March Update

Early March saw me notching up my 26th Solo Upper Dart run, followed by a sociable 2nd run with paddling mate Jez. Shortly after this the rains eased off and the river levels dropped, putting an end to all the river kayaking for the rest of the month. 

With drier weather towards the middle part of March, I turned my attention back to a spot of climbing for a bit. With the bird ban in effect from the 1st of the month at Berry Head, this rendered most of the best Deep Water Soloing out of bounds there, so instead I focused on a couple of trad routes at the Red Wall area instead - a great HVS 4c, climbing a shapely arete, called 'Cod', followed by 'Oggie', a HVD in the groove next to the arete. It was kinda weird climbing with ropes again and I didn't like having to put trust in 'equipment', so on the last steep section of Cod I just pretended I was soloing the route and blasted relaxed and easily to the top. 

In fact, there is a more direct version of Cod that goes at F6b+ as a DWS route, staying true to the steep arete all the way up called, funnily enough, 'Cod Direct'. About a week later saw my return, in a perfect weather window of high tide and sunny conditions, to climb the route. First I inspected the route on a top-rope and chalked up a few of what I thought looked like holds, as being both 14 metres high with a fairly small splash-down zone and at the end of winter with sea temperatures at their coldest, I wanted to minimise the risk of falling in as much as possible. Once off the rope I started up the steep lower part of the route, climbing relaxed and smoothly through a bouldery section, followed by some cut-loose jug swinging with a massive grin on my face, to arrive on a ledge below the last 6 metres of the route. I didn't hang around here for long, maybe less than a minute, before blasting on up the steep juggy arete to a nail-biting finish on slopers, as I topped out high above the icy cold sea. Woohoo! What a great route! :) Then I realised I'd left a sling on the sea-washed ledge at the bottom of the route, so I ended up abb'ing back down to retrieve it and climbing the whole route for a second time. Well why not, it was great climbing!?! :)

When I wasn't able to get outdoors climbing, ie; most of the month really, I spent a great deal of my time training on my home wall - doing power endurance circuits and lots of pull-up training. Regular sessions saw me racking up 48 minutes of 'climb-time' in the roof on the power-endurance days, followed by sets of over 260 regular pull-ups and 14 one-arm pull-ups, each arm, on the strength training days. Bring on the summer DWS!!! Yeeharr!!! :)

The other main focus for me this month was my van. Having decided to spend more time this year ticking off DWS routes here in the UK instead of abroad, to save money, I realised I ought to finish off getting my van kitted out so I'd have a nice comfy mobile home to base myself from. Already I have wired lights and power into the back of  it, finished off the insulation and padding in the roof and walls, sealed up the leaky back doors, and fitted a decent mattress in the back to facilitate a good nights sleep. Now all that's left to do is; fit a wind driven roof ventilator to reduce condensation build up, fit a window in the bulkhead to gain a bit of natural light into the back, and to carpet it out so it's nice and snug and cosy. Hopefully this will all be completed by May, just before the main DWS season starts here in the UK! Can't wait! :)

Well, that's all for now. Next month should see us, weather permitting, heading off to South Wales for a spot of sea kayaking around the stunning and dramatic coastline of Pembrokeshire, including a clash with the infamous 'Bitches' tide race. Super excited! Watch this space folks! :D

February Update

With persistently wet and windy weather continuing for much of February, this meant that the river levels were up a lot of the time, allowing plenty of kayaking activity on the Dart. By the end of the month I'd notched up my 25th solo Upper Dart run this winter, as well as having enjoyed plenty of playboating sessions on the Loop. One particularly good day was when I'd forgotten my helmet funnily enough. I borrowed Elisabeth's helmet for a superb run down the Upper, before handing it over so she could run the Loop. Then I hiked up to meet Elisabeth at Triple Falls to take pictures and some video footage, but it wasn't long before I was squeezing myself into her tiny kayak for an absolutely wicked session in the bottom wave - surfing, spinning and carving it up with a massive grin on my face! Awesome fun! :) 

Some of the stronger gales we experienced during this time produced some reasonable waves on some generally quite sheltered beaches locally, allowing me to score a couple of nice surf sessions on my new surfboard which was fantastic! Got the stoke back! :)

Most of my climbing training during this period was undertaken indoors on my home wall. However, only a couple of days before the bird ban came into effect I managed to bag a quality DWS session at Berry Head, smashing out a bunch of great routes in the sunshine in my boardies for a few hours! What a perfect end to the month! Happy days! :D

January Activities

Most of my time during January was spent either kayaking on the Upper Dart or Deep Water Soloing at Berry Head. I will finish a more detailed write up over the next few days - watch this space!

December and Christmas activities

The first few weeks of December continued with the run of dry and reasonably sunny weather for the time of year, allowing me to carry on deep water soloing at Berry Head despite the cooler water temperatures by then. I had some great sessions down there with the rock in perfect condition, and for some strange reason had the place all to myself too. 

