English man in Font

As I wrote on my last update, I believe that when you try really hard to make something happen then other forces conspire only to help you. Perhaps I believe this because I am an exceptionally lucky individual, or maybe it’s because I always get stuff done, but whatever the reason it definitely continues to happen.

Flat hunting in Innsbruck is a mini epic with so much competition for so few apartments, but it must be that James and I have a magic charm, trusting faces, or some sort of assuring mannerisms. Whatever it may be, we have been offered every flat we’ve looked at, including many that we didn’t want to live at. The big prize was the super nice flat we viewed before leaving Innsbruck, and whilst we were there we did everything we could to charm the landlady. When we left I was very hopeful, but a little sceptical. Why would she choose foreigners over all the people who already live in Innsbruck? I guess our charm must have worked on some level as she called us on Monday to let us know that we could have the flat! I was a little shocked but very happy as this means the dream is most definitely alive.

I have only to pack my car with my life, which comprises of my computer, my climbing stuff, and my stereo, then hit the road for the long drive to Innsbruck. I’m not sure exactly when this will be taking place, but it’s safe to assume I’ll be spending the summer climbing in Austria. This gives me the opportunity to put some of my new found enthusiasm for route climbing into practice. I have no idea how that’s going to unfurl, but my main goal is to manage to climb something above 10 metres with style, grace, and an abundance of smoothness. Now that I’m at home and the reality of the move is dawning on me it’s becoming a bigger fish than I thought I could fry. I made a random decision that I wanted to move abroad, and then I made a decision that Innsbruck could be the location. Without thinking too much I put that possibility into practice and now I’m seeing the result. Many people want to do this or that but they lack the real determination (or perhaps madness) to go through with it. At the end of the day only one person is in control of your own path, and that is yourself. If you want something to happen then make it happen, without fear of excuses, without fear of consequences, without fear of the unknown. I have no idea what’s going to transpire when I arrive in Innsbruck, but I know that a change will bring a new adventure and that’s enough for me. It’s a case of turning “I want” into “I will”, and that’s how I’m trying to live my life. Some people might think it’s not that simple, but in reality it couldn’t be any simpler. Take care of what you love, and what you love will take care of you…

Other than that I have a whole heap of editing to do. I want to get on top of the font film as I’ve got so much footage of Ty’s rampage through the forest. I’m really hoping that something good can come out of it… If I get my A-game on then perhaps a few previews can leak out over the next few weeks. I’m just hesitant to put something out there that isn’t the best I can achieve. I feel like whilst I was on The North Face roadtrip I was constantly cursed by time and the end result was something which I felt wasn’t to the best of my abilities (or perhaps not as good as I imagined it could be). I guess I’m not (yet) slick enough to do amazing good things in short amounts of time! Practice makes perfect…

As for now, I’m ready to return to a simple life of climbing, training, and sleeping. The good life…

In 2000 I was 18 years old, I’d never been climbing, and I was moving to London to study. It was there I met my first climbing mentor, James Dear. He was the one who infected me with this disease and it’s him that I have to thank for everything that has unfolded in my life as a result of it. It was in the summer of 2001 that James finally took me climbing to the slate quarries of North Wales. It was most definitely a seminal moment of my life, which was spent wandering around in awe muttering little other than “amazing”.

It was in 2002 that I met James a young kid from Matlock named James Pearson, who would become one of my best friends and was the person who I improved alongside for the next few years. We were both super keen for climbing and together we explored the grit crags of the peak district, with James making a name for himself by repeating many of the harder routes. Whilst our lives have been very close since we met our paths have gone slightly differently, but it’s been great to see James go from a boy in Matlock to a man in Manchester, navigating the treacherous but rewarding path that the limelight casts.

In 2003 I was heavily infected, climbing every day of the week that I could, and climbing infiltrated my every thought and action. It was then that I felt the calling of Sheffield, so I packed up my home and found somewhere to live in the city of steel. I walked into a climbing scene as a complete unknown and it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I can remember what it felt like to go from being an alright climber in the London walls to being an absolute and complete punter in all of the Sheffield ones. Motivation was ridiculously high and I threw myself into it as hard as I could. I can remember the first time I ever went to The School and saw a group of people who were stronger than anything else I’d ever witnessed. The bar was set that night. I had a goal.

By 2006 I’d managed to get a little stronger and I felt like I’d integrated myself into the climbers of Sheffield. It was around that time I met Richard Simpson, who would serve as probably my greatest ever inspiration in terms of being strong, dedicated, and psyched. Never had I met someone as fit, as strong, or as dedicated to training and I immediately saw what was possible if one was able to commit fully to climbing. At that point the bar was reset so severely that I was barely able to see it, but I knew it was up there somewhere!

