Lead Comp Results

With the news that the defending champion had decided not to enter the competition was blown wide open!!! That was until Mark Page found a certain someone's score card a the bottom of his van!

With a total of 53 new routes and a maximum of 10 points for an on sight all scores are out of 530. However it should be noted that not everyone managed to get two full sessions on each wall.

Steve Le Feuvre 503

Nathan 370

James Burton 338

Andrea 320

Mark 290

Laura 246 (+1 for best hand writing)

Tom 245

Liz 200

Dean 175

Luke 70

Well done to everyone who took part!

Take it easy

Steve Le F

GMC trip away to Jersey

On the 8th of october an elite team of Guernsey climbers, made up of Andy,Paddy,Chris & Nathan, were dispatched to Jersey to siege their hardest climbs. Well not quite the hardest, but we still had fun.

Arriving in Jersey on the redeye friday morning, we were greeted with torrential rain, Me and paddy were still excited and weren't phased by it however the look on andy's face was just utter dissapointment. After a pit stop at Mcdonalds the rain had stopped and we were ready, a quick bus ride out to Grosnez and we were tied in and ready to climb.

We headed to the Rockscience and Kneecap area and Paddy started us off by cruising a severe with a long runout, I then pressured Andy into leading a hvd which he got up with minimal trouble and we finished off with me getting utterly spanked on a hvs, not the start I was hoping for...

Picture - Paddy pulling through the crux on ' The wrinkled stopper S 4b' at La pilier Dangle on saturday.

We spent the night bivvying behind some shooting range targets and met Nathan in the morning, I could tell Nathan wanted to make the most of his trip and this led to him doing some of the most impressive Leading I've seen him do, 10-15ft up, no gear placed, feet on wet holds, and full on body disco, even I thought Nathan was going to die and this was only on a vs, imagine what it was like when he was on an E1.

Below - Nathan making the awkward mantle on Gentle Retainer Hvs 5a


That night we managed to find a bistro that provided the much needed beer for Andy, we slept alot better that night and managed to wake up at the crack of dawn to head to the pinnacle. Standing beneath it i was in Awe and definetely nervous, A 3pitch Hvs heading straight up the middle but being shot down on a hvs the first day was still fresh in my mind, because the pinnacle was damp from fog, and we were scared we decided to give it a miss, But I've got this route kicking me in the back of my head, I need to return to do it sometime soon!!!
On sunday we only got 3 climbs in at Guns cliff, It's called this because after the war the big German turrets were thrown off the cliff here, and they still lie at the bottom. So to summarize, we had 3 days of sunshine, got alot of routes done, and finished it off with a pizza hut, PERFECT.

If In Doubt Run It Out

The motto "if in doubt run it out" was ringing in my mind as I eyed up my next bit of gear. It was a long way away and I was pumped out of my mind but "thats how you get routes done" I kept telling myself. I set off towards that next bit of gear. Once I arrived there, pump out of my mind, I knew I had made a mistake. There was in fact no gear and that cam I had placed just a few moments ago seemed miles away. I frantically tried to down climb as screamed the words

"FUCK... Chris take... Ah

.................................. h

................................... ...h

................................... ......h

.................................... ......h

.................................... .......h

.................................... ........h

........................................ ....h

Of course, your always safe when Chris is belaying and my cam wasn't

that far away but I was crying like a browny on the way down! I was

lowered to the ground untied and Chris took over the lead. He made

easy work of the climbing up to my high point but decided to get

lowered down in a more controlled fashion than I did. I found myself

tying in for the lead again and manage, in very poor style, to finish

the route.

All thats left is a clean ascent... Can't wait..!?!

Steve Le F

Last Club Outdoor Session for 2010

It was sadly that time of year when the club had to make the move indoors and to make things worse on the last outdoor session of the year the tides were crap :( The only logical solution was to set up a super awesome high ropes course and have a BBQ.

The highlight was Marks bowel shaking "Death Slide" and the lowlight... taking it all down in the rain.

