Hamer Brothers Climbing Blog

Friday, 12 October 2012

Sherpa ‘On the hill’ event>>>>

First up were a couple of days spent in the Lakes District with the Sherpa team and 25 other shop staff from around the country. It was a chance for everybody to get together and test out some of the new Sherpa gear. We all set off early wearing plenty of warm kit as we were told it could be -3 on the tops. It pretty much rained solidly for 4 hours while walking, which was brilliant as the kit got seriously tested! Haha! It was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to the next…..

BLCC 2012 Senior Win>>>>

After returning from the Gorges du Loup, I got the motivation to get on with some training and take part in the BLCC’s 2012. I decided at the end of 2011 I would step back from the comp scene a bit and try and get outdoors more. I did so and had some great trips to Turkey, Spain and France. 10 months on and I was psyched again to get back into the lead comps. First hit was the BLCC’s. I felt in good shape and was super excited to be competing. The whole day went very well for me, I managed to top the first route and just missed out on the topping the second as I timed out (to slow) clipping the chains. I made it to the final along with Barrans, Tilley, White, Parsons and Phillips. The final route was super cool at around 8b. I came out and climbed until I had nothing left in the tank. After all of the finalists had climbed, I found out that I had gained first place by the skin of my teeth. I think I held a hold that Robbie touched?!?! It was a lot of fun seeing everybody again and I am buzzing for the Slovenia WC in just over 1 month.

LEEDS>>>>

Once back from Ratho I had arranged to meet up with Luke Tilley over in Leeds to have a couple of hard core training sessions. It started with a sweet day out at Caley (15 mins away from the crib). We both managed to make quick sends of Block Buster (7B+) and JuJu club (7B+/7C). I also luckily managed to climb Zoo York (8A) in a session, a fantastic problem with great moves. We then finished the day with a late night board session with the rest of Luke’s house mates. Psyche was high. The next day we were up and out at 9am and ready to hit up the Leeds Wall. We both had a sick session on the routes and boulders. A great couple of training days, thanks to Luke.

Senior Podium: Robbie Phillips/Ed Hamer/Dave Barrans

Final Route

Sherpa Adventure gear testing day

Here are a couple petit training video's innit,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BaCl6mnIms&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLr8BVWdZr0&feature=plcp

Rest is calling!!!!!! Onwards and upwards!!!!!

Friday, 5 October 2012

Frankenjura!

I've just got home from a lightling fast trip to the amazing Frankenjura in Germany! I was only there week but we managed to fit quite a lot of stuff into such a short time, with some climbing, a bit of sight seeing and even went back to school for a day! It was an amazing week in a very special place with a very special person, Tanja.
She kindly invited me over and gave me a tour of some of the best crags in Northern Frankenjura. Just down the road from her house!! It was great to have someone local show me around the place and I got a much better feel for the area!
Weather wise it was perfect climbing conditions being cool and sunny.
I dont know why we hadnt gone back, since we went there 4 years ago as its just such an incredible place to go climbing. So yeh it was awesome fun! Cant wait for the next trip there. Check out the shots to see what we got up to!

Here were a few of the amazing routes I did:-
Nikita 8a+, Infiziert 7c+, Lochverstarker 7c+, Down Under 7c+, Marathon Man 7b+, Dumbo 7b, Die Vollerdung 7a+, Salsa 7a.

Celebrating the onsight of Down Under 7c+

Classic 8 (7a) of the Jura- Salsa

Drinking in Bamberg-Gasmos!!

Huge pizza in Bamberg

Aaamazing Bavarian food!

Stick clip or is that a Clip stick?

Heeeeey!

Coburg

Spot the lady with the four breasts!

Nikita 10- (8a+)

Nikita

Then apart from that, we've been out abit back home, mainly just ticking off a few things down at the Tor. The Prow and Cruxifiction (both 8a) were super cool lines all the way to the top of the crag! Also ticked a couple of Ted's cool links, The Green Rooster 8a and Lets get Green 7c+. Ed did The Toilet 8a

Then we checked out a little crag down at WCJ with a route called The Vision on it. It was pretty dirty and hadnt been climbed for a good while and we found it quite tricky to figure out which route was which. But we spent a bit of time cleaning and it turned out to be quite a decent and pretty desperate route!! Not quite the 7c/+ it says in the guide! More like tough 8a we thought!
Then up the road at Bigginers wall I did Fossil wall 7c and a couple of new 7c's down at Rubicon, Slapin and The Wimp.

