From Sheffield to Ratho

So, a lot has just seemed to have in the last couple of weeks from winning to the YCS’s, finishing school and getting into a bit of cycling!

A week or so ago, Ratho held the YCS final once again. A youth comp with 3 series leading up to a grand final. The format for each round being 3 boulders and 3 routes. A comp I have been doing for almost a decade and which has finally come to a close as this was my last year. I’ve got to old!!  I won each one of the rounds in my area- Peak,  and I so desperately wanted to win it all!

On the day I managed 2 out of my 3 boulders and the same with my routes- 2 tops. And although the boulders didn’t out me in the highest position, I was the only one to top one of the routes; a very technical, slabby climb with a powerful finish, which pushed to the top of the pile.

I couldn’t have been more happy with my result, and finished my Youth Climbing Series days with high.

A week before the YCS, there was the British Bouldering championship. I had only competed in this style of competition, all isolated, once before, at last years BBC’s, and  did not go at all well. However this year the boulders seemed a little easier and I had also got stronger and managed to beat my last score of 0. 

Watching the mens in the morning got me psyched for my turn in the afternoon. The qualifiers were well set and great fun to do and I got 3 tops with 2 flashes, a score which got me into the semi’s in 12^th. I felt psyched and ready for the semi’s on Sunday and after a good isolation I started off well with a flash of the first problem. I was also so close to the second boulder, falling off tickling the last hold. I got the 3rd boulder 2^nd go, managing to miss half the holds on the way. My final climb of the day, a flexible slabby climb, finished me with a flash. My performance didn’t get me throught to the final but positioned me came 8^th over all, an improvement from the qualifiers and a score I was more than pleased with!!

Two successful competition, finishing school and having the chance to see some talented cyclist fly past me as I watched the tour de France out side my Grandparents house, has left me feeling strong and psyched for the summer.

In a couple of days I’m off to Arco in Italy and then from that, straight to the Open Youth boulder and lead comps in London and then after a break at home back down south to Devon for the Deep Water Solo comp at the Quay climbing centre. Bring on the summer!

A week in the Peaks

Green Traverse, Font 7a

A few weeks ago, when it seemed the summer holidays still stretched before me, 10 of us clambered into Jonny White's and Tom Bonnet's cars and set off for a week in the peaks!

Rubicon- 7a, just couldn't resit a bit of sport!
- would definitely recommend this rout!!

A few days in, we ended up in Stanage, however we soon realised, conditions weren't ideal - hot and humid, but we still stuck at it. Tash, Sarah and I ended up spending most of the day working Green traverse, 7a, a climb Sarah has been batterling with for some time. Sarah finally got it as the afternoon wore on. I ticked it too! Apparently unusually; I had to get a high heal hook using my flexibility at full stretch and a full left arm lock off.

Throughout the week I also manged to tick a few more 7a’s. I also got my first font 7b; Weed Killer at Raven Tor!

It was an amazing week, with some great people- a big thank you to Orrin for turning 18 :) !!

YCS Final 2013

The YCS supporting CAC!

 Last year I thought I was done with the YCS’, but my loss of a place on the GB team, meant I was once again able to compete! Having only 3 of us in the Peak area in the Youth A group; Naomi Tilley, Beth Garratt and me, we were all guaranteed a place in the final, which was handy as Naomi and I missed the first round due to a climbing trip to El Chorro, Spain, to read more about my trip there, visit; http://flotilley.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/el-chorro-spain-late-nights-laughter_12.html .

 

For those that don’t know, the YCS consists of 3 boulders and 3 leads, or top ropes if you are category C or below. It has the international age categories with an extra youth E and D! 

 

Our first boulder was by far, in my eyes, the hardest, completely de-psyching me- failing on a move I knew I could do. However as the day progresses things started to brighten up, flashing the second boulder and being only one of two to top our third one. The leads, also being my strong point brought me back from a weaker position to a stronger more comfortable one, topping the first two and slapping for the last hold on our hardest rout.

 

In the end I came third, it would have course, have been nice to win but third suited me just fine! It’s not however just about the position, at the end of the day it’s about how you, yourself performed. And today I actually felt I climbed with nothing holding me back; like my nerves. On the routes I finally made my anxiety unwind, allowing me to climb fluently and smoothly and the trick I found was simply, to be happy!

