SquarePants By Daragh O'Connor

Well. Its been a while. For me this year has already rocketed by, ever since taking some time off after the world championships in Munich last summer everything has been a bit of a blur... I'm in my final year in school and June is going to be the month the earth stands still for me. 13 days of 7 subjects of exams... But sure thinking about it wont do anybody any good will it?

So climbing wise (only 'wise' that is important) things have been going great, i don't know why it feels like a surprise but its nice to know i can continue to stay on form and keep on top of everything else all at once.

So, CWIF went well you could say, I qualified in 12th after doing all bar 2 problems (one of which i should have done) and was psyched beyond belief to be making it into Semi's the next day. Semi's is always where the real fun starts. My warm up went perfectly, I took extra care in making sure my shoulders and back were loose so when i pulled on the wall in iso things were smooth from the get go. By the time i was called out I had entered that glorious low gravity state which we all seek.

Its hard to describe the actual climbing because you don't really know whats going on at the time anyway so i wont even bother trying. My score came out with enough tops to make it into finals (only 1) but a silly rushed attempt and not getting bonus's cost me my place. I'd say go watch the replays of the semi's but the cameras were not interested in my ugly mug so not much of my climbing was gotten and who can blame em?

Oh yeh, almost forgot! IM GOING TO THE ROCKLANDS!!!!!! Flights booked from the 8th on July to the 12th of August! This trip kinda comes with the year, with my exams and all (even being on form at the moment) i have decided to take the summer season of the European and World Circuit. It was a hard choice to make but i would want to be at 130% going at the Worlds and i worry i wont be at that. But i think it will be good, and it eaves 2016 as the year im going to go at the worlds ready to fight it it out!

Major results as of my last update : 

G Force Open - 2nd Place, Irish Bouldering League - 1st (joint), CWIF - 13th.

The Bucket List. By Daragh O'Connor

On the 21st of June the British Bouldering Championships rolled around yet again, Qualification went as planned with me making it into semi’s in 14th. Not amazing, but not bad either.

The real fun was to start the next day. It was a strange feeling to be climbing in the semi’s as all my thoughts and psyche building up were focused on the Qualifiers...

After my first problem I knew my head wasn’t in the game at all. Falling off the first slab which normally would be the problem I would bank on put me off. After that I couldn’t get settled. Looking back I feel like I should have comfortably done both the slab and the dino; and with another attempt on each I might just have.

But sure thats the way with competitions. If your heads not prepared you get diddly in terms of tops. After being bumped down a position from qualifiers to 15th I had to put it out of my mind and focus on what was the main point of the trip.

The senior world cup in Laval.

I knew that how I would climb would pivot on my mindset, if I wasn’t focused I would get annoyed at how I was climbing and with that get more distracted.

Isolation at the world cup is like no other isolation you have ever experienced. Your standing in a room with the best climbers in the world, its tense to say the least. As I was climbing late I had to chill for an hour or 2, trying not to even look at the other climbers as a knock on your confidence is the worst thing that could happen before you have to convince yourself that you can crush every problem in a heartbeat.

You have 50 minutes. 25 minutes of climbing 25 of rest. 5 on 5 off. You don’t really think of much else but climbing. It wasn’t pressure or any of silly mental barrier stuff  that made the comp feel different, it was just an unbelievable amount of psych I had never felt before. After getting my first problem second go and falling off the top hold of 2 more problems i was happy. My result (late 40’s) didn’t show how close I was to doing very well indeed. With just holding those 2 top holds I would have been bumped up my result 20 places at the very least.

Thats why im happy. So excited to do more, and maybe just need to be a little luckier and hopefully all should fall into place.

So yes. Competing in the senior world cup. One of my biggest goals in climbing ticked of the bucket list!

Fontainebleau 2014! - By Daragh O'Connor

Just the video from myself and the rest of the team in Fontainebleau! :D

2013 is a boring title on its own... by Daragh O'Connor

So 2013 has had so much in it. Its strange to think that so much has actually happened, at the start of the year I heard I would be going to my first ever European comp and since then I have been to 3 euro's, 4 trips to France and roughly 5 British events and I don't even know how many Irish comps.

