FANTASTIC Fontainebleau WINTER skills HOT ROCKS Majorca Issue #13 - Winter 2002 Editorial Hi! Well hasn’t time gone by? Summer, although brilliant and full of loads of climbing, was Front Cover:Front Leah bouldering Crane at 95.2, Fontainebleau nowhere near long enough! I can’t believe we’ve already prepared our Pumpkins, Halloween CYBER-STUDENT NOSE SPEED Record Smashed costumes and our Christmas Jemma Powell October 17 2001 stockings, maybe even our Britain’s junior climbing Tim O’Neil and Dean Potter have training strategies for comp champion Jemma just broken the speed record for Birmingham’s round of the EYC and Powell has signed a deal with The Nose on El Capitan, Yosemite. the annual BICC’S! It seems only Planet Climbing’s trainer in Taking 23 minutes off the seconds ago that we were floating residence, Neil Gresham for a previous record of 4 hours and 22 in the sea in some far away sun training programme… minutes held for almost ten years drenched island, but now it’s back by Hans Florine and Peter Croft. to school and back to the adrena- When asked how she was getting line of competition climbing. along with the structured The new record is a mere 3 hours program, Jemma had this to say: 59 minutes, for a route that Although competitions at the regularly takes three days, and “The program is really great. moment seem nothing compared to only last week saw an ‘in a day’ My fitness level is definitely the buzz of outdoors, traditional attempt by Brits Ian Parnell and improving already. My shoulders and sport climbs.The classics Airlie Anderson end unsuccess- feel stronger for longer on my C sadly are going to bed until the fully just long of the golden 24 circuit and on the competition © Tom Briggs, Adventureworks© Tom Briggs, summer next year, unless we hours, which rather puts it into routes I climbed in Italy (where I stumble across a dry weekend! context. Internationally we have had a was placed 7th). superb summer, with another “So far the program appears to podium placement, this time be working brilliantly and it’s an coming from Adam Dewhurst who awesome idea for climbers successfully achieved a third looking to improve their place in the Arco round of the climbing skills, endurance, EYC! stamina, etc. Well, hoping as always that you “I am also feeling more confident are happily cranking on the crags, in my climbing which is really and cruising on the walls. good.” Next Issue… Jemma Courtesy of UIAA Youth Commission President Anne Arran experiences youth climbing in Russia. See next issue for training – Please send suggestions for Eastern European style. All Change content for the BMC website to [email protected] Landscape painting by a young C At the BMC we’re having a major Russian climber Anne Arran overhaul – we’re re-organising the entire office. One of the watch out for… things we’re changing is our phone number. If you want to call Anne Arran’s profile our office after January you’ll of the Iranian Girls’ need to call: 0870 0104878 Competition Climbing Team - Next Issue… C Raheleh Alhoee Design by Vertebrate Graphics www.v-graphics.co.uk 2 BEST Contents ROUTEs of the 2-3 News SUMMER PASTURES NEW… 3 Best Routes of the Summer Roger Payne [right] the BMC’s Gripsters recall their best Barbarian E1, Tremadog General Secretary is leaving the climbs of the year BMC to become the first ever This top route was the first E1 Barbarian development officer for the 4-5 Hot Rockzzz that I ever led. UIAA. Best wishes and good luck Out and About in Majorca is a 2 pitch climb the first from all at the BMC. pitch being short and easy and Fantastic Fontainebleau the second pitch being long and 6-8 The BMC Extreme Bloc Top hard. There are loads of Performers’ Youth Meet different climbing styles on it 9-11 Five Go Mad in France ’cause it has a slab section, - the Kent-Pearsons overhangs and a thin crack line. on holiday Rosie Payne Terracotta HVS, Anglezark 12-13When Thoughts Turn This route is mostly in balance to Winter part of it being quite delicate Winter skills advice finishing with an overhang at the end. The gear is really good 14 Access News (but being in a quarry the rock Join our competition to is quite likely to peel off!) – celebrate the launch of the it’s just such a good route. Access and Conservation Incursion HVS, Stanage Rosie Payne Roger enjoying the alps C Anne Arran Trust - WIN GREAT