Burbage Breakthroughs

Hi folks well the grit season is now upon us and the tor has become a distant memory. Its all about the grit now and the Orme, if wet. Several sessions have now been had on at Burbage West on Famous Grouse and today was send day at last and one of my longest battles was finally over. I had been trying this problem with the Nick Reyner beta from the only video I could find of the problem but had to sack it off after many sessions failing to get my right foot up above the roof. A breakthrough came when I managed to get the second sloper for my left hand after trying standing on a low smear and flicking up to it. This is a very knacky move but when it works it is very satisfying. I managed to get stood up over the roof pawing the slopers but my left foot kept blowing off the break foothold, which is very blind. A couple more sessions went by with backwards progress unfortunately as I was tired from overtraining on one of them and a little hungover on the other!  I binned the low left heel method as well as while I could statically lock up to the second sloper this way, i could not then get my left foot up from that position. The left heel on slab method was also tried but I could not throw my heel up this high.

Today it all came together, I knew I was feeling stronger and conditions were mint. The flick to the sloper was working every time although getting the left foot up was still extremely touch and go as you have to squeeze like crazy between this very poor hold and the arete while nimbly running your feet up a blank wall to waist level, which is somewhat desparate. I even managed to embarrassingly fall off with the good sidepull jug in my hand when my foot blew off a poor smear which was agonising. Happily, it went down the next go, feeling much easier on the slopers due to the excellent conditions.

The sit start was tempting and thankfully I found a way of starting side-on which made it pretty easy. While brushing the second sloper from the neighbouring boulder I noticed I was holding it too high on a very poor slopey part. I ticked up a slightly lower rugosity which looked a little more positive and this proved to make the difference. The move getting the left foot up felt a little easier this time and the sit was in the bag. Video footage of the stand will be aired soon!

Another problem that I managed to get on film is True Git which i was shown how to do today; i later found out I had not done it properly as you're meant to start matched in the low break but i reckon the stand start is 7a+. Here is the vid:

 

Later, I met Dave up by Western Eyes and after many attempts managed to do the lower moves to getting stood up. I have been trying this for a few years so was chuffed to do the desparate slap with the right hand for the good sidepull off the very slopey break. Unfortunately I didn't have the top bit worked so pinged off and was expertly caught by Dave before going for a spin down the hill! I got a bunk up and managed the move to the top break. So, although I could have perhaps done this with a bit of luck on the upper arete, it remains a work in progress. After watching Dave do the scary direct finish, it looks as though this will have to be done as well rather than stepping off into the gully, better get psyched!

Back to the Box, an epiphany

Hello to all readers. My next post has been inspired by a visit yesterday to an old haunt of mine, the Pill Box wall on the mighty Orme. I had it in mind to try and settle an old score of mine, a V12 traverse of Ormesman Chris Doyle which I had invested considerable amounts of time and effort in trying to repeat back in 2009. This had always been classified as unfinished business with me as I had come extremely close in April of that year before deciding to sack it off in favour of getting on routes. My best effort is already on my facebook videos for those interested.

I always meant to come back and finish it off. However, circumstances conspired against me and I ended up being made redundant later in the year, moving to Jersey and then Dorset in 2010 and 2011 for work before moving back up north just over a year ago. Whilst being away from my old training venues in Manchester, it was difficult to train power due to the dearth of bouldering facilities worthy of the name. In Jersey, the best climbing wall was in a corridor, mostly vertical and dated from 1986! and in Dorset the best bouldering wall was no more than 7 feet high with holds also from the 80's. I made the most doing lots of routes outside and managed to get quite fit doing 100 move circuits in a private facility near where I lived in Sherborne, Dorset. However, there were no dedicated 45 degree boards where you could do well set power problems of more than 2 moves.

Back in Manc, for the past year I have mainly been doing routes with only the odd power session thrown in top it up. This was because I was minded to keep fit for Spanish trips and UK routes. This approach has worked pretty well and has enabled me to tick British 8a+'s and the odd foreign 8a. However, the steely power for Font 8a has not been worked on properly since 2009. I have managed to get up Font 7c's and the odd 7c+ but have not been in the bouldering form needed bust out the magic 8 grade for some time now.

Yesterday, second day on on the Box and first climbing visit since April 09 was a rather humbling experience compared to how climbing on here used to feel 3 and a half years ago although positive in that I can see where I need to get to now. I did Pill Box Original, Whisky Bitch and Mr Whippy, both 7a+'s, again and did all the moves on Drink Driving. It seems like a fair bit of work will be needed to get back in the shape needed to do it. Still, I am psyched. Back then it had not had a 2nd ascent - that cachet has now gone as it has now had 3 or 4 repeats. My inspiration comes from the following footage I have found in the archives of the first repeat of Malteser/ Last Rites, a classic Font 8a linkup a couple of months before I nearly did DD. This includes the crux of DD, the big span left to the poor pinch/ crimp.

