National Colleges Champs Gold!

After the earliest start for a long time, I woke up, got my gear together, missed a few buses and arrived at college just in time to catch the mini bus to the climbing centre where the TNCCA Championships were being held. It soon became clear that being one of the youngest in my school year I was the youngest competitor on the day.

After a long journey we had eventually arrived at the Rock and Rapid Climbing Centre in South Molton. The competition was split into several categories ((Bouldering and Speed Climbing) and (Top-roped routes and Circuit)). As I'm doing training my endurance for a upcoming trip at the moment I decided to do the routes and circuit, I also did the individual lead comp too. It soon became clear that being one of the youngest in my school year I was the youngest competitor, I was competing against people much much older...

I quickly got through the team event and onsighted each route and lapped the 25 move circuit 6 times but then had to stop due to time constraints, luckily the furthest others got was 22 moves which was the middle of hard bouldery section.



Towards the end of the circuit
Photo by: Briony Martin

Then it was time for the lead comp, the first route was graded at F7a and topping this would qualify you for the final route which was F8a. I was first on the route and felt strangely nervous due to some very reachy looking moves which may have been greater than my span! I managed to top it without any trouble in the end. I relaxed for the second route; after about 5 minutes rest I got called up to go first on the second route! Having no time to read the route I set off feeling a little tired but I was soon through half way and with a little bit of screaming and missing three clips along the way (no rule about missing clips) I made it to the top feeling a little pumped! After me several very strong climbers tried the route but none manages to top the route leaving me with 1st place overall.

Qualifying route
Photo by: Briony Martin

After this I had a long journey home, a sleep on the bus and the one arriving home I went for a nice long run. Tomorrow I am going to train at Dartrock for a session on a monster project which I have put together (V9 boulder into 7c, reverse a 6c then a (different) V9 boulder and finish up another 7c)! On Friday and Saturday I will be heading to Anstey's Cove where I am looking forward to possibly trying 'Tuppence' a classic F8b.

Thanks for reading and thanks for everybody involved!

Christmas Sessions...

On Thursday 20th I travelled up to Birmingham to stay at my Dad's over ther christmas period and this also gave me the opportunity to train at some different walls too. I arrived at Birmingham New Street train station, got in a taxi and went straight to Redpoint Climbing Centre, on Thursday I had a couple of hours to climb and did some nice font 7b+'s and some endurance training on the roof too.

The following day I was back at 9:00 for a long training session... I took a long time to get completely warmed up and got on a black circuit (font 6b-6c+), onsighted all of these and then got onto the barrell section of the wall and started to work through the problems on this wall. Soon after I had done a few font 7b+'s and some font 7c's. I then realised that there were graded problems on the roof and started to get working on a nice font 8a, I quickly got all the moves done but sadly my skin was hurting too much to go for the full link. So I decided to go for the font 7c+ but was too short to do the moves from the sit start but did it from standing which was maybe soft font 7c+/hard 7c. I attempted to onsight several font 7b+'s but fell from the last couple of moves on almost all of them! I then decided to do some fingerboard and power endurance training, after this I was ruined but did laps on some problems in the roof and the some easy problems to complete the session. After 8 hours of almost non-stop climbing my skin was ruined and my toes was in a lot of pain...

After a day of complete rest I travelled south towards Gloucester to compete in a BMC Leading Ladder round at The Warehouse Climbing Centre. I onsighted up to F7c (including F7c) and thought the F8a was very very hard, much harder than any other F8a's I have tried indoors. I finished off with an extremely pumpy F7b going through a roof and then a journey back to Birmingham.



Just starting the tough F8a at The Warehouse.
Photo by: Justin Barker

I will be having a short session tomorrow and then I'll be heading to Brean Down on Thursday 27th if the weather allows us too where I am hoping to try 'Black Snake Moan' F8a and then 'Brean Topping' F8b.
I have also found a partner who is keen to try some hard  Dartmoor trad in the new year, he is very experienced and has lead E8!

 http://javu.co.uk/Climbing/Articles/HardGranite/index.shtml

Merry Christmas and thank you for reading:)

Bristol Weekend

On Saturday morning I woke early and headed into Paignton where I met Andrew (Andy) Haley where we got on a train and headed up to Bristol for the TCA (The Climbing Academy) Redpoint Bouldering Competition. We had finally arrived at Temple Meads where we met fellow Base Cubic athlete James Squire and shortly after arrived at TCA. I was quick to get climbing and started to warm up on some easy problems; then I got my score-sheet and got going on some of the easier looking boulder problems. I swiftly completed 18 of the problems and just had a few tougher ones to do. In the end I finished having topped 21, fell from the last move on 3 and only reached the third/fourth hold on my remaining which was extremely hard! After an interesting final the results were announced and I had finished in third place with James beating me by one hold!

