Robbie's Board of Beasts

Training Hard!!!

2010-04-26T03:27:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys

This weekend has been flippin' mental! Training to the max!!! Saturday I was doing hard routes at ratho with Nat, this was her first hard route session since the hernia operation! It didn't seem like it though, 10 minutes into the session and she made a quick and effortless ascent of Busby's new Tan 7b+ on the comp wall! Not soon after she made two more annoyingly easy ascents of two more 7b+'s, my blue 7b+ on the old comp wall and my yellow 7b+ on the new comp wall, both onsight!!! She then attempted one of my 8a's, falling of just before the roof (7b+ to there?). This girl is a total BEAST!!! The fact that she can do all this after taking more than 8 weeks off climbing makes me feel rather... well... crap! I train nearly everyday, doing everything I can to push my limits and she can just waltz in and run up stuff without a sweat! WHAT AM I DOING SOOOO WRONG!?!?!?!?

Nah... I'm proud of her! She is certainly a star... I shouldn't really expect anything less from Britain's most accomplished competition climber!

Anyway, my session was a little slow due to the fact that it was my 3rd day on or so... but I still got some good routes in! I made a first ascent onsight of Busby's new 7b+, then moved onto my yellow 7b+ which I must say, isn't short of a total masterpiece! I had an attempt on my grey 8a, managed to get far into the roof before nackering out. I didn't expect much (I was feeling like a sac of potatoes), but i continued to push it, got on Lisandro's ripple 8a (one of the best routes at the wall) and did that fairly effortlessly which felt good at the end of a pretty crappy session!

After the route session, Nat and I had a hardcore pull up workout! We attempted to do lock off's for as long as possible with various amounts of weight taken off our body (using a pulley). Every time I took a weight off my stack (for a new set), I would add 6kg to Nats weight stack, which evened itself out quite well! Its funny though, locking off without weight taking off, my record is about 14-20 seconds or so, but once you've done about 8 sets working down to 0kg taken off, trying to do a simple lock off with 0kg taken off is almost impossible!!! I think 5 seconds was my record with 0kg that night hahahahahah!!!

Sunday was a bit more fun! I started off bouldering with Buz and Nat, still feeling destroyed but managed to hold in, even though the body was unwilling, the mind was fighting for more! I did a couple of V7/8's, almost flashed one and did another after quite a few attempts! Then I moved on to circuits, Buz and I crushed some of mcgeeks circuits in the boulder cave (a good workout despite the crappy angle of wall), then I moved on to campus board power endurance! My forearms felt like they wanted to break free of my body, they where screaming in pain by the end of this! 3 sets of 50 moves of 4 fingers and 3 sets of 40 moves on 3 fingers! Usually I do 2 fingers as well but I was now, well and truly gubbed!

What a weekend! Finally, I would just like to congratulate all of my friends who competed in the Leading Ladder Final in Leeds! Rachel Carr who (I heard) was a machine, placing first in U16's! Eddie Barbour (always a beast!) placing 3rd in Mens and Eleanor Hopkins (MRS T!!! - T for training) who placed 4th in U16's!

Congratulations on your awesome results!

Your all champions!!!

ROBZ OUT

Oh yeah! We also at the Phillips household had the pleasure of Tilly Billy's company (Nats dog)! Heres a picture of Donny, KT (Mine) and Tilly playing in the garden. Notice how KT is eating Tilly's football, its no longer Tilly's...

Hurly Burly + Where's Wally?

2010-04-20T05:56:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!

Well, I forgot to post a little thing about my trip to Birnam Quarry last week! I went up with my good pal Eddie Barbour to attempt the coveted "Hurly Burly"! Weighing in at a healthy 8b I wasn't expecting too much on my first attempts, but was looking forward to hearing what all the fuss was about...

We where meeting up with one of Eddie's pa

ls from Aberdeen, Gordon Lennox. Gordon had been trying the route on and off for the past 8 years, quite an incredible dedication to a single climb! Eddie had had four previous sessions on the route (one which he had had the flu, so we won't count that one). On Gordon's previous session, he had reached the final hold before the clipping jug before falling, GUTTED!!! But he was back for more and hopefully, this session, he would see the fruit of his labours...

After warming up (pull ups on a branch), everyone was getting stuck into the route! Both Gordon and Eddie cruised the route from the 2nd clip and all they had to do was make a successful ascent from the start to get the tick. I had a couple of plays on it while the others were resting, from the second clip, nothing seemed to give me any bother. From clip to clip, I did every move first go and just had to figure out the best places to clip and the best foot and body positions. The redpoint crux at the to

p felt rather easy actually so that was a really good omen!

Anyhoo, Gordon was up for his first redpoint attempt of the day, I was a little nervous for him because I knew that he had invested a lot of time and energy into this and the fact that he was so close to it now was pretty nerve racking. The route also has a slight downside to it, because of the nature of the cave it resides in, if you fall of clipping you are very likely to hit the ground, a good belayer will try and avoid this by giving out just enough slack to clip and no more, If i screw up, I could yank him of the wall by accident (Like i did to Alan Cassidy in spain!).

So off he went, cruising up the start, he made every move look effortless and smooth. As he approached the second clip, he avoided clip

ping and went straight to the third! I was crapping it here as he would for sure deck even if I ran back at a hundred miles an hour! He continued to move solidly and very static, not showing any sign of fatigue. As he clipped the third clip(2nd clipped), a great weight lifted off me, he continued into the first crux looking still very solid...

As he rocked over high on his left foot, he seemed to faulter slightly, this was for me probably the hardest move on the route, the left foot is gash and the undercut was very powerful to get into... But still he cruised on, grasping the hold solidly and powering through into the next moves he continued to astound!

Finally reaching the rest, he flipped his feet horizontally onto a leaning ledge out right and recovered. He looked less convincing now of his sol

idarity on the route, shaking out quickly and breathing heavier, but he hadn't shown any sign of letting go so far, and off he continued...

Keeping on crushing up the wall he finally reached the redpoint crux!!!

Slapping into the two finger pocket, he reeled in hard on his right arm and jumped straight into the stuck on edge!!! Latching it with feet flying off the wall he maintained his attachment to the rock... powering up, looking drained, he continued to head into the final wall, slapping for an edge, matching it, ebbing off the wall and his left hand thrust up into the final edge to clip from! Catching it, he grasped for what rope he had left, I ran into the wall to provide it and bent armed and shaking like a leaf he clipped the chain... YAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH!!!! YAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSS!!!

What an epic adventure! 8 years in the making, he had finally succeeded! I was honored to have belayed such a momentous event in his climbing and was powered up and psyched for my remaining goes!

Not to make it sound anything less of an achievement, but soon after Gordons ascent, Eddie snatched the second of that day as well... two ascents for Hurly Burly in one day!!! I'm not writing a breakdown of eddie's climb, but it was certainly impressive and i'm hoping to put a video of it on soon!

Also to add to the list of events happening in the past week, Nat has been staying over for the time being and we went on a little trip into town yesterday... see if you can find Wally?

Hangin around Waterstones on Princes Street, we searched for the elusive Wally...

Can you spot Wally?

I DID TRAD!!!

2010-04-16T02:43:00.000-07:00

Yeah... so like the title suggests... I did some trad... WOOOOHH!!!

My first experience of traditional climbing (the activity in which you climb a rock face placing your own protection in the rock as you climb) was with my old friend Johannes Felter at Lime Kilns about 3-4 years ago! I remember climbing "Humbug" VS lead and traversing the whole of the big boulder, and thats about it. Yesterday, my good mate Charlie "Mr one armer but can only climb 6b+" Mackie took me once again to experience trad climbing at Lime Kilns. After work (5ish), Charlie, Pocket Sarah (Sarah Kelly) and Shawn (can't remember his second name) headed off from ratho to experience some awesome local climbing!

After reaching Lime Kilns, Charlie gave me a quick briefing on gear and what I'm to do once at the top, and that was it, I headed up on my second ever trad lead "DTs" VS 4c. It made for interesting climbing with quite a cool top out, I was a bit scared when all the final holds seemed to be shaking whenever any pressure was put on them... oh well, just get on with it aye?

After Charlie seconded, we moved on round the corner to try "Dead Ringer" E1 5b! This was a bit trickier. The climb set up the start of a corner, moving out left you hit some cracks and then from there you move into the crux. The crux is on small crimps that would be bad on a hard boulder problem, the only difference is you have big ledges for your feet. The final challenge of this climb is to do 3 pull ups on the iron ring at the top of the wall... hahahaha, it didn't feel too safe but it held... thank god!

