Grit Virgin

Recently I went for my first ever time climbing on “Gods own rock” aka Grit ( and my first bouldering trip) with Alex James a very good friend who is a great climber. We parked the car at the campsite and walked up to Staneage filled with excitement, of what the day would bring. We got to the boulders and it was packed so many people there climbing on all these classics. At first, I felt a bit intimidated by all these climbers and I didn’t want them to see me fall off the easy warm ups (ego getting in the way), but I got over myself and did the warm ups then moved onto the main objective of the trip which was Deliverance (7b+). This boulder had always looked awesome to me but I had never come up to try it but finally, I was there. There where some locals trying it so we joined them and watched carefully for precious beta. I got on it with an idea of what to do and got to the last move of the problem a big move to the lip of the boulder ( see picture). I wasn’t sure how to do the last move but then was showed a precious foot that would help to propel me to victory. So on my next go, I got to the last move put my foot and this terrible smear and went for it, and to my surprise latched the to and topped out! This was a real surprise especially as it is a very classic boulder that many people better than me have taken much longer to do.

 

Alex setting up for the long move to victory on Deliverance

 

 

After this success, we moved on to Green traverse (7a) another classic after 2 failed attempts for having very little hip flexibility after sitting in the car for so long, I sent that too and started to look for any more classics I could tick off before the light left us. We went to try this 7b ( don’t know the name) in the same area and got a bit shut down on the last move over and over again and then before we knew it, it was dark and all our skin was gone, So we retreated to the pub.

 

Watching deadpool in the car after the pub.

 

 

 

After a restless night of sleeping on the cold hard floor of our tent, Alex and I woke ready for another day of climbing. We had a very! and I mean VERY uninspiring breakfast of cheap and nasty cold sausage roll’s and orange juice to prepare us for the morning of climbing.

 

Alex not impressed with our Breakfast!!

 

We arrived at the boulders desperate to get warm and try some harder boulders, so we warmed up on a 6b and then moved to brad pit and the storm neither of which were very successful, I think we underestimated how much skin the day before had taken as even strapping on our shoes was painful, let alone climbing! So we retreated to some easy soloing in the sun and then drove the long way home. All in all a great trip with great company, and I can finally say I’m not a “Grit Virgin”

 

Photo: Alex James

 

 

Flatanger

Its been a while since I’ve posted anything but recently I had a trip to Flatanger for 2 months in the summer. I volunteered to work for climb Flatanger owned my Berit and Olav who are very very friendly people and in return they gave me free accommodation.

Flatanger is an absolutely incredible place, I had seen the cave in loads of videos but seeing it in real life was something else! To start with I found it quite intimidating as it is so big! When I first arrived there where so many top climbers there, Adam Ondra, Yuji Hirayama, Sachi Amma and Magnus Mitbo just to name a few. The climbers that weren’t famous where still climbing 8c+.

When I first got there I made the mistake of trying hard stuff (for me) straight away, like nordic flower (8b+) and some 8a+’s as well. This made me frustrated as I would go from one climb to the next and not relay putting much time or effort into anything as I would not make any progress on it. I should have done some easier stuff to get used to the climbing there, and that would have put me in a better mindset for later on in the trip for harder routes. O well lesson learned for the next time. After this mistake I went back to do some easier routes to improve my confidence like Andre Hoyer an amazing 7c+ and Stini a wicked 8a, and some other routes in the 7’s.

 

After doing those routes I decided to go back to some harder routes. I tried a route called massive attack 8b the day I tried it, it was very hot so we went up at 9:00pm and climbed to about 1:00am a positive of climbing near the arctic circle. I wasn’t that keen on massive attack so I dithered around for about a week trying lots of different routes trying to pick one I like for a project.

I finally found one that I liked called ‘open shoulders’ it was given 8b by the people that did the first assent. Some other people think that it is 8a+, I am not sure as it deferentially felt harder than an 8a+ at Ansteys cove that I got quite close to doing, and that route was a hard 8a+ and some people even thought it was low 8b. So for me open shoulders felt more like 8b than 8a+, but grading is a funny thing as different styles suite different people. I think this route suited me quite well though.

