AiC x Advanced Rock Portland Boulder

Taking advantage of a dry January day, we met up with Liam from @advanced.rock on the Isle of Portland to explore Dorset’s ‘The Cuttings’ boulder field, test out the Keen x Engineered Garments Jasper II and to re-visit a number of favoured bouldering problems we had previously tackled together.

The last time we were there together was a sunny day in early summer, this time we were layered up, dodging 45 mph winds and hoping that it wouldn’t rain. We decided to head straight to ‘Lost Decade’, an overhanging 7A that Liam had tried last time but left in order to save skin for the day. A few arm swings later we both hopped onto the climb, to quickly find out that Portland limestone is only slightly less painful that Dartmoor’s crystally granite. The rock felt freezing and it was pretty grim in comparison to the bright June day we were last there. Nonetheless, Liam managed to hold the swing that he had previously fallen from and we both topped the boulder.

We headed back up to the main path and finished the day at the Church Ope problems, a scattered collection located in the vicinity of Church Ope Cove and Rufus Castle, where we climbed ‘Ménage a Trois’, a f6A problem on a picturesque boulder located right next to the sea. Other nearby problems included ‘Phlogiston’, ‘Anthropodermic Bibliopegy’ and ‘Terror Crack’. Sun setting, we contorted ourselves into an upside down crack climb and decided that it was time to go home.

If you missed the highlights from our first Always in Colour community climbing event, be sure to catch up here: Always in Colour Community Climb. Recently, the AIC team also ventured to North Wales to tackle the summit of Yr Wyddfa (Mount Snowdon), read more on that here: Winter in Eryri

Keep an eye out for videos from our future climbing trips!

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