 

This year was also extra special as an extra Tilley had joined the crew!! Harry, my younger cousin, who has only been climbing for about 6 months and is only 8, reached the final, a top notch achievement (look out for the next generation of Tilley crushers). It seems that the desire to send routes and pull hard is in our blood, running in our very veins!

 

The next comp I’m will competing is the Senior BBC’s at Sheffield in a fortnight. How well I do is a complete mystery, especially as I would of have week in Barcelona with school before hand!  

Olympic Bid

Support the Olympic bid!!

 

 

To find out more visit https://www.thebmc.co.uk/support-climbings-olympic-bid

¡El Chorro ~ Spain ~ late nights, laughter and psyche!



CAC!

A year has passed since the last team trip in Costa Blanca; this time, Team Crush headed further down south to El Chorro. I, along with my family travelled the 1500 miles by train, planning to meet the final 12 at Málaga airport. However, I seem to be ill-fated with trains since my epic return journey from Russia [to read more about my time here: ‘An Epic Journey! ]. Our Eurostar was delayed, not a good start as this was the train leading us to our ‘Hotel Train’, which we hoped would take us all the way from Paris to Madrid. Due to the slight problem of a fire up ahead, we were sitting on the tracks waiting for an hour, the same hour we had to get from Paris Nord to Paris Austerlitz. So yet again we found our selves (this time with the whole family) running through the Metro, hoping against hope the next train would be delayed by just 5 minutes. It wasn’t. Nevertheless the parents claimed new tickets which meant we had a small (quite big actually) detour to Barcelona. It also meant we could sneak in some family time and eat out in Paris, which was just soo unbearable… ;)  Finally we arrived in Málaga, tired but psyched for the week ahead. Getting to the villa in Alora only 5 hours after our original expected time of arrival!

Team Tilley

 

We had 6 days of possible climbing in El Chorro however due to the weather not being the usual Spanish heat wave; we only managed to get 5 in and only 4 days without seepage. However luckily there was only one completely climbing free day; just watching films. For those of us who didn’t want to stay inside all day, there was a trip to the local Picasso museum (Malaga).

Cosas Caseras 7a+

 

On our first day, we went to Frontales- Poema de Roca a massive cave. Although I was psyched to get some good sends, I didn’t try anything massively challenging because it always takes me a day to adjust to the rock, forget any fear of falling and to trust the ‘stickiness’ of it, however I found I didn’t need to worry; my Shamans stuck perfectly to the beautifully formed limestone.  

 

On Monday, the second day into the trip we went to Desplomilandia- Buena Sombre, on the way passing through some beautiful lakes and views. Sarah and I took this day as more of a volume day, hoping to get some crushing done the next day, doing all the 6 top 50’s.  Yogur de coco - 6c, and Cosas Caseras -7a+, two of the top 50’s, would have to be some of my most favourite climbs out of the whole trip, they had steady and in interesting climbing to both the crux’s with amazing no hands rests and incredibly enjoyable climbing! A quick note to point out however, unlike the guide book suggests, all the top 50 climbs on this bit of the crag, were not dry after rain, they were all, in fact, dripping wet, as we found out on the last day.

Rain. Rain. Yet more rain. Let’s visit the Picasso Museum.

                                                                                

The Walk to Makinodromo

The next morning the rain had stopped and we were psyched to get back on the rock. We were off to Makinodromo. However due to the torrential rain the day before, it was dripping and so as events unfolded we found our selves walking the Kings walk. To read more about the ‘walk’ visit: http://climbersblogs.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/el-chorro-el-camino-del-ray-flo-tilley.html

Eye of the storm- 7c

On the Thursday we ended up back in Poema de Roca. The rain battered us back into the cave, away from the more exposed sectors which were where we originally set out to go. With Amanda eagerly pushing me on, I flashed a 7b - La villa strangiato, steep, short and juggy and worked 7c - Eye of the storm, a climb going straight through the roof of the cave. This was also full of massive jugs, and awesome toe hooks, a climb I would defiantly recommend!! I worked this to the top. I know if I were to climb this again when I was fresh I would top it.

 

Eye of the storm- 7c

The Final day of climbing arrived and due to the weather being forecast as showery throughout the day we had to return to Desplomilandia- Buena sombre. The Morning was not looking bright and the rain was hammering down. The climbs I wanted to try were wet and the 7a I eventually got on was damp; the jugs were un-holdable. However after a dodgy fall with Sarah and lots of chocolate consumed to brighten our spirits I did Fran sin natra - 7b second go.

