glorious sunshine. I'd finally done it! Woohoo! Fantastic! I was so happy! Elisabeth made it to the top easily too, and we celebrated our achievement together whilst admiring the glorious vista from the summit, and sharing the experiences we'd had on the route. We both agreed it had been a superb day, such an adventure, and much easier than we'd been led to believe. Wicked!

Three days later, and full of confidence from the successful ascent of Moonraker, we headed over to Torquay to climb another classic route; Gargantua, which is graded E1, so a little harder. This line is super-exposed; following a 140 foot arete up the main cliff at Daddyhole, but I was feeling on-form and super relaxed about the whole thing so it didn't really phase me too much. Abseiling into the base of the route gave me a sneaky peak at what was in store, unlike on Moonraker. I led pitches one and two straight through to the second belay in the exposed and bottomless niche, and found the climbing to be absolutely superb with some amazing movements and holds. The first part of the last pitch was a little tricky with delicate moves on small holds, while also being very exposed. Thankfully I reached better holds for the final few overhangs to the top, and I let out a woop of satisfaction on reaching the grassy belay at the summit. The thing with this route was that I enjoyed it much more than Moonraker, mainly because the climbing was much nicer, but also because I enjoyed the actual 'in-the-moment' climbing more than the satisfaction of actually completing it. This could have been because I was so much more relaxed and focused on my climbing?!? At any rate, it was super-fantastic and I loved every minute of it. As a reward we had a rather nice sunset to boot. Magic!

Cornwall Climbing and Walking

Following the Scillies trip, we headed back down to Lands End for a week of Climbing and coastal walking. Having the van newly kitted-out with a bed and cooker meant we could park up anywhere for the night and have our accommodation already sorted. First stop was Roche Rock near Bodmin on the drive down. This is a superb and quiet little climbing venue, which has a good variety of routes, lovely rock, and even its own ancient chapel built into the rock itself. That evening we stopped off at Gwithian Sands to walk the dog among the dunes, and check the surf. The surf was small and wind-blown next morning, so we headed on down to Sennen Cove for a fantastic sea cliff walk, before nipping up to Zennor for an evening climb on the superb VS 4c of 'The Royal Forester'. The next few days were spent at Bosigran, walking the dog along the picturesque coast path, and climbing some of the fantastic routes that the crag has to offer. Bosigran is an impressive granite wall with loads of good well protected multi-pitch lines. It was the best venue of the trip by far. Just don't get caught 100 foot up in a torrential downpour like we did! On the last day of the trip we headed down to Cribba Head to climb a few granite corners in the sunshine before doing a beautiful coastal walk from Treen, out to the idyllic Penberth, over to the scenic Porthcurno and back via Logan Rock. We even went a bit 'touristy' - having a tour around the amazing Minack cliff-top Theatre and eating icecreams! Plans are already underway for another Bosigran climbing mission. Can't wait!

Isles of Scilly Sea Kayaking

The 9th to the 17th September was spent exploring the stunning Isles of Scilly by sea kayak. We were hoping to paddle the 28 miles out from Lands End, but in the end the weather window didn't appear so we took the ferry instead. A fantastic week was had paddling in this stunning location with my partner Elisabeth and good friend Jeremy van Reimsdyke, during which time we visited all the main islands and almost all the outer lying rocks and islands too. Jeremy even made it out to the Bishop's Rock Lighthouse. The main islands - Tresco, Bryher, St. Martins, St. Agnes and St. Mary's are sheltered from the worst of the Atlantic swells by the outer lying rocks, islands and reefs, so it was always calm and pleasant paddling between islands here. Further out at places like The Northern Rocks, and Men-a-vaur things were a little more spicy, with large swells, confused seas, and waves breaking over submerged reefs making for exciting sea kayaking conditions. The bird life and seal population on the Scillies is amazing, and we even managed to swim with some seals off the Eastern Isles, which was awesome. All in all, the Scillies are a superb sea kayaking destination and we will definitely be heading back there for more of the same.