South America Part 3 – PERU

Huaraz in Peru was my penultimate stop in South America before flying home from Lima. There is so much exploring to do in Peru but I was really keen to fit some climbing in so headed straight to Huaraz promising myself that I would come back one day to see some of the other sights. Situated about 7 hours (bus ride) from Lima its one of the most well known mountaineering and climbing areas in Peru. There are tons of agencies offering mountaineering and treks and a good few who offer rock climbing too.

Having spoken to a few climbers it seemed like Hatun Machay would be the area for me so I arranged to get a minibus out there. It’s a picturesque valley with plenty of sport climbing from 5+ to 8a (though the majority are in the early 6’s to low 7’s) and bouldering too.
 

View of Hatun Machay from the refuge

      

The Refuge (view from the crag)

 

Hatun Machay is about 1½ hrs from Huaraz and transport can be arranged with tour agencies (or by getting lifts with other climbers). There’s a very cool refuge hut  (see picture) where you can stay quite reasonably for a few nights or longer but sadly staying there didn’t fit in with my plans.



 

I spent an AMAZING couple of days here. It was sooo great to get out climbing again and hang out in amazing scenery with a bunch of similar minded people. So relaxing, so fun and despite feeling weaker than ever, each day I headed back to Huaraz totally happy and psyched. There was a great atmosphere, a really inclusive climbing scene where it was totally fine to turn up with a bit of gear (easy to hire some in Huaraz) and find climbing partners from various corners of the world. Speaking a bit of Spanish definitely meant I had more fun climbing since I could mix with lots more people.

The rock was bolted granite, I didn’t check out the bouldering but heard good reports about it. The rock was decent but a bit crumbly in places, I don’t know if the quality would improve at the higher grades. I had a great time climbing there and although I wouldn’t visit Peru especially to go here, if I ever make it back to Peru I would definitely go back and would recommend it to other climbers if they found themselves in Peru.

Get more info about Hatun Machay and other climbing areas in Peru at topos Peru (in Spanish but it’s the best info out there).

South America Part 2 – CHILE

Having left my friend in Bolivia I set off for Chile. After a few too many hours on buses and a relatively uneventful border crossing, I arrived at the beach town of La Serena. Reading about Chile I had seen this place described as the ‘bouldering mecca of Chile’ so it seemed a good place to start.

Searching around I met Faisal at Talinay adventures (www.talinaychile.com) who knew all about the local climbing. I rented his boulder pad and ended up bouldering with a bunch of his friends who turned out to be local wads. We went to Pampilla which is on the outskirts of Coquimbo, the next town along the coast.

                         

 

Pampilla

Pampilla is one of the largest bouldering areas in this part of Chile and offers plenty of problems and room for development too. It’s right on the coast with perfect views only spoilt by the fact that many locals use it as a rubbish dumping ground but luckily this doesn’t affect the bouldering. It’s next to a bit of a rough area of town and when a bunch of (perfectly friendly) local lads came past with dogs and sling-shots I was pretty happy to be with a group of Chileans.

When we were climbing the weather was cool but quite humid which apparently is pretty typical of winter. Summer is not as humid but too hot to climb in the heat of the day. There was a great selection of granite boulders, not too rough on the skin and a good variety of angles. It felt amazing to be bouldering again.

                                    

Pampilla bouldering

The next day even trying to eat breakfast hurt my forearms and as I was still struggling to get over some sort of chest infection a day bouldering had wiped me out. So I decided bouldering plans were unrealistic and instead I just headed over to one of the other main areas to check it out. Los Monster at Fuerte Coquimbo is another main area on the coast around Coquimbo with bolted routes (about 10-15 m) and boulders. There are also lots more areas being developed in this area of Chile at the minute. Annoyingly, torrential rain meant I couldn’t fit any more bouldering in before I had to head South. 

For more info on climbing in Chile see escalandochile.cl

Fuerte Coquimbo

                                   

Since my flight home was from Peru, it wasn’t very logical to go right down South into Chile but I was going to meet an old friend in Santiago which was well worth the detour. We chatted away lots of happy hours and travelled around the north of Chile. Tourist highlights include Valpariso, amazing desert and mountain scenery, penguin packed boat trips and a  mind-blowing sky observatory tour. After an emotional goodbye I set off on a mammoth journey into Peru including 3 night buses in a row, all in aid of getting a last bit of climbing in before heading back home.

South America part one – BOLIVIA

The next few blogs are dedicated to a trip in South America. There is an unbelievable amount to see and do in South America and in 2 months I could barely scratch the surface.

Salt flats in Boliva (spot the horizon)

My trip began in Bolivia. A country with mountains, deserts, rainforests and if you haven’t already heard, some pretty impressive boulder fields. Unfortunately, I was under doctors orders not to climb for the first part of my trip which meant despite coming tantalisingly close to what appeared to be amazing bouldering I didn’t properly get to do any! Gutted. But I do have some info on it.

