the shizzle > the blog pile
Shauna Coxsey
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Hello World!
9 January 2012, 1:19 am
Welcome to my tiny corner on the web…
Source: Shauna Coxsey
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Hueco Tanks
10 February 2012, 8:48 pm
So… This is my first blog, I have been quite nervous about writing a blog for a while now but here we go. I am currently in the USA half way through my trip so I thought this might be a good time to start.
Myself, James Garden, Alex Puccio and Chris Webb Parsons left London for Dallas on January 19th. After a few days at Alex’s family home we traveled a long 12 hours across Texas State to Hueco Tanks National Park. Alexs’s Uncle kindly lent us his 30ft camping trailer which was amazing! No coming back to a cold dark tent after climbing for us.
I think that, without conscious thought, I came to Hueco with high expectations. I wanted to climb hard and push myself. Day one started well as I climbed ‘Free Willy’ V10 second try, however, my psyche was rapidly decreased when I repeatedly failed on the first move of a V9 which was the stand start to a V12 I had hoped to try. Throughout my time in Hueco I came to realise that I have very little experience on rock and that I haven’t got much at all to justify any expectations. I accepted failing on problems and made the decision not to try anything too hard. Being surrounded buy so many boulders it seemed insane to spend days working one boulder problem anyway.
The climbing in Hueco Tanks I found to be surprisingly diverse and the scenery simply beautiful. There are boulders that require you to throw yourself between big holds in a horizontal roof and boulders that require you to move delicately between the sharpest of crimps, although I think there is a higher percentage of steeper climbing for sure. Grades are questionable here and I do not feel that I have the experience to grade a problem myself, so I have gone with the general feel from friends and those who have climbed the problem previously. So on this trip I climbed two V11s and six V10s with Full Service (V10) being the most enjoyable and satisfying by far! This problem required a combination of power and technique and took me analysing multiple moves to be able to get it. I was convinced that I could not do one of the moves but Alex somehow got me psyched to get back on, try hard and get it done.
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Trying hard, going big and putting in all of my effort are things that I find difficult to do outside of competitions. This trip to Hueco where I was surrounded by people who have such a passion for the sport and such a drive to push themselves has inspired me to try harder, push harder and go bigger both on rock and when training.
In two weeks time I will be competing in The American National Bouldering Championships so in a few days Alex and I head to Boulder, Colorado to train in the world class Bouldering Centres it has to offer. Hopefully I have enough time to get used to the crazy steep walls, big holds and scary heights of American bouldering.
Ciao xx
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Source: Shauna Coxsey
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An Epic into a success!
26 February 2012, 9:48 pm
James and Chris headed home to England and it was then time to head to Boulder, Colorado, 12 hours drive away. We packed the car excited and ready to blast down the highways and across the passes. However, 2 miles down the road I learnt that if you drive a mini cooper into a large American curb it causes some damage. So the trip was delayed. Up early and ready to leave the next day (in Alex’s mums car) we were delayed till late afternoon but by 4pm we are on the road making it steadily to our half way stop Amarillo, where we spent the night in rather nice hotel.
Next day at 10am we were off, Alex making a steady pace though snow and mist. Until… 100 miles later that lovely little red oil light made an appearance on the dash… soon accompanied by unpleasant knocking sound coming from the engine. Our journey was yet again delayed. Whilst waiting for the tow truck (back to the town where we slept) we waited in cafe in an Amish Mennonites town. It was fascinating to see their unique and interesting way of life.
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So 2 cars down and in the middle of nowhere it was time to decided to continue on or return to Dallas. Our determination and persistence was not to be denied, we made the decision to take a Grey Hound. If you have never heard of a Grey Hound then you are lucky! After 9 hours sat on a coach thorough the night we finally arrived in Boulder, sore tired and ready to climb of course. We had 3 days of climbing here experiencing the powerful steep American style in full climbing with Daniel and Courtney Woods who kindly let us stay at their place.
The ABS Nationals began on Friday morning and I was up second. It felt like so long since I had been in any kind of big comp and this made me excited, psyched and of course a little nervous, but it was a good nervous (excited not terrified little butterflies in the tummy)! Climbing early is something that a lot of people dread and others wish for. I don’t really mind at all, climbing early means the holds are cleaner and I don’t have to be thinking about how everyone else has done, basically I don’t think it mentally affects me. Everyone has to climb, when I climb I try hard and aim to get to the top which I will always do weather I am climbing first or last.