The next route was something a little trickier... "Elgins Crack" E2 5c. Charlie told me that this route was a bit trickier than the others and more difficult to place gear on. He also exclaimed that certain Ratho colleagues and friends of mine were projecting this and still hadn't managed to climb it so far, this made me quite apprehensive as these guys where no punters when it came to trad and where especially handy on sport. Knowing this made me feel that perhaps my strength and fitness levels from sport may not help so much on this route. Anyway, I headed up the start, placing some early gear in the first crack made me feel a lot more confident as I continued up into the main face. Not realising, I continued climbing without placing any gear and before I knew it I was well above my last piece! Placing some gear quickly, I headed on up and finished the route without much difficulty...

The final challenge of the day was to be the well known 3 star classic of Lime Kilns, "Velvet Glove" E4 6a!!! On this route I felt very much that my fitness helped me loads! As the route was steeper than the rest, the holds where bigger and it required more weight on your arms, you got pumped a lot quicker hanging around, especially when your placing gear... I wasn't so good at this which meant I spent a lot of time faffing around... I laid back up a crack on the left hand side and got some good pieces in before the crux. The crux was just a rather large span to a good crimp , to hold myself in I got a heel hook on a good flat edge under the small roof and pulled up to a new crack! In this crack I got a really good hand jam and could shake out easily enough, reducing the pump in my arms... Moving on up I pulled over the final lip and topped out!

Trad has never been something that interested me to be honest. From this experience, I can definitely see myself doing more of it in the future, but truthfully, I don't think I'll be pushing it too hard, purely of my ambitions in sport! If I get injured then I'm off sport for a long time and thats why I'm going to use easy trad as a good rest day activity and keeping motivation up for hard sport for when I peak in my training! I won't be out pushing the limits of my Trad anyway, maybe just as a relaxing fun day at the crag with my friends...

ROBZ OUT

Nat's First Day Back...

2010-04-11T11:59:00.000-07:00

Today was Nat's (Natalie Berry) first day back climbing after 8 whole weeks off due to surgery on a hernia! She has literally been, sleeping, eating, watching movies, more sleeping, eating copious amounts of chocolate and basically doing nothing for the past 8 weeks! Her first day back into training so she decides to take it easy. Her day went as follows:

1. Warm up (6c)
2. 4 x 4's set 1: 6c, 6c, 6c, 6c
3. 4 x 4's set 2: 6c, 6c, 6c, 6c
4. 4 x 4's set 3: 7a, 7a, 7a, 7a
5. 4 x 4's set 4: 6b+, 6c, 7a, 6c

Now I know what your all thinking... 8 weeks off nothing and suddenly this! Well I lied about this being her first day back... she did 10 minutes last night on her home wall. I suppose though that from being able to onsight 8a to doing laps on 7a, its not really that hard comparitively, probably felt to her what 5+ feels to the rest of the world?

Anyway, Nat wasn't the only one crushing, young Eleanor Hopkins was attempting a few projects before her 3 x 3 session, looking strong on a potential first 8a! The yellow on the new comp wall, originally graded 7c+ but everyone on it is convinced 8a! A technical start leads to a severe overhang with deep, powerful moves on positive holds with bad footholds! As the climb leads into the roof, you hit the crux, slapping into a gaston crimp on a semi-sphere volume. You then press out horizontally into two bad jugs before reaching the daunting roof, and into some jugs. However, the jugs are awkwardly placed with bad footing which means your always out of balance and can't get much rest...

Anyway, she was looking solid on that, cruising until the crux before the roof... I'm sure its only a matter of time. I got on it and managed to get well into the roof but failed due to a lack of courage as i missed a couple of clips...

After my project work I moved onto 3 x 3's! I managed to do 2 and a half on the ripple 7c, then the same again on the white 7b and then the same again on the yellow 7c! Not bad, although I did manage to complete all 3 of those 3 x 3's a few weeks ago, but I haven't done them recently due to comps and work etc...

Yeah... so training went well today, and after, we watched the art show that was taking place at ratho... ya know? Those people who've been wandering round ratho with drums, doing cartwheels whilst twirling ropes in the air and hanging behind you when your belaying trying to emulate your movements... those guys... Well turns out they were trying to do some sort of homage to diamonds or something, yeah.... it was a bit weird... but hey... buz, geek, callum and stuart got to dress up as cows whilst attempting to scale the old comp wall to the theme tune of the clangers...
that song makes geek a bit horny... Below is a picture of his preparation dance... part of his courtship of buzcow...

Now we see the geekcow encroaching on his mate... notice hand placement and tongue undulation... also his crouching poised position is typical of a mating stance...

It appears from this picture that the buzcow has accepted the geekcow's offer of courtship and is enjoying the ensuing pleasures... very much so...

ROBZ OUT

Coaching Andrew "Has Steve McClures Fingers" Barr!

2010-04-08T03:01:00.000-07:00

This kid is something else guys! I don't know what planet he's from but wherever it is they must have some sick crimp training on the go because this lad hangs tiny edges like most of us hang handle bar jugs! The future of Scottish crimp fests are in his hands : P

Andrew Barr is one of the few kids I have been coaching for the past 6 months or so and he is by far one of the most promising young climbers I have ever seen in the scottish climbing scene! He has a natural talent for crimping (as I've already made clear) and with specific focus on the other aspects of his climbing, he could do some crazy stuff in the future! One thing that inspires me about Andrew is his hard work and determination, he isn't afraid to put the time and effort in and he reaps the results from it. Because of his attitude, I felt that he was ready to take a long term program to follow that would cover all aspects physically, mentally and technically in his training. The program lasts 24 weeks and is designed to peak him physically for the YCS Final in June and the BLCC's in October.

Its going to be hard but I believe he can do it! I had a session with him and his Dad last week to go over the first block of training and all the exercises he should be doing in them. He starts his first block on Monday, this first block is largely fitness orientated with a lot of lapping and keeping on a low level of forearm pump to work aerobic endurance, this will bring his fitness level up for the next block which will still be fitness orientated but focussed on more intense routes.

ROBZ OUT

Malham Weekend

2010-04-08T01:51:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!

Haven't posted in a wee while as I've been incredibly busy, so today I will be making up for it with a couple of new posts! First one is on my recent (3 weeks ago) trip to Malham...

So anyway, I went down to Malham with my good mates, Neill "The Buzzard" Busby, James "Don't Mess" McCartan and Will "Choir Boy" Carrol. We stayed with James' and Will's good friends Chris and Catherine Speakman. These guys where incredibly generous and I am very grateful to them for letting Buz and I stay for the weekend. Having a good bed to sleep on and breakfast, lunch and dinner made for you is something you don't get on most trips down to malham thats for sure, they will be my new best friends this summer : P

The weekend was certainly eventful though, lots of climbing, climbing and more climbing, followed by some more climbing... This lead to me being battered and broken for the remaining three weeks, but hey, got some good mileage in though.

The first day started with a quick warm up, "Consenting Adults" 7a, "Free and Even Easier" 7a and then "Yosemite Wall" 7a. A good selection of choice routes to follow an excellent day at the crag. I left the draws in "Yosemite Wall" so that James, Will, Chris and Catherine could have a blast and not soon after, Will got his first Malham 7a of the trip! Only a few goes and he crushed Yosemite into submission! My sights however, where on the upper tears technical masterpiece "Toadall Recall" 8a. I had been told by a certain Neil Mcgeachy that this route would be good to onsight or flash (Neil had got agonizingly close to the flash on a previous trip). To be perfectly honest, I think that this route (for 8a) would be relatively easy to flash because of its very basic style of hard moves, the crux is simply, pull, hold, pull, hold, pull hold...

No need for any crazy foot or hand sequences, a pretty easy sequence for a malham 8a! So on I went with Buz belaying, cruising the first two clips, easy enough. When I arrived at a rail about 1/3 of the way up, the sun peered round the clouds and blasted the crag! Unable to see which way I was meant to be going, I attempted to mantle the very small rail, heel up and crimping on some total gash I stood up, undercutting the crappy crozzel i had crimped on I searched for the next hand hold, all was blind in the burning sun and I attempted to traverse li
ghtly across the shelf my feet where now standing on... Of course, It wasn't long before I was hanging on the rope wondering how in hell anyone could possibly have climbed that... but as usual, sitting on the rope now, I had a new perspective on the route, and as the sun (the evil "illegitimate child") passed under the clouds again, I saw a new path of chalk ebbing off the right and up what appeared to be a manky, choss tufa! Lovely! Getting back on the route I walked it up to the top, I can't believe I fell of there! The Crux higher up was easy if your strong on plastic, and if the sun doesn't blind you the all the footholds are easy to see... oh well... 8a flash/onsight in Britain isn't far off!

