Naomi Buys has been climbing well for a long time and after a couple of years blighted by injuries she's climbing even better than ever - and with ascents of trad E7's sports 8a+ and a place on the British Bouldering team we're really pleased she's climbing with Wild Country.
Naomi in action on the hard and dangerous, Snap Decision, E7 6C, Ilkley Quarry, UK
Naomi tells us a bit more about herself and her climbing:
"I have been an avid rock climber since I was 12 years old. Since then I have almost equally divided my time between trad, bouldering, sport and indoor climbing, depending on the seasons, the weather and the mood of the moment. I like to do a bit of everything. This outlook has prevented me from becoming bored – the only time off I've had has been through illness and injury, never a lack of motivation. What I love best about climbing is visiting new places, executing improbable moves and overcoming personal challenges, preferably in beautiful locations. It is great to have a partner in climb.... and my biggest inspiration is my wonderful husband Jordan, who continually encourages me with his positivity and good skills!
I have made slow and steady progress over the years and I hope this will continue on into the future. I am pleased with my achievements but still mad keen to explore the limits of my potential.
My short term goals are to push into the next level of strength for outdoor bouldering, then to transfer that to some more hard sport and trad routes in the Spring. I am also looking forward to expanding my climbing coaching via the BMC Masterclasses in March.
CLIMBING HIGHLIGHTS
Sport: “GBH” 8a+, lots of 8a's, including routes abroad and local classics like “Raindogs 8A”, “The Bulge 8A”, “Kleptomania 8A” and “Subculture *A”. Also lots of onsights and flashes up to 7c.
Trad: “Snap Decision” E7 6c, lots of onsights, flashes and ground-ups up to E6.
Bouldering: various probs up to 7b+, flashes up to 7a+.
Comps: British Bouldering Team for over 3 years, qualified for many numerous national competition finals (and won a couple...)
Naomi's also sent us this report from 2011 which is pretty full of cool ascents...
"I have been rock climbing now for over 17 years but I can honestly say that 2011 was my most enjoyable year yet, as well as being my most productive. The start of the year was all about bouldering – visiting as many new areas as possible and getting used to different rock types. But then it definitely became all about the sport climbing…. We kick-started the season with a trip to St Leger and Buoux, concentrating on onsighting as many routes as possible. My goal for the Summer was the uber-classic Raindogs at Malham Cove. I had waited to try this route until I felt that I had consolidated the 8a grade, as lots of my contemporaries have had multiple-day epics on it! However, Raindogs went down surprisingly easily after only 3 days of sussing it out. Two days later, I went to Kilnsey and re-acquainted myself with the moves on The Bulge. A quick crag hit after work that week and I had another 8a in the bag.
After that, I seemed to be on a roll for quick sends of some great routes: New Dawn, 7c, Herbie 7c+, Mescalito 7c, The Ashes 7c+, New Age Traveller 8a, Fifty For Five 7b+/c and Chiselling the Dragon 7c, none of which took longer than 2 days. It was time for something a bit harder! I chose to work on a route called GBH at Malham, a long 8a+ with a hard crux sequence of about a dozen moves, all on burly sidepulls and undercuts with poor feet. I actually think it would have only taken me 5 days to do, except for a period of really wet weather that caused one hold to seep in the middle of the route for several visits. The crux sequence was so intense for me that I had to skip a clip and I got used to taking some massive whippers. One day, though, as I reached for the last hold at the end of the difficulties, I fell with the rope wrapped around my leg and flipped upside down, finally coming to rest level with the second bolt, toe pointed to the sky like a demented ballerina… needless to say I was pretty shaken and didn’t expect much from the rest of the day! I pulled on anyway after a couple of hours, more out of boredom than hope, and soon found myself at the top of the route with a big smile of surprise on my face, having just completed my first 8a+!!
Highlights from the rest of the year include two fab trips abroad, one to Mallorca for the deep water soloing and the other to mainland Spain over Christmas, clipping bolts up to French 8a, and a trip to South Wales sport climbing. I have also managed a few sneaky bouldering trips out this Winter, chasing the weather at various venues, sending lots of problems up to Font 7B. But the ascent I am most proud of this year is Snap Decision E7 6b at Ilkley. I have always dabbled with trad when the mood has taken me, and have previously on-sighted, flashed and ground-upped routes up to E6, but have never really done anything hard so this was definitely a gap in my climbing CV. I chose Snap Decision because I knew that a friend of mine had taken the ride from the very top and had lived to tell the tale – it was still mighty scary, but the ascent went very smoothly, like a dream even. I look forward to doing more routes like this whenever the planets align!
Another plus point from 2011 was expanding my climbing coaching, the icing on the cake being an invitation from the BMC to deliver their Masterclasses this March - a privilege I was pleased to accept.
Now I just can’t wait to see what else 2012 will bring.
Naomi topping out on Snap Decision E7 6C Ilkley Quarry.
