Arc’teryx AR 385a harness

By katywhittaker@googlemail.comGear reviews, Sport climbing, Trad climbingNo Comments

Arc’teryx is best known amongst climbers for its harnesses. Climbing, I guess is where it all began for them. Arc’teryx made its first harness in 1992, it was their first product and took the outdoor world by storm!

I have been wearing the harnesses for the last 8 years and have tried out the past three generations. It is my main and most used piece of equipment and I spend a lot of time hanging and climbing in it.

I have been using the new women’s specific AR 385a for the last few months for both trad climbing and sport climbing. Careful thought and details has gone into the design to make it even better than its predecessor.

Sport climbing in Rodellar

Arc’teryx Warp Strength Technology on the waistband and leg loops enables the harness to be light weight but also distribute the weight evenly, which makes it so comfy to wear. However this also meant after a while of wearing, the waistband would often start squashing down and getting wrinkled. The new harness has diagonal stitching to give it extra support and stop it collapsing. The AR harness also has a wider waistband, which means when you are at a hanging belaying for a good few hours, you still maintain reasonable comfort levels.

Trad climbing in North Wales

Since we all come in varying shapes and sizes, adjustable leg loops on the women’s harnesses and a longer belay rise make it more comfortable and easy to wear with layers on. A few extra details like the additional gear loop on the back and an easy way to drop the leg loops for toilet breaks on multi pitches, make it great for trad climbing.

For anyone wondering why it has such a funny name. The AR means All Round, 385 is the weight in grams and the ‘a’ means adjustable legs loops. This harness is absolutely perfect for trad climbing, it is slightly on the heavy side for hard sporting climbing but there is an alternative SL 340 harness designed specifically for this.

June 23, 2015

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Taking a risk

By katywhittaker@googlemail.comWork2 Comments

Like most people, climbing has always been my hobby, it was something I enjoyed at the weekends, evenings and any spare time I had. Like most hobbies it always came second; exams at school came before national and international climbing competitions, university before the GB team and outdoor climbing and then of course I ventured into the world of work, which tends to be very time consuming! The ratio of work to climbing has always been the wrong way round but I enjoyed engaging in something other than rock climbing or competitions.

I got a great job after university that I really enjoyed for a few years. On paper it was perfect; 4 days a week, 15minutes walk from my house, working with friends and traveling around the world for meetings and events. What more could I ask for?

However, I realised one day when I was sat at my desk that I didn’t enjoy it very much, I was jealous and I was tired. I was jealous of my friends who were professional climbers, semi professional or just working a little less so they could pursue what they really loved.

I was climbing the best I ever had but I was pretty exhausted. Most days I would go straight from work to the wall, train, get home late, cook tea, go to bed and wake up what felt like 2minutes later to a horrible alarm! Annual leave (as most people can relate to) is a pain in the arse. It enabled me to go on one 3 week trip (dependent on the time of year) and 1 or 2 shorter trips. This added a lot of pressure; I could only choose one location and one goal abroad each year. If the trip didn’t go to plan then I had to wait a whole year until I got chance to visit again. It dawned on me one day that I would be about 50 before I had even scratched the surface on my never ending list of places to visit. This for some people isn’t necessarily a problem, but I wanted to give these climbing areas my best shot and I believe the time to do that is your 20s – and I just turned 26!

With these thoughts in mind, I knew I either needed to change my lifestyle or my climbing attitude and goals. After mulling these feelings over for the next few months I decided I was going to leave my job, find some freelance work and go climbing more.

Work crew in Vancouver

I have made it sound like a simple decision but I was totally gripped. I was gripped about leaving something so comfortable and stable for a lifestyle that was so uncertain and I wasn’t sure I could even properly fund. I am a worrier and I worry about every decision I make. I have never been one of those people that can make bold decisions and carry on without care in the world, but I also knew that if I didn’t go for it I would look back in a few years and regret it. So, I found myself some freelance work and with a gentle kick up the arse from some close friends and family I handed in my notice and took the first steps to a life with more climbing in.

