Eternal Setting

Absolutely knackered after setting nearly 70 new problems at Climb Newcastle with Andy and Suzan in the past week, in preparation for the British Bouldering Team's training weekend.

Here's a little beauty from our red set...

Day Out at Great Wanney

In May 2005 I visited Great Wanney to repeat Endless Flight Direct (E8) and before doing so got distracted by this little problem at the right end of crag. It is a sit start from under a little roof to gain the start of a route which is I think If Looks Could Kill at about fb 7b.

This week I managed to get on top of some jobs so Andy, Suzan and I headed to Great Wanney for some fresh air and to check it out. Despite getting very wet feet walking in, doing the problem again made the trip out pretty worthwhile.

The shoes I'm testing in the pic are prototype Scarpa Instinct Lace Ups.

Climb Newcastle is One!

Wow, it doesn't seem like a year but tomorrow we celebrate our first year of opening at Climb Newcastle.

Over the course of a year we've had 30,000 visits to the climbing centre, set over 1,000 problems, made thousands of coffees and brought hundreds of people into this exciting sport.

Tomorrow we are hosting a competition at the centre, followed by an after-party at HYEM bar on Chillingham Road where we will be giving away over £1000 of raffle prizes! Hopefully you can come and celebrate with us...

More info on the Climb Newcastle site.

I'm Back!

I know what you're thinking...I haven't blogged since November! It isn't that I haven't had things to talk about, I just haven't had time to write them down!

Anyway back at the start of May I had a serious go at Dan Varian's fantastic Ark Royal at Queens. I got through the crux bottom section but fell near the top.

Since then i haven't really climbed for various reasons (not least a head cold that has lasted 2 weeks!) but today I returned and grabbed the 3rd ascent of this stunning line and the 1st ground up. The ground up bit is only significant in that it meant I had to do the bottom several times before success on the top moves which are heavily dependant on body position meaning they have a bit of a knack to them. Indeeed before success today I fell off even higher, hitting the edge of the mat and was probably lucky to only stub my toe!

I should probably mention that I did the 'Andy Earl sequence' to the problem, slightly more sane that Dan's crazy double dyno! Just to clear a couple of things up, contrary to what has been reported in some places the sequence on the starting crux section is identical to Dan's, a low probability snatch for a 2 finger pocket off a very high heel. At the top however it does differ, getting the pocket around the arete on it's right side allows a rockover to just right of Dan's finish. Although finishing Dan's way would have been great, the new finish certainly seems logical from a ground up perspective and removes any chance of the problem being labelled an eliminate which would be a shame for what is a stunning line.

I look forward to seeing the sitter done (not by me!) which will arguably complete the finest piece of hard climbing in the UK.

Climb Newcastle - New Newcastle Climbing Centre Opens

Climb Newcastle, Newcastle's dedicated bouldering centre, is now open. Combining extensive circuits of boulder problems with training and coaching areas, this is one of the largest centre's of its type worldwide.

I'm very happy to have been (one third) part of this amazing project and hope that it brings lots of enjoyment for climbers of all ages and abilities in the North East. If you haven't been yet, go check it out!

There's more info on our website www.climbnewcastle.com