Take it easy

Steve Le F

La Congrelle

So... got home from work on Wednesday and Chris persuaded me to put some effort in and check out La Congrelle for the first time. We abseiled in around 7pm and checked out the routes. Decided on an awesome 2pitch HVS - Remington. The first pitch was pretty straight forward for me, but Chris drew the short straw with HUGE amounts of rope drag leading to a scary top out on the second pitch. This made my seconding in the dark a bit harder then I was hoping for, but topped out around 9:30 I think! Cheers Chris!

Nathan C

Havelet Wall Traverse
The GMC have a social, and what happens? Another adventure is planned! Well when I say planned I mean discussed, agreed by a drunken few, never mentioned again, then it takes place. Ladies and gentlemen I present to you The Story of The Havelet Traverse 1st August 2010......
During the course of the social it was mentioned that the tides would be pretty good for an attempt on the Havelet Wall. Many were up for it, but the following day many were not. I wasn’t sure if people were going to be there, or if it would actually take place so on Sunday morning, I thought I’d go for a bike ride and head to the wall to see if anyone else was there, I packed my shoes, a towel, a t-shirt and off I went. All the way into town I was wondering who, if anyone would be there. If no-one was there then my plan was to carry on around the island on my bike and maybe go for 2 laps of it. As I turned off the main road and headed towards Castle Cornet I still wasn’t sure if it would be a goer or not. The I saw them......Greg, Stina, & James B. 5 minutes later Laura turns up with 2 friends from Uni. Ed & Robyn. It was on! We looked at the wall and all decided it was a long, long way but hey we were here so no point messing about, we may as well get on with it.

Greg took the lead and Stina became the official photographer for the days event. Next up was Ed, followed by Laura then Robyn, James B & I took last place on the wall. We all started right up the top of the slipway, Greg, James & me all took the decision to come off just before we got over the water then rest before going for it. I did 25 metres so I “won” the bet with Greg & Nathan so another £50 gets donated to Cancer Research, thanks both!

After a few minutes Greg was back on the wall, then James then I went for it again.

Suddenly Robyn was in the water, Havelet had claimed the first victim of the day!
The tide was still on the up and ledges which looked good were soon getting covered with water and the wave splashing up the wall and covering your legs, surprisingly the water wasn’t that cold. The unwritten rule of the day was that you couldn’t give up on the wall without getting a good dunkin’

Greg suddenly came off the wall, and took a swim back to the slipway.

Luke turned up, but hadn’t got his gear as he thought we would have been too far along and would have missed us. Then Tom turned up, who had got his gear and decided to go for it. Luke helped out by moving the dinghy someone had placed against the wall.

I didn’t see Laura come off as I think I was more concerned about staying on myself at that point but I saw her swim back. Apart from James and Ed I think she got the furthest so fair play to her. We were falling like flies now!

I was slipping off the wall for fun at one point, but knew I had to go for it. I had a target in my head then I thought I’d look at the next bits after that. I got to a nice big boulder a few meters over the water, which was still clear, it was a good place to stop and evaluate the next moves, unfortunately I then climbed myself into a dead end, and whilst trying to get back to the big one, my feet slipped and that, was that I was in, top to toe. I did jump back on the wall a few more times, but with the wind blowing and the rain starting to come in, I decided enough was enough. I had completed my challenge, I had raised another £50, and I knew we would be doing it again before the end of the summer so...

At this time only James & Ed were still on the wall and were just past the bunker, after getting changed I walked down to them. It was still raining at this point. I asked how they were getitng on, and Ed said it was starting to get slippy and quite moist. And then boom, Ed came off and began the swim back to the slipway. James B – Last Man Standing.

   

   

About 15 minutes later, Martin and Chris turn up, then Nathan arrives. Chris and Nathan decide to give James some encouragement so they clamber over the top, down the rusty chain and start doing the traverse. Well they were supposed to be doing the traverse, Nathan seemed more keen to go for a swim and Chris was happy just doing horizontal handstands. James mentioned he was starting to get tired and I’m not surprised he’d been on the wall for about 1hr 45 mins if not longer, then his leg slipped once, then his arm went then splash!!! He was in. How far did he get? About ½ way...............
between the rusty chain and the ladder.

Good effort Sir! And that was that the Havelet Traverse remained unbeaten but the battle isn’t over.

As usual folks plenty more pictures on the Facebook group pages.

The Crocker Cronicles!

