Deep Water Solo Exeter 2015

On Thursday we drove down to Exeter for the DWS competition at the Quay.  We stayed in the Premier Inn next to the station and brought our bike so that we could cycle along the river to the quay.

There was a La Sportiva boot demo at the quay climbing centre where we tried on some different La Sportive shoes. It was quite late after the boot demo so we went back to the hotel.

The competition didn't start until 3pm on Friday so we had a late breakfast and cycled down to the quay. We were there quite early so I read the routes for a while until the first person start climbing. I was number 33, so was 33rd up. I went to warm up in the Quay climbing centre when the first person started. I then went back out to watch some of the other climbers. Everyone seem to be doing quite well on the routes so I wasn't as nervous. A couple of climbers before I had to get on my boat, I went to top up my warm-up as there was no warm up wall on the barge - except for two finger boards.

I was nervous going across on the boat but excited to try the routes. On the barge I got my stuff ready and waited for my turn. I stepped out onto the wall and started on Mick's whistle. The route was all jugs and quite easy it gave me a lot of confidence topping it.

I had 6 mins before my second route so I kept warm and jumped around. I was most nevous about this route because it had an Entre-Prise swinging volume in the middle - the wrecking ball! Some of the girls who had topped it told me that they missed the ball out so I was a bit stuck on what to do.

When I climbed out I was excited to try it. I started climbing and did the moves to the wrecking ball easy it was all jugs when I got to the ball I matched the right jug and reached Under the ball and up to a jug. The route was harder from here. The holds got worse but I managed to hold them to get to the top! I was so happy to top out on my second route because I knew I wouldn't have to climb wet!

I got my towel ready before I went out for my last route as even if you top out you have to jump in! This route was definitely the hardest. The first part was the easiest and I got to the to flying saucer holds fine. I then went to the volume which was better than I thought so I lent off the volume and got the sloper which I held again better than I had thought. But the next hold was really bad and I couldn't hold it so I had to match the crimp next to it and go out to the side pulls. They were both good and I held them enough to get the top. I was very happy to top all blocs. I took my chalk bag and headband off and gave them to Simon who was taking photos at the top of the wall so they stayed dry.

I was very happy after I came back on the boat because I knew I had qualified for the semi-finals. So I went straight over to the showers. Later on I found out that 16 girls had topped all routes and qualified for the semis in joint first place. I was up fourth in the running order for the semis at 8:55am on Sunday!

It was about 7pm so we went in to the Quay Climbing Centre for some food. The moroccan chicken was really nice. We went downstairs to listen to Dave Bowes (member of GB paraclimbing team) talk. It was really interesting to hear his story and  how he is using climbing to promote the Headway charity. We then watched the climbing film Redemption: The James Pearson Story. After the film had finished we cycled back to the hotel.

Saturday was the seniors turn to qualify and was a day off for the juniors. So we cycled into Exeter city centre before going down to the Quay to watch the seniors qualify. I watched the Boulders climbers qualify and they did very well both qualifying for the semis. We left early so that I could get an early night before the semis which started early in the morning.

We got up really early and bought a McDonalds breakfast on the way to the Quay. We got there for 7am so that I had plenty of time to read the routes. I was a little worried about the top move on the first climb, the top section on the second climb and the two slopers after the lip on the third. It was raining while I was reading the routes, but it stopped just as I was about to do the semis. I warmed up for the same amount of time as I did for the qualifiers and I was feeling good when I went across onto the barge. I knew when I had to climb because I was always after Gwyneth.


I really wanted to stay dry for the second climb so I really wanted to top out. I found the start of the climb ok and passed it quickly. I thought the move over the lip was hard and I didn't like the top move because the hold was sloping and the move was long. It was a good pocket at the top though so I managed to get it and top out. Like the qualifiers this put me in a good mood for the next climb.

I was glad there was no wrecking ball this time but I had forgot what the route looked like and I was worried I would mess up. When I climbed out I could see all of the under section so I remembered that part quickly. It was an easy start again. The top part was ok until the last move where I had to swap my feet. I didn't want to jump swap them incase I slipped so I down climbed a bit and swapped so I could go for the top easily. I was again received that I was dry for the last route.

The last route looked by far the hardest but the easiest to read. I knew what I had to do I just had do it. I was nervous about a lot of the slopers but there was no way of avoiding them. I stepped out feeling excited. The start had some nice crimps and a positive sloper the big hold in the roof was good and so was the small crimp over passed the overhang. I held this and went to the sloper and then over the top to the other sloper which was bad, I matched it and got the horn and it was ok. Next was the 2 slopers but one had a crimp on the side for your thumb which I liked. I went again the the 2 crimps which I loved and fiddled around my feet before pushing slowly over to the top hold which was not very deep. I matched it and got the nod from Mick.

I was really please to have topped all the climbs in the semis and was very excited to be through to the final. I watched some of my friends in the semis before heading back to the hotel for a shower and to dry out my shoes.