Then something happened that I didn’t expect, I was fortunate enough to be offered a great contract from Arc’teryx. So I am now an Arc’teryx athlete, which, along with a bit of freelance work means I can now be flexible with my work enabling me to pursue my climbing a little more for the next few years.

I am proud of myself for taking the risk as it was one of the hardest decisions I have made and I was a decision that only I could make (no matter how much support and advice I received). Now let’s see how the work life balance pans out over the next few months…

June 8, 2015

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I understood that the real failure was to no longer take pleasure in climbing these routes that I loved

Oliana 2015

March 26, 2015

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The best bits…

By katywhittaker@googlemail.comSport climbing, Trad climbingNo Comments

There was never any doubt 2014 was going to be a good one. The run up to the start of it was a jammed packed grit season which was the best and most enjoyable I have experienced. The weather wasn’t even that great, it never really got cold but the psyche was incredibly high and I spent every free moment driving around the Peak in search of anything that was dry. The icing on the cake was achieving a life long goal of mine by climbing the beautiful gritstone line, Gaia at Black Rocks. So I went into 2014 very psyched and it didn’t disappoint, here are my best bits (mainly in photos) …

Oliana, Spain

In February I headed out to Oliana in Spain with another goal in my mind, to climb 8b+. I wasn’t really sure if this was going to happen but I thought it would be fun to try anyway. Much to my surprise I managed to climb ‘China Crisis’, a beautiful grey streak up a 35m limestone wall. I was out with a great group of people who made the experience all the more rewarding and fun.

Always happy to be pulling on pockets!! Photo: Nathan Lee

Looking down at the little village of Perles

Whistler, Canada

I work for Arc’teryx on the European marketing team and I am lucky enough to attend two sales meetings a year in Canada. This year was extra special as it was Arc’teryx’s 25^th birthday (as it was mine!) so they held the sales meeting in Whistler! As if it couldn’t get any better, the ski season was extended by a week and so we booked our flights either side of the weekends and squeezed in 3 or 4 days on the slopes. This was topped off by the fact that the hotel made me gluten free pancakes for breakfast and they had a hot tub!!!

Sean at the top of Blackcomb

Trying to get to grips with skis

The delights of staying at the Four Seasons Hotel!

Psyched Tim!

Pabbay, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

This was one of my favourite trips. The trad climbing is insanely good, perfect 100m gneiss sea cliffs with bomber gear, in totally wild positions. What made it one of the best though, were the people I shared this experience with. Some I knew well and some I didn’t. There were 18 of us on a remote island for a week, it could have gone either way really! Luckily though it was hilarious, even the miserable, misty rainy days were made sunny by the games and banter of everyone people squished into a 10 man stronghold tent, which gradually turned into a smelly compost heap from so many people cooking in it.

The wonderfully social stronghold tent

Frisbee on Mingulay beach. Photo: Nathan Lee

Climbing on Pabbay with The Great Arch in the background

Mr Puffin

Tired looking team selfie on Mingulay

Chamonix, France

Another part of my job is to help organise the Arc’teryx Alpine Acadmey in Chamonix, so I headed out to France a day after arriving back from Pabbay. I have never been before and driving into the valley and looking up at the mountains totally blew my mind. Most of my week was spent working with little sleep and long days down on the valley floor, but luckily Jo was heading out for a week of climbing after I had finished work.

Basically neither of us knew what we were doing on snow! It was a week full of mishaps, confusion and hilarity but we figured it out together, which made it a very special and memorable trip.

Beautiful view from Chamonix valley floor

Sussing out the snow ridge from the top of the midi

Jo and I watching the sunset/mainly laughing under the midi. Photo: Stefan Heiligensetzer

Psyched to top out Voie Rebuffat. Photo: Stefan Heiligensetzer

Descending the Cosmiques Ridge. Photo: Stefan Heiligensetzer

So happy. Photo: Stefan Heiligensetzer

The Diamond, North Wales

I try to visit the Diamond every year, as I think it is one of the best climbing areas we have; it is also a bit more adventurous due to the tides and Via ferrata approach.