So the Europeans. Started off not to well, I'm not gonna lie, I decided that I would top one of the hardest problems that only had 3 tops but i cleverly failed miserably on everything else (sarcasm... text doesn't show it enough). It was a strange experience and because it was my first Euro I didn't mind all. So with the psych to keep on trucking I went to 2 more and now am ranked 18 in the world thanks to my other results.

So this is taking me quite a few days to write for many reasons, first off I don't really know what to say. I think its because I know what I got up to in 2013 and that's all well and good but its 2014 that i'm really excited about. in 2014 there is gonna be 3 Europeans which is cool but this year I have the extra battle off moving up a category. A fun fact is that if my glorious mother had held me in until the god damn due date I would have a whole year more of competing. I tell her this regularly...

So I really like this photo (above), it was taken in Bulgaria by one of the British team and it is off Dominic crushing in the qualifiers (to eventually go on to win) and me trying to steal a bit of the ole beta goodness. Its also good for the obvious 'lets all be multinational friends' feel it puts across... But honestly, it was one of my favorite trips of 2013 because it was that trip when I realized that I could actually just calm the nerves in a competition and start to climb well. A good friend of mine lets call him "Favid Ditzgerald"... Is kinda going through the same comp hatred I went through for a bit and I simply told him the way I got over it was to get back up and try again.

So to some up, 2013 was top notch but lets be honest 2014 is going to be so much better. I will get to see people more who I truly miss and there will be so many more comps that I am sure I will both fail miserably and do well-ish in...

Tying into a rope By Daragh O'Connor

Its strange for me as a boulderer to go sport climbing as often as I do but as long as I get the chance to go climbing im happy out. Myself and the majority of the Irish team and coaches went out to the south of France last week for 6 days. Everybody on the trip had their goals and me included had a hope for the trip.

Ever since I started climbing I have enjoyed bouldering but I still like pushing my limits in routes. This trip my eye was on an 8a I had tried once or twice last year.

(a friend in a sick cave)

When I got to France it was nice to get back to a familiar climbing area as I have been going to all sorts of strange places for comps this summer, So when I got down to climbing it felt nice and natural. The first day, we just went out to build up a bit of outdoor route stamina and refresh our brains on how to climb in Buoux.

Thanks to getting settled quickly (although Buoux never feels easy) we could get on with projects. I got Fissure Serge (the project in question) on the 3rd day of trying it. It wasn't an easy fight as its a short-ish power stamina route. It consists of short bursts of powerful moves which was one of the reason i gravitated towards it. I went through a few fazes while trying, first of which was pure excitement which of course was good and pretty much hassle free. Then came the anti-psyche... Every time I pulled on I just didn't care if I got to the top or not, this was the hardest stage cause it was hard to get out of but I came to understand what people mean about having 'battles' on routes. Its not purely physical but extremely mental and when u conquer certain mental barriers things start to go well.

When I knew I was close to sending things started to get exciting again, this stage for me was the one where frustration was a large problem. I think simply that this is just because when you get so close you just cant wait :) I got the accent as it got dark on the very last day of the trip.

All in all for a boulderer like me, tying into a rope and actually doing something that is kinda hard, it fealt like a good trip and now just cant wait for the upcoming G-Force Open event!!! PSYCHE!!!!

Comp prep is a funny thing...

So for the past month or so I have been in solid training which gets kinda tricky when my education is put on the table... But however recently I have learnt a lot to do with both mental and physical prep for these ‘comps’ that for some reason I enjoy…

During the preparation for a comp there is a lot to think about from what socks you will wear on the day to should I be working on crimps more? I found the biggest issue for me in past comps has been my ability (or lack of) to focus and deal with the pressure and nerves. Since I started competing this was always an issue but recently I think I have broken free of my curse. It’s the most annoying advice in the world but ‘experience is the trick’. I have found just from entering ever comp I can possibly enter, isolation has turned into a peaceful place where I can look at other competitors get quake in their boots – this is a fine line and I think once you break past it you only get more comfortable faster and faster.  