I got soaked cycling back to down to the quay because it was raining quite heavily by then. In fact the rain was so bad that they closed the wall for around 45 min. So we managed to get down in time to watch Ros in her semis. Ros did very well in the semis qualifying in second place.

The briefing for the final was at 4pm and they told us the format of the final. The final was a speed competition. Every climber had to climb their category's route as fast as they could and the timer would stop once you rang a bell at the top of the route. The fastest 3 climbers went through to a super final which was a repeat of the same route without the final hold so you had to jump for the bell and fall in the water.


After the briefing we had to go straight into isolation in the Quay Climbing Centre. I didn't warm up properly in isolation because I thought that we would go out to read the routes then go to the boats one at a time. But this year everyone went onto the barge at the same time and the competitors went out on to the wall one by one. When they said we only had 5min before going onto the barge I did the worlds quickest warm-up and went out to read my route.

When I read the route I read that there was two ways of doing it. The way I planned to use was to go up the jugs to a volume, hold the middle of the volume and then follow the jugs to the top.

We went straight onto the barge after reading the routes and the first climber started.  By the time it was my turn the fastest time was 32 seconds. I knew that I would make the super final if I beat this time. Before I went out I asked everyone how it was and how holding the volume was because when I was route reading the volume didn't look very good. They told me that you don't have to use the volume and you could go up and around it. When I went out I followed the holds and got over the roof quite quickly. I then did as everyone else had done and went up, down and across to the top. I managed to do it in 30 seconds. I looked at the clock as soon as I hit the bell and was very pleased to have made the super final. I topped out and went back down behind the wall.

The super finals started straight after the boys final. I was up last again as I had the fastest time in the final. Once the other two girls had climbed the time I had to beat was 25 seconds. I started really fast but knew they had changed the route slightly as they told us before they started. So as soon as I got past the roof I was looking for the bell. I was so stressed about finding the bell I slowed down at the top and as soon as I saw the bell in the same place I was really annoyed. I then sped up loads and jumped from the second top to the bell noticing that the top hold was gone and that was the only change. When I jumped for the bell I had to fall once I had hit it. As I fell I saw the time 23 seconds. I was very pleased. I had won the under 16 female category in DWS 2015!


I was very excited after this but before I had a shower I stayed to watch Ros in the finals. She did really well and got through to the super final. In the super final she managed to come second behind Emma Twyford.



On the podium I got a really nice glass trophy and as a prize I won a Dryrobe, a slack line from Ru-Slack and a small pot of climbOn.

The competition was one of the best organised of any I had been. Despite the rain break it finished on time. The routes were set really well and they managed to split everyone in the end. It was great to have the two commentators back again because they kept everyone interested in the event and make it more fun. I look forward to DWS 2016!

Video of my climbs:

Team ABC Training Camp in France

Day 1 - Traveling to France

On Saturday 15th August my parents drove me to Gatwick airport. I was flying to France with some of the GB climbing team for a training camp run by team ABC (an American climbing team).

We arrived first and waited for the rest of the team. When they came my parents left and we checked our bags in. Our flight was delayed for a while so we arrived in Toulouse late but got the hire car and drove to the gite in Saint Antonin arriving at 00:30.

Kirsten, Abi and I were sharing the downstairs room which had an ensuite bathroom! It was also right by the pool!

When I opened my suitcase my frozen bacon had defrosted so I put it in the fridge quickly before I went to bed. I chose the double bed and then went straight to sleep.


Day 2 - Roc d'Angulars

We woke up late. Robyn and Didier (the team ABC coaches) brought us some food for the week so we helped them bring it up to the kitchen. I made breakfast and then at 12:00 we met the Team ABC climbers at the gym.

We stood outside the gym and told everyone a few things about ourselves. The four climbers from team ABC were also on the US team and were going to Arco this month for the world cup. There names were Brooke, Stella, Natalia and Joe.

After we all got to know each other we drove back to the gite to pack our bags for the crag. We decided to go to Roc d'Angulars because it was in the shade all afternoon! I was really excited about going to the crag because I only had a little bit of outdoor climbing experience which I really enjoyed.

We got into our nine seated hire car and followed Robyn, Didier and the others to Roc d'Angulars. I could see the rock as we drove down the mountain it looked massive and very white.


We parked at the top of another mountain and walked down a woodland path to the crag. It looked tall and the routes went down a long way.

I climbed with Abi and Kirsten and did the following routes.

1) Bombement catastrophique - 6a+

This was my first outdoor route in France! It was a bit slabby and most of the holds were good. But there were bigger spaces between the clips than I'm used to in the UK. Also at the beginning the holds were spread out and slopey. But overall the route was quite easy.

2) Deroute des choucas - 6a+

I found this route easier than Bombement catastrophique because its was mostly vertical but slightly overhanging in places. All the holds were good but there was one big move at the start and one towards the top but apart from that it was pretty easy. I felt more comfortable on this route.

3) Magie Noire - 6c

This route was longer than the first two and a bit harder. The crux was in the middle. There was a mixture of crimps and jugs and it was harder to find the holds. But I managed to top it.

