Life In The Vertical

I have to admit that there was no way I could have gotten away with describing Dinas Mot as one of the best crags in the world, However it is a classic venue for rock climbing, although probably not this time of year, as it rarely gets the sun during the summer let alone the winter. However I took a crag shot the other day, and threw together this topo.

Basically Dinas Mot is a great place to venture after a beginner has cut there teeth at multipitch venues like the Idwal Slabs, Milestone Buttress, Tremadog and the Meolwyns. What the Mot offers is a selection of classic HS to E1 routes that are great for breaking that grade barrier and then continuing on. In particular the first route many people do on the crag is The Cracks, a classic HS where the sting in the tail prepares you for the general theme of the crag.

An unknown climber tackles the bold and technical middle pitch of Super Direct in the rare morning sun of of the Summer

After that then there are few VS’s as good and as clean as Direct Route, a Colin Kirkus classic, with one of the most photogenic pitches in the pass. However the crux pitch is like all on this crag the last, where the slab becomes a steep or even overhanging wall. Similar in style and feel are both diagonal and Super Direct, although its recommended that you finish up the Chain as the finale of Diagonal. Whilst the last pitch of Super Direct is one where you’ll need to attack with a rugged determination.

A South African Climber gets to grips with Diagonal during the BMC International Meet.

If the final crack of Super Direct isn’t enough for you then come back round and try the single pitch of GBH, a savage off-hands to hands crack, that despite barely being 30ft in height packs a mean punch.

If you’d like to see any of the other crags or routes I have recommended and provided topos, videos and photos of then I have listed them all below:
Lotus Flower Tower
Rainbow Slab
Old Man of Hoy
Dinas Cromlech
Red Walls, Gogarth
Main Cliff, Gogarth
Yellow Walls, Gogarth
Llawder, Roscolyn, Gogarth
Castell Helen, Gogarth

Too many years ago now I went on a course at Plas Y Brenin and saw a lecture by Libby Peters the now owner of Llanberis Guides, that included a section on an expedition she went on to the Cirque of the Unclimbables, this place burnt a lasting impression on me, and in subsequent years I worked towards gaining the experience and confidence to attempt an ascent of this amazing alpine rock route.

My chance came in 2001 when along with Steve Sinfeild I headed out to Canada in search of the most perfect granite free climb on the planet. Weighing in at E2/3 overall, this route features multiple pitches of climbing between VS-E1 with one pitch of E2/3 to make it over a roof on the final steepening slab.

The video tells our story of the climb, as well as a new route we also climbed. The expedition was support by the Welsh Sport Council, Boreal, mammut and DMM. If you like this film or between the rain, and would like to climb any of the routes feature then Mark Reeves can be hired as a guide/instructor through the following website. Alternatively you can visit my coaching blog to help you develop the skills you need to go there yourself.

For more information on the Cirque of the Unlcimbable then visit George Bells excellent website.

The Fast and the Free: Original version from mark reeves on Vimeo.

Olly trying to ‘Warm Up!’ at the cromlech boulders.

Well I tried to go bouldering today, up the pass to say that it was cold was an understatement. I didn’t even bother getting my rock boots on. However Olly did for about five minutes before we retreated to the beacon. We should have gone to the rainbow slab as it was baked in sunlight. Instead we retreated to the beacon where the heater must have been jammed on full, rather than the usual set for friction heat!

For those with an eye for winter, Cascade was doing its usual tease of developing a very thing yet unless vaneer of ice, the lack of rain over the last few days might well prevent it forming as thick as we climbers might like!

Warm and Cosy at the Beacon

The Knife edge ridge of Crib Coch on a nice summer days, when its still a serious place

RAF supporting the LLMRT, by saving us a long Christmas Walk. Thank You

Well as many families were tucking into there crimbo dinner, my phone was beebing away, ‘Job No. ….Walkers Cragfast on Crib coch. Team to Nant’. Due to my Christmas Eve I was still sober, as by 2pm when the call out happened I had only just got up, so was still sober.

