Take an uber enthusiastic event organiser and various sponsors together with a couple of dozen exhibitors and retailers, some ‘try-me’ sports providers, a wacky reverse-bungie-jump rig, many of the best boulderers in the country, a collection of wanabee Peter Pans and put them all into a town park in the midst of the wettest year on record for some time and what do you have? The answer of course - Cliffhanger 2007.
It might seem like a distant memory now but the monsoon rains started weeks before Cliffhanger 2007 and simply didn’t stop. The entire country was nearly afloat and the emergency services were under siege; staff from the Environment Agency must have felt like Robinson Crusoe (washed-up?). Come Cliffhanger 2007, the rains were still coming. The marque for the bouldering comp leaked, the try-me dive sessions were available virtually anywhere on the site and the outdoor dyno compo was rescheduled to grab an unexpected ‘dry’ snap. It might have been a total wash-out BUT for British stoicism. Thousands came, saw and left buzzing. The exhibitors exhibited, the retailers retailed, the boulderers bouldered, the fly-boys dynoed and all agreed it was brilliant apart from the weather that is!
On the back of all that Cliffhanger 2008 will be in
And as for KSP, I was there last year and I’ll be there again this year – this time as official event photographer. Expect to see me legging it around with half a tonne of kit shooting everything that moves and perhaps even some of the stuff that doesn’t! I’ll also be reporting on the climbing action on www.UKClimbing.com so if by some heinous reason you can’t make it along you can keep up with the action on-line.
Personally I can’t wait to see the bouldering comp get underway – doubtless the setters will have dreamed up a whole bunch of gnarl-fest problems having had all year to think out them out. And then there’s the dyno comp as well where hopefuls will be competing for the £1000 price money as well as trying to knock off a new Guinness world record to beat that currently held by our very own Matt Heason – he of Heason Events.
There’ll also be masses of other stuff to checkout as well including stunning photo exhibitions by fellow action /landscape photographers like Adam Long, Alex Messenger and Nick Smith (alphabetically listing…) and climbing talks by top-climber Steve McClure. For those anxious to work up a sweat they’ll be lots to try from kayaking, kite flying, scuba diving, skateboarding, slacklining, orienteering and the definite ‘hands on’ pull-up challenge. For more details check-out www.cliff-hanger.co.uk.