The main area of bouldering that I heard about was Valle de las rocas in South Bolivia. Uyuni is the nearest town to this area. Uyuni is a pretty bland town packed full of tourists waiting to do tours of the salt flats. It’s just over an hours drive from Valle de las rocas. The nearest village to the bouldering is about 15 mins drive away. There was one self-catered place to stay here with limited facilities but could be a good option. Bouldering is fairly new to Bolivia and there was no mention of it anywhere and no equipment rental to be seen, so I would recommend bringing your own, or maybe looking into renting it in La Paz.

When I arrived at Valle de las rocas it did look amazing, endless boulder fields for as far as I could see. At this point I had actually not hung off my arms since leaving the UK (weeks earlier) so just seeing boulders was pretty emotional and I was bursting with psyche. I rushed around clambering on anything I could until I was getting light-headed from the altitude. We had just escaped an unexpected blizzard leaving the salt flats so our driver was keen to leave and we could only stop for a few minutes. I was convinced I would return but sadly getting ill and lack of time meant I couldn’t go back.

To help distract myself from the lack of climbing in my life I kept myself very busy doing a medical placement in a Bolivian hospital, learning Spanish as fast as possible and enjoying some of the natural wonders Bolivia has to offer including the Salt flats and horse-riding through canyons in Tupiza. I’m not sure I can really comment on the climbing in Bolivia but as a country I would definitely recommend visiting and I am definitely going back one day.

Some useful info can be found at: www.stonedance.com

Horse-riding in Tupiza

Last comp for a while…and South America Plans

The last few months have been pretty hectic. Sadly this meant that plans for training hard before a bouldering world cup didn’t go so well. I had about 5 weeks of training hard. Then I suddenly got really busy and tired, finding the time and psyche to push myself became a bit of a losing battle (which I eventually gave up on). I set off for the Vienna comp with a small glimmer of hope that my lack of climbing leading up to the comp would work as unintentional tapering. Unsurprisingly it turns out optimism will only get you so far in world cup competitions. The result literally couldn’t have been any worse. Despite this I did actually really enjoy the comp. After plenty of faffing I was really happy to get to the top of the first qualifier problem and to the last hold of another. My attitude for the comp was to make sure I enjoyed it whatever the result, I knew my training was lacking. Another reason to make sure I enjoyed it was because I’m not certain I will fit in any comps in next year. I’m not a big fan of doing things half-heartedly.

On a more exciting note I’m starting a (long) journey to Bolivia in South America later on tonight. The primary reason for the trip is to do a medical placement in a hospital there but conveniently I’ve chosen an area of the world that also has some amazing climbing. Having had a small operation today I’m officially not meant to climb for at least a month (ahhhhhh!) but I’m hoping the timing is a bit flexible! This is pretty frustrating but this would still mean a month to explore the climbing in South America so can’t complain too much. I’ve been looking into the climbing mainly in Bolivia, Chile and Peru all of which sound pretty promising (will blog more info later). At the moment I have no set plans but I’m ready for an adventure.

Pre-Vienna training and OUTSIDE

My current focus is training for the Vienna round of the Bouldering world cup in 8 weeks time. Sadly its possible that this could be the only international comp I get to go to. However, this fact has concentrated my mind on training. Even though realistically the gains that can be made in 8 weeks are fairly small, I’m determined to do everything that I can. I’ve even begun to properly work on dynamic climbing and jumps after some useful coaching from Dave Mason. Considering that my current ability to do dynamic moves is so low I reckon this is a good example of an area that I could make a genuine improvement in a limited period of time (i.e. 8 weeks). After all, there’s not much point training really hard in other areas just to give it all up in a comp because I couldn’t dyno the last move. 

And finally…for the first time in way too long to admit I actually had a session outside, at Burbage South. Once I’d finally worked out the beta I got myself up violence (V7, North quarry) before heading further along the crag where pebble mill traverse caught my eye. I thought I would just try it for a few minutes but my stubbornness kicked in and I couldn’t leave until I had worked out all the moves but in the end I was too tired to put it all together.

CWIF and BUCS

CWIF was good this year. Last year’s CWIF I ended up exhausted and demoralised at how badly I compared to the Wads around me. Despite not enjoying it last year it proved to be a very useful reality check. It taught me a good lesson in the importance of having realistic expectations. It also taught me not to get so focused on competitive achievements to the extent that the disappointment with the end result overshadows the enjoyment of the process.

This year I enjoyed CWIF a lot, and I also managed to get through to the semis finishing 10th overall.