Not long after I realised that if I wanted to really improve I had to go my own way and so I left Sheffield, returning back home to Derby where I built my own board. Small but perfectly formed it was the place I would spend many nights trying as hard as I could. A point was reached whereby I needed to balance out my strength with my rock climbing skill set and so I started to spend every penny I had to go to places like Fontainebleau and Cresciano, and slowly but surely the scales started to approach an equilibrium. I’d be the first to admit that they’re still not balanced, but I’m always learning! Travelling has the wonderful effect of opening your eyes and mine continued to be peppered with more and more strong climbers. My mind turned from the small confines of the Sheffield scene to the global scene of super strong climbers.

In January 2008 I climbed my first 8B bloc, General Disarray in Brione. That was a huge milestone for me as it was a level which I considered half decent. But satisfaction is so short lived and that feeling of climbing at your limit is addictive. A few months later I did my second 8B bloc, but my first in Fontainebleau. This was also one of the greatest climbing moments for me as it was a reference point which meant a whole lot to me. Fontainebleau is the home of bouldering and for me the most important place to go to test yourself. This was why I returned in 2009 to try and tick my first 8B+ bloc, because I think there is nowhere else as worthy (apart from Radja) to tick your first of such a grade! It’s also why I will be returning later this year to finish Gecko Assis and not fall off with only a move to go. The challenge remains, the motivation remains, and the reward remains.

In 2007/8 I also met Tyler Landman. I can actually remember seeing him and Jeff climb back in 2002 at the Westway climbing wall in London but they were both just young kids then. In 2008 I spent the autumn climbing with Tyler in Switzerland and I became aware of just how phenomenal he was. He has the “magic” that I think all phenomenal climbers have, which is the ability to step up at the right moment and go into crush mode. I watched him climb many hard and amazing lines, but this was almost the warm up act! In 2009 Tyler and I spent nearly 3 months in Font together and what I witnessed was most definitely another level. I learnt so much in terms of climbing and we had a great trip, culminating in perhaps the most important thing, a really good friendship (yes, it may sound a little limp wristed but it’s the truth). Ties that go deeper than simply a shared practice of rock climbing. Tyler is certainly one of (if not) the best boulderers in the world, but he is certainly not the strongest guy out there. What I learned from Tyler is that the right attitude, the right skill set, and a shedload of strength can take you very, very far. He climbed every hard problem in Font and none took him more than a couple of sessions, which only affirmed to me that none of them are near his true limit. He’s bouldered 8C and he’s nowhere near his limit. To me that is such a great and inspiring concept.

I’ve been exceptionally lucky in both my life and my climbing. I’ve somehow met all the right people at all the right times and my motivation has pretty much increased as the days have gone by. The stronger and better I get, the more I want to reach the next step. I’m not complacent and all I want to do is improve in everything that I do. It’s this attitude that spurred me to leave London for Sheffield, and then leave Sheffield for Derby. It’s with that same attitude that I plan to leave Derby (and the UK) for greener pastures. This time the move will (fingers crossed) be to Innsbruck, Austria. It’s home to some of the world’s best climbers, a great training facility, and great rock climbing. Whilst there is no magic in simply moving, the hard work will begin when I get there. I want only one thing, improvement. I am willing to offer only one thing, everything. Hopefully this will be a recipe for success… time will tell…

The worst symptom of not climbing regularly when that is usually all you do is that your skin turns super soft and is essentially useless. You tend not to lose much basic strength, but when it comes time to pull your skin provides an unhelpful frictional coefficient. This bit of knowledge came flooding back to me in isolation when I tried to warm up. After 15 mins or so I realised that if I tried to warm up any further I wouldn’t have any skin left with which to try the problems.

This was my first World Cup and being out of shape left me in a rather odd position. I had no expectations and without expectations or demands of myself I also didn’t have any stress, nerves, jitters, etc. This resulted in me walking out to do my first problem in flip flops. I wasn’t really paying a whole of attention so I came out thinking there was a further 5 mins of isolation but it turns out I was supposed to be stepping up to the plate. After a bit of confusion I was on, but swiftly off. This was the beginning of the end. I was stood in front of a surprisingly large crowd wearing pink lycra and climbing like a man who’d never climbed before. The most bizarre thing was that I wasn’t deflated, embarrassed, upset, etc. I just found it all rather amusing. Lots of people were laughing at the lycra and to be honest I was too! Even the judges couldn’t help a small laugh each time I walked up to a new problem. Unfortunately the climbing went horribly and I failed to do a single problem! After the dust had settled I didn’t need to look up at the scorecard to know what place I was in, but I did anyway. Dead last. Some you win, some you lose! I don’t feel bad about it as this wasn’t a serious event for me. It was a testing of the water, and from my little samp I can safely say that I will return and I will do better. When you finish last the only way is up!

Usually this would cause me a great deal of annoyance but this time it was a funny turn of events. I was in bad shape, had bad skin, and climbed very badly. The positives were that I lost my World Cup virginity, had no nerves, and realised it is possible to be relaxed when in a competition environment. Perhaps it was the power of the lycra!

