Welcome to the Dynamic Rock Blog!

This is the place to find out all the latest info, news and events at Dynamic Rock. Our old news page can be found by clicking this NEWS link. If you register as a member of the blog you will be given permission to comment on articles - and this will include articles on new routes! There are also galleries, which will contain our pics and yours (simply email any photos to info@dynamicrock.co.uk or bring in a CD!). Also keep an eye out for some special limited time offers that will give you special discounts at Dynamic Rock.

We look forward to your feedback, so let us know what you think by posting a comment now

Thanks for everyones support in making Dynamic Rock a success, and here's to another great year!

Congratulations!

Yasmin Grainger is a member of our Dynamic rock junior climbing team, and as if training twice a week wasn't enough she has another passion. For the past 7 years Yas has been taking part in Karate lessons at Shukan Ryu Karate club at Penlan Leisure center. In this time she has achieved many amazing things including becoming International KATA Champion last year!

But Last week she reached a major mile stone of becoming a Black Belt in Karate! This has taken years of dedication and plenty of hard work.

Yas being awarded her Black Belt

All the staff at Dynamic Rock would like to say a massive congratulations to Yas and wish her all the best with what ever she decides to set her sights on next!

happy climbing

simon

BMC Youth Climbing Series Final 2009

Last weekend, the final of this years Youth Climbing Series took part in London! Young climbers from all over the country filled Westway climbing Center to bursting for the chance to battle it out in the UK Final.

Entry to this competition is a long path with Regional rounds taking place earlier in the year, from there the top juniors headed of to North Wales to battle it out in the Welsh Final.

The top 3 from the Welsh Final are then invited to take part in a UK final were they will come across young climbers from all over the UK who have gone through similar regional rounds for the right to attend!

The Team from Wales was strong as ever this year and come Saturday morning they found themselves looking around the massive facility of Westway scoping out there 3 Boulder Problems and 3 Routes they compete upon.

and from the first move right until the last the juniors did not disappoint, they climbed brilliantly with great confidence and there usual flair! All of them put in great displays in front of a large crowd which for many was there first experience of a large UK Comp making there efforts even more incredible.

The Day was Fantastic with a great atmosphere and a very well run Comp by the BMC, Westway climbing center and all the Volunteers that make this possible every year.  Next year we shall hope fully be back but know we have targets to beat and these young climbers are hungry so watch this space.

For full results click here.

happy climbing

simon

Fontainebleau Trip 09

For those of you that have heard of Fontainebleau it will need no introduction, for those of you that have not yet discovered its delights, you are in for a treat!

DynamicRock is providing a trip to this world famous bouldering mecca, situated approximately one hour south of Paris. The area has thousands of boulders of all shapes and sizes offering the climber every conceivable texture, angle and style of climbing. add to this the setting of a tranquil forest with a sandy floor and it becomes easy to see why this area is so famous around the globe.

We will be running our trip this year from the 1st August for 7 nights (Saturday 1st - Saturday 8th)

Accommodation is booked at the MaisonBleau (www.maisonbleau.com) a new gite complex in the heart of the forest, which is minutes away from the main climbing areas. the gites offer a relaxing place to stay and unwide from days out at the boulders. set within 17th century farmhouses some features include Communal area, chill out room, indoor bouldering room and slack line.

Spaces are limited - 10 in total so early booking is advisable.

The Cost is £249 and includes

Accommodation

from Saturday 1st August - Saturday 8th August

A Guided, Fun introduction to Fontainbleau

Bouldering Advice

 Problem Selection, On sighting, working routes etc..

Breakfast, Lunch and Evening Meals

 Put your feet up and let us do the cooking

Bouldering Pads

Although we are not at liberty to provide transport, arrangements will be made as a group once numbers are confirmed. An approximate cost of ferry charges and petrol is an additional £75 per person based on 4 sharing a car.

To book on the Font 09 trip we will require a minimum deposit of half the overall cost (non-refundable).

Out and About with DynamicRock

Well Summer is pretty much under way and we have had some great sunny weather, and here at dynamic rock we have started our summer series of courses aimed at getting climbers outside onto the real stuff! 

First of the Junior climbing team spent there half term training sessions outside, with a session at Dinas Rock and one at Rotherslade on the Gower. Both sessions were great fun although we did get attacked by midges at Dinas Rock with some of the team looking although they had chicken pox by the time we left! the juniors climbed on the newly cleaned roadside crags and bouldered at Kennelgarth wall.  

Ashleigh bouldering at Dinas

At Rotherslade we spent the evening Bouldering at a location  known locally as "sewage Pipe" for obvious reasons, although its  not as bad as it sounds . the guys and girls had a fantastic time making endless challenges up on the funky rock formations and caves that are found there. they also finished the evening with a BBQ on the beach!

Maddy Bouldering at Rotherslade

Away from the Junior Climbing team we have run several courses the first of which was the "Trad climbing" weekend.

This weekend course is aimed at giving climbers the skills needed to start Trad climbing on the Local cliffs in  our area. The subject of Trad climbing is vast and many books on techniques and skills are available but our courses are aimed to give the chance to try these out for real on the crag whilst under the supervision of our Instructors. 

Dave Phillips Teaching on our Trad Course.

The courses is not aimed at climbing hard I should point out that for the weekend we will be climbing on relatively easy ground to concentrate rope work skills and keeping yourself and your climbing partner safe. 

The first Trad course this year was a great Success with all climbers completing there first lead climbs, and this came to a great finally of climbing Great Tor, a classic 4 pitch Route on the Gower.

Chris on his first trad lead

The Weekend just gone also saw the second Sport Climbing Trip. This Time we climbed on the Gower at a crag known as Watch House. This is a delightful Slab of Limestone tucked away below South gate and the National Trust car park. Although its gentle angle at first glance may give the impression that the climbs will be quite simple, upon closer inspection the holds turn out to be quite small and good foot work is the order of the day if success is to be had.

