Reaching for new heights

Several team members, coaches and BMC officials attended a reception in Westminster on the 2nd November.  Following a tour, we met with MPs, senior Sport England staff, Dame Kelly Holmes (awesome) and Minister Hugh Robertson to promote climbing and mountaineering.  Overall the event seemed extremely positive and we hope it will help raise support for the sport, the team and our chances in the 2020 Olympics shortlist.

Audrey Seguy gave a superb speech highlighting how climbing and mountaineering is a sport for all, regardless of age or ability.  Also, how the trend is for people to maintain participation in our sport, rather than drifting away and ceasing to exercise.  Discussing sport in general, after the speeches, I learnt that many people give up their sport after a while as they can’t necessarily keep up or keep it together (either physically or mentally).  Some sports only work in a competition format.

The difference with mountaineering may be that, although it is typically a group participation sport, the competition is ultimately between you and the mountain, the rock, the ice, the plastic etc.  You can always have achievable goals.  This could be getting to and from a certain place outside in the fresh air from the nearest car park (under your own steam of course), like Curbar Edge for example with its stunning views.  It could be going to play at your local climbing wall with your mates, or something altogether more epic like the first ascent of something.  It’s doing it that counts.

This sentiment was reflected at the recent Women’s climbing symposium at The Climbing Hanger, Liverpool.  Over ninety women attended to discuss climbing, to learn and offer advice on how to improve, to climb.  People came from as far as Devon and Scotland for the day.  The good thing about the day was that it was all about the climbing, rather than differences between men and women and the possible excuses this may offer.  There are no excuses!

Onwards and Upwards

Competition climbing is now an Olympic recognised sport and it is short listed for inclusion in the 2020 Olympics.  This is an exciting development for the ever growing sport of indoor climbing.  It is an honour to represent my country in my chosen sport, and to see it included in the Olympics would be great  for the competitors and the sport in general. 

The question is - what inspires us to compete?

I do not compete to get attention, however it is nice to get recognition for achievement.  I have a blog to promote competition climbing, the British Climbing Team and climbing in general.

In bouldering many of the competitors, myself included, compete due to enjoying the challenge of working out and topping short, hard, technical problems.   We are competing against the challenge of the boulder and seek new challenges on a regular basis.  The competition must be on manmade boulders as it would be unfair to compete on natural rock as the competitors may have been on it before so wouldn’t have to work it out on the spot.  Also, considerable damage would likely be caused to any natural rock environment if a competition was held in it.

But why compete against others, rather than just the boulder problem?  Well, it’s natural to compete with each other – it happens all the time at the climbing wall and it’s human nature.  If I can’t top a problem I work at it, I want to beat it if possible.  If someone else can top it, then it is possible and I maybe try harder, try and work out what I am doing differently.  Do I lack the strength, power, flexibility, endurance, savvy etc to top it? 

When put in a competitive environment, adrenaline comes into play.  I find I can do moves that I cannot always repeat outside of the competition.  It helps me in the challenge of beating the boulder.

Bouldering can be very sociable.  Through competitions,  I have met many fantastic characters.  I’ve also had the opportunity to visit some amazing places, despite climbing on plastic! 

Oh, and it feels good to do well and even better to win!

Matching in Munich

Apparently matching makes you weak.  However, when you’re feeling weak, matching helps you through.

For a couple of weeks before Munich I’d been suffering bad back knots.  Whilst warming up for the last World Cup Qualifiers of the season, I found I was in pain and couldn’t pull on one side the same as usual.  *Darn! (*insert expletives)

I had my best start position ever, but quickly dropped down out of the semis.  I was really disappointed, but realise that it was for the best, as if I had matched the 4th top hold, or had a couple of less goes on the three tops I got, and therefore made the semi, I may well have done my shoulder some major damage (assuming I haven’t already).  Never mind, I got points – not bad in the circumstances.  The comp was really good for the team – we all got points and team GBR came 6th.  Also, Shauna crushed to come 4th in her third ever World Cup.  Awesome.

I finished the season with my best overall result to date – 25th in the World Cup (World Ranked 28th).  I know what I need to train for next season and can’t wait to fix myself so that I can start training again.  It’s the difficult month of year when I try and do anything other than climbing to give my body a chance, but end up out with my mates climbing.  I’m sticking to friendly moves…. honest.

I was hoping to try a few hard things outdoors whilst still strong from the comps, but that’ll have to wait too.

