Alpkit Figfour Dry Tooling tools

Pluses:

Cranking on these tools is fantastical accurate training, allowing you to train indoors, whilst pulling fig fours, and figure eights for the really daring. The grip and tool angle is fantastically accurate to holding real tools.

Can climb indoors, without upsetting the wall owners as these are hold safe.

Minuses:

Lateral torsion is not an option meaning the popular layback is not possible, however because of this they force you to shift weight and get a better grip, which on sketchy ice situations is very important.

Limited routes options, and the belt slides off slopers very easily, and only certain types of holds work, though the way the tool slips off holds and “pops” is fantastically accurate.

Does not come with tool leashes, though this was easily solved with a little bit of 3mm cord (to prevent the axe being dropped on your be-layers head).

RRP £ 65.00

For the price, these tools are great fun, they arn’t going to push your technical grade, but at least you will be strong enough and have the endurance to attempt those harder roots.

Suggestions:

Have a hook style option on the tool

Make some attachable spurs for climbing shoes, to really try some serious heal hooks.

Launch some climbing holds which are suited to represent ice style climbing.

Overall:

I own a pair, and use them on and off most weeks, to maintain strength, just convincing the local wall to put up some dry tooling routes. Really good fun. Not a replacement for actual tool use such as chalk climbing, or real ice.

Resources:

Alpkit Figfours

Alpkit Dry Tooling Training

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Whiteways, Arundle, West Sussex UK. One Very Muddy, Wet Saturday

Via Ferrata Performance:

This extremely light weight jacket performs in many conditions. On Via Ferrata (Kletterestieg) it works very well, the athletic fit, and lack of loose toggles is perfect, with flexible arms and back you are very unrestricted, and the waterproof breathable shell protects from those unforeseen showers.

The wind protection is also much appreciated.

One downside is when wearing a helmet the hood is not quiet big enough to go over the hood, but then if i have a helmet one, I tend not to use a hood anyway.

The pack-down size and weight of this jacket is its biggest asset, meaning I never mind chucking it into the day sack just in case.

Ice Climbing Performance

Similar to via ferrata the flexability this jacket provides work well on ice and mixed roots. The goretex shell stops you getting wet, whilst using the perfect combination of warm clothing underneath.

This is definately not an ice route belay jacket, but for that extra bit water proofing or for a fast moving ascent jacket, its perfect.

One downside would be lack of pockets, making it harder to have spare gloves etc, but then I tended to just stuff them down my front, keeping them dry and warm.

All Mountain Ski Performance

The Haglofs OZ Pullover is my jacket of choice when skiing, the bright colours, help keep me visable on the mountain, and has the required flare for the ski lift queue.

Where this jacket really holds up is on alpine routes, It lightweight breathability on the ascents, allow you to keep warm and dry on the ascent, then without further gear, turn and descend, the fit preventing snow coming up the jacket, and the wind resistance keeping the chill off.

Probably not the jacket for January (northern hemisphere) skiing, but in April/ may its perfect.

If you get cold easily I recommend having a couple of these, for ski and ice, I tend to use my size up version (one a size to big), allowing me to get the extra warm layers underneath and still be comfortable.

MTB Performance

Before I go into this, this jacket is not really a MTB jacket, orthough it performs fantactically, the mud and grime get into the pores of the goretex and will quickly destroy a descent jacket.

However, so long as you have techwash, or perhaps, its an older jacket this jacket constantly performs, shunning the mud, and protecting form the onset of hail and rain this jacket keep you warm and dry.

Overview

One of the classics, this jacket is one of my favourites and I will avoid retiring it as long as i can.

RRP £165.00

At this price its very good value, but theres often deals on these, as haglofs are renowned for selling items off cheap if they don’t quiet hit there very specific specs.

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Over the next 65 days i will aim to document the process of getting climbing and touring fit again ready for a climbing tour in the Oetztal, Austria.

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The gritstone is definitely worth travelling to Yorkshire for. Crags like Almscliffe, Brimham and Ilkley are amongst the best single pitch crags in the whole of Britain. However, It would also be a shame to miss the often ignored limestone in the north west corner of the county.