Charlie climbing at Watch House

The Climbers all enjoyed the day with everyone completing many routes graded between F4 and F6b. Rowan Rumble should take a special mention for managing to lead a F6a in his massively over sized trainers ( although i do not recommend this ) well done also Charlie and Angharad for completing the first lead climbs (having never lead before inside or out) Tim for taking a great all action fall and Ben for holding him! Also Eleri for having her first ever go at outside climbing and completing her first outside lead!

Climbers enjoying a great sunny day at Watch House

We have a whole summer timetable of up and coming courses and Trips for you all to get involved in this summer and Autumn from Deep Water Soloing in Pembroke to Bouldering in the french paradise of Fontainblea.

check out the Up and coming events page for a full diary of courses to keep you outside this Summer.

happy climbing

simon

for more pics of courses see the photos section

for info on the crags mentioned in the blog check out the South Wales Mountaineering club Wiki online Guide book

BMC

South Wales Area Meeting

The next south wales area meet will be taking place on the 9th June starting at 8pm at Dynamic Rock climbing centre.

Topics for meeting are;

BMC's Welsh officer, explain what it is, and gather suggestions
Gower climbing festival this summer
Crag restorations
Bolt Workshop

These topics are flexible, and topics can be added on the night.

See you there

Stuart Llewellyn
South Wales BMC national council rep

Half Term Activities at Dynamicrock

Mon 25th May is the start of half term week for schools! And I'm sure you will all be looking for fun activities to participate in over the week so we will be running some Outdoor climbing days for young climbers!

These sessions will run for two hours and be similar in structure to our indoor NICAS/Young Climbers Club sessions. They will include some bouldering and top roping but with the added bonus of being outside on real rock!

Last year at Rotherslade

for each session you will meet your instructor at Rotherslade beach were he will take you to the climbing area and all climbers will be supervised by a qualified instructor for the duration of the activity.

So weather its just that your looking for some thing different to try or you want to use your indoor skills outside on the rock book on to one of the sessions below.

session cost: £15

to book or for more info contact the centre or ask at reception.

Monday 25th May   Session 1   11.00 - 13.00

                                   Session 2   13.30 - 15.30

Tuesday 26th May  Session 1    11.00 - 15.00

                                  Session 2    13.30 - 15.30

Friday 29th May    Session 1   15.00 - 17.00

click here for map  to the meeting point.

Happy climbing

simon

European Youth Series

selection day

On the weekend just gone (9th - 10th May) three junior climbers from South Wales made the long journey north to Scotland and the international climbing stage of Ratho! The aim of the trip was to take part in a selection day competition being run by the BMC to help decide which climbers will be going forward to compete in the EYS (European Youth Series) which is being held in Edinburgh on the 19th & 20th September. With this in mind Beth, Roz and Ash took part amongst a strong field of climbers from across Britain (around 70 competitors) by attempting to flash 2 qualifying routes.  The walls at Ratho are staggering being  steep, Steep & Very Steep but also long compared to many walls in our area but the 3 brave climbers from South Wales held there own with Roz Flashing her first Route and coming very close to Flashing her second route.

Roz Flashing one of her qualifying routes

 Beth Climbed smoothly throughout the event and had the unlikely task of tackling a tricky slab as part of her qualifying route. this she did with ease and qualified for the final of her category.

Beth climbing high on the new STEEP comp wall

Ashleigh who has been leading under a year also showed brilliant power and technique to battle with some very hard routes and gain his place in the days final. So all 3 made it to the last 10 in there respective classes and the stage was set for a tense afternoon.

Ashleigh climbing up the super hard final route

Beth, Roz and Ash all climbed well in there final reaching excellent high points on there given routes, with Roz coming close to topping out!

A special Congratulations to Roz as she was put on a provisional list of climbers to compete at the forth coming EYS which would be a remarkable achievement and one she should be very proud of. as the weekend finished we all had a fantastic trip enjoyed the climbing laughed lots as we found ourselves bouldering (its funny when presented with the largest climbing wall in the UK you play on the boulders still) and 3 climbers from south wales all placed in the top 10.

all in all a great weekend

for more info and results

click here

happy climbing

simon

NICAS at DynamicRock

When we first opened our doors to climbers a few years back we also started a pilot scheme aimed at new climbers. This scheme was run at several walls around the country and is now known as NICAS (National Indoor Climbing Award Scheme) and is now nation wide with most climbing centres around the country offering NICAS as a path into climbing for young climbers. the scheme takes climbers through the skills required to become a safe indoor climber. It takes place over 5 Levels that are split into 5 distinct learning phases.

1. Foundation Climber

An entry level aimed at novices that recognizes their ability to climb safely under supervision. Find out more about foundation climber

2. Top Rope Climber

Aimed at promoting good practice in climbing and bouldering unsupervised on an artificial wall. Find out more about top rope climber

3. Technical Climber

A more advanced top roping and bouldering level that focuses on developing technique and movement skills. Find out more about technical climber

4. Lead Climber

Concentrates on the skills required to both lead climb and belay a lead climber. Find out more about lead climber

5. Advanced Climber

The top level that focuses on improving performance, a deeper understanding of climbing systems and the wider world of climbing. Find out more about advanced climber

It is with great pride that I can announce that Chris Shepherd has become our first climber to complete  NICAS level 5 !

Chris Shepherd with his Level 5 Certificate

A massive well done to Chris from the whole team here at DynamicRock, a second bonus for Chris was he lead his first F7A a few days later, so all is going very well for the lad!