4) Clin d'oeil a la lune - 7a

This route was the tallest route I tried out of the 6. I couldn't see the chains as they were hidden over a ledge. This route had an ok start with good holds. Around the middle of the route I couldn't find any other holds and I was getting pumped so I tried to reach a good slopper one last time before I fell off. I thought I should try it later on in the week when my hold finding skills had improved!

5) Lutin Vert - 6b

Before I attempted this route everyone who had tried it had said it was much harder that it looked. The start was all jugs but got hard at 3rd clip and the crux was a 4th. At the crux I bridged in a small hole and reached for an undercut in the overhang - it took me a while to do this! I then climbed over the hole and held a good jug to get me to the chains. I would also agree saying the route is much harder than 6b.

6) 2° main - 6c+ 
This route was short and hard and it looked my style. It had a hard sketchy start but once I got the 3rd clip in I felt a lot safer. I didn't really notice a single crux but parts at the top of the route were quite hard and a bit scary. I felt really good when I got to the chains on this route! It was my favourite route because I could have given up at any point because I was scared but I managed to stay calm! I was very pleased.

After this route I packed up and we drove back to the gite for dinner. I also went in Brooke's pool which had a slack line on it! It was so fun.



Day 3 - Project

After an earlyish breakfast we met at the gym for a morning session before going back to Roc d'Anglars to pick projects.

The gym was really cool and I couldn't wait to try the blocs. Robyn took us through a warm up before we started easy climbing.

While we were warming up Ian and Robyn made us some blocs and we did a mock comp. Everyone started on one bloc and you had minute to complete it, you then had 30 seconds rest before moving to our right for the next bloc.

I did ok in the mini comp, but I really enjoyed the blocs, they were a lot different to my usual training blocs. I was very hungry at the end.

After this Ian drove us back to the gite and we had lunch before going to the Crag. I brought some popcorn as a snack.

When we arrived at the crag Robyn gave me and Pippa a 7c route to work for the week. Pippa put the clips in and I had my first attempted after.




The route was called:

1) Le Fil A Plombs - 7c

On my first attempted I managed to do the first 5 clips before taking. I then rested and carried on climbing to a massive undercut which I clipped from. It took me a while to work the rest of the moves but I made it to the top eventually.

For my second I made it to the undercut all in one and carried on up the tufa. The top of the tufa was good but I couldn't find the next hold this got me pumped so I fell off. It then took me forever to find the gaston but when I found it I climbed to the top with no rests. I knew if I found the hold next go I could do it in one!

I went back with Didier to the gite next for dinner.

Day 4 - Le Capucin

I had another early start as we had another gym session before going to a different crag. I had breakfast at 9:00 with Kirsten and Abi. Ian then drove us to the gym at 10:00 where we did the same warm up and made up blocs for each other to try.

In a small group we played a game of add on which started on a vertical wall and ended over the roof onto another flat wall. Pippa started with some small crimps to a big volume and I carried it on through the roof. It was very pumpy but I eventually made it go all the way through the roof and onto the flat wall!

It was really fun but also quite tiring.

Again we went back to the gite for a 2hr lunch before going to the new crag.

The crag we went to was called Le Capucin. We parked in a lay-by and walked up another woodland path to the crag. But this time it was boiling hot and up hill! There was rope tied to trees in places to help you get up.

At the top the crag was in the sun so I went down under the trees and put my bag down. We had to wait a while before we could climb so that we wouldn't have to climb in the sun.

Pippa and I climbed together again and climbed these routes:

1) Tapis Rouge - 7a+
I went first so I had to put the clips in! It was a very short route will lots of big holds at the top. The bottom was hard and when I got to the 3rd clip I couldn't work out how to do the move to the jug so (the same as most routes) I kept trying different ways but I couldn't work out how to do it. I fell but then did the move really easily after a rest. I completed the rest in one.

On my second go I was annoyed that I had messed up the first go but I managed to top the route in one.


2) Sombrero - 7a+
This route is a lot longer than Tapis Rouge and looked a bit harder too. The clips were already in because Kieran and Sammy had lead it before us and topped it. Pippa climbed first this time and topped it too. I did the start which was easy but at the 3rd clip I went for some bad holds and was just about to get the undercut jug but my foot slipped and I fell. I was so annoyed. I had a quick rest then did the move fine and climbed up to the no hands rest. I sat down and looked at the next clip and then stood up and clipped it. I climbed off the ledge and onto the awkward crimps. I held them - only just - and put my foot on a small bump. I rocked over to an undercut and went up to the crimp and clipped. At this point I was feeling good as I had made it passed the crux and I just had to not be scared for the last two clips. I started laying back off the pocket jugs and walking slowly up the crack. I was scared and a bit pumped but I managed to make it to the chains but only just clipped them because I was so pumped and shaky. I was very pleased to top it and get the tick (Ian)!


This was my last climb of the day before we all packed up to leave. The walk back down the hill wasn't as bad as it was now all in the shade!

Day 5 - Rest

We got up at the usual time but it was our rest day so we went into town at 10:00 and looked around Saint Antonin I had an Ice cream and a slush with Kirsten and Abi. I also brought a guide book for the area.