The next thing to do was perhaps either to try a harder route such as a potential project, or another flash/onsight? I opted for the latter and went for the flash of a famous 7c+ called "Mescalito"! After getting beta from Bruno Marks (another friend of mine whom I met in Spain) and another guy at the crag also trying the route, I headed up for the flash!

The bouldery crux at the first two clips I totally pissed, this was a good start, heading up the vertical face I encountered some more trickyish moves (apparently I used every foothold on the wall excluding all the handholds, making the sequence more like 9b!),

my hands began to get increasingly cold until they where totally numb by the main overhang... Unable to feel anything in my fingers, I stood before the daunting overhang warming them up on my neck... no use, they where FREEEEEEZING!!!! I headed up the steep face, every move felt easy but getting ever more out of control as the holds got bigger and the feet turned into smears! The climbing was excellent but my fingers where feeling pain now, real pain, I was determined to reach the top, still totally feeling fine, unpumped, unstressed about the moves I continued climbing, reaching some big jug undercuts I only saw one handhold straight up, miles away, I built up my confidence, saw my goal and leaped like predator catching its prey : P Catching the flat jug I yelled "YESS!!!!" Building my feet up, I felt totally at ease, still totally fine, no pump and the only thing wrong was my fingers where dead! Clipping the clip at my face, I built my feet up and move to the next ticked hold, couldn't feel it, before the end, I held onto three or four different holds before my foot popped of the giant polished edge it was resting on sending me hurtling towards the ground, stopped dead by buz's GRI GRI! I was so mad and so cold the only word I could say rhymes with chuck... Again not one of my finest moments but thats what happens when you devote everything to one simple goal, and its snatched away from you at the last second...

Still though... an excellent trip and I look forward to the next one!

Congrats to Will on his second grade 7 of the trip "Appetite" 7a which he almost flashed!!! And thanks again to the very hospitable Chris and Catherine Speakman!!!

Coaching Eleanor "Nat Berry 2.0" Hopkins

2010-03-15T15:28:00.000-07:00

Eleanor Hopkins is probably the most promising young climber that has hit the British Competition Climbing Scene since Natalie Berry (My Girlfriend : P ). She is only 13 years old and already has made a name for herself amongst the top youth climbers in the country by winning the British Team Trials, placing 2nd in the YCS 2009 and making finals in the British Championships earlier in the year. Since she started climbing at Ratho, I have been helping with bits and bobs in her climbing. It started out with just a bit of beta on some boulder problems when she needed some help and since then it has moved onto me having full coaching sessions with her around once a month. As well as being incredibly talented, she is also gifted with an amazing drive to achieve and push herself. With her Dad (Martin Hopkins) as her training coach and Neil Mceachy, Neill Busby and I as assisting coaches, she can't help but improve at an alarming rate. Last year she succeeded in redpointing her first 7b+, this year she redpointed her first 7c and on my session on Thursday, onsighted her first 7b+!!!

My last session with her was on Thursday of last week. In this session, I wanted to concentrate on the mental side of climbing. I know most climbers are mental to a degree... clinically insane in my case, but all Eleanor needs is that extra push on hard routes. For a while i've been watching her harder attempts on routes and have felt that she really had more in her than what she gave to the route.

So to start of with, we warmed up and went into the bouldering cave. She chose some specific boulder problems she has been struggling with and I helped her with the techniques required to complete them. First go she completed her V4 problem, which she couldn't quite make the reach on originally. Second she made excellent progress on a traverse V5 (more like 7b route grade?). And finally she saw some pretty substantial gains on a tough V5 which isn't her style. One thing I notice with her (similar to Nat and most girls to be honest) is she lacks in shoulder strength. When it comes to wide moves on big pinches or open handed holds, she really struggles. Also core intensive moves she struggles with, but I believe the two areas to be connected. We must all remember Malcolm Smiths Pro Tips "Keep it Wide!!!". We will now be having regular bouldering sessions which we will be focusing on this main area.

The second stage of our session was on routes. I spent a long time discussing with her psyche up techniques and exactly what is required to climb hard onsights and redpoints when it comes to the mental game! I am a big believer that most climbers don't push themselves to their fullest, a climbers forearms must be screaming, their body must be shocked and their fingers must be peeling of the holds before they fall, any less and they shouldn't have fallen (I accept foot poppage though : P).

Eleanor spent 10 minutes route reading, getting psyched and getting ready for the onsight attempt of my new 7b+ up the old comp wall. When she was ready, she walked up to the wall and began her ascent. After seemingly cruising the supposed crux, she headed into the final roof, obvious she was struggling with some big moves, she asserted her self and changed body position decisively, slapped round for the lip of the roof and mantled. On top and clipping the chain she had onsighted her first 7b+! 30 minutes later, young hot shot Jonny Field steps up and gets the next ascent asserting the first asencionist (Neil Mcgeachy) and Eleanors 7b+ grade!

Seeing the difference in someone's climbing performance when adequately psyched up makes me ever more confident that what holds most people back is their confidence and decisiveness on a climb more than their physical abilities!

The futures bright, the futures Eleanors!

YCS Results + Training

2010-02-28T06:33:00.000-08:00

Hey guys what's up?

This Saturday was the first round of the Youth Climbing Series for the Scotland South region. The round was held in the new Stirling wall. I haven't been there but I've heard that it's very vertical. Anyway, my three young padawans Abi, Andrew and Jamie were competing at the weekend. Unfortunately I couldn't be there because I'm selfish i.e. I wanted to train and go to my birthday dinner.

Anyhoo, Saturday I climbed with the on-sight machine known as Niall McNair and the "spare rib" Ross Kirkland. We saw some pretty amazing ascents throughout the day from these characters. Ross completing the white 7c+/8a second go and McNair onsighting everything he touched. It was pleasing to see that by his 12th route of 7b and harder he actually looked slightly tired (he hesitated before moving, something that is rarely seen in his climbing!). I had a couple of burns on my project - the green 8a/9a :P and repeated several 7c+'s and 8a's that I've done before. After 5 or 6 routes I moved onto 3 second locks and the day was done.

I was eager to find out the results of the YCS round so I rang up young padawan number 2, Andrew (Gromit) to find out how it went. I was totally psyched out of my mind to find out that my 3 proteges achieved 1st, 2nd and 3rd in their respective categories. First off, Abi Blunt had a very successful day, achieving 3rd place in under 16 girls. Her competition was fierce and she had to battle for her position. I hear she was a hold off 2nd and a mere clip from topping the hardest route which would have made her equal 1st. The Crimpinator himself (Andrew Barr) achieved 2nd place in under 16 boys. Talking to him and from reading his blog (www.andrewbarr15.blogspot.com) he had to fight hard. It seems the style of problems did not suit him and the pressures of competition held him back slightly, but these are all areas that we can work on to better improve his performance in future competitions. Finally, padawan number 3 (Jamie Drummond) achieved 1st place in under 16 boys. No doubt an extremely impressive performance led to this result. Lets keep it up Jamie!!!

Next week is the Scottish Youth Bouldering Championships held at transition Extreme. I wish the all the best in this event and I've no doubt we'll see more impressive performances by everyone.

Well done to everyone else who competed! Lets get a 1st place in the regional YCS event.

ROBZ OUT

Coaching the Trio

2010-02-21T11:40:00.000-08:00

Hey guys

The trio is of course young Jamie, Abi and Andrew (nicknamed Ging-er, Abs of Steel and Gromit). This week was probably the most succesful session we've had together and is a sure sign that when you train and push yourself, you really can see the benefits. All 3 of them have been working hard for the upcoming YCS rounds and it has definitely shown with their performances on Saturday.

We started the day attempting to complete on of the new boulder circuits Buzby, Mcgeek, Lisandro and I made during the week. While the three of them did the Purple V1-V5, I attempted the white V3-V6. To make it more interesting I formatted the session in the form of a competition to get them ready for next saturday. It was really interesting watching the pressure break out and how their attitudes changed towards each other. Particularly between the two lads Andrew and Jamie, there is quite a rivalry (friendly of course), and there fight to be on top of each other in the competition was evident. Each has very different strengths and weaknesses and it was interesting seeing how each of them tackled different styles of problems with different techniques and tactics. We looked a lot at reading sequences and competition tactics as well as what to look for in a hold that will determine what hand you hold it with. Abi showed some outstanding performances on the problem, holding her own against the much physically stronger guys. At the end of the circuit, Andrew and Jamie tied, so to determine the winner we had a final. One of the mid-grade problems from the Tan circuit, a prime problem for such an event. Weighing at a heavy V5, the problem was short, powerful, crimpy and had a devilish sloper move at the end to a good edge as the finishing hold. First up was Andrew, first move he popped to a positive, but slightly sloping pinch, up to an awkward crimp with the right and slapping into a close left hand crimp to steady himself. A big slap for the sloper and he held it, right foot rising he was ebbing away from the wall but at the last second he exploded for the final edge and caught it as his feet flung out from the wall. Re-establishing his feet he matched and grasped victory against the problem. Up comes Jamie, now that he has to top the problem to maintain his joint first position, the nerves break out, you can see it in his climbing, not as fluid as he usually is but he looks more determined than i've ever seen him. He slaps every hold a little too uncontrolled but managing to maintain his grip, slapping up to the hard move to the sloper he grasps it in an awkward and unbalanced position, he holds it for a breathe and then he's back on the mats...

