Sat 27th Feb 1st YCS Round held at the Peak Wall in Stirling

I woke up this morning to four inches of thick snow in my garden. I was really worried about getting to Stirling and also getting to the competition on time. To calm my nerves I watched Neil Gresham’s climbing DVD in the car on the way. When we arrived there were lots of people there and I found out there were 22 other girls in my category. Because I am 10 I was not very confident that I would do well this year but I was determined to do as well as I could. The first boulder I found quite tricky at the end because I was so nervous but I topped it and so began to relax a little. I then did the first route which I found very easy, I then moved on to the second route which was on an arête and a bit reachy but I managed to top it. The second boulder was very short and pretty straightforward. The last boulder was a killer! I would have needed 10 bowls of porridge to top it! I had three goes and managed to touch the last hold and so gained 58 points. I was disappointed but knew I couldn’t have ever reached it in a million years (or maybe next year when I grow a bit). I moved on to my last route that I had spent a bit of time route reading and so I worked out the tricky bits first. As I got half way up it got harder and harder but I kept on going. Two thirds of the way up, where most people were falling off I was trying to climb faster so I wouldn’t fall off, I realised I was climbing aggressively. I was sooooooooooooooooo pleased to get to the top!!!!!!!!!
I wasn’t sure of what was happening with the other group, so I had no idea I was in joint first place. I couldn’t believe it, I just didn’t expect to do so well! Simon , the chief judge announced there would be a climb off between me and Rachel Tennant who has been my climbing buddy for the last two years. The route picked for the climb off was the orange that the 14-16 category had climbed for their last route. We tossed a coin and I went first. I was very nervous because everyone was watching. I didn’t have a lot of time to route plan but approached the route confidently and tried my very best. Half way up I jumped to touch the next hold and missed by a milimetre. Then it was Rachels turn and she managed to touch it. Unfortunately I came second. Our other friend Megan came third. I had a great time at Stirling and am looking forward to the next round in March.

Sunday 21st February

Coaching session with Jonny Stocking and Natalie Berry

In preparation for the first round of the YCS competition Jonny and Nat’s session was based on some bouldering and routes. Although in my age group we only do top-roping I did a 6c lead. We started off with boulders to warm up and then moved onto hard routes. I think the hardest route in the competition will probably be a 7a+. I’m always concerned that the routes and boulders will be ‘reachy’ because I am a bit shorter than the others in my age group (11-13). I really enjoyed the session because it made me focus on the competition the following week.

Sunday 14th session with Jaime Davidson

Today I did a bouldering session and mega gym session with Jaime. I warmed up by borrowing Karen’s (Jaime’s mum) size 2 training shoes and running along the muddy canal path with Macy the dog. We started by doing easy boulders and then went on to circuits. We then worked on some long circuits and then I made up my own one. After 2 hours of circuits my hands were so sore Jaime decided to take me to the gym. We started off on the pull-up bar doing all the different kinds of pull-ups then we moved onto dips and weights. After that I was determined to go on the running machine and ran for 20 minutes non- stop at the speed of 10. I was exhausted after running for that long. As per usual my Jaime session wiped me out!!!

Yesterday I had a coaching session with Jaime. Every so often she takes Olivia, my sister, and I for a session. She wanted to have us for an hour and a half each this time but Olivia wasn’t feeling very well so I had three hours instead of an hour and a half.

We started by running up and down five flights of stairs to warm up, I was exhausted by the time I had done this. I then did five easy boulder problems and then did ten minutes of stretching. I was then determined to show Jaime my tan boulder project so she could help me with the last move ( the move I was stuck on ). I still couldn’t make the move but she said it was all in my head and made me do the same move five times lower down the wall. It was easy lower down so I just have to be more confident at the top of the 45 degree wall.

We then tackled some routes on the main lead wall, Jaime filmed me using my new camcorder. She then showed me how to play it back to look at where I went wrong. I tried the blue 7a and got three quarters of the way up (it was a very crimpy climb) I then tried the tan 6c and got to the second last hold. I also tried the yellow 6c+ and found one of the moves very reachy. After some hard routes we had a break and then moved on to do some circuits and hard boulder problems. I finished off with some traversing and nearly fell asleep on the way home.

The tan bouldering problem

For the last few climbing sessions I have still been in the bouldering room because it has been so cold in the arena. Today I was doing routes with Mhairi as part of my BRYCS coaching session. I was also wearing my new La Sportiva size 35 shoes that are now the right size for me.
I had been trying the tan boulder problem on the 45 degree board on Tuesday and Thursday but I couldn't reach one of the foot holds so (while McGeek wasn't there) I asked Mhairi to add a foothold to the right of the one I couldn't reach. I then couldn't get past the pinch hold. Today with my new shoes I managed to get to one hold from the top!! Rachel (bouldering meister) Carr told me to head bob the last move !!! I will try it tomorrow.

I have been practicing my jumping, check these out:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFb-cc9maR0

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lq5jNCGFCs