Round 2 BMC Youth Climbing Series 2014 - Grades

Today we went back to Dynamic Rock to check out grades of the comp climbs and try some of the other routes. Here are the grades for the routes in Dynamic Rock on Saturday.

Round 2 BMC Youth Climbing Series 2014

Yesterday, was the second round of the BMC Youth Climbing Series 2014. It was held in Dynamic Rock climbing centre near Swansea. On the way there we past Port Talbot refinery and saw a flame burning from one of the chimneys. The centre wasn't open so we decided to go for a walk to pass the time, we saw a waterfall and a canal. We walked along many paths next to the river and crossed the river using a bridge by the rugby ground. We threw a few stones into the river and then went back. When we returned to the centre the doors were just opening. Perfect timing! My brother and me were at the bottom of the centre first so we got first dibs of the lockers. My dad registered us and belayed me up some climbs as a warm up, my brother Oscar didn't do any climbs to warm up because he was too busy messing around not thinking about the comp at all. 

Once the comp started the girls went rope climbing and the boys went bouldering. Some of my climbs looked hard but they were easier than they looked. I managed to top all my climbs and I was very pleased.

Once everybody had finished climbing we had lunch and went to the pub to have a drink and a rest away from all the noise. Oscar and I had a sports drink.

When we arrived back it was bouldering time. I was very exited because the first two problems looked easy. The last problem looked really hard and some of the climbers in the older categories didn't do it. I managed to do the first and second ones easily but I didn't manage to complete the third. I touched the last hold so two points were deducted from my total score. My score was 478 out of 480 which wasn't bad. After having my last go on the last problem I realised that  I had taken my last to attempts too quickly and as a result I fell off earlier that I should have. Next time I will have more rest between attempts.

My group finished early so I tried the bouldering problems again and managed to do the third problem. This was frustrating because I should have done it in the competition.

Because my group finished so early it was a long wait before the certificates were given, our judge told us our places so I knew what position I had come. Oscar and I collected our certificates and were very happy. Oscar was second for category E and I was first for category C and we have both qualified for the welsh final.  

Reading Climbing Centre Leading Ladder

Yesterday I went to Reading climbing centre to do the last round of the leading ladder. Me and my dad drove up early so we could be one of the first people there, but when we got there it was packed, many many people had already started climbing and so we didn't have much room for our stuff but we found somewhere in the end.

When we arrived I looked straight for the leading ladders the 6c looked really hard so did the 6b+ but I tried each one except for the 8a because it was just to hard.

These were my scores:

I managed to do the:
5+
6a
6a+
6b
6b+
The ones I failed were:
6c
7a
7b
7c
8a

Going up to Reading was so fun I loved the centre it smelt of chips at the top of the high climbs and of washing up cloths at the top of the lower ones. I hope I get into the final it would be so cool.

Exeter - leading ladder at Quay Centre

Yesterday my dad and me drove up to Exeter to do the leading ladder. We drove past lots of flooding. When we arrived at the Quay Centre my dad had to sign loads of forms it was so boring, just as we thought we could go climb they had to check that my dad could put on a harness correctly and belay correctly although we did say we had been climbing for nearly 6 years. When we could finally climb I looked at all the climbs they didn't look reachy but some of them looked quite difficult.

The grades I managed to do were:

5+
6a
6a+
6b
6b+
6c

I couldn't do:

7a
7b
7c
8a

After attempting these a couple of times I decided to try some of the other climbs and do some falling practice because I get scared quite a lot and it stops me from doing a lot of climbs.
I  did some falls and climbs until it was only half an hour until it was time to go, so I did some bouldering. The bouldering room wasn't that big so i didn't take me long to attempt each one. After that we headed home because I was getting tired.

BMC Youth Climbing Series Rd 1 (Summit Centre) - Route Grades

I went to the Summit Centre today to try out some of the competition climbs again. The grades are as follows.

Pink 6c Cat C 3rd, Cat A 1st Orange 5 Cat C 1st Left Side	Pink 7b Cat A 3rd Orange 7a Cat B 3rd Left Overhang
Green 6c Cat E 3rd, Cat B 2nd, Cat D 3rd Beige 6a Cat C 2nd, Cat B 1st Right Wall	Orange 5+ Cat E 2nd Blue 4 Cat E 1st Back Wall

Round 1 BMC Youth Climbing Series 2014

Yesterday I didn't get a long lie in instead I went to McDonald's for one of their lush hash-brown breakfasts before driving up to the Summit Centre in Trelewis to compete in the first round of the youth climbing series. I was very exited because I have moved up to group to C so I am leading this year.