Being in the world cup scene was incredibly motivating for me. It allowed me to see what all the fuss was about and it allowed me to witness just how well the best guys and girls can climb. I have to say that I was probably most impressed by the women, who climbed with such incredible tenacity, movement, and skill. Being good in a comp environment is something which I’ve never put any energy into, as my sole concern has been trying to climb rocks. I still perceive there to be something intrinsically better about climbing your long term project on the rocks, but I can easily see how appealing it can be to want to put a lot of energy into competition climbing. It’s a new discipline, one which is asking to be mastered, and that’s exciting for me. I’m afflicted with a sickness, and that sickness is wanting to do everything well. Being average is not what I’m in to, so this world cup round motivated me to one day dedicate myself to improving at comp climbing, and returning to avenge my last place.

This whole experience is much the same as my experience with climbing on a rope. It’s something I’m terrible at, but something I’ve become immensely motivated to do. I didn’t choose to neglect sport climbing, I simply slid into a path of dedicated bouldering. I do love the search for the hardest moves, but the feeling of flowing up a big piece of rock is something which I’m learning not only to appreciate but also to desire. I’m not about to give up bouldering, but I am feeling more ready to embrace a rope if the situation is possible, and situations are always possible if you make them possible.

Things I’m learning

Climbing has been a great joy in my life for a long time now. It’s allowed me to visit many amazing places, to meet many kind people, and to push myself fairly hard. Through climbing I’ve learned about myself and also developed myself. It’s a full workout for mind, body, and sometimes soul.

The North Face roadtrip that I’m currently on has been a concentrated version of my 7 years climbing. I’ve been to many new places, met many helpful people, and ultimately been inspired in so many ways. I wasn’t sure how this trip would evolve or what it would ask of me, but I did know that saying yes to such an interesting offer was always the right move. I’m beginning to realise now what an understatement that was. This trip is perhaps just what I needed in so many ways.

For several years I’ve been a boulderer, and the main reason for this was that it was hard to find people who were as psyched as me for climbing and training. This led me to training alone and eventually building my own wall so I could get on with training without any fuss or hassle. Bouldering is something I truly love, with the search for me always being the hardest move and not much else. I’ve often lost interest in a boulder problem once I could do the moves, which is a bad habit so don’t develop it! I still have a great deal of desire for bouldering, but this trip has opened my eyes to just how much is on offer and more importantly just how good sport climbing can be. It’s a weak position to be in if you refuse to do something because you’re not good at it, and this has never been my reason for not going sport climbing. I am certainly terrible when it comes to climbing on a rope, something which I’m not happy about, but I’m now extremely motivated to begin to change that. I don’t want to move to spain and become a sport climber, merely to level out my climbing skills. My original goal which I fulfilled a few years ago was to climb Font 8A, Trad E8, and sport 8a, since which time I’ve raised the bar a little in bouldering so now I feel like the other two are lagging behind.

I’ve never had an aversion to sport climbing, in fact some of my main climbing goals are related to putting on a rope. I’ve always wanted to do routes such as Stonelove, Agincourt, and Hubble. Whilst these are not the best routes in the world they are important to me and I think I’d be a little sad if I never got to try them. However, I’ve now been around Europe and seen some incredible lines which have only served as pure inspiration to get my forearms working on things longer than 8 moves. Apart from the obvious upside to getting a bit fitter there is the wonderful fact that progress will come quickly because I’m starting from such a low base level. I literally have zero fitness and what fitness I may appear to have on a 7b or 7c is only due to the fact that the moves are so easy. I don’t yet have a master plan as to how I’m going to do this as there is still the problem of having someone to train with all the time and finding somewhere suitable to train, but I’m sure the pieces will fall into place (as they always do).

My main goal for the year remains to climb 8B+ bloc but I now have a secondary medium term goal which is getting fit. I want to experience the joy of being able to climb smoothly and efficiently on something big!

The most impressive thing I’ve seen on this trip was Nina Caprez climbing at Voralpsee. Of course it’s impressive to see Gaz and James climbing 8a’s every other day, but they don’t climb as smoothly since they possess the evil known as strength. Gaz is undoubtedly fit, but he is also strong and so he doesn’t need to climb super well to get to the top of these routes. Nina is also strong, but her climbing style is one of exceptional movement. I want to know what it feels like to move that well and to remain calm, peaceful, and in control whilst pushing ever higher. I’ve had one go on a few routes during this trip, either because they were amazing or short and after doing a critical self assessment I can safely say that the word “smooth” has no place in my current climbing style. I’d really like to change that. I don’t want to brute everything and I think to see an improvement in my sport climbing I need to go back and learn how to climb routes. It will inevitably lead to an improvement in my bouldering too, so I’m eager to try and make this change in style. I’m not technically inept, but I’m certain that I have a HUGE amount to learn in the art of climbing well.

For this reason alone this trip has been a huge success. It’s also been a huge success thanks to the fact it’s given me a chance to sample a wide variety of venues, giving me a clear idea of where I’ll be returning to and where I’ll never lay foot again. I’ve spent time with one of my best friends and also got to know Gaz much better, and I’m sure we’ll be going away together again in the near future. All of this whilst also earning some money… what more could I ask for?

[I wrote this a couple of weeks ago but had no time to publish it - my world cup experience is coming soon!]