10 Years In It - The College Years 2002-2006

This is the second installment of my climbing story, celebrating my last 10 years of climbing.

When I started university at Stirling I immediately got involved in the Mountaineering Club, and met lots of other enthusiastic climbers and found new places to climb. Best of all was finding out there was a cool bouldering spot only a 20 minute walk from campus. That began my 4 year love affair with Wolfcrag, a small but fun quarry with some bouldering and traversing. It has probably had the biggest impact on my climbing than any other venue, I attribute my crimping skills to the chipped holds there. I also made a trip out to the boulders at Dumbarton Rock with Anthony who had started uni at nearby Glasgow. I remember it was a freezing December day and when we got off the train we immediately bought santa hats from a nearby shop for one pound to stay warm. When we got to the boulders the only other climber was the guidebook author Dave MacLeod, he had a good laugh at us in our santa hats. We were really impressed by the boulders there, they were way bigger than they looked in the topo, we were too scared to top anything out, but we had fun messing around on moves low to the ground, we vowed to return in better weather. Soon after I made the tough decision to shell out on a bouldering mat, back then bouldering pads were pretty new and there wasn’t that much choice, but I bought the biggest one I could find which set me back £130. I still have it today, but it looks puny compared to new mats nowadays.



On Gorrila V4 at Dumbarton March 03

 


On White Streak V3 at Dumbarton March 03

Once I had my boulder mat, I used it a lot. I went to Wolfcrag several times a week, and ventured back to Dumbarton in the spring. We slowly worked through the grades at Dumbarton, I did a problem called White Streak for my first 6a (V3) then a few months later managed Gorrila 6b (V4), which was my first ‘hard’ boulder problem, I had been working it for a while, I still think its still one of my favorite boulder problems. At Wolfcrag, I was climbing lots of problems up about V3, but there was no guide so it was all just word of mouth. In the spring of 2003 I sampled some of the best quarry climbing the central belt had to offer going to places like Auchinstarry, Limekilns, Rosyth, and Cambusbarron where I would lead up to VS (5.8 trad). I was still scared to push myself harder on trad, and rightly so given my gear placements. Over the summer I was back up in Aberdeen working and climbing. I got out a good amount with Anthony and Craig, I led my first HVS (5.9 trad) at the Pass of Ballater a great corner route called Little Cenotaph. Then achieved a milestone for me when I climbed my first E1 (5.10a trad), Black Custard. I remember thinking my gear was good for a change, but when I got the crux of the route I hesitated, I could hear Anthony taunting me from below, thinking I was going to bail, but I committed. I think it was the first time I was willing to take a fall on lead, but luckily I didn’t. I it must have been pretty hard since Craig had to hang on the rope seconding it. That was a big step forward for me in terms of my trad climbing, but I wouldn’t push myself harder on trad for another couple of years. Later that summer Anthony and I decided to take a road trip around the West of Scotland to check out some of the new bouldering areas that were just being developed at the time. It was a great trip, we would sleep under boulders and climb in the sunshine all day long, we checked out the boulders at Glen Croe, The Brack, and Glen Nevis. We made a return trip to The Brack, where we camped out for a few days putting up some first ascents, we had the place to ourselves, with a whole hillside of untouched boulders. We climbed up to 6b (V4) and established a bunch of problems up to 6a+ (V3). There hasn’t been much more development there since, I need to go back there some time now that I’m stronger and can try some of the steeper lines we saw. Back at Uni I climbed more trad, and finished up some more routes up to E1. That winter I heard about some new bouldering at Portlethen not far from where I lived. I checked it out, and although it was pretty cold I knew I could spend a lot of time trying some harder problems here.

On my FA 'No Bellylop Required' V0 at The Brack, September 03

Working Vietnam, an awsome but hard V4 at The Brack

Early in 04 I heard about Bennybeg a new sport climbing venue only about half an hour from Stirling. At the time it was controversial to bolt a crag like that since it was all easy routes, and there was very little precedence for easy sport climbing in Scotland. I loved it even though it’s a crappy little crag, I managed to flash all the hardest routes there, which were only up to 6a (5.10a), but at the time it was a big deal for me, this was more than 3 years after I first started climbing. It made me want to search out the few moderate sport climbs available in Scotland so a few months later I checkout Ley Quarry, where I managed to onsight some (but not all) routes up to 6b (10c). I also spent a lot of time working a harder route, which I returned to a few weeks later and finished off. It was __ a 6c (11a), for me this was huge accomplishment, 6c was a big number for me at the time, this was around the time I set up my 8a.nu scorecard.