NICAS sessions are available at the centre on the following days

Mon 16.30 - 18.30

Tues 16.30 -18.30

Thu 19.00 -21.00

Fri 16.30 - 18.30 plus 19.00 - 21.00

Sat 10.00 - 12.00 plus 12.30 - 14.30

Sun 10.00 - 12.00 plus 12.30 - 14.30

Sessions last two hours and cost £10 per session

for more info on NICAS check the web site www.nicas.co.uk

happy climbing

simon

Kalymnos 09

For those of you that did not know, I have been away for the last month climbing in Greece, again!  Last year a few of us went on a last minute trip to the sport climbing Mecca that is Kalymnos. This small Island found near the more famous island of Kos has in recent years become a major attraction for climbers around the world, due to its great weather, food but most of all the climbing is fantastic. 

Chris Savage Climbing F8b

On our last trip we headed straight to the obvious Grande Grotto, this massive Amphitheatre takes centre stage in a giant sweep of limestone sitting just a short walk from the village of Massourii. This huge Cave has some of the most impressive Tufa formations in the world! which allow for some incredible long steep lines to be climbed such as 'Priapos' a 35m monster line that just goes on for ever, and if you are up for some clever rope work (two ropes and two belayers) and you own a massive amount of quick draws then you can carry on and climb a huge 55m pitch in one go! These distances may not appear huge to the Pembroke veteran but when you see that they are 20 to 40 degrees overhanging the whole way then you start to understand how impressive the terrain really is.

Jon Freeman on his way to Onsighting F8A

Our trip last year was very very good and we all vowed to return as soon as possible and the start of April found us all back on the Island with a few extras, it was almost little Swansea at one point! This year we explored the island more checking out other 'Sectors' to see what they have to offer from the incredible Sikati cave to the more well know 'Sector Spartacus'. What we found was a tremendously varied area with lots of different styles of climbing being found within a small area from Tufa ridden caves to Pocket covered walls!

Nickola Taylor Flashing a F7A at Sector Spartacus

In a Month we saw some incredible Climbing take Place with notable achievements from the Swansea climbers with many of us achieving personal bests:

 Micheal Griffiths who Onsighted his first F7A

 Liz Collyer Redpointed her First F7A and completed her first 6C Onsight

 Jon Freeman Onsighted his First F8A

Simon Robinson Flashed his first F7C

Stuart Llewellyn did his first F7a Onsight

Liz Pulling hard on the Tufa

These are Just a few of many brilliant moments of our trip which i would recommend to anybody, as the island caters for all grades from F3 upwards. it is slightly more expensive to fly to Greece than Spain but in my opinion Kalymnos should be on every body's tick list for place to go!

so any way i'm back in the UK know and its raining but hey come October i'll be back on the Island!

simon enjoying a month of sun and great climbing

Happy climbing

simon

Leading Ladder Grand Final Report

The Grand Final of this year’s Leading Ladder Competition took place earlier this month ...   more »

The End of January is already a blur in the distant past but it was also the start of our winter bouldering series that has finally come to an end.  Over three rounds we have seen climbers from all over South Wales come and take part in a hugely successful event that has given us some great moments. The competition was a new format for us, 3hours, 30 boulder problems see how many you can do. It seems a simple formula but it is a lot of hard work to set for, so I would like to thank all of the tireless work that the route setters put in getting the room reset for each comp.

The scoring was also a bit simpler than past events with your best two scores carrying through, to give you a series total, this allowed for competitors that had prior commitments and could only compete in two rounds. So at the final event on Sunday it was all evenly poised with many climbers capable of taking the crown of winter bouldering champion.

Emily Slade showing great talent finishing an impressive 3rd in the under 18s

With just over 30 climbers competing in the final event it was the juniors who started first with huge amounts of enthusiasm they attacked the problems, they showed good technique and cruised up lots of the problems.Do not forget that some of these competitors are under 13years of age and are competing in a under 18 category it is very impressive indeed! of note Owen Jones completing the Yellow route on the steep training wall shows his ever increasing strength reserves,  Richard Marrota's ability to keep throwing himself at problems after hours of effort also impressed massively. Morgan and Ashleigh continued there battle from the previous day with some strong efforts on many of the hard problems. I could list all the young climbers involved as they all performed brilliantly. but just look at there scores to see for yourself how well they did, they competed on the same routes as the adults!

The Adult climbers were all very close leading into this final event with many competitors capable of winning it was always going to take something special to seal victory overall. And this event Paul Walters returned with massive power reserves and simply blew the competition apart! His final round score of 277 (out of a possible 300) was incredible and well deserved with some brilliant climbing that if not for a slip on the white problem would have delivered an even bigger final result. with this Paul takes the overall crown and should surely be some one to watch for in the summers bigger comps (BBC at Sheffield ? watch this space)

Paul Walters overall men's winner

For the ladies it was also very tight between the top two, with Donna and Jackie both capable of taking the top spot.  Jackie had won the previous two rounds but only just and Donna had closed the gap massively in round two, so it was great to see that they climbed together and on the day they could not be separated with both scoring massive scores of 177. This gave Jackie the title on count back and after a win in last years leading comps shows her great all round ability.

Donna Carless Reaching 2nd place overall

And a big well done to Lewis for showing many slightly younger climbers how to do it keep up the training it is paying of big time for you! and see you on the craggs this year

Lastly a thank you to all that took part this has been a big event for me and to see it so well received has made it all worth while I'm now of for a holiday so see you all soon

happy climbing

simon

This weekend was certainly a busy one! and on Saturday at 09.30 the doors opened not to the public, but to some very keen and strong young climbers from around South Wales.

It was with a large amount of pride that Dynamic Rock was to host round two of the BMC youth climbing series, especially as for our junior climbing team it is one of the highlights of the year. After a hugely successful first round in Cardiff a few weeks previously the second round was to prove just as popular with around 40 young climbers staking a claim for a place in the final.

Paul getting climbers in a spin as part of the warm up.