When I arrived at the centre I looked at all the blocs and routes that might have been set for my category and then I read them. I read 4 routes and my three routes were included in these. After a while Simon called everyone in and discussed the rules then he told us girls that we were bouldering first so I put on my shoes and chalk bag then walked over to the bouldering mats. Very soon after that I was shown my first problem it looked really easy. I managed to top it and so did everyone else in my group. Our second problem looked pretty easy too, everyone in my group including me topped this one as well. For the very last problem they put us on a long green one, it looked ok except one reach in the middle. When I was looking at the bloc a new hold was placed in the middle of the reach this meant finishing the problem wouldn't be very hard at all. On my first attempted I climbed quite fast until I got to the hold that was added in then I put my foot up and pushed up to it and grabbed it, it was good and easy to move off I managed the next two moves no problem, I matched the top then jumped down really pleased with myself.

I asked my judge what I should do next and she told me it was time for lunch. I had my lunch and watched my little brother Silas (aged 4) climb. After lunch Simon gathered everyone and told the girls in each category who their judges were. My category started really quickly. Our first climb was really easy and everyone topped it. For our next climb we had to wait a little while for group B to finish on it. As soon as they finished I had to wait a little longer as I was climbing third. This climb was really easy as well and everyone completed it.

The final was really hard and I was climbing second so I had to read it really well as I could only watch one person. When it was my turn I was really nervous and excited to see how far I would get. I managed to get to the 5th or 6th clip but there was a massive reach after this which meant I was too scared to make the move. The hold looked really good but it was just too far away. I decided to let go. When I got down I was really disappointed because I could have done better if I hadn't got scared. But I am going to do a lot of work on falling to try and overcome my fear.

Even though I didn't complete the last climb I got the furthest on that climb and also the third bouldering problem. This meant I won the first round.

Results: http://indoorsout.co.uk/index.htm#brycs2014results.htm

My certificate from the event

Google Generate Auto Awesome video of the event

3 climbing centres 1 weekend

On the 6th of December my Mum, Dad and me drove up to Sheffield for two competitions one bouldering and one leading the bouldering on Saturday and the leading on Sunday.

Awesome Walls Sheffield

Towards the end of the journey my Dad spotted an Awesome Walls Centre on the sat nav, he looked on their web site and noticed they were  holding the leading ladder. I wanted to a go there and do it  quickly before going to hotel as I had never seen an Awesome Walls Centre before so it  would a good experience. My Dad said yes because the centre looked really cool and I needed to do the next round of the leading ladder. Inside Awesome Walls was amazing, it was so big and it had artificial cracks and rocks. I warmed  up on some easy climbs then progressed on to the leading ladder. I managed  to do climbs 5+ to 6c on my first go but I didn't do any other problems 6c was my highest.

After finishing the leading ladder I went to my hotel room to get an early night for the bouldering competition the next day.

Climbing Works Bouldering Centre Sheffield

Bouldering - BMC Open Youth Event December 2013

I was up bright and early exited to see the bouldering centre my Dad looked it up and said it was massive. As usual for competitions I put on my lucky t-shirt and trousers to make sure it did my best. I stuck to the traditional lucky breakfast I had McDonald's hash-browns the nicest piece of food ever!!!

The bouldering competition was held in Climbing Works which is a bouldering only centre. It has every type of bouldering wall and some of the routes were a lot more interesting than the ones I have seen in other centres.

My number at the 2013 BMC Winter Open Youth Bouldering Event

We wanted to get to the centre early so that we had time before the competition started to look around at the centre. When we registered I got given a number (61)  which I had to pin to my back.
I was also given a score sheet with numbers 1 to 8 where the judges could mark my attempts at the 8 problems.

This was a no joke competition! There were two rounds a qualifier and a final. For the qualifier there was a judge standing by each problem and you had to give him or her your sheet and wait in a queue until your name was called. The problems weren't in any order, you could choose any problem to start with. After you had finished one problem the judge would give you your score sheet back and if you failed you could either go again or come back to it. I didn't manage to numbers 2 and 6 first time, I needed to watch others attempt them and reread them. For problem 2, after watching other people, I found that toe hooking the side of the wall would keep my balance which would allow me to reach the useless hold in control and be able to hold it properly and move off it to the finishing hold. Number 6 had a reach at the end and I think the reason I didn't do it is because I was scared of falling awkwardly and hurting myself.