The nicer weather also allowed a few more coasteering trips around the Berry Head area, and on one of those trips, with good friends Carl, Josh, Jack and Stef, we had a real up close encounter with a wild Dolphin which was pretty amazing! 

Then as we approached Christmas time the rains came again, allowing me to dig my Raptor out and score a series of solo Upper Dart runs in superb slab covered levels. Awesome! 
On one occasion I solo paddled my Riot Dominatrix playboat down the Upper Dart in a nice lapping over the slab level, before joining Elisabeth on the Loop for a fantastic playboating session of surfing, squirting, and spinning. Wicked fun!

Probably one of the most enjoyable things we did around this time on the higher level days (ie: 3rd arch levels) was when we took the boogie boards down the Loop - just for a laugh. Surfing the top and bottom waves on the boogie boards was so much fun, and a nice change from kayaking it all the time. Running the river on them was hilarious fun too - bashing through stoppers and bouncing down rapids - all super-close to the action. We were grinning from ear to ear! :)

With wet weather forecast for Christmas and into the new year, looks like we'll be hitting the river some more before the year is out. Excellent! :)

October and November antics

After our Portugal holiday I did manage to get out deep water soloing a handful of times, up to and including 19th October, until the weather finally changed and the rains came again. We'd had some good weather for climbing over the summer, but I guess it had to come to an end at some point! 

The latter part of October and the first part of November saw a great deal of rainfall, with the River Dart holding good levels for several weeks on end. This meant I was able to get on the Upper Dart section for some superb kayaking sessions! Overall during this period I solo paddled the Upper Dart 11 times, walking the shuttle on most of these occasions too, and led my partner Elisabeth down on one trip making that 12 runs in about two weeks. I also completed 3 upper dart runs in one day during this time too.

When the rains finally subsided and the weather became drier and cooler from mid-November onwards, I was able to get back down to Berry Head for some DWS again, though making sure I didn't fall in as it was pretty cold by then.

Also towards the end of November I managed to score some nice local surf sessions, including a really good clean day down at Bantham in the sunshine riding some sweet and crisp little waves. 

I also managed to get a last bit of coasteering in just before the end of November too, with some good trips along Anstey's Cove area in Torquay and a superb adventure along the cliffs of Berry Head, with some nice big jumps thrown in for good measure.
So a pretty good couple of months in all really. Loving it! :)

Portugal

Well, Portugal came and Portugal went with not much to write home about really. Disapointing would be a good word to sum up the trip as far as the deep water soloing went, or 'didn't go' to be more accurate. 

I had less than a handful of quality climbing days right at the start of our two-week trip. During this time I climbed a bunch of great routes at the Ponta Garcia area near Sagres, but nothing above F6c. The main route I'd wanted to climb on this trip was a terrific F7b called Magnum. Over those first few days I had about three tries on the route, making it halfway through the crux with only a couple more moves to victory on my third attempt. I was planning on sending the route over the next few days, so gave it a rest that day to climb a few easier lines in the afternoon. In hindsight, and being so close, I should have given it a few more goes because the next day the wind and swell picked up, followed shortly after by varying amounts of rain. This was to be the state of affairs weather-wise for the rest of the trip really, rendering the climbing out of the question due to rain and large seas, which kept soaking the rock and keeping it that way. 

I never got to get back on Magnum, and I was really gutted about that! 

As some consolation, the arrival of surf on the plentiful and varied beaches of the area meant I got back into my surfing a bit during the rest of our holiday. I hired a surfboard from one of the shops in town, whilst Elisabeth bought a cheap boogie board and had fun whizzing about on that. My best session was down at Carrapateira in solid and clean six foot plus waves, where I scored some wicked rides and had an absolute blast. Stoked!

Now we're back home again, and I've already had a nice weekend of DWS down at Berry Head climbing a few of my old favourite routes in the sunshine. It sure felt good!

My plans for now are to keep the deep water soloing going as long as possible, and also to get back into my surfing a bit more over the winter again too. I already have my sights set on a super-snugg new winter wetsuit to help keep me warm during those cold winter sessions out riding the waves. And not forgetting the white water kayaking when the rains come again too of course. 

But for now I'll just make the most of the warm ish weather we're having while it lasts! :)

Pics: Tackling the crux of Magnum, F7b at Ponta Garcia, Sagres, Portugal.

Killa Gorilla

Halfway through my porridge breakfast the sky darkened with thick black clouds, and within moments the heavens opened and rain hammered relentlessly down on the lean-to roof outside. Things were looking far from ideal for my proposed climbing plans for the morning!

