We all headed down to the Churnet to check out the amazing looking Ina's Rock. This is a truly awesome piece of weathered sandstone hidden away in the woods, with two classic highball/solo's side by side. With a big team and the biggest load of crash pads I've ever seen, we were ready for action! First line to go down was Thumberlina (highball V6 or E6), this is a brilliant line up a smooth wall with a weird pockety start involving a big heal hook. Then some positive crimpers and a final scary lunge right at the top! This got 5 ascents in good time! Next up we moved all the pads over to the left and got stuck into the harder Cornelius (V9 or E7/8). Anyway Dave Mason showed the way with a stylish ascent followed by myself! What a great day!!

 After a great weekend I had some rest before heading up to Kendal for a British Team training event! This involved 5 routes from 7c to 8a+. We had to complete as many as we could out of the 5. This was a great session and thanks to the route setters who put up some fantastic sequences. The next day consisted of 90 deg lock off’s, pull up’s, campusing, dead hangs and core workouts. All in all the weekend was great! Once I was back, the next day I went out to try this route called ‘Boot Boys’ 8a+ at the amazing horrible Raven Tor. The route is about 10m long with 4 clips. You start up this V4 boulder problem then into the crux. The way that some people have done it is by using this horrible deep pinky mono to then make a killer move to this small edge (DANGER). I unfortunately was unable to fit my finger into it but was able to span from the good hold past the mono to the small edge! (Thank God!) Quick tick but albeit an unpleasant one!

 The next weekend was the Climbing Works International Festival. This is an amazing event with loads of problems to try, ending with a palm sweating final. The qualifying day involves climbing 30 problems in 3 hours with only 3 goes. The grades go up to around 7C/V9. 20 competitors will go through for the semis and then just 6 for the final! I competed for my second time and managed a qualification score of 249, which placed myself in 10th. First place was Dave Barrens with a huge score of 291! I felt pretty tired the next day but was very keen to get stuck into the semi’s problems. I managed 3 bonuses on the 4 problems with no tops! (Hard problems) I didn’t manage a final position but finished in 10th overall, which I was happy with! For the full results click here.