Winner of the Bouldering Category: Fish Traverse in the Chew Valley by Mike Delderfield
The shot was taken in April 2017. Springtime is great for bouldering in Chew Valley; the weather is (in theory) less wintry, longer evening light and the dreaded midges have not hatched. I had made the 'short' walk up to the Fish Boulder, just myself and the dogs to do a bit of pottering. It was a really lovely cloudless evening and I started to climb as the sun was making its long descent beyond Manchester in the distance. The light was pretty much perfect, definitely the golden hour.
The Fish Boulder is one of the best in Chew Valley with a number of real class problems on it. There's Fish Arete (and sit start), Fish Groove, Dark Matter and The Coarse Traverse. The photo is of Coarse Traverse, which starts with some nice easy moves on the downhill side of the edge, after which follows a series of slopey slaps (for the weak) and hooks before pulling on to the top at the right end of the shot. There's got to be at least ten or so moves to the problem, so it is one that you can really get into.
I often use a wide angle lens for bouldering photos, often it can be difficult to find the space to get a good shot with a standard or zoom lens and the wide angle gives an interesting perspective. There was plenty of room to compose the shot on the slopes below Wimberry, but the wide angle lens meant I didn't have to hike any further up the hill! I set the camera up on a tripod with interval shooting (every few secs), which meant I was free to climb whilst the camera did its stuff, again a really useful feature.
Nikon D7200, Tokina 11-16ii, 11mm, 1/200, F7.1, ISO400