So I went to a local boulder comp over the weekend (placed 2^nd) and it went quite well from a prep point of view. For one my head was nearly perfect, secondly I had recently learnt that I will be carrying a chalkbag with me as much as I can in future due to one of the silliest mistakes I have ever made on a slab a while ago and finally all the training had started to kick in. (im not going to get into training due to the fact that I personally think Jan Hojer will show you better J)

I know that's just a short update and its hard to put in text what goes on in your head so hope that makes a little bit of sense to somebody ;)

So a lot has been happening... By Daragh O'Connor

So I haven't been updating reasontly for a one reason, its been so busy lately. It all started with the European youth cup in Sofia, Bulgaria. The comp went really well and I snatched my best results ever with a 10th place.

 Next was the British Bouldering Champs, this comp was world cup format so we had 5 minutes on and 5 minutes of to climb 5 problems. This was my first comp of this format and I got a little overwhelmed and I should have topped 2 more problems that would have brought me to the semi finals. The cliffhanger festival was great on the other hand and it was good to climb with the full Irish team.

And still there was more to come! I was off to France. Myself and my father drove down to France from Ireland to get some climbing in and around the next EYC. Lets talk about that first, It was hot. So. Hot. Due to the 30+ heat I struggled to climb hard from the start, it took me 45 minutes to get up to speed. That is pretty much all she wrote for that comp, so I will just have to come back next time! (I came 19th)

So before and after the comp in L'Argentierre we went to Font and Ceuse. In Font it was 40 degrees so climbing hard was hard. Although I did manage to latch but then drop the lip of Rainbow Rocket (8a, 2nd G dyno) which was sick! After this I got on Big Dragon (8a+) and managed to figure all the moves so when its cold its going down!!!!!!!

Ceuse didn't go so well, I was sick for the first few days and then was weak from being generaly climbed out. So here I am, sitting on my couch ready to get stronger again. With 3 words of power in my head. TOP TOP TOP!!!

European Youth Championships 2013 by Daragh O'Connor

My first time competing in a European cup was on the 25th of may in Grindelwald Switzerland. Before I headed out I was concerned that my nerves (as they have before) would get the better of me. But when my time to climb came about all I felt was that I needed to just break the ice of falling which seemed like the easiest thing in the world to do because all that was required was to try the hardest problem (not expecting to get it) and fall. After I got that out of the way it was time to get competing! I tried some of the 'easier' of the 8 problems but I soon discovered that what others found easy, things like compression moves, were a big part of many of the problems...

This was were it fell apart, as I tried and tried  some of the the less 'technically tricky' problems I just found that I was just short of enough power to top out, I tried to not let it get to me so I moved onto one of the harder problems, the slab, my first 2 goes I touched the top hold and finally topped it on my 3rd. I found this very interesting as very few people managed to top the slab as for many it was one of, if not the hardest problem for them. All this told me that I had the technical ability but just lacked the tiniest about of power that would have made a large difference to my result.

So from my first time competing in an Ireland top I learnt a lot, I found out a weird but effective way to calm my nerves, my technical ability is at a good standard and that I need to squeeze more fridges and get STRONGER!!!

Scottish Bouldering Championships by Daragh O’Connor

So I went to the SYBC’s with low expectations, seeing as 8 weeks prior I fractured my finger… also the fact that at my last British comp I came a not too impressive 11^th L So the day started off with getting up mega early so to give my support to the Irish competitors in youth c. Unfortunately the few that did compete didn't have the best day and one shortly missed out on the finals! At 12 o’clock I started to warm up and shortly later got climbing!!! The first 10 or so problems went fine bar a few sketchy tops… :/ At about 1:30 I noticed I only had 5 more problems to tick, These 5 were the harder end of the set but I felt comfortable on the first 3 and then I moved onto the 2 hardest... on my first go on the easier of the two I slipped off on a jump but managed to top on my next attempt, by this point the time was just running out so I couldn't try the last problem...

Later on in the day I found out I qualified in 4^th position for the finals so I got my stuff together and headed for isolation! In isolation I discovered that I was a lot more tired than I realized  so when I tried my first problem I came off going for the bonus on most of my goes L The second problem went better I managed the bonus on my first go but got my hands mixed up so couldn't progress… at this point I was exhausted so I couldn't repeat the start after that… The last problem was a slab and using different beta to the others I managed to bypass the first 4 holds and touch, and very nearly hold the bonus hold multiple times, but it was too little too late and I was forced to leave as soon as my time ran out to catch my flight J All in all I was very pleased with how much I progressed but I noticed I need to PRACTICE FINALS!!!!!! 

