Stevie Addison Climbing

Ubuntu

2011-07-18T23:09:00.002+01:00

In between the rain showers I went up to the camel to get back on my project Ubunto 8A. I managed to link the whole main crux section today, and was feeling pretty strong on it, but some of the lower holds were still damp and slippy so could not link the whole route.

Project

2011-07-14T16:39:00.007+01:00

Last night I headed up to the camel with Guy Robertson. I have always wanted to attempt a 8a outdoors, and last night Guy was on one of the 8A's at the camel. I went on it afterwards and guy was giving me some of the beta. I managed to do every individual move but could not link it all together, so my project for the summer is to link the whole route together.

Guy on the 8A

Me attempting the 8A

The Camel

2011-07-08T17:29:00.005+01:00

As I have a new rope, Gri-Gri 2 and shoes I thought it would be a good idea to head out sport climbing, plus the weather was great.

New Shoes

2011-07-05T22:24:00.007+01:00

Recently I was given a pair of La Sportiva boots from Martin Bergerud from Lyon Equipment, and received my boots a few days ago. I choose to get a pair of La sportiva Solutions, which I really like, they have got to be my favorite pair of shoes I have owned.

Scottish Champs

2011-05-30T00:20:00.006+01:00

This year the Scottish championships was at Ratho again. The day was awesome with some fantastic routes, thanks to all the route setters.

In the qualifying round I was joint first with Dylan Mackenzie, so in the final I really needed to climb well to beat him.

There was four of us in the final and the final route was really crimpy and my kind of style. I was 3rd out of isolation to climb, and i looked up to see the last swinging clip to get an idea of where the last climber got to. Once I climbed past the swinging clip I was happy, but fell off one clip above that. Then Dylan was last out to climb and he slipped off a few holds below me.

I was happy with my win!

Home Boulder Wall

2011-05-25T16:46:00.006+01:00

Last night Pete and Rhys Langlands came up to my garage to do some climbing on my 45 board as its better than our local wall!!!!
Rhys on a mediam circuit.

It was a good nights boulder session, hands are wrecked today! But my back is still sore from the weekend.

EYS Edinburgh 2011

2011-05-25T13:04:00.006+01:00

Saturday was the first round of the European Youth Series, it was held in Edinburgh. On Friday night I was told I was climbing 28Th. I was happy about that because it gave me plenty time to get warmed up and could watch some of the good competitors in youth A. As I was warming up I pulled a muscle in my back which did not affect my climbing but was sore.

The first climb was on the old competition wall (the white one), and i managed to get 23rd position as it was a hard move onto the second volume. The second climb was up the center of the new completion wall (the big orange one). It was a supper pumpy route and i got flash pump then fell off, but manged to get 24th position.

I got 24th position in Youth A Lead this year, I am kinda happy but i could have done better. for my next competition i am going to work on my endurance so i don't get flash pumped again.

Aztec Tower

2011-05-07T12:55:00.003+01:00

Last Monday I took a day trip up to Aztec tower in Gairloch, as the weather was amazing. I done a few of the easy routes and the E1 Coquistador which I really enjoyed.

Moy Rock

2011-04-23T00:57:00.005+01:00

Today the weather was scorching hot, so I was keen for some climbing. I decided to head to my local crag Moy rock just out side Inverness.

I had a fantastic day climbing in the sun, it felt like being abroad.

Goat Crag

2011-04-18T22:55:00.004+01:00

The other day I was up in Gairloch climbing, and I went to Goat Crag. I have been to this crag before a few years ago. My plan for going up there was to get something reasonably hard. I done a warm up 6c then was not to sure what I should get on. Richie Betts surgested that I should go on Mactalla 7A+ *** which I managed to flash, but got supper pumped at the top!

British Team Training Weekend.

2011-03-28T19:51:00.014+01:00

This weekend I was down in Leeds, for the EYS tryouts. We were climbing at the Leeds climbing wall which is spectacular. These tryouts were important because it gave the British team's, management team an idea of who should be climbing at the Europeans this year.

On Sunday we went to the Depot boulder wall and had a training session. This was the first time I had been to the Depot wall and it was massive, my favorite part of the boulder wall was the overhanging roof. After about an hour of warming up/hard problems we had to do two hard training sessions.

One of the sessions was on the campus board and we had to do 1-3-5 with feet on the screw-ons for three minutes, then 6 minutes rest. We had to do five sets of that (That was a awesome and solid session!)

The second session was with Tom Randall and we were giving a hard boulder circuit, and we had to figure out 15 moves from the start of the problem then complete that 15 moves five times with 15 seconds rest in between. This training session was to help complete a hard boulder circuit, where you had to break the problem down into smaller sections to help complete the circuit.

After lunch we were told who was going to compete in three of the Europeans and the worlds this year. I was chosen to climb in the first European in Edinburgh. :) After that we got given our new team kit which is well smart and awesome! Thanks to Mountain Hardwear and The Epiecentre The British Team have a new website here is the link. The website keeps you up to date with what the Team are up to.

Climbing Strong

2011-03-12T16:32:00.002Z

This last few weeks I have been really impresing myself as I have been crushing 7c's and getting an 8a at Ratho along with getting an 8a+ the other day at my local wall.
Last weekend was the YCS competition which I was demoing at and Neil Mcgeachy and Mark McGowan came up from Edunburgh to set for the competition, as well as setting a few harder ones for me to try. They set three 7a/+, two 7c/8a's and one 8a+, Mark set the 8a+ expecting me to take a few sessions working it while infact I managed to complete it in 4 ground up attemps! So I just hope in two weekends I am performing good on the day so I am picked to climb in the first EYS in Edinburgh.

8A, Done!

2011-02-19T21:02:00.010Z

(Photo by Will Carroll)

Another weekend in Ratho. I went down to Ratho for a fun boulder competition, and finished 3rd. It was a awesome fun enjoyable boulder competition, all of the problems were awesome and I really appreciated them all.

After I finished the competition I wanted to go and try an 8a on the hanger wall I was on before, I was phyched for the route. I got on it and topped it out. I was pleased as this was my first 8a I had completed.

British Team Training

2011-02-14T12:59:00.008Z

Friday I travelled down to Sheffield, England for the first British Team event of the year.

Saturday we were at the Climbing Works, a bouldering venue in Sheffield. The bouldering wall was massive and awesome with loads of circuits and boulder problems. The first thing we had to do was complete 40 problem circuit, then we could get lunch followed by doing an easy circuit as fast as we could then a fitness assessment. In the assessment we had to do several different exercises:

Tap downs, for two minutes
Sit-ups, as many as we could complete in one minute.
Lock-offs, For 15 seconds on each arm.
Pulups, 20 continuous.
Type writers, 15
Dead hang on the campus board, for one minute.
Dead hang on 45 sloapers, for one minute.

Day Two

Sunday we went to the Foundry climbing centre which is also in Sheffield. Sunday morning started with a 30 minute jog around the Foundry climbing wall. The run killed me as I don't have much aerobic endurance which I need to work on. After the jog we were straight into training. Ian Dunn and Tom Randle set two training sessions which each lasted an hour.

The first training session I done was anaerobic capacity, which is when you find a 13-16 move boulder problem 80% of your maximum and do it 10 times with 3 minutes rest in between each attempt, you should not manage to complete all 10 reps, you should be failing around the 8Th rep if the grade is right.

The second training session I done was a core session. We were giving 8 different core exercises to do each lasting 1 minute, we had to complete all 8 of the exercises three times. This core session lasted 30 minutes.

For the last 30 minute of the session we were giving 8 climbing pacific movements we had to complete on a overhanging board.

After a morning of climbing we headed over to Sheffield university to get a lecture on sports nutrition from Audrey Morrison and some stretching exercises with Ian Dunn.

This weekend I have learnt a lot of different and new training methods which i can now use. My next event is next month in Leeds which is a semi competition and it decided who will be competing in the European competitions this year.