Adidas Rockstars, Austria

Wow.  I was invited to attend a new event at Area 47 in Austria – Adidas Rockstars.  As an athlete I was treated like a VIP from the moment I was picked up from the airport to the moment I returned.  We had our own lounge for warm up, chill out, eating etc.  Masseurs, physios and a doctor were provided to ease us through the competition.  There were interviews, showing the rock band Orange but Green how to boulder, and really good competitions.  The competition was high, with competitors invited based on World Ranking and outstanding performances.  I qualified in 20th place, and came joint 15th in the semi-final to put me 17th overall after count back.  Not bad.  I need to practice throwing for stuff more, as this style of move often lets me down.  Here’s some comp photos thanks to C Waldegger.  There was also a ‘Be a Rockstar’ comp that 3 GBR girls entered.  The top 3 men and women from the ‘Be a Rockstar’ event qulaified for the Rockstars event.

Outside of the competition, Area 47 is an amazing place in the mountains.  There’s water slides, a pool complex with various activities, aerial fun and canyoning to name but a few activities.  I joined the majority of my competitors in having a go at the bridge swing, jumping quickly before I had a chance to think what I was doing.  After falling for longer than anticipated, with legs going ninety to the dozen, the rope took me swinging between the 2 bridge piers.  Great fun and a big buzz.  Here’s a clip of Magnus from Norway taking his turn (sorry for the poor quality) and some photos I took of the area.  As for the food – I tucked into an indecent quantity of fantastic meat among other things.  Also, I will be making some Kaiserschmarren in the near future.

Bridge Swing from Peter Jeffery on Vimeo.

Arco Comp Photos

Here’s a couple of climbing photos from the World Championships – thanks to Nick Clement our Team Manager.  Two slabs in the same round – slow, careful climbing for the tops

World Championships 2011, Arco

Surrounded by the steep limestone faces on which the competition was originally held and thousands of people have climbed, Arco is an inspiring place.  A castle towers high above the town with narrow cobbled streets housing delights for all.  An ice-cream parlour serving more flavours than you can name also displays photos of the owner with famous climbers.   There’s pizza, pasta and outdoor equipment stores.  The cafe by the church, with the usual array of tables in the street shaded by an awning, is a climbing cafe.  Climbing is everywhere.

Over fifty nations paraded through the streets, lined with photo portraits of previous stars of the competitions and welcoming spectators.  The town celebrates climbing.  We held our flags high and made our way to the competition arena for the opening ceremony.  After pledges to abide by the rules of the Climbing and Paraclimbing World Championships, we were entertained with an artistic display of singing, dancing and acrobatics.  The theme was elements, relating the 3 disciplines of bouldering, lead and speed to fire, air and water with power, grace and flow.

Over 700 competitors were entered between all the disciplines – amazing.  For me the bouldering competition had its ups and downs.  The qualification problems were very doable, but also very droppable.  Competing against almost 70 other girls, we were split into two groups in which we needed a top ten result to proceed to the semi-finals.  This is the biggest field I have competed in.  I flashed 3 problems and dropped 2, with some frustration.  I tied with Alex Puccio and for some time we were in joint 10th place.  Some strong contenders came through and we finished joint 12th in our group, 23rd overall.  Once again, a close one.  I am very pleased to have flashed problems, got points in such a big field and tie with Alex, a multi-finalist in the World Cup series.

Seventh Heaven

At home, with the local crowd, the Sheffield round of the World Cup Series is an amazing, exciting and somewhat scary event!  I had a couple of Canadians staying with me, which helped raise the pre comp anticipation that was slightly missing from last year due to the familiarity of my surroundings.

My warm up went well.  I repeated some familiar problems, covering a variety of climbing styles, and I was catching some practice dynos.  Once again, I started the qualifiers a bit shakily, fumbling around on some volumes, before being faced with a nice thuggy problem that just needed a little finesse to keep my feet on for my first top. 

Then it was double dyno time.  I told myself that I had to do it first time, going with both hands, all out.  I prepared, I jumped, one hand went up…. sigh… but YES, I caught it.  Heel on, climb, climb, climb, don’t drop it.  The top was very droppable, but with some hand swapping and gurning it was done.