After a good warm up it was down to action and the day would give the youngsters the chance to pit themselves against 3 routes and 3 boulder problems with climbers scoring points for how high they progressed up each route. the girls attacked the routes first with the boys heading for the bouldering room, and much to the older boys delight,confusion they were confronted with boulder problem two "The Box" soon to be renamed "the box of doom".

Dewi tackling "The Box"

the object of this problem was to simply get standing on top of a volume screwed to the wall but this is not easy! as I found out trying to demo the route for some of the parents. But the problem brought out some great displays of sheer determination with Ashleigh flashing the challenge and Morgan finding it easy on his second go. in the junior boys Noah, Ethan and Lois could not be separated and Robin and Richard had only one point between them!

Rhiannon showing great technique

The Girls were busy in the main hall battling with some of the new routes set for them on the main wall. Kaya Blackmore was to leave the main Hall with full points a brilliant effort, whilst the older girls was a tight battle between Maddie and Rhos.

Adam Mathews Blasting up a F6C+

The Boys took over in the main hall with the senior boys taking centre stage with Morgan and Ashleigh both dispatching the final route with relative ease. but the final mention of a brilliant day has to go to two young ladies Emily Slade and Kaitlin Crosfield who after two competitions could not be separated and had to face the dreaded "climb off" for this the two girls took turns on a tough route and who got the highest wins and in this case that meant going to the Welsh final in North Wales. Under huge pressure both ladies did tremendously well but it was Emily who just climbed the higher, and as a great show sportsmanship beyond her years Kaitlin congratulated her. well done to you both!

The Junior climbing team

On a last note it is with great Pride that I can congratulate our entire team, as they have all made it to the welsh final to be held in North Wales latter in the month. Well done and you all deserve it thanks for all the hard work you guys have put in!!!

for full results of the day  http://indoorsout.co.uk/#brycs2009results.htm

see you all soon

happy climbing

simon

The BMC YCS.

what the heck is that? 

well for young climbers around the UK it is the largest climbing competition of it type. The competition runs in a regional format to start with 2 rounds held in south wales, the winners of these rounds go through to a welsh final, with the top climbers then headed over for the big UK final to battle it out with young climbers from all over the UK.

This year the 1st round was held in Cardiff at Boulders climbing centre, and it was a fantastic day with climbers from all over south wales taking part showing how much climbing is blossoming in south wales at present. 

The comp is split into age categories with 8-11, 11-14, 14-16 being a rough guide (although it is done on date of birth so can be a little more complicated.) the climbers then have the chance to climb 3 routes and 3 boulder problems with a score being given for each, depending on how far up each route they climbed. there score are put together and hey presto we have a winner!

You may have noticed our Junior climbing team training at the centre for the past few months, for alot of them this is there big competition for the year, so with great anticipation we headed off to Cardiff.

The Team @ The BMC YCS Round 1 

The climbers were then split up into there categories were they met climbers in there age group and set about attempting the routes and boulder problems layed out for them.

For alot of our team it was there first competition and first visit to another climbing centre and they seemed to really enjoy the experience with some tremendous moments from each and every one of them.

Ethan reaching the top at his first competition

Some of the highlights of the day included Noah and Ethan battling out in a super final after performing so well in the round that they could not be separated. Madeline and Yas climbing very confidently and taking 1st and 2nd place. Chris and Rowan also showing what the future has in store with great displays in the tough older boys categories. Emily, Naomi and Kaya took 1st, 2nd & 4th which is even more impressive when you consider that for Emily and Naomi this was their first comp!

Yas pulling hard in the bouldering section

Robin Cloak continued his march to world domination by breezing past the rest of the Field to take victory, with Ricardo taking equal and impressive 2nd place!

we took two other climbers from our team who both deserve special mention the first Ross showed great fighting spirit considering, see below

Ross showing that a broken arm isn't enough to hold her back!!

also Ashleigh on his first outing in the YCS had the crowd on there feet cheering with his brilliant final climb, topping out on the hardest route of the day!!!

A massive well done to all that took part including all the parents that had to travel ( in some cases long distances) to Peter Cloak for his tireless behind the scenes work, and to Paul Walters for organizing and running a brilliant days climbing for all involved!

Finlay I would like to say well done to all team members for an ace day and see you all at training soon.

The Team with Certificates!

Round 2 is to be held at Dynamic Rock on sat 28th March starting at 09.30 those wishing to take part need to register with the BMC this is done on there website www.thebmc.co.uk or ask me (simon for assistance at the center)

for full results check out http://indoorsout.co.uk/#brycs2009results.htm

happy climbing

simon

This year we have many up and coming events for you to get involved with. First off is the return of our ever popular Sport Climbing Days.

These days are aimed at getting you outside climbing on local sport climbing crags and giving you the skills and confidence required to climb at a sport crag.

If you have already started and are looking to push yourself a bit more then book on to the August course for the "improve your grade" coaching day. This day will look at how you can improve your climbing and hopefully up your grade!

To book a place on one of these exciting outdoor days contact simon on info@dynamicrock.co.uk or ask at reception for more details.

Cost: £30

All specialist equipment provided.

happy climbing

simon

St Davids Day saw round 2 of "The Ruckus" come to Dynamic rock and it was great fun! After the success of round 1 no-one at the centre knew what to expect. Would we see the return of the 50 climbers that packed out our first round, and could they cope with the wild new volumes that now decorate our bouldering room?

Preparing for the comp

Saturday we closed the bouldering wall and went about setting 30 problems that would hopefully delight and frustrate climbers throughout Sunday. On the morning of the competition young climbers started turning up early ready for the 11.00 o'clock under 18's start time, and they came out fighting. First to impress was a very keen and very good Owen Jones who set about the problems with vigour and dispatching many with ease, a name for the future I would guess!

