Climbing Outdoors at Malham Cove May 2015 (Issy)

Bolt Revolt, 7a- Flash

Over the long weekend our parents drove me and my brother to Malham Cove to climb outdoors for the 3rd time. On the first day, I warmed up on Rose Coronary. Then I flashed Bolt Revolt, 7a, and attempted to flash Frankenstein, 7a+. I was gutted to drop the last move on my flash attempt, however I sent the route easily second go. I then attempted to onsight Sycophants, 7a however I struggled on a move off a crimpy undercut. The next day, I returned to warm up on Rose Coronary and send Sycophants. Then, I decided I wanted to try something harder. I worked all the moves on Chiselling the Dragon, 7c, but I decided not to have a redpoint attempt as it was nearing the end of the day and my skin was suffering! I am looking forward to returning to send Chiselling the Dragon!

Working the Moves on Chiselling the Dragon, 7c

GB Junior Lead Team Training in Austria April 2015 (Issy)

The Imst Outdoor Wall

In April I travelled to Austria for the GB Junior Lead Team training camp. On the first day, we left from Heathrow airport and met the rest of the team at Munich airport. From Munich, we travelled to Innsbruck which is where we were staying. On the second day we travelled to Imst to climb at both the indoor and outdoor walls. The indoor was very steep and I really enjoyed trying some harder routes! However the outdoor wall was the most impressive by far! It was much higher than anything I had ever climbed on before, and it was a great experience to be able to climb all the way through the roof and up the headwall! The routes at Imst were great, and I had a fun day!

Climbing at Tivoli Wall

On the third day, we visited the Tivoli wall, which was only a short walk from out hotel. This was my favourite wall! The angles were far more extreme than anything I had ever climbed on before! Each category was given a route, and were told to study the route and draw route plans. This was great practice for comps. Youth B and C girls were given a red 7c route which looked hard and steep but toppable. When it was my turn to climb, I climbed up most of the route without many issues, however eventually I pumped out and fell off a big move to the arete. Despite falling when my aim was to top the route, I was happy with my effort as I had reached the joint-highest point. For the rest of the day, I tried some more routes- overall it was a great day!
On Thursday we visited the outdoor wall in Arco, Italy. The wall was very impressive, and there were some very hard routes set! My greatest achievement of the day was flashing a hard and pumpy 7b as the wall was very overhanging! I also attempted a 7c and was happy to climb quite a way up the route! I pumped out on a big move about two thirds of the way up. I really enjoyed the climbing in Arco, and the ice cream was also very memorable!
Finally, on the last day of our trip we visited Tivoli wall again. I tried a couple of routes before it was time to leave. I had a great experience and would like to thank the Team Management for a great trip!

Climbing the 7c at Tivoli Wall

Climbing at Fontainbleau (Issy)

During the Easter holidays, we visited Fontainebleau for my brother's 10th birthday, whilst in France. We went to Bas Cuvier. I had a great time on the boulders- there were so many to try! I onsighted lots of problems, and tried some 6cs, but we found that the grades were very hard! I can't wait to return to try some more of the boulders- I had such a fun day!

GB Lead Team Assessment Weekend (Issy)

On the 7th March we woke up early and travelled to the Leeds wall for the GB Team assessment weekend. For the assessment, 5 routes had been set for each category, which could be attempted in any order. For youth B girls, the route grades were: 7b+, 7b+, 7c, 7c, 7c+. Although I didn't top any of my routes, I felt that I climbed well. I had never been to the Leeds wall before, so I was excited to climb on the steep comp wall! On Sunday the 8th we returned to the wall to try some of the routes again, before a gymnastics session at the Diamonds Gymnastic club. It was great fun! Overall, I had a great weekend, thanks to the Junior Lead Team management!