Awesome training day!

2011-02-06T20:31:00.004Z

After a few months of training at my local wall and my 45 board, I have been feeling that my training has not really been improving my performance, but when I was at Ratho today I was proven wrong. I was at Ratho with the HYCC and I was doing on site climbing, I attempted 4 routes at my limit:

8A - Managed to climb past the 7c+ lower off and fell at the last section.
7c - Flashed
8A+ - Fail! It was on the long lead wall, and at the moves were really technical. The route was not my style.

After feeling so strong when I was climbing today I am now proper phyched for training. Woow bring on the comps!

EICA Ratho

2011-01-23T00:32:00.004Z

Today I travelled down to Edinburgh to climb at the fantastic EICA Ratho. As its still winter Ratho was soo much colder than my local heated wall, and I found it harder to get warmed up and stay warm. The main overhanging wall at Ratho has been re-set and there is some fantastic new routes up.

My trip to Ratho today has showing me that I really do need to train on my stamina, soo all that 4x4s I hate doing, I must keep it up!

Home Boulder Wall

2011-01-15T01:03:00.012Z

The boulder wall in my garage has been changed several times, from three flat panels, to one flat panel, 20 degrees over hanging wall, 45 board and a small 90 degrees panel on the roof. Its awesome to train on. Last summer I spent more time in my garage than I did at my local wall, I could put my music up loud and set as hard as I wanted to.

Today I spent the afternoon resetting circuits, so I can get back to hard training. When I am training on my 45 board I usually train for up to two hours, usually doing hard circuits!

Right now I am training for the British team assessment which is in March, it might decide who goes to the European competitions this year, its hard for me this year because I have all of my Major exams, but I will still try my hardest to keep up my training. Where I live there is only one climbing wall and the next is 150 miles away down in Edinburgh, and in my local wall the hardest route is 7c. It really sucks but I just have to train more on my 45 board and travel down to Edinburgh more often.

Coire An T-Sneachda, Cairngorm

2011-01-08T00:31:00.010Z

Yesterday I went to Corie An T-Sneachda Cairngorm, for my first multi pitch winter route. I was taken up the start of Hastons line then finished up Hidden Chimney. This being my first multi pitch winter route I was excited and when I was climbing adrenaline was running through my body. The weather was stunning there was blue Sky's and was not too windy but occasionally I got spin drifts blowing in my face, the ice and snow was nice and compacted and the route was in great condition. The climb was easy but some parts it got quite technical, but I really did enjoy myself I am so phyched to get out more and do more easy climbs to get my self used to winter climbing.

Me half way up Hidden Chimney

At the top!

New Year!

2011-01-01T17:56:00.007Z

Now its the new year and I got back on the British Junior Climbing Team, I need to start seriously training again. Hopefully I will get picked to climb at some of the European Youth Comps again this year. If I do get picked my first event would be in Edinburgh on the 21/22 May, and the IFSC Youth World Cup in IMST Austria is from the 25th-28th of September.

Apart from all my competition climbing I hope I will manage to get out Ice Climbing before the session is over, and throughout the year I want to do lots more outdoor climbing and maybe a sports climbing trip abroad!

British Team Trials

2010-12-30T14:48:00.002Z

At the start of December was the British team trials in Liverpool. So that involved me travelling 9 hours down to Liverpool. I was feeling fit for this comp because i was pretty phyched and had done weeks of training. Also this comp would help decide for the 2011 British Junior Team.

I had two qualifying routes to climb and then a final all to do in one day, all grade about 7c+. I have moved up a age group and now in youth A so the competition is harder. The team trials are also a open youth competition, so on the day i need to have my competition head on.

My first qualifying climb was a sustained pumpy route, over the overhanging section. I was pleased with my self, when i came off I felt I had climbed well. My second climb was on a vertical wall, which made the route pretty easy (7A ish) I topped out in that climb.

I had managed to climb well enough to get put into the final. The isolation zone was the boulder wall under the main climbing area, it was pretty big but was very over crowded and hard to warm up in. I was in isolation for like 3 hours before I got called out to climb.

My final route was a steep route up the corner of the main wall, it was very twisty and awkward to climb. I finished in 5Th place.

On the following Monday we were all told if we had made it onto the British team or not. I made it onto the team.

2010 BLCCS

2010-10-17T02:38:00.001+01:00

Last weekend I competed in the British Lead Climbing Championships at EICA Ratho. The few days before the competition I was feeling strong and phyched for the comp, but the morning of the comp when I was warming up I was phyched but not feeling my strongest.

I got warmed up and started to climb my first climb, I was just over half way up the route and I got a sudden flash pump, I fought on and managed to climb into a good no hands rest. I managed to recover a bit before climbing through a crimpy section before getting to the last hold but couldn't hold on any longer to clip.

After feeling down about the first route I phyched my self up for the second climb and got the same flash pump about half way up the new competition wall, I tried to fight on but could not clip the clip on the steep overhanging section and jumped and touched the next hold. After this climb I was sure I wasn't going to climb in the finals, but I was shocked to look at my score to be placed 6th going into the finals in last place.

In isolation I proper phyched my self up to climb. I ran out to the route preview and read over the route several times. I knew being first out to climb was good having the route fresh in my mind. I went out to climb and did not get that horrible flash pump again, I managed to get about half way up my final route went to the next hold and missed it and fell. I was devastated with my self because most of the moves were easy and I should have managed them.

I finished the competition in 5th position not too pleased with my self!

Here is a fantastic video that Ruaridh Mackenzie put together!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IIduJgxyrk&feature=player_embedded

World Youth Climbing Championships

2010-09-16T00:26:00.003+01:00

A few weeks ago I competed in The World Youth Climbing Championships. This was my first world competition, and I was really nervous. It was a four day event, qualifiers day one and day two, semi and final on day three and speed on day four.

I woke up the morning of my first qualifier, got to the wall and watched the demonstrator. After watching the demonstrator fall several times I knew the route would be hard. I was climbing 40th and last out of the British team. I was watching the other competitors in my category and they were struggling. When I sat down on the seat watching the climber before me I started to get really nervous. After fighting my way up the climb I managed to finish day one 30th, I was pleased with my self.

Day two was an early start for me as I was climbing 6th. After the demo I started to warm up, I found it hard to warm because it was early and it was cold. This route looked hard with a long move at the 6th clip. I started to climb and managed to get passed the long move and proceeded another several moves up the route and after a bad foot placement was off. I was not too pleased with my self after this climb! I went on to finish in 43rd position.

The next day was the final and it was spectacular to watch, Sebastian Halenke top out in the final route and go on to win the World Youth Climbing Championships for the second year running!

Vienna EYS

2010-08-18T16:15:00.001+01:00

After the EYS in Imst and finding out what it was like I was physed for Vienna. I was training since after Imst till the week before the Vienna comp and was feeling strong. What I picked up from Imst was I needed to warm up in plenty time and power through the moves.
When I got to the wall the morning of the comp, The wall looked amazing, I really liked it. I was really phyced for the comp! I was climbing near the end of my first route, but near the start of my second. I was watching people for about an hour then I started to warm up, I still felt strong.

I sat down on the chair and tied in, I was not that nervous.

I climbed well on my first route managed to finish 19th well chuffed! but I still had one climb to go, My aim for the second route was to finish in the top 25.

My second route was on small crimps on a slab not really my type of route, I had to start warming up straight away because I was near the start of the list.

I was so happy with my self when I came down off the route and managed to finish 17th on that climb.

The next day was the finals it was spectacular to watch the boys in my group climb, and I wished I had got into the final because the final route looked fun!

I finished 23 over all out of the competition I am really pleased with my self!