Owen Jones Climbing brilliantly in the junior category

The Juniors would battle it out for the next 4hrs and would delight many with there no nonsense approach to the problems, if they could not reach - they would jump, if it was hard they would simply pull harder, but most of all it was their ability to work together and find solutions to hard boulder problems that, considering their height (some climbers in the 18 and under category are as Young as 9 years of age) is truly inspiring.

Morgan Preece storming to victory!

The Adult event started at 12.00 and would see a wide range of climbers enjoy a great afternoon of bouldering. The new layout of 30 problems in 3 hrs would again prove popular with climbers allowing strategy to play a small part in events as well as brawn. As time past by power reserves started to faulter and only the strong would be able to power through to the finish.

In the female event it was to be extremely close with 7pts separating the top 3 positions. It was Jacky Tyrie who after 3hrs of hard graft would just pip Donna and Catrin to the post.

Jacky "feeling the Pinch" to win the female event.

The Male event was to see another fitting climax with James Bacon climbing well along with Simon Robinson to gain high scores. It was Paul Walters, however who stole the show with some fantastic technique and some incredible strong shoulders to dispatch many of the toughest problems but maybe two comps in two days (he came a brilliant 2nd in Bristol on Saturday) was just a little too much or maybe when your as strong a sJon Freeman you can pull victory out from under anyones feet! By the narrowest of margins, 2pts, Jon shook his way past Paul to win on the day. 

Paul putting in a brilliant performance.

The Scores are tight and the final round is set to see some twists and turns before we know who will be the eventual champions, so come along on 29th March; it is all set to be a cracker!

A few points to bear in mind........

It will be your two highest scores out of the three rounds that will determine your final score!

Under 18s can start climbing at 11.00

18 and overs can start at 12.00

All climbing will be finished at 15.00 and in the event of an overall tie there will be a final test of bouldering prowess!

Happy Climbing

simon

WUBC at DynamicRock

This Saturday you may have noticed that we shut our doors, this was due to an annual event held at our climbing centre, WUBC. the Welsh university Bouldering Championship, is a bouldering comp were teams are gathered from all around Wales to compete against each other and battle it out to find the top team and individual bouldering champions.

Jon competing in Swansea uni colours (finishing a brilliant second place individually)

This year there are to be three rounds of which we hosted round two.  Climbers from all over wales took part with some very, very strong displays of pure power, especially from the North Wales teams from Bangor. the local Swansea team were on home turf and also put up a strong display with Jacky winning the female categories and Jon finishing second in a strong male field.

It would be Sorle Haywood who would take the honors in the male categorie with a incredible display of power and technique that would see him complete all 25 problems although more impressive was that he flashed 23 !

The Day was a good Success and everyone had a great time, The up side of this for you is that we know have a completely new set of bouldering problems for you to try.

They will remain up for two weeks and then its time for the 2nd round of the Ruckus!

happy climbing

simon

Sat 24th Jan 2009

12.00 o'clock ........ GO

Midday on Saturday over 50 climbers started the winter bouldering series entitled "The Ruckus". This year a change of format was in order so 30 routes were set, VB to V10, and with only 3hrs to attempt to climb as many as possible!

A packed room at the start of the comp

Points were awarded for a flash 10pts, second go 7pts and if you managed to climb the route within the 3hrs 5pts.

There were climbers from all over South Wales taking part and although it was packed a great fun atmosphere hung in the room for the duration of the comp with juniors battling it out along side hardcore bouldering specialists.  

Simon Robinson climbing well on one of the harder routes

Some amazing climbing took place with the juniors really showing that height is not the limiting factor, Noah Broome 'Free styling' his way  up one reachy problem and im guessing but he is not 5ft yet!

Nickie climbing well to finnish 3rd

I would like to thank everyone who took part for making a great day, and making it all worth while I hope to see you all again in March for round 2 & 3 and there will be some big surprises for the next rounds.

Happy climbing

simon

Results

Under 18 Male

1 Morgan Preece 167

2 Hywel Davies 147

3 Ashleigh Wolsey Heard 144

4 Lewis Gardiner 130

5 Chris Shepherd 120

6 Josh Ramsden 120

7 Alex Stokes 100

8 Richard Marotta 98

9 Rowan Rumble 95

10 Noah Broome 70

11 Adam Mathews 50

12 Owen Jones 47

13 Andrew Shepherd 40

Under 18 Female

1 Rhos Frugtniet 157

2 Beth Frugtniet 130

3 Madlen Williams 97

4 Kaya Blackmoore 80

5 Rhiannon Jacobs 77

6 Naomi Broome 74

7 Emily Slade 42

8 Emily Shawe 17

Adult Male

1 Jon Freeman 240

2 Jim Bacon 220

3 Paul Walters 217

4 Simon Robinson 214

5 Josh Price 207

6 Steve Warrington 194

7 Laith Selmon 190

8 Adam Shore 177

9 James Mitchel 153

10 Dave Simpson 151

11 Dan Cook 147

12 Connor Bybel 137   

12 Caspian Johnson 137

14 Olly Buxton 130

14 Clem Atlwood  130

16 Stuart Llewellyn 102

17 Richard Carpenter 81

18 Vaughn Budd 80

19 Mark Harry 70

20 Rhys Morris 65

Adult Female

1 Jacky Tyrie 167

2 Donna Carless 140

3 Nickie Taylor 129

4 Holly Rees 117

5 Catrin Davies 100

6 Rachel Pritchard 50

Veterans

1 Danny McCarol 110

This Winter's Bouldering Competition Series is about to Kick off! The Series entitled "The Ruckus" will follow a new format with climbers having 3hrs to attempt 30 problems!  Climbers will mark themselves with more points being awarded for flash ascents.

There will be 3 rounds before the end of March and a climber's best two scores will be taken forwards to give us our series results.