Qualifiers went well… I made it through to semi-finals. I arrived at the isolation zone with less than 20 minutes to warm up, but considering the amount of time I have to say I was reasonably pleased with my level of warmth. However the ever dreaded flash pump burn in the forearms was looking inevitable. What did I expect to fin in my first ever American comp… pinches, big moves, steep walls. All of which were present and all of which contributed to that flash pump that lead to me dropping one move of the five boulder problems putting me in joint 5th place going into semi-finals the next day.
An unusually late start to the day for semi-finals not having to be in isolation until 1.30 allowed us to feel well rested and ready for action and also gave me the time to have a decent warm up! I sat in the chair awaiting my turn, looking out at the crowd wondering what exciting crazy boulders were waiting behind me. On day one I climbed second this allows you to get on the wall with no consideration of what other before you have achieved, however in semis I climbed 17th and I could here the cheers and the see the faces of the crowd giving hints on how the others were doing. I think some people feed off this or try to figure out what they are required to achieve to make it to the final round. Thats too much effort for me, recently I have discovered that trying hard like really really hard will get you even higher up the wall and therefore higher up the rankings and that requires all my effort. It seemed to work as I found myself heading into finals in second place to Alex Puccio after topping 3 boulders and touching the last hold on the other.
After a quick break back to the hotel to chill out and chat to family on skype we were on our way back to isolation. Warming up didn’t seem appealing anymore as most of my body was sore and climbing for any length of time was definitely going to take some of my limited energy that I was sure to need in the finals. A quick mess around on some jugs was sufficient. The format in finals works differently, the finalist sit next to each other facing the crowd, backs to the wall and each have our turn at trying to complete the boulder problem only moving on to the next boulder problem when each person has completed their attempt. This is so nerve racking! Its hard to block anything out but I am not sure if I would want to. When a competitor has their time on the boulder if they return very quickly with the crowd going wild its obvious that they got to the top first try, the crowd give away a lot but the results board in plain view clarified any suspicions!
The problems in the finals required a combination of technique, balance, power, endurance, determination, everything any boulder problem could ask for and everything my body did not want to give but I kept up the whole trying really really hard theme and I sat in first place with one boulder left to go. We had all seen the boulders and knew what the last boulder had in store for us… I knew that no one had got to the top but my levels of psyched were not as high as I would have liked them to be due to my aching body but I was ready to give it everything I had left as it was the last climb. A double handed dyno for the first move and then it was into a series of pinches (definitely my least favourite type of hold) in a steep roof and then to a crimp (definitely a hold type I prefer) but only to lead to a big sloper which was the point were I was defeated, the typical burly American style landed me laying on my back 2 holds from the top looking up at the boulder and wanting nothing more than to roll over and go to sleep. I tried agin but my arms were not happy about it and trying hard was not going to get me there, I had nothing left. Alex had told me earlier that when she hear’s no one has topped a boulder it gets her more psyched, she topped the last boulder first try in an impressive style but she was extremely deserving of yet another first place.
I have been asked a few times about the scoring system which is different to the World Cup format which places you but the number of tops you get in the number of attempts you have. The American system works on number of tops and then points per hold which placed me in 3rd behind Angie Payne by one hold! Her arms must have had more left than mine!
This competition was the hardest, most exciting and intense competition I have ever entered. It required so much from me and I have never ached this much or had so many grazes! The field of women was so impressively strong. It is amazing to be around so many women who love the sport and who are psyched for competitions.
I left the American National Bouldering Championships truly inspired by both the men and the women competitors and the loud, enthusiastic crowd that kept us going though finals. I hope we put on a good show! I have made so many new friends and I hope to return to America to explore the endless rock it has to offer and maybe (if my body can handle it) attempt some more of their truly unique competitions.
Videos from the comp will be available soon so keep checking I will post them on here!
Byee x
Source: Shauna Coxsey
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CWIF
12 March 2012, 9:22 pm
The Climbing Works International Festival, CWIF has a big reputation for a UK competition, world class route setters at one of the biggest bouldering walls in the UK attracts strong climbers from all over. On day one 330 competitors fought it out on the 30 qualifier boulder problems, problems that make you pull, push and fight hard. Only 20 women and 20 men were lucky enough to make it through to day 2 where the real fun began! Last year after the qualifiers I spent the evening icing my back so I guess this year went a little better as I didn’t feel like someone had beat me up! And I qualified in second place to Melanie Sandoz.