BMC Open Comp / Training Camp

2010-07-28T21:42:00.009+01:00

The BMC held a 5 day training camp at EICA Ratho which the junior French team were invited along to with their coach Francois Legrand.
Day 1
The training started with a 10am start on the Thursday where we all met in a room to find out what the plan was for the next 5 days.
We were put into groups and had a few routes of 7b / 7b+ until another meeting at 5pm then we were introduced to the new team sponsors Mountain Hardwear and The Epicentre who handed out our new team kit.

Day 2

Was an open competition which the junior French team joined in, the competition lasted all day, I managed to finish in 5th place in my group which I was ok with as we were competing aginst some of the best in Europe.

Day 3
We had a morning off, so after a longish lie in we headed to the wall for 2pm where we had a chance to have another go at the routes we were climbing on at the comp yesterday.

Day 4
Was a mock competition, we were put into isolation, came out for a route preview before back into isolation to wait our turn to climb. After the climb we headed over to our group to cheer on our team members as they came out to climb.
Unknown to us we were being assessed all day and given marks out of three for various things, ie: Route reading, behaviour in isolation.
The day finished with a party along with the French team as they were leaving in the morning to head back home, the party went really well and gave us a chanch to mix with the French team.

Day 5
We got to climb a few routes before getting interviewed by team managers, Ian Dunn and Jane Newman asking us how we thought we had done over the last few days, they also told us our scores we got at the mock comp the previous day, which has tought me a few things that I need to alter and be aware of before my next comps.

I really enjoyed the 5 days and now know how much training I need to be doing before the Worlds in September.

Scottish Youth Climbing Championships

2010-05-16T23:21:00.002+01:00

Saturday the 15Th of May was the Scottish Climbing championships, which was at EICA ratho. I had been training soo hard for my European competition on the 4Th, and was climbing so strong at the Scottish. I was totally phyced and was climbing really good:). I managed to top all three of my boulder problems, and all three of the qualifying routes. I was joint first with Dylan Mackenzie going into the final. So if I wanted to win I had to climb strong and get to the top! We were in isolation and as we were joint first we had to play rock paper scissors to see who would be out first to climb, I lost the game so I had to leave isolation and climb. I was walking up to the start of the route and looked at it again, I put both hands on the starting hold then started to climb. I took my other foot off the ground and the first hold moved.I came off and was shacking cos Igot a fright.I started to climb again and managed to do some funky moves and get 3/4 of the way up,I was not even pumped when I came off, it was that I missed the last good jug to chalk up and I went for the hold on the roof and my hands just slipped off. Dylan was out next and he managed to climb really strong and get a few moves below me.

For years me and Dylan have been so close at competitions and he always seemed to beat me, but after training lots I managed to become Scottish champion:) woo hoo.

RAF Lossiemouth Climbing Wall

2010-03-31T23:28:00.005+01:00

Today I was asked by Scott Muir if I would help out grading around 40 routes that have been put up on a new climbing wall that he built at the RAF base in Lossiemouth.

The wall is amazing made from plywood and moulded panels. It has been built with some great overhanging panels that are excellent for stamina training. The original wall built into the brick is still there and can be used for placing gear.

I was talking to the RAF base commander who officially opened the wall, he hoped that we would be back to climb on the wall again at some time and maybe they would be able to hold some sort of competitions there!!

EYS competitions

2010-03-31T10:52:00.001+01:00

I recieved an e-mail this morning from Ian Dunn the junior British climbing team manager saying that both myself and Dylan have been selected to climb in the EYS competitions in Imst and Wein...... wooo h000

Sheffield Team Training

2010-03-22T23:42:00.002Z

At the weekend I travelled down to Sheffield along with Nikki & Ellen Macaskill to attend a junior British team training event which was held at the Foundry wall in Sheffield, the day was suppost to be used as a training day for the team but was also going to be used as a selection day for who was going to be going to the EYS competitions in Imst and Wien (both in Austria).

We were told at the start of the day that we had 5 routes to complete before 5pm and that if we were wanting to go to any of the EYS comps we had to top at least 3 of the routes which all started at 7b.

Myself and Dylan were the only ones to top three of the routes, I got just over half way up the final two 7b+ routes so I will just have to wait till the team managers make a selection and let me know:)

Brittish Junior Climbing Team

2009-12-09T21:30:00.003Z

Two weeks ago I travelled down to Liverpool for the British Team Trials, and finished in 5Th position. When I came home from school today I had got a letter from the BMC telling me that I had successfully got onto the team. (YEA HAA!!)

Tooling Series Final 2009

2009-12-06T22:02:00.005Z

Saturday was a 6.30 start, we travelled down to Fort William for the final of the tooling series.

This round was a bit of a serious competition between me and my mate Dylan Mackenzie, because the winner of this round would win the series trophy!! We had like 4 hours to try and complete the Qualifying round routes, so me and my dad raced round most of the routes, trying our best to Finnish but of course we ran out of time!

The final route was going up the articulated wall which was overhanging, I was out climbing second and I took 7 minutes to get to the top (I was SO pumped!). then Dylan got to the top, so we had to have a supper final which was also on the overhanging was but on the mens final route. I was out of isolation first and managed to get just under half way and popped off going for a long move to a crappy hold. Dylan got to the hold just below me!!

Thanks so much everyone that run this fantastic event and the sponsors Lyon Equipment. I hope there is one next year!!

Here is a link to a video posted on Scottish tooling website:

Team Trials

2009-11-30T21:48:00.004Z

Friday morning I travelled down to Liverpool for the British Team trials. We stayed the night in a hotel, woke up at about 7 o'clock looking forward to the breakfast to find it does not open until 8 (girr!). I got to the wall at 8 o'clock, really psyched for the comp I got my number and looked at my routes, My first route did not look too bad but my second qualifier looked really hard. After about one hour of warming up I got on my first route, I really liked it it was not too hard about 6c/ 6c+, But my second was really hard, about 3 clips up the wall there was three slopers that were close together, you had to rock over onto the first one then get your hands sorted then go out to a small crimp out left, that was probably the best move in the comp!! then I managed to climb up to the second last clip, I climbed passed it first then had to climb down the hard move then clip it (that got me really pumped) then finally only managed to touch the next hold. I was told after the route was graded 7c! After attempting the two qualifying routes I was in 2nd place going into the final.
I went into isolation at 4 o'clock then came out to read the route around 5, My final route was on the massive overhanging wall, After reading the route I went back into isolation for another hour, then was really psyched for the final. I came out and started to climb my route, I managed to get just off half way up the route then I should have moved my foot up and caught the under cut, but I didn't move my foot up then I popped off!
I finished 5th over all, and had a really good day :)

Glenmore lodge Dry- tooling round 4

2009-11-22T00:22:00.006Z

Last Saturday I travelled to Glenmore Lodge for round four this years tooling series. Last year I went to this round as well and it was amazing with the weather being really snowy and cold, but this year it was totally different because about 20 minutes into the competition it started to chuck it down with rain, by the end I was drenched and could not feel my fingers. Athough it was Tipping it down I still really enjoyed the routes.

After about one and a half hours of climbing in the rain we had a final which was thankfully inside, but the one problem I had was that my gloves were soken wet and my hands kept sliding out of them anyway I still went into the final and came second by about one point!!

I am now totally phyced for the final at the Ice Facter in two weeks.

I was given a video of the finals taken by Craig Harper, once I have worked out how to upload it I will put a link here:

Extream-dream Dry- Tooling Round

2009-11-10T18:28:00.007Z

Saturday was round Three of this winters tooling league. Extream- dreams tooling round is always the best with funky logs and boards that you have to plant the axes into. We had 11 amazing/ funky routes to do and then the final on the 13 meter roof. One of my favorite routes were in the boulder cave, it included of three logs one of them about one meter long, that you had to slide down (as it was slanted) then figure of four onto a smaller one, swing to another log then slam the axe into the finishing plank of wood that was bolted to the wall. In the qualifying round I got 110 points along with another two Juniors.

