Beyond Hope

Attaching the Metolius Wood Grips Fingerboard to a Pull Up Bar

mike — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 11:25:20 +0000

Due to a request on how I mounted my fingerboard to my pull up bar, I thought it would be easier to post on here how I did it. When I say “I” I clearly mean my better half, me and DIY do not work !

This is a photo of the over all fingerboard, as you can see I have mounted it to a pull up bar as I wanted the ability to be able to move it on to different door frames and also because my house appears to be made of cardboard, and this thing landing on me would be painful…

We first mounted the fingerboard on to a piece of wood to strengthen the joints fixing it to the pull up bar and to raise the board higher to avoid knee scrapage on the floor. It was mounted just using a few screws…

We then placed a couple of hooks on to the back of the board so that it would take the downwards pressure on to the bar:

To complete your installation, please see more at http://www.climbersblogs.blogspot.co.uk/

Control Your Breathing…Control Your Fear: BlocFest Rocks RCC By Jen Wilby

mike — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:24:06 +0000

“So much of our suffering - as individuals is caused by fear and fear is at the very root of our ego”

When using the word “fear” in the climbing environment, most will talk about a fear of physical pain related to hurting themselves, falling off etc. Whilst physical pain is part of climbing (I’ll talk about the pain BlocFest caused my entire body later), there is also a mental pain within climbers, the pain of fear which is common amongst women climbers, although I am sure it’s common within the male climbing community but many won’t admit it and that’s the fear of people watching you climbing, of people judging your climbing.

Whilst this fear is in the mind, it can have huge physical side affects, including:

1) Sweating

2) Rapid heartbeat

3) Weakness

Read much more at www.climbersblogs.blogspot.co.uk

Rain Rain Go Away…by Madeleine Cope

mike — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 09:29:09 +0000

There is nothing like a term spent indoors at university to get you dreaming about crisp winter days bouldering on the gritstone. Unfortunately, those crisp winter days I’d been waiting for have been few (actually I’m not sure there has any!) and far between. After numerous futile attempts to go climbing outdoors I realised that driving to the crag just to eat your sandwiches in the car wasn’t worth it and resigned myself to pulling on plastic.

Since my return to indoor climbing after the summer resulted in the tweaking of my finger I have been quite hesitant to pull hard. However, taking part in the bouldering competition at UCR Bristol got me psyched for indoor climbing (not something I’ve ever really been too bothered about) and it was especially impressive to witness the strength of the young boulderers that train with Ben West. All in all it was a day with a great atmosphere, interesting setting and I was also very happy to have won the female category.

The lack of dry rock has made me realise how much I depend on climbing outdoors for happiness and maybe it is good to learn to appreciate other things. I’m not saying it’s time to go join the hordes in the Christmas sales but the poor weather lends itself to spending time with friends and family. Enjoying this time rather than itching to get on dry rock might help pass the rainy days. Alternatively it might be wise to try and spend as much of the winter out of the UK as possible!

Thankfully the new year has brought with it a couple of dry days! I decided to visit the Five Clouds at the Roaches as I had never been before and it did not disappoint. The highlights of the day were Finger of Fate (highball 6b arête), Trust (7a that required you to ‘trust’ a crucial smear above the mantel) and Milky Button (7b wall climb that I tried and would like to return to). On the joyous day Wednesday 9^thJanuary 2013 the sun came out in full swing and it was nice run around the playground that is Stanage Plantation. However, being British, thus unable to ever be satisfied with the weather it was obviously now too hot! A problem that I had never noticed before called Zippy’s Traverse (7b) was in the shade, providing nice cold slopers. Although this problem is not my style I really enjoyed working out the beta but struggled to hold the swing at the end (time to get doing some core work before returning). Climbing Honorary Caley (7a) and Hour Glass Left (7a) was a great way to end the day although how to get off the ground on Hour Glass itself (also 7a) still escapes me!

BlocFest takes over the Castle By Jen Wilby

mike — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 09:55:18 +0000

The Castle is a magnificent victorian building towering over the Finsbury Park area of North London and on the 8th December it was host to the 2nd round of the amazing new BlocFest Bouldering Festival.

BlocFest is 5 giant bouldering festivals led by world class boulder setters across the South of England, but its not just a normal climbing festival, its exciting, social, challenging but most of all its what climbing is all about … FUN!

The launch event was held at Mile End on the 10th October and was a huge success with over 250 folk enjoying the blocs, challenges and freebies on offer.

Click here to see photo’s and results of the launch event:http://www.blocfest.co.uk/

On Saturday, the Castle’s bouldering areas, inlcuding the steep powerhouse pen, the panels, slabs and inspirational mezz were filled with 25 blocs ready for everyone to have a go at. The problems range from easy up to insanely hard / challenging – which ensures something for everyone.