After seeing the comp wall all covered up in qualifiers knowing that the semi final problems were set and ready makes it quite exciting, leaving you going home wondering what crazy, technical, powerful and insane problems have they set this year.
In semi finals you don’t have chance to view the problems before you climb you just get 5 minutes per boulder problem to figure out what you are going to do and get to the top. There were four boulders and I managed to flash 2 and I did the other 2 just in time. One of which was far from my style, a big move off a big slopey hold. I tried and tried and tried this one move getting totally shut down. I then decided to try REALLY hard, to go fast, jump and hold on really tight. With less than a minute left I pulled on and was surprised to stick the move I’d thought impossible for me. I could not fall off now, only one move left and no time to try again. I went big and was delighted to find the last hold to be big and friendly! The other problem was a Climbing Works special… requiring the perfect combination of balance, technique and poise to manoeuvre around the irritatingly placed holds and volumes. A problem that you hate with a passion until you do it and then its the best problem ever! I was the only competitor to complete all four of the semi final problems which meant that I was heading into the finals in first place.
I always aim to maintain or improve my qualification position, however this does not usually come with so much pressure. I was competing against members of the British Team, American Team and French Team and all of the finalist were amazing climbers.
In the finals you get to view the problems as a group before climbing, the four boulders looked like they included every move type possible and they were definitely going to require everything and anything we had left! The first boulder was a slab, qualifying in first meant I was last to climb. This means I know how everyone else has done, the crowd give a lot away as does the commentator so when it was my turn to climb I knew that only Leah had topped the first climb and I knew she got it on her first attempt. I stood looking at the boulder wondering how on earth she got up there, I couldn’t figure it out so I jumped on too see what would happen. First go I found myself leaning a little bit too far back and stood looking at the slab confused once again. My second attempt was amusing, I got myself all tangled up but somehow managed to fight my way to the last move where I paused for a while before going all out and jumping for the last hold. I usually get a little scared on slabs maybe this is why there was no way I was falling off that last move of this one.
Alex was the only person to top the second one and this made me wonder if I had read the problem right, had Alex figured something out that no one else had? I pulled on and found the moves to flow really nicely until I had my heel near my head and one big move to a volume to go. I would have found myself heading quickly towards the ground had the volume not have been so sticky. I love textured paint! The third problem I got second try, I made a silly mistake on first attempt but I got back on knowing what not to do, I caught the awkward dyno and moved past the slippery volume to the last hold.
Video of Alex and I on problem 2 :
It was time for us all to try our final boulder problem of the competition, at this point I knew if I could get to the bonus on my first attempt I had won, the format in the finals makes it impossible not to get nervous especially when you are last to climb! I sat as every finalist had their attempt and the crowd, the score board and the commentator all made it clear that no one had topped the final boulder. I turned to the wall looking forward to giving the boulder everything I had left. Everything seemed to fall into place and I felt in control all the way up until I was holding the last hold and looking at the crowd. Did that really just happen?
I could only reflect on my performance in this competition last year, I realised how much I have learnt about competition climbing, how to cope under pressure and deal with the nerves but mostly how to try really hard and give everything you have got! This did not get me on the top of the podium but sat me on the biggest space hopper. Dave Barrans was the male CWIF 2012 Champion, it sounded like the mens finals was intense and it all came down to the last boulder! Unfortunately I didn’t get to see any of it, hopefully there will be videos.
I am looking forward to spending some time training but not until after the Tierra Boulder Battlein Sweden on March 24. I’ll let you know how it goes…
Climbing Works Official Report: Here!
UKC Article about CWIF: Here!
Oh I also had an interview with Hazel Findley for The BMC check it out here!
Credits to Alex Messenger, Mark Stringfellow and Jen Randall for the images and UKC for the video
Source: Shauna Coxsey
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Swedish Cup Cakes :)
26 March 2012, 7:32 pm
After CWIF my body hurt for days, my hips, elbows and entire back were in pain! It took three whole days of rest for the aches to subside and I then had two days of route setting at Reading Climbing Centre and team training the day after. My body was back to its feeble state once again.