There was 5 of us in the final on the roof and I was climbing last, after watching the others on the roof I was really phyced up, After getting half way over the roof I was happy then I managed to get to the last clip and I was pretty pumped, after clipping the last clip before the lower off I was trying to get my axe out and I droped it, but I managed to do a funky move and got the lower off with one axe and then won!!

More results can be found here:

Sports Climbing

2009-10-18T22:42:00.005+01:00

This afternoon I went to Moy Rock, my local crag, met up with a few friends and done some climbing!!

After doing a few warm-up routes, A friend suggested that I should try these 2 routes:

Little Teaser (20m) 6b+ **
The Ticks Eat All the Midges 7a+ **

But instead of climbing The Ticks Eat All The Midges I went up the wrong line and climbed Cloak and Dagger 7a ** which I thought was pretty good but really pumpy trying to climb over the small roof to the lower off.

Photo taken by Stevie Hammond

Scottish Tooling Series Round 1

2009-10-03T23:39:00.007+01:00

Round 1 of the Scottish Tooling Series was held on Saturday at Advertical World. This year is the second year that the Scottish Tooling Series.

Saturday, the competition started at 10.45 and we Had 4 hours to complete 18 boulder problems/ routes.

In the Qualifying round I got 153 points out of 180. The final we had 1 route and I managed to get to the top !!!!

I liked the competition routes, but I think that they would have been a little bit better if some of the routes were harder with sketchy holds.

Some more information can be found here for the Scottish tooling series: STS

Here are some pictures: (thanks to the Scottish tooling series website)

EYS

2009-09-21T21:12:00.009+01:00

This weekend was the British round of the EYS and I was one of the GB team members to compete in the event. This was my first EYS competition and I was really excited, I was totally psyched.

The Friday night we were told our starting place for the first route, and I was climber 120 and was climbing 16th on the first route.

Me on my first route.

I felt really strong when I was on my first route and was really happy that I got to the second last clip.

A pic of me climbing my second route.

My second route was really hard and had a few long moves at the start, which made me use most of my energy.

After this weekend I am now placed 33rd in europe in youth B boys!!!!

Sport Climbing

2009-09-12T00:09:00.005+01:00

Went climbing at Moy rock tonight, the weather was really good and managed to get a few routes done before it got too dark. I have not been out in ages as I have been training for my comps, and really enjoyed getting out.

EYS Training day

2009-09-07T20:40:00.009+01:00

Last weekend was a 3 day training session for people competing in the European Youth climbing championships at the end of September, I was reserve in the boys group B.

Day 1 (Friday)
We started climbing 2 o'clock on Friday afternoon. Day 1 was a hard fun boulder competition, which included of 20 boulder problems. At about 4 o'clock Dave Binney (head coach of the British team) came and gave us a lecture on how most of the European and world competitions run.

Day 2 (Saturday)
Saturday started in the lecturer Theatre on how we should warm up and route demos.

Warm-ups

On a event final the isolation area opens at 7.30am and closed at 8.30am. At 8.30am route demos start, and 8.45am first climber is out to climb. So if you are climber number 1,2 or 3 you will need to be warmed up and ready by 8.30am, which means you will need to be in isolation at 7.30.

Route Demos

When Dave Binney was telling us about the route demos we had to take some notes. I learned a lot from what I was told about route demos.

At 12 o'clock after we had been talking about warm-ups we were all send down to the warm up area, and try and warm up in a small space with a lot of people in only 1 hour, just like it would be like in the EYS. It was quite hard to warm up in a smallish place because people were fighting to get onto the wall. After 1 hour of warming up we were all sent out to climb 2 routes.

At the end of the day Dave Binney came over to me and said one of the other climbers injured there finger and could not climb in the EYS, and offered that if I wanted I could take the place!!

Day 3 (Sunday)

Was a mock EYS competition, so we had to get up at a silly time and be in isolation. We had to be in isolation one hour before route preview so the first 3 people could warm up and be ready to climb. We all went out for route preview and read the route, after 6 minutes we were all sent back into isolation and carried on our warm up. During the day the judges put in some Technical faults in (Eg a spinning hold or a clip that was the wrong way or something like that) the idea was so we were aware of what to do if this happened in the comp.

Tooling

2009-08-29T23:28:00.004+01:00

Only 5 weeks to the first of the dry tooling comps so I put up a couple of training routes in the Cave.

Here is a clip of me dry tooling last year
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXUFDDY5ElQ

BLCC 2009

2009-07-22T17:35:00.007+01:00

Last Saturday was the BLCCs, which was held at Ratho climbing wall Edinburgh. I was in the Junior category (U16), We had to climb two routes graded between 6c+ and about 7c.
My first route was about 7b (I think) I managed to get 3/4 of the way up until a really long stretchy move spat me off.

My second route was about 7c I managed to climb about 25 moves up and was trying to clip one of the quickdraws off a small slopper/ crimp then my right arm got flash pumped.

Over all I came 20th, I would have liked to finish in a better position.

Applecross bouldering

2009-07-13T23:19:00.004+01:00

This weekend I managed to persuade my dad to take me to Applecross so I could do some bouldering, the weather was scorching hot about 25'C. I went to sand bay boulders and managed to get a little bit of bouldering done, despite the weather was really hot and there was lots of horse flies biting at my back and legs.

Me on MOD Traverse V4+

We were going to stop off at Torridon boulders on the way home, but it was getting late in the day and we had no food or water left, the nearest shop was 20miles away, so we headed home as the weather forecast for the following day was heavy RAIN !!

Gory Magazine

2009-07-04T23:15:00.004+01:00

A few months ago my friend Lukasz Warzecha took some pictures of me climbing at Dumbarton rock, and this month some of his photos went in Gory climbing magazine, one of the best selling climbing magazine's in Europe.

YCS Final, London

2009-06-20T01:18:00.001+01:00

On Friday myself and 4 other North Scotland team members flew down to London from Inverness to compete in the YCS final at Westway climbing wall, London.

The day of the comp was really hot but pretty well organised by the BMC, as there was not a lot of room for everyone (climbers & spectators).

I managed to get 8th place overall, I would have liked to have done better but as it was my first year in the oldest catagory and I was competing against guys a lot bigger than me, I am quite pleased with the result.

Overall Scotland North done really well getting 3rd place in the team results, beating Scotland South (5th place)... Thanks Ruairidh for the training :) :)

The Old Man of Stoer

2009-06-07T19:08:00.001+01:00

About one month ago Ruaridh Mackenzie invited some of the Inverness Climbing Crew (ones that he has climbed outdoors with before), if we wanted to go up the old man of stoer. so this weekend 6 of the Inverness climbing crew went to the old man of stoer, along with 6 adult backup climbers. We camped Friday night so we didn't have to drive up in the morning, but it were thinking it may be a bad idea as it was chucking it down on the drive over.

On Saturday morning we got up at 8 O'clock and got ready. We walked in about an hour then I saw the old man of Stoer, It was really big and awesome.

We abseiled down to a sea level ledge and set up a Tirolean, which we needed to cross to get to the stack. Ruaridh went up first and set up all the belay anchors, We had a adult at every belay station so we could all climb to the top without hanging around too long.

After a couple of hours, all 12 of us stood on the very top of the Old man for a team photo before abseiling back down.

Wakeboarding

2009-06-01T21:05:00.004+01:00

Yesterday Ruaridh Mackenzie offered to take me out on his boat wakeboarding, with some more friends. The boat was in the water at Doors beach, we went about 1/2 mile out and went on the board. Dylan went on the board first, and showed us what to do, It looked really easy but when I went on the board, I could not even stay on the board for 10 seconds!!Dylan wakeboarding

I really enjoyed attempting to wakeboard and would love to do it again.