Ryan and I headed down for 5 days. On day 1 we found a gluten free fish and chip shop in Llandudno and that was it for the next 4 days. I ticked nothing on a diet of deep fried potato’s but Ryan was back to his Lancashire roots with a chippy tea diet and managed to smash in Diamond Dogs (8c+), which was awesome to watch. So, what better way to celebrate than with another round of fish and chips!

The beautiful wall of The Diamond

This was actually a chip butty ‘pudding’ after already eating a chippy tea!

Sunset over LPT

Mecca – The Mid Life Crisis, Raven Tor

Oh Mecca! What a fight it was, I spent alot of time down the Tor battling away with Mina, as she was trying the extension. You can read about our Raven Tor woes here. I am not sure this was my favourite couple of months but I am proud I managed to push through the ups and downs and get it done.

Busting out the crux move into the bottom of the groove on Mecca. Photo: Neil Mawson

Finally, 2014 was finished off with plenty of parties with great friends and family; the perfect way to finish my best year yet.

Snowy walk with my Mum over Christmas

2014 started with a wet and windy walk on Higgar Tor…

… and finished in a very similar way

Here’s to an even better 2015!

January 29, 2015

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Mina - Mecca Extension from JC on Vimeo.

Mecca the Mid Life Crisis

By katywhittaker@googlemail.comSport climbingNo Comments

Mina and I wrote a joint blog for Arc’teryx after spending a month or so climbing and projecting together at local crag, Raven Tor.

Katy describes Mina’s battle –

The British limestone is very unique to say the least. We don’t have the massive 50m lines of tufas and the golden rock of Europe, but what we do have is a lot of history and character – we Brits are very proud of that. Conditions are often fickle as the UK gets a lot of rain; some season’s crags never even dry out or are un-climbable a month earlier than the year before. It makes projecting an interesting and often long-winded process.

This year Mina and I took on a battle with Raven Tor, famous for its short and gnarly climbs like Hubble and Mutation. I was trying ‘Mecca The Mid Life Crisis’, 8b+ and Mina the extension of it, 8c.

Mina had previously made the first female ascent of Mecca a couple of years before, at the time making it the hardest ascent by a women on British soil – pretty inspiring. To be honest, I thought Mecca was out of my league, but Mina persuaded me it was a good idea and I got really psyched watching her cruise through Mecca most sessions to reach the head wall. From here she made steady progress, gradually getting higher each session. When the conditions took a turn for the worst, it was 15+degrees and 95% humidity most sessions. Progress came to a grinding halt for the next month. For Mina, it turned into a mental battle, suddenly the self-doubt came flooding in and no amount of positive reinforcement or encouragement from other people can push these thoughts away, she had to truly believe it herself. Personally I knew she could do it, it was only a matter of time and a bit of luck with conditions and it would be in the bag.

We religiously checked the conditions all day, every day trying to work out the best time to go. It started getting cold, and of course, Mina started getting high on the wall: a move or so higher up the head wall each session. It was really cool seeing her full of energy and psyched again for the route. She totally relaxed and crushed, making her the first female to climb 8c on British soil!

-Katy

Photo: Nick Brown

Mina describes Katy’s battle –

Rewind a few weeks back. While I was battling away on Mecca Extension, Katy had taken on the challenge of Mecca. In the same little terraced house in Sheffield, she was mentally going through the moves on Mecca the Mid Life Crisis as I was upstairs still ruminating about the extension. The house was in redpoint mode and we were both psyched. Katy had tried Mecca a bit earlier in the year (and got pretty close) but with the wet holds that spring gives Raven Tor and a lot of travelling with work, she had mentally put it to one side until the autumn. Now it was time and she was keen to get involved again.

After some time away from a route, one always hopes to pick up where one left off; a seemingly reasonable but often misleading expectation given the hard style of climbing in the UK. Katy had to shelve those expectations and be prepared to fight the frustration in order to get back to her high point. It was fine at the start, steady progress was encouraging and, as those redpointers amongst you will know, any progress is like stardust to a psyched climber. Then she hit a bit of a wall; session after session she fell at the same move…. the psyche started to wear off and her confidence began to droop.

