Beach Highballing

With all the crap weather in the past few weeks I have barely been able to get outside! So frustrating having to stay on plastic, but have been able to get in some decent sessions at the Arch and Biscuit Factory.  Anyway, the other weekend we were down in Cornwall for one of the first decent weekends of the summer. It was so nice to be able to actually have hot weather for once!

One of the beaches we went to is called Hemmick beach. I've been there a couple of times before and have noticed a rocky outcrop up above the cliff and it has some decent rock! Most of the rock in that area of Cornwall is shale and totally unclimbable and so is sick to have rock that doesn't all flake off. I brought my shoes and chalk to the beach and took a small trip up there for some highballing. It was up to a maximum height of around 8 metres so wasn't too bad not having a mat.

I think that most of these were FA's too which is pretty sick. There's just one route there which I want to do next time; this follows a steadily overhanging face at around 45 degrees. Because of the overhang it is by far the longest route there, probably at around 10 metres in length and looks fairly technical.

Also, in the harbour in the village where we were staying, I noticed a small DWS which was a technical traverse over the lip of a cave. It was only really suitable at high tide but nevertheless I gave it a go. Thankfully I didn't fall in as the sea is pretty nippy! I didn't quite finish it though, so will give it another go next time we are down.

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Moonboard

At Christmas, my present was the wood for a training wall in the garden. We built it to the exact spec of the Moonboard, as designed by Ben Moon and situated in the School Room in Sheffield. I then got myself the Original School Room Holds and I've been training on these ever since. The holds are awesome and feel great, if a little small! Since I got I've been pushing my grade and it has really helped me to improve which is epic.

The other day I reset the holds with setup 1. I've tried a couple of these before but without success. The first problem I did was fairly important for me. It was only a 6c+, yet back in January, whilst trying this problem, I ruptured a pulley on the second to last move and this set me back a fair ways in terms of my progress. Yet I got on it and did it in about 5 minutes which felt awesome to finally do it!

I then got to work on one of the 7a's, it didn't feel too bad and I can do all the moves, yet on the final one I keep popping with my left hand and ending up on my back, which is lame! I've also started work on the other 7a, this one is only 3 moves, all very dynamic on fairly decent holds. I got close, yet sticking the final move is horrible as the hold is fairly slopey, hopefully going to do it soon!  

I had to stop though as my finger ended up bleeding again, why does this always happen!

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Harry Hazeldean

The Solution is here

Well, for a while now my Miura's have had fairly large holes in the toes and looking slightly the worse for wear. So I embarked on an epic quest to find a new pair of shoes! I tried loads of brands, Evolv, 5.10 etc..  I then found a second hand pair of La Sportiva Solutions on eBay! I got them yesterday and have been trying them out and they are so epic!! The toe and heel hooking is incredible and the downturn is so aggressive!! So psyched about using them!

On another note, I managed to put the slackline up again tonight and it is so epic! Today I tried to do a seat-drop on it which is  much easier said than done! I ended up with a seriously scraped back from missing the line so many times! Properly killed afterwards!

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Harry Hazeldean

Slackline!

It was my birthday on Tuesday and from my parents I received a slackline. I hadn't had a chance to use it until last night and its amazing! I only had it up for forty minutes or so, but its so fun! Its also seriously hard! I can see myself becoming seriously addicted to this. The slackline is from Maverick Slacklines and they have an awesome website with loads of videos, great for inspiration. They make it all look so easy!

Sorry about the poor quality picture, it was taken on a phone.

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Harry Hazeldean

Day at Helman Tor

Had an epic day at Helman Tor in Cornwall today! Arrived around twelve, quick warm up and then into some of the decent problems here. The Cornish Granite is amazing! Its got so much friction, the downside of which is destroyed fingertips!! Had a go at an amazing V6 which consists of moving from a slab to a crimpy undercut on a huge roof, then dynoing out and  topping-out on slopers. Couldn't make the top out as it was covered in lichen!

After this I moved to the cave and got straight into some of the harder stuff. I did the second ascent of a lovely problem called 'British East Africa' which is a V7 in about 3 or 4 goes. The video of which is below.
     I then got to work on the hardest established boulder there which is the 'Cave Traverse', a solid V8. I could do all the moves, the only thing stopping me was that my fingertips were bleeding a lot and I couldn't hold the sharp crimps without ruining them further! A project to try next time perhaps.

Unfortunately I had to leave after a couple of hours and so couldn't do much there, but had a sick time in the process!

Thanks for reading

Harry Hazeldean