Then last but not least I had a great day down at the Tor this week with Ethan. It was amazing to have the crag pretty much to our selves considering its been so horribly busy the last few times I've been there. Anyway I did the awesome extention to Chimes, which goes all the way to the top of the crag called Waddage 8b. Its a pretty rad route with a full on jump move right near the top after a lot of climbing!
Then after that I did a neat little route tucked around the corner called Tomb Raider 8a. Only short but packs in the moves!! Ethan then dispatched a cool problem called Lets get ready to rumbleweed V11 and I did Tumbleweed V10

So thats all folks for now, Cheers ya'll
over and out

Monday, 10 September 2012

Summer trippin in the Loup!

Hey up everybody!! Its been a while since the blog got an up date. So here's one....

Well, we have just returned back from another amazing Euro trip to the south of France. It sounds crazy to think that we were out there for 5 weeks as it just went so quickly! Me, Ed and Ethan all headed down in a very full Mazda bongo!

So we spent the majority of the time in this huge gorge just north of Nice called the Gorge du Loup and most of this time was spent climbing at the world famous Deverse sector. It was an incredible place to climb with some of the steepest and hardest routes in the world all packed into this one cliff. Tuffa’s and chipped pockets was the name of the game here. So yeh, a pretty wicked place to be if you like that kind of stuff. During the time we were there, some fairly amazing sends went down from a lot of people, including three 9as by some Euro beasts!! It was a pretty hard place to get used to as everything was just soooo hard and steep! I found the style of the climbing there pretty tough and didn’t quite get the sends that I was hoping for from the trip but still managed some stunners. Ed as per usual crushed most routes he got on and got some amazing sends!

Here were some of the highlights of the gorge Deverse Satanique 8a, Cascade 8a, Sika 8a, Arrow head 8a, Welcome to the jungle 8a, Quassai 8a+.

Ed powered his way up these beasts!- Hot Chili X 8c, Quenelles Trophy 8c, New Power Sacrafice 8c, Hot chili beans volcano 8b+, Honk 8b+, SatanX 8b, New Power Generation 8b, Soul Sacrifice 8b.

Deverse Satanique 8a

New Power Sacrafice 8c

Chateauverte DWS innit

The Lettered Man in Antibes

7b+ in Chateauverte

Chillin int Calais

Ethan on New Power Generation 8b

Nice car!

Cheese Fondue!!

Quassai 8a+

South Normanton's most wanted

Then for the last week we needed a change, so headed across to Chateauverte near Aix and did some awesome 40metre pump fests as well as a few bouldery offerings. It was a tad warm but a great place to unwind and finish the trip off. The top routes were Atlantis 8a, Bill boullette 8a, Le Diktateur 7c+ and Alexandre du blocos 7c+.

All in all a great trip was had with over 100 routes climbed on amazing cliffs in a beautiful area of southern France. So, apart from spending 20 euros each in a posh campsite for the first couple of days because we didn’t know where to stay, the rest of the trip we didn’t spend a penny and dossed in a picnic spot with the best view in the world! There were some pretty spicy moments bumping into the police, park rangers, the mayor and a lot of other stressful moments that got people a bit pissed off but we had some pretty rad times as well.

Big Up to everyone we met out there, cheers bru's!! Bring on the next trip hey!

Oh yeh and last thing is a massive big up to Ethan and Tanja for the photo's. We stupidly forgot our camera so everything was either taken on his mobile or her camera! Cheers guys! Check out his blog for a cool write up and more photos.

Peace x

Thursday, 28 June 2012

Spain diggin and UK OUT!

I have just returned from a great trip to Spain. I spent a week in Margalef and then went over to Siurana for a couple of days to end the trip off. I had already been to both of the crags some years ago so had some specific routes I wanted to try. I wanted to crack a new grade category and was successful in doing so with a send of L’espiadimonis 8c/+. Another route that stood out amongst the others was a route called Doble Lluna, originally graded 8b/+ but I was informed afterwards that a hold had broken off, bumping it up to top end 8b+ possibly 8c? We had 10 days of amazing weather, sometimes it was a little too hot but this meant climbing in the mornings and evenings. After spending 6 days in Margalef on pockets, my skin was thinning and I needed to pinch and crimp a few holds for a change. Hence my move to Siurana.