This exercise was invaluable experience for them, something that we need more of when coaching young competition climbers. They know how to climb and we can teach them that until the cows come home, but learning the discipline you need to be a competition climber takes experience and a lot of hours of just competing. If we can create these experiences outside of the important competitions in training then we can prepare them for the real thing.

After the boulder circuits we moved onto routes. Each of them now have their own projects and I am more certain than ever that it is largely their belief in themselves that is holding them back. All three of them are capable of climbing 7b but only one of them has. Why is this? I am as certain as I will ever be of anything that what holds them back is there self-belief and their fear of falling and both are linked! Anyway, Abi is now working the Orange 6c up the main wall's steepest overhang, Jamie is working the Grey 7a and Andrew is on the Blue 7a+ and Grey 7a (same as jamie). Its interesting to see that Jamie, who really struggled on the blue, seems to find the grey relatively easy, and Andrew, struggles on the Grey and finds the blue relatively easy. The two contrasting styles of climbers really shows up on their performance on certain styles of routes and it is important that we as coaches iron out the weaknesses of the climber and attempt to make them an all-round better climber performing well in all styles of climbing.

As well as the routes, i have also assigned Andrew the task of attempting to complete the White boulder circuit in one session and Abi and Jamie, the purple circuit. Both circuits have similar level problems on them but attack the weaknesses of the climbers attempting them. We will see how they progress in the meantime, and i'm looking forward to seeing how they perform is the YCS Round 1. I've no doubt that there will be some spectacular performances!

ROBZ OUT

British Team Coaching - Carmel Moran

2010-02-19T13:02:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone!

Today I was coaching one of the younger Junior British Team members, Carmel Moran (Youth C). She was just up for the weekend from Sunderland with her dad. He booked her in for a personal coaching session and I was assigned to her due to my experience with competitions. The session was an hour and a half and we got through quite a bit in that time if I do say so myself. We started of with a nice warm up, she did a few easy traverses, and boulder problems, a bit of stretching and then onto the routes.

First route was a nice 6a+ (grey) up the left-hand side of the main wall. She lead this route nicely and relaxed well into the height of the ratho walls. Next we moved onto something a bit trickier but still quite a bit from her limit, the white 6b up the main wall corner. This is one of my own creations and as everyone knows whose tried it, you must plan your clips well and understand how to route read. Despite a few shout downs to ask where to clip and a particularly reachy clip, Carmel despatched this route with such elegance worthy of labeling her a climbing ballet dancer :P

After that, we moved onto the new comp wall where she cam agonizingly close to on-sighting the white 6c up the middle. Someone of her age to be able to come that close to on-sighting something so steep at that level is truly inspirational, it was a pretty awesome attempt and I am still psyched to get stuck into some hard routes myself after watching her performance!

After that, we headed onto the newly set boulders and tried some of the new problems Buz, Lisandro, Geeks and I have been setting over the past couple of days (Patrick also made a contribution). After dispatching a good few V3 - V4's and discussing different hold types and competition techniques in route reading, we went back and attempted a purple 6c. Falling at only one move (Because it was too big) she showed a lot of resistance and battled the entire way. Our final route was the green 6c+, one i think is no pushover. She gave one hell of an attempt and fell very close to the top missing out on only a few clips because of a difficult undercut sloper move.

A final boulder and a couple more despatched problems later and it was time up. She had a great time climbing at the world famous EICA: Ratho and no doubt awed by the brilliance of their climbing coaches : P and I hope to be seeing her lots at upcoming competitions.

Look out for this one everyone!!!

ROBZ OUT

Robin Sutton Coaching Day

2010-02-13T10:51:00.001-08:00

Today was the first British Team Regional Meet of the year. Robin Sutton had agreed to come in and do some coaching. Being himslef one of Britain's top level competition climbers and sport climbers, his top tips are invaluable to our progression as climbers. Meeting here (Ratho) today was Angus Davidson, William Bosi, Eleanor Hopkins and Rachel Carr for the younger group and myself (Robbie Phillips), Natalie Berry, Jonathan Field and Paul Williamson. The younger group started their session with Robin at 13:00 whilst we did some climbing.

Climbing today was actually not too bad. I mainly climbed with John Inglis (one of the more dedicated to training climbers at ratho). I started off trying to finish of my project (Green 8a) which i'm convinced is more like 8a+. I then moved onto another project (White 7c) more like 8a, but where the final moves are the 8a and its probably only 7b+ up to there. I fell on the final move, an improvement from previous attempts last week.

As for Robins session, it was totally awesome! We started off learning about how to train power endurance by circuits and problem reps. We did one set of circuits (5 reps) and 2 sets of Problem reps (5 reps as well). The circuits are as long as we want them i.e. whatever length we need to be training. Mine was 35 moves and went up and down the 45 degree board. The circuit has to be easy enough so that you can repeat it at least four and a half times without falling (this is to get the maximum benefit).

After that, we went upstairs to the gym to learn about core training. In the session we covered a variety of different core exercises designed to improve all aspects of core. The exercises varied from strength-based (which hit the larger muscle groups) to more balance-based activities which hit smaller, deeper muscles - vital for a fully functioning, efficient core body strength.

Sunday

Today I was meant to be doing 4x4's, but thanks to some very selfish friends of mine who would rather go climbing at Glasgow Climbing Centre than belay me, I was forced to scavenge the Ratho arena for potential belay mates. After bouldering for half an hour I grabbed Iain Cropley and James MacCartan. Successful ticks during the day were the first ascent of the white 7c+/8a and a new high point on my green 8a - the last clip! Ian managed to successfully flash my white 7b up the justice wall on top rope as well, a pretty incredible ascent with literally no sign of struggle - less effort than the local wads i've seen expend on it

so altogether, a pretty good day

ROBZ OUT

COACHING YOUNG TALENT

2010-02-08T09:11:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

So... last Saturday I was coaching the young hot shots, Jamie Drummond, Abi Blunt and Andrew Barr (all tipped for top places in the up and coming YCS Rounds). This was my second session with them so far. I will be coaching them on an ongoing basis every 2 weeks, so they'll probably all be on-sighting 8a by the end of the year?

My first session with them (2 weeks previous) was an assessment of their abilities both technical and physical. It was very clear through the bouldering and route session I had with them what exactly where their weak points where. On a general sum up, It was quite obvious that all three lacked confidence. A big sign of this was there inability to push themselves on hard routes. I am certain that all three of them are capable of climbing a lot harder than they show. Over the years, i've seen many a climber give attempt after attempt at hard projects and boulders, and the only thing holding them back is confidence. Shouting "Take!" repeatedly every time you reach a hard move is not going to get you to the top of a climb, and in my own experience, the longer you continue with these habits of doubt and fear of failure, the harder it is going to be to succeed. You don't see Sharma shouting take at every hard move on his route? He is more likely to skip bolts until he gets to a jug! So that is one area I have decided to work with them on. At the end of Saturday session we did some fall practice on a particularly scary part of the old comp wall which I think has helped fight their fear of falling

Each of them had their own specific weaknesses as well. Jamie is amazing at big jumpy moves between positive holds, but he can't crimp or do hard static moves. Andrew is awesome at the crimping and staticness, but fails on the jumpy, open-handed wonder moves and finally Abi, she just needs to improve her confidence and build up her raw power a bit more and then she'll be flying!

So i've made them programs to follow (I hope they are sticking to them). The programs involve a lot on anaerobic training (Hard routes, on-sight and project) as well as a bit of bouldering (Anaerobic Power) and a lot of regeneration and mileage.