The Scottish Final

2009-06-01T20:28:00.004+01:00

On Saturday was the Scottish final, which was held in Extreme-Dream Aviemore, The temperature was really hot, about 25-30'C. In the morning we had to complete 15 boulder/ top rope problems, then go into the semi/Finals in the afternoon. Four of the top rope warm up routes were out side on a transportable wall, which was really good as we were in the sun.

In the morning I got 1492 points out of 1500, which made me manage to climb in the semi finals. The semi final route was on the roof, which I think was graded about 7a. Only three people out of my group got through to the final in the afternoon, which was also on the roof. I managed to get the end of the roof which was 7c and so did Paul Williamson. So we had to have a super final on the same route, keeping climbing it over and over again until one of us came off, we both had two goes at it, I managed to get to the 2nd last clip on my 2nd attempt, and Paul got to the end.

The Camel

2009-05-24T19:55:00.003+01:00

I went to the Camel with some friends today, It was really cold but good climbing.

I managed to do three routes before we went home:

Inverarnie Schwarzenegger F7a 25m *

Stone of Destiny F6c+ 27m ***

Two Humps are Better than One F6b 23m *

Some Picts:

EYC Selection Day

2009-05-11T16:43:00.005+01:00

On Friday after school I travelled down to Edinburgh and camped at Ratho camp site, for the European Youth Series Selection Day on Saturday. We had to be at Ratho by 8.00am for a warm up and to be given your number (I was number 51). We were giving a route demo for the first two routes but not a route demo for the final, the route demoing started at 9.45am and climbing at 10am, I was climbing 6th in my group. Our first route was a 7a which went up the new comp wall it was really pumpy but I managed to get to the top.

Our second route was 7a+ to the right of the comp wall but only went 3/4 of the way up, I managed to get to the last clip came off on a small crimp going to a under cut. After completing the two routed it put me into 7th place meaning that I could climb in the finals. Two hours later we got out of isolation and got 5min to read the route then back into isolation. I was out 4th to climb.

Our final route was about 7b+ , I managed to get about half way up the route because I was hanging on a small crimp and had to make a small dyno move to get to the next hold but I only managed to slap the hold not hold it. After climbing in the final I finished in 6th place which means that I have a chance that I might be picked for the European Youth Climbing Championships in September.

The full results can be found here: http://www.thebmc.co.uk/bmcNews/media/u_content/File/competitions/EYS_Selection_Day_Results.pdf

YCS Round 3

2009-04-27T21:21:00.006+01:00

Saturday was the third and last round of the YCS which was held at the Ice Factor Kinlochleven. We had to get up at 6:00AM to travel down to Kinlochleven, as the competition started at 10:00. I managed to get two of the boulder problem's and three holds off topping out in the third, and topped out in two of the routes and got 3/4 of the way up the last one. Alasdair Johnston and I got the same final score, so we had to have a climb off. I was first out in the climb off and managed to get about 1/2 way the route before my foot slipped off, Alasdair got to the 2nd last hold and slipped off (well done Alaster!!).

Here are some of the results from some of my friends.

Age group 11-13 girls:
Nikki Addison 1st
Dawn longwoth 2nd

11-13 Boys:
Dylan Mackinzie 1st
Ruaridh Macaskill 2nd

14-16 Girls
Ellen Macaskill 1st
Ellen Barber 3rd

14-16 Boys
Alasdair Johnston 1st
Steven Addison 2nd
Sam Leakey 5th
Lewis Deacon 11th

Thanks very much Ruaridh Mackinzie and all the other route setters, Climbing wall's and the MCofS for donating prizes and hosting a really good event.

The results can be found here:

Ardmair

2009-04-20T20:44:00.004+01:00

On Saturday I went to Ardmair with some friends, It was a really good day as weather was nice and warm.

I managed to get 4 routes done:

Moondance 20m Vs 4C * (led it)

Sculptress 20m HVS 5A ** (seconded it)

Primitive Dance 30m E2 ** (top roped it)

Burning Desire 25m E5 6B**** ( Seconded it)

Here are some pics:

Dumbarton Pics From Lukasz Warzecha

2009-04-16T20:09:00.006+01:00

The other day I resevied some photoes from Lukasz Warzecha when we were at Dumbarton rock.

Thanks very much Lukasz!!

Dumbarton

2009-04-13T01:14:00.011+01:00

Today I went to Dumbarton with my Dad and met up with a professional photographer Lukasz Warzecha , he was taking some pictures for a Polish climbing magazine Gory. I have always wanted to go to Dumbarton to see E11 Raphosady. The weather was really good and I managed to get a lot of climbing done. Most of the boulder problem holds are really polished and do not have very good friction but I managed to get some problems done. I didn't manage to get any routes done because all of the routes I wanted to try were either wet or had slippy green slime over them.

Photos from Lukasz Warzecha still to come!!

Brin Bouldering V4 Success

2009-04-06T22:07:00.004+01:00

After going to Brin last Wednesday and attempting Spank The ramp V4, I wanted to go back and complete the problem, so today I went back to Brin With my dad and was working Spank The Ramp. I spent a long time on it trying to get all the moves, but it paid off as I eventually got it.
I think the hardest part of the problem for me was the sitting start as reaching the first hold was a problem!!

Spank The Ramp V4

Duntelchaig

2009-04-05T23:44:00.007+01:00

Today I went to Duntelchaig climbing and after climbing on Friday evening there I wanted to go back and climb Sweeney's Crack 15m severe. I started climbing up Sweeney's Crack and finished up Bent peg HVS. When I got to about two meters below the top I had to do a big rock over to get to the next hold.

Next I wanted to have a go at Slings E1 5b**. I managed to get about two moves from the top

before having to come off as I could see no way of getting the last couple of moves. :(

Duntelchaig

2009-04-04T23:02:00.003+01:00

Yesterday evening I went to 70ft wall, Duntelchaig to do some trad climbing with my new gear that I kindly received from Climbing Technology. The weather was really nice and warm. We only managed to do 2 routes as we were running out of daylight!!. I warmed up on Swastika, Severe, then I went onto Razor Flake HVS 5A, I felt really comfortable on it and most of the gear was bommer!!

Creag Bhaeg

2009-04-02T23:22:00.006+01:00

On Thursday I went to Creag Bheag sport climbing with some friends. The weather was really good, nice and warm, I warmed up with a traverse along the whole of the crag which took about 5 min!!

I managed to do 5 different routes: (dont know the names as we had no topo)

One 5+

Two 6a+

Two 6b+

On the crux of the 6b+

I had a really good day and want to go back soon.

Brin Bouldering

2009-04-01T22:36:00.005+01:00

Today I went to Brin, Bouldering with some friends. We spent most of the day there and we managed to do lots of climbing.

Some pics of us climbing.

Ellen

Me attempting Spank The Ramp V4
Ellen on Lichen It V0
Me on Flakes V2

Ended the day working Lip Trip V4 on The Block, managed to get halfway along.

We had a really good day out and cant weight till next time !!

Tom Riach

2009-04-01T22:16:00.006+01:00

Yesterday afternoon My dad and I decided to go to Tom Riach boulder. I managed to do a few Boulder problems:

The Dark side V0+

North buttress V0

The Long Riach V2

Drainpipe Scoop V0

Appin Colours V2

West Arete V2

Butchers Left Hand V3+

South West Face Traverse V4+

On the South West Traverse V4+

Really good day bouldering at Tom Riach.

YCS Round 2

2009-03-28T23:45:00.006Z

Today I took part in round two of the YCS. I really enjoyed the day and really liked all of the routes and boulder problems. We started with the boulder problems this week and I managed to get 163 points and 283 points on the routes.

I managed to finish 2nd= place, 3 points behind the winner Alastair Johnstone

Here are some pics of the day:

Here is a link to the results http://www.indoorsout.co.uk/index.htm#brycs2009results.htm

Thanks very much to the Route setters!!

