The Flash: Rock+Run Blog

In typical Scotsman style, this week’s video from Dave MacLeod is short but sweet. With fellow Scot, Will Bosi, having made the first ascent of Below Zero at the start of January (the stand start to Macleod’s boulder, Zero, 8B), it was only a matter of time before Mr Scotland himself turned up to dispatch the problem. Found on the Wobble Block at Rooftown, the climb takes in everything the rock has to offer, notably featuring a hideous undercut rollover crux that Dave dispatches with ease on his send attempt.

Lightweight, compact and extremely versatile – the Rock + Run AT2 rings are the ultimate portable performance training tools, proving to be the perfect device for training on the go and warming up at the crag. Ticking every finger training fundamental at a competition killing price, the AT2 rings have to be the best portable climbing option on the market – here’s why.

This week’s video is special not only for its big grade and cutting edge climbing but for its sheer historical significance within the British climbing community. In September 2019, Emma Twyford became the first British woman to climb 9a with an epic tick of Big Bang, a Neil Carson route at Lower Pen Trywn. Having first been shown at the 2019 Kendal Film Festival where it won ‘Best Climbing Film’, this fantastic David Petts production is a diligent account of the years leading up to Emma’s ground-breaking ascent.

If you’re completely new to climbing, or even if you have only ever sport climbed or bouldered before, your first ‘trad’ climbing experience can be daunting. Here we take a look at what it takes to become a safe and competent trad climber.

Looking for a bad weather beast to take control on the hill? Thanks to a deep, studded tread pattern, reinforced upper and Gore liner, the La Sportiva Lycan GTX is the quintessential winter off-road shoe.

Adam Ondra is back with another feature in our weekly video series. This week Adam visits the beautiful crag, ‘Beckov’, in Slovakia to check out an unclimbed project bolted by Tomáš Pilka in 1994. Having failed to climb the route when he first visited in June 2020, Adam returned to polish off 27 years of unfinished business with what became ‘Absolutorium’ 9a.

This week’s video hit comes straight from the beautiful Swiss valley of Val Bavona where we’re spoiled rotten with Swiss native, Giuliano Cameroni’s fourth ascent of Off the Wagon Low (8C+/V16). Off the Wagon’s original standing line is perhaps the most iconic boulder problem in the world, originally being discovered by Dave Graham with Nalle Hukkataival claiming the first ascent in 2012.

Typically, painful, grim and dirty, offwidthing is one of the darker arts of the climbing world, especially for us Brits with the fair isles of Britain yielding little in the way of any decent offwidth climbing. So, if you’re like me and haven’t got a clue about offwidths then this video is a nice introduction to the kit, the techniques and, most importantly, the taping.

Soft, sensitive and oh so French – the Nebula is the ultimate homage to EB’s climbing shoe heritage, nailing the same fundamentals that made their very first climbing shoe so successful whilst epitomising the modern climbing shoe’s evolution into an expertly engineered sending weapon.

In 1968, five friends set out on a 5,000-mile road trip in a white Ford van bound for South America. They packed surfboards, skis, and climbing gear and documented the whole trip on a 16mm Bolex camera. The film is, of course, Mountain of Storms, the legendary documentary of a life changing trip which ended with an awesome first ascent on Cerro Fitz Roy – there’s nothing like a bit of Patagonian alpine action to whet our winter appetites.

The second of our weekly videos comes from the heart of Llanberis where renowned climbing hardware company, DMM, are celebrating a spectacular 40th year in business. This enchanting video recounts the company’s humble beginnings with its 3 cofounders forming the business in 1981. Having first met whilst working for Clog Climbing, Fred Hall, Richard Cuthbertson and Paul Simkiss recall tales of working for Heinz beans, debt collection and the interview rejections that brought them together in the 70’s. From here, the rest was history, going on to shape a company that has become a cornerstone of both the Llanberis and the worldwide climbing communities. 

This Friday (10/12/21) you can catch our very own Ben Robinson’s attempt to become the first person to complete the last great Lake District challenge yet to be overcome in winter, The Frog Whitton. The route includes 96 miles of cycling over some of the hardest mountain passes in the UK, interspersed with 6 miles of open-water swimming. Weaved throughout the challenge is the story of Ben's inspirational transformation from dangerously overweight to ultra-distance athlete in just 12 months.

For some, the first flurries of snow make for a fun filled winter season ahead. However for others, initial excitement may give way to a feeling of trepidation. Here in the UK, the majority of us don’t get a lot of experience playing out in the white stuff - so it’s easy to get caught out if you aren’t prepared. 

Another Friday and another weekly video but, this one is particularly special. In 2019, Nirmal Purja, or more commonly known as Nimsdai, embarked on his ‘Project Possible’ – an insane mission to summit all fourteen 8000 metre peaks in a record breaking 7 months. Having only entered the world of big mountain climbing in 2012, Nimsdai made his first 8000 metre ascent two years later, summitting Dhaulagiri in a return trip of just 15 days. From high altitude novice to Project Possible in 7 years sounds ridiculous, but Nims is pretty unique.

A 55 mile trail running challenge, covering 13 limestone summits around the Kent Estuary feeding into Morecambe Bay.

The Bay Limestone Round was established in the summer of 2020 by local Tom Phillips, as a way to get some long distance routes in whilst the world was in lockdown. In addition it has proven to be a great way for people to raise funds for charitable causes, with £12,000 raised in 2020.

Dave MacLeod is back with another video of cutting-edge trad in the Scottish Highlands. This time Dave has company in the form of fellow Scotsman, professional climber and YouTuber, Robbie Phillips, who has been partnering Dave on the quest for Scotland’s next bold trad line. Well, that line came in the form of ‘What We Do in The Shadows’, E10 7a; first discovered by Phillips at Duntelchaig, the route features 8c level climbing on gear with a 7C+ boulder crux right at the death. 

Midtbo and Ondra are back with another fantastically insightful video. This latest episode in their continued collaboration comes from Ondra’s famed home crag, Moravsky Kras, in the North of Brno. If not for Ondra, this quaint, bizarre climbing location might have been known to committed locals only but, through Adam’s development, the crag has become one of most concentrated areas of hard climbing in the world.

EB were the original climbing shoe company, making the very first shoe specifically designed and created for climbing on rock. Officially founded in 1950 after French shoemaking extraordinaire, Edmond Bourdonneau, bought Pierre Alain’s fledgling rock shoe company, EB soon became climbing’s household name.

Will Bosi has been on another hard sport sending spree, this time at the mecca of British sport climbing – Raven Tor. Making the long-awaited second ascent of Steve McClure’s 1998 masterpiece, ‘Mutation’, on the 31st of October, Will clipped the chains on the long-standing open project, ‘Brandenburg Gate’, but a week later on the 7th of November. Bosi gave both routes a grade of 9a+, an upgrade for McClure’s Mutation which he originally graded 9a back in ’98. Brandenburg Gate was rumoured to be around the 9b mark having thwarted the likes of John Gaskins in the early 2000s, but Will managed to make the impressive ascent on his first ‘proper’ red point session.

Do you think your kid would love to start climbing? Well, we think they should too – climbing is the perfect sport for kids, it’s tonnes of fun, allows them to explore  and develop friendships whilst boosting their confidence and skill. Not sure how to get them started? Not to worry, here’s our guide to everything kids climbing including our suggestions for kit, classes and games.

This week’s video comes from one of the most famous and well-known climbing training spaces in the world – Adam Ondra’s old school spray wall at his Brno based gym, Kotelna Boulder Club.