Ama Dablam attempt by local climbers

Local climbers Adam Booth and Roel Driesen are currently out in Nepal, planning to climb Ama Dablam. They are starting with an acclimatisation ascent of Island Peak, then going on to Ama Dablam. As there is no internet, details are sketchy, but Ed Booth (Adam's brother) says that they have a satellite phone- any further news, we'll put up another post!

planned developments

We've been open 8 months now, and are thinking about what new to add to the wall. All (practical and decent) suggestions welcome, but we have thought of adding a steep panel upstairs, and a campus board near the lefthand wall.
Also, we're planning to board in the entrance to give us some more space and cut down on draughts.

New retail items

We've just received some samples of Rock Technologies products which we intend to stock. These include liquid chalk and some fun training putty- it comes in 3 strengths and can legitimately be used whilst sat at your desk, on the train etc.
We've also picked up more Torq products including a very nice Organic Mango torq bar.
Finally, we're now stocking Mammut ropes; these are very good value being from outside the Eurozone .

Gorges du Tarn

We've just come back from a brilliant weeks' climbing in Gorges du Tarn; I'll put some pictures on the website shortly.
Robin led his first 7b, which was a good effort considering his previous best was Fr 6c!
The length of the pitches was a bit of a shock- even 70m ropes weren't enough to get you safely down on a lot of the routes. As soon as I got back I ordered an 80m rope from Mammut, which will come in useful for our next trip.

Winter bouldering league

We're planning to have a sereis of four Friday evening comps through the winter- full details to follow, but the dates are: Friday 6th November, 11th December, 22nd January, 26th February. There will be prizes and guest route-setters.

Autumn Aggregate up and running!

The latest aggregate is now up and running, and will be on until 4th December. 60 problems in the first instance, and this time we'll be adding new ones part-way through to keep peoples' interest.

Climb magazine visiting- models wanted!

David Simmonite from Climb magazine is visiting next Thursday 8th at lunchtime, to do a feature on us. He's looking for "suitable models" to be there, so if you are available come along. Afterwards, he is going to Grinshill and needs models for there too. So if you fancy being in the magazine now is your chance. being photogenic would help, but if not I hear photoshop can work wonders. (I'm looking forward to an entirely new head of hair)