But it wasn't just coaching on saturday, I had fun too! I had a hard route session which i started by onsight first ascenting a new 7b+/c, moving onto falling of the final 2 clips of the green 8a. Then I moved on to attempt an onsight of another new 7c (white) which i think might be as hard as the green (maybe a little easier?), 7c+/8a??? But for sure these routes would all be 8a outside... easily... I finished the day doing 3 second locks on some circuits nat made me and I was goosed. Sunday I had my 4x4 endurance session and today I was up at 6:30 gyming it, after I had my campus session and after that I had another aerobic endurance/cardio session on the rowing machines!!!

Altogether a totally awesome weekend to begin a new totally awesome week!

Whats more... the mats are ratho are now fitted and the boulders are ready to be explored and climbed upon once again!!! WOOOOOOOOOOHHH!

New Rowts + Training

2010-02-01T14:26:00.000-08:00

Hey guys!

Sorry for not posting in a while, been mega busy with climbing! Since New Year, I've started my new periodized training cycle (written by Neil Mcgeachy and Martin Hopkins). It seems very complex when I talking about all the technical terms like anatomic adaptation and anabolic preparation and whatever... but really it is quite simple. Al it entails is moving from large volume:low intensity training to Low volume:High intensity training. I have finished phase 1, this was the high endurance based phase that took 4 weeks to do, and now I'm into the next phase, another 4 week block of laps, campusing, finger boarding, gym work and hard climbing!

At the beginning of the phase, I felt very weak endurance-wise, now I'm feeling a lot better. I seem to be able to lap 7b's without getting pumped which is a start and I made my first ascent of a new 8a at Ratho I set (Psyched!). My bouldering is doing OK at the moment (not brilliant, but OK). I've been having bouldering mileage days where i come in and do an hour of flash/2nd go problems i.e. V5-V7. And everything else has been pretty much endurance based. I feel good on routes right now e.g. I think if i was to go to Ceuse right now I would be on-sighting the 8a's, but I want to be stronger than that! 8c is a big thing for me and I don't think its too far off if I train hard! I might be going to Ceuse this summer so that might be my big break!

What else? I've been doing a bit of coaching as well. I have taken on three new apprentices, Abi Blunt, Jamie Drummond and Andrew Barr. Three awesome climbers and really cool kids. They all have very particular styles and very obvious strengths and weaknesses. All of them have a hard time taking falls and none of them have any belief in themselves... they need to get this sorted because they have so much talent and potential! Saturday is my next session with them and its then they will be receiving their new personalized programs.

Another guy i've been doing a bit of climbing with is Rory (new kid on the block). At 7 years old, he's by far the most determined climber I have ever seen and one of the most talented and promising young rockers I've ever had the pleasure to climb along side. Having climbed with him twice now, and seen him at Ratho almost every day for the past month, he never ceases to amaze me just how totally psyched and focussed he is to succeed! He can be found either in the Ratho cave or on the boulders rippin' up whatever comes his way! Right now his projects include the "whole" Grey 6c+/7a traverse (Boulder cave) and the Orange V1 (Boulders), so don't get in his way otherwise there will be trouble!

TRAIN HARD TO CLIMB STRONG

ROBZ

p.s. Also, set loads of new routes at ratho. Someone get the 2nd ascent of my grey and confirm the grade!!!

Climbing A La Espanol!

2009-11-22T10:06:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone!!!

Been a wee while since I last posted but I have a good reason for that... I'M IN SPAIN!!! WOOOOOOOHHHH!!! I'm living the dream for 2 and a half weeks here in the land of overhanging orange limestone, tufas, stalactites and caves that only have 7c and harder routes, unless you want to climb a pile of choss that is...

So yeah... I am out here with my good friends Ali "Leven lad" Swinton, Neill "The Buzzard" Busby, Neil "Spiv-boy" Mcgeachy, Alan "Eats 8c for breakfast" Cassidy, Tom "Eats 9a for Breakfast" and Lynne "Has just started eating 8a's" Malcolm!!! Lynne, Tom and Alan live here, lucky bastards, the downside is they work full-time and have little time for climbing at all, and no training!!!

Right now I am sitting in the Teraddettes hotel cafe talking to Nat on SKYPE (The wonders of modern technology), checking out new tabs for Buz to play on the guitar and checking out the latest news on 8a.nu. Oh the joys of rest days... I have a massive flapper on my hand from pulling on the chipped, crux, two-finger pocket of the 8b "Gladiator" in Rodellar and it is very sore. The other day I got really close to doing my trip project "Rollito-Sharma" 8b+ and I was gutted to get this flapper, but I think it will work out fine if I tape it up good!

So yeah... I've been working an 8b+ since I got here... so far, i've had around 10 goes on it and I have been getting further and further on it everyday, the last go saw me reach my highest point, basically 3 moves from doing the crux complete and after that I don't think I will fall off!!! WOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH!!! This route has always been something I wanted to do. I first saw it on my first trip to Spain climbing. I was climbing with Tom, Lynne and my other friend Alex. Tom did it on his second try, an amazing sight to behold, and ever since then this route has been etched in my mind. It takes the line right in the centre of the Santa Linya cave and takes the most obvious, continuous break straight through until the central, half way break of the cave. To this point it is given 8c and to finish a few clips before is 8b+. The next stage of the journey would be to finish the route to the centre of the cave, and then again to further extend by climbing the remaining 30m to top out the cave, a likely grade at 9a+? My plan for next year is to climb 8c and consolidate climbing 8b's and 8b+'s redpoint and 8a's onsight so this route would be a likely candidate for my first 8c tick!!!

The trip has been great fun and very different to my usual trips. I usually focus on onsighting and doing lots of route whereas on this trip I mainly focussed on redpointing, something I am not that good at. I have come to realize now that redpointing hard routes is probably the single best thing you can do on a trip as it keeps you in good strength for harder onsights and also practices your mental strength (i.e. having to continuously deal with failure and getting sometimes no ticks for weeks at a time). On my first day here I onsighted a 7c+/8a called "Devora Hombres" (the same route Lynne redpointed last week) and i onsighted a couple of 7b+ and 7c in the Santa Linya cave too but apart from that I have only been doing Rollito and other 8b's in the cave. I tried "Santa Linya" 8b (the route, not the cave) and it felt really good too. I have had a few goes on it and fallen only at the crux move and I should be able to finish it after that. I also tried "Gladiator" 8b in Rodellar but as I said earlier I hurt my finger on it which would make doing the crux very painful indeed. I don't think Gladiator was very hard for me though even though I struggled on the crux move. I did it in two halves basically and the second half was pretty easy, if I had done the crux I definitely wouldn't have fallen off. Right now I am just happy to be out climbing with my friends and getting good progress on my project.

I will do Rollito and Santa Linya and those ticks will make an outstanding end to my trip.

My next big trip is Spain again in December/January! I am hoping to come out again with Nat and I'm psyched to see her tick some hard routes too. This trip will be either Santa Linya or Siurana. Both amazing crags and brilliant in the winter months!

Photos to come soon of this trip...

ROBZ OUT!!!

Toolin' It Up!

2009-10-03T13:14:00.000-07:00

So today was a rather interesting day, my first dry tooling experience at Avertical World Dundee, 1st round of the Scottish Dry Tooling Series. Actually, thats a lie... My first experience of dry tooling was around 4 years ago for 5 minutes with my mate James at a local quarry.

To be totally honest, I wasn't expecting much. Dry tooling has never really appealed to me as something I would like to do, just the thought of metal on rock, scraping and clumsiness, it just never sounded that good, quite the opposite I was to discover...

I attended the event with Jonathan Field (Fellow British Team Member, Edinburgh Based Ratho Climber and fellow Watsonian (Our School)). We got there for registration and got warmed up and ready for the start of the comp. As this was my first proper dry tooling experience, I had none of my own gear. I had borrowed axes from my mate Greg Boswell (Ratho Instructor) and gloves from Bill Davidson (big burly chap with camo, can't miss him). I had to hire both boots and glasses from Avertical World, so at the end of the day, after paying entry as well, i'd spent a lot of money for this event!

I was climbing with my good pal and regular climbing partner Ali Swinton. We both warmed up and soon got stuck into the climbs. There was a mixture of roped climbs and boulders, all well set and with some pretty crazy moves. Swinging logs and panels are just one of the amazing aspects of dry tooling comps that you rarely see at any other climbing event. At the beginning of the day, I was a wee bit sketchy, I was unsure of my axes and how solid they where on the holds. My feet where popping off a lot because of lack of body tension (being so used to technical climbing shoes), and my axes where skipping across the holds and slipping everywhere because of lack of tension on them. Remembering what Mike Tweedley told me the night before, just keep the tension on always. So thats what I did... Soon I found that I could hold even the tiniest edge with ease and fully lock off on it. I began to work my way through all the climbs with relative ease, Ali and I it turned out where making it harder for ourselves as we hadn't read the rules properly and where excluding carpeted holds (Holds with carpet backing) for feet, something you where actually allowed to do! Hahahahaahah... we are such idiots!

