Photos from the 2009 Baring Head Bouldering Competition

I've been up to my eyeballs in contract work for the last several weeks — hence the delay in posting photos from this year's competition.

Rain meant the event had to be postponed from its usual Saturday slot to the Sunday (22 February). It also meant all the chalk markings from a few days before had been washed away, so Ivan and Dave had to get out to the Head early and rush around madly remarking the problems. Fortunately, Sunday proved dry and clear, although windy — in fact, windy enough to make me, well, er, windy about balancing delicately on top of some of my favourite photo spots. Being buffeted by savage gusts isn't a good feeling when one's leaning well out over a significant fall, trying to get a good angle for a shot of someone climbing from below. Moreover, the mostly clear, sunny sky meant difficult battles with extreme contrast. Oh well, enough excuses. Here are a few photos, which I hope you'll enjoy. They're mostly straight from Lightroom — i.e. little or no tweaking in Photoshop.

I failed to catch up with everyone I photographed, so please spread the word and invite the models to contact me (email link below my photo in the sidebar) if they're not comfortable about being famous on the web.

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[L]: Ivan chalking up problems; [R]: Registration.

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[L]: Climbing legend Neil Parker in action; [R]: One of the joint winners of the expert male category in action on the new and popular V6, sitting start problem on the Entrance Way boulders.

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[L]: Ivan still marking out problems; [R]: A popular V3 traverse on the North end of the West Wall.

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[L]: Action on the Entrance Way; [R]: Not sure who he was, but he won the Junior Male category. He was astonishingly good.

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[L]: The Spot Slave makes a break for freedom; [R]: Hands are important, especially on V6 problems.

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Dave tries a problem on the Long Wall, opposite the Lean To Rock. It might have been the classic Love Bite (V6), but I'm not sure.

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That's all I have time for right now. I'll post more (lots still to go) as I get the chance, so keep checking in, or subscribe to the feed in the sidebar. Feel free to leave a comment!

Photos and words copyright Pete McGregor 2009