After the comp there was a lengthy journey back to James’ were we had food, watched climbing films and slept to recover for our attempts at soloing ‘The Prince’ (F8b) the following morning.

Me sending 'Mouldy Rain' V9
Photo by: James Squire

We headed out to Avon Gorge for 11:00 to discover that ‘The Prince’ was absolutely soaking and not a single section of the wall was dry… So we headed to an eliminate cave called Gollums Cave (see video below) and did some training there. My plan was to try ‘Mouldy Banana’s’ (V10) but one of the main holds was soaking; so James did the first ascent of a nice variation to ‘Mouldy…’ called ‘Mouldy Rain’ (~V9) and I quickly got the second ascent. After that I did ‘Gollums One-Armer’ (V10), I’m not certain if I did it off the right hold but the hold I used was the poorer of the two possibilities, so obviously the harder option. We tried another (even harder) variation to ‘Mouldy Banana’s’ but the session came to a premature end due to heavy rain closing in on us.

The approach is down a steep muddy bank, so obviously reversing this to get back to the car was extremely dangerous in the rain. After lots of falls and slips we were back at the car drenched and muddy.

I then got on the train and headed back home after a great weekend climbing.

I am now also supported by Infinity Pro (http://uk.infinitypro.com/).

Thanks for reading,

EllisJ

It's too cold!

Just over a month ago I began the Dartrock Youth Open Bouldering Series which is a fantastic competition where you get four weeks to complete four boulder problems graded V0-V10. After the first day I had got stuck into the problems and did 24 of them and two days later I had finished the 25^th problem. Results came out just over a month later and I had won the first round and had won the adults category too.

1^st Ellis Butler-Barker- 264 points

2^nd Alex Waterhouse- 223 points

3^rd Tom Wright- 221 points

4^th Charlie McFazden- 109 points

5^th Andy Price- 107 points

6th...

Thursday 29^th November I went out to Dartmoor for a head torch session with Thom Cole and Dan Woolnough, we arrived at Bonehill where I soon realised that I had left my jacket and hoody in the Dartrock car park, so I was absolutely freezing! We headed up to ‘The Moor’ - (‘The 2 poor holds on the right of the arete to the big slopey hold above. A contender for the hardest single move on The Moor’ (description from Javu.co.uk)) and ‘Arkem’ V8/9 which is my favourite problem on Dartmoor, an amazing arête with huge slopers. We started to warm-up on ‘Warm-up slab’ and soon got to work. After many attempts I had stuck the sloper but once I had realised it was too late to match and I was sitting on the pad with a strong feeling of exasperation! I looked at my hands and I had managed to ruin both my middle and little finger. With a taped up finger it was clear that I wasn’t going to get it that evening. Meanwhile Dan was getting very close on ‘Arkem’ and quickly sent it when trying the links.

On the weekend I spent all day Saturday at a freezing Torbryan Quarry where I had a semi-rest day climbing with Jack, Andy and Tom Wright. I did some cool routes which included; ‘Bedrock’ (F6b+), ‘Viscious Delicous’ (F7b), ‘Pebbles’ (F6c) and ‘Little White Lie’ (F7b) plus several others but they were my favourites.

Sunday; I went outdoors in the morning and found a really cool project on a roof then had a great session at Dartrock where I started completing the boulder problems for competition.

The Project...

High Sports Boulder Competition and Liquid Grip UK

After several days rest due to an aching wrist, the day had arrived for the High Sports Plymouth Bouldering Competition. I had planned to arrive at the wall early to ensure a proper warm up and to encourage the younger members of the Dartrock Youth Climbing Team in the junior category whom competed in the morning… After various troubles I arrived at the comp around 30-45 minutes late and jumped straight into the competition qualifiers without warming up.