We met back at the car soon after our ice creams and went back to the gite for lunch. We had 2 hours for lunch. I ate as soon as I got in and then went in the pool as it was so hot.


The pool was really refreshing and I had fun jumping in.


I lay in the sun to dry off so that I could get dressed again before Team U.S came over and Didier gave us a mental preparation talk.

We sat outside for the talk and listened to Didier. I learnt a lot of about what goals to set and how to learn that as long as you climb your best there is nothing more you could have done therefore you should feel happy. I thought the talk was very helpful for my comp climbing and I hope I can think about some of those things in my next comp.


Next it was time to go to the lake and we were all quite hot.

We followed Robyn's car to the River and walked down a steep slope. We put our bags on the side of the river and swam around the 5m boulder to a very easy boulder problem which I topped in bear feet only to find there was and easier way of getting up on the other side!

At the top it seemed like a long way down! I was a bit nervous about jumping but I didn't hesitate for long because I knew I would get too scared.

For my first jump I went with Kirsten. It was really fun but it hurt my arms a bit because I stuck them out when I hit the water!

To get back up to the top this time I climbed up the easier route.
When I jumped again I went off a higher ledge and hen the next time over a bush! I had a lot of fun. After a 4th or 5th jump we went back up the hill with our towels and had and Ice cream in the cafe.


Ian drove us home next for dinner 

Day 6 - Super Manjo-carn

We had an earlish night because we had to get up at 7:00 to go to a new crag called Super Manjo Carn. You have to be there early because that is the only time the rock is in the shade.

We met at the gym at 9:00 and Ian drove us down to a lay by where we parked and walked up another steep woodland park. The walk was quite long but it was in the shade.

At the top I walked round the overhanging part of the crag at went around to the flatter routes in Secteur Classique. I climbed with Pippa again. I climbed these routes:

1) La Schwimmer - 6b
This was my warm up route. It was quite long and the chains were hidden over a ledge so the belayers couldn't see them. Pippa went first and put the clips in. She topped it. When I climbed I found the first part easy and thought the crux was at 4 to 5 clips and then another few hard moves at 7th clips but apart from that it was ok and I enjoyed it. I thought the route was graded low. I think it should have been 6c.

2) Mega fastoch - 6c
This route looked a lot easier than it actually was. I again thought the start was the easiest part but it got harder at the 5th clip by a big hold with a nice undercut. I stayed on this for a bit while I tried to work out which way to go. I went right and found a few decent holds before moving up to a big flake which I had used on the first route. The rest of the route was easy but I had to miss a clip at the top because Kirsten was climbing up my first route La Schwimmer and both routes shared the same clip. The top of the route was really juggy and I was very happy to complete it.

Some other routes I tried were in Secteur Super-manjoc:

1) L'occasion manquee - 7a+
I started this route well and got to the crux moves quickly. I found the sharp undercut and went up to a crimp. I then jumped to a two sided jug and I was amazed I cought it. It was a massive hold and I rested on it and clipped. The next move was hard but I managed to get a small undercut which got easier to hold as I pushed up. The route got a bit easier after this because the angle of the route felt less steep. Just after the last clip I got to a massive long jug and and traversed across it to the chains.

2) Melancolie - 7b+
Before I tried this one the first routes I did of the day were almost completely in the sun. This route shared its first 3 clips with L'occasion Manquee so I felt comfortable on this part. I then went over to the 4th clip. It was too far to reach and I had trouble working out a way of getting to it. I had to climb down and move left and then up to some bad holds. I had to trust them and my decision to move out to a big hole which I clipped from. The next two clips were easy. At the second to last clip I had to do a really dynamic move to another smaller hole. I was a bit scared but I did it anyway. I had two rubbish holds and I jumped for the hole, I got the bottom but it was to slippery. I fell quite a long way. But pulled up and tried again and again, until I finally got it on the side and it was really good. There were good holds to the top from here. I put the last quick draw in but the bold hanger spun so I was determined to clip the chains without falling. I did manage to do this and clean it.

3) Ouvreur pour dames - 7c+
This route looked a lot easier than it was. The start was quite hard but it had a few good crimps. I managed to get the third clip in but then went too high above the clip because the route was diagonal. I had to climb down and try a different way of doing it but I couldn't work out how the holds linked together. I had a few more goes trying different ways but didn't manage to get past the third clip.

By the time we had all finished on the 7c+ the sun was on the routes so we waited for the rest of the group to finish and then went back to the gite for food.




Day 7 - Roc d'Angulars Project

I got up at 8 so that we could get to the gym by 10. At the gym we had an endurance session and did circuits. After the warm-up, Robyn set us an easy circuit. Pippa climbed it first, completed it and showed me how to do it. I finished it as well and talked Abbie through it. I then went to the second circuit which was harder than the first. I managed to get to the second last hold first attempt and lapped it twice on my second. It was very pumpy. The last circuit was really hard. On my first attempt I pulled on and swiped my foot on the floor. I kept on doing this so eventually we move the top mat out of the way. After this I managed to do the first move and go all the way to the third last hold on the circuit. Every time I tried the circuit I got to the same place but I was happy to have completed the first move.