At this point, in our little house in Sheffield, a lot of tea was drunk around the kitchen table! We were both fighting demons and trying to push through walls of self-doubt, low psyche and frustration. I’m pretty sure we both cried, we gave each other advice we couldn’t take ourselves and prayed that at least one of us might break through and drag the other one into success.

Photo: Nick Brown

It was Katy who made that breakthrough. Having struggled with a back problem for a few weeks, she began to get more treatment and it started to resolve… and her climbing improved dramatically alongside it. She felt less pain, she moved more freely and it gave her an opening to push on. Katy was actually working to a deadline, she was leaving for Canada for a work trip and was then heading off to Spain…. she had one session left to do the route.

I wasn’t with Katy that morning at the crag and, honestly, I wasn’t sure how it would go. She didn’t seem to care anymore; strung out by the emotional involvement, it was clear she was going through the motions of just “one more go”.

Maybe that is what needed to happen, maybe not caring as much helped to lift a load, to lower her expectations and remove some pressure.

She climbed the route that day.

-Mina

Photo: Rainer Eder

November 24, 2014

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Jo had some how persuaded me doing a route at the top of the Midi was a good idea. So we set our alarms and got on the first lift up, I was absolutely bricking it and neither of us said much in the cable car up so I assume Jo was too!

Chamonix

September 5, 2014

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Pabbay and Mingulay

By katywhittaker@googlemail.comTrad climbingNo Comments

At the end of May, 12 of us from various parts of the UK headed up to Oban to board the ferry and take the 5 hour ride across to Barra, Outer Hebrides. From here we were met by Donald (who was pretty flabbergasted by the amazing amount of kit we had brought) and headed out in his little, and very full fishing boat to Pabbay.

The lovely staff on the ferry informed us we had to carry everything on in one go rather than shuttling it. This proved to be impossible for certain people who had brought a stack of crates full of food with them.

We didn’t have the best welcome to the island as the cloud was down and it switched between drizzle and rain. It continued like this for the next 36 hours until the weather relented and we could mission across the island in the drizzle just in time for it to clear up for an evening climb.

The team in the big stronghold tent that got rather messy with 15 people cooking and basically living in it when it rained.

Morning frisbee on the beach, the crags didn’t dry out until lunch time so we would spend the morning chilling then head out and not return until dark, luckily that was around 11pm.

Photo: Nathan Lee

Donald’s buddy picking us up from Pabbay and taking us to the fishing boat.

The island is shaped like a wedge, so you camp down on the beautiful sandy beaches where it is nice and flat and then walk up and over to the massive 100m sea cliffs on the opposite side. The cliffs are steep, solid, have bomber gear and big hand holds. Jo and I climbed a ridiculous looking line that went right past The Great Arch, it looked impossible from the headland but was actually a four pitch E2 called ‘Prophecy if Drowning’ on the most exposed sea cliff I have ever climbed on.

Jo and I climbing Prophecy of Drowning next to The Great Arch.

Photo: Rob Greenwood

This guy is a Great Skua who along with about 7 or 8 other Great Skua’s were fully dive bombing Jo and I when we walked close to their nesting area. It was pretty scary, they are really aggressive and big birds.

The weather was pretty much mint for most of the trip apart from on our island transfer day from Pabbay to Mingulay.

Lovely beach on Pabbay

Jo and I went on an E1-E3 rampage and I did some of the most amazing trad routes ever, truly world class.

The hightlights:

Spring Squill E1 5b ****

Prophecy of Drowning E2 5c ****

Voyage of Faith E3 5c ****

Sula E2 5b ****

We watched hundreds of Puffin’s for about an hour one evening. We just sat amongst them all as they went about their evening duties, they are such cool little birds.

The whole experience from the people to the climbing to the wildlife made it one of the best trad climbing trips I have ever been on.

Ferry ride home!

July 28, 2014

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