I took ages to get going on the fourth problem, before taking a better look at the hold I was rolling over onto.  I decided to pinch lower down near a chip and hand swap into position.  This worked and I quickly gained the penultimate holds.  The top looked a mile away.  One foot was on a steep angled volume, the other on a slippery button.  The coaching in my head was telling me to just jump.  I started to go for it and my foot slipped, but I stayed on, adjusted and jumped.  There was a deafening roar from the crowd – I caught the top hold.  Match, celebrate.

I’d done enough to qualify for the semi-final in 17th place, so 4th out in the semi.  I got the 1st top, annoyed not to get the flash.  I didn’t think to put my foot in the start cup on the second problem, so failed to progress to the bonus.  I just scrabbled around the start moves.  The third problem went 2nd go, after a good think about how to deal with the slopey volume to gain the nice crimp.  I did my signature ‘rock into a lock’ move, finger crawling slowly onto the last hold, desperately inching (possibly millimetre-ing) onto the hold.  Phew.

The fourth problem haunts me a little as I know I could have done it.  I just didn’t think to guppy the bonus.  I didn’t think I’d climbed that well, but am always open minded until I see the scoreboard.  I saw the scoreboard.  I was in first place, and I stayed in the top 6, in final contention, until the last climber climbed the very last problem of the semi-final.  I almost made my first World Cup final.  It was real, I wasn’t dreaming, I’d just come 7th in the World.  Wow.

I was asked ‘What next?  What are you doing tomorrow?’.  The response?  Going to work!

Lol

Baking Barcelona

After Eindhoven it was back to work for 3 days before flying out super early on Thursday morning to Barcelona.  I didn’t think I was going to have time for any maintenance of my never ending back knots, but Global Therapies squeezed me in for a pummel during my lunch break as I was passing through Glossop on the Tuesday.  This was good timing as it meant I could rest for an evening and still fit in a quick climbing session the next day to realign everything (or knot back up a little!).

I spent a day and a half looking around Barcelona.  The architecture was stunning, the sky was blue and it was hot hot hot.  Here’s some photos of the beach/marina areas, around the Olympic stadium and some flora I liked.  Also a really impressive roundabout with associated bus route map – which bus were we meant to be on?

Then it was competition day, indoors with no air-con.  I was concerned about the heat as I have previously been unable to function in very hot conditions.  The lads were suffering, it was getting hotter.  I was red in the face and ridiculously hot, but I ultimately I felt surprisingly ok for competing.  My skin was in good condition and I didn’t need to chalk up as much as I had expected.  However, my comp vest along with everything else was wringing wet.  Pleasant.  I made a few errors, but this time I did enough to make the semi-final.  Yippeeee.  I qualified in 19th position and managed to gain a place in the semi to come 18th, my best result so far this season.

I almost got another top after taking 9 goes to get a dyno, but I thought the top hold was poor and needed to be gained statically.  I was wrong and I could have thrown for it.  I must keep trying to convince myself that if in doubt, I should throw for it.  It can make such a big difference – for example 8 places in this comp.

The GB girlies grouped together, all climbing similarly to place 16th, 17th, 18th and 21st.  Two lads also made the semis (top 20) to put team GB in 6th position. 

I attempted to help with the commentary on the live stream, but I wasn’t sure what to say.  What do people want to hear?  Let me know and I’ll pass it on.

Eindhoven World Cup 2011

There was quite a gap between the Vienna and Eindhoven comps.  This allowed some time to top up on the training and try and maintain form.  The Rockover Climbing Summer ROC Fest helped with this.  It was a warm day in a packed wall, with over 240 competitors battling on 30 qualifier problems.  I qualified 3rd and was pleased to hold on to this position in the final to finish behind Shauna and Mina.

Katy found some excellent apartments in Eindhoven a short walk from the venue.  It’s good to be in an apartment rather than a hotel as you can fix food and drink as you please with a kitchen.  Also, there’s no room invasion each day to have the bed tied in knots that have to be undone before you can get in, and no towels wastefully replaced with clean ones each day despite hanging them up.  Despite being comfy I slept badly the few nights before the comp.  This is annoying as my sleep has generally improved recently.

I had built myself up a bit for this competition as I had placed 15th the last two years.  I felt unstoppable in warm up - catching jumps first time and everything.  I hoped I hadn’t won isolation' to the detriment of the comp!