We had lunch after the gym session then went to Roc d'Angulars to finish our projects. When we arrived neither me nor Pippa wanted to go first and put the clips in so we asked Siri to toss a coin. I said heads and heads won. I chose not to go first.

After Pippa had put all the clips in it my turn to climb. Le fil a plombs has a reachy start up until the 4th clip where it gets overhanging and the hold are easier to reach. I climbed onto a tufa from another route and where the tufa split was a good hold which I used to get a jug right next to the clip. I moved up the jug to get to the side pull which I played back on and went to a massive undercut. I clipped off the undercut and bumped up to the top of the tufa. I got my feet onto the only foot hold that I could see and popped for the gaston which I couldn't see. After catching the gaston I felt really confident as this was where I fell off last time. Next I went up for another good undercut which was a bit sharp and then rolled over to a jug which was difficult to spot. There was a flake to right of the jug which I took some time to shake out on and clip. I then had to move over to the left so I crossed from the jug to a sloper-crimp and through for the start of the crack. I bumped to the back of the crack where the good hold was and reached to the right of the crack and got a mini jug. From here I held the next jug with my left hand and crossed wrong handed to the rectangular tufa which I matched and clipped from. I was relieved when I clipped this because the last part of the climb was easy. I had a long rest to make sure I had enough energy to top it and then made my way to the top. I was really happy to top it because one of my goals for this trip was to top my project - I topped it on my 3rd attempt.

For the rest of the day I belayed the other climbers and then we went back to the gite for food.

Day 8 - Roc d'Angulars

We had a choice of what crag we wanted to go to: Super Manjo-carn which meant you had to get up at 7am because of the sun or Roc d'Angulars and get up at 8am. I chose to go to Roc d'Angulars because the route were more varied.

The routes I tried were:

1) Dure limite - 7a

Me and Kirsten warmed up on this climb. I didn't think there was a crux in this route because it was about the same all the way up. There weren't many sloper holds and a lot of the crimps were good. 

2) La gueuse - 6a+

I had to second this route to clean it and I found it boring because a lot of the holds were good and it was a bit too easy. 

3) Clin d'oeil a la lune - 7a

This was the route I tried and failed on the first day at the crag so I didn't want to leave it unfinished. Kirten gave me a belay and like last time I easily got to the part where I fell off last time. When I got there I tried it the same way as before - but again couldn't do it. So I climbed down a few moved and eventually found another way of doing it going left instead of right. Once I got past this I had to clip off a nasty sloper and found it hard until the next clip. Once I clipped this clip the holds got better and I got well past half way. Again I thought there was no main crux because there was a lot of hard sections. I carried on climbing and it was still hard but when I got to the second last clip there was a hard move which took me a while to work out but I eventually made it and topped the route. I felt much more confident on the route this time and I was glad to have improved over the week.

4) Baston - 7a+ / Super Baston - 7b

I had a bit off a nightmare with this route. I didn't really like the route because it was so long - 18 clips. But I made it to clip 8 first go and then worked Baston in large sections. On my way up I passed a large hole with a lower off next to it but I didn't think it was the end of baston so I carried on climbing to the top of the crag. It was quite tiring. After this Kirsten lowered me down to about the 5th or 6th clip and then showed me that we had run out of rope! Luckily I had tied a knot in the end of the rope so it wouldn't slip through the belay.

I shouted over to Ian and he got me down! I'm not sure how though. Ian said that I had climbed Baston but I had then gone on to do the 3rd pitch of another route. This is why I ran out of rope! The route I did was called Super Baston! I was happy to know that I had onsighted the extension of Baston.

After everyone else had climbed (just Baston) I had to go back up and clean Super Baston. I lead up the route as far as could but I was tired so I didn't get as far as I had first go. I then just finished the climb going bolt to bolt. At the top I threaded the belay and took out the quick-draws for Super Baston missing one by accident. I then climbed over to the Belay for Baston and threaded that, pulling the rope down from Super Baston.

Before I got lowered down to get the clips I had to climb away from the chains and get the bolt I had missed earlier. This was completely safe but a bit scary! It was time to leave after this as it was quite late. It was also very hot!

After dinner we went back to the gite and packed our stuff because we had to get up at 3 to go to the airport on Sunday.

Day 9 - Traveling Home


It was a good trip home with no delays. But I was quite tired.

I had an amazing trip and I learnt so much. Thanks to Robyn and Didier for inviting us on the camp and to Ian for taking us. I am now much more confident climbing outside and have learnt some techniques for training/comps. I hope I will get a chance to go on more training camps in the future.

Petzen International Climbing Trophy 2015

Day 1 - Travel 

Half way through the long drive to London Stand-stead airport the traffic got really bad. Google said we were going to arrive 40mins before our flight which was worrying but it managed to reroute quickly so we were there in enough time. My coach Simon and his girlfriend Liz were already there and boarding.