Recently I went over to explore the right wing of the justifiably famous Malham cove. For those of you that haven’t seen it it’s well worth a visit. The main wall at Malham is a steeply overhanging bowl of perfectly compact limestone. It is this compactness which has led to its popularity as the premier sport climbing crag in Britain. It is this high quality sport climbing which people most commonly associate with this corner of Yorkshire. This is only part of the picture though.

I’m not much of a sport climber. When there is a choice between clipping bolts and placing trad gear I take little time in deciding. As a result our target route for the day was the right wing girdle of Malham’s right wing. The thinking behind the girdle was to reccie all the ‘up’ routes on the crag whilst maximising our time on the rock. The route itself is a little weird, it is mostly E1 climbing with a very short 6a pitch and some funky ropework. What it showed however is the huge trad potential of the area. For those frustrated with the blunt slopers and flared cracks of the nearby gritsone the positive pockets and accomadating cracks will be a breath of fresh air. It certainly was for me. During the 7 pitches across the crag I added enough routes to my tick list for at least 3 return visits, and that’s just the right wing. Gordale Scar, Attermire and Kilnsey are very close by and each have enough climbing, both trad and sport, to keep you busy for a very long time.

Apparently Rockfax are hoping to release a new guide to the area sometime in 2011. Until then there is the definitive ‘Yorkshire Limestone’ published by the YMC and the now out of print ‘Northern Limestone’ by Rockfax.

Next time you make a trip up to northern England remember there is alot more to Yorkshire than just Grit!

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Luckily, John Dunne, who know these crags better than most, has chosen to do something about it.

The wall has been built by Entreprise to the highest specifications. There is a 15m lead wall and plenty of top roping routes (67 lines in total). The wall also has a bouldering cave with colour coded circuits from VO – V(much harder than I can do) and various stamina circuits.

The routes have been set by Dave Barrans and Andy Jacks and considering they are indoors, are pretty cool. By far the best thing about the wall it the jamming crack in the centre of the main wall. Since opening the crack has seen numerous ascents (and many more failures) and has now agreed to be around E3, 5c with bolts, obviously.

The facilities at the wall are first class. The most significant thing about the wall though, is its function as a hub for climbers in the local area. Hopefully it will build more of a sense of community in what has been a fairly disjointed and isolated group of individual climbers.

For more information on the wall head to www.harrogateclimbingcentre.com

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Shreddies are micro features that are in general screwed to the wall, they are often undervalued on indoor walls, considered too small and useless, but the truth is in the real world these subtle holds would be considered crankers.

They add great depth to the wall, allowing you to train harder, doing routes such as shreddies for feet holds for hands, or vica – versa.

Traditionally shreddies, would be bought a pack of a hundred, for £20- £30.

This is a great investment improving any wall, you can also paint other the shreddies to form small micro features.

You can easily make your own shreddies, screwing bits of wood, stone, clay, cement to a wall, (just be aware the improvised shreddies are likely to break under extreme pressure so just be ready suffer abit of finger pain)

Some of the best shreddies on the market are: http://metoliusclimbing.com/screw-on_hold_sets.html

The alternative is make your own polyester resin shreddies, bit of fun, much cheaper and gives you complete flexability. Check out the make your own holds feature for more info.

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Random Placement, Take your holds and randomly place them on the wall, try not getting too many similar holds next to each other. Once you have placed them, start climbing using as few holds as possible, if something is too easy swap a hold, or add a shreddy to the wall.

Collaborative route Setting, A Very simple method where by, a pair / 3 of you start by placing one hold, then the next person places the next hold, etc etc. This is a brilliant way of using a slight bit of competitive spirit to get great really difficult balanced routes.

Limited holds per section, Similar to the collaborative, except you try and stretch it it slightly by putting contstraints on where the next hold can go, such as minimum of 2 t-nuts away from last hold, or meaning 2 feet from last hold, or one hold per panel.

Copying, Remember your favourite routes the types of moves and recreate them on the wall. This is a great way of training your weaknesses, or developing your strengths.

These are just 4 quick methods, but really its a case of there are no rules, do what you can to make the routes as challenging and advantageous as possible.

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The email at the end is out of date, best to email me at: peter@dontworkclimb.co.uk

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The email at the end is out of date, best to email me at: peter@dontworkclimb.co.uk

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The email at the end is out of date, best to email me at: peter@dontworkclimb.co.uk

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