Written by: Lucy Lau

DAY 1

THE PREP

The Femmes and Thems (TM) experience started even before the trip departure time. On a drizzly Friday night, Rafi and Lucy started preparing for the trip that was scheduled to take place early Saturday morning. The two inexperienced boulder bros stared at the pile of gear in stores: what do you even use in rope climbing? Thankfully, Tom showed up thirty minutes later to see Rafi and Lucy in a pile of bouldering pads and kindly chased us out of stores to head to Tesco to complete the food shop. Amy and Sofia, in the meantime, arrived to stores to see all but one (so eight) bouldering pads cleared out, ready to go. They kindly acted as the unofficial gear secretary for this trip, and managed to get everything we needed loaded into the van.

Meanwhile, two hours into the dreaded food shop, there was no sign of life in Rafi and Lucy’s eyes as they debated how many loaves of bread to purchase (too many). After consulting the master food shopper Jeremy, we decided on eight loaves of bread in total, and multiple spreads. Everything finally seemed to be going on track, when Rafi’s phone rang and Amy informed us of the dreaded news: the minibus was nowhere to be found. Panic began to set in in Rafi’s mind: we were gonna have to put back the breads and spreads !!! (and custom pesto pasta night ingredients).

However, after Amy and Sofia were able to find the minibus stowed behind the Chemistry building, Rafi and Lucy began shopping with renewed vigor. When the gang finally met up at Tesco, the shopping cart was eyed with much suspicion: where was the protein and fibre? After throwing in a couple of cans of chickpeas, and an additional sixty bags of chips and 6 more bunches of bananas, we checked out our cart at a total of £150 (with like £10 saved with Tesco clubcard :D – it was wonderful). Finally, the food shop was over and we shoved everything into the van and headed home for a supposed early bedtime.

THE JOURNEY

At 5:45am the next day, a dozen groggy girls were at union, waiting for the minibus. Where was Rafi, Amy and Sofia (and the food)? Turns out, they had forgotten the refrigerated groceries and had to turn back to fetch them. Finally, at 6:00, at the girls loaded onto the van, with 8 pads cozily stuffed in between seats, with Natasha, Mack and Aliza courageously volunteering to be at the very back. Lucy, Rafi and Amy conducted the regular role calls, confirming that everyone was up and early. However, an empty seat at the front of the van begged to differ. After the n-th role call, we realized that Claire was missing! Rafi panickily dialled Claire, who had just woken up, and asked her ETA (which was 30 minutes – NOT okay for our plans). Amy and Sofia put their foot down in front of a very kind Rafi. But just as we were about to set off without Claire, a compromise was reached: we could pick Claire up from Wilson House! With this slight hiccup, the minibus of 15 sleep-deprived girls, with Amy at the wheel and Sofia navigating (holding the phone), set out to the Isle of Portland.

The bus ride out of London was smooth (because we were asleep for most of the time - I remember a very jank spotify setup), and we stopped at a service station in who knows where. We officially met each other for the first time while sitting down with extremely overpriced coffee – we found that slabs and crimps were a common interest. What wasn’t a common interest was Rafi’s selective love for bouldering.

Rafi: Whoever wants to boulder raise your hand :D

Everyone: hands down silence

Rafi: Cool cool cool :‘D near tears (spoiler alert: bouldering happened).

The killing blow came in the form of a text from Asha: she wanted lead. Everyone began to side eye the 8 monsterous bouldering pads that had snugly accompanied us in the minibus. With uncertainty in the air, everyone packed back into the minibus, continuing their journey to Portland. We stopped at a Lidl with one bathroom for a lengthy piss break, where the fog slowly cleared to reveal the beautiful Isle of Portland.

Amy skillfully navigated the minibus to park in a lot next to Battleship edge and everyone unloaded onto the beautiful, flat carpark. While everyone was sorting out our ropes, harnesses and clips instead of the 8 bouldering pads, Sofia went ahead to see if the crag was dry. We also met up with one of the alumni cars. After a text and gleeful confirmation from Amy that the crag was indeed dry, we set out on our Approach.

