STS 2010 The Countdown Starts now!

Click here for more

Looking Forward 2010

The 2009 Series is over and thoughts now turn to our targets for the winter season!

Pete Hill and I have been asked to look forward to the 2010 series and take on the running of this event.

The chat at Ice factor was all very positive about the event but as ever there are always ways in which we  can improve for the future.

This post is the place to make your thoughts known and to get involved if you have some skills or support to offer.

Keep it nice or it will be moderated but don’t be frightened to suggest out there things.( Think of it like a brainstorming!)

If you have something you would rather email then send to either:

pete@drytoolinguk.com or neil@scottishtoolingseries.co.uk

Here are my thoughts to get you all started.

Neil

We need time to complete the qualifiers (I’m not the only one to be caught on the wrong side of this)

We need rules ! – Sounds simple but we need some rules its a competition after all

We need loan kit for beginners. And trial kit to play with!

Maybe  events in the evening to make the travelling worthwhile. e.g. Ceildh at Glenmore, Filmnight / more lectures?

SERIES PRIZE GIVING & ROUND UP REPORT

The induvidual venue reports have been updated on the venue pages click below:

Round One — Round Two — Round Three — Round Four — Round Five

THE SCOTTISH TOOLING SERIES PRIZE GIVING & ROUND UP REPORT

We all know that these events can not happen without the support of sponsors.

Lyon Equipment (distributors for Petzl, Sportiva and Beal) have sponsored the Scottish Tooling Series from the start.

The Other sponsors were there in spirit none less that The Balvenie with which we toasted the results at the end of the day.

Prizes also came from wigwam and marmot.

The Ice factor Prize giving!

Martin Berghand attended and took part on Saturday and it was fantastic to have him there. He witnessed first hand what a tremendous atmosphere there is among events like this and he said he was proud that they could support such grass routes events. He was also so impressed the age and gender range of the participants. The youngest is 10 years old ( Sophie) and the oldest is 62 ( Tony). The crowd showed their appreciation when I introduced him so he left in no doubt that is a group of people who love the Series and really appreciate how it needs their kind of support. I would also like to thank our others sponsor at this point. The prizes have been superb and really add so much value to each event.

This Series was also given tremendous support from the MC of S for the youth side. Although the junior female numbers have not increased, the junior males have and there is a strong support for the feeling that we some Olympic champions in the making ready for 2016.

MCofS

Each venue takes a risk by running an event. They are closing down for normal business in the hope there are enough entrants to cover the days expenses. As the Series grows in popularity this is becoming less of an issue, but they need thanks for taking the risk in the first place. They also have to put in so much hard work route setting as it is never as straight forward as just putting holds on the wall…..tooling without hanging logs doesn’t exist any more!

Glenmore Lodge has been very proud to co-ordinate the first two Scottish Tooling Series. As a National Centre we were told there was a need for such an event. There obviously is and with the support of the venues and sponsors  we are really proud we have been able to help it on its way. I will be leaving the Lodge in February and it seems the perfect time to hand over the role to the group of people who have made the Series their own.

Pete Hill has offered to lead the co-ordination for 2010 along with Neil Silver who did the website for this year completely in his own time. They are hoping that all participants give them feedback from this year good and bad so they can keep the momentum going for many years to come.

Pete’s website iswww.drytoolinguk.com and the Neil’s Series website www.scottishtoolingseries.co.uk.

I am not sure how they will manage to upstage the hand made trophies designed and made by Scott Webster and Graeme Hepburn. Petzl ice picks in oak plinths – now is that stylish or what?!

I have had an amazing time over the past two years and look forward to taking part in the coming events except I will no longer have an excuse to shout at everybody!

Thanks to everybody for making the Series such a fun event to be part of.

Pauline Sanderson

Pauline and Andy

Ice Factor Video now online!

Dan Goodwin has put together this great video of Saturdays comp in super quick time !

A few photos from Lukasz the official series photographer up in the gallery but still room to share your own pics!

Finals and Super Finals at Kinlochleven!

Steve Johnstone on Winning form!

Ice Factor results now online here!

The more  STS results are also up here and the full leaderboard will be up shortly.

The finals had all the tension and noise effects that any good final should have. Loads of ‘go on!!’ ‘ ohhhhhhhhhh’ and ‘ahhhhhhhs’. There were some amazing gymnastic diplays and some cracking falls and all ending with smiles. We needed to have a super final too for a couple of the categories and when we thought they could give no more, they had to come and perform

STS 2009 series Winners:

Junior Girls:

Ellen Barber

Junior Boys:

Stevie Addison

Female:

Anna Wells

Male:

Steve Johnstone

Vets:

Ruaridh Mackenzie

Defending Champions – The Dominant Girl’s

Fiona Murry and Ellen Barber dominated their respective classes at last years Scottish Tooling Series in the last profile article we look at the two leading ladies!