Five days previous to this I'd had a look at a route called Killa Gorilla, a F7b, whilst out climbing along Magical Mystery Tour at Berry Head as part of my training for our Portugal Deep Water Solo trip. The route looked fantastic, with a long and super-steep rising traverse into the entrance to the Great Cave leading to a fingery crux near the end before the finishing jugs. It was then that I got all psyched to try and climb the route before we flew out to Portugal in just one weeks time. I decided if I was going to climb my first 7b, I wanted it to be on a route that inspired me and was on my home turf. 
Killa Gorilla fitted the bill perfectly for me. The race was on!

Over the weekend of 14/15th September I managed a couple of sessions down there trying the route in the mornings before work. I made pretty good progress on the Saturday, making it up to the final crux, but failed to unlock the right moves to victory. On Sunday, with some of the finishing holds chalked up, I had a couple more goes on it, but inadequate rests, a broken hold, and lack of time put an end to any chances of doing it that day too.
Time was running out for me with our flight booked for Thursday, and on top of that the weather was conspiring against me too with rain forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday! 
Not only was I getting fed up of falling off the route all the time, but I was getting extremely frustrated as my likelyhood of climbing Killa Gorilla before we flew out to Portugal seemed to be quickly slipping away from me.

Monday was the only option, and with a forecast of sunshine and showers it would be the best chance I'd have before we flew out. 
However, as the rain poured down outside my heart sank, and I started thinking that it was 'game over' for my attempt on Killa Gorilla. Then I got angry, and remembering the forecast of strong WNW winds and showers, I got even more determined to try and climb the route that morning - the crag would be sheltered from the prevailing wind and rain, and any sunshine should dry the rock out pretty quickly I reckoned. 

After breakfast I walked the dog, and it wasn't long before the sun started to shine down on me again. Things were starting to look a bit better for the attempt! 

Once down in the Great Cave I discovered that the rock was indeed very dry providing superb climbing conditions. Excellent! 
It wasn't long before I'd traversed around to the big ledge near the start of Killa Gorilla with my dry bag of gear. I climbed on up the long way around to the last few holds on the route to check out that broken hold and re-chalk it if neccessary. Luckily the hold was ok, as only a small part had broken off, and it was still useable. I lowered down onto it, and the other crimp, and climbed back up to the finishing jug, just for my own peace of mind that I could do that move and hold onto the holds okay. 

Back at the big ledge I made sure that I had a good half an hour rest before my first attempt on the route that day. This had been my downfall the day before, and I wasn't going to make that mistake again! This gave me plenty of time to visualise the climb and the moves on the crux I'd need to execute correctly. During this rest period I chose to listen to some tunes on my MP3 Player, something I'd not done before climbing a route, in the hope this would help me relax and put me in a positive mindset before the ascent. 

At about ten to twelve, and with Bonnie Tyler's 'Holding out for a Hero' still playing in my head I started to climb the route, now that the tide had come up enough. I climbed quickly and relatively smoothly through the first fingery bit of climbing, before heading up the line of jugs through the ever steepening roof ahead of me. I made use of a couple of semi-rests to shake-out a bit and help me relax some more, prior to my arrival at the corner just short of the final crux. From here I made the strenuous move out rightwards and matched on a thin slot, but my foot popped and I took a wild cut loose swing. Managing to hold the swing, I didn't waste time trying to get my feet back on, and instead lunged out rightwards to gain a couple of jugs on the very lip of nowhere. Once I'd got these holds I swung a heel hook back on and had a quick shake-out whilst I eyed up the next fingery crux holds. I tried to reach up to the righthand hold but couldn't reach it as my body was too bent in the middle. I quickly re-positioned my heel hook further away, which then allowed me to reach the hold. I wrapped my thumb around it too for extra grip, then launched up to latch the lefthand crimp. Yes, I was almost there! Don't blow it now! Focus! I re-positioned my feet again and set up for the dynamic move to the finishing jug. One two three, bang! I got it! Yes!!! I quickly matched on it, before blasting up through a few more jugs to a more vertical and less strenuous position. I'd done it!!! I'd climbed this amazing route; my first F7b!!! I let out several massive hoots for joy and punched the air! Yeahhhhh!!! Woohooooo!!!! I was SO happy man!!! Yes!!! :D

Climbing Killa Gorilla really meant a lot to me. Obviously being my first 7b in pretty much my back garden was extremely special to me, but added to that was the fact that I'd done it on the last possible day before we flew off on holiday, which had added a lot of pressure. The relief I felt on completion of the route was overwhelming, and in fact a bit emotional really. 
Overall though, I was just filled with emense joy and satisfaction. And that sure felt good!!! What a perfect day!!! :)

Really amped and looking forward to Portugal now! So excited!!! :D
Sunshine, jug-fest climbing over the beautiful Atlantic, what could be better?!?!! :D

PS: I think listening to music prior to climbing really worked for me and I'll be trying it again whilst I'm away climbing in Portugal too! ;)