I set off feeling strangely nervous and quite weak but slowly worked through the problems and was soon attempting the toughest problems. Time went quickly; “30 minutes remaining” was soon announced and I continued to work on the tough ‘fluro pink’ problem which had a move which was bigger than my full span and I struggled greatly to get it done. Shortly after, time was up and I had three problems which I hadn’t yet done, one of which that I probably could’ve got first or second attempt- Leaving me 10/7 points less than I could have been!

I waited anxiously (with a huge amount of doubt) for the four finalists to be announced…

I soon found out that I qualified in second place. After a 15 minute break it was time to get on the problems. Apprehensively I pulled on and made a huge move to a small pinch and somehow, cutting loose along the way, stuck it. Then a few shouldery and powerful moves, I was eyeing up the last hold. Hesitantly I went for the two finger pocket and managed to hold a large swing and top the problem! The second was a horrible problem which featured one horrible move to a slopey rail from the most awful pinch I’ve ever used, sadly I didn’t top this but look forward to trying that next time I go. The final was a cool roof problem on good holds, on my first go I got quite close to sticking the crux which is around 8 moves in from two undercuts to a huge sloper but my span wasn’t large enough to hold the undercut and the sloper, so would’ve had to hold the sloper one handed which didn’t seem possible after climbing through the roof.

I had came second in my first proper senior competition! I was pleased to come second to Tom Newberry. Well done to everybody whom took part and thanks to High Sports Plymouth for running a great comp.

Two days later and I had received an email from Liquid Grip UK about a new sponsorship deal; I am now proud to be sponsored by Liquid Grip and am pleased to represent there company and there amazing innovative product which I would recommend to everybody! Check out their website; http://liquidgrip.co.uk/.

I have recently been watching the following video alot and found it very inspiring; so I thought it may be worth sharing the trailer:

Thanks for reading again,

Ellis.

BaseCubic and British Championships

After a good evening out with a friend on Wednesday 3^rd, I got home to another sponsorship deal… ‘BaseCubic’, a new bouldering company whom are soon to release their new boulder mat/pad. The pad has been designed over two years of hard work and a huge amount of dedication from David Cross. BaseCubic currently have a fantastic range of chalk bags and buckets, which also followed the same long and fierce testing process as the new bouldering pad which should be available for purchase within the next month. I am extremely pleased to be supported by BaseCubic and I look forward to building a relationship with them and using their high quality products.


BaseCubic Logo

At around 6:30 on Friday 5^th October I was awake and getting ready for my 9 hours of travelling to Edinburgh via train. I used the time on the train to watch ‘On the Circuit’ several times, catch up with college work, start editing a video of a friend of mine getting the fourth ascent of Paciencia plus some second ascents on some easier problems and I manages to get a small amount of sleep too. I got off in Edinburgh Station almost without fellow southern friends (Alex and Phil Waterhouse), whom almost missed the stop, we then travelled to the hotel where we were staying, had some food and got an early night for the following morning- BLCC’s (British Lead Climbing Championships).



College Work on the train...

 Another early start on Oct’ 6^th in time for British Championships at EICA (Edinburgh International Climbing Arena), saw us arriving at the competition venue at around 8:30 for registration. After registering I collected my comp vest and warmed up on the freestanding boulder which started off feeling like I was holding on to blocks of ice, I was absolutely freezing! Eventually the wall warmed up and I managed to on sight a V10 (more like V6 though), then did a few V6’s and V7’s which left me warm and feeling recruited for the hard routes which were about to follow.

Ready for my attempt on the first route I was a little anxious to whether I would get anywhere near the top or whether I’d drop the first couple of movements. As I started up the wall, I realised I was slowly getting higher than I first expected. Near the top and approaching the upper crux I heard somebody shout “speed it up”, which I then stupidly lost focus and rushed the next few moves. After a couple of hours of waiting for the next route I jumped on and did the sequence wrong in several places which lead me to reversing moves and wasting a lot of energy and time. I was soon off when going for a powerful move to a side-pull. I learnt a lot from my experience at the BLCC’s and have realised that my greatest weakness is probably the mental aspect to the sport and will be working on this a lot in order to get stronger in lead climbing competitions. I need to retain focus after a blunder on route and learn to efficiently deal with errors. Overall I came 15^th which I wasn’t too happy about but wasn’t expecting a great result as I’ve been training bouldering a lot recently in order to be on form in Fontainebleau. After the competition I had a good evening with everybody and was left feeling psyched to improve my lead climbing competition ability and overall aptitude in competitions.


