Have I become a boulderer...?
As Ed and Ben decided to get some bouldering mats at the start of the week, we swapped long enjoyable Lake District Multipitches for hanging on little sharp crimps trying to climb the much smaller boulders.
From some advice from the guys at Needle Sport we decided to start the week by checking out Carrock Fell. For anyone in the Lakes, Carrock Falls is an area you definitely should visit!! As the first surprise we received, the boulder field starts right beside the road - you may as well sit start the boulders from your car seat (maybe an exaggeration). We (Myself, Ed, Harvey, Ben and Alex) started at the closest section as you arrive to the venue, which consists of easier boulders that we all were able to do. From the large boulder at the very bottom, we started making our way up the bouldering field to try harder things. Just as the others were about to leave, Ben discovered a cool little overhanging problem, that turned into being our next project and something to come back to.
So the rest left, leaving me and Ed to test out some of the upper boulders before heading off before our hands were completely raw.
After ruining our skin on the rough mountain granite it was time to head to the coast, for some smother sand stone bouldering whilst enjoying the sea. With the longer walk in, Ed and I were lucky to park in the village of St Bees to get a lift with the rest. From here you just have a little walk down a steep path, which seemed extra interesting for those with the bouldering pads. From here again all the boulders are right beside each other, so it was just to jump into the shorts and get the pads out.
Again we quickly set out to sample the easier boulders and as the day progressed started to check out some harder problems. We even tried out some little solo lines above the sea after Harvey went first and checked them out. The bouldering at St Bees is super interesting and fun, from crimpy to sloopy problems, all on sand stone and right next to the beach, and is definitely a place to check out!!
After a day of rest myself and Ed turned our wheels back towards the Lakes, first to do a route on the little crag of Quayfoot Buttress, but we won't speak of this. It was then time to move on to Carrock Fell again to work on our project Badger Attack, after a quick stop to NeedleSport (you may see a theme here if you're a follower of the blogs). With a new bouldering brush in hand (which may be the final thing to becoming a full time boulderer!) we head on.
We arrived at Carrock Fell, and this time we start further over with the harder boulders, after dabbling around on some easier boulders we decided there's no point, and to go on to our project. We started just working the individual moves, starting at the bottom where you have a large crack to hold on to, and lean out to the overhanging rock above to grab a good hold with your right hand, to then lean out and grab a similar hold with your left. From there, you go onto two pinches that try their best to ruin your fingers. When you get these it's a little dyno to the top of the boulder which took a while to figure out and then onto the worst top out ever which will try and scrape you up as much as possible...
After an hour, possibly even longer, of just working the moves, I managed to get all the moves so it was time to start linking them all up. After a few attempts trying to do the problem I was getting weaker and my hands could feel the abuse from the rough granite, so after a little break I decided to give it three more goes... The two first attempts stopped at the crimps, but when I held the second crimp on the third attempt I knew I basically had it! There's no better feeling than finally doing this!! The only thing stopping me was not letting my feet slip as I threw myself forward to the top hold - which luckily they didn't slip and I managed to top up on my first f7a.
Even though I thought that was me done with bouldering and converting back to my old ways of trad climbing, we found out using the crimps moving right isn't the original part of the problem and it's just a big direct Dyno... so I'll be back on it today giving it another try... I'm still a bouderer after all!
