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| Chilling in the apartment in Chamonix |
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| Supporting the boys in Chamonix during qualifications |
My journey started on the 9th of
July with an early flight to Geneva. The first of my 3 French comps was the
Lead World Cup in Chamonix. I was really excited for this one, as I’d never
been to Chamonix and the wall looked amazing. We arrived the day before the
men’s quails to miserable, grey conditions... not what I’d been hoping for! The
weather stayed like this for the whole trip, which was quite disappointing, but
bearable on women’s qualification day (Men’s was horrific; rain and super cold
temperatures). For me Chamonix was a disappointing comp… I knew I wasn’t as fit
as I’d like to have been and that the routes would be hard. The first route was
average – I fell at a cruxy section where you had to spin so that your feet
faced the audience and work them around, eventually spinning back around. So
yeah, confusing. The second route I felt pretty good on and knew what I had to
do…. But decided not to do it and put a toe hook rather than using a heel,
resulting in a fall. So I was very disappointed with my climbing in Chamonix
but enjoyed watching the very wet and cold finals! Such a great atmosphere
despite the dreadful weather.
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| Chamonix Qualifications Route 1 |
Sunday came and once my dad arrived to join myself and my coach (Rob), we drove to Briançon. The week between the comps was a relaxed and very hot one! We managed to get out on a bit of rock, doing some easy routes and a few hardish boulders but it was high 30s every day. It was also super cool to watch the French National comp that was held on the Briançon wall a couple days before the world cup.
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| Route 1 |
A couple days later I was the one competing
on the Briançon wall. My routes looked incredibly hard with superstars like
Dinara Fakhritdinova only getting just above the half
way point on the wall on route 1. Warming up I felt psyched but unfortunately
it just wasn’t meant to be and I didn’t get very far on either route, falling
on crux moves just before the big rest jug. My performance was frustrating but
I thoroughly enjoyed watching the semi finals which had been brought forward to
that same night as the qualifiers. This
was a good decision as the finals the next day were cancelled due to a horrific
storm. They semis had the atmosphere of a finals so it was amazing to watch and
really made me feel psyched again.
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| Climbing on warm rock! |
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| Lonely Brit - Presentation in Briançon |
On Sunday I joined the youth boulder team
in L’Argentiere La Bessee, a short drive from Briançon. Our pad was amazing and
we had a few games of darts, jungle speed, many horror film viewings and even a
BBQ. I had so much fun on this trip and I was with a bunch of really great
people. The comp started on Tuesday… and it was hot. I found it pretty hard to
climb when the sun came out; I could really feel it zapping my energy and my
shoes felt smaller than ever. The blocs were hard but I think the set kind of
suited me. I managed 3 flashes, a hard bloc 3rd go and another bloc
which started with a sidewards dyno into a slanted volume and round hold on my
last attempt. I was really pleased I could do that bloc as jumping is not my
thing! 2 more of the blocs I think I could’ve done if I had had more time. It
was an interesting qualification round and I could really see the things I
needed to work on and become more comfortable with.
Overall I had a tough climbing time in
France but really enjoyed hanging out with my friends. I am really excited to
go home and train with a new attitude. Things are going to get much harder!
I’m looking forward to going to Imst for
the next World Cup next weekend and then staying out in Austria until the next
youth boulder European competition in Laengenfeld.
Thanks to my sponsors:
Lyon (La Sportiva, Petzl, Beal)
BerghausNuLine
Natoora
Michael and Lauren Clancy
Sports Aid
Sport England
Westway Development Trust
My Nanny and Grandad :)