Tombstone 7c FA - Ben West

It's only been a few days since getting back from our trip to Switzerland. I haven't had the time to contemplate writing a blog post or going through photos/videos from the trip and now I have more to write about.
A few weeks back a friend Alex mentioned to me that there was an unclimbed project in Cheddar that he had worked, on and off for the last couple of years. I didn't have time to get up there before our trip and after seeing a picture of it I was pretty psyched to get up there and have a play. I didn't have any worked booked in yesterday and have a busy week next week so I thought I could justify another day off. Plus I still feel like i'm in holiday mode. The problems pretty steep and after speaking to Alex about whether it stays dry in the rain, he gave us the go ahead and it was game on.

I met Max in Cheddar this morning. Conditions were far from perfect as half the gorge was in cloud when we arrived. We didn't let that put us off. We precariously negotiated our way up a very wet and muddy shoot gully and across to Wallflower Shelter.   The problem climbs this amazing hanging bloc/tombstone, (hence the name) from the back of the cave, pulls the lip and finishes on an obvious jug. Unfortunately the bottom half of the bloc was pretty damp, well that's an understatement really. It was "Gopping"

After a lot of chalking and brushing we managed to get it into some sort of climbable state. It didn't take too long to warm up and get a sequence. On my first attempt from the ground I dropped the last move and then sent it next go. It didn't take long for Max to board the send train.

Here's the video.

Tombstone 7c FA from Ben West on Vimeo.

Exmoor Hype and project success! - Tom Newberry

The Easier finishing moves to Womping 7C+

Six months ago, I relocated 70miles up the coast to Braunton, Devon’s surfing capital. This opened up a whole new coastline to explore, develop and get obsessed about. I had repeated various mates test-pieces along the Exmoor Coast on previous visits. This meant I could get straight to work on developing new blocs I had spotted and seeking out more of those rare qualities found in inspiring hard lines. The first place I went to was Silery, the current in vogue place on Exmoor. At the far end of this beach is a well-known Project. Having seen photos of friends trying it this was top of my list as I was keen to see if its reputation was deserved. After a 30+minute walk in which involved and epically steep 350m decent we arrived at the immaculate 6meter highball wall which looked to have few holds and zero friction. I ignored Coach Freeman’s good advice on warming up from our recent Jura trip and jumped straight on. Slowly a sequence came together and I had reached the crux and high point of previous attempties (~7B+ to here). This is where I plateaued for several sessions. So, I put it on the back burner allowing more time to explore other nearby beaches adding a few new problems. Womping 7C+, Barden 7C+, Face Plant 7C, Cake Vs Pie 7B+,  Retrogaming 7A+, Daft Spunk 7A, The groove SDS 7A stand out as the best of the bunch.  See javu.co.uk for more detailed report on these.

Typical afterwork session by the sea

Then, just after Christmas I returned to the wall project and although I had focused on other stuff for a while I had never been able to forget about the wall. I decided to give in on the ground up attempts and this time abbed the line. This proved extremely valuable, as it confirmed that my old sequence for the crux was impossible for me as well as unveiling a tiny intermediate not visiable from the ground. Few more burns from the floor and the tiny two finger edge was useful, but not useful enough. The problem I was having is the featureless, virtually blank wall didn’t allow for my usual cheating tactics; no toehooks, heels or knees. I sat and stared until… this mad ninja foot beta came into my head. I had and burn and sh#t I almost stuck the crux. A few more burns down the line and I stuck the move only for my foot to pop. But YES it’s going down. For me this is the best feeling in climbing, when the desperate suddenly becomes the doable. Not today though, skin had split and tide was close. Next session it was a done deal for sure, psyche was high as I slogged back up the lung burning hill. I returned a couple days later only to find the next move was also hard and super droppable, I made a little progress but left a little deflated having walking in expecting to seal the deal. Then bad weather, then bad tide times, then the beach dropped about 3 foot making it uncomfortably high on my own, then it was warm and still, then I had parent’s evenings. It was as if I would never get that bit of luck required to seal the deal. I was racking up a big list of excuses as to why it hadn’t been finish it off. Over the next 6 weeks I managed the odd session going down after work getting 20mins on it before light or tides stopped play racking up a total of 14 bails off the top. I had been here before, 4 years ago with Supercede. It’s not fun and it gets mentally tough. It felt like a chore and I lost that try hard; give everything on every go psyche needed to complete it. I decide for another break as there was little pressure from others. 

