26th May Sunday

Boiler Slab, Port Eynon

Top Rope/Abseil Day £20 per person

Meet at 11am in Port Eynon car park, walk over to Boiler Slab and climb for 3 hours and then walk back to the cars!

29th May Wednesday

Rotherslade, Gower

Bouldering £15 each

Meet at 2pm at the Surfside Cafe and boulder for 3 hours!

Summer Holidays

28th July Sunday

Southgate, Gower

Sport Climbing £20 per person

Meet at 09.30am at Three Cliffs Cafe, Southgate National Trust Car Park for a briefing and half day climbing session (3 hours).

10th August Saturday

Rhossili, Gower

Introduction to Trad Climbing £30 per person

Simon is running this day, aimed at those who ahve already had a taste of climbing outdoors and want to get a bit more involved with learning how to place your own gear and protect yourself when climbing outside.

24th August Saturday

Rotherslade, Gower

Bouldering £15 per person

Meet at Surfside Cafe at 1pm for a 3 hour bouldering session.

For any more information or to book a space, please contact Liz on reception at info@dynamicrock.co.uk or call 01792 845655

well done to all who took part and made it a fun series to take part in plus thanks to all who helped me set the events up making them possible in the first place.

The results are below with the top 3 in each category highlighted (remember you needed to enter all 3 rounds to be considered for champion)

Until next time…

Happy Climbing

Simon

All of this should put Emily and co. in good shape for the start of the BMC Youth Climbing Championships that starts next Saturday
Click here for details

The Results for Rd 3

8-10 Girls
Kate Windos 137

8-10 BOYS
Bryn Davies 145
Joseph Dilworth 115
Rhys Hall 110

11-13 Girls
Emily slade 212
Eli Scruby 172
Nicole Robini 129
Maddie Wallis 126
Mossie Davies 60

11-13 BOYS
Joe Lane 145

14 – 16 BOYS
Adam Matthews 227
Fynn Bishop Guest 205
David Cale 190
Gwion Lewis 178
Dylan Hannaford 157
Jamie Radmore 138
Patrick Scruby 130
Cameron Bowen 119

14 – 16 GIRLS
Anita Davies 54

17+ BOYS
Simon Robinson 257
Dave Simpson 227
Nik Goile 230
Rob Turner 219
Tom Scruby 189
Martin Robini 115
Steven Bowen 109

we had just over 40 competitors take part in the comp on Sunday and all seemed to enjoy the wild volume challenges that laid in there path to glory.

Below are the scores from the day

8-10 BOYS

1 Rhys Hall 130

2 Bryn Davis 112

3 Joseph Dilworth 61

4 Steffan Jacobs 40

8 -10 Girls

1 Kate Windos 136

11-13  BOYS

1 Cai Bishop Guest 226

2 Owen Jones 205

3 Joe Lane 135

4 Mathew Jones 132

11 – 13 Girls

1 Emily Slade 165

2 Eli Scruby 157

3 Nicole Robini 140

4 Maddie Wallis 136

5 Mossie Davies 117

14 – 16 BOYS

1 Robin Cloke 241

2Adam Mathews 227

3 Richard Marrota 219

4 Josh Cullen 217

5 Fynn Bishop Guest 194

6 David Cale 187

7 Gwion Lewis 184

8 Daniel Richards 174

9 Patrick Scruby 152

10 Dylan Hannaford 136

11 Cameron Bowen 87

12 Jamie Radmore 70

14 – 16 GIRLS

1 Rhiannon Jacob 199

2 Aurora Kelso 52

17+ BOYS

1 Alex Mannion 263

2 Simon Robinson 252

3 Sasha 194

4 Joe Moriarty 191

5 Tom Scruby 175

6 Mat Dix 140

7 Martin Robini 131

8 Steven Bowen 100

17+ Girls

1 Anita Davies 60

Something Dynamic Rock takes great pride in is helping climbers develop their climbing in any given direction. This can be seen most prominently via the Youth Climbing Team and the success they have had in 2011 both indoors and outside. In 2012 we shall be opening the team out for new members so if you are interested in joining our youth climbing team, simply ask at reception for details.

In 2012 we shall be expanding upon this by introducing some new courses that will help climbers of any ability progress. From the complete novice through to the seasoned pro there should be a course for you in 2012. Also look out for the great savings on ‘Gold’ Membership £315 for a years climbing ! (£270 for concessions), this is a limited time offer only for January so get yours quick!

One of the biggest changes for climbers at Dynamic Rock this year is the introduction of a new ‘Silver’ Membership, that costs £60 and then reduces all visits for the year to £5, this could offer some great savings to any climber who comes to the centre twice a month or more.

Personally I have had some great days climbing locally and abroad. Dinas rock is, as many of you are aware, my local stompin ground. Developing some new climbing and bouldering here with some other keen locals has been great fun and something I’ll be keen to do more of over the new year. I have also been fortunate enough to have been to Kalymnos twice and seeing many of the guys and girls that came with me reach personnel bests is hard to beat, Rhos onsighting Priapos F7c and Ash climbing F8b+ will take a while to be forgotten!