On ‘open shoulders’ there was a boulder problem at the bottom which I found very hard and another boulder problem at the top separated by a knee bar rest and some moderate climbing before the red point crux and a small traverse to the chains.

The first day that I tried Open shoulders I could barely do any of the moves on both of the cruxes, it pretty much felt impossible for me but I kept trying and slowly but surely It started to piece it together. Once I had done all the moves and made some good links it was redpoint time! I had a lot of attempts on this one, I fell at the top so many times, but I persevered and it started to become more of a mental game than physical but eventually I pulled it together and sent it making it my hardest route to date.

After doing Open shoulders, on the next climbing day we went to another crag and did an amazing 7b+ which is one of the coolest routes I’ve ever done, a great jug fest through a roof to a sideways dead point to a jug.

The last harder route I did was called Flaggermusmannen 8a which mean “bat man” in Norwegian as there is a bat hang as a rest ( I wasnt brave enough to do it on the send though). It is the most sent 8a in Flatanger and it is fantastic, a very bouldery route to a jug ledge and then a 7bish route to the top.

All in all Flatanger was a fantastic trip I met so many amazing people that will remain friends for life and the climbing is pretty good too ;). Its a place I will come back to year after year to push my climbing, a special thanks to Berit and Olav for letting me work for them and running an amazing place for climbers.

 

 

 

 

Crimp

Thanks Crimp for the T-shirts. Their Awesome and have great designs. Psyched to wear them for training and hopfully sending. If you haven’t checked out their products here’s their link so you can check out their products: http://www.crimp-clothing.com/home

Liquid Crystal 8a

Relay happy to have done my second 8a in cheddar on Friday. I have been trying it for a while on and off now and the hardest thing was getting the right conditions. It was either ridiculously hot or it was wet. The route is only 9 meters but it has a 7b boulder problem at the star, then a good hold and a hardish traverse to an easy top. The bit I found the hardest was a dead point move off two small crimps into a slot which always seemed to be wet (probably the reason I fell off their so much). On the send that move felt very very easy and the slot was dry!! Thanks to my sponsor Crimp for the support.

Crimp Sponsorship

Relay exited to now be sponsored by Crimp. They make great T-shirts and hoodies all made under the FairWear clothing initiative. Thanks to Crimp for supporting me! Here is their website if you want to check out their great products:  http://www.crimp-clothing.com/home

Rocup Holiday Kalymnos

A few weeks ago I went to the island of Kalymnos with rocup holidays where I was coached by 3 amazing coaches Leah Crane, Robin O’Leary and Ben West. We then had a professional climber join us on the third day which was Magnus Mitbo the 9b crusher.

Photo taken by: Liam Lonsdale

Photo taken by: Liam Lonsdale

Now onto the climbing. One word- Incredible. The rock is awesome. It has these huge tufas every where you can see.

I had put a lot of training into this trip so was hoping for some good sends. However I found out that it doesn’t matter how much you train endurance on crimps an edges this will not help for tufas and pinches.

The first day we had we went to Arginonta red wall so the coaches could get analyse the way we climbed and what we needed to improve.

After the first day where I fell off climb’s which I felt that I should have done. The second day we went to Panorama where we warmed up on 6b to 6c+, we then headed down to the Grande Grotte where I flashed a 20m 7a+ called Ivi. It was a pretty big fight as I got absolutely boxed!! This gave me a little bit more confidence after a shaky first day but I still didn’t feel like I was climbing like I knew I could.

The third day was a rest day so we decided to go to a cave called Sikati which was absolutely immense.

On the fourth day Magnus arrived and we went to the secret garden crag. It was great. I warmed up on a 6b then an amazing 6c where you get a massive now hands rest. After this we went bolt to bolt on a 7b+ having the aim to do it on first red point. After going bolt to bolt all the moves felt pretty easy  but Iv always struggled to climb things quickly. On my 1st red point go I got through the first crux which was at the start which some cool powerful tufa moves. After this you then do a hard ish cross over move to another good hold where you can recover. You then do some easy climbing to a sequencing crux to another rest and then the next crux with a small dyno to a good rail. After all of this you then have easy climbing to the top. I got through all the cruxes and to the easy climbing but because Im from the UK and don’t climb on routs past 15 meters (especially with tufas) very often this 35 meter route got me absolutely boxed!!! So after a few power screams I finally pealed off on the easy part 4 meters from the chains. The thing that made the difference from success and failure was missing a sitting down rest before the final crux. This go took pretty much everything I had when I had another go I had a foot pop and that was that.