I managed to fit in a few sessions back at my local wall, The Climbing Hangar, I was happy to find that I was feeling quite strong and ready for my next adventure. UNTIL… I got a slight pain in my shoulder, not from training though, from holding a thera band, I thought those things were supposed to help you repair injuries and get you stronger? I had no idea what I had done or how long might take to heel but I only had a day of rest to give before it was off to Stockholm, Sweden, on a 5 day trip to compete in the Tierra Boulder Battle. The format of this competition is very different to anything I have ever done before. Firstly there are only 5 girls and 5 boys and it is an invitation only event. Then theres the part where each climber sets a boulder problem, we each had 5 hours to set one boulder problem and then we were then given 2 hours to try out all of the problems. Crazy, considering most competitions are onsite or flash style, meaning you never get to try or sometimes even see the problem before you compete on it. This format meant the boulders had to be hard, really hard. Just what my shoulder needed!
So setting day had arrived the selection of holds I was given were yellow, a happy colour, they were also CORE holds and we use these a lot at my local climbing wall so I am familiar with most of them. My selection of holds was quite limited though mostly slopers and the wall was steep. I was asked a lot about my ideas for the boulder, what my plan was and what moves I wanted to set but I decided to just go with it and see what happened. After five hours it was complete, consisting of a bunched tension required start into a big flick and then some burly moves at the top…easy eh? We were given two hours to try each others problems and make any adjustments the group felt necessary. After this period of time only two boulders were left untouched and all of the boulders incredibly hard in totally different ways. The guys problems were a whole new level of insane with a futuristic dyno, the smallest crimps and biggest pinches found indoors and a horrendous press.
At the end of day one I was so tired and my shoulder was not so happy at all. I definitely got lucky as the commentator Steve and his girlfriend Ida kindly let me crash at their place and Ida is a Physio! Ida informed me that my shoulder pain is due to a muscle strain and gave me a good massage the night before setting. This meant my shoulder felt really tired for testing but the pain had reduced massively. Thank you Ida! We had a full rest day on Friday so we go to explore the beautiful city of Stockholm and also check out the shopping of course. The competition did not start until 8pm on Saturday so to make the most of the day I met up with Matilda, Sasha and Daniela to have an epic girly day, shopping was done the day before so it was time to make the pinkest cupcakes, watch a movie and paint our nails.
The competition was so surreal. No isolation, no wondering what the problems would be like, no wondering how other people do on the problems…. no nerves? Unfortunately there were definitely nerves, knowing I had only done one of the boulders from start to finish after two hours of attempting them was kinda worrying. The boulder problems were so much harder that you would ever normally get in any competition and this showed as some boulders were left unclimbed.
The first boulder went well I flashed this one and it was my boulder next. I had not yet completed my boulder from start to finish but I had done all of the moves. I was fourth to climb and no one had managed to get past the first few hard start moves. On my third attempt I managed to stick the big flick crux move and not let go of any of the other holds! I was psyched to be the only person to top my boulder but Sasha’s crimpy, painful, technical boulder problem was next to come. Due to my shoulder injury I could not do some of the moves as Sasha had intended them but I had figured out my own way though the technical gymnastic climbing at the start. I felt good on the problem until I totally missed a hold, for some unknown reason I hit the wall just to the right instead. My shoulder felt tried and weak after this and my further attempts were not so successful. Melanie’s boulder was next, this is the one I had been dreading, a run and jump then a double dyno and a huge move with really low feet to finish. Firstly my should would not do what i wanted it to on the run and jump, it wouldn’t engage, but I kept trying, consciously thinking about lifting my arm until it worked. When I did I stuck the dyno, but the last moved looked and felt impossible for me.
On the last boulder we climbed in reverse order of our currently position. I climbed second to last, no one had managed to top the boulder when my turn came around. This climb was steep, the holds were good and the moves were big, this is possibly my favourite style of climbing! I was psyched to have the finishing jug was in my hand on my first try. With no one else completing this boulder it meant that I had placed first. It was a really tough fight and I don’t think it was my best performance but it was a really interesting and fun experience!
It’s only three weeks until the first world bouldering cup that I will be doing in Slovenia and the next one the following weekend in Austria. Unfortunately I have been ordered to rest for 5 days by Physio Ida so the training that I am psyched out of my mind for will have to wait yet again.
Stay tuned people there will be a video of the competition up soon and you definitely want to watch to see the insanely impressive performances the guys gave!
UKC Report of the comp here!
Source: Shauna Coxsey
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