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Well, the weather over the Christmas period was mostly pretty wet, with regular heavy doses of rain over the moors which kept the river levels up nicely for us. Luckily we had the last two weeks of December off and, due to the superb water levels, were out kayaking on the River Dart almost every day during this time. We had some nice Loop runs in our playboats, ranging from medium to high water, and I lost count of the amount of Upper Dart runs I got in; all in perfect medium to high levels. I notched up quite a lot of 'Solo' Upper Dart runs, as well as some with friends and fellow river junkies. The best trip of the holidays for me was an epic paddle down the Upper Dart, in which we started paddling at a 'ledge covered' level and ended up arriving at Newbridge with it on the third step and fully flowing through the third arch of the bridge, having had the river rise three feet in half an hour whilst we were on the water! The rapids were huge and flowing really fast, with big holes everywhere, and despite being in a demo Zet Raptor, I still paddled every section of river, with no portages. In fact the Zet Raptor was so good I felt very comfortable in these conditions in it, and it is now going to be my next creek boat purchase for sure. I was on such a high during and after this trip, it was such a buzz, and I was totally stoked! :)
I did manage to get a bit of climbing training in during this time, mostly on my home wall, with a couple of outdoor sessions, including a cheeky little Deep Water Solo at Berry Head - good job I didn't fall in though; it woulda been pretty cold! Now with the colder and drier weather coming in, it's time to pick up the climbing training in eager anticipation of the chance to bash out a few outdoor routes on my climbing ticklist. :)
Pure Liquid Kayaking ran an improvers white water kayaking course over a four week period through November, working with kayakers who were already paddling the river and who wanted to improve their skills. During the course we really pushed the clients breaking in and out skills, as well as ferrygliding, boofing and playing in stoppers. On top of this we covered some essential WWSR skills and techniques, the entire BCU 3* syllabus, plus some important leadership skills too.
I would like to thank Tris, Julian and Steve for being such a great bunch of guys to paddle with and coach, it certainly was good fun, cheers!
The last two weeks of September were spent climbing and chilling out in Mallorca, Spain. On the whole the weather was excellent, with hot sunny weather most days, and warm sea temperatures, which was perfect for swimming and snorkelling and falling into from the cliffs. The climbing in Mallorca is absolutely fantastic, with tons of steep pocketed limestone above aquamarine waters. Steep and juggy is my prefered style of climbing, so I was in my element; totally psyched! The sea cliffs vary between twenty and sixty feet, which is perfect for Deep Water Soloing without ropes. Wicked! The first few days were spent getting used to the place again and repeating a few favourite routes from last year, including; Hercules 6c, and Big XXL 7a at Cala Barques. Then it was off to Cova del Diablo to scare myself silly on the awesome 60 foot cliff, coming away with; Italian Job 6b, and Calamares 6c in the bag, after finding the grades a little hard there. Next up was Porto Colom where, after three splashdowns, I succeeded in climbing the superb Princess of Transilvania 7a, plus a quick onsight of the equally good Baby Nate 7a+. Back at the beautiful Cala Barques I started to work on the independant and bold, but top quality, Transversal 7a. After two splashdowns off the high crux, I finally succeeded on my third attempt. What a result, and what an amazing route! The best spot we found during our visit though was Cala Mitjana in the last few days of the holiday, a beautiful and extremely quiet cove that we had all to ourselves during the whole of our time there. On top of that the climbing was absolutely brilliant too, and it was here that I onsighted my best routes of the trip; Rich Bitch 7a and Balsa Boys 7a+. I felt like all week my climbing was improving and my reward was climbing these amazingly steep routes, on big holds, with big moves, in good style, and staying relaxed and focused throughout. It was an unbelieveable feeling and I was so happy and exhilarated, both in climbing the routes and having achieved them afterwards. Totally stoked! Woohoo! What a perfect end to a perfect trip!
Two weeks wasn't enough though, so maybe three next year?! ;)
So far this month, I've been focusing on getting some mileage in on the abundance of quality routes at Berry Head, Brixham in the lead-up to my Mallorca DWS trip in the latter part of September. I was hoping to get to Lulworth too, but the fickle British weather put a stop to that. Instead, I concentrated on beasting myself on the super-steep routes of the White Rhino buttress, as well as long journeys out and back along the superb Magical Mystery Tour. The highlight of the training for me was completing my own version of the 'Wizard of Oz', which involved a seriously large amount of climbing, all in one go. The routes included: Magical Mystery Tour (including climbing through the entrance and through the roof of the Blue Grotto) reversed, 6a+, Rainbow Bridge (bar the crux pitch) 6a+, Holes 6a, Cod Tympani 7a+ (as a substitute to RB crux), The Wave 6c, RB Continuation 6b, Oz Wall 6b+, Cave Woman 6c, White Rhino Tea 7a, plus a couple more routes to finish off: Crossing the Tea 7a, and Pink Roadster 6c (7a). The whole route took me around four hours to complete, and I was so chuffed to finally make it to the end after a quality days climbing over such awesome and varied terrain. Amazing! After a few rest days, to let my aching forearms recover, I was back on it again to rack up some more power-endurance training on White Rhino, before taking a few forced rest days just prior to jetting off to Mallorca.
This year I've got two weeks in Mallorca to sample some more of the quality DWS routes over there and chill out in such a beautiful country for a bit. Can't wait! :D
Well, the rubbish weather continued this month for sure! I was so glad to have my own climbing wall to train on, what with all the wet weather, but am starting to get a little stir crazy now. I mean, what's the point of training for climbing, when you can't actually get outside and do any real climbing? I was really hoping to get to Lulworth Cove this month to sample some of the spectacular looking DWS routes over there, but so far this has yet to be. Most of my weekends off have coincided with very wet and unfavourable conditions, which has been a major spanner in the works on that one. However, all was not that bad. Berry Head opened to climbers again on the 1st, and despite the mostly dire weather, I did manage over half a dozen quality DWS sessions on some of the rare sunny days we had this month, fitting them in either side of morning or afternoon work. It was great to get back on my favourite routes again and deep water solo in the sunshine. Such pure freedom and good feelings! :)
Fingers crossed that we get better weather in September and I finally get to go to Lulworth!?!
Well, most of July was very wet so most of my climbing was done on my home wall. Due to the rain, I did manage a fantastic solo run down the Upper Dart in my kayak with perfect levels and lovely sunny conditions. During the last full week of July the weather finally improved, and I was finally able to get outside again for some Deep Water Soloing over Torquay in the sunshine. I scored several great sessions over the Meadfoot area where I got some mileage in on the long traverses, before beasting myself doing laps on the Aqua Marina wall. Berry Head re-opens on 1st August following the annual bird ban, and I'm hoping we get some dry days through August and September so I can get some training in on the quality routes there, prior to our proposed DWS trip to Mallorca in late September. Fingers crossed! On the last weekend in July Elisabeth and I went to Anstey's Cove, Torquay for a spot of Coasteering, and had a fun-filled afternoon scrambling and swimming along the coastline, as well as plenty of adrenaline-filled jumps off the cliffs into the sea along the way.
Having conquered most of the top-quality DWS routes at Berry Head last summer, I am hoping to get to Lulworth Cove in Dorset and bag a few of the three-star classic routes over there too, before we jet off to sunny Mallorca - the mecca for DWS in Europe, with tons of steep pocketed limestone over warm beautiful waters in the sunshine. Can't wait! :)