As the qualifiers drew to a close, Ali and I realized we had very little time left to complete all the climbs. In the end, Ali had to leave 3 routes unclimbed and I had to leave 2, just because we ran out of time. In my own opinion, I think it would have been better to allow more time for routes to be completed. As there where a lot of queues it was very difficult to be speedy between every climb. I've never been in a bouldering comp and run out of time, i've always had plenty to spare... A comp like this shouldn't be based on how fast you can get the routes done, it should be on the difficulty of the route and this can only be fairly judged with equal quality tries by everyone, not half-hearted raced tries. This is just a thought though for improving future comps...

Moving on, It turned out that even with not completing all the routes i still made the finals... not in 1st place though... 7 points out, but in finals, its a blank slate so its whoever gets highest on the final route who will win regardless of previous position! My chance!

The final route maneuvered its way firstly through a small roof and into the overhang of the back wall, up and into the main roof section at the highest point of the route. Through the roof you had 2 big logs to get by and then match the final log to win!

From isolation we could hear the cheers of the crowd, but all was unkown to what was actually happening. After Ali Robb went, it was a while before anything could be heard, I assumed he had reached the highest point and then I heard a great cheer and an OHHHHHHHHHH! I think he fell? But it must have been high up the wall as he had been climbing for what seemed like ages.
It was my turn up... The belayer collected me from isolation, and I took the walk to the wall. A good crowd awaited and greeted me avidly. I scoped the route and tied in, the start felt pretty easy, all good holds and no powerful moves. Pulling round the lip of the first roof I heard shouting "GO ON ROBBIE, YOU CAN DO IT", only one person... Bill Davidson... hahahahaha
I moved forward up the main overhang, managed to get the first of the clips in from a good hold with a deep lock. All the holds so far where good and no hard moves. As i crept up the wall, the holds got worse and the moves more spaced. Managing to get the next clip in with relative ease, I brought my axe up to a sloping green hold, placing it carefully on it, I heard a scream from the audience "GO ON, GO ON, KEEP GOING", my axe slipped, but i held the lock, placing it back on I pulled hard and reached the next hold, more screaming "GO ON! GO ON!". I realized then that I had to be winning, why would they all be so excited? I made it on to the roof and got a brilliant rest on the log. Shuffling upside down along the log (a sensation i'm not too unfamiliar with, having climbed on the new wall at ratho for the past year). I made it to the last log, I only had to match and clip... feeling pretty good, not even pumped, i stretch out for the log, but couldn't find the placing... it wasn't where i remembered it? I knew it was there, I grabbed the log with my axe and dragged it towards me, seeing the placing I prepared to axe it, it took me around a minute to get the solid placing, but once I had it, it was solid! Matching the log and clipping felt good, I topped the route and the crowd greeted me to the ground with great applause! I was pretty sure know one else had topped, and this kept me in good stead for the remaining climbers. The final two came out, talking to ali as they climbed, I found out that I was the only one to top it, and where everyone else had fallen was exactly where I had guessed, at the sloping green hold. The two remaining climbers fought valiantly, but fell short of the roof. The first guy fell just lower than the crux and Kev Kelly (The guy I was sure had to be related to either arnold schwarznegger or Sylvester Stallone; the latter being more likely) fell on the green sloper hold moving to the next one. I think it was a real shame as his axe just popped off the hold, i reckon he would have topped if that hadn't happened, shit happens though...

Anyway, I won £50 worth of marmot vouchers... fantastic... the event only cost me around £40 so i made £10 profit.... essentially?

I'd like to thank God, my mother and father for always being there, jesus for saving our souls and the queen for being so damn imporant! Oh yeah... and maybe like, some other guy who belayed me and stuff... cheers ali... "Your number 1... Yeah!!!"

Munchen Housen - EYS

2009-09-16T02:16:00.000-07:00

Yo Guys

I have just returned from yet another trip with the British Team. This time we where away in Munich (Munchen to the Germans). We where competing in another round of the European Youth Series at the wall there http://verbundklettern.de/

It was a pretty amazing wall. There was three sections that were outstanding, massive overhanging towers with roofs and steep angled boards to as much as 60 degrees when not a roof. The routes where set brilliantly as well. The head route-setter i believe was Christian Bindhammer the famous German climber (he's climbed 9a+!). All the team climbed well and we all had a really fun time. At the end of the day, these events are an enjoyable experience and we are not only heading out there to beat other comp climbers, we are going out there to meet up with friends and have a good time climbing, just the same as if we where going to the crags.

I headed out to Munich with Ross "The Human Stick" Kirkland and Jonathan "Outstanding in his" Field... hahahaha, man i'm soooo funny! We left from Edinburgh but unfortunately our plane was delayed by a meager 4 hours, so we spent this precious time playing games on me and Jonny's ipods and watching Dragonball The Movie on mine (Such a good movie - Only me and Ross could really appreciate it for what a movie-making success this film actually is). Anyway, we left for Stanstead and spent the night in the holiday Inn down there with Natalie "Blue" Berry and Jonathan "Christmas" Stocking. Your probably wondering why i'm writing these stupid middle name things... Just go with it!

Anyhoo, the next day we met up with the rest of the team in Stanstead airport. This comprised of:

Lukas "Justice Chilli Con Carne" Tilley
Suzie "Dances with kebab chefs" Zitter
"Hello" Kitty Wallace (That one got you didnt it, the speech marks are at the front!)

And also including the two chaperons:

Tony Powell (team manager)
Lorraine Stocking... (Jonny's mum)(Area Youth Coordinator for scotland south i think too?)

After a long and arduous journey, we reached Munich and finally the Holiday Inn which was where we were staying. Funnily enough, the hotel was really nice, too expensive to have breakfast in though, but it had a pool, steam room and sauna!
The next day was the comp, so after a good nights sleep we headed out to the wall. The wall was packed to breaking point, Its amazing that you can fit so many people into one small space. I met up with lots of old friends and even made a few new ones.

The Team Mascott... MULE!!!

Anyway, all the routes where totally crazy, scrambling through the steepest sections of the wall and winding around like snakes. My first route was outside on one of the less steep angled boards but still easily around 30 degrees sustained. The route was around 8a and only a few guys topped it, many got close but the last moves where hard. I feel I cold have performed much better on this route if I hadn't struggled to clip one of the quick-draws. I faffed around on that clip for easily 15 or so seconds, much longer than you want. I got around 6 moves further and was boxed, I came to a large move to a screw-on hold on a volume and slapped it. It was a sweet route and I wish I could have gone back and done it later.

My second route was a long and very sustainly steep route. It was easily 8b, nobody topped it, really only one person got close to the top but even he looked totally destroyed when he got there and there was still hard moves to go. Andreas Bindhammer (Christian's Brother) demonstrated the route and totally pissed it. BEAST!!! I didn't do too well on this route, I fell of quite low because i moved too dynamically for a small pinch which I should have just statically locked.

In the end I wasn't good enough to beat the majority of these Euro wads, but thats what competition is all about and being beaten by them isn't a bad thing, its a good thing really. Every time I get beaten by these guys it motivates me to go home and train harder and improve myself for the next time. Its the same when you get burnt of a hard route outside, its refreshing that you can challenge yourself and get beaten and maybe next time, after learning more from being defeated, you can succeed!

The rest of the team did really well! Jonny Stocking came 11th, missing out on finals only by a hold and a very debatable appeal by the French team which is why he never got in. Natalie Berry got 12th place and climbed phenomenally well as standard. Kitty Wallace once again missed finals by nothing more than a point or so, she is not done yet though, we've not seen the last of this young climber... The tank that is known as Suzie Zitter came a very nice 30th place in no doubt one of the hardest categories, I've seen this girl climb and theres no way she climbed to her full potential on that day, the future is bright for this one. For Jonathan Field and Ross Kirkland it was there first EYS and I can't say that that I'm not impressed by their performances. This was their first international and they took it very well, better than my first and the way these two are climbing right now, the future of scottish climbing is going to be seeing a lot in the next few years I can tell you that!

This weekend is the Edinburgh round of the European Cup, show your support for them by coming to watch the event. Its being held at EICA: Ratho on Saturday (qualifiers) and Sunday (Finals).

The routes will be left up so you guys can test yourself against the best youth climbers in Europe (all of them world class).