THE APPROACH

What seemed like a straight-forward trek through maybe a bit of a muddy path turned into the hardest route of the entire trip. After 20 minutes of walking through puddles and very squishy mud, a right turn revealed the true horror of the approach: a free-for-all vert slip and slide on the edge of a cliff. Let’s just say that the zero injury rate is a true accomplishment, and everyone got through the approach 50% mud free. After the vert slip-and-slide, there was a sandbagged V2 boulder/scrabble to actually get to the crag, which everyone flashed (albeit with aid from the chains)! (thank you Natasha, Amy for carrying the food bags) As everyone recovered from the treacherous approach, the foggy, dreary weather finally began to clear.

Amy and Sofia set up a couple of top ropes (with Amy setting up a vicious 5A that literally no one did apart from Katie) for everyone to get warmed up on. For Aliza, Jenny and Katie, this was their first time rope climbing outdoors. The sun starting to shine and the rocks were dry: literally perfect conditions for day 1. Lucy did her first outdoor belay, always ensuring that she stuck to safety standards. As the day stretched on, stomachs began to grumble, and everyone turned their attention on the two IKEA food bags.

Sandwiches with ham and poorly sliced cheese were made in the midst of the climbing frenzy, and Asha and Hannah finally showed up mid-afternoon.

CLIMBING

There was a lot of top roping in the afternoon! The sun was out and we were greeted with some lovely weather. In the midst of all this climbing, someone had decided to look over their shoulder into the sea, where, to their surprise, there were dolphins.

I, personally, only saw specks in the ocean, but was nonetheless still amazed. Everyone (except Sofia) spent a good 15 minutes oohing and ahhing, watching the dolphins from afar. It was a beautiful day in Portland.

ACCIDENT REPORT

There was one hiccup (this is an understatement) on Saturday: after Rafi sent a 6b+, somehow another rope was ran through the same set of draws and anchor. When the green rope was retrieved, we saw perhaps the worst thing: the sheath had been eaten away mysteriously (which turned out to be from the ropes rubbing together), and the core was fully exposed. Thankfully, no one had climbed on the rope since it had been damaged, and a slightly panicked and jarred Rafi texted the committee group chat (which caused quite the commotion – my apologies to Tom, Peter and Ben) whilst packing up the rope.

PACKING UP

Eventually, the sun started setting and everyone kind of knew they needed to pack up. It was now a fight against time – clean the routes and pack everything up (including breads and spreads). Jesslin learnt how to clean (and successfully cleaned) her first top route, whilst Sofia and Amy did the rounds, checked that we didn’t leave any gear and herded everyone back up the v18 scramble.

We had a group picture taken of us under the dawn sky by some passing members of KCLMC. Packing everything back hastily back into the minivan, everyone was eager to go to the bunkhouse and unwind for the day.

EVENING

Dinner was pasta and an assortment of different jar sauces, with protein supplementation from microwave chickpeas and no fibre. Everyone chatted about the hectic day. Of course, everyone excitedly talked about the dolphins. Sofia, as she had been climbing in another area, was confused. “Dolphins?”

Everyone then had to swear on their lives that they actually saw dolphins – Sofia was thrown into the first stage of grief: denial. To comfort and warm everyone, Jenny made some delicious hot chocolate.

Other than this revelation, everyone began to get ready for bed. Ropes were checked, plans were made, memories of previous climbing trips revisited, the lights were off at around midnight.

DAY 2

The cold weather welcomed everyone early the next morning. With more bread and spread (and oatmeal, cereal), everyone fuelled up for another day of climbing. We packed everything up from the bunkhouse (byebye!) and left for the crag.

Today’s itinerary contained: bouldering! (and more ropes) This meant we had to lug our 8 bouldering pads out from their nooks in the van, out in the open for some fresh air.

