Hey Everyone!
Its Robbie here! The past month has been absolutely mental! Everyday there has been something on and my body feels like its never been pushed so hard before! At the beginning of the month I had planned a climbing trip down south to a well known crag known as Malham Cove. Set deep in the yorkshire dales, Malham Cove is an awe inspiring feature, scarring the very tame countryside it resides in. Everytime I walk down to the crag, I am reminded of the Shire from Lord of the Rings, I hardly expect to be seeing little hobbits running around everywhere : P
Malham Cove AKA "The Shire"
I travelled down to this incredible place with a bunch of my close friends not to relax in the beautiful surroundings though, I came to crush hard sport climbs! Staying with friends at the nearby village of Settle, I had no excuse but to get some serious climbs under my belt! First day, I warmed up on some easier climbs (easier climbs at Malham though aren’t typical warm up routes). My warm up consisted of Malham’s 3 star classic 7a’s and 7a+’s, “Consenting Adults”, “Free and even easier” and “Yosemite Wall”. My friends whom I was down with where attempting to climb “Yosemite Wall” during the trip so I left the quickdraws in. My first hard route was to be an onsight (First go, no information on the route) attempt of “Toadall Recall” an 8a on the upper tear. As far as I know, onsighting 8a in Malham is pretty much unheard of, especially grades harder than 7c! So off I went on my epic voyage up the route!
The Epic Face of Toadall Recall! 40m off the ground!
The start felt really easy, nothing seemed to shake me. As I scaled up the towering head wall, the sun burst out from behind the clouds, causing the rays to reflect off the glistening, white rock and blind me! Everything was white, I couldn’t see any holds for my hands or my feet! I continued moving upwards and onwards, steadily getting higher, until I made a bad judgement, instead of traversing right along an obvious rail, I continued to head straight up into the ever steepening face! The holds disappeared and I was lefty hanging onto crumbling, black rock, way off route! As I attempted to correct my mistake, I wrong footed myself and came hurtling off the wall far left and high above my last draw (protection), I came hurtling down and was caught by my belayer! Dangling far above the ground, a new perspective on the rock I could see and the sun diminished behind the clouds once again revealing the new path I should have taken… Getting back on I effortlessly climbed to the top…
The Crux (Hardest Move)
An amazing climb… but more was awaiting me on the lower tear…
I headed down to the lower tear after my adventure on “Toadall recall” and chose another 3 star classic of the crag to turn my attention to, “Mescalito” 7c+! As far as I know it had only been flashed (first go with information) once, by a friend of mine. After getting all the beta (information) from another climber also attempting the ascent of the route, I warmed up quickly and took my chance. The hardest moves where all at the start, I effortlessly breezed past these which left me confident for the rest of the climb…
The Crux
As I headed up through the vertical face, the wall steepened more and the footholds (like the last climb) seemed to diminish (an apparent feature of climbing at Malham). However, the holds increased in size, more positive handholds made me feel much more confident and by increasing my dynamic climbing, I eased my way up the wall.
As i got higher, my hands got colder and colder… This isn’t a good sign, when your hands become numb, you can’t feel what your holding on to and its not ideal when you are hanging off small edges and slopers… Heading on to the overhang I was still confident, but now couldn’t feel anything I was holding on to, I was eager and desperate to flash this route! Although I have achieved flash and onsights of much harder grades than this, the fact that this route is in Malham adds to the ascent as well as the history of the route. Getting aggressive as I sped through the overhang, I reach some massive jug undercuts, they felt positive and I felt strong, but the footholds where terrible and the position was awkward. The only handhold to go for seemed miles away, but building my courage, I slapped wildly for it, screaming “ARGGGGHHHHH, YEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!!” I latched hold of it!
The Jug I jumped for (more of a sloper)
My hands where now utterly freezing and they began to bleed and tingle with the horrible pain of blood trying to get back into the frozen fingers! The pain made me feel so ill and as I managed to get the next few holds, i couldn’t feel what I was holding on to… A second later as I stepped over the wall onto the easy ground my foot popped sending me flying (once again) towards the ground… Angry, cold and drained from my failed efforts, I hung on the rope looking up at the wall wondering of what could have been, just another step towards the ultimate goal.
Only by failing can we succeed!
The following weekends where equally eventful… The first of which I route set and demoed for the YCS (Youth Climbing Series) held in Glasgow Climbing Centre. A really great event it was, and I was indeed proud as my young climbing prodigees Andrew Barr, Jamie Drummond and Abi Blunt achieved 1st, 2nd and 3rd in their respective categories!
The weekend after was the Skymasters competition! This event has been happening for the past 3-4 years at the NEC in Birmingham! It was the first time I had been to this competition so I didn’t know what to expect. The style of competition was very strange to me as it was Speed. Usually I compete in Difficulty so Speed was something I have never really tried. Anyway, I remained confident and gave it my best go. I travelled down with fellow competitor Robert Mackenzie and Natalie Berry (Currentbody team member). Nat didn’t compete but she was great support!
Nat in train with Robs hat on...
The first day of the competition we found out exactly who we where racing against. Out of 26 competitiors (some of the best climbers in the country!) I was pitted against my good friend and training partner Jonathan Field! There was to be two separate races, one from the right wall and one from the left wall. Both walls where exactly the same except they come from a different direction, so this makes it fair when comparing the two competitors. In the first race, I felt really confident, I blasted through all the obstacles with little effort and finished 1st place by a good margin.
Beasting it!
In the second race however, I wasted time fumbling with a clip which cost me a lot of time, as well as that my foot slipped causing me to waste more time making it up the wall! However, i still remained on top with 1st place without as much of a margin though…
The two times where added together to give you the ranking. I had qualified in 11th place! That was the first day over now and I could relax… The second day was a bit different, there was only one route and it was knockout. I was pitted against another top climber in the competition. This time I really had to give it 100% As the whistle blew I blasted up the wall, I knew I was ahead because I could see him at the corner or my eyes, as I reached the second obstacle I had problems clipping which sent him ahead, keeping the pace up I through myself at all the holds catching only with my finger tips!
As I sped up I knew I was gaining on him, however as I reached the 3rd obstacle the clip refused to clip! I spent a good while messing around and as I reached the end of the 3rd obstacle I had a lot of problems building my feet over the mantle! He had won by the time I reached the end of the 4th obstacle… That was me knocked out in 9th position… It was still great fun though and I look forward to competing next year! Congratulations though to Robert who won the comp in an unforgettable, dominating performance throughout the entire event!
ROBZ OUT