I returned to my default mode, time for some mileage. 3 weeks later… With a few new things ticked and a bit of focused time on the fingerboard. I even looked up the inspiring Dave Mccloed quote that put me in the right mind set the day I did Keen Roof. I returned and this time luck, conditions, time everything was on my side. Second go I ping off the very top due to numb fingers and nerves. New high point meant that at least I cold leave with more progress. But I didn’t want progress I felt good, conditions were ace, beta had been evaluated and adjusted to the minute detail. I wanted to send! Yet, I still keep on peeling off. The slickness of the rock meant that catching a hold wrong or placing a foot slightly out of place and I was off. Approaching the end on the session and just as I was giving up on the idea that today would be the day and I suddenly got that perfect go, everything clicked as is always the case on the final send. And boom The Silery Wall project Evolv-ed into Pipeline 8A+/V12. As is always the case, this is an estimated grade. But I feel it could be the hardest straight up in the south west and is one of the best wall climbs I’ve done despite its awkward/frustrating, yet superb, location. I’m sure friends from the lakes we concur that this just adds character.

First Ascent of Pipeline 8A+.

Just after completing Pipeline 8A+ I made the most of dry spell in the UK (I was meat to head over the channel but unfavourable forecasts put an end to that) and visited the M1 crags just east of the peak, Forest Rock and Roche Abbey. Both are fairly unheard of/underrated crags just minutes of the M1 and have loads of hard testpieces to go at courtesy of Mike Adams et al. Despite being fairly damp I managed a few cracking climbs, ticking a bunch of 7Cish stuff but the highlight was defiantly a quick and rather unexpected ascent of Serenity 8B an amazing roof/prow feature at Impossible Roof. Guess I owe a big thanks to Dr.Tom for the spot and hanging around after he sent his problem 2^nd go.  Now to use this good run and confidence on a few of my other projects…

France by Daragh O'Connor

My trip to France began nervously, as six weeks earlier I got a stress fracture on the growth plate of my left middle finger. The physio had said to me I would be OK but just to proceed with caution, but we have all heard the horror stories of those dreaded yearlong breaks from climbing altogether… Myself and a few others headed to the south of France for the first week, Buoux, Loumarin and St. Leger to be more specific, and Fonatainebleau for the second… 

When I left I said to myself that instead of pushing for the first week I would gain lots of mileage which turned out to be hugely successful (in between working projects). But the only problem is that on my first day another one of the Irish team was trying Fissure Serge and had been for the past few trips and just watching him inspired me to want a go, I came back a few days later (my fingers felt week but up to it) and hopped on… first few goes felt hard as the first crux is super powerful and I had yet to discover a completely unique sequence that allowed me to use small intermediates instead of doing three huge scary moves :/ As the week progressed I worked it a little more but unfortunately after that long of climbing my body only allowed me to break through the first crux and make it to the last hard move on the route (it’s a bit of a dyno to be honest)… 

The first crux on Fissure Serge.

After one last go on the last day in Buoux we drove up to Fontainebleau for my best week of bouldering in a long time!

Big Jim 6c/6c+

The second week of my trip nine of the younger youth contingent here in Ireland came over. I was super excited to see them try many of the boulders that I had struggled on when I was their age! It turns out they owned it… Other than that, my plan for the week was to tick off some classics that I had not tried. Also I wanted to attempt some of the harder classic blocs, mainly Coccinelle (8a).

Coccinelle is one of the oddest 8a’s I have ever tried; the apparent crux for most people is a move into a slopey pocket off a high toe hook. This move felt trivial when I pulled on but after you get established in the pocket you have to jump around a bulge and grab a pinch, this move felt very inconsistent to me and straight after you hold the swing you have to do a dead-point to another pocket… after the first day I had all the moves wired so when I returned after some practice I was able to break through. As I was climbing the last few moves (on precarious slopers) I didnt feel completely aware and this momentary lapse in concentration caused my foot to slip as I reached for the last hold… I could have cried. After that my luck started to run out, the next day on it was wet and on the final day of the trip every single hold hurt to hold and pull on :(

Throughout the week I tried a few other mega classics of Fontainebleau. First was Partage (8a+), I was able to pull on which I was told was one of the hardest bits but my squeeze strength is not up to par so I said I would return when I was better at squeezing fridges... :)

Next was Big Dragon (8a) which I discovered that a huge span helps a lot… this didn’t stop me from making some progress which included over have the moves and noticing that with a bit more strength the rest would go.