We headed to the cuttings for some climbing, where Asha and Hannah gave a masterclass on outdoor bouldering, teaching everyone about the nuance in pad placement, spotting technique and general etiquette. Now equipped with training and safety, the group split into ropes and boulderers for some epic climbing.

CLIMBING

Lots of climbing happened – of note:

• Amy sent Terminator (her first 7a boulder!!)
• I got beautiful pics of Amy sending Terminator
• Natasha sent a 6b slab! (I hated it – anyone who sent it (shoutout Katie asw) has defied both physics and human nature)

We used every boulder pad we brought – was a wonderful outdoor bouldering experience; couldn’t feel safer. We also had diligent spotters present (thank you Asha and Hannah again) – at one point, we had 4 people spotting one boulderer on top of like 3 pads.

Sorry guys i wish i was everywhere all at once to witness the climbing, but alas.

Another event of note was breads and spreads (and ham and cheese) – now with pre-sliced cheese!

EVENING – FISH AND CHIPS, DRIVE HOME

The evening rounded off with everyone getting fish and chips at the Codfathers – I’m told they have the best and freshest fish and chips, where there is an excess of craggly bits and the fish just falls apart. The fillets were massive, and everyone kind of felt the food coma hit.

On the drive back, we stopped by McDonalds for the customary two stars and a wish (where I used my laptop for the first time – naively, I believed that I would do work). It was so wonderful to hear everyone’s experience on the (3rd?) girls trip ever, and I’m so happy everyone enjoyed their time, climbed hard and had fun. We also relived how Sofia missed the dolphins.

This trip report is dedicated to three people:

• Rafi, for organizing the whole trip, going through endless headaches of logistics, creating a safe and welcoming environment for the femmes and thems this year.

• Amy, for driving everyone to and back from Portland, leading Rafi and I through the logistics of outdoor climbing, taking care of gear and safety.

• Sofia, for navigating and scouting, as well as also helping with gear, and just also managing the logistics of climbing outside.

TWO STARS AND A WISH

• sofia missed the dolphins!!

Jesslin:

• first time outdoor lead, top rope set-up, first outdoor bouldering, first time cleaning
• good vibes: smaller group; feels more cozy `
• packing; was too cold

Katie:

• first time outdoor bouldering/in general
• warm in bed :) lets keep the bunkhouse
• more rope climbing but bouldering all day was really fun

Jenny:

• first time outdoor climbing - lack of experience was not a problem
• nature :) dolphins
• more top rope, less waiting

Natasha:

• go outdoor climbing again! encouraged more outdoor trips
• getting the 6a slab !!
• two full days of climbing preferred

Claire:

• really nice views everywhere
• doing top ropes!
• really muddy :( - approach was hard?

Monty:

• meeting a lot of people
• bunkhouse was so comfy
• warming up, route management; being too ambitious?

Mack:

• first time bouldering outdoors
• meeting everyone! meeting girls >:)
• better packing (more thorough packing list needed)

Rafi !!!:

• the trip happened !!!!!! thank you rafi !! everyone is alive !
• the vibes :) biggest girls trip ever !!!!
• happy there was bouldering at all
• approach to battleship was horrible - she wishes she was indoors. less sharp rocks
• everything felt super safe; spotting was very vigilant

Amy:

• seeing everyone happy
• vibes :D
• wish we pre sliced the cheese (new trip standard)

Sofia:

• doing a 6b !!!! getting the sequence down !
• hearing about missing out on dolphins
• get everyone to try the alternative approach

Milena:

• weather! super lucky we had dry rocks
• first pitch of multipitch !! of a Portland 3a
• Portland wasn’t so sandbagged
• more space in the minivan !

Aliza:

• first time outdoor climbing! with rocks!
• love how sweet and nice everyone is :) the community + supportive
• wish it was less windy

Mona:

• first time outdoor bouldering + lead, first time taking union minibus (thank you Amy! Efficient And Fun minibus)
• vibes! supportive vibes, Asha’s masterclass on outdoor bouldering and spotting; whole trip felt super organized
• more prepared with the weather; check the location and weather; packing better; taking pictures