UKC

Mike Robertson answers your questions about deep water soloing (DWS).

So how do I get started with DWS?

What else do I need to know? The crag, the tides/sea state, splashdowns and general safety.

DWS starter venues of choice?

This FAQ also features:

DWS Video

DWS Guidebook

Other DWS Media and Resources

Some DWS Gear

Read, see and watch all about DWS here: http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=469

Please feel free to add to this resource on this thread and we shall update the FAQ.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

I want to know how to avoid salt water enemas, and perforating an ear drum (again).

Where's Barrel Zawn too?

In reply to Paz:
. . . and how to avoid landing on jellyfish, how to ensure that your glasses float, and most importantly . . . how to stop your arse looking fat in a bikini!

::oD

In reply to Wingnut:

You speak nicely to the photographer and get them to play with photoshop afterwards..

Not that Mikey did that with my photo :0)

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

I love DWS, but does anyone else feel a bit sad about corporations jumping on the bandwagon?

It's just too much fun...

<sigh>

In reply to Lego:


Which corporations are those: BP, Eron, Burger King, Donald Trump?

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Red Bull, Wild Country, and now Rockfax too.

In reply to Paz:

Ha......Wild Country and Rockfax...corporations? They are small businesses....climbing ones too.

I thought you meant UKClimbing.com for a minute too.

In reply to Lego:

Not been called a 'corporation' before, thanks, that is a big tick for me!!!

I'll just shout it across the office and tell all my staff,...... oh, hang on, there is only me in here. Well I'll tell the others via iChat so that they can shout it across their huge branch offices thinly disguised as spare bedrooms.

Alan

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

I love how you read so much into 8 words. I didn't know a corportion had to be of a minimum size, it's all the same to me.

Ukclimbing.com hasn't sponsored a DWS festival has it?

All:

Semantics kids - you know what i mean...

It's all comparative though, in the climbing world, especially the UK climbing world, UKC is as big a monster as you get!



(I'm still cross about RockFax in Northumberland too, though i love some of their guides...)

In reply to Paz:

Yip. That's what I'm here for! That's what the multinational non-human entity, UKClimbing.com Corporation Inc. pay me to do. Glad to oblige as always.

In reply to Lego:

Let's take a guess. You mean you aren't fond of commercial entities within climbing: like Ground Up, or Big Up Productions, or Petzl, or Plas Y Brenin or the BMC, or Climber magazine?

What do you mean exactly?

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:


And it's left to `negative' people like me to do the useful stuff:

http://www.rockfax.com/images/i.php?id=688

"Newly developed DWS routes on Barrel Zawn, Nr Carreg-y-Barcud. Grades ranging from British Technical 4c to 6b"

Barrel Zawn, well I'd've guessed it was near the Barcud, it being Sandstone and all, but anyway, it's in the new rockfax. Personally I'm only bothered about self employed small businesspeople who only just get by, getting involved with DWS, when they hand out fizzy pop and inflatable toys at the festivals and then people jump off cliffs.

In reply to Lego:

Or maybe you mean the mighty money printing empire that is malhamba.com?

In reply to Paz:

Good lad.

In reply to GDes:

Did you like the plug there Ged?

In reply to Lego:

Don't get cross - at least until you have had a look at it!



Chris

In reply to Paz:

I knackered my ear drum as well! Two times now! Absolutely sh*t myself when I get up high!

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Yes much appreciated! Cheers Mick

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

I went last night developing a small new DWS crag. It was the most fun I've had climbing since I first took a pad to Slipstones all those years ago. I was grinning like a fool all night.

You just get so absorbed in the actual climbing, more so than with any other climbing game I've tried.

jk

In reply to mrsmesh:

Did you have it repaired? I sometimes think I'd rather tumble and deck on to soft grass than go deaf in one ear or go under the knife and have it grafted again. At least I'm used to deck outs. Currently DWS for me is either deep water traversing (where I don't go high enough to get my hair wet if I fall in) or the same as normal soloing.

I'm optimistic about my wet suit and buoyancy aid as being good defences against salt water intrusions and my ears going pop though. Have to see how well it works.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Mick, i see this has to be spelt out for you - i feel 'sad' when a small, quiet, sub-sport within climbing like DWS, becomes an 'extreme' activity - i've seen the crowds start to gather...

I was hoping to debate the nature of the secret spot - that split we've all felt between introducing others so they can share in the fun, and trashing a small quiet piece of wilderness (or almost wilderness, this is the UK).

Oh well!

In reply to Chris Craggs:

Okay - promise!

In reply to Alan James - UKC:

SPARE bedrooms? I rest my case...

In reply to Lego:

Of course it is worth pointing out that Mike Robertson came to us with the project, I assume cos he thought we could do a proper job on it.
A no-win salutation I guess for us.


Chris ;-(

In reply to Chris Craggs:

How many `tasteful' photos of naked women are in the guide? For a while I thought Mike was challenging Mr Stone Nudes for the title of The Climbing World's Hugh Hefner.

In reply to Paz:

Thanks for that. You forgot to properly credit the source though - © Rockfax Corporation 2007 - damn useful those corporations.


That's how most of us start off but then we get a bit tired of only just getting by, or is it that we accidentally start to do a bit better? .... not really sure.

Alan

In reply to Paz:

No nakeds, men or women. We did have the bum shot which made the Climber article, but didn't use it.

Lots of gratuitous large tracts of bare ocean though.

Alan

In reply to Alan James - UKC:

Was it not obvious from the link to your site? The quote came from Pembrokeshire climbing club or someone similar's newsletter.

I'm sure many people will be initially dissappointed at the lack of totty but I think, Rockfax's or Mike's restraint is for the best.

How would you describe Rockfax these days anyway? I thought you effectively setup a franchising operation with your `how to write a miniguide' .pdf. But you've not felt the need to set up a far east manufacturing base or call centre on the Indian sub continent yet?

In reply to Paz:

Micro business supporting 2.5 to 3 people in a decent wage. Low turnover but growing however profitability boosted by keeping overheads to a minimum. No expansion plans in the pipeline.


er... no.

MiniGuides franchising ... hmmm... didn't quite work like that, but then it wasn't really intended to. I just wanted to make the job of producing little guides easier. However the sales are relatively low on all but the travel destinations, and the Skye Ridge.

Alan

In reply to Paz:
>>

Paz, get one of these http://www.c-skins.com/products/hoods/surf-cap.htm Should protect your ears, keep the sun from your eyes, and get you lookin' cool too.

I don't see any corporations turning up at Craig Stirling. Or any of the other secret spots I have my eye on along the coast here, waiting for a spell of warm weather.

In reply to Chris F:

I noticed a field of pigs lined up and ready for take off...

In reply to Chris F:

Do you think that hat would really work? What is it designed for?

In reply to Paz:

The (excellent) new guide is worth owning for the Katie Brown shot alone...

In reply to Chris F:

Cheers dude, that's a great tip, so much better than those bloody useless swimming ear plugs. Looks like it'd keep my glasses in place too.

In reply to Paz: certainly would! still use a glasses string as backup though. You can get ones with flaots attached in case it all goes very wrong.