Anyway before I get into too much detail I had a fun trip and can’t wait to return next year. My ticklist in the 8 days included

Siurana -

L’escamarla 7c+ (os)

Peixa 7c+ (os)

Gigololo 8a+ (2^nd go)

Cop de Cigala 8a+ (2^nd go)

Migranya Profunda 8b+ (2^nd go)

Margalef –

El Allento Del Dragon 8a (2^nd go)

Aeroplastica Extension 8a (os)

Vertigen 8a (2^nd go)

El fustigador 8a+

Absolut 8a+

Deverse Cordes 8a+ (os)

El Mananeo 8b (2^nd go)

Doble Lluna 8b+

L’espiadimonis 8c

After some quality escalade it was cool to finish with a glass of Cartoixa at the Scala Dei Priory. On my return to UK I had a great time watching the Queen’s jubilee down in London!

I have been back for 3 weeks now and have managed to send a couple of good route, first up was The Spider (8a) down in Chee Dale. This is one of the best route in the UK. Next up was Beeston Tor, Ethan and myself did Honorary Buoux 7c, its a great route but everything else at that crag was EPIC! might leave that place for a good 20 years now!

Gorges Du Loup soon! Rain now!

7a+ in Margalef

Vertigen 8a, Margalef

Vertigen

La Cara Que No Miente 8a+

Migranya Profunda 8b+ (Adrien Berry taking shots)

Chillin at the Siurana refuge with the 3 D's

Homework!

Migranya Profunda 8b+

L8r

Peace to G baby! little true boss

Friday, 18 May 2012

Never, Never Land

A classic route at a rare sunny Ramshaw crag, from last weekend!

Big span move leaving the crack

Commited

A bit camp that

Slopey shizz

Phew...

Sunday, 6 May 2012

Dry rock hunt!

Right, since getting back from Thailand about 3 weeks ago now, the weathers been totally shite and the overall psyche’s been hard to come by and would choose 35 degrees and crazy humidity any day over piss wet British rock, but we’ve tried and have found the odd line to claw up!
So here’s where we’ve been, what we’ve done and all the rest is history… Peace x

• Malham (Very wet + cold!): New Age traveller 8a, L’ob session 7c+ (me!), Herbie 7c+ (onsight-ed), Obsession 7b+ (os-ed), The Last Toad 7b+ (os), Conceptual 7b.
• Orme (Even wetter!): Masterclass 8a (just me, Ed couldnt be arsed to go up there), Loui Armstrong V13 (hefty grade dispatched by the youth!)
• Llandullas cave (too windy!): Manjekeews 7b+, Whirral whip 7c+
• Dinbren (waterfall!): Walking with barrence 7b, I punched Judy first 7b+ (great name!), Flowers are for the dead 7c. Ed didn’t climb, he wanted to go home and weep!
• Stanage (dry and mint..finally!): Brad titt 7c+ (thank the lord!) Archangle E3 5b (classico)
• Lovely Matlock quarry (dryish): The power of the dark side (was E8 but more like cool E6/7 6b, mint line though).
• Harston rocks/Churnet (well good!): We both did One Chromosomes Missing E7 6b and then I sketched my way up Pair O’Genes E7 6c. Two awesome routes in a very esoteric seeting!
Check out the shots of Power of the darkside and a funny little video of the Churnet!

Yeh so that’s it, short and sweet. Don’t know how people can write so much gobbledygook about the art of climbing rocks. Less is more… Cut the crap like……………….. over and out youths

Thursday, 12 April 2012

East Asia!!

I've just returned back home from an amazing 3 weeks in Asia. The first few days were spent in Hong Kong watching Fiji run loops around all other oposition in the Rugby 7's tournement. Then we headed off to Thailand with a couple of mad days in Bangkok before flying off to Krabi and then the climbing paradise that is Tonsai! So instead of writing an essay about the trip thought I would just put loads of pictures up documenting it! Enjoy.....