Martin Crocker on Salt 'n Wound E5 6b


Martin Crocker has kindly given the GMC his route descriptions which detail many routes, up to E6 6b, which he climbed during a number of trips to Guernsey.

All his route descriptions can be found on the New Routes section of the club website. If your after inspiration its a good place to find it.

See you out there!

Steve Le F

Two Projects Sent!

After coming back from Font all I wanted to do was boulder something hard! During a club session at Port Soif I started looking at a line straight up the middle of the barrel boulder. Although there are already some problems on this boulder the obvious line up the middle using the lonely hand hold remained unclimbed.

I wasn't the only one bouldering hard. Chris Smith had just sent his project at the Pecqueries boulder. "He's not Queer, he's just a Hobbit" takes the undercut pinch rail to the right of "The Classic" and could well be Guernsey's hardest boulder problem weighing in at V7.

After many sessions the barrel project finally went to give "Potential Difference". As for the grade I have no idea as its probably the hardest thing I've done and therefore hard for me to assign a number to it.

See you out there!

Steve Le F

The Adventure of Petit Port

Chapter 2 – Assault on the Chimney 29/05/10
After we bailed on the initial attempt we’ve been talking about going back and finishing the job. We’ve arranged days but each time decided against it, too cold, too wet, looks like rain etc. Messages sent via Facebook and we agreed we would go for it on Saturday. The day started looking miserable and wet I sent a message “Let’s do it. 1300” I text’d Chris, he replied saying he would rather do anything else but the chimney, so I asked him if was coming or not, his reply was along the lines of “**** it, I’ll come” We were on!

we quickly geared up, and Nathan decided to lead the 1st pitch the chimney was dirty and wetter than last time we were here, and was full of fly’s. Nathan started well and got to the point where he bailed last time really quickly with no issues, then the inevitable happened; DISCO LEG, this was like no disco leg I’ve seen on Nathan before, it was so bad I could feel the rope shaking through the belay device. But fair play to him, he stuck with it and got over the chockstone, and then I heard some rather strange squeaks coming from Nathan I did shout up and ask if one the Bikini Boulder’s was already up there so weird were the noises. The call came that he was safe, so I took him off belay and got out of the chimney for a few seconds just to breath some fresh air as it was horrid in the chimney with the fly’s all around you.

I started to climb, clearing the gear as I went, this time remembering to put it on the right so that it wouldn't get stuck as I did the headlong dive onto the top of the stone. However this time I tried a different approach and tried to get into the tunnel more elegantly, I failed. This time I nearly managed to get my entire body stuck. But I managed to get in and Nathan commented it was more entertaining watching me from the top then it was from the bottom.

Chris joined us in the tunnel and we were where we were the last time we came. As we walked up the tunnel, Chris was leading the way then he came across his nemesis PIGEONS, they were still there and they were waiting for Chris. Eventually and probably due to the noises Chris was making the pigeons flew off and we were up at the top end then Chris pointed out why he had wanted to do this on a dry day, the start of the 2nd pitch was soaked. we looked around for t a belay point, but the only option was to belay from the top of the tunnel roof, so I scrambled up a took a look, there was a solid enough ledge to stand / belay from but getting there looked a little tricky. There was a narrow ledge to walk on, but as I tested it for weight it started to crumble, it was basically just collected mud. So the only way onto the ledge was by bridging across the chimney and going for it. As I said the ledge was solid, and when we got there realised it would have been an easier escape then the one we used last time, as we had a big boulder for a sling and steep but not vertical slope down to the outside of the chimney and down onto the beach.

Chris was leading the 2nd pitch, and off he went. Just as he started so did the rain. Fortunately it was blowing in off the sea so we weren’t getting the full brunt of it, just enough to make us damp. Chris was having a tough time placing gear, as the rock on the 2nd pitch was just as flaky as the 1st if not more so. But he managed to get in some friends on the right and micro’s on the left. Each piece of gear was being tested thoroughly as the rock was so flaky. After a while Chris was on a ramp and about to go chockstone weaving. I did hear him say something about it being polished but didn’t really grasp what he was saying. Chris carried on up and then we lost sight of him as he went behind the 1st chockstone. We got a shout from Chris about how much rope we had left and as we hadn’t passed the ½ way point, Chris was going to set up the belay and I would clip into the rope and Nathan climb on the ends.

