Bouldering: Dartmoor 2010

The annual trip to Dartmoor, Hound Tor,
Bone Hill took place last weekend, just long enough to have forgotten the skin



shredding
rock and how excruciatingly painfulit was to lift a mug of hot coffee following last
years visit. lol

I, Jack and the 2 Dave's woke with the sun,bundled our gear into Dave's fiesta of joy and headed out.







Having learnt a lesson, the climbing tape was applied at the outset and not when bones started to poke through like last year!







Dave uses the ancient Chinese technique of wind pushing to stop me falling!
















Jack tops out from a pretty impressive overhang






















Me giving it some spider-pig!













































A quick detour to virgin sacrifice rock

Climbing at Penallta, Ystrad Mynach

As the weather makes a change for the better, the last week of sunshine proved too tempting and we ventured out to Penallta. Penallta is a great sandstone outcrop which overlooks Ystrad Mynach not too far from Llanbradach. Bouldering and Trad are available in abundance.


Claire starts out looking like a pro throwing out some shapes.....

Unfortunately a flapping wet dolphin incident took the shine off as she belly flopped onto a ledge and started climbing upside down!!!!! Some may say this is a skill, but I assure you....its not.

Late night bouldering, Penallta.

So nice sized bouldering with various level problems, the worried expression comes from ingesting my left leg as I stretch a lil too far!!!!!

Lovely heel hook there.......

And for my finale, catching a dyno at full stretch. Penallta is an awesome place for practising large dyno's!

Goals

Gilwern

Gilwern is located west of Abergavenny high up on the mountainside. Its a great crag with a variety of routes and a couple of good 6a-6c's. All bolted sports routes and the rock is great if a little crumbly round the edges, but take care as it can be sharp in places.







First Wall

This is a great place to push your sports routes even if it is a little out of the way for most.

Second Wall

Slack-Lining

Wikipedia defines Slacklining as: a balance sport which uses nylon webbing stretched tight between two anchor points. Slacklining is distinct from tightrope walking in that the line is not held rigidly taut; it is instead dynamic, stretching and bouncing like a long and narrow trampoline. The line's tension can be adjusted to suit the user and different types of dynamic webbing can be used to achieve a variety of feats. The line itself is flat, due to the nature of webbing, thus keeping the slacker's footing from rolling as would be the case with an ordinary rope. The dynamic nature of the line allows for impressive tricks and stunts.


Our definition of slacklining - ass puckeringly good fun!






















We started to dabble with a slackline late last year, pity really as most of the summer weather was behind us and the evenings were getting shorter. Our first attempts to stand on the line let alone walk it were pitiful, as one would expect. But through dogged persistance and a few face first dives into bushes we really are becoming rather adept at walking slacker lines over greater distances.


What's it like?

Well it takes a great deal of control and concentration, so much so that you can only really go at it for an hr or 2 before you'll lose your mojo. When done correctly its a great way to relieve stress as you have to learn how to walk whilst completely relaxed! A little like a sprinter, they are at the same time exerting themselves but have to be absolutley relaxed! Its a strange paradox but you can bet that as soon as you tense up, you'll fall off.





















Benefits

We do it to better our sense of balance for climbing, but slacklining is a great way to chill out on a hot day, whilst out camping or even for those who like meditating as it requires an incredibly clear mind and relaxed body.






















Plans for the coming months:

1. Walk a 25 metre line confidently


2. Take that line from 2ft to 6-10ft above the ground


3. Walk across something stupendously scary!


We have a few locations pencilled in and some wild ideas. We'll keep you posted.






















If you want to see some real pros just type slacklining into YouTube and you'll get a flavour.