Deep s*** soloing and a windy whip by Luke Tilley

mike — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 09:43:16 +0000

The last month or so has been a bit sensitive in our house. We mused at the beginning of the year that we were all going to get really strong or really injured well at the moment the house is pretty injured but hopefully things are well on the mend. 2 months ago Ralph broke his wrist from a ground fall when gear failed on a trad route. Jacob finally flirted with his braking point on the board 4 days on, power training and did in a pulley, thankfully not too badly. He has subsequently seriously sprained his ankle doing some recovery climbing on the grit. Ben is feeling the strain on his fingers, I have strained my back on my trip and Jacob Handyside has just gone down with tonsillitis.

The Squad welcomes Evolv, Prana & Metolius

mike — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 11:35:00 +0000

Last Friday 7th December, The Squad was pleased to open their boxes with their brand new uniform!

Our kit consists of black shorts (and leggings for the fashion-conscious girls) made by Prana, silver chalk bags by Metolius and the latest models of Evolv footwear. With the Tshirt design competition now over, we expect that in January 2013 we will have the coolest uniform in the whole of the South East region.

We thank Rick and the rest of the cool team at Beyond Hope for their support and encouragement.

Below, Stan couldn’t wait for the BlocFest to try his new Shaman shoes!

San Vito Lo Capo, Sicily – Tesni & Celt Lloyd-Jones

mike — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 11:28:14 +0000

Tesni Awel Lloyd-Jones 13Long time no update! Over the half term my family and I went climbing to Sicily for a good two weeks. We climbed on marble which is a type of limestone; some crags were sharp, yet some were smooth. While we were out in Sicily we climbed many overhangs, caves, a few slabs, but the best routes were on tufas . I love climbing tufas, they are so much fun with their crazy formations! It was a great climbing experience which I would love to go do again. I climbed about sixty routes in total which was good going for two weeks including the rest days.

Winter Wonderland by Adam Jeeworth

mike — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 11:22:52 +0000

Well its official, winter seems to be here. It’s not snowed yet but it’s cold and crisp, perfect conditions for getting out bouldering.

I’ve had a few good days out recently walking, bouldering and enjoying the fresh air.

I Headed to Trowbarrow last Thursday, bouldering with Vickers. It took me a while to warm up but ended up having alright session. I did Pit Problem v8, Pit Problem left start v9, Wheelbarrow v10 and Neds problem v8. Really enjoyed the climbing on all the problems but did get totally shut down trying a 1 move v9 – The Buccaneer. Followed the day out by bouldering session at Westview before the boot demo!

This weekend I headed to Caley with Vickers and Gill. I forgot how good this place was!! It’s been 2 years since I was last here and I was really motivated.

“Little French beers, pain au chocolats, pain au raisins and some climbing in Fontainebleau By Jen Wilby

mike — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 11:18:40 +0000

The moment had come, it was time to leave Ailefroide and make our penultimate drive to the Foret of Fontainebleau, armed with the 7&8′s book which I felt privileged to own (Thanks to R.C.C’s Christmas Raffle), I was psyched.I’ve been climbing for 7 years and this is my 9th visit to the Forest. Most of these visits have been in October, so I was convinced the weather would be amazing. Therefore it was a surprise to find the whole forest wet…very wet and would continue to be for the first 2 weeks of our visit.

Despite the rain / very hot damp weather (there was no inbetween these two extremes) I managed to get the following done, all of which I had seen other people do on previous trips and vowed to come back and do myself:

read more at http://www.climbersblogs.blogspot.co.uk/

Gorges du Tarn by Ben West

mike — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 10:19:29 +0000

Summer (if that’s what you’d call it). Come the end of August, Heath and I got so fed up of the lousy weather we headed to France in search of some sun, vitamin D and dry rock. After hearing that the Gorge du Tarn had undergone a major re-equipping project and a new guide-book that had just been released, we thought this would be an ideal venue. Situated in the South of France the Tarn host metres and metres of immaculate rock and a beautiful river that cuts its way down through the gorge; we arrived late Saturday evening only to see the dark towering shadows of the gorge. After a good nights sleep we checked into the campsite, picked up a guide and headed out to see what those giant shadows had to offer.

The first few days were spent gaining a bit of mileage and seeking out shade. This took us to a couple of shorter north/east facing crags of the gorge; even in the shade, you would come down from a route dripping with sweat. The 2nd was a good onsight day, I managed a F7a+,7b,7b+,7c+. T’a Pas Un Nom was the F7a+ and was a great route, good gymnastic moves on pockets. We had a slightly easier day on Tuesday, well in terms of number of routes anyway. After warming up on this really short 7a+ (Microcome consanguin) I managed to tick this sweet little F8a Maree Basse 2nd go. I woke the next day with the psyche.