After the short flight to Bratislava we all went down to the car hire place. Originally we were going to hire 2 cars but they offered us a nine seater car instead because they need the car Simon and Liz were getting. We thought it might be a bit squished. It took a while to hire the car so we climbed around on the furniture.

When it was time I walked to the back of the car park and saw a bus bigger than my mums 17 seater. It was massive and it could actually sleep 3 of us in the boot!

I slept for the 1 hour journey to Austria and we stayed in a hotel so we could finish the long journey to Petzen in the morning as it was 2am!

We left for the rest of the journey at 10:00am and stopped off for breakfast in a Euro Spar and then carried on to the camp site.

When we arrived I was very hot and stiff so I wanted to get out as soon as possible. We were given a caravan very close to the lake! Simon and Liz camped next to us.

It was tiny inside my bedroom  and my parents room was also small. However this made the kitchen/living space bigger. I unpacked  and went straight to the lake for a swim. It was cold at first but really nice underneath.

Day 2 - The speed comp

It was really sunny still and the speed comp wasn't until 6 so I had a long lie in. At lunch I went for another swim because it was so hot.

We drove to the centre for half 3 ( the opening of registration ). We passed some beautiful sunflowers.

When I arrived me and Oscar went to register and bagsied a table. I got a pizza-baguette  voucher and a green t-shirt - this went well with my pink shorts! I tried to figure out from the registration sheet what number I was but it didn't say. The official said they were printing them out later. 

Later I got my number ( 714 ) and Liz stuck it on. I then went to warm up with Oscar, and Simon came to help us. We did lots of sprints and fast movement stuff. I then got my shoes on and pulled onto the traverse. I did a few normal slow laps and then some double handed dyno's to finish off. 

I put my jacket on and went to figure out how the timing system worked. Basically, there is a wooden hold with four lights on it that tell you went to start, but it has no sound so you have to watch carefully. Blue is the first light it means the system is working properly. Then there is a silent start count down red, yellow then GREEN - that means go! When/if you get to the top you hit a white button which flashes if you hit it. I wasn't worried about this. 

The speed routes weren't the set ones that are used all over the world for most competitions because the Petzen wall is only 10metres which is not high enough for the original speed climb. So they made there own climbs. 2 non-identical short climbs one blue and one red for younger category's and 2 more the same but on a longer wall for the older category's. Because the 2 two routes weren't identical it would only be fair if you climb both because you could argue that one route was easier. 

When you climbed you had to the blue and then straight after move onto the red so that the comp would run quicker quick because there was another category to go after mine.

When number 713 had climbed the blue she moved onto the red and I went over to the blue. I was nervous at the start but I got a high foot and reached my hand onto the highest hold I could reach and watched the countdown.

I was disappointed after I climbed because I thought my time was really slow. But we stayed to see the results because We thought I would be high up the table even if I didn't make the final.

When the results came out I was so happy to see that I was 4th, the last placed finalist!

We went back the camp site to get some rest after this.

Day 3 - Bouldering

I made a video blog of the bouldering competition because it is more fun to make and hopefully is more interesting than reading about it.

Day 4 - Lead

Video blogged about the leading as well. 

I thought the competition was really good, I know I say this every time but this one was not only really well run, but I was able to make new friends there as well. I met Vanda Michalkova from Slovakia. Her English was amazing even though her first language was Slovak-Czech. We made good friends and I hope to stay in touch.

Youth Bouldering Championships 2015 - Bloc (Bristol)

On Saturday 27th June I went to the Junior British Bouldering Championship and Junior British Bouldering Cup. It was held in Bloc climbing Centre where I boulder sometimes. I came first overall on the day meaning I am Junior British Bouldering Champion 2015 of category C. As I only entered rounds 1 and 3 because I was competing in the YCCF in Imst, I could only get a maximum of 200 points. I got 200 points because I won rounds 1 and 3 but it wasn't quite enough to win the over all series. I missed out on 1st place by two points - I am really gutted. 

I did this blog post differently by making it into a commentary video where my Dad put together a video of all my climbs and I spoke over it. Here it is:

 

Youth Colour Climbing Festival 2015 - Grades

Girls "Pupil" Grades (Girls C):

Route	Colour	Grade
Route 1	Grey	7a
Route 2	Blue	7b+
Route 3	Yellow	7b
Route 4	Purple	7b
Route 5	Blue	7b
Route 6	Yellow	7a
Route 7	Red	7b
Route 8	Green	7c

Below are photos with grades for most of the routes for the YCCF 2015. The routes for all the leading categories have the right grades, but I think the top rope routes are graded all the way to the top of the wall so maybe be grade higher than they should be. There are also some extra routes which were weren't used in the competition - some of which were EYC routes.

Click on the images below to get a larger version:

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Youth Colour Climbing Festival 2015 - Kletterzentrum Imst

Day One - Traveling

I had to wake up early on Thursday to drive to Luton Airport to fly to Zurich for the Youth Colour Climbing competition on the weekend. When we got close to the airport, we Face-timed my coach Simon Rawlinson who was driving up with my friend Gwen and her parents. We tried to see if we could spot their car but they were 5 minutes behind us.