Sport Climbing

2009-03-21T22:49:00.005Z

Today I went climbing with, Dylan, Nikki, Ruairidh and My dad. We headed to Goat Crag for a sport climbing day, and it was really good. The weather was sunny most of the day but some cold winds.

Dylan and I decided that we should warm up on a 6b then have some attempts on a 7b.

Here are some pics of my attempts at a 7b.

It was a really good day out at the crag because It was my first sport climbing trip of the year, and my first time really using my new gear!!

Nikki

Dylan

YCS round one

2009-03-08T20:32:00.007Z

Yesterday was round one of the YCS. The Scotland north round one location was at Transition Extreme, Aberdeen. The comp started at about 10am, we had to complete 3 routes and 3 boulder problems.

I managed to top all three routes.

I also managed to top out on one of the boulder problems but could not manage to do the last move on boulder prob number two, boulder prob number three was really hard with long moves, I only managed to get 49 points.

I finished in third place with a total of 467 points out of 480.

I really liked the competition routes and problems, well done route setters :)

The full results can be found here:

http://www.indoorsout.co.uk/index.htm#brycs2009results.htm

Cummingston

2009-02-23T19:28:00.006Z

On Sunday I went to cummingston with some friends. We went to Cummingston because the weather looked like it was going to be the best over that direction. We never managed to do a lot of routes as it was really cold,but we managed some:

Staircase Crack 12m Severe (lead it)

Diedre of double doubt 12m E2 5b **
The Prow 12m E5 6A **

I really liked climbing the Prow E5 6A because it was overhanging and steep the holds were quite good but it would be a scary route to lead because there is very little gear placements.

Here are some pics of the day:

New Climbing Gear

2009-02-16T11:58:00.009Z

After competiting in the Ice Climbing World Cup 2009 at Val Daone, I was approached by Villa Natale from an Italian climbing company Climbing Technology who awarded me a prize for being the youngest competitor in the competition, they also offered to support my climbing activities for the this year.

As we had to leave before the final prize giving ceremony Villa Natale and Guido John Bramley from Climbing Technology arranged to forward my prize and also some climbing equipment.

I was really excited when I opened the large box that arrived by post this morning, to find a complete rack of climbing gear.

Thanks very much to all at Climbing Technology

Ice Climbing World Cup Pics

2009-02-11T18:45:00.000Z

I have put some photos of the Ice Climbing Comp on my Flickr Page. They can be found

Here (Italy) And Here (switzerland)

Scottish Youth Boulder Championships

2009-02-09T20:28:00.004Z

Sunday was the first ever round of the Scottish Youth Boulder Championships. Sunday morning was the Qualifiers, it consisted of 15 boulder problems, we had 2 hours to complete them. I went round with Dylan as we agreed that we would take shot about going first. Dylan and I managed to complete the problems in 1 hour. At 3.00pm was the start of the semi final. There was no isolation, so we could watch each other. Dylan was out first then me and followed by another three. Three of us made it into the Final Dylan Me and Ruaridh. The final Boulder Prob/route was on the roof, we only Had 2minutes to complete it. I was out second to climb I managed to get over one of the tricky swinging boards then had 5 seconds to get 3 moves to the last hold, so I made a small dyno to the next hold and managed to touch it before the time was out. Then it was Dylan to climb he got to the same hold as I got to but he held it and therefor managed to get the extra point which made him win.

The results from the Boys 11-13 catorgy.

Dylan Mackenzie 1st

Steven Addison 2nd

Ruaridh Maskaskill 3rd

I really enjoyed the competition and really liked the boulder probs hope it will happen again next year.

The full results can be found here:http://www.scottishyouthclimbing.blogspot.com/

Ice Climbing World Cup Saas Fee

2009-01-26T17:22:00.008Z

Yesterday I just got back from the second round of the Ice Climbing World Cup. The competition was held in a 11 floor car park in Saas Fee Switzerland.

On Friday afternoon was the men's qualifiers which I was competing in. We had to go into isolation at 12pm, then route preview at 12.30. I was first out to climb at 12.45.

Three members of the UK team sussing the moves out.
Tim giving me some info.

I managed to get on to the swinging ice block and put my axe thought the rope, I got pumped trying to get the axe out of the rope and hit my axe into the ice and tried to do a figure of four but I never hit the axe in deep enough and it came out.

Next out to climb from the UK team after me was Tim Emmet. He done really well but a few holds short of making it into the semi final.

Then it was Malcom Kent, Andy Turner And Rob Gibson go.

The next day was the semi finals and the final. So Dad and I decided to go up a gondola to 3000m and get some pics whilst the semi final was on.

We got back just in time for the men and women's final.

Markus Bendler on the last move of the final route.

Ice Climbing World Cup

2009-01-19T16:48:00.010Z

Last weekend was the first round of the Ice Climbing World Cup 2009 in Val Daone, Italy.

On Saturday I had to get up at 7.00am for the briefing of the comp. The Isolation started at 8.30am so I went in With Andy Turner and Rob Gibson into isolation. I was in Isolation for about 45 min before I got called out to climb.

This year I managed to reach the starting hold easier!!.

I managed to get about 4 metres up the wall before I fell off. The moves were really far apart from each other, the move that knocked me off was about a metre away on a really sketchy hold. I was really happy because I set my self a target to try and get better than last year. And I achieved it!! came 27th out of 31.

Rob Gibson on his qualifying route.

Andy Turner starting his route.

All the other results can be found Here.

Ice Climbing World cup 2009

2009-01-15T17:23:00.000Z

Tomorrow I am going away to Italy to the ice climbing world cup again this year (and I can't Wait) I have been training for ages trying to get stronger and practicing on long moves. Scott Muir has very kindly giving me a shot of his Boreal fruit boots that I used last year (only need two pairs of socks this year!).

Extreme dream

2009-01-04T18:30:00.007Z

Last Friday we went down to Extreme Dream to do some climbing. I done some warm up Routes then went on the roof with Jamie Murry trying to get a 8A route that is there. I have been trying the route for ages and really want to get it.

Me attempting the crux move.

After a few goes on the roof I went and done some dry tooling with Malcom Kent.

After doing some of the circuits, I went on the roof and done some tooling.

Best Bits of 2008

2009-01-02T14:36:00.011Z

One of the best things I done last year was going to Italy and Switzerland in January and competed in the Ice climbing World cup.

Competing in the BRYCS Scottish round of competitions and finishing in 2nd place in the three regional rounds 2nd in the Scottish final and 6th in the British final.

Climbing with Steve McClure at a training session at Extreme-dream climbing wall.

Doing lots of trad, sport and bouldering.

Achieving my goal of leading an E1 out doors.

Going to Tunnel wall with the British climbing team.

Extending our home boulder wall.

Getting my own Ice axes.

And Competing in all of the Scottish dry tooling League rounds and coming in 1st place.

Extreme Dream Bouldering Wall

2008-12-30T22:09:00.005Z

Scott & his team have been very busy over the last few weeks at Extreme Dream painting most of the walls, adding more top ropping on flat panels with tiny holds!! and now have a fantastic new high ball bouldering area which I got to set a few problems on the other day.

There are also some funky new tuffas & features.

Dry Tooling League Final

2008-12-14T17:44:00.020Z

Saturday was the final of the Scottish winter Dry Tooling League, it was held at the Ice factor in Kinlochleven, there was 16 problems to be completed in 5 hours one of the problems was on ice and one out doors, and the rest were in the climbing wall.

Some Pics of the Qualifying Round:

The Qualifying round Results:

U16 boys

Steven Addison 1st
Dylan Mackenzie 2nd
Johnny Field 3rd

U16 Girls

Nikki Addison 1st

Ellen Barber 2nd

After the Qualifying there was a final which was on the cantilevered wall. We all had to go into Isolation to warm up. Ellen was out first to climb then Nikki, Johnny, Dylan Then me. The route we were on was really hard but I managed to top out.