I started the 2nd pitch and started to take the gear out, I was pretty cold by now as we had been standing on the ledge for quite a while. However I did manage the climb upto the ramp, and only kicked off the one lump of rock. When I got on the ledge I realised what Chris had meant by “polished” it was smooth + wet = lethal! I could hardly stand up on it. Then it was time to go weaving, Chris had followed the route description and had gone in and out of the chockstones. I managed to get up to the 1st chockstone quite easily, but couldn’t get the nut out Chris had placed there. I tried but was losing the feeling in my leg due to the way I was positioned so had to move on. I stood on the chockstone and waited a few seconds for the blood to go back into my leg so I could carry on. Getting onto the next chockstone was slightly more difficult, primarily because I’m 6’4” and Chris isn’t. It was an awkward move for me but I got there. By this time my legs were pumped and I couldn’t have got much further. As I poked my head around the chockstone I saw Chris on a ledge and started looking to see how I could get round him. The Chris gave me the good news “I need you to sit there, as there’s no room up here” . Great!! So I sat down and got as comfortable as you could sitting on a rock lodged between 2 cliff faces about 50 metres above the sea, and tied into the system.

Nathan started climbing and soon was on the middle chockstone just below me. At this point I did think it was a shame there was no-one on the beach to take a picture as Chris on the ledge, me on the chockstone and Nathan just below on another one would have made a great pic. As Nathan was standing up on, it was decided he would take the lead for the last pitch as the belay Chris had set up was bomber, and it would save time if he just carried on climbing, so off he went.

Chris said he would go next and I would follow up. As the rope tightened we responded with the calls but we really couldn’t hear anything from Nathan. I was tight on one rope and Chris was on the other, so Chris undid the belay and began to climb the last pitch. As we couldn’t hear we agreed that when he got to the belay he would give 3 sharp tugs on the rope to signal me to climb and I would respond with the same to say I was climbing. Not to long after I got the 3 tugs so I started to climb, this pitch was unlike any other climbing I had done. There was rock there but it was overgrown with gorse, ivy, brambles, ferns and just about any other vegetation you would normally find on the cliffs. I could see the rock but only below all of the vegetation. Then I heard Nathan talking to Chris, “I can hear him grunting he must be climbing”, only the first 10 – 15 metres were like this, and eventually it flattened out into a gentle slope, with fern on both sides of a well worn path, Nathan had found a belay tree to set up on and that was it the chimney was ours. Wasn’t it?


Whilst Chris and Nathan were dismantling the belay I said I’d look for the walk out and see where we could go. I followed a path between the ferns and just kept walking, in and out of gorse bushes, Then the path stopped. I backtracked and followed another path, then it stopped. Backtracked again, nothing. A small scramble and we should be back on the path, nope, nothing there. Chris and Nathan came up the slope with the gear, then we started to discuss if we would need to climb the white wall and ab down the other side in order to get out. Nathan recognized where he had set the belay up from his last abseil so we had a little 2 metre solo, scramble down the other side, walk around the wall. Up on another rock, turn right, cliff path. As we had left all of our stuff down at beach level we then had to walk down the steps to the beach, pick everything up then walk back up the steps. But it was over.


Petit Port Chimney
First Ascent –
FH Grenfell & Brother – 1908

Second Ascent –
Chris Smith, Nathan Crabb, Dean Cooper - 29/05/10

A true classic adventure, which overtime will increase in the telling, and the rock will get flakier, and the rain will get heavier, & the wind will be stronger as the story is retold.

I suppose the question is would I repeat it? Yes I think I would, on a beautiful sunny day, if only to sit on the top chockstone and feel the sun on my face, looking over Petit Port bay hearing the waves crash against the shoreline, knowing that I was part of the team which freed this route after more than 100 years. - Special

10th / 11th April

So this weekend we had a good turnout again, on the saturday we headed to Gull Zawn, this time I got shot down early and backed off trying 'Gneiss Gorilla' E2, then I decided to try 'Titanium Stripper' E3 but ended differing between 3 routes and finishing up the E1 'After the Goldrush', I have to mention a thankyou to Andrea for seconding up my zig-zag route (I think the constant change in routes left her a little dizzy), all in all very bad style from me.