The Week had finally come to an end and the train journey home loomed back over us. However unlike the journey there, the way back was much smoother and had no glitches. There’s no denying that I was pleased to get back home!

You might ask, why bother? Why go through the hassle of travelling by train, when it only takes a few short hours to go by plane? Yes, to be fair it takes about 8 times as long but you get to meet new people, practice your Spanish, get an extra day out of your holiday, gain useful experience and miss an extra day off school, what more could you want?! Oh, and it saves carbon emissions!

 

The 'Kids'

A massive thank you to Mark Pashley for organising the whole trip, Wayne, Richard and Mark, for driving us all around El Chorro, everyone who cooked, Evolve and Metolious for my gear and for everyone for making the trip as amazing as it was!

The Youth Open 2012

The time had come to make a point about how hard I’ve been training over the last few months. The Youth Open had arrived, along with a tough competition and weekend. I felt prepared and psyched and luckily recovering fast from the winter cold. 

Day one: Leading.

I was up third up and after a rushed warm up I stepped onto qualifier one; a technical climb with a small overhang at the top, a style perfectly suited to me. I felt calm, composed and psyched. Luke Tilley had demoed our climb effortlessly and being my brother went through the route with me afterwards, telling me to just ‘accept the bad holds’, great, thanks, really useful ;). Working my way up I kept breathing deep and climbing smoothly, staying relaxed. Totally absorbed in the climb I suddenly found myself a few moves from the top. ‘Just keep calm, carry on’. One more move to the top. One more pull. No more oomph . I fell, my fingers millimetres from the last hold. I reached the bottom happy with my performance but I was most pleased with my head. I had proved I could control it, keep its anxiety on a leash.

My second qualifier was up the main wall which was a barrel: an S shape. The climb started off more or less vertical, getting steeper and steeper then near the top reducing back to a vertical. This time, I was 10^th up, I was ready to go and once again psyched. It looked good, steep with good(ish) holds and a massive side wall big enough to bridge all you liked on. I started well, climbing strong and fluent and calm. I was getting into the steeper section of the barrel; I was in full flow but my mind and consequently my sequence missed the clip; I got the next hold, remembered the clip, tried to clip, failed to clip! I got the next hold, try to clip again, but would have fallen off. OK, well let’s try the next hold then, oh no, my arms aren’t that long. New plan, let’s climb down, energy is draining, still can’t clip, lets climb back up again, the clip is still failing me. The clip had won. I had fallen.

I knew it was over. I had made the mistake. I had messed up this important competition. My remaining energy was used up crying, tears pouring down my cheeks. I was angry at the error I made. Irritated because the climb looked so good. Frustrated because I hadn’t found the climbing hard. Cross because I knew I would have topped it. Distraught because I knew the competition was so tight I would loose my place on the GB Team.

Luke, as always, came to the rescue. He sat with me calming me back down, trying to staunch the flow of water falling down my cheeks. He explained the problem and told me solutions and amazingly got me psyched once again. However, being a girl and being, it seems, very emotional; every time the subject was raised a new set of tears would find their way back into my eyes, revealing my distress again.

Because of my determination I couldn’t let this climb slip by, so after the award ceremony, I whipped my harness back on, re-warmed up and stormed up the route. I clipped ‘the clip’ with ease and climbed past with no problem. The cruxy move at the top where I witnessed many climbers come off didn’t stand in my way. I was on a rampage. I was at the last move before long: a big powerful move from a tiny crimp to a massive jug. The pressure to finish the climb wasn’t there: I had proved myself right about th climb being well within my ability and the tears had drained most of my energy. I fell, ‘my fingers millimetres from the last hold.’

Day 2, bouldering. After debating long and hard on Saturday evening I had decided to compete in the first Open Youth bouldering competition.  We had 8 boulder problems to complete in two hours with 5 attempts at each. Then 3 problems with 4 minutes to complete each individual climb for the finals. The climbs looked hard but good. I had put no pressure on myself as I wasn’t too psyched to actually try to get a place on the bouldering team, as, if you know me, I really am not a boulderer. The standard is high,  I took this purely for fun. It turns out I didn’t do too badly considering, finishing 7^th, against Tara Hayes, Molly Thompson-Smith, Gracie Martin, Rachel Carr and Tash Allcock. And Tash only beating me by getting to a bonus hold 3 attempts quicker. This left me just outside a qualifying place. An awesome well done to Gracie as well for getting a place on the bouldering team after a sick effort in the final, finishing 4^th due to count back!!