Me and Magnus

Day five: I had the option to go back to secret garden a do the 7b+ but decided not to as I was not too worried about not doing it as I have done lots of 7b+’s before so I wanted to try something harder. So I went to Odyssey where I got to try an 8c with Magnus. He said that it was about 7b route into 8a boulder. I onsigted the 7b bit but fell off at the 8a boulder part. The route was really cool and I was surprised that it did not feel that impossible. I then went to onsight my first 7b which was a good achievement as onsigting has always been a major weakness of mine. I then tried a 8a where I wanted to see how far I could get on an 8a flash attempt.

Taking in the view on an 8a flash attempt. Photo taken by: Liam Lonsdale

Day six: We went back to Odyssey so some others could try their projects. I didn’t have a project so decided to get another route done which was a cool 7b with lots of tufa’s.

Day 7 was time to go and say goodbye to the best trip of my life where I met some amazing and inspirational people. Until next time!

My first 8a

An interview I did with the Bristol climbing scene.

Josh sends ‘A Day Called Zero’

Written by Georgia Townend, June 25th, 2015

Local young-gun Josh Baldwin recently sent ‘A Day Called Zero’ at the Wave, Cheddar Gorge. It his first of the grade, so Georgia spoke to him to get the low-down on how it went.

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G: How do you feel now you’ve hit the 8a milestone?

J: Really happy all the training has paid off. I have wanted to climb 8a for a while now [a year]. I’ve always admired people who climb hard. When I first started out, 6b was a goal for me, and 8a seemed a long way away. My goals are always changing though, now I’m looking up to people climbing harder than 8a.

G: Why did you pick ‘A day called Zero’?

J: Because it’s good for tall people. It’s got fun dynamic moves, and it’s good to try something out of your comfort zone; I usually like long static moves, on crimps. The route was relatively new to me, it took me around 4 sessions over 4 weeks. I saw my friend have a go on it and thought I’d have a play – I could barely do 20% of the moves! My motivation kept me going for the route because I could see improvement through each session, and was getting closer and closer each time.

G: How and where did you start climbing?

J: I started climbing with my school as alternative to rugby and football, 3 years ago. It was something different and there was something more mentally and physically challenging about the sport that I liked. I was never very good at field sports, and I really liked the variety that rock climbing has to offer. I then joined youth extreme at Undercover Rock (Bristol), and have just stuck at it.

G: What gets you motivated to climb?

J: Trying to push myself, to keep pushing myself to the next grade.

G: What sort of training program do you try and stick to?

J: I have one made for me by a coach called Robin O’Leary, whom I first met around 7 months ago. I’ve been following his program for 5 months and have seen a massive improvement. The training includes 4 week strength and conditioning; 4 week aerobic training; 6 week anaerobic; 4 week power. I missed out the 4 week power however as the summer hit and I wanted to take my new found strength outside.

As part of the training I also try to include fingerboard/antagonistic training/core/campus boarding weekly, which I think are just as important to incorporate into your regime as well as the above.

G: Who inspires you most in your climbing?

J: It’s probably between Adam Ondra – because he’s pushing the standards of climbing to their limits at the moment – and Jonathan Siegrist– because he started climbing quite late in his life, (at 18, now 26) and has progressed through the grades really quickly. He also lives a pretty cool lifestyle, getting to travel around in his van and climbing really hard the majority of the time.

 

G: What’s next for your climbing goals?

J: Trying to climb more 8as this summer primarily. Next year, because I went from 7b to 8a this year, I don’t think 8b is too much of a stretch for my imagination. If I stick to my training I don’t see why it won’t go. With the right training anything is possible.

J: I would like to say a special thank you to my friend Luigi, who gave me all the beta for the moves. He had an especially tough mental battle with the route, finally sending it after a year and a half of projecting! Massive well done!

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