Martha

In the October half term, me, my mum and Rob, all went on a trip to Fontainebleau! It was a great trip ending with a high. I managed to do a 7a (undertow). I really enjoyed it as I went to new places I hadn’t been to before and did some good climbs.

It was  an early start on Saturday morning and a long twelve hour drive. There wasn’t any traffic to hold us up, so we arrived at the log cabin at 6 in the evening. The log cabin was really nice and extremely close to all the places around. We were really lucky as the weather was really good. It only rained one night and we were able to climb on the rock from lunch time onwards the next day.

On the first day we went to Franchard Cuisinière, here I played about most of the day, just getting used to the rock. Later on in the day, I came across a 7a undertow and really wanted to give it a go. I got really close to doing it but I just couldn’t top it out. I was quite irritated but I had to move on.

On the second day we went to 91.1 and Cul de Chien. Here, we met up with Kitty, Holly and Duncan. It was really good to climb with Kitty and Holly because we always have great fun!  I really enjoyed trying some hard stuff with them. In Cul de Chien, we all tried the classic Le Toit du Cul de Chien. However, unfortunately none of us topped it.

On the third day we went to Rocher du Potala. We met up with Kitty, Holly and Duncan again and had another great day climbing. At the end of the day, Holly and my mum wanted to go down to the bags before everyone else, just to tidy their things away. Then a few minutes later, me , Kitty, Rob and Duncan finished our climbs and went to go back to the bags too. However, when we got there mum and Holly were nowhere to be seen. We thought they might have gone back to the car so we packed up the things and left for the car park. Unfortunately, they weren’t there either!   2 hours later, Duncan and Rob located them and drove out to pick them up from a roadside. They had walked back to the bags in the opposite direction and got completely lost…oops!

On the fourth day we went to Gorge aux Chats. The night before, it had rained, so it was a late start to the day. Yet again, we climbed some great climbs and had a wonderful time. Here I tried another 7a but unfortunately, I couldn’t top it out.

On the fifth day we went to Apremont. In Apremont, we met up with Holly, Kitty and Duncan again along with Ellie, Holly and Poppy. It was another cool day climbing, with me, Kitty and Holly all doing Science Friction (6a/6b) and me and Kitty doing Tanks 6c.

On the 6^th and final day we went to Franchard again. We decided to go back to Frachard because it was a lovely place. Also, I felt that even though I got really close to doing a few 7a’s at other places the 7a undertow felt like the one I was closest to doing. We climbed all day, and then I decided that I was going to have a go at undertow. I tried it a few times but still I couldn’t top it out. I got really frustrated and just sat down on the mat and sat there for about 5 minutes thinking about the climb. Eventually I decided to try it again; I was really determined to do it. I pulled on the climb, got to the last move and I managed it! After trying the climb for so long, and thinking I wouldn’t do it I was so happy! After a few more hours in the forest we headed back to the cabin.  It was our final day so we reluctantly packed all our things away and got ready for an early start in the morning.

We woke up at 6, packed the car and  all set off back home to England. The journey was even quicker than on the way there and we got back home for 3 o’clock. I had a lovely relaxed evening in time to get ready for return to school on the Monday.

My trip to Font was amazing! I can’t wait to go again!

On the 3rd and 4th of October I had my last training weekend of the season. This was the end of my first year being on the GB Junior bouldering team and I’ve really enjoyed it! I’m really looking forward to what next year brings.
On Saturday, I had a meeting with the team mangers about my goals for next year, and what I could improve on next year. Also, it was the British Lead climbing Championship (BLCC) and as on Saturday I only had a meeting, I just watched the BLCC and bouldered a bit.                                                                                  Later on the evening, the whole team had a meal at a Mexican restaurant and Rachel and Alex gave out some certificates.
On Sunday, most of the team headed out for Robin Hood stride. I’d never been to Robin Hood stride before so it was nice to do something different as I don’t usually climb outside. It was great fun and I cant wait to go to Font in the October half term.

In the summer holidays me, my mum and Rob all had a week’s trip to the Lake District. We wanted to go there to climb at St. Bees. It was a long 3 hours drive in our big van up north. Surprisingly, it wasn’t raining when we arrived at our caravan, so we set out to Ambleside for some lunch and most importantly to buy a jet-boil and rehydrated meals. Rob was very excited about buying the jet boil and couldn’t wait to try it out. The next day soon came around, and we set off in the morning to St Bees. Along the way we stopped off at the service station and had some breakfast. It was a 2 hour drive to our destination.

The beautiful view

Looking at the climb

Trying a 7A

                                                                                   I was really excited to climb as I’ve only climbed outdoors  in Font and a bit on Stanage  and I heard it was a great place to climb from Tom Newman, at the Depot (Nottingham). When we arrived at St Bees, the sun was out and we had our climbing gear ready. There was a nice 3 minute walk along the coast to get the cliff face. Finding the rocks was quite difficult, as we missed the path to go down to the rock, and took another one which was a long way away from the rocks. Eventually we found the rocks and had a look at all the climbs. We were right at the sea front so it was really windy. The rock was sandstone and felt really nice to hold on to. My main achievements were that I did 1 7A and 2 6Cs. I was quite happy with that as I find climbing on rock really different to climbing indoors.
After a nice day climbing on the rocks, we headed back to the van, as we just got to the van, it started

raining. Thankfully we didn’t get wet. We decided to go to the nearest campsite and sleep in our van. We ate our hydrated meals for tea with boiling water from Rob’s Jet-boil and surprisingly they were very nice. I had pasta with tomato and garlic sauce. We were right at the sea front and it was really, really windy and it was raining loads. It rained constantly hard all throughout the night, apparently, but that didn’t disturb my twelve hours sleep! It was actually comfy in the back of the van and I slept really well despite the rain and the wind.

The next morning we got up and set off back to the caravan. Along the way we decided to go check out the Bowder Stone. The Bowder Stone is really crimpy with sharp rock. I only tried a few easy climbs as my fingers tips hurt from the day before. I flashed 2 6B’s and did a few other climbs. then we headed into Keswick for a snack.

At the Bowder Stone

Inspiration

The weekend of 11^th and 12^th July was the British senior bouldering championships in Sheffield. It is held as part of the Cliffhanger Festival. I went up on Sunday to watch. The day had started off really cloudy and drizzly and I knew that although the blocs were under cover the spectators weren’t so I took a bit of persuading from my mum. However, the sun came out and by the time of the finals it was lovely and warm.

We checked out the stalls and activities and had some lovely food and then it was time for the finals.

Over the last 10-months, following my selection to the GB Junior Bouldering Team, I have been on several team training days. These have been great fun and I’ve learnt loads that I feel have benefited my climbing. So it was really great to see lots of the junior team making the semi-final in both the men’s and the women’s competition. Molly Thompson-Smith and Billy Ridal both qualified for the final which is an amazing achievement as juniors.

This really inspired me. These are people who I have trained with. Very, very talented people but people who climb hard, work hard but also seem to love climbing and haven’t lost the fun that climbing is all about.

And then there is Shauna Coxey! Shauna won the final and flashed all the blocs, making it look easy. It clearly isn’t easy and she has got to one of the best climbers in the world by through hard work and dedication. But again she still seems to love climbing.

So, all in all I had a great day. Great food, fantastic weather and Billy, Molly and Shauna all inspired me to climb harder and push myself for success!