All 3 rounds start at 12.00 and will finish at 15.00 (although climbers may continue to climb afterwards)

The cost of each round will be £7.00

Please try to get in early so you are ready to go at 12.00 to give yourself the best chance of completing as many problems as possible.

Catorgories are as follows:

Juniors:  under 18

Adult: 18 and over

Vets: 40+

All competitors will climb the same routes.

Hope to see you all saturday

happy climbing

simon

Round 1 Saturday 24th January 2009

Round 2 Sunday 1st March 2009

Round 3 Sunday 29th March 2009

A Great Finish to a good year!

Christmas was over and we were all feeling a little out of shape with all the chocolate and good food we had piled in over the festive period so a last minute trip to the peak district was planned. Liz, Josh and myself found ourselves in a Hathersage cafe ready for some fun bouldering in the cold crisp weather that has hit these shores recently.

Liz Climbing well in the freezing conditions!

It is fair to say that we had a proper giggle climbing in absolutely freezing weather and we found that warming up was as hard as some of the boulder problems we were to try. A mixture of star jumps and shadow boxing seemed to get the blood flowing, in particular a trip to Gardoms was brilliant although I did not get to the top of any boulder I had a hilarious time trying some hideous mantle problems.

Liz trying to turn the lip on a hilarious boulder problem.

The real reason for this Blog is to congratulate Josh Ramsden who on an extremely cold day, in freezing fog, managed to climb "the Knock" a brilliant line first climbed by John Allen back in the day. It takes a crimpy wall to a good jug were some committing moves lead away from the only gear on route to finish on a sloppey top out!

The route is graded E4 in current guide books, although this route for many years held the mighty grade of E5. It difficulty is oftern a good pub argument that really it depends how tall you are, ( the crux is easier if your tall like me) and how good you belive the cams to be, either way this was a fantastic ascent and one that Josh should be rightly proud of so a massive well done and good luck in the new year!

Josh pushing on to climb "The Knock" E5 6A

Happy climbing

Happy New Year

simon

Happy New Year!

We are kicking off the new year with a new initiaitve - THE FRIDAY NIGHT PROJECT which may help with that new years resolution to climb more!

Christmas Special Offer

This Christmas Dynamic Rock are offering a massive 20% of all clothing in the shop on the top floor of the centre. this offer includes all clothing from all brands that we stock including Prana, Moon and Dynamic rock own brand.

This offer can not be used in conjunction with any other offer and is availible until the 31st January 09

happy xmas

happy climbing

simon

 British Team Trials ReportOn the weekend of the 6th/7th of December, a small band of climbers from Dynamic rock junior climbing team headed north of the border, to what has to be one of the most amazing climbing facilities in the UK! There mission was to take part in the British Team Trials at Ratho.

As many of you are aware here at Dynamic Rock we have our own junior climbing team. They train on several nights of the week with the aim of improving their climbing ready for climbing competitions around the UK. Although the first aim was for them to compete at the BMC Youth Climbing Series, many of our team are now climbing at an amazing level, on sighting up into the F7b level. 

Many of the Team reached the UK final of the BRYCS last year, and as such received invites to take part in this months British Team Trials.

 The Wall at Ratho is enormous, reaching 35m high in places (consider our wall is around 12m) and their new competition wall overhangs by 14.5 meters (that is Mega overhanging again consider our wall is 12m high there wall overhangs more than this!) 

 

 

The Juniors did amazingly well, qualifying for their respective semi finals and some going on to the final of their category and finishing as high as 3rd overall!

 

 

I would like to say a massive well done to all those team members who made the trip north you did us at Dynamic Rock proud and you all climbed brilliantly!

 

also a big thank you to Jonathan Kresner from www.climbfind.com  for taking the pics (above) check out his website for more pics of the event or for information on most climbing walls in the UK his site also helps you meet up with fellow climbers if your stuck with no one to climb with!

Sunday the 30^Th November saw the final round of the Dynamic Rock Lead Climbing Competition Series.

The series, new to the Dynamic Rock events calendar this year, consisted of three rounds over the months of September, October and November. All rounds have been well attended with a good mix of Junior, Adult and Veteran competitors.

 On a rather chilly Sunday morning, competitors took it in turn to ascend their two qualifying routes. The Juniors kicked off with an entertaining line up the arête of line 1, which had been spiced up with a couple of new features especially for the competition, one of which looks rather like a skate board ramp!

The adult males had a testing start up a slopey black route which threw off a couple of competitors below the top.

James Bacon climbing well in the 1st qualifier

The Adult Female and Veterans began up an interesting route incorporating some more new volumes and some tiny screw on holds.

Holly cruising the opening route for the ladies

Round one was quickly dealt with and all were keen for their second routes, until they were demonstrated! All the second round routes consisted of balancy flat wall crimp fest climbing and with the our route demonstrator falling off the males route ( to a big cheer ) tension was high.

There were some brilliant performance's in this round with Danny in the veterans class topping out to some brilliant support from the onlooking crowd! also Hywel in the under 18's climbed very efficiently to lead his category into the final.

The men really pulled out all the stops with many climbers really showing what they could do with Nick Lyons impressing with some strong pulls through the early overhang, but it was Paul Walters who was to lead into the final with an impressive top out!

Paul going on to become our first men's champion!

And so to the Final, the Juniors started up the steepest line on a crimpy power endurance test ( F7A+). This round was to see a new climber make the final, Ashleigh has only been leading for a month know but is flying through the grades and climbed very well in his first leading competition finishing in 4Th place, Josh and Hywel climbed high but were both caught out by a tricky to read sequence that left them wrong handed and in no mans land. But it was to be Morgan from Llangorses day as he also fell foul to the hard to read sequence but managed to recover with some quick thinking and almost topped out! This gave Morgan the stage win but left the junior series in a 3 way tie, more of this latter!

