New Routes! New Projects!

Tonight's climb time was 2 hours. SCC's Tuesday meet saw brand new routes! The route grades weren't up on the board yet though so it was a free for all considering I'm no route setter and would have no idea how to tell what grade a route was even if I identified its hardest move.

At first I was worried and apprehensive that I didn't know what I was going to be climbing, but then when I thought about it again, I didn't really mind. It made me less hesitant and I felt less pressured to live up to a grade or expectations that I set on myself. It was out of my safety zone and that was healthy to be put out of it, to not be safe and only try what I though I could or couldn't do. Based on my ability and ease on them I assumed they were around a 5/5+ with a few 4s.

It was a good evening.

Up those Walls like White Spiders...

Today saw SCC head over to White Spider Climbing Centre in Tolworth. Pareecha and I were taken there by Chris and Richard. It was initially a weekend when the experienced climbers were going to head over for some outdoor climbs, but the weather forecast meant that they were driven indoors. White Spider is a large climbing gym with over 300 routes on 103 lines, up to 20 metres on a stalactite roof with grades ranging from 3 to 8b. 

We got there early and climbed for around 5 hours. We did a spot of lead here and there, I mainly belayed her though as she was very wary on how to belay on lead. I trust her a lot but it put me on edge and I struggled to send a 4 without being overly cautious of if she would catch me if I fell. So with that in mind I stuck mainly to top rope on the huge walls and bouldered in one of their many bouldering areas. The grades were a push it seemed and Jo reckoned that they were half a grade higher than Sotons standards. I still had fun and enjoyed the experience of climbing at a different wall. 

Pareecha and I moved around the wall and I sent a few 4, 4+, 5 and a couple easy 5+ top rope. The jump between grades was really big I found. 4+ and 5 seemed ok, but then 5 to 5+ and above were a stretch. It was ok though. I did my thing and had fun, breaking for lunch somewhere in the middle.The cafe was cute, solf coffee, paninis and Clif. It also has a little castle with a crash mat floor kids could boulder and climb up into which is awesome. 

White Spider also have a slackline stretching across the walls on one of their corners, so we all had a walk across and a bounce before having to master an Olympic class dismount (failing). It was a great laugh though. The gym also has over 200 boulder problems scattered across two floors and three areas, not to mention a really awesome cave. As the day drew to a close, Pareecha and I bouldered in the cave with Marc who was sending a route as we entered as fell from the roof with a content sigh. He'd been trying most of the afternoon so no wonder the sigh. He chilled as we scoped out routes, I rainbowed couple then sent a few V0s and a couple V1s on aching palms and tight shoulders. It was an awesome day overall and a great new experience.