Luckily for team 'send stuff' we had foreigner Adam over who doesn't back down so easily like myself, he spent the day trying his project but after he was done he had a quick top-rope attempt on what looked to be a blank direct start to 'Corridors of Power' E3, it turned out to be not so blank of holds and Adam was off before I even had time to get him on belay! Although the route was easy(ish) climbing (easy if you're Adam) Adam described it as 'bold', his first estimate is possibly E4 5c, my first estimate is that I NEVER want to climb one of Adam's E4's!

Also doing the team proud was Mark Page who led 'Rat Trap' seconded by Dean a.k.a the 'Chimney master', the 'Chimney Hunter' or the 'Chimney Crusher', and Olly and James W continued to gain experience & sunburn doing the first pitch of 'Shot in the dark'. Dean was especially pleased to make it to the top although he did leave half the gear in as he was in such a rush to top out! Mark found the route amenable but would like to see an ascent by someone not as tall as himself to see if it is the 'desperate struggle' the guidebook says it is!

Day 2 we headed to the main area at Mont Herault but first off Mark gave us a tour of the island, in this 2 hour tour we saw some good potential bouldering and a very nice-looking wall that Mark had discovered and named 'Tiger Wall', if anyone's hungry for F.A's then they should head there, or anywhere in Guernsey will probably do.

First off I tried 'Cosmo's Crack' E3 but fell off, Adam then went on to send it with ease. Big Nathan led 'Jam Sandwich' VS, for anyone who's never watched Nathan lead climb I highly recommend it, his disco leg is ridiculous. The route was seconded by Mark and little Nathan. I then sent 'Reptile', the island's first E2. To finish off, Adam tried 'Joker's Arete' E3, however the problem with this route is it is mostly protected by a rusty old peg which is probably 24 years old! Although this didn't put Adam off climbing the route, it did stop him trying his hardest on the crux so in the end he backed down (getting into some crazy positions downclimbing), it was still very impressive to watch!

as usual pictures are on facebook

See you all next weekend, Chris.

Font - Easter Weekend

Little Chris, Big Nathan, Rich, Luke and Steve had an awesome trip to Font. The two day round trip was worth it as the weather was kind providing us with two days of excellent bouldering. Keep an eye out for the trip report on the GMC website.

2010 GMC Indoor Leading Competition - Results!

2010 GMC Indoor Leading Competition - Results!

1st - Luke Cummins (124 points)

2nd - Andrea Keller (122 points)

3rd - James Burton (120 points)

4th - Mark Page (119 points)

5th - Steve Le Feuvre (112 points)

6th - Nathan Crabb (111 points)

7th - Dean Cooper (64 points)

8th - Chistophe Fierdepied (45 points)

9th - Andy Charlney (31 points)

10th - Nick Fewkes (22 points)

 

Points without handicaps applied for info;

 

1st - Steve Le Feuvre (128 points)

2nd - Nathan Crabb (127 points)

3rd - Andrea Keller (122 points)

4th - James Burton (120 points)

5th - Mark Page (119 points)

6th - Luke Cummins (108 points)

7th - Dean Cooper (48 points)

8th - Chistophe Fierdepied (29 points)

9th - Nick Fewkes (22 points)

10th - Andy Charlney (15 points)

Facebook & Google. How harmful can they be?

So on Saturday morning I had finished the normal chores, whilst the wife is away in England, when I updated my status on Facebook with an innocent question. What are you doing today? Nathan replied that he wanted to try Petit Port chimney. I jumped onto the GMC webpage to take a look, nothing there. I then went to UKC to see if there was any information there. Nothing. So I emailed Nathan to see what it was all about, "It was climbed in 1908" he said. Ok, let’s do it. Anyway we met up at Petit Port myself, Nathan and Chris S. Nathan gives me a climbing log he had found via Google about 2 brothers climbing in Guernsey. "Petit Port Chimney" was the first one in this logbook. Reading through it these brothers had started about 1/2 way up as it was high tide and couldn't get to the beach access. So we headed to the beach .