Many thanks for the T$@*£! that nearly ruined my christmas dinner. You like to think people would think twice before put themselves in danger on Christmas Day considering that the rescue team is made up of volunteers. Although judging by the kit they were wearing the hadn’t thought once before heading up the hill in the middle of winter.

Hi I know there is at least one fan of my brothers comedy songs out there (Hi Dave and Maz, Happy Xmas!) I have posted this Wham Parody he sang on BBC Radio Solent this week.

A selection of images taken today around Llanberis, with my two new lens. The light was pretty dull, but some have turned out OK.

Well I treated myself for christmas, I brought me a fisheye lens for my DSLR and a Zoom lens, not to mention a nice bag to put it all in. I have taken a few photo’s so far, but I’ll leave you with a view of my office, basically a laptop and external hardrive. A typical bedroom dot com.

I first released this film in 2003, it was the first film that I made for the climbing market. I learnt a lot making the film, and looking back at it now I see the nievity of some of it. However it did question the On-sight, Ground Up game well before it became hotly debated on UKC and other mediums.

At present this is perhaps the best way that I can let anyone who never saw it to have a look. It’s not Ideal, but I have looked back through my archive and found several old rushes of films I made, as well as the released versions of Amateur HArdcore and Duty Paid. All these videos were support by DMM and Mammut who supplied me with climbing gear to help make these films.

Between The Rain from mark reeves on Vimeo.

There is no better time to start a training regime or even simply a healthier lifestyle than a New Year. However we are all guilty to one extent or another at making ourselves empty promises. There are a few ideas about goal setting elsewhere on the blog. However here I’d like to concentrate on developing you new years climbing resolutions, so that you get the most out of it.

With this in mind get a piece of paper and write in the middle of it what your main climbing ambition is for the coming year. For me I’d like to get back to last years fitness level and climb Rainbow of Recalcitrance and Conan The Librarian. For me these routes are possible, if I was going as well as I possibly could and everything went right. It is important to keep them realistic and but still challenging. An analogy would be to imagine yourself at the climbing wall and you try three boulder problems, one too easy, the other impossible and a third that you see yourself being able to do with a bit of work.

The easy problem will have little effect on you, the likelihood of you disengaging from trying the what seems like ‘impossible’ route are high, however if you percieve the boulder problem or ‘short term goal’ to be possible, often you’ll find your behaviour changing to a semi-obsessive state. As such trying to find the right target to have as your goal for the year is very important, as it will affect your behaviour towards attaining it.

So having written your target in the middle of the page, write in a circle around it 5 or more things that might stop you reaching that goal (lack of stamina, inability to find rests, lack of confidence, lack of power endurance), anything that might be a barrier to your success. Circle each statement and link it back to the central goal.

Now for each one of those possible barriers to your goal, write a few things you can do to stop them being a barrier to your goals (Climb lots of easy routes, climb easy routes concentrating on finding and developing rests, practice placing gear). Again sometimes there might be another layer to this as something like practicing placing gear could be split into whilst walking along the base of a crag, whilst top roping a hard route and placing as much gear as possible on an easy route.

Eventually you have a mind map of several routes you can take towards you dream goal for the year, as well as activities to help get you there in the form of mini stepping stones.

There are a series of useful articles already on this blog, including subjects from:
Developing Confidence to Improve your performance
Developing Self Belief
How you learn technique
Goal Setting Skills
How to Apply Overload for the best Improvements
Developing focus and pre-climb routine for success
How to deal with Stress and Anxiety when climbing
Relaxation Techniques to reduce Anxiety
Using Planning as a Tactic for Success

If you’d like to be coach either face to face if you live in and around North Wales, or via online resources like skype, then you can contact Mark Reeves at his main website.

Well It looks as though I might be getting a few sneaky films on earlier than suspected, I literally just found these on a CD in a box, so I hope you enjoy. It looks like Between the Rain might be on before the Fast and The Free.

Tim Emmet attempt an E9

Deep Water Solo Festival 2003

Between the Rain Trailer

Duty Paid Trailer

A Very Old Showreel