About a month ago me and Jon skived off publishing duties and went bouldering over in North Wales with one of our sister company's (Vertebrate Graphics) design clients - Podsacs. The plan was to do a bunch of bouldering, film it and make a nice video short which Podsacs could use online to promote their products. 

I've used Podsacs pads and packs for years, and they're the business. My current pad set up is one of there super crash pads (the big one), with one of their smaller crash pads folded inside. They don't market this as a feature, but the two are a great fit like this and it makes for plenty of paddage in a portable set up.

About half a dozen of us piled into Pete's Eats in a rainy Llanberis at 9am to go through the day's plan. I made the schoolboy mistake of only ordering a small breakfast (I didn't want to look like a big fatty), a decision I regretted that afternoon when none of us had any lunch. (I did find a mangled up cereal bar in my bag from a recent bouldering trip to Italy, but I kept that to myself: every man for himself etc...!) The rain didn't seem to be easing and Plan B was to sack it to the coastal venue of Porth Ysgo on the Lleyn Peninsula - generally a good bet when it's tipping it down in the North Wales mountains. Instead we stuck it out, and by early afternoon we were warming up on the Cromlech Boulders and then heading over to the Hillside.

I've not climbed up there for a while and I'd forgotten how good it is. The rock is generally excellent - rough, and a bit gritty - and the area is home to some of the UK's finest problems: Boysen's Groove, King of Drunks, and Lordy Lordy should be on every boulderer's list.

The film was put together by Ben Pritchard and very nice it is too. All we had to do was climb, and complain about being hungry.

Here's the vid:

Podsacs North Wales Bouldering from Podsacs on Vimeo.

If you want to find out more about Podsacs gear, visit the website. They're also giving away a Super Crash Pad in a prize draw (comp closes 1 October 2010).

JC.