Board Wars: Return of the Climber

2009-09-06T13:52:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

Not posted in a couple of weeks as i've been totally mobbed with everything at the moment. I retured a week ago from the Youth World Championships in Valence, France. I was competing along with fellow team mates:

Paul Williamson (Weegie-Scottish)
Jonny Stocking (Outside-Weegie-Scottish)
Nathalie Berry ("might as well be" Scottish)
Ed Hamer (Crimp Master)
Luke Tilley (Poy Champ)
Kitty Wallace (Beast!)
Suzzie Zitter (Dances with kebab chefs)
Beckie Hall (Doesn't like take off's)
Shauna Coxsey (All-round Beast)
Michaela Tracy (injured)

So that was the team. Despite being Britains strongest youth climbers, a great bunch of guys and girls! No doubt, they are the future of hard climbing in britain.

Now, the competition was great fun. Despite not such great results, we all had an amazing time. I did pretty poorly, no where even close to my usual standards. I fell 3/4 way onsighting the first route whcih was only 7c (disapointing). Falling off not dude to pump but my foot popping on a feature! I didnt let it dampen my spirits though, i headed onto the next route with a lot of psyche to improve upn my earlier place, good news is, I did. Bad news, it was only a couple of places and my foot popped again early on the route when i wasn't even remotely pumped. Gutted!!! I blame this to my poor ability to cope with nerves and therby causing a lack of focus on body tension ergo the foot popping...

However, the rest of the team didnt do all that bad, Paul came similarly placed to me but in a lower category, feeling that he definitely didnt perform to his usual standards. Kitty missed out on the semi's only just, a real shame as shes usually a contendor for podium places, but 4 more years in youth categories is enough time to get it back (man i wish i had that time left!). Shauna bested it into the semis but unfortunately missed out on the finals only just. Our adopted Scot, Nat, cruised her way into the semis as usual but, uncharacteristically, missed finals. Jonny as usual cruised qualifiers into semis but (definitely unusually) fluffed up the vertical start of his semi and didnt make finals. Both suze and Beckie missed out on semis too but made valiant attempts on their respective qualifiers, becky missing out due to being timed out on her route, GUTTING!

Irrespective of the outcome, we all had a totally awesome time! We made tonnes of friends (I certainly did) and we got to see all our old friends from around the world. After semis, we watched the finals, which was a truly amazing show, the most impressive of which was watching Adam Ondra dominate the Youth A category by topping out the route about 20 holds and a further 2 cruxes past the last climber who fell, MENTAL!

The next day we headed to the speed wall while we waited to leave for home. The speed comp was really exciting (funnily enough, unexpected by me) and it gave us a lot of time to chill out and relax in the sun. I went on a tour of the city with the NZ team of whom I became friends. Something I have learned is, people south of the equator seem to have a much more laid back and relaxed attitude, something to do with gravity me thinks?

Anyway, I had a great time, but right now, i'm getting ready for the next two weeks! I have a european in Munich on Saturday and another in Edinburgh the following Saturday! Crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Excuse my exclamation marks please)

We just had a training weekend with the team for some preparation. It took the form of a competition with isolation and everything. Two qualifiers on Saturday followed by an early final on sunday (before work). I topped both qualifiers onsight 7b+ and 7c+ and the final i fell on the last move which was about 7c+ as well. The routes are still up so you can go and try them if your keen? It was really good to see everyone again, but i must say i was so impressed with just how seriously the younger of the team took it. They all took the comp super seriously and did their best to listen to what the coaches had to offer in terms of advice and they applied it really well to the competition situation they where put under.

Anyway, Wednesday i'm heading off to Munich with the team. I'm going down with Ross Kirkland and Jonny Field to Stanstead where we will meet the rest of the team. before that i'm going to route it tomorrow with Ali Swinton at ratho and crush Dunkeld on Tuesday with Mhairi Thorburn and Adam Hughes, if they let me i might go for the Dunkeld Challenge (all routes in a day), but i doubt they'd be up for a second sesh at myopics.

Later everyone!

Wish us luck in Munich!

Heriot Watt Coaching

2009-08-10T01:50:00.000-07:00

So guys, I have recently been accepted as part of the heriot watt scholarship programme. Today was my first training seswoon with the heriot watt coach, Paul Gamble. It was actually really good! I'm working a lot on deep core muscles which apparently don't get worked that well normally and I was also doing a lot of leg work, nut not enough to build any real muscle mass of any kind. Doing squats and dips with your knees and all sort of crazy stuff really hits you hard! My legs where shaking ( literally) after the first set! Anyway, last night I had a good sesh on the beadymaker. I did 2 sets of repeaters, one on edges and the other on pockets. I'm really getting used to hanging back two and front two bur unfortunately I've had to cut back on the size of pocket for the back two as it wad tweaking a little. Usually I hit back 2 on the shallow pockets but it was feeling a little dodgy last night so instead i moved to the larger pockets but only using the first two pads of my fingers and not resting my middle finger under the roof of the beastmaker ( which should
make it a bit harder I think). Anyway, the front two seemed
to be in good shape and holding out well and my open hand crimp strength is getting better and better. I just need to keep
up the training and hopefully I'll be fulfilling my dreams of sending a board 8a very soon...

The Most S-H-I-T-E Endurance Session Ever!!!

2009-08-06T15:12:00.001-07:00

So yeah... was well psyched to do some endurance training after a long day at Ratho. Met Eddie "The beastman" Barbour at the Boulder cave, warmed up on some of the new problems and got stuck into the routes (the wall was fully tilted). First set:

1) Blue 7c+
2) Purple 7b+
3) Salmon (1/2 an 8a?)(7b+ at half angle)

Psyched! Good set... But unfortunately, the rope we where using had to be used for work, so, not having our own ropes with us, we were screwed!!! A stamina session is meant to be doing long routes and laps... and all we could do now was boulder...

Peeved off, we went and crushed some boulders and went home... But on the way home we where discussing the best way to train Strength and Power. Up until now we have been only bouldering on "The Board" but we have come to realise that it isn't so structured and it does seem to leave a lot of questions in our training, "did i fall of that because I slipped?" "Are the feet holds too small?" "Should we have small moves or big moves?" "Small holds or big holds?", and it got us thinking to something we where going to do anyway (But it got us psyched!), a campus board!!! The perfect Power and Strength training tool! A session of that plus beastmaker in a day would be perfect!!! I'm psyched! We are going to look at plans over the next few days and hopefully we will get on the case soon enough! I think my house will become the greatest training facility for climbing known to man??? F***K the school room, its Robbie's Room now...

ARGGGHHHHHH!!!!

Setting and Sessions...

2009-08-03T15:15:00.000-07:00

Recently as I said in my last post, i've been working hard at Ratho. It looks like i'm gonna be getting lots of route setting from now on which is gonna be awesome because its my favourite job by far!!! In the past week I have had only 1/2 a day of routesetting but have set a couple of sick new lines on the Justice wall at ratho and some crazy new problems in the cave too!!! But as well as working, i've also been training. Today I had a route session at Ratho to see how my strength is going. I was pretty surprised actually, for feeling very run down I climbed not that bad really... I flashed the new 8a up the Justice wall which I was fairly chuffed with, crimps and endurance on a slightly overhanging wall for 26m or so, choice... I did some easier stiff and mucked about on a new V9 I set a week ago, latching the final hold of the crux and then greasing off, D'oh! However, what really makes a session at Ratho nowadays is the new comp wall! You can't leave ratho not having climbed on it. So having that in my head, i set up for the men's 2nd qualifier (from the BLCC's). For anyone interested, its the yellow route going straight up the middle. For 8b it has to be at 1/2 the steepest angle, any lower and I can't even imagine how hard it will be? It sets of on quite easy moves into the steeper angle and comes out with some rather big lunges on positve pinches. Heading onto the final stage before the roof you have to manouver round some pretty small holds before a fair rest on two jugs. From the jugs you make a strenuous press onto a crimp in the first volume on the roof, hitting that you undercuit the next small crimp on the next volume and slap round onto a small sloping edge on top. Taking this, I slapped out onto a button with my left on the 3rd volume and flipping my legs round 180 degrees I heel hugged the volume with the button and thrashed wildly for the finger jug undercut with my left again before the final vertical section on small positve crimps with no feet HAHAHA

Pretty Hard! It will go for sure, but it might take a few sessions over the next few weeks? For me it is particluarly hard as I dont class myself as much of a boulderer to be honest, I reckon from the 7c+/8a start, the final boulder could be around V6ish maybe even V7 at a push? Anyway, I'll try and get some photos tomorrow and post them on!!!

Training next on Wednesday with Mr "Crush the holds to death" Barbour (POWER!!!)

Morning Sesh!!!

