What a difference a day (or three) makes

With Round 3 of the comp over I thought it be kinda interesting to show the different stages of the painting and resetting of the Comp wall. On Wednesday morning the wall got stripped, then painted, leaving it to dry for a day before putting the new Berghaus logos on. Friday then saw the new problems being set before the madness of the competition.

The painting of the wall Wednesday...

...leaves a beautiful blue comp wall by Thursday morning.

By Thursday night the new Berghaus Competition Wall logos are on...

...and by Friday afternoon 25 new comp problems have been set. Lily is seen here testing them out a few hours before the comp.

Friday night madness as over 60 competitors throw themselves at the comp wall. Not bad work in under 72 hours.

The Berghaus Bouldering League round 3

After a crazy busy week painting and re-setting we were ready for Friday nights comp..
It was a huge success with a great turn out from the British team. Check out the results below and the above pictures:-

Round 3

Men

Name Score Bonus
1 Dave Barrans 247 0 Dave won the £100 Percy's Special problem
2 Jordan Buys 247 0
3 Tony Musselbrook 238 2
4 Ned Freehally 235 0
5 Matt Pickles 214 2
6 Pete Crawforth 190 4
7 Mike Taylor 190 2
8 Daniel Turner 187 3
9 Jon Butters 180 3
10 Diego Rodriegue 180 2
11 Craig Devonshire 177 0
12 Ben Freeman 174 2
13 Robin Wood 171 1
14 Tom Haigh 171 1
15 Alain Gordon-Seymor152 2
16 Andy Jennings 149 3
17 Dawid Skoczyzas 137 4
18 Matt Fitton 137 4
19 Alan Monks 124 1
20 Lex Wilkinson 117 3
21 Andy Bowman 117 3
22 Jonathan Richardson 107 2
23 Nathan Phillips 100 4
24 Mark Doyle 91 4
25 Chris Pearson 81 1
26 Adam Walsh 67 2
27 Tim Pearson 61 3
28 Jamie Sheard 60 0
29 Kevin O'Donnell 47 4
30 Tom Bonnert 45 0
31 Oliver Green 32 1
32 Simon Chalder 29 2


Women

Name Score Bonus
1 Leah Crane 180 4
2 Dianne Merrick 180 1
3 Rae Cowie 174 0
4 Reb Girant 156 1
5 Katie Wittaker 142 3
6 Helen Shilleto 140 0
7 Ellie Howard 140 0
8 Lizzie Bowler 81 2


Boys Under 18's

Name Score Bonus
1 James Garden 224 0
2 Tom Milton 120 0
3 Sam Tee 97 1
4 Nathan Mason 111 0
5 Matthew Travers 110 0
6 Josh Wales 107 1
7 Josh Prime 77 1
8 Dylan Kennedy 82 0
9 Dominic Wragg 47 6
10 Ben Clough 124 3


Girls Under 18's

Name Score Bonus
1 Beth Monks 171 1
2 Rebecca Bowman 40 2
3 Jade Jackson 20 0
4 Charlotte Garden60 0
5 Andrea Williams 77 0

Repainting, Resetting + Sharma Lecture

This Friday sees Round 3 of the Berghaus Bouldering League take place at The Climbing Works and so the whole comp wall is being reset and repainted for this Friday. £100 cash awaits the first person to send Percy's very special bonus problem as it's a rollover this month after nobody sent it in Round 2.

Lu hard at work painting the comp wall - 'blue is the colour...'

The comp starts this Friday at 7pm and will finish just before 10pm. Sam will be on the decks so it will be a cracking night.

If you're on our email list you should have received our monthly newsletter with the big news that on Sunday 16th March The Climbing Works will host a lecture by Chris Sharma. It's the first time that he has lectured in the U.K. so it's going to be a cracking night. Tickets are £10 for Climbing Works members, £12 non-members. There's 225 tickets available and we've already sold half of them so you better be quick if you want to see Chris.

Tickets available online at heason.net or you can purchase them at The Climbing Works front desk.

New Circuits plus Whole Wall Back in Business

All the matting that was lifted up for modifications has now been finished and is all back in place meaning we have a fully opened wall for you to enjoy.

Also finished are 2 new circuits, but with a twist. The new Orange Scarpa circuit is something new in that it starts easy (font 3) but progressively gets harder with problem 40 finishing at a Percy grade of 7a++ (7b'sh to most other people).
The circuit is also different in that you have a chance to win a free pair of Scarpa shoes. All you need to do is complete the circuit within 1 month of today & hand in your scorecard (available at the front desk) and you'll be entered into a prize draw for a pair of shoes of your choice.

