Making the move outdoors...
Angus Robb, Scott Connor and Scott Coulter are 14, 15 and 12 and have all been climbing for about two years. They both climb regulary climb at TCA Glasgow and are part of the Youth Team there. They have just started climbing outside. Read on for Scott's (Coulter) blog describing their first day sport climbing.
Off to Kirriemuir
Angus and I are both born and bred boulderers. We’d never been serious about
sport climbing before and had only done it from time to time, but two weeks ago Angus and I went on our first outside sport climbing trip, to Kirriemuir, as part of a RealRock day with our club based at
TCA in Glasgow.
Tackling new routes
We made our way to the crag along a muddy path full of nettles and sorted out the gear while we were split into a group with Scott (Connor), getting instructed by Michael Jeans.
We began at the far right of the crag on something easy. Angus was first to tackle that route, did a good job and got to the top. Scott was next and he also reached the top.
When I went I had to re-thread and strip the route, which was an entirely new experience for me. Luckily everything went smoothly and I reached the ground safety, quick-draws in hand. We repeated this process on another route and again we all got to the top. Time for a lunch break.
Challenging ourselves
We sat down to eat and talked about how good the day had been so far – and how nice it was to take off our helmets. During lunch we looked at the book for our next route and chose a 6a+.
We got ready to climb but just before we started someone pointed out that we were looking at a 7b and had read the guide book wrong! So we looked again and found the route we had been looking for and gave it a go.
Scott Connor went first and at the third bolt he took a fall, which Angus caught very well but in the process went flying into a patch of nettles, covering his calves in stings. But even with his legs stinging he managed to venture up the 6a+ and was very chuffed with himself. I followed suit and, using Angus’s beta, also got to the top.
Moving on up
The last climb for the day was a 6a+ and Angus and I seemed to have found our confidence and soared up to the ledge at the top, which doubled as a seat.
We packed our things and went back to the car park where we got a group photo and left for our beds as it had been a long, tiring day.
Angus and I thoroughly enjoyed our day at Kirriemuir and went back for outdoor sport climbing two weeks later and want to go again in the near future. We both think it was a good experience and improved our sport climbing confidence!
Scott Coulter, 12 years old from Glasgow