Morgan climbed well to take the round win!

The Ladies final along with the Veteran's was on the steepest line and proved to be a real stopper with all finalists reaching the same high point and therefore all finishing the round equal 1st.

Next up the men took center stage with a few competitors capable of taking the overall title it was all up for grabs. off note were both James Mitchell and James Bacon who climbed very high on the final route with only Paul walters climbing higher giving us our first series champion!

So back to the juniors, Josh, Hywel and Morgan were all equal after 3 rounds and there was one more route set in case there was a need for a super final the greens straight up the center of our wall weigh in around F7c giving a huge test for these 3 lads!

The stage winner Morgan went first climbing well early on to set an impressive high point. Josh came out next and could only match Morgans target leaving our route setters a bit nervous but thankfully Hywel was to climb higher on the route and take the series title, a massive well done!

Results of round 3

Junior boys

1st Morgan

2nd Hywel

2nd Josh

4th Ashleigh

Junior Girls

1st Rhoslyn

2nd Beth

Ladies

1st Nikki

1st Donna

1st Holly

1st Liz

Men

1st Paul

2nd James B

3rd James M

4th Adam

4th Clem

Veterans

1st John

1st Danny

Overall

Junior Boys

1st Hywel

2nd Morgan

2nd Josh

Junior Girls

1st Rhoslyn

2nd Beth

3rd Yasmin

Ladies

1st Nickie

2nd Holly

3rd Donna

Men

1st Paul

2nd James M

2nd Clem

Veterans

1st John B

2nd Lewis

3rd Danny

3rd Darrell

Well done to all who took part and well done to all the series winners and I hope you all enjoy your prizes donated from the dynamic rock shop. The comp was our first go at a lead climbing series and thanks to you guys it was a brilliant success with some great Sundays and a good atmosphere at each event. Hope to see you all in the new year for the up and coming bouldering comp series. 

For those of you that didn't know, we have a facebook group. We used to have a profile, but facebook didn't like that!

Check out our group here:

Kalymnos

Last minute ideas can be moments of inspiration or complete disasters! And mid October is quite late in the day to decide that you want to go climbing in half term.

1st: were to go?

These days with affordable flights across all of Europe climbers have more choice than ever with new destinations being splashed across magazines and Internet pages every month. The decision in the end came down to two locations Kalymnos in Greece or Gorge Du Tarn in France and the winner was decided by weather. Greece is around 25 degrees this time of year, where as France is possibly wet.

2nd: How do we get there?

So we have decided we are going to Kalymnos, a small island in Greece. A search of cheap air lines leads us to discover that you can fly to Athens and then

a. Get a Boat to Kalymnos. 

b. Get a Boat to Kos then a separate boat to Kalymnos. 

c. Fly to Kalymnos. 

d. Fly to Kos then get boat to Kalymnos.  

That's a lot of choice and if i have one piece of advice for any one planning a trip to kalymnos, it is to spend some time sorting your travel arrangements. As we were doing all of this last minute, we did not, and due to flight availability we ended up booking flights to Athens!

This was great but the connecting times of Boats/Planes needs to be thought out, especially if you only have a week trip. We ended up spending a day in Athens and catching a boat the next day, so lost one climbing day!

left port and on our way to Kalymnos

Boats, I will never take for granted boats again. There are many different standards of boat on the sea and we just booked the next available one with out a seconds thought. It turned out to be from the last century and would take 17hrs to sail to Kalymnos, of which most of the time was quite rough taking its toll on all the meat balls I had for lunch!

Arrived at Kalymnos

We finally arrived on Kalymnos early in the morning to be greeted by a large Greek man who took us to our appartment.

 The first rays of light show us an Island which can only be described as climbing utopia. There are crags every were and all a short distance from the coastal road we are situated by. The area is very picturesque with clear blue sea against a typical Greek coastline dotted with small fishing villages that at one stage were a buzz with sponge divers.

The Island has a long history of sponge diving but due to various environmental problems this industry has slowed down and the rise of adventure tourism has allowed climbing to be embraced by the local council and as such your every need is catered for! The set up is perfect, lots of good quality accommodation available in the form of apartments and small studio flats at around 20 euros a night, great food although the local drink of ozo I'm not to keen on. There is a great atmosphere with climbers from all over the world visiting the island through out the year.

Any way, on to the climbing!

Climbing on Tufa

The climbing here is incredible and offers several different forms. The most interesting for me was the amazing tufa climbing found in the large caves and overhanging walls, allowing climbing up impossible steep terrain at a reasonable grade. As far as grades go there are well over a 1000 routes catering for all levels with F5 - F7B giving the greatest choice and variety of climbing style.

The routes are all bolted well and it is unlikely that you will find yourself along way above a bolt or giving up because you were scared. All the chains (at least all i came across) are equipped with snap gate carabiners so no need to re thread at the top allowing the tired climber to be lowered straight to the floor.

Liz climbing hard at sector 'Panorama'

In all we had 5 days of rock climbing of which i loved every bit climbing some incredible routes that you have to see to belive we all climbed Personal Best's and i believe a large part of this is down to the incredible nature of the lines and the motivation you have to climb them but also due to the excellent bolting there is no excuse except to give it every thing you have and this can only lead to you climbing close to your on sight limit if not beyond it!

any way get out there and go for it!

happy climbing

simon

Lead Climbing Championships

2nd Round Report

The 2nd round of our lead climbing championships took place this weekend, and it was a brilliant show with the juniors again stealing the lime light! Qualifiers saw strong fields in all categories with climbers attacking routes graded between 6a+ and 6B. These went off without a hitch with almost all climbers topping out, but the second qualifier was to split all the groups ready for the final.