The plan was to do it in 2 pitches, the first pitch starting from the beach then the 2nd pitch from where the 2 brothers had started back in 1908. The first thing we noticed was the rock was wet, as Nathan started the lead, the second thing we noticed was the rock was loose! I think "below" was probably the most used phrase of the day. Nathan made a good effort and got to the crux on the first pitch, but after about 10 minutes of doing an Elvis impression had to come down. Up stepped Chris. Within a few minutes he was at the crux, an overhang chockstone, then as he cleared it we heard "awesome, you can climb through. There's a tunnel". After Chris had set up the belay, Nathan told me I was seconding the climb.

I clipped in and away I went. Back, Arm, Leg, Knee, brace, squirm, wiggle. Got to the chockstone and managed to get myself in a position where I could clear it and as I poked my head over the top, realized that it was a 2 stage crux, the chockstone was the easiest, the next part leading into the tunnel was, for me anyway, way harder. Basically a headfirst dive on top of the chockstone then squirm along on your belly. Not too bad, until the gear I had cleared on the way up got jammed. For the next 10 minutes I was trying to clear the gear which had got stuck, all Nathan could see from the bottom were my legs sticking out, and all Chris could see from the top was my head. Eventually I did manage to clear the jam (quick tip if you carrying gear, try to put as much as you can on the right hand side). With a helping hand from Chris I got into the tunnel and in the process cleared some nice holds by removing all of the debris with my feet. In the tunnel it was wet, muddy, the rock was flaking off, and to top it all there were pigeons nesting in there. I unclipped and Nathan started the climb.

Whilst Nathan was climbing Chris was telling me how he was glad it was Nathan's ropes, brand new gear and draws we were using. Did I mention it was muddy in the tunnel, and Chris was basically sitting on Nathan's ropes. Nathan cleared the route easily and picked up a few bits of gear I had left and cleared a couple more holds with his feet. We hadn't got a clue what time it was apart from after 3:30. Looking down from the tunnel you could see the tide coming in and it looked massive. We took a walk up the tunnel as far as we could, but decided we would leave the chimney, as described by the brothers, and come back for it when we had more time. The belay Chris had set up was all on micro placements, and we were not sure how good they would be when we abseiled down, so we started looking for better placements. Then we found out how flaky and loose the rock was. Nathan climbed up onto the roof of the tunnel to see if we could place gear there, no luck. Could we throw a rope over the roof, no, we wouldn't be able to get it on the other side. Could we place further up the tunnel, no, the rock was to loose, Nathan tied back in to see if we could get something in the roof, and also to tie a sling around one of the chockstones as a backup. After spending some time checking out the possibilities he managed to get a big hex in the roof of the tunnel. It was bombproof. A quick and smooth absail down, and we were standing at the end of the cave, with the tide washing around our feet. At the bottom Chris said he thought we would be abseiling into water and would have to swim for it, I told him the same thought had gone through my mind and I was bracing myself for it. All in all a great afternoon's climbing and a really good laugh. Glad I was there and can't wait to go back and finish the chimney. As Nathan commented "a classic adventure. Many more to come this summer"

As this section of the route was not climbed by the brothers back in 1908, and none of us had heard of anyone else climbing it we decided to name the bottom section "The Fireplace", why? Firstly it leads to the chimney and secondly, if you're not careful you could end up getting burnt! Oh and if anyone does give it a go, can you get Nathan's gear for him please. :-)

More pictures on Facebook in the next few days

Little Chris back with a bang!

Some of us went to Gull Zawn again on Sunday and had a great afternoon's climbing!  Back from skiing, Dave refrshed his memory on placing trad gear on 'Rock of Ages' HVS 5a *** before doing the '3-star E1' 'After the Goldrush' and rating it a 'Four star' route. Steve powered through the roof on the wall outside the zawn to lead the cruxy 'Climax' E1 5c. Fresh back from his attempts to become a Hobbit, Little Chris then also led it. James B led the first pitch of 'Shot in the dark' S, finding it more difficult than last summer.
Back inside the zawn, Big Nathan dispelled the 'Desparate struggle' myth to make a swift ascent of 'Rat Trap' VS 4c. Steve then led 'Interstellar Overdrive' E1 5b * in good style, breaking a brick-sized foothold off in the process - Helmets are cool kids! Dean did his first outdoor route - 'Chockstone Chimney' HS 4b on toprope.  Finally, Little Chris cooly led 'Hades' E3 5c ***  - the route immortallised on the back of the guidebook, and 'The finest pitch in Guernsey' apparently.  It was the first ascent by a local in many, many years as far as we know. Well done to all, and thanks to those wh obelayed and seconded.  Lots more photos on the FB group by the end of the week!