When we arrived at Luton airport we checked in our big bag but then found out that we were not EasyJet speedy boarders so we couldn't have 2 hand luggage bags on the plane. This meant we had six extra bag but they allowed us to check in the extra hand luggage for free anyway.

The flight to Zurich was fine and we met up with Gwen and Simon in Zurich airport and got our hire cars and drove to Imst. When we arrived at the apartment we dumped our bags and drove straight to the climbing centre. The centre was closed, so we went down to the outside wall to look at the routes. The wall looked amazing even though I had already been there before but I couldn't tell which routes were for the comp.

Day Two - Imst

After a lie in on Friday, we had a quick breakfast and got our bags ready and walked down to the climbing centre. It took us a while from Tarrenz and it was really hot so we had dip in the fountain to cool down.

We went down to the indoor climbing arena and warmed up before getting on an easy route. I tried a long blue which finished along the roof. I misjudged the route, it was harder than I thought. I really enjoyed it because there was a lot of heel hooks and because it was mostly upside down. After a few other climbs I tried a yellow 7b+. The route was mostly as I expected but some of the holds were worse than I thought they would be. The start of the route was certainly the hardest because the holds were really shallow and it was hard to find decent positions to clip. It got easier as I got further up the route but I was too pumped to finish the top. I was a bit disappointed after this route because I thought I could flash it. We ended the session and the day by doing one last climb on the big overhang with the GoPro on my back to video the whole centre as I climbed up.

Day Three - First day of YCCF

We drove down to the centre early and went straight down to look at the routes. I didn't have very long to look at my first route because I had to go and warm up before the routes were demoed at 8:45.  I did two laps of the football field and then laps of the traverse wall starting from the vertical well, getting more overhanging as I got warmer.

Route 1 - Grey

I did some mobility with Ian and then Simon made some sequences up for me on the woody. I felt confident after this but then felt more nervous after properly reading my first route. I watched the demos of all the routes as they were all demoed at the same time. But then focused all my effort on Route 1 - Grey.

It started to look easier as I watched other people climb it and a lot of the holds looked better than when I first read it. After climber 129 had climbed I went up the hill with Simon and did a warm up. Simon made up some boulder problems for me to try like he did earlier. I though my warm up was really good. It made me feel more confident because I was really nervous about this route because it was my first one.

When I walked back down the hill to my climb I put my harness and chalk bag on and took my shoes over to the route. I sat in the chair while climber 137 was climbing and tied in. When it was my turn I was very, very nervous and felt like crying at the bottom of the route. I pulled on to the tufas and found them a lot easier that I thought and I did the first four clips pretty easily. The next three clips before the overhang were harder than the first ones even though there a big sloper in the middle. The roof part had a few bad holds towards the start, but I did them slowly and carefully and did it fine. Then I did the last three moves, which were all jugs, really easily. I was really happy to have topped my first route and it gave me confidence for the next one.

Route 6 - Yellow

I had a long break in between each route which was enough time to read them well. My next climb was route 6 - yellow. It had a big banana sloper 3 clips up which I didn't like the look of but I was confident I could do it. I warmed up again for this route - this time by myself and then came down for the route. I was less nervous for this route because I had already topped one and I was in a good mood. I started the route well and climbed efficiently until I got to the sloper where I struggled for a while because I couldn't figure out a way to hold the sloper without feeling like I was going to slip off. I managed to do it eventually by moving my knot over the sloper to stop it pushing me out and getting caught as I rocked over and I got a better feel on the sloper which made me confident about doing the move. I was a bit shaken up after this and was a bit worried about the 4 min time limit so I powered through all the mini slopers up until the roof. I then slowed down for the roof part because it was more difficult and I didn't want to make a mistake. After clipping the first clip in the roof, I was quite pumped but determined to top it. I matched the bottom half of the jug and went right handed to the top of it. I then clipped before moving out to the last few holds before the jug. Feeling pumped at the top hold I jumped and caught it, cutting loose before pulling my feet in and making the clip. I was really, really please to top the route and had already beat my last years score as I only topped one route last year.

Route 5 - Blue

I started to read my third route straight away which was route 5 - blue. It looked much harder than the first two but I still thought that I could top it. The flat part of the blue route looked difficult as there were only small edges and some of the looked pretty bad. I made a good start to this route and all the holds were pretty decent. As I moved up the route the hold were still decent, they were just small but the moves were quite big. I complete the flat part of the climb without too much trouble and go onto the roof. The holds on the roof were deeper than I expected and I did the first two clips in the roof OK, but I was very pumped for the last one. I only just made the second last move almost falling off with pump - I was really happy. I made a big leap for the final move as I knew I couldn't have reached it but I was too pumped to hold it so I came off. I was really, really disappointed after this because I was so close to topping the route and went to have 5 minutes in the shade by Oscar. Ian came to talk to me and explained that I only had to make up 2 points to be in the lead which made me happier. So I went to read my next climb.