2009-08-01T10:08:00.001-07:00

Well, for the next 2-3 weeks i'm gonna have my work cut out for me... I'm working everyday of the week par Saturday, i'm training for the Youth World Cup and i'm avoiding like the plague rock because of my fear that if I touch it I will become weak as sin (it has been known to happen to me). My original plan for after the World Cup was to head to ceuse to do some really cool projects but that has been put on the back burner as i have now become aware that the Munich and Edinburgh European Cup is literally only 2-3 weeks after the Worlds... Oh well!!! But after these comps i'm trying to arrange something. I have a few places in mind.....?

Anyway, in order to become fully fit for those places and the comps I have been training like a beast with my new pal and training partner Eddie. Today, Eddie came round for a nice early morning sesh!!! Around 11ish we started warming up in the usual manner, pull ups and stick game. I have found that the stick game is a wicked way to warm up if your training partner is switched on. It means you start to think like an onsighter and your mind as well as the body warms up. After a few easy stick game circuits we moved on to the real circuits!!!

We did 3 reps of our first circuit, the Board 7c (extension version) and then moved on to the Board 8a! The board 8a is a wicked test piece that has been eluding our attempts well up until now... Up until now only Eddie has managed to surpass the first crux, a powerful undercut cross through to a fairly positive right gaston crimp, however today I crusied the move and made it a further 9 moves!!! Well psyched, I got back on at the fall point and finished it until the final crux (the hardest moves on the route!). The final crux involves a big span to a small first pad pinch with your right, into a another small crimp with the left... From there you have to take a positive undercut (but hard to hit from the previous position) and span a massive reach to a poor crimp/pinch, moving up with a hig step on a good foot you finish the route off on small gaston crimps and the final jug!!!

I was well psyched that I had made such a good effort on the circuit. For 29 moves of fairly hardish moves the entire way through, I find it difficult to compare to anything I've done before? I definitely haven't climbed anything as hard outside or indoors and am really enjoying the process of completing this circuit (I know... I'm a bit of a loser... I am definitely a Gym Rat through and through!!!).

So we finished the morning off with an old Board 7c+ Circuit (unfortunately not completing it this time) but I feel the session was good enough to finish with that... Looks like I might be on my own for the next session as Eddie needs to work Monday, but i'm sure it will be a good one.

Think i'll have a beatsmaker sesh now...

Boulder Sesh!

2009-07-29T14:57:00.000-07:00

Tonight was my first day back after 3 days of being ill with some unkown virus (maybe light version of the pig plague going around at the mo?). Me and the Barbour Shop Boy (Eddie) crushed the problems on the board. After a good warm up doing stick game and pull ups we set a really nice new board V7 (soft perhaps?) then moved onto some new problems...

After doing some hardish new problems, we moved onto some older ones to see if we are getting any gains. I happily crushed an old problem from before first go including making an even harder variation of it!!! Eddie unfortunately wasn't having the best night training and failed to stick the final dyno move : (

But theres no worries, because its all a learning process (so the rock warrior's way has been preaching to me for the past week) and we know now that Eddie has a particular weakness on this type of move... As for me, I think my main weakness is from the session we've been having seems to be crimping and half-crimps. I have found this through our circuit sessions...

It seems that as soon as I start to get into the final burn of a good circuit or route, as soon as I start to half-crimp or crimp, that is when i really start to flail!!! It seems to bring the pump on harder??? So i have been experimenting with half-crimp position on the beastmaker. Hanging in half-crimp i find is way harder than in open hand position, which i seem to be able to hang forever (that is until i grease off basically). So my idea is that if i can improve full and half-crimp endurance, then when i am on a hard route pushing it, as soon as i transfer into these positions, i will be less likely to get flash pumped immediately... Make sense???

So tomorrow Eddie and I are going to be crusshing the Stamina at Ratho with none other than the man himself... Busby the Boulderboy Buzzard!!! Yay!!!

Oh my god... What have we let ourselves in for...

MORE PHYSICS LESSONS FROM THE BUZ!!!

New Book!!!

2009-07-24T12:22:00.001-07:00

Hey guys!!!

Bought a new book of Amazon the other day!!! Actually, I bought 3!!! One turns out is not in stock (Eric Horst's Conditioning for Climbing), the other has not arrived (Jerry Moffat's Revelations) and the final one arrived yesterday! I am well psyched! It iS called The Rock Warriors Way by Arno Ilgner. It is a fantastic book based on the authors findings through studying religious, philosophical and psychological books. It is basically about how to better train your mind to improve in the beautiful sport of Climbing. It tackles areas such as fear, anxiety, competition, technique, posture and many more... I am finding it a really fascinating read and I am going to attempt to integrate Arno's teachings into my own climbing...

I advise anyone wanting to improve in their climbing to read this book! I believe that you can always find weaknesses in your performance and most of them can be found in your mind! For example, reading this book today it spoke of overgripping while clipping, simple postures that people take when stressed and even breathing and resting, I notice that i fail in all of these areas a lot of the time and with just a little work on them, imagine the gains without getting physically stronger!!!

People are maybe a little too preoccupied with the physical side of training I think???

maybe...

ROBZ OUT

Training on "The Board"

2009-07-23T02:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we were training on "The Board".
By we I mean, Eddie "Beastman" Barbour, myself (Robbie Phillips) and Andy "Lank-boy" Latta. The aim of the session was pure bouldering finished off with a maximum strength session on the beastmaker. We warmed up well with a few easy circuits round "The Board", mainly just pulling on jugs throwing some lungy moves to gradually worse holds but still pretty positive. Between circuits I like to warm up doing pull ups on the bar or even doing a few deadhangs on the beastmaker pockets and small rungs. Then after warming up, we got on a few problems (pictures to come). The first problem was relatively easy, throwing between some big orange pinches into an upside down pink pinch which you end up crimping. I almost flashed it but fell of holding the final jug. Eddie and Andy both tried it as well, and after a few attempts Eddie sent it too, soon after that, Andy did the first move... and gave up... ; P
We then madea new problem (this one). I thought it was pretty hard, but Eddie proved that when it comes down to it, an Oxford Degree in Physics is all you need to crush hard problems into the ground... A few goes later, the problem was histroy as Eddie theorised his way to the top and calculated that after the potential exertion of energy expended through the final moves, it still wasn't enough for him to let go... So after our boulder session, we moved onto the "Beastmaker". This training tool is the pride of my room, I love it. I train on it nearly everyday to some extent but hopefully not enough to get injured or overtrain. I feel that between climbing days it is good for me to train on some finger strength on the Beastmaker, it feels a little like active recovery but I don't think its better than doing easy climbing down the wall as it is isolating finger strength and endurance style training in the forearms. Not only that but its great for building up immunity to tweaky holds such as pockets, monos and awkward crimps such as Back 3 crimp position (using the back 3 fingers 1)Pinky 2)Ring 3)Middle) So we tried hanging the 45 slopers for around 5 - 10 repetitions and then moved on to 2 finger dishes (NAILS). I could hang the 45's for roughly 10 seconds nestling my fingers and the 2 finger dishes i failed miserably, but this i think was due to being tired (usually i can hang them now for at least 3 seconds). So the beastmaker session wasn't the best due to the fact that we where absolutely nackered! After Eddie left, Andy and I attempted a 1-Armer session on the BM (Beastmaker) now. Andy achieved a staggering 1/2 a one armer one the large jug edge thingy (-4kg) body weight with the pulley. I think this is a brilliant idea for training on the BM. Build a pulley system where you can detract body weight to further utilise the potential to hang small holds for longer or breaking into new holds. I managed to rak up 4 1/2 one armers on each arm on the same juggy edge with -4kg as well which was ok I guess considering the hardcore session we just had... So if i could only lose 4kg body weight thats what i'd be able to do when i'm tired (the possibilities are endless...), soooooo, how useful are legs in climbing? After the session finished, Andy and I had a 6 o'clock meal (not quite dinner for me yet...) which consisted of tuna, pulses and sweetcorn.... YUM!!! After that we headed to the cinema where we saw Harry Potter and The half Blood Hollows... or was it Deathly Prince??? Canny remember? Which I thought was disapointing compared to the other movies, the only scenes I liked where the ones with Emma Watson ; P After 2 hours torcher sitting next to the most annoying guy ever, 2 hours of elbow battling over the arm rest with Andy, 2 hours of Harry and Ron winking at girls and Dumbledore talking about death, I was ready to head home to some more beastmaker action!!! realising it was about 12 o'clock I figured I'd leave it till tomorrow when i'm going to train at Ratho with Eddie for a hardcore Enduro session...
PSYCHED!!! "Wingardium Leviosa!!!"