Alpkit

Outdoors at Burbage South

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I don’t know about you, but we’ve had some very nice weather in this last week of my Easter holidays, so we went up to the Peak District to climb outdoors.

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Five happy climbers sitting on a rock

We decided to go to Burbage South Valley for a change, and there ended up being twelve of us altogether: Alex Norton, Kai Paling, Zac Brown and Ellie Dixon were there, as well as our parents.

We had a great time ticking off problems on the green and yellow circuits in my guide book, Peak Bouldering, and it gave me a chance to practice slab work and trusting my feet on practically nothing. I also enjoyed wriggling up a crack called The Trough on The Pig – I felt just like Tom Randall!  We made a video, which I really love, and hope you enjoy.  I’m going back to Burbage with the Tower Youth Climbing Club in May and hope the weather is as good.

https://vimeo.com/124277952

Next stop, BMC YCS Finals in Ratho, 25th April!!!!!!!!!!

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Going up The Crook

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Fun in the sun

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That’s enough for now

ROCfest 2015

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Two weeks after my tenth birthday I went up to Rock Over Climbing in Manchester to compete in ROCfest 2015.  I was competing in Girls 10-12, and had just been off school with tonsillitis all week, so wasn’t expecting too much of myself.

I still wanted to go though, because I knew lots of famous climbers would be there!

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Look whose car I found!

The problems were good, I flashed 16 out of 25 and was pretty pleased with how I climbed, all things considered.

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Dangling!

I met my friend Gwen again, who climbs at Boulders in Cardiff, so it was good to see her.

There were some cool challenges that we could do to earn raffles tickets.  These were a leap of faith from the top of a wall to a trapeze, which was hard but satisfyingly thrilling, and also a table traverse which I did width-ways and length-ways, twice!  Check out the video!

I was also able to get my signed T Shirt back.

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So happy!

It has signatures of lots of famous climbers from all around the world, including Adam Ondra, Alex Puccio, Akiyo Noguchi, Jule Wurm, Kilian Fischhuber and Sean McColl, amongst others.  I am so happy to have this: it is VERY cool!

Midlands Youth Climbing Series 2015

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A summary of the MY Series

I have just completed the Midlands Youth Climbing Series 2015, competing in Girls D for the first time.  There were five rounds this year, which was one more than last year, but this time the lowest scoring round was to be dropped.  We competed at Wolf Mountain, Creation, Alter Rock, Big Rock and The Climbing Station (but not in that order).  Big Rock was definitely the oddest round because one route was set on their new indoor grit wall.  This meant that all the features were in for hands and feet, and I flashed it, but my fingers got pretty sore!

There were nine girls in my category altogether, although they didn’t all come to all the rounds.  I won each round, sometimes 25 points ahead of second place, but sometimes just 3!  I had a great time, and it was nice to make some new friends in this new category.

Back at Stanage Plantation

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On the 30th July I went back to Stanage Plantation, along with Alex Norton and Kai Paling.  Kai’s dog, Milo came along too!  We had another great day, although it was different from last time as the bracken was out.  Kai and I spent a lot of time playing, exploring and getting lost in it as, in places, it was over our heads!

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See what I mean!

 

I climbed the V4 Slot Sit Down again, as well as the Black Arete, Lone Slab, a couple of things on the Business Boulder and, of course, the Pebble Traverse.  I also had a good go at the Lone Ranger.  This time I managed to go home with more skin still on my fingers.  I think I’ve definitely learnt to trust my feet more and am getting more used to working out how to get up a line without having a set of holds to follow.  It’s very different from climbing inside, but I do enjoy it.

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When we got home there was a nice surprise waiting for me from Alpkit….

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My favourite colours!

Thanks Alpkit!

Have a look at the video above to see what our day was like.

Fun at The Climbing Unit!

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During half term I went to The Climbing Unit in Derby, with Alex Norton and Kai Paling.  I warmed up on the kids’ circuit then got down to crushing some of the greens.  We also had a lot of fun on the HUGE Alpkit beanbags!  Go down and see for yourselves how big they are!

This was probably one of my favourite problems of the day, with a little bit of everything in it…

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… some jumping …

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… an overhang …

... a toe-hook ...

… a toe-hook …

... an a crazy finish!

… and a crazy finish!

We all went out for tea afterwards and had the biggest ice-cream in the world!

If you want to see us in action, have a look at the latest video:

Competition time!

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This has been an exciting week of competitions.  First, Shauna Coxsey won gold at the IFSC Bouldering World Cup in Grindlewald, then did it again yesterday at Innsbruck!  I think she is amazing and I’m very inspired by her.

Well done Shauna, and to all the GB climbers who took part.

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Shauna winning her first gold at Grindelwald

To add to that, on Friday I took part in the Big Rock Youth Climbing Competition in Milton Keynes.  I went as part of a team called Me, Him and Her along with Alex Norton and Kai Paling.  I flashed everything except the last route, falling off at the same crimp as Kai.  Alex flashed everything, and his final route was amazing to watch.

I won Girls E, Alex won Boys B and Kai came second in Boys E.  That meant we placed joint first for the team award, alongside Big Rock Academy (and they had 13 people!)

My dad has made a short video of our highlights.  Why don’t you have a sneaky peak?!

 

 

Cracking V5!

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Recently Tom Randall set 20, kid-sized boulder problems at the Climbing Station in Loughborough.

It was great to do something that was not set by Mr Tickle (no big reaches here).  I could think about technique rather than wondering how many dynos I was going to have to do to make the moves.

 

This video is the last problem in the circuit, which Tom graded as a tough V5.

I’m looking forward to the next set, Tom!