Some pics of us on the final route:

Ellen
Nikki

Johnny Dylan
Me Me

After we had finished climbing we were able to watch the rest of the competitors Climb.

Some pics of the men and women on the final route:

Fiona Murry Anna Wells

Kev Shields

Malcom Kent
Andy TurnerDave Macleod

The Results of the Final round:

U16 Boys

Steven Addison 1st

Dylan Mackenzie 2nd

Johnny Field 3rd

U16 Girls

Nikki Addison 1st

Ellen Barber 2nd

All the rest of the resulst can be found here

Glenmore Lodge Dry Tooling Comp

2008-12-06T22:14:00.008Z

Today was round four of the winter Dry Tooling league, it was held at glenmore Lodge Aviemore. There was three sessions One at 9 o'clock, 12 O'clock and 2 O'clock. I was climbing in the 12 o'clock session with Nikki.

When we got to Glenmore Lodge it was really cold but it got warmer by 12 O'clock when I was climbing!!!

This is the south side of The pillars we were climbing on.

Today was different climbing to the other competitions because it was out doors on real rock and you had to were crampons, and we only had 4 minutes to complete the route each. Nikki and I started on route 2 (one of the hardest routes) We had to stein pull up two vertical planks of wood and keep our feet in marked areas and a quarter of the way up the marked foot holds stopped and we had to plant our crampons in to the vertical planks of wood. Then when we got to the top of the vertical plank of wood we had to put our axes into a plank of horizontal wood and climb across it to the Finnish. It was a really good route and my favourite of the day! Then we had another eight to do before we were Finished.

The results of the Glenmore Lodge round are:

U16 boys:

Steven Addison 77 points 1st place

U16 Girls

Nikki Addison 20 points 1st place

We got loads of video on Saturday and some pics:

At 3:30pm when the comp was finished we all headed into the lecture theatre for a lecture by Andy Turner on The Secret X.10, the new route he put up on Ben nevis last year with Steve Ashworth & Viv Scott.

Boreal Blades

2008-12-02T20:14:00.007Z

The other day I received 2 pairs of Boreal rock shoes, the new Blades and a pair of Mutants, I managed to get a quick climb in the Blades and they feel really superb.

.

Extreme-Dream Dry Tooling Round 3

2008-11-30T11:56:00.011Z

Yesterday was the third round of the winter Dry-Tooling League, This week it was at Extreme-Dream Climbing Wall. We had to do 12 problems In 2 Hours. Some of the routes were on swinging logs and hard to stay on. I was going round with my sister and we managed to try all 12 of the routes.

Some pics of the qualifying round:

The results of the qualifying round:

Steven Addison = 97 points

Dylan Mackenzie = 74 points

Ellen Barber = 70 points

Nikki Addison = 50 points

So we all had to go into a final that was on the roof to see who would be the winner.

Some picts of the final:

That had to be the best round of the series!!

Ratho Dry Tooling comp

2008-11-16T11:47:00.009Z

Yesterday was the second round of the winter dry tooling league it was held at Ratho indoor climbing wall in Edinburgh. There was three sessions 11am 1pm and 3pm. I was taken part in the 1pm session with Ellen Barbor, we only had two hours to get round all ten routes we managed to do 8 routes.
This week I had some competition Johnny stocking, Johnny Field and Dylan Mackenzie.

The results of the competition are:

under 16 male

Johnny Stocking 100 points

Johnny Field 90 points

Steven Addison 77 points

Dylan Mackenzie 57 points

Under 16 Female

Ellen Barber 69 points

All the rest of the the results can be found here.

More photos can be found here.

Winter Dry Tooling League 2008

2008-11-11T16:22:00.013Z

Last Saturday was the first Dry tooling comp of the winter, it was held at Avertical wall in Dundee and I think it was really successfully. There was a good few people there but only three under 16, That was Me, Ellen Barber and Nikki. There was 15 problems and routes which were varied from easy to hard. I was going round with Nikki and Ellen, we only got through 10 routes/ problems as we ran out of time.

The results of the qualifiers round was:

Under 16 Girls
Ellen Barber 40 points 1st

Nikki Addison 10 points 2nd

Under 16 boys

Steven Addison 87 points 1st

Veteran Men

Jimmy Addison 77 points 1st

Julian Barber 44 points 5th

Other Results can be found here

Saturday was a fantastic day, and next Saturday will hopefually be even better at Ratho.

Here are some picts that Ellen sent me:

Echo Wall

2008-10-22T12:30:00.006+01:00

Just recieved my copy of Echo Wall through the post at 11:15 this morning, stopped everything I was doing and watched it.

Now all psyched up to get out and finish a project I am working on.

Well done Dave & Claire for a brilliant film.

http://www.davemacleod.com/shop.html#

BMC Leading Ladder 2008

2008-10-19T19:55:00.005+01:00

For the last two weeks I have been attending the Leading Ladder at Extreme-dream climbing wall in Aviemore. There was 10 routes ranging from 5+ to 8A.
I managed to flash 7 of the problems, I made a stupid mistake on the 7A on my first attempt but managed to nail it on my second attempt.
The only two problems I never managed to complete were on the roof, a 7C and an 8A.
I managed to get half way across the roof on the 7C but there was very little for feet, I got three clips further on the 8A but kept falling off at crimp!!.
Alan says the problems will be left up for a while so I will keep working the roof ones till I nail them!!

Fort William Bouldering wall

2008-10-17T22:52:00.011+01:00

This evening Myself, Dad and Nikki went to Fort William bouldering wall. I really like the bouldering wall because there are some really good problems. I was trying a purple boulder problem and I found a really good knee jam rest to rest on.

Some other pics:

You can also plug in your own i-pod and boulder to your own music... how cool is that!!

Lochnagar

2008-10-16T16:59:00.005+01:00

Today myself and Dad went up Lochnagar hill walking. The weather was cold and very windy on the top.

I want to go back and climb in the Corrie!

Tooling

2008-09-20T15:43:00.011+01:00

A few weeks ago I got a new set of ice axes made by E-Climb. I really like them as Scott let me use his ones when I was in Italy & Sass Fee earlier this year.

Tooling in the cave with my new axes:

Reiff

2008-09-06T23:02:00.005+01:00

Today me and my Dad went to Reiff, we arrived there at 11am and climbed till 6pm. we started off by abseiling down to the ledge at Black rocks but as it was in the shade and very windy we climbed back up The Grooves 20m severe* then moved over to the pinnacle area which was more sheltered and in the sun.

These are the routes we done:

The Krill 8m VS 4B

Skel 8m Severe

Slab corner 20m Diff*

Slanting corner 8m severe*

The routes we soloed:

Descent corner 8m Mod

Kiddies corner 8m Mod *

Toddlers crack 8m Mod

Kindergarten 8m Severe

Juniors Groove 8m Vdiff *

Something old 5m Vdiff

Some picts of the day:

Logie Head

2008-08-31T19:37:00.007+01:00

Friday after school we wanted to go camping/climbing so we went to Cullen as the weather was looking better in the east, we camped at Cullen camp site. After a night of looking at the guide I was phyced to go and climb at Logie head. Myself, Nikki, Dad and Mum got to the crag at about 11:00am and stayed until 4:30pm, we got Five fantastic routes done:

Bladder Wrack 10m Severe 4b

Sea Urchin 10m Hard Severe 4b

Sea Link 10m V Diff *

Poacher 10m Vs 4b **

Fishermans Tail 10m Hard severe

Some picts of the day!!

I really enjoyed Logie Head and I will definitely be going back.

Moy Crag

2008-08-28T19:26:00.003+01:00

On Thursday night myself, dad,and nikki went to moy crag as the weather was quite good. We got there about 7:00pm and got two routes done a 6a that has been there for a few months and a 5+ 6a that had just been put up by Will about 4 days before.

me on the new route which I recon is 5+/6a

Nikki top ropping the new route.