When I finished all my problems it was so hot and stuffy in the centre I asked the guy at the desk what time the results would be up for category C to see if we would have time to go out. We had loads of time to get some food but if we went in the car we would lose our parking space. We walked to the shops to get some fresh air. My mum wanted to get something from Laura Ashley (yuck!) and I saw a small single bed in there. This gave me an idea! If I change my bed for this bed I would have space to get a climbing wall in my room.

When we got back to the climbing centre I ran around the centre trying to find the results. They were posted at the back of the centre and I was third. This meant I qualified for the final.

Since the final wasn't starting until later on, we walked to a pub to have lunch.

We just got back in time for isolation for the final - I had no clue who anyone was and I am pants at making friends. Isolation was so boring, it felt like hours. I climbed around a bit trying not to jump on people and made up 5 problems to keep me warm and less bored (my Dad's iPad was useless as it didn't have any games). There were 6 in the final for my category and they called all the competitors who reached the final to be introduced to the crowd then turn around and have a few minutes to read the problems. The first one didn't look that bad, the second looked OK and the last looked mega hard - it was reachy.

We went back into isolation when the time was up and were bored for another 5-10min. Finally I was called to climb the first one. I had 4 minutes to do as many attempts as I could. If the time ran out and I was still on the wall I could finish my attempt. The problem was fairly easy except the start because, as it was a national competition, I wasn't used to starting in a very specific position. This cost one attempt and probably a higher position - I was sad because I didn't do it first or second go. My second attempt failed because I didn't get on the wall properly according to my judge.

On the second and third climbs I didn't reach the bonus on either of them, I was a bit disappointed because if I hadn't of had so much pressure then I could have won. I think I will do better next round because I will have a better idea of how it works.

Foundry Climbing Centre Sheffield

Leading - BMC Open Youth Event December 2013

After another traditional breakfast I was nervous and excited about my first leading competition. We arrived at the Foundry early and the first thing we did was register where I was given a number (54).

There were two rounds to this competition a qualifier and a final. The qualifier had two routes - the demonstrations were videoed and played on a big screen for everyone to see. The routes were demonstrated by adults and didn't really help my route planning - they only showed me which routes I was doing.

Once I had round which route I was doing me and my Dad walked around the centre to examine the route from different directions. I thought the route looked hard and scary. It didn't look like an easy one to start off with.

I was called to do my route which wasn't as hard as I expected but the top was harder. I managed to get well over half way but couldn't reach the next hold because I was too short. I didn't let this bother me, I just focussed on route 2.

Route 2 did not look as hard as Route 1 because it wasn't as high so I wouldn't be as tired at the top. When I was climbing it was as expected. I followed my plan until an awkward clipping position came up and I couldn't clip. I started to panic then climbed down and did a long distance clip but only just. This was a relief and when my clip is in I am not scared because it is like a top rope. This meant I could carry on climbing. I got to the hardest point in my plan and tried to reach my foot over to the other wall but my leg wasn't long enough and I tried to go for the next hold but I didn't have enough momentum because I couldn't push off the wall so I fell off.

After route 2 I was going to be a while before the results were posted so we went upstairs to the shop to try on some shoes and look at other climbing stuff. After the results were published I was a little disappointed to see that I was third because I thought I was in second place. It didn't matter as I qualified for the final anyway. We went to the pub for lunch after this as we had some time before the isolation for the final was due to start.

When we got back it was isolation time this wasn't quite as boring as isolation in the bouldering competition but it was still a heck of a long time. I was called third last to climb the final problem and I was nervous because the climb looked really, really hard. When I was half way though the climb I got scared but I knew if I jumped off I would be very low down on the scoreboard. So, I did a mini dyno for the next hold and stuck it. The hold after that was good but I couldn't reach the clip this made me scared. I went down a hold and still couldn't reach the clip so I dangled by my hands and was really, really scared - too scared to carry on. I let go and banged my hip against a volume that was sticking out. 

I really disappointed that it wasn't good enough to get a top three place but at least I have something to work on while I am waiting for the next competition to come up. I was cross about not going for the move and hopefully next time (after training) I will be able to make the next move.