Fontainebleau

This past year has been huge for the NRCC, with more members than ever before and lots of great activities. We have climbed hard and had fun both at and outside of climbing. As well as twice weekly climbing/bouldering sessions, we’ve been here and there for trips and outings.

We kicked off the year with a trip to Snow Factor in Glasgow for some ice climbing. Some chose to try out the slopes instead, with various luck you could say.

Shortly after came the annual NRCC pub climb, this legendary event always lives up to it’s expectations and is a can’t miss for both new and old members.

To make the best of the lovely autumn weather, we headed out to Blackford Quarry for an outdoors climbing and bouldering session. We usually head to Blackford at the start of every year, to introduce our new climbers to outdoors climbing and for some variation.

There’s a first for everything, and in October we had our first NRCC Pub Quiz, with questions about climbing, the committee and also non-climbing related topics.

We also participated in #ThisGirlCan week, a great opportunity to show off all our fantastic female climbers!

There was also time to head to EICA Ratho for some even cooler climbs than before.

Last but not least from a busy first month, we crowned our first Climber of the Month, Bride, who will be taking the role of Secretary in the 2017/18 committee.

Come November, there’s time for some more antics, this time at Tenpin bowling. Turns out we have no photos from the night, so these climbers falling like bowling pins will have to do.

There was also time for some more oudoors climbing, both at Blackford Quarry and Bowden Doors in Northumbria.

Our biggest event (ever!) also happened in November, we had climber Pete Whittaker join us for a talk on his recent projects and how he became one of the best crack climbers in the world. The event sold out, and Pete delivered an inspiring and insightful talk.

End of November we found a new Climber of the Month, Chloe, who is the new Media Secretary of the club.

True to tradition, every December there’s time for a Christmas meal. We headed out to Revolution for lovely food and the usual NRCC antics.

New year and time to try new things, so we sent our President and Secretary to participate in the Team Napier Sports Day. We think they participated at least, although they seem to have just been standing around in the background almost all day..

And of course, another year, another pub crawl. And we of course have some more low quality photos of our drunken activities!

We have of course another Climber of the Month, Alistair, who is the new committee’s Treasurer. Starting to sense a theme here..

Come February there was high time for another trip, this time to The Climbing Academy in Glasgow. Henrik made this film to sum up the day:

Another chance to show off how great we are came up and we grabbed it; Euan and Richard were off to Sighthill once again, with James joining them to kick some ass at basketball.

We can’t always climb and drink, so this time we settled on food. We headed off to Cosmo to eat more than humanly possible, and succeeded.

To lose all the extra weight we got from Cosmo, we did two trips in one weekend, first climbing at EICA Ratho, and then a hike in the Cairngorms.

February’s Climber of the Month, Gabriel, has been a valued and faithful member of the NRCC his entire time in Edinburgh, but unfortunately he had to go back to Mexico. Once a member, always a member Gabriel!

March brings the most anticipated event of the year, Sports Ball. Having been nominated for three prizes, we were all psyched to say the least.

The club got their first prizes this year, the Media Award, and Sportsman of the Year for our President Euan King. Thank you to everyone who nominated the club!

Reaching the end of the year also means Annual General Meeting time, and time to elect a new committee.

The year has nearly come to an end, but not quite yet. A few of our keenest climbers headed up to the Cairngorms with St John Scotland MSI to learn mountain safety skills.

After deadlines, assessments and exams came the real big event of this year with the NRCC, our bouldering holiday to France. This is the first time we’ve done a big trip like this, and it definitely lived up to our expectations!

Now we’re all getting ready for another year of climbing and carrying on the success of the club into another year!

In May, we embarked on an epic adventure to Forêt de Fontainebleau in France for some class bouldering.

For some, the trip started in James’ gorgeous Land Rover a day before the rest (and sane), as they drove over 700 miles to get there.

Once the rest touched down at Charles de Gaulle airport, we headed to Nangeville where we stayed in a gite for the week.

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First day of bouldering we headed out to the area 95.2.

Great area in the forest with lots of good boulders to get started on. Not a great area for Tim’s poor drone that got stuck in a tree…

Day two we headed to Canche aux Merciers, not as much of a walk as the day before, and a flatter area that made it easier to explore and find good routes.

Still not tired, we headed out to L’Elephant on the third day, and quickly realised where it got its name from.

A great, sunny day, in a fun area with amazing boulders, and a suspenseful highball!

Not too frightened from the highballs, at day four, we headed out to Apremont. At this point in our trip the weather really picked up and caused some hot and sweaty sessions.

Most of us grabbed the chance for a rest day, so we made sure to taste local food and beer, and take the NRCC’s love for the sesh to a new level in Paris.

Day five and nearly home time, we made the most of our day in Cul de Chien, which is basically a beach without the sea but in the middle of a forest.

Last day we were blessed/cursed with extremely warm weather, but we still headed out to Bas Cuvier for one last bouldering session before heading home the following morning.