from Kev Shields Climbing
On Saturday morning I eventually had surgery on my mashed ankle. The surgeon I ended up getting decided that full fusion was overkill for the time being so they removed the broken floating shards etc which means I'm looking at roughly 2 weeks in a cast and not 2 months.It also means I'll be back to climbing quicker. It means more surgery and pain in the future but that's the futures problem. Missing days out at the crag and the shared banter and risk- Pic-Dorota Bankowska In the time I've had off from ...
published: 4 months ago
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downloaded: 4 months ago
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from Kev Shields Climbing
Having had enough of pissing around in Dalry waiting for the NHS to actually do my ankle op I decided I would need to get some hill time before my tenuous grip on sanity totally slipped. Dave had called saying he had some ideas for routes to look at, even if I didn't do any technical climbing I was psyched just to be out in the mountains. So on Friday morning we headed out for Dave to try a new mega hard project. On the walk in... Thankfully Dave and Blair had walked in here the day before and no trail ...
published: 5 months ago
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downloaded: 5 months ago
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from Kev Shields Climbing
On Wednesday morning I made an early start to head to Newtyle Quarry. I had new prosthetics to try out that had recently been fitted to my new Petzl Nomics and a new pair of Lowa Ice Comp boots to use. There was a good team at the cave, Greg , Mike, James, Fiona and Alan so there was plenty of psyche and some inspiring efforts from the guys on their respective projects. All went well on the kit front, thankfully!! Testing my new toys on Fast Furious, Photo-Alan Fox I stayed at friends in Fort William that
published: 5 months ago
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downloaded: 5 months ago
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from Kev Shields Climbing
On Saturday I was at Ratho to team up with Pauline and around 40 kids from the charity REACH which is for kids with Upper Limb Deficiencies. We only had an hour with each party of 20 and all the work was done by Ratho instructors, my job was basically to speak to the kids and try give them an idea of what climbing with a similar disability is like and try give some feedback. Some of them were very inspiring and determined. Yet some had very obviously had extremely sheltered lives and were convinced they
published: 6 months ago
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downloaded: 6 months ago
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from Kev Shields Climbing
Had a bit of a busy stint there with various bits of cool work. First up was two days of setting routes at the Ice Factor. It was a lot of graft for the team of us and stressful for the staff as the ice wall had melted after a client burst a pipe that was part of the cooling system with his axe. We got it all set though and by the sounds of it it was a successful day as this years STS kicked off. Trying to figure out a good finals route On Saturday morning it was off to the Peak district to work for ...
published: 7 months ago
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downloaded: 7 months ago
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from Kev Shields Climbing
For those reading this around the Peak on Saturday 8th of Oct Ian Parnell and myself are doing free lectures in Outside Hathersage. Theres lots of give aways and raffle stuff to be won, be good to see some of you there!! http://www.outside.co.uk/latest/news/Get-Ready-For-Winter!
published: 7 months ago
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downloaded: 7 months ago
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from Kev Shields Climbing
I've been told for a while now that my writing is pretty honest so in this post I'll continue that and try give you an idea of what I've experienced in the last two days. If you've been following this blog you will know I've been attempting to climb an E8 in the Mournes for around 18 months and had no luck. I've poured my life and soul into these 20m of rock and even for someone like me it's been a brutal emotional rollercoaster. In the past when I've been going at risky routes I've always been fairly ...
published: 8 months ago
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downloaded: 8 months ago
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from Kev Shields Climbing
" Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!........You knew didn't you? I'm part of you?Close, close, close! I'm the reason why it's no go. Why things are what they are." William Golding Lord of the Flies I came across this quote the other day and it sums up rather well my failed borderline schizophrenic attempts to quit high risk climbing. Hopefully this post will explain where my head is at before this climb and what lead me here. I'm also hoping that writing about it will be ...
published: 8 months ago
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downloaded: 8 months ago
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from Kev Shields Climbing
Last week I was in Ayrshire to catch up with mates and sadly trade in my beloved Astra, like waving goodbye to my youth. On the Sunday while having dinner watching 'The Wildest Dream' I was summoned to my local pub The Black Bull by Fiona, Kenny the Publicans wife. After a few pints we were discussing the financial aspect of my upcoming trip to Ireland, Fiona found it hard to believe that as a sponsored climber I don't really make any money whatsoever from the game. The magical power of the pint prevails
published: 8 months ago
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downloaded: 8 months ago
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from Kev Shields Climbing
Today I was back at my old stomping ground , Quadrocks, Largs, to see how my head space was for getting on route's that I cannot afford to make mistakes on. I teamed up with Al (climbing partner for impending trip to Mournes) Alan Fox (photographer) and my mates Tam and Alec. The banter was good and the conditions fine for a spot of mid grade soloing. With my promise to myself and a few close others to stop soloing broken I set off up The Arete, E3 for my first route of the day and climbed in a focus ...
published: 8 months ago
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downloaded: 8 months ago
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