The next comp was BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) – a national comp for uni students. Traditionally Sheffield Uni tends to do pretty well in this comp and 2011 wasn’t much different. Our team (Martin Watson (another GB boulderer), Paul Latham, and me) won the team prize and both me and Martin topped our categories. I was pretty surprised to win since I actually came 2nd to Nat Berry in the very strangely setup ’final’. It turned out the ‘final’ was only for distributing the sponsored prizes though…who knows. We got some great trophies anyway.

BUCS 2011, Martin Watson and me

Christmas and the BBCs

I had hoped that the unusually long Christmas holidays would be a time for catching up on climbing/training that I’d sacrificed for uni exams. Sadly this didn’t turn out so well. Post-exam collapse + cold (that everyone seemed to have) + tweaky fingers + Christmas celebrations = not enough climbing. It was pretty frustrating not being able train much especially since the BBCs had been moved forward 6 months to January.

At the start of December I did fit in a weekend of team training in Newcastle which was fun and hard work. This was followed the day after by a trip to St Bees. It was a really nice day despite feeling pretty wiped out from team training and I enjoyed struggling up classic arête.

After a few days up in Cumbria I headed down to Birmingham for some family festivities. After numerous days of trying to go climbing and failing miserably because I was too tired I finally accepted that I just needed to rest. Unsurprisingly this made me feel a lot better. Actually, climbing aside I couldn’t really have asked for a nicer Christmas, with lots of time catching up with family and old friends. In the end I also managed to fit in a couple of sessions in the new bouldering area at Red Point and a bit of fingerboarding since I had brought my beastmaker home with me.

This brings me up to the BBCs. They were held at the Outdoors show down in London this year. Really, I knew not to expect wonders because of my seriously patchy/unfocussed training that had led up to them. I came 11th, a fair bit lower than the year before (5th). It’s not quite what I was hoping for but being realistic it is a decent result and I was satisfied with it. The comp itself was pretty chilled out and not the normal rush in the qualifiers to get the problems done. I enjoyed cheering everyone on in the final with plenty of people of top form. It was particularly inspiring (as ever) to watch Shauna crushing away who flashed every qualifier and final problem to top the senior female category.

BBC 2011

Right, now after a couple of unfocused months I think it’s time I whip my training into shape. Time to get planning and get motivated.

Earlier this year...

So to start with I thought I would transfer a few old blogs from the scarpa site to pad out this new blog. So here's what I got up to last year...

June-July 2010
Comps and Superpsyche

Bouldering comp season has just come to an end so the last couple of months have been pretty dominated by comps. The BBCs were first. Qualifiers were ok but I think nerves got the better of me a bit and I made some annoying mistakes losing valuable attempts. However, I managed to sneak into the final in 6th place which was great and felt like being given a second chance. Was happy to get to the top of the first problem but couldn’t top any others. I came 5th overall though and was really pleased with the result. An improvement on last years 7th place too.

Next comp was the Sheffield round of the Bouldering World cup, my first world cup comp. It was great for it to be in Sheffield, meaning there was no stress of being in an unfamiliar place. After a million hours in isolation we were transported to the venue at cliffhanger festival. Standing behind the curtain waiting to go out I was totally on edge, a combination of being really excited and very nervous. Luckily as soon as I started bouldering the focus kicked in and nerves evaporated. Flashing the first problem probably helped too. I was relieved that some of the problems felt do-able and I didn’t spend the whole time on the ground. I didn’t know what to expect from my first experience competing with the bouldering squad but I really enjoyed it and came 23rd which was a nice surprise.

Sheffield World Cup

 And finally, I travelled to Munich for the last round of the bouldering world cup. The qualifiers were hard! It didn’t go so well as Sheffield but I gained some competition experience. I was pretty shut down on at least 3 of the 5 problems but it was still good and I was happy to be there and trying hard. Most importantly, watching some of the best female boulderers in the world was so inspiring and has got me super psyched. Conveniently this coincides with having 2 months off uni and a climbing trip, perfect.

Munich world cup

Aug to Sept 2010
Europe climbing trip and team training  

This year an extra long summer break from uni meant I could go on my first longer (5 weeks) climbing trip around Europe. First stop was Cornwall, followed by Brittany, Font and ending up in Frankenjura.

We visited two bouldering areas in Cornwall, Clodgy point and Godrevy. Godrevy was my favourite venue by far but the favourite problem that I managed was probably Boomerang (V7) at Clodgy point. Godrevy had a great range of problems, on good quality sea-smoothed slate above flat landings. I spent most time in the main cave area. Although it’s next to a fairly touristy beach, the bouldering was tucked away in peaceful coves. The problems were only possible at low tide which meant a bit of added pressure to get your problems done before the sea swept the bouldering mats away.