GOODIES! This is a really delicate slab climb and being on Stanage it Risk and Responsibility just has to be a top route. The Parents and young participants lack of gear adds interest. :) should be aware that climbing, hill Cheat E3 5b, Wilton walking and mountaineering are Rosie Payne activities with a danger of personal Excellent route with an injury or death. Parents and partic- awkward move at the start if ipants in these activities should be you are small. The top wall is aware of and accept these risks and easier than it looks with nice be responsible for their own actions deep flat holds. and involvement. The BMC publishes a wide range of publicity and good Chequers Crack HVS 5b, Froggatt Ian Hollows practice advice and provides training opportunities for members. A brilliant route that looks Additional advice and events are like it has got to be done. It available to young members and has an unusually awkward start their parents. Details about the even though it looks easy; the BMC’s training and youth programmes top isn’t hard if you can jam. are available from the BMC website Horror Arête 6b, Bridestones LAKES YOUTH MEET and office. Ian Hollows A Roaring Success I did it in the rain with wet Once again we’d like to thank holds… Paul Smitton the Fell & Rock Club for yet Virgin F8a+, Majorca another exceptional youth HEY! meet. Ground-up on the fourth We want your news, views and attempt. Paul Smitton For a full report – check out photos for the next issue. Orphée au Nez Gros the next issue. Please sent articles on disk F7c, Ceou, France Nathan Reece C Ron Kenyon or by E-mail to: I did this onsight, placing the [email protected] clips, massive, overhanging pitch in a huge cave called the 3 Cathedrale. Paul Smitton • Banish the winter blues and • Climb, walk and swim [by Paul Smitton] We were off to Majorca with a flying start. We had booked our holiday at exactly the right time as the outbreak of foot and mouth would have prevented us from climbing in England. My family and I were going to have a fortnight of climbing and swimming in the sun. We were getting closer and closer to the runway at down and saw that it wasn’t even done up! My Palma airport and the cliffs looked amazing. The brother had to solo up to me, clip me into a bolt and sheer cliffs hung over the sea and looked soooo then I had to do up my buckle and carry on climbing. extreme and fantastic. There was a brilliant bouldering crag called My Dad had arranged for us to rent a car. We got a Porto Pi. The climbing was fab until we found out it Fiat Punto. You should have seen my Dad, speeding was a nudist hangout. When we were walking down to round the mountain bends at top speed. He surely the crag, a strange old man popped up. I could only can’t have thought he was on the Fiat advert being see from his head to his hips and was expecting chased by a runaway lava flow, could he ? something on his bottom half but I’d forgotten that this was a NUDIST beach ! It was so funny, I couldn’t The crags were a lot better than I had thought. carry on walking as I was laughing so much. They had great, massive tufas and fantastic caves. On the very first day of climbing we went to a crag On one day we decided to go on a gorge walk. We had above the sea called Santanyi. Paul and my Dad did to walk down into a gorge which took a good few some routes but me and my mum found it too diffi- hours and then had to walk along the bottom to get cult so we didn’t go back. Our three main crags were to our car. The walk took around 7 hours. When we called Alaro, Port de Soller and Cala Magraner. Alaro were walking along the bottom, we barely walked, we was above a very long path and took forever to get bouldered. The size of the boulders was amazing. If to the crag. It was based just below the ruins of an you fell off some you could have died, they were so old castle. My mum and I walked up to the castle and high. You wouldn’t have been able to do it if you found the smallest village I had ever seen – it only weren’t a climber ! Whilst we were walking along the had one house, one church, a pub and two overnight bottom, we came across a party of Spaniards who stay rooms. Port de Soller was our favourite crag. were going up a very narrow side gorge. Suddenly, It was just above the sea and had two awesome one of them dropped his rucksack and he tried to caves.