I felt pretty good whilst competing and I have good endurance at the moment.  I got 2 tops, all the bonuses and some impressive ‘grit stone rash’ forearm grazes from grappling with a big volumes.  I felt that I should have topped at least one more problem and was capable of more, however small errors in position I believe were my downfall.  Positioning a knee bar on top of my hand was more than foolish for example.  I maybe needed more concentration.  My general problem reading was ok - I need to work out the finer details of the problems.  Here’s a few photos including the ‘grit ball’ that needed to be hugged, then sat on and leg clamped to finish with a hand match on a blank patch of wall above.

It's frustrating knowing that I haven't achieved my potential so far this year, mainly due to small errors of judgement.  I was pleased to do enough to get my best result of the season, 26th, but was also disappointed.  I really really want to be making semi-finals as I know I have it in me.  I just needed one more top.

The semi-final and finals were plagued with heavy showers, but they didn’t dampen the spirit of the crowd.  Great Britain’s Dave Barrans thrived once again in the moist conditions to make 6th place in the final – awesome.

World Cups 2011 – Italy, Slovenia, Austria

The first World Cup round took us to Milan, just.  We struggled to find accommodation due to fashion week coinciding with the competition.  We got lucky and found ourselves in the heart of the city, within walking distance of the comp venue, unlike many others who were up to 40km away.  There was so much to see.  Milan is stunning.  The food is also great – I enjoyed some seafood ( and maybe a little bit of ice-cream).

The competition was frustrating for me.  Here’s some photos that look like I made the top, made the dyno, but I didn’t.  I was a fraction off of making each move.  Not a good start to the season.  I did do a few moves I was really pleased with though.

After a slightly shaky start, the Log Dragomer comp in Slovenia was much better.  I climbed well getting a good way on all but one of the problems.  However, I still typically failed to launch into the last moves.  I need to learn how top problems.  I topped one, but I either needed this to be a flash or needed a second top to make the semi-final.  Getting lots of bonuses didn’t help as it’s tops that count first.  I came away feeling confident that I can qualify if I just get it together.  Also, ‘hurrah’, I got points towards my world ranking for being in the top 30.

Slovenia is green, friendly and beautiful.  The competition was very, very well organised and we were looked after from the moment that we stepped out of the baggage hall at the airport.  I recommend a visit.  We went to the top of a tower in the middle of Ljubljana from which reportedly over a third of the country can be seen – mountains in all directions.  Amazing.

The Vienna round of the World Cup (Austria) was a very disappointing comp for me.  I flashed the first problem, then sat around for ages due to a technical fault ahead of me.  I think I lost my concentration or something, as the next two blocs were a nightmare for me.  Towards the end of the 3rd bloc I pulled it together and got my 2nd top on the 6th attempt.  I then couldn’t make a dyno, and fluffed up the last move on a nice thuggish bloc twice that I should have made easily.  Grrr, I slipped into a low place knowing I had been really silly.  I wanted to call time out.

The feeling didn’t last long.  I’m back training hard, as I want to win.  I have goals to get.  Its hard work, but fun trying to get them.

Ben’s Roof (7c+ Raven Tor)

I’m very excited. 

I decided that tonight was a good night to start working Ben’s Roof.  I’d fondled the holds previously.  Keith Sharples had shown me his sequence and I had my usual memory on the beta (forgotten the lot).   I tried ‘Too Hard for Mark Leach’ after warming up on pinches wall for a while.  So the end of the problem was ok. 

After about an hour and a half I’d worked out all the moves, with some helpful suggestions from a strong guy and Pete Jeffery.  The main move that was hit and miss was the toe hook to come round to the end – my foot kept slipping.  I was stunned 3 goes later from the start to be making a second adjustment to the toe hook, making it stick and desperately dragging myself round the corner.  Strong guy (sorry for the lack of name) suggested I get the jug not the crack thankfully and I was grunting to the top.  Happy, happy, happy.

Tea time.

The Great Outdoors

It’s been a hectic period with an amazing stretch of glorious weather in the UK, followed by 5 weekends in 4 destinations in Europe.  I have neglected my blog, opting instead to venture out in to the great unknown (for me) – outdoors.

A normal venture out consists of pottering around in the big outdoor playground climbing everything in sight that looks nice.  No aims to do anything in particular, no working anything, just enjoying the rock.  I’ve previously found that it takes a little time getting used to the rock and you need to take time looking at the view!

