Froggatt, Stanage and the BMC Youth Open

First of all, apologies for the late posts, as like most other people that have blogs, I just forgot about it. As it was coming up to the Youth Open comps in Sheffield, I thought, why waste a good trip up to the peaks, cover this months challenge and then support the juniors on their comp. Unfortunately, this was also the weekend that it snowed and I found that my car is absolutely awful in those conditions.

Struggling to think of a good place to go for the day, my friend Richard, and I headed over to Froggatt to check it out. The journey up was pretty good until coming round the corners at Curbar when covered in snow... My car ended up sideways for most of it. On the way up, we met this dog walker and stupidly decide to follower her for a bit, causing us to get lost, treking up this steep snow covered hill with no approach. I'm not going to begin to explain how awkward it was, especially with both of us carrying up five pads (most climbers reading this have probably been there). Upon arrival, some of the views were pretty incredible but damn it was cold and windy. Trying to warm up with a billion star jumps and running in circles around the boulders, we start on these easier problems. Uninspired by some of the problems here, we call it off short, re-plan and head for Stanage!

Now this journey was even worse! On the smallest piece of snow my car was spinning out, I nearly pooed myself coming down the hill just before the free car park. My car just lost all control, steering did nothing, breaking did nothing, nothing worked. On the left side of the road there's this stone wall with barbed wire/wooden posts just infront and a little upward verge. Luckily, the verge and a post stopped me before completely scratching up my car. After parking at Stanage and heading up the hill we look directly at Deliverance (V8) and work on it. After the previous times I've tried it, I smashed out the start, get to the flake and jump - no where near the top though. A few goes pass and  I end up finding and extra hidden foot I have never noticed before, clear as day. Give it a couple more goes with the new beta and touch the last hold! Unfortunately didn't quite make it over the top, just needed a little more umph. Worried about the drive back to Sheffield at night with conditions possibly getting worse, we pack up and head off. Typically all the roads down were completely clear... Parking at The Works I meet up with two of the squad members and chat about tomorrow. Super psyched, a night in the car with some pizza ready for the following day.

Nice early start, meet up with some of the members, get checked in and begin the warm up. The Works was absolutely freezing! With the comp starting the team get prepped and set off with the comp. Some of the female comp problems were absolutely nails, problems which I think the older males would even struggle on. Nevertheless they still got on and crushed what they could. For their first major comp I'm proud of how well they climbed and the places the came. It also gave them a good idea of how hard some of these comps can be. Calling it a day, I head home, ready for the next events.