So that was my weekend. Not really the outcome I was hoping for. I made a costly mistake on a climb and consequently lost my position on the team. Not great, but that wont stop me training, getting psyched and proving myself in July at the next Youth Open. Oh, and don’t worry, I’ll practise remembering to clip too!

The BLCC 2012

The BLCC had come back around, once again being held in the depths of the Ratho wall. Equipped with layers of clothes, including my new PrAna trousers and an opportunity to get selected for the last European youth cup of the year in Kranj I was psyched to get my boots on!

I was up about 10^th on my first qualifier, I was feeling good, I had warmed up well, and even my hands were immune from the biting cold of Ratho. This is a problem that many competitors have - losing sensation in their fingers. The climb worked its self round the corner of the old comp wall, looking a bit sketchy at times, technical at others and powerful at the very end.

On the long journey to Scotland I was so bored and cramped I decided to listen to a deep relaxation tape and it turned out to be a very valuable decision. After 20 minutes of relaxation I opened my eyes and experienced the calmest, most relaxed feeling I have ever had.

You’re probably wondering why I’m telling you this. What has it to do with climbing? In fact, I feel it played a big part of understanding my head and learning to control my nerves. I could relate back to that feeling while climbing to control my unease.

I got on to the climb feeling confident and set off with a good start, clipping well and going smoothly. After unbalancing a little I readjusted my position, greatly helped by my sick new shoes doing their job. I surprised myself as I found I was a hold away from the top. The last move was big and felt even bigger as my arms were slowly got more pumped. I finally went for the move, after spending a little too much time ‘preparing’ myself for it. The hold felt my palm willing me to grab hold of it, but all too soon the chains were flying away from me. 

Meanwhile, as I was undergoing my qualifier, the first ever category of the female veterans had started their climb. With their entry fees donating to epilepsy action and a cake sale running throughout the day as well, they had a great atmosphere. I believe the vets will write up their experience.

With qualifier 1 down, I was feeling confident. This climb was still on the old comp wall but on the more slabby section. The Youth A boys had been up before us so I had a good idea of the route. It too looked technical and sketchy. I was 4^th up this time; I felt, a good position to be in. As I had finally sussed out my nerves on the last climb I was sure that this would no longer be a problem, it wouldn’t affect my performance. I was, with great relief, right. I now feel much more confident, un-sketchy and have found a new enjoyment to competition climbing. My head was focused on the climb, on every move, on my feet, on my hands. I worked up most the climb with ease, finding a good shake out just before the final powerful steep section; going over the lip. I pulled on and set off for my final battle. With some awkward heel hooks I managed to pull my self over the lip onto a volume. I knew I had little power left, so with one last effort I locked off to get the 4^th last remaining hold. I tickled it, teasing myself, I thought had got it but the tickle wasn’t enough and I came rapidly down.

From my performance in my qualifiers I got in the final in 4^th place. Unusually our Youth B category had 7 in the final, instead of the normal 6 due to a draw in 6^th place. After half an hour in isolation we were sent out for our 8 minutes viewing time. Our final was also on the old comp wall, however this time looking much more powerful, with, what it looked like, cruxy sections on the over hanging parts. Back in isolation, I started to slowly warm up, psyched to get on the route. I was finally called to go. With all my gear in hand I set off for my final.

I got on the rout feeling slightly more nervous than I did in my qualifiers, however I still climbed alright. I reached the end of the first over hang, jumping to a hold and only just holding it, my arms were at full stretch and I was unable to get a good enough grip to pull up and get my leg across to a vital hold to be able to do another long and powerful move. As I came down I knew this wasn’t the result what I was hoping for and was even more disheartened when I found out that I came 6^th over all.

However although the out come was not what I wished for I had sorted my nervous, performance knocking head out and replaced it with a controlled, confident and even more psyched head, ready for competitions!

I would like to say a massive thank you to my new sponsors, Evolve, PrAna and Metolious for their gear and for inspiring me to climb that little bit harder!