Bouldering at Godrevy, Pisspot (V7)

Kerlouan in Brittany was stunning. The granite boulders were amazing shapes (see photo). Think we got pretty lucky with the weather too which was sunny and always a good sea breeze, perfect in the shade. Found some great problems to try and it seemed like an amazing destination until about half an hour in you realise you’ve lost almost all your skin. The rock was so rough! Maybe my fingertips are particularly soft so I would recommend it to anyone with tougher skin, or maybe just a short stop (we climbed there for 2 days). I still enjoyed it but got shut down on a few ‘reachy’ problems. I think being too short is a bad excuse (there might be a few exceptions), and is only ever an excuse for not doing something not really a reason. So this was a useful reminder to actually get round to training long moves/locks/jumps which have been on a list of things to train for way too long!

Random cool boulder in Kerlouan

Font was Font. Endless happy pottering about on nice rock, and some trickier problems too. The rock felt particularly amazing after Brittany. It was good to revisit some problems I had tried and failed on before. My favourite was Duroxmanie (6c) a very nice problem. The highlight of Font for me was on the last evening at Rocher de Bouligny. A problem called Obstiné (6c+). Good moves into a classic slopey topout. I would probably count slopers as my weakest grip so it took a serious amount of effort to do the top, which left me with the satisfying feeling of knowing I had put all my effort into it. After a week in Font we set off on the final leg of the trip to Frankenjura.

Duroxmanie, Font

I’ve been very psyched for routes since last Christmas when by chance I ended up doing a few routes with a friend in Birmingham. Apart from a handful of sessions I hadn’t done routes regularly since I stopped climbing aged 13 and I definitely don’t remember doing many routes since I started training. I was buzzing for days after and couldn’t believe that somewhere along the line I had forgotten how much I enjoyed them. Around April I went sport climbing outside for the first time at Cheedale, which (despite getting very scared) was everything I’d hoped for. To cut a long story short, going to a place full of great routes like Frankenjura was pretty exciting. It’s difficult to pick highlights because really I enjoyed all of it except one day when my body crashed and decided not to work properly. It was good to do my first 7c and I had a go on my first 8a Hurrikan (a softie apparently). It’s got some great moves in, its short, bouldery and fingery. Annoyingly, on the very last day I managed to injure myself pulling off a two-finger pocket on Hurrikan. I was feeling good so thought I would just rest up for ages then give it another go and for some reason didn’t think to warm up again. Stupid really, but I’m not expecting it to take too long to heal, hope not anyway.

After being back in Sheffield for a couple of days I travelled to Manchester for the first bouldering team training of the season, held at Rockover. My injured arm actually seemed fine but after 20 minutes warming up I could feel it complaining so decided to rest instead. If I’m honest at the start of the day it felt bizarre to be talking so seriously about competitions and training since I had just got back from a trip and all that was filling my head was climbing real rocks (and routes), not plastic boulders. However, by the end of the day and after some useful training advice I was fully psyched and ready to start working hard. I’ve even been inspired to dust the cobwebs off my running shoes.

Oct to Dec 2010
BLCC, Uni elite sport performance awards and more team training

BLCCs

Having got into routes over summer I was tempted to enter the BLCCs which took place a fortnight after I got back. I was pretty unsure about going because of my slightly injured forearm but made a last minute decision to give it a go anyway. It seemed a bit of a mission going to Edinburgh last minute, ended up in some crazy hostel in the city centre but I’m glad I made the effort. As it happened my arm was fine and I even managed to get into the final and come 5th so was happy with that. I’m really glad I went because I know if I hadn’t gone I would have been left wondering how I would have done and whether lead comps are something I want to get involved in. Although it was good, for me it just wasn’t as fun as bouldering comps, less opportunity to try hard. This could be due to not having tons of endurance so basically I just got pumped and fell off 3 times (2 qualifiers and one final route). Either way, I’m pleased with the result and although lead comps aren’t top of my priorities I haven’t totally ruled them out for the future, particularly if I trained for them a bit more.

Team training

Since my last blog we’ve had a couple more bouldering team training sessions. The first was fitness/strength testing at Teeside uni (where Dom, the team sports scientist is based). The aim of the session is to monitor our strength/fitness at the beginning of the season and then these tests will be repeated again around March (before comps start) to identify any improvements/changes. The second training session was centred around basic strength, with exercises and boulder problems focussed on this.

Uni Elite sport performance awards

The University of Sheffield has brought in a new ‘Elite sport performance scheme’ which anyone at the uni who is on a national team is eligible for. The awards mean we can use the sports facilities for free and also gain access to a specialist strength and conditioning facility which I’m looking forward to trying out. The awards were presented by Jessica Ennis (former Sheffield student) who is European champion, world heptathlon champion and world indoor pentathlon champion – so overall a pretty inspiring sportswoman to meet.

The next few weeks are going to be pretty hectic with exams coming up but then I will be straight into a decent Christmas holiday when I’m planning on getting plenty of climbing in!