Route 4 - Purple

My next climb was route 4 - purple. It looked the hardest route so far as it had a lot of long moves and the route was quite long. It also looked quite pumpy. So I read this route well and had a look through my binoculars at the holds.

I was quite nervous before I started the route. But I was less nervous when I pulled on. When I got to
the third clip I went for a really bad hold and couldn't hold it but I only just managed to hold on with my other hand. I got scared after this but I climbed all the way to the third to last clip easy and clipped it. At this point I was very pumped and the last few holds weren't very good so I tried to clip but I didn't have enough energy so I did one more move to the pinch and tried to go to the second top but I couldn't. I messed around trying to do it. Then I heard something like 'Emily climbing' but I ignored it and carried on climbing. But about 5 seconds after I fell off.

I was disappointed after this route because I really wanted to top it. When I went to read my next route it started to rain so I put my coat on and my family took the bags to the car. I liked the look of the yellow even though it looked really pumpy.

Route 3 - Yellow

I stood under the umbrellas out of the rain before it was my turn. I had to push though the big crowd to get to the char before I tied in. For the first part of the climb I climbed slightly upset but didn't find it that hard. I got 5 holds from the top and started to feel the pump. I was going to try and clip but I new I wouldn't make it so I tried to get the next hold but I didn't even get close so I fell off.

After I came down I was again disappointed but I just wanted to read my next route and climb it.

My final route of the day was route 2 - blue. My GB team mate Hamish had already climbed this route and topped it so I asked him about it. He gave me some great pointers which really helped my confidence for this route.

Route 2 - Blue

I was feeling ready for this route, and the most confident I had felt on any of the routes although I was still a bit nervous.


Excited I started the route. I was surprised at how much easier the start was than was than I had thought and my Dad said I looked good climbing it. When the route started to get steeper the holds for two clips were the same, good jugs. I was enjoying the route. The next part of the route was the hardest part because it was about balance. I did it exactly as I planned and it worked really well. The next hold was the one on the volume which Hamish had said wasn't very good. He was right! I didn't like it either but I managed to clip from it as he had done as well. I move on to the large jug and it was very good. I clipped from this hold and quickly moved on to avoid lots of pump. The rest of the holds were decent. When I got to the second last move I jumped and caught the jug I then did the last move and clipped.

I was very happy after this and also tired so we went back to our apartment after my brother had finished climbing.

Day Four - Second day of YCCF

I woke up later than yesterday today but still got to the centre on time. Instead of looking at the routes first I went straight down to the footy pitch and did my 2 laps with my brother Oscar. We then went over to the indoor wall and started traversing. I did a lot of overhanging stuff.

Route 7 - Red

After warming up I dumped my stuff off by the shade and walked down the hill to the routes. While I was reading the first route they announced that we were only climbing two routes instead of three. I was happy about this because I was quite tired and I can focus more on two routes than three.

I read my first route with Ian while watching the demo's. It was route 7 - red it looked harder than the routes the day before but it did look my style of route.

After climber 128 I went upstairs to warm up. I felt excited and scared but I thought the route looked really fun.

Once I had sat in the chair and tied in I put my shoes on and walked over to the bottom of the wall. I grabbed the start holds and pulled on. I climbed through the flat part of the route slowly and got onto the roof. I was quite pumped on the roof but I managed to clip the first clip. I was then too pumped to clip so I tried to do one more move but I fell.

Route 8 - Green

I thought I did ok on that route, even though I was a bit disappointed because I didn't top it. Simon and Ian both said I should focus on the next route. So after some popcorn I read my next route, route 8 - green. This route looked harder than the red and it finished one clip onto the massive roof. I read this one with Ian as well. The only part I didn't like was the big slopers but apart from that the holds looked ok. I kept eating and drinking whilst I looked at the route until I thought I had read it enough.

I did the same warm up as last climb and felt good about it. I was really nervous but also bouncy as I really wanted to get onto and do it. So I tied in as soon as 137 had gone.

I chalked up and started the route well it was fine up until the first and biggest sloper. I had to do this part very slow but I managed to get past it without feeling as uncomfortable as I thought I would. This made me feel relieved so I finished the flat part of the route fine mainly because most of the holds were crimps! On the roof I did an awkward clip which used a lot of energy so I was very pumped. I couldn't get the third clip in the roof in so I tried to get the next hold but was too pumped to hold it as usual.

I ran up the hill after this as I was so annoyed with my performance. I packed everything up and sat under the shade. Ian and Simon came to speak to me and stopped me being as upset so that I could watch Hamish on his last route.

While I was waiting for the results we caught lizards and tried to find the fattest one. We found one which was quick fat and named him Greg/godzilla.

When the results finally came out I had managed to come 5th. I was very disappointed with this.

It was great comp and despite my disappointment I really enjoyed it. I learnt so much and it was amazing to have my coaches and friends there to help me out and cheer me on.

Thank you to Ian Dunn and Simon Rawlinson for all their help and support over the weekend!

Close to the podium