Holly Rees in the ladies final

First off was the under 18 males on a hideous white sloper route (F6c) with a tricky knee bar leading into an all out boulder problem finish. This route split the juniors with Josh Ramsden reaching the highest; one hold from the top, and Morgan's all out dyno entertaining the crowds. Also of note was Rowan Rumble's brilliant effort which was rewarded with a place in the final!

The under 18 females were next and they did not like this route! But Rhos Frugtniet climbed highest on the route to be leading as they approached the afternoon final.

The ladies and veterans took on a purple route up line 8 which after a steep start kicked in with a tricky section on two pockets that flummoxed all the veterans but the ladies climbed well and Holly Rees climbed smoothly and confidently to the top cruising the low crux and keeping it together on the final head wall giving her the lead into the final.

Chris on the hideous whites!

The men took on the main wall with a green route that looked the easiest of the lot, but alas it had a sting in the tail with an all out volume slapping finish! This line (F6c+) was to repulse all climbers except Jon Freeman who climbed effortlessly to top out but the rest of the competitors were very close to his heels so all was still to play for.

Lewis in the final.

The Finals!

Wow the juniors were incredible with a great atmosphere with all climbers cheering each other on; one by one the climbers got higher on a long blue route (F7A+) with Josh surprising himself when he found himself staring at the finishing hold and after a little splutter managed to cling on and top out to a massive cheer and take the round win!

In the female under 18s, the 3 finalists were all great with Yasmin showing great strength and determination to hang on in after a shaky start to climb very high on the route. But again it was Rhos who stole the show with a top out that made the route look very easy! A massive well done to both Josh and Rhos for great efforts!

The ladies and veterans final was held on a crimp fest steep line (F7A+) that required a cool head and good flexibility if you wanted to make the most of the half height rest. The early crux destroyed most with only a few climbing beyond. Holly and new commer to the comp series Nicky Taylor both climbed high with Nicky finishing highest and taking the stage win with a very good performance.

James Bacon in the male final

In the male final a tricky groove lead to hard pulls through the overlaps (F7B) with a few climbers making the higher head wall. James Mitchell impressed in his first comp with a great second place but the winnings went to Jon Freeman as he came very close to topping out with a foot slip on the final move being all that stopped him!

Jon going on to win adult male

A Big well done !

from everyone at dynamic rock goes to Andrew Shepherd who has just completed his 'Climbers' Badge at scouts!

Andrew has been climbing almost two years at the centre now and is working toward his NICAS level 4 certificate. He currently climbs twice a week and is tearing through the grades.

as part of his 'Climbers' badge Andrew had to complete a project on environmental issues surrounding climbing outside. Also he demonstrated the ability to complete many tasks that will be a good footing in his future as a climber. again everyone at the centre wishes you all the best and a big well done with completing your scout badge.

happy climbing

simon

Lead Climbing Championships

1st Round Report

A busy weekend at dynamic rock finished with the 1st round of our lead climbing championships. A strong Field of climbers entered from all over South Wales and at 12:00 we were off. Each category had two qualifying routes to complete with combined scores leading to our finalists for the day.  The under 18 male section was hotly contested with climbers as young as 11 competing and doing well, Richards epic battle on the pink route up line 8 was brilliant to see! Also an 18 and over Ladies Field proved hard to separate on the first two qualifying routes, with very strong displays from all. 

But at this point it was the under 18 ladies that were cruising up route and impressing the most, with effortless flashes of routes that proved to frustrate the adult categories.

Lewis "firing the guns" in the 18 and over category "Photo Hywell Davies"

The 18 and over males had a tricky second route that would only see Paul Walters reach the top and so reach the final in 1st place.  At the half way point none of the 18 and under males could be separated either, with some very strong displays up a tricky and powerful purple route on line 5 which required a bit of grunt for the last move!

Jackie taking 1st place in the 18 and over female comp "Photo Hwyell Davies"

and so to the finals........

The top 5 from each group went on to climb a final route with the under 18's starting the males had to climb the green route that had spat off almost the entire senior male category in qualifying! Josh climbed high on the route to take an eventual 3rd place with Morgan cruising to the final move on to miss a foot hold and slip one hold short giving him 2nd but the 1st place went to Hywel who topped out  to take the early series lead. in the female under 18 Rhoslyn Takes the early series lead just as Bethan and Yasmine climbed very high to finish close 2nd and 3rd.

Next came the ladies over 18 final and they had a hideous looking slopey affair up the tallest section of our lead wall. Luckily they were a bit grippier than they look and all finalists climbed high with Jackie, Holly, Donna and Catrin all coming within    3 hold of each other. Jackie was to walk away with 1st place piping Holly by one hold in a very close battle!

Finally the men attacked there final route and a crimpy route leading though some steep territory was at hand with Adam and Clement both climbing well to fall at a tricky crux above the first roof. Paul Walters again would just scrape past this move after a foot popped of and went on to climb high on the route to take 1st place and an early series lead.

Clement Climbing his way to 2nd place in the men's final "Photo Hwyell Davies"

Thank you to all competitors for making our first lead climbing comp a success and hope to see you all again for   round 2

happy climbing

simon

Check out this webpage for more pics of the comp.

https://www.photoshop.com/user/hyweldavies

Results

under 18 Male

1st Hywel   10pts

2nd Morgan   8pts

3rd Josh   6pts

4th Lewis   4pts

5th Robin   2pts

Under 18 female

1st Rhosyln 10pts

2nd Bethan 8pts

3rd Yasmine 6pts

18 and over Male

1st Paul 10pts

2nd Clement 8pts

2nd Adam 8pts

4th Vaughn 4pts

18 and over Ladies

1st Jacky 10pts

2nd Holly 8pts

3rd Donna 6pts

3rd Catrin 6pts

5th Liz 2pts

Veterans

1st Lewis 10pts

All scores go forward to end of series results.

remember best two scores count out of 3 rounds so all is still to play for!