Training with the British team

2008-08-17T13:27:00.007+01:00

Yesterday I was at Extreme-Dream and Glenmore lodge training with Scott Muir and some of the British team members.
The training started at 10.00am and lasted until 6.00pm The warm up was a run around aviemore, then running 300m with a Tyre attached to you, punching a Punch bag, Climbing with one hand, hard foot work, dry tooling, then finally some campusing. Then we headed of up to Glenmore lodge to the gym. for some really hard stomach training, leg work and weights.

So today I am really Sore!!!

Home bouldering wall

2008-08-17T12:44:00.011+01:00

The last four days or so, me dad and Nikki have been extending the bouldering wall in our shed.

The shed two years ago.

After about an hour of getting all the rubbish out of the shed we started to get to work.

The end of day one it looked like this:

Then we had a full day drilling and T-Nutting!!

Then the fun began!!!

Us putting the last board up at 22:15

As we were so psyche to climb on our wall we decided to climb.

The cave finally finished!!!

Applecross Boulders

2008-07-29T12:31:00.008+01:00

On Thursday we travelled up to Applecross to go to the games and do some climbing. The games were on Saturday and we had Friday to spare so we went Bouldering as we did not have enough room in the car for all our climbing gear. We went to sand bay and climbed on Orange wall. Me and my dad only managed to do three Boulder problem's as the weather was very hot and my Mum was geting bored!!!.

Some picts of us on Neolithic Orangeman Font 6B***

Dad warming up

Nikki warming up

Some picts of us on Flake wall Font 5

Lakes

2008-07-18T19:57:00.008+01:00

This week Myself, Nikki, Mum and dad had an amazing holiday to the lake district despite the bad weather. We left home on Sunday and camped at Ratho campsite. Then headed down to England. We stayed at Keswick campsite in the lake district.

The next day the weather was cloudy then got brighter later on in the day. So we went climbing. I wanted to go to Shepperd's crag and do little Chamonix but when we got there, there was people going on it, we waited for a bit but the people were climbing slow. so we went to Brown wall instead and climbed Brown slabs Direct 2 pitches VDiff ** I Really Enjoyed it.

Me on Pitch one

Me on pitch two

I wanted to go back the next day and do more climbs but the weather was bad so we went to the Mining Museum and had a lot of fun. We also went to have a look at The Bowderstone

After 4 nights wet camping and no sign of the weather improving we headed home.

Extreme dream

2008-07-10T23:01:00.005+01:00

Myself Ellen, Nikki And my Dad went to Extreme Dream to day to climb. We haven't been there for ages. To day was good fun because Allan asked Me Nikki and Ellen if we wanted to set some boulder problems which we were well up for. We set 3 hard problems between us. Then I went on the new routes on the roof one of them is graded F6c+ and the other is F7a+, the F7a+ one is really hard because it has a Dyno in it then 3 moves you have to campus!!!!

Here is some pictures of the newly painted bouldering wall.

Tunnel wall

2008-07-09T21:56:00.006+01:00

To day I went to Tunnel wall with Scott Muir, Jonathan Feild, Ross Kirkland. We done Some hard routes:
Uncertain Emotions 25m F7B***
Tribeswoman 30m F7c+***

Us Sussing out the routes

Scott Leading Tribeswoman 30m F7c+***

Me on Uncertain Emotions 25m F7b***

Jonathan leading Uncertain Emotions F7b***

Dad on Uncertain Emotions F7b+***

Ross Leading Uncertain Emotions F7b+***

Polldubh Climbing

2008-07-06T21:03:00.008+01:00

After camping in Glen Nevis campsite last night we got up at about 8 O'clock had some breakfast and packed the tent away. We got to Polldubh at about 11:00 We headed for Repton buttress as the crags were quite busy and this was the nearest, My plan was to lead as many routes as I could but it was difficult because there was three of us climbing, myself, dad & Nikki. We only managed two routes. The first route I done was Three Pines 30m Mild Severe* we done it in two pitches because there were three of us on a 50m rope.

Ellen,Julian & Larry also managed down and managed a few climbs as well.

Then we done Tyke's Climb 10m VDiff finnishing up Repton Ridge Diff we done it in two pitches as well. I climbed the first Pitch "really easy"

Then set off for the second pitch

We all really enjoyed the day and I can't weight until I go Back..

Conival And Ben More Assynt

2008-07-03T11:43:00.008+01:00

Yesterday Dad the dog and me went out for a hill walk, We decided to head north west because the weather was looking better in that direction. We parked at Inchnadamph and walked up Conival and Ben More Assynt, I really enjoyed it because it was my first time out on a hill this year!!!

Me and Scooby at the top of Conival

On the way down I could not pass this boulder with out climbing on it.

BRYCS Final

2008-06-29T16:58:00.003+01:00

Yesterday was the BRYCS final and I came 6th. As my group was split into two, my first climb of the day was our second route, which I made a silly mistake on popping off 4 holds from the top...Aagghh.
Dylan fought his way to joint first place with a very badly sprained toe, his highlight of the day was getting a lift home in the back of an ambulance!!!!!!!!

All the results can be found here:

Pinnacle Crag

2008-06-09T16:31:00.004+01:00

Another fantastic day out at pinnacle crag our plan was to do as meny routes as we could do so we did five routes and one solo.

The routes that I lead:

Easy Chimney 10m Diff

Confidence wall 10m Vdiff

Right Angle 10m Vdiff

Traperde Groove 10m Vdiff

Stepped Corner 10m Severe*

And soloed Broken Groove 8m Moderate

Big Achievment

2008-06-06T22:45:00.003+01:00

At the start of the year I set my self a target to trad lead a E1. The last few weeks I have been climbing outside like mad and really gaining my trad leading skills. So tonight My dad Nikki, Ellen and her dad went to 70ft wall at Duntelchaig to do some trad climbing. The first route I wanted to trad lead was swastika 15m severe and really enjoyed it. Then I wanted to do another route so I looked, and saw this crack that looked really good so I looked in the guide book and it was E1 5c. I looked at the route again and put a top rope down and tried it I didn't fall off so I went for the lead. I found the climbing a little hard but really enjoyed it.

Moy Crag

2008-06-05T21:23:00.001+01:00

My dad and I went to Moy crag last night to check it out, I thought the crag was amazing and really enjoyed the routes I did. The First route I did was a new route that was just reasently been bolted It was really good but a bit dusty.

Then I went on Little Teaser 20m 6C It was really easy climbing up to the last two bolts then it gets nails.

Scottish Final

2008-05-31T21:12:00.002+01:00

Today was the Scottish final and went really well. I came second by one slap of a hold!!!. All the rest of the results can be found on the Scottish Youth Climbing blog:

Trad Leading

2008-05-17T21:34:00.009+01:00

Last night we went to kingissue crag and did some routes, as I am totaly psyced for trad leading Scott suggested that I should try aid climbing to gain more leading practice which I really enjoyed.

Me aid climbing Bolt Revolt 10m E4 5c

Then this afternoon we went to 70ft wall and did some more leading. I lead Swastika 15m Severe and had some more practice setting up belays.

Aztec Tower

2008-05-11T22:08:00.001+01:00

After camping in Gairloch last night we met up with Ellen and her dad then headed off to Aztec Tower and had another fantastic day out.
Aztec tower is one of the best places I have been to, very good routes to lead and bomber placements.

Me on One of the first Routes I lead Rough Voyage Diff 15m

Dad on Rough Voyage Diff
Ellen leading Rough Voyage Diff

I wanted more of a challange so I gave Cortes 20m Vs 4b a go and really enjoyed it.

We done a few good routes to day icluding:

Rough Voyage 20m Diff

Conguistador 20m E1 5a

Human Sacrifice 20m Vs 4c

Cortes 20m Vs 4b

Astriding Edge 20m Vdiff

[ Big thanks to the photographer !!!!............... ta mum ]