Climbing @ Gull Zawn last saturday

Whilst Dave has been off skiing, his bosses sent his mate Adam over to cover for him. Dave had said he was 'quite good ;-)', so we decided to take him down to Gull Zawn to sample some of the highest quality routes the island has to offer. James W and Olly came out for their first taste of real Guernsey rock too.  The day started a bit cool, but the sun soon came out to give a fantastic afternoon of climbing - Adam led the 3-star routes of 'Rock of Ages', 'After the Goldrush', and 'Hades' in good style (seconded and toproped by most of us).  James and Olly enjoyed the thrutchy delights of 'Chockstone chimney' on toprope so much that they each climbed it twice, and James spent every spare minute trying to wear out Nathan's abseil rope by sliding down it! The day finished with a couple of beers at the Rockmount watching the sun go down, what a top day out!  Plenty of pictures on Facebook as usual.

Red Crag -> Le Gouffre Scramble

Hi Folks,
   a bit of a delay on the blog here, but some of us had a good scramble from Red Crag @ La Corbiere to the Waterfall @ Le Gouffre on Valentines day (how romantic!). Luke has done an excellent blog at http://climber.lukecummins.me.uk/?p=8 , and there's loads more photos on the Facebook group as well.  Highlights included guinea pigs, a little paddle,a squeeze chimney, two waterfalls, leaping a gully and finding a box of ammunition!
Mark

Keep The Faith

We arrived at the relatively unknown bouldering location of Rousse armed with a stack of bouldering mats taller than Luke. The aim, to establish some more problems and to hopefully tick off a hard project which had beaten Chris, Nathan and myself last year.

After a quick warm up on some of the easier problems Nathan and I started to work the project and it wasn’t long before we’d done all the moves but could we link them together? The answer was yes! We named this large overhanging rounded arête “Keep the Faith”.

The group’s attention then turned to finding some new lines. Amongst these was a text box introduction to lay backing and quality area with a number of sit starts of varying difficulties.

One thing is for sure… we’ve only scratched the surface!

Steve Le F

Bouldering Competition 2010!

Here are the results for the bouldering competition held last Thursday, congratulations to both Steve and Andrea on winning their respective sections and well done to all who took part!!!

Female Category	Score / 42
Andrea	28
Kim	6
Natalie	3
Holly	?
Dana	?
Male Category	Score / 42
Steve Le Feuvre	41
Nathan Crabb	38
Nathan Fallaize	34
James Burton	28
Dave Godley	24
Christophe Fierdepied	23
Andy Charnley	21
Goldie	7

Micro Guide To The Pequries Boulder

The GMC are proud to present the first boudering MicroGUIDE!!!!

This neat little guide can be printed and made into a booklet. It details the majority of the bouldering around the Pecquries Boulder and is free to download now on the club website!

So go download it, grab your bouldering mat (or borrow the club's one) and I'll see you there!

Steve Le F

East coast scramble

Second scramble of the year was route 45 reversed - Bathing pools to Fermain. A 0.5m low water made it pretty simple, and as you can see, Andy enjoyed the afternoon even if he did get a bit damp!

1st scramble of the Decade

 “Sounds interesting” was Howard’s reply to my text suggesting the “Mont Herault -> La Carriere Torode” scramble on Sunday.  Glorious weather saw Howard, Andrea and I have a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon of gully jumping, speleology, boulder hopping, beachcombing and slithering through squeezes! We successfully negotiated the tricky ‘Ali’s passage’ and Howard even had a go at the ‘high squeeze’ on the Pierced Stack.  His feet were virtually all the way through, but apparently he was too muscular to make it all the way, so it still awaits a ‘first extrusion’ if anyone fancies a go!  Lots of photos on the club facebook pages, but here’s a taster:-

 

Mark Page