Kalymnos video

So the centre has some exciting new plans for the coming year and each month we shall be introducing something new to keep you on your toes and to hopefully keep all of your visits a great experience. For now here are a few things going on in the next few weeks.

 Up and Coming Events at Dynamic Rock

 The Ruckus round 2 – 22nd January

1st off we have round 2 of our winter bouldering series, with this we shall  be re setting the bouldering Wall (which will  be closed to the public on 21st Jan) so expect 30 new problems of all grades to challenge you.

Leading Ladder – 28th January till the 12th February

Shortly after this its on to the Lead wall with the Leading Ladder making a return to Dynamic Rock, this event has been hugely popular with climbers across south wales offering 10 challenging routes from F5+ to F8a

The BMC Youth Climbing Series

Time for all you young climbers to step up to the plate. This regional comp is aimed at all young climbers! With plenty of climbing for all ages this really is a fun packed day for all climbers aged 17 and under.

Round 1 Boulders, Cardiff 25th February

Round 2 Dynamic Rock, Swansea 17th March

Welsh Final Summit Centre, Bargoed 21st April

happy climbing

simon

So winter is finally with us and its starting to get a little colder day by day, or at least that’s how it feels surfing every morning! December is a busy month for most of us and the centre is no exception with lots going on in the run up to Christmas.

Paul playing in the winter snow in Switzerland

1st off we have been busy route setting at the centre with lots of new routes going up on the slab and the ‘vert’ walls, it would be great to hear your feedback on these from quality to grades. This will carry on know hoping to have reset the whole wall by the new year. In the boulderign wall we have returned the Training board back to a ‘Circuit’ allowing climbers to challenge themselves against a 70 move monster !

The circuit is a great way to work your wall fitness, allowing you to complete lots of moves whilst not requiring a belayer. Come try the ‘Friday Night Project’ for some advice on how to get the most from the circuit board. Plus remember its only £5 after 7pm on Fridays with Free coaching for those interested in taking there climbing forward.

The offer night we had the boys from Evolv in the centre running a boot demo were lots of you got the chance to try out there range of shoes  on some of the new routes in the centre. If any of you are looking for some Xmas gift ideas or just an excuse to buy some new shoes we are still offering 10% off Evolv shoes for orders made before December 9th.

On Sunday 11th December we shall kicking off our winter Bouldering comp entitled ‘The Ruckus‘. This popular event is a chance for you to test your bouldering skills against 30 new boulder problems each month (for more info see previous post) This does mean that the bouldering room will be closed on Saturday the 10th to be reset for the comp!

Also on the 10th of December ‘Ashleigh’ will be taking part in the British Youth Open in Sunderland. This event he won last year so it will be great to see him in action again against the countries best! I’m sure you will all join me in wishing him all the best with this event!

looking forward to the end off the month we have published our Xmas opening hours so take a quick look below to see when we are open/closed over the festive period.

Xmas 2011 opening times

Dec 24th open 10am – 4pm

Dec 25th Closed

Dec 26th Closed

Dec 27th open 2pm – 10pm

open as normal until

Dec 31st open 10am – 4pm

Jan 1st Closed

Open as normal

OK some of you have already been asking and yes you are right, it is that time of year again. We have all started climbing more frequently indoors and are looking for new challenges to keep us in shape through out the winter. Well look no further than our ever popular winter Bouldering Series entitled ‘The Ruckus’. This year we will as before hold 3 rounds over 3 months challenge all climbers from the newbies to the pro’s. 

Each round will consist of 30 Problems for climbers to get there teeth into with a theme for each round (more info on this closer to the time ). Climbers have 3 hours to have as many attempts as possible to try and climb as many of the 30 problems as they can. Scores are awarded depending upon how many attempts each problem takes (self scoring) 

Your final event score will be a total of your 3 round scores (entrants must take part in all 3 rounds to be considered for title)

The comps are a great way to improve your bouldering by trying new challenges but also by seeing others climb the same problems unlocking clues of how to complete each bloc.

categories for the event will be as follows

8-10

11-13

14 – 16

17 +

Veterans

Male and Female in all Categories

under 16′s will start at 10.30 and have 3 hrs to attempt all problems with the adults and vet’s starting at 12.30 (also having 3 hours) 

The events are aimed at having fun and getting involved so it can be a great chance for the first time comp climber to have a go. Each round will cost £10 but climbers pre booking can pay £25 for the 3 (saving £5) ask at reception for details.

Dates for the comp are as follows

11th December 2011  

22nd January 2012

19th February 2012

(anticipated grades for problems are between VB and V9) 

Happy Climbing

Simon

Well done to all the climbers who took part in the Weekends climbing competition up in the Valleys! This Event is becoming the Big one for South Wales with climbers trying 5 routes of increasing difficulty to qualify for a final on the ultimate route. this year we saw routes from F4+ to F8a and i can vouch for how tiring the day is after having to demo over 20 routes for the categories!