I feel that I have had more time recently.  I decided it would be very good for me to start trying some ‘stuff’.  Now I have a little more focus.   Time to pull hard, get out of my comfort zone and work things.  I decided to start actively trying ‘7 and upwards’.  Obviously I’ve mostly started with ‘A’ – I’m nothing if not logical!  But I’ve mainly just tried to do a 7 each day that I’ve been out, picking one near to where we’ve ended up climbing, rather than cherry picking.

It’s fun.  It’s improving my finger strength and technique.  It’s making me stronger.  Here’s the outcome so far this year for the ones that didn’t get away:

Peak District

• Gardoms – Mark’s Roof Left Hand 7a
• Curbar – Trackside 7a
• Raven Tor – Saline Drip 7a flash, Saline Drip sit start 7a+, Weedkiller 7a+ (repeat)

Fontainebleau

• Bois Rond – Bombe Humaine 7a+, Petite Insoutenable 7b (but it might be 6c! don’t quote me on these grades as ‘ the grades they keep a’changing’)
• Canche aux Merciers – La Grande Marche 7a+
• Haute Plaines – Lapin ou Canard 7a
• Franchard Cuisiniere – Bizarre Bizarre 7a, La Voie du Pin assis 6c+/7a (the top out felt hard until I played on some razor crimps then came back to it to crimp the top sloper, and they say the standing start is easier!), Pas Cool 7a
• 95.2 – Indestructible 7a+ (this was a great big rock hug which got my inner thighs!), Le Petite Toit traverse with mantle finish 7a (but guide book is old so may be easier now?)

Why do a lot of the 6’s feel harder in Font?  Here’s a clip of my favourite from the Font trip, Indestructible.

Indestructible 7a+ from Peter Jeffery on Vimeo.

CWIF 2011–return of the dappiness

The Climbing Works International Festival was a big, fun event once again. I found having the 30 qualifier problems on a different day to the semi and final much nicer as I have never been one for stamina/endurance, although I am improving.

The quails were hard once again. The problems were quite ‘droppable’ and there were several that I did drop. I worked through the problems with Katy P in the morning session. We all but raced around as there was not much time per bloc. I topped less than half and was a little concerned that I was having a really bad day. I knew my lock was lacking as I have had some persistent back knots. I remained optimistic that I had done enough to qualify – it’s best to wait and see how everyone else has done, so I waited for hours! The am and pm session finished at 12.30 and 18.30 respectively. I passed the time by having my back knots attacked (and getting a blue avatar face to boot from the massage table – amazing dressing up btw), icing the attacked areas, refuelling, and snoozing. I qualified in 5^th place. I was really pleased with this.

The semis were good. I was somewhat surprised to latch the last hold on the first bloc - popping for a jug from an unlikely position on a slab. Luckily I didn’t let go in surprise and got a flash. I tired myself out on the second bloc bouncing around to gain the top on my 3^rd attempt. I then found that I didn’t have enough static lock on the 3^rd bloc which is a bit of a reverse of fortune for me. Although I was tantalisingly close to what I think was the key move. I did enough; I just scraped into the final. The vocal crowd helped spur me on.

I refuelled on chicken and rice whilst my shoulder curled up in shock (that’s what it felt like anyway). It still functioned but was very tender. I don’t think it was much of a hindrance in the final. My main problem was being tired and dappy once again. I missed the, with hindsight, obvious ways to progress problems 1 and 4 and feel I should have done better on these. Problem 2 was really scary and I’m very pleased with myself for topping it, nay, starting it. Comps are great for pushing the comfort zone and achieving unexpected things. I came 6^th, by far my best CWIF to date

Missing judgement

I was really stupid in my last competition - the British Championships. I made the final, viewed the problems and read them ok, then forgot what I had planned to do whilst climbing them. I made lots of errors of judgement and dropped problems. There were some moves I dropped due to hand slips/strength, but it was mainly bad choices.

This year I have mostly been struggling to get any sleep. It is an excuse for being a bit dappy, but I do not feel that it can in any way justify forgetting about the last hold of a problem!! How silly do I feel? Very. Despite what I was hearing from the spectators and commentary, I should have realised that the hold I was on was not the top hold, as it wasn't marked as such. I jumped off from the penultimate hold, thinking it was the last one. Hopefully I won't do that again any time ever.

I can take lots of positives from the comp though. Lots of the problems had pops to the top and I got all of them, only slipping on the last one when going for the match. I even have the photos to prove it. Not bad for the queen of static.