Discovering the bouldering at Portlethen December 04

At the end of the school year, I was climbing indoors at Glasgow and I was trying a crimpy problem when I heard a loud pop in my finger and immediately had a burst of pain in my finger, I had popped a tendon. I tried denying what had happened at first, but I was seriously debilitated. In one way though it was a good time to get injured, because I was about to leave with my sister to visit my grandma in California for six weeks where I knew I wouldn’t be able to climb much. I think I went a whole two weeks, the longest period in the last 10 years, without climbing at all. Eventually I ventured in to a local gym, with a severely taped up finger, and played around on a little bouldering area near where my grandma lived. When I returned to Scotland my finger had more or less healed, so I got to work on the boulders at Portlethen. I worked my way up through the easier problems, eventually sending The Prow, a powerful short font 6c (V5) my first of the grade. Anthony and I were climbing at a similar level, so there was a lot of competition to see who could do it first.

Having fun at the Bowderstone in the Lake District November 04

Doing laps on Malky the Alky a fun E1 at Cambusbarron, November 04



Making the most of some winter sun while belaying on some easy trad at Rosyth January 05



Messing around on some beach boulders in the South of Spain while on a Science Field Trip February 05

Back at Uni, I started climbing with some guys who pushed my to try harder, namely George and Paddy. They were hot on my heels working the same hard boulder problems at Wolfcrag and Dumbarton. In early 2005 we decided to try some harder routes on trad. At limekilns I went for the onsight of an E3 called Grasp the Nettle, in reality the route was no harder than 6a (10a) but run-out and on bad gear, physically this route was well within my limits, but I had to push my limits mentally. I managed the onsight, which made me wonder what else I could do on trad if I tried harder. George climbed it straight after me, it was only his second ever lead climb! George and I got out to the local crags and worked some harder trad routes, we would practice them on toprope figure out all the gear, then lead it placing all gear on lead. Some memorable routes we did were Gobi Roof E2/3, (10c trad), Looney Tunes E4 (6c trad/solo), Chisel E4 (6c+ trad), often these routes were quite dicey, but we had practiced them so much our margin of failure was small. These routes culminated in my boldest route to date Nijinski an E5 (6c+ solo) at Auchinstarry, this route was different from the others in that I opted to solo it, the gear was worthless, and it was outside of my comfort zone. I managed it, but it was very scary, a fall from the crux, would have meant broken legs or worse. I got away with it, but I’m glad I didn’t continue to do hard routes like these. Ironically these trad routes and solos were physically harder than anything I had done on bolts at the time. Over that summer I climbed more at Portlethen and did Lurcher a 6c+ (11c) sport route there, which was my hardest sport route to date. Then in September 05 I got out to Ley Quarry with Kris a new member of the Mountaineering club, he was a strong sport climber and showed me a hard route there called Nirvana it was really hard for me, but I managed it by the skin of my teeth. It was my new hardest route.

Yet to place any gear, onsighting an E3 at Limeilns, April 05

On Hard Cheddar an awesome V2 at Dumbarton on my 21st Birthday 05

In 2005 had another big change I started dating an American girl called Laura who was studying at Stirling for 9 months. I got her into climbing and she got good pretty fast, achieving what took me a few years in less than one. That last year at college I visited more areas around the UK, including Reiff, Northumberland, the Lake District, and The Peak District. Mostly just bouldering, and doing some easy trad, towards the end of the year I did another E5 (7a trad) Purr-Blind Doomster which was a great climb, bold but safe. I also ticked a couple more 7a+ sport routes at North Berwick. A dozen or so of us from the mountaineering club took a trip to El Chorro, Spain to sport climb, it was an awesome trip, it was almost overwhelming being surrounded by so much climbing. I only managed routes up to 6c (11a), the heat and unfamiliar rock type made it hard, but I had a blast. I graduated in June of 06 with a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Science, but didn’t go to my graduation because I had already left to start a new chapter in my life in the United States.



Climbing in El Choro, Spain April 06

 

Enjoying the awesome trad at Reiff April 06

On a 7a+ at North Berwick, April 06