EICA Competition Walls
Photo Credit: Phil Waterhouse

 The next day I spent another day of climbing, watching senior British Championships, Junior BSCC’s (British Speed Climbing Championships) and struggling up some routes with awfully sore skin. I managed to do some cool boulder problems and some really nice routes too, abit of finger boarding on the Beastmaker 2000 and ruin some more skin.

Now I am on the long train journey home feeling very happy after a brilliant weekend and looking forward to travelling to Birmingham next Friday to meet the BaseCubic owner, do some bouldering and compete in my first leading ladder round with Orrin Coley (British Speed Climbing Champion ’12). Then the following weekend I will be heading out to France for a week in Fontainebleau with Tom Wright.

Thanks for reading,

Ellis.

British Bouldering Championships

On the 7th and 8th July, I was pleased to be at the watching and competing in the BBC's (British Bouldering Championships). I had been looking forward to this event for a long time...

I was very nervous at the begining of the competition and made a few mistakes on some of the problems, which I was very annoyed about; but after all I learnt alot about competing on that day and had a great time with everybody whom took part and who was at the festival.

Overall I finished 24th.

Leading Ladder Bronze

Yesterday I competed at the Final of the BMC Leading Ladder in Reading... It was a very early start- waking up at about 4.30; to make it worse I had struggled to get to sleep the night before due to excitment.

I arrived at Reading for around 8.30 and signed in and grabbed my competition t-shirt, looked at the routes and did some bouldering to warm up and jumped on route at around 10ish.

I started on a technical and rather reachy Fr6C, then to the 6B+ then 7A and got each of them onsight/flash. I was eyeing up the moves on the 7B and thought that it looked very technical and pretty fingery for a 7B, I had half an hours rest and jumped on it and pulled through the moves and kept pulling and kept going and I wasn't coming if, soon after I clipped the lower-off and I was on for everything on-sight... All I had to do now was onsight the 7C for the win.

After about an hours rest with 30 minutes until the end I decided to go for the 7C, at this point the route was starting to get busy. With 15 minutes to go, I finally got an oppurtunity to get on route, I climbed most of the route effortlessly until about 3 moves from the top when I fell pulling up slack to make the final clip before the finish. With 5 minutes to go, I got another chance and blew it with two moves to go, I was pretty sure that I would have finished it on my third attempt. Time was up. I finished in third. I later found out that the winner got the 7C on the fifth attempt and second place got the same score as me but beat me on round points.

Overall I had a really enjoyable day and was happy to make the podium in my first national competition(CWIF is international). Well done to everybody who made the final.

On the 7C

Photo Credit: Gary Willis

CWIF

On saturday I took part in my first larger competition, it was a great day and extremely nerve-racking morning within the hours prior to the competition.
As it was my first 'big' competition I said to my family "I will be happy with making the top 300; therefore 299th would be great!".

I visited the Climbing Works in the morning to watch some of the British Bouldering team and various other top climbers do some of the problems. I walked in and saw Shauna Coxey sending one of the problems; this was very weird seeing her, as I've watched so many videos of her at the world cup etc.

I then returned to the hotel and relaxed but all that was happening was a rise in my anxiety, as I ate some food and listened to music. I then got a taxi to the Climbing Works and after arriving I quickly started to warm-up and look around to see the do-able problems- As I looked around I believed that I was only capable of doing two/three problems...
I then found Alex Waterhouse and decided to go around with Alex trying the problems. I got on an easy-ish problem first and flashed it, then I got on a medium difficulty problem and flashed it too; this raised my morale and belief of completing more than two/three problems.

I paced through severalm of the problems before getting on some of the harder one's.

I left the Climbing Works, returned to the hotel and worried that I hadn't achieved my goal of making the top 50. Later that evening I checked the results and came looked at the bottom of the list and I wasn't there, so I scrolled up and found my name sitting next to the number 56; I had came 56th and missed out on 55th by one point...