Fiona Murray is a very strong winter climber and on this sort of terrain is certainly the country’s best female. With at least 4 M10s under her belt.

In 2005 Fiona and Dave Brown of (hot Aches) both had time on their hands due to changes in work circumstances and headed out to Canada to play on some of the cutting edge mixed routes. The results of the trip were documented in the Hot aches Film “All Mixed up in the Canadian Rockies”

Fiona Murray on Caveman M10- Hoarhouse Cave, Canada (2005)

Fiona competing in the Ice World Cup 2006

Fiona competing in the Ice World Cup 2006

Ellen Barber – ROCK CLIMBER FOR EVER!

Youth Climbing Series 2009

Ellen Barber is one of The Extreme dream Dream team climbers and although the junior girls is the smallest contested category in the series Ellen always excels in both qualifying and in her displays in the finals.

Ellen has been competing in all of this years events and continues to dominate at the head of the leaderboard!

You can follow Ellen’s blog here

Defending Champions – Stevie Addison

Stevie Addison is no stranger to dry tooling.

Any big trips during this year?

Not really went to Italy and Switzerland at the start of the year for the Ice world Cup!!

Did your indoor tooling last year spur you to any outdoor routes?

I really wanted to do Too Fast Too Furious but had no time to get down to try it.

Have you done any specific training for the comps?

Just in my shed doing laps on wooden blocks

Sum up your experience of winning the series last year in one sentence!

Amazing and totally psyched me on for this years comp

Stevie you competed in the ICE world cup in 2008 and 2009 what did you take from the ice world cup experience?

That I need to work on climbing in crampons and practice climbing really long moves on bad holds and on ice.

The experience was great in both Val Daone and Saas-Fee with so many top climbers from around the world.

You can keep track of Stevie on his blog

Training in anticipation

The Scottish Tooling series has got everyone off to a head start training for the Scottish Winter this year but in the mean time others have been quietly training in their own time around the country in preparation for some cold white days on the hill!

Follow the image links to see loads of great training info on their blogs!

Malcom Kent

has spent the summer building a monster training facility in Copenhagen and since it’s completion has been putting it to good use:

Malcom's Monastry

Dave Mcleod – Dave is focusing on his winter project

Bomber Placement!

Kev Sheilds - Since moving to Fort Bill Kev has found a new home for his training wall!

Kev trying to pull the holds off !!

Iain Parnell – takes on the pull up challange!

Iain Parnell's training rig!

Alan Halewood – Having a DT wall in the basement means that the whole family can get involved!

Tooling Injury!

Glenmore Results In!

Results here

Updated leaderboard here

Photos from the comp here

What a turn out! What nearly great weather! What a great final display by Steve Johnson! What an inspiring lecture by Andy Turner! All in all a great day was had by all.

There were only two competition places left from a potential 60. As the momentum for the Scottish Tooling Series grows, so does the enthusiasm, humour and radical moves. The first two time slots had dry clear weather. The final 20 had their sense of humour challenged as the heavens opened and the rain came down…and down…and down. I did not hear one winge, only that they had a great time. That is the kind of people these events love!

The other joy of these events is the range of ages that take part On Saturday the youngest was 12 and the oldest was over 50+. There is also a great increase in the number of women. The mystery of tooling is going as more and more people realise this sport is fun and totally inclusive.

Mark Chadwick and Scott Webster set the problems. They managed to really stretch the top climbers while allowing the new comers to get some points on the board and enjoy the challenge. The final was a traverse followed by a steep and technical overhang onto a hanging log. They thought they had over cooked it as all the other finalists failed to get past the ¾ point. Then the last to come out of isolation was Steve Johnson who managed to almost make it look easy and the crowd let him know it as they cheered and chanted him onto the last move.

Andy Turner ran beginner workshops and a master class and then presented a totally awesome lecture on his past year of activities which included Nepal, the Alps and Scotland. The images and chat really captured the audience and left them chomping at the bit for winter conditions.

Thanks again to the sponsors for the all the great prizes that were received with big smiles and open arms.

Glenmore Video

Great video of Saturdays comp from Dan Goodwin – Mountainplan

I still have no results but will post them up along with the changes to the leaderboard asap.

Post the winners below somebody!