Finally I gave Mandarin (8a) a go on my last day, as it turns out I could do every move bar one and even I think with the correct beta it would easily be done soon.

I’m unsure how to end so an amazing problem will do it for me. La Baleine 7a (7a+).

3rd go :)

First Blog - Tom Newberry

So writing a climbers’ blog is a new experience for me, so far my current blogging involves uploading times table songs from YouTube or discussing random topics, such as Vikings, with 8 year olds (I’m a teacher)! 

La Balaine - Best 7A in Font?

Hmmm, where to start? Well the past winter has been a bit down in numbers compared to previous years. However, some fortune came my way on a few occasions. After a summer of sport climbing to kick the winter season off I had a couple short trips to Font, psyche was high and weather turned out favourable. However, two things had changed since being in the form of my life last summer. I was 2 and a ½ months into my first year teaching and therefore days on rock had been hampered by an excessive workload and secondly the legendary Quernmore ‘Boardroom’ (where I trained at Uni) had been replaced with just a campus board. I had set my sights on a few problems for the trip. Yet during 14hour drive out my mind was full of doubt. How would I feel? Am I weak or well rested? Can I still climb or has that campussing messed with the ‘flow’? After a warm up, I was still unsure but wondered over to have a play on Neverland a classic 3D style roof that was on my trip list. Fortunately, it all came back quick and the problem went down. The rest of the 6day trip followed suit and I was able to work my way through my (large and ever growing) font to do list. A few weeks later I went for a return 3day hit, which involved a few more coastal drying tactics than the first but nonetheless was great fun. These trips allowed some good mileage to get back into bouldering form ready for my newly found coastal projects (see next blog). For those that like lists, highlights include: Neverland 8a,  L’aplait du Gain 8a, Atomic Playboy 7c+/8a (soooooo good!), Respire 7c+, Noir Desir 7C, appartenance 7c, Noir Désir 7c,  Vandale 7c, Eclipse 7c, Nouvelle Vague 7c, Deux faux plis en plats reéls 7c, L'Arrache Coeur 7c, La Barre Fixe7b+, Modulor 7b+, Sur-prises 7b+ (nails!), Peter pan 7b+ (the best one move wonder I have done), Pulp friction 7b (flash), Bleaus Art 7b, L'angle incarne 7b.

Back in the UK and  most my weekends have been spent either tying in, in the attempt to maintain some route fitness for next year’s targets or putting in mileage on the moorland Granite, which is by far my weakest style by about 4 grades. It’s been a total contrast to the summer which I spent pulling on limestone. But who said working weaknesses aren’t fun. It’s been great just going out and doing loads of mileage repeating stuff, doing classics, hidden gems along with a few bonus new lines here or there too. While I’m discussing Moorland Granite, Bovey Woods is despite its infamous reputation not as bad as the rumours suggest (it’s no sharper that standard moorland granite and most classics are fairly close to main paths). For those not in the know, it’s a huge bouldering venue with 1000+ problems and potential for another 500+ more on the eastern edge of Dartmoor. I stayed away for about 5 years due to horror stories but if you’re in the area between October and May then check it out. These rumours were spread to keep it quiet but it’s never going to be a busy crag due to the size of the woods. Must do classics that are worth seeking out include: Slotted Wall V7, Devon Sent V10, Calcaneum Crisis V8 and Bread Crumb Trail V4.

But now the evenings are drawing out and soon clocks change (best day of the year), so it’s back to after work sessions on my usual stomping ground, the North Coast. Recently I managed a few cool new blocs including my winter project. I’ll do a bit of an Exmoor round up in the hope it will get you inspired to fill your tanks and make the drive down. As I said to a bunch of guys the other day the South West is going to be the new Scotland.

Finally, big thanks to Beyond Hope for supporting me this year, psyched to join the team. Stay tuned for more details, updates and photos of the South West scene.