The other new circuit is the return of the easy spotty's which are hugely popular. This time though there's something new. This is a true font style circuit in that you can do the whole circuit without touching the ground! In all, it's about 250 moves and weighs in at around 6c (if you milk the rests, a bit harder if you push on through). For those who want some stamina, this is the circuit for you. If you find it too easy, reverse it as well : )

Percy & Sam testing the new traverse of the green spotty circuit. Who says boulder's don't have stamina...

Change of Mats Ongoing

The out of use areas from Monday / Tuesday - Slab, Arch & planetFear column - are now all back open.
In their place the back wall (where the kids boulder is situated), the stepped roof, the graffiti wall and one side of the skip facing the stepped roof are all closed now for Wednesday and Thursday.
Again, it's only around 20% of the wall closed but even with that it's still the biggest bouldering wall in the U.K.

As some areas are off-limits we are offering all customers a special price for Climbing. Prices after 5pm will be £5.50 normal & £4.50 concession.

Other going-on's include a new Orange circuit which will be a departure from previous circuits as it will start easy and get progressively harder as the numbers increase. 40 problems have been set and it will be numbered and ready to go in the next few days.

We're also changing the easiest spotty circuit with a new one will be up and numbered by Friday.

Life & Times at Fontainebleau High

New Year and after a full 4 days of work I was in need of a holiday and where better than a trip to the magic forest of Fontainebleau. The trip consists of 8 Climbing Works regulars bringing their new found Works gained strength to the home of bouldering.

Staying in a sweet gite in Recloses in the south of the forest we've been exploring the classic areas of the forest including Bas Cuvier, 95.2, Apremont, Gorge aux Chats & the reason why we all come to Fontainebleau - Carrefour!

Alex on a classic 7a+ at Gorge aux Chats

After a gruelling 13 hour drive / ferry / drive on absolute non-stop, constant rain we arrived in Font to the hardest downpour yet - so hard we couldn't even see the road in front of us and pretty much had to stop to let it pass. A portent of things to come??? we hoped not.

....We where kinda right, it hasn't rained all the time...just some of the time. It's been a fairly constant cycle of rain at night, grey in the morning, bright in the afternoon. So we've been looking at wet rock in the morning (that's our reason for the complete faff in the morning that means we haven't left the gite before 11am every morning), heading out to find dry rock (that's why the tour of all the quickest drying areas) and a few ascents by headtorch.

For the poor weather it's been a great trip with lots of sends and even a meeting of THE man of the forest, and friend of the Works, Monsieur Jacky Godoffe - at Bas Cuvier as well. He was out for an easy circuit - lapping all the 7a's with his little dog that's as mad as Percy's Pops. As we went to try Cortomaltése, Jacky's look of sorry and maybe disdain was a memory I won't forget. For those who don't know Cortomaltése is a classic 7a sloper problem that considering the damp conditions and recent rain was probably not the best decision we made all week in terms of problem choice.

The absolute classic Marie Rose. The first 6 in the forest

So now I sit here on a thursday night with a shit forecast for Friday, I wish to praise a few things - the quality of the bouldering in Font (it IS the dogs bollocks!!), the quality of Font gite's and the quality & cheapness of the French wine and beer.

With a few days left, i'm hoping for good weather (but not optimistic) and looking forward to getting on the comp wall for my next trip to Font

The 'hair man' Reeve on Rubis 7b+ at Gorge aux Chats

Happy New Year from The Climbing Works!

Wow - 2008 already! Next week we will set 2 new circuits. The green spotty holds will get reset, and my new years present to The Works customers will also get set - with a load of lovely NEW HOLDS from Bendcrete. The 8 circuits we currently have each have problems in a certain grade range. My new Orange Bendcrete circuit will introduce a new concept - a circuit which slowly gets harder and harder as you go on. I don't know if it will work or not but lets give it a go. Thats the beauty of having such a big wall to play with - we can experiment with our problems and see what is nice to climb and what isn't. If it works it stays, if it doesn't, down it comes - a simple philosophy!
Other stuff thats going on to start off the new year - there will be some minor disruption over the next week or two with small areas of the wall being out of action (no area being closed for more than a day or so at a time). This is because our mats are being modified so that by the end of January we can have our new carpet mat cover installed. This will benefit everybody in a number of ways. It should reduce the airborne dust in the centre, it will help keep the rubber on your shoes clean, it will make the place feel warmer, it will improve the landing comfort of the mats, and it will be much easier for us to keep clean.
The third round of the bouldering league is on Friday 25th of January at 7pm, and this month is a roll-over! The special cash prize problem will be worth £100 cash to the first person to climb it in the event (this is due to nobody managing my last creation!)
Finally, myself and the other Big Cheeses are deep in planning discussions for this years Climbing Works International Masters competition. We aren't ready to announce our plans yet, but lets just say we are going BIG and UNCONVENTIONAL, and are thinking about trying a new format for the event. More details as soon as we dream some up......