The Swansea Squad plus a few locals took on the challenges set with great enthusiasm and as is becoming the norm, we had some amazing results! None more so than Rhys Hall and Emily Slade who both ranked high in the respective categories showing they are becoming a force to be reckoned with. Also Cameron narrowly missed out on the final after only 1 year climbing!  The Event which is in its 3rd year has grown and grown and this year was no exception with 103 climbers taking part the standard was high. The comp is aimed at getting youngsters involved and is a great way to prep for the up and coming BMC YCS, as such the Dynamic Rock Team will take great confidence going forward from the performances put in by our new young rising starts.

 Jake Pugh is also worth a massive mention for some how reaching the final after 5 bruising routes, and this after being sick several time on the floor amongst his fellow competitors. Maybe he was trying to put them off? anyway he dug in and got the job done. We also had some great news from the summers bouldering comp we attended were a few of our team won there categories including Mossie Davies who claimed her first comp Victory!!!  I cannot really finish with out mentioning the big guns of the DR team, Robin and Chris climbed well in a very very impressive category were the standard seemed to be climb 8a or go home, but they held there own and came very close to reaching athe final. and of course Rhos didn’t disappoint claiming a 2nd place after a lengthy layoff missing out on the top spot by 3 holds over 6 routes is about as close as it gets. 

In the Student Categories it was left to Dan Carrol and Tristan Spencer to battle onwards as Swansea’s only representatives but they both did amazing well reaching the final with Dan taking 2nd place.

That leaves Ashleigh and you probably already heard how he demolished all the routes including a crowd pleasing campus of the final roof to take top spot on the podium. Next up is the British Open for Ash in a few weeks time and I’m sure you will all join me in wishing him luck.

Results from the comp below – sorry about funky layout i cannot get the table to work properly

Any way as you can guess I have finally worked out how to write the blog again, and I can tell you this is so much easier than filling out the routes section which was a real nightmare job! Incase you have not noticed we have a routes list were you can comment on your favourite route or ones you hate, and more than that you can have your say on the grades so be sure to keep an eye on how this pans out.

Ashleigh with his 1st place certificate

Back to bloggin – its been a mixed summer for Dynamic Rock and its familiar faces, we have had a resonably good summer at the centre with a huge number of non climbers giving the sport a go for the first time, also we have seen many of our regulars getting outside climbing on the rock, with Pembroke being a popular destiation earlier this summer. Personally one of my favorite moments from the summer was watching Ashliegh win the British Youth Open ! a tremendous acheivment, one that  he and all involved at Dynamic rock can be very proud off.

Click here for a video of Ash winning the British Open!

Mossie Climbing at the Gower climbing festival 2011

More Recently it was the Gower Climbing Festival run by local climber Stuart Llewellyn. know in its 3rd year, this event has grown in popularity. The large range of climbing on Gower has to be one of the contributing factors were there really is something for every one at hand, but it must also be pointed out that the tireless work put in by Stuart and his voulanteers have been the driving force behind this success and he already has big plans for next years event!

 This year I took a few of our younger team members along (some of them there first taste of ROCK climbing) to Fox Hole. This popular spot on Gower is home to a wealth of routes across the grades and in fact can boast Gowers easiest and hardest sport route! with a range from F3 to F8b. It was fantastic to see the youngsters getting involved with some of Gowers great testpeices from the mass ascent of ‘Leopard skin leg warmers’ which coisodentally was first climbed by Dynamic Rock Team member Rhosylyn Frugineit. right up to Cai Bishop-Guest Flashing his first F6c and then F7a !

 Cai and his Brother Fynn climbing at the festival

On a personel Level I completed one of my Projects at Dinas Rock, the route ‘Mortal Kombat’ tackles the large roof found to the left of the main sector at Dinas and took several months of practice to complete in one push. This route is one of my proudest new First Ascents as it felt so improbable when I first toyed with the idea of trying to climb it.  but after a spring in Kalymnos getting fit followed by some peak district jammin it was game on!

Simon climbing Mortal Kombat

The Line the climb follows across the large roof  is very interesting with every move requiring accuracy and super strong core to keep those feet pasted to the ceiling. The route is named after a computer game from back when i played such things! ok i still do know and again, but it reminded me of how to master the game i had to learn various contorted hand positions to execute (literally) each move, well this route was the same and will know doubt collect some dust until some one else gets sucked in to its magic and commits to learning its secrets.

Click here for a video mash up, off ‘Mortal Kombat’

So What next for Dynamic Rock, Well there has been lots of work going on to get ready for the winter months, with a Spring (end of summer really) clean plus Steve Warrington ( DR regular and electrian) has fixed our lights so you can once again see in the cafe and if you are climbing on the Slab. Route setting has been going on at 100mph with lots of new routes of all grades going up thick and fast ready for the busyier period. This weekend sees the start of the Leading Ladder across the UK and Dynamic Rock is hosting Round 1 so come and get involved in this popular event, that swansea has had great succsess in the past.

over the next week or two we shall be reseting the Bouldering Wall so please let us know if there is any requests!

happy climbing 

Simon

Monday – Friday

14.00 till 22.00

Saturday – Sunday

10.00 till 18.00

Happy climbing

Simon