Plums of Ratho

Yesterday Nic and I climbed a new route in Ratho Quarry. This is a bolted line left of the Grapes of Ratho which has no natural protection on it, but makes sense as a sport route. We pulled a number of holds off whilst climbing the route which made for some entertaining falls. the route will settle down with more traffic and we would expect the grade might go up or down depending on what might change.

Plums of Ratho 7a+ (Nic Crawshaw, Adam Hughes 29/5/2009)

Follows the line of 5 bolts next to the short pedestal. Start on the right side of the pedestal and climb the wall to a tricky rockover on to the pedestal. Move up and right to use a couple of hold on Grapes to rockover on to the small ledge and balance left to the third bolt and a good hand hold. A hard mantal followed by an even hard couple of press moves leads to good crimps and a breather. Then a few more harder moves on small edges and almost none foot holds, then big hold arrive and easy ground to the chain.

A good addition to what would be an unused section of wall.

Blackford

Today Martin and I were at Blackford Quarry with the perants of the Quickdraw Club. The objective was to look at top roping as a follow on from the bottom roping of the previous sessions. We started rigging so they were out of the system and using Italian hitches, an all new concept for all but one. After using these to do a little climbing, we moved on to put themselve into the system. This will lead into things later in their program. This went well, building nicely on the new skills they had all remembered well from the last session. Overall, another very productive session.

The weather was nice too!

Hawkcraigs

Today Martin and I were at the Hawkcraigs with folks from the Quickdraw Climbing Club. The aim of the day was to give the kids an opportunity to climb outside and experience a range of route types, whilst the parents got the chance to see and discuss the rigging that was set up. This made a good follow up to yesterday. Everyone had the chance to try a range of climbs from VDiff to HVS. Most of the climbs gave the group a different challenge than they would get at the wall, Cracks being the hardest. These days are going to be a great way for all involved to experience more of the sport and help improve their all round skill level.

To find out more about the click on the link below.

http://www.quickdrawclimbingclub.com/

Rigging Basics

Today I was working for the EICA running a training day for the parents of the Quickdraw Climbing Club with Neil. The focus of the session was on how to rig bottom ropes and place protection. This was the first session of a day programme. Although they all already climb at the wall and have some basic knowledge of knots we started at the beginning. By the end of the session we had covered masses. This has set the group up well for tomorrow when we head outside to look at rigging at a crag and using the systems we covered today.