The day I did this, I had already done 2 other 8a's in the Cave, and it was one of the best days' climbing I have ever had. Here is a link to an article that mentions it: http://www.northwalesbouldering.com/newsitem.asp?nsid=388

Anyway, to get in the shape to it do DD again will mean doing more bouldering at Stockport Wall but this is no hardship as it has an excellent circuit of problems and a massive 45 degree board. I will do a session bouldering every Tues and a session routing every Thurs to keep the fitness going and will try to do some pullups on Weds too.

On sat, I managed to do the top pitch of Mecca Extension which is 8a+ which i have been working on for the past few weekends and nearly did it linking in the 7c+ groove of Mecca so am syked for that probably in the spring now. Seems as though the moves on this are not as hard as Drink Driving! Bouldering on the Box over the winter should provide plenty of power for the extension, it will just be a little chilling on that north face in the icy wind! Mercifully, the warm car and hot flask are only 20 seconds away. No pads in the sea this time. 

Venga bichos!

Southern France 2012

Well I just got back from an 11 day tour of Ceuse and Gorge du Loup. It was great to devote some quality time to climbing and not just sometimes squeezed in evening sessions. I made the walk up the hill to Ceuse twice in a lightning visit there. It took a day to switch back into stamina mode on the pockets there but by day 2 I managed to clip the chains of a rather stout 7b+ called Machoire d'Ane, which has a pretty desparate crux move. Some onsights of Dietetic Line and 2001 Odyssey de Grimp followed, both stonking 7b's.

Classic Ceuse panorama

This was my 4th visit to the crag in 7 years so I decided to change focus and visit a completely different area, with a (thankfully) only 5 min walkin! Gorge du Loup is only a hop skip and a jump from Nice and sits in a river gorge which is prone to a cooling breeze when the sun is out which makes it possible to climb here in the hottest summer months despite the crag being at a low altitude.

Bar du Loup from Gourdon, above the Gorge

View out to the Med from Gourdon

After an intro day where I ticked the heavily chipped Mechanik Destructiv, a burly 7c and a few easier sideshow pitches, on day 2 I got stuck into a route which is difficult to avoid at this crag, the ultraclassic Deverse Satanique, an amazing 45 degrees overhanging wall festooned with tufas and kneebars! The first couple of tries up this rig convinced me that it was going to be quite a battle but with a couple of burns on day 3, it started to fall into place. A rest day later and I tied in below this classic stamina testpiece and managed to get through the crux wrestle with a tufa and into the strenuous kneebar beyond. Some juggy but steep pulls on tufa follow before the final drainpipe tufa which guards the chains and is eminently fluffable. Thankfully I managed to negotiate this last obstacle and keep the pump enough at bay to complete the route, truly a king line!

Next up was Cascade, an amazing 8a extension to Mechanik. It involves some huge tufa features and unsurprisingly some more kneebars on seriously steep terrain. It took a little working out but once I knew what i was doing, it went down the first time I could get back up Mechanik, which suddenly seemed distinctly uphill for 7c. You can rest in a bivy cave all day if you like which makes grading this line somewhat problematic. Here are some pics of Mechanik on the send go.

Our Czech friend Petr suggested a neat little 8a called Vigor on the far right of the crag as something for my last 2 days so I got stuck into this but it felt hard due to me being pumped from the 8a I had just climbed. After a rest day spent lounging around by the river pools in the gorge, reading and eating ice cream, I felt sufficiently rejuvenated for this to feel much easier and it went down on my last day after I luckily managed to get a belay from some visiting Poles.

Back in Blighty now, it is time to get stuck into Peak lime now that Kilnsey appears to be out of commission. Mecca extension will keep my busy I reckon judging by this morning's session. Progress was made on the moves and I managed the hard bit in two halves but need to get hold of a new pair of boots to cope with the micro edges. It was nice to be back on Mecca after 3 years away but it feels good to have had a break too. Till next time!

Some more ticks

Well since I last wrote, the weather was pretty diabolical up until the last 3 weeks or so and it was all about finding dry rock anywhere possible.

Evening sessions after work have been quite productive and I tried Zippy's companion route to the right of Waddage, Fowl Play, which is an 8a+ that gets virtually ignored, despite very good climbing for the most part. It was the only thing dry I hadn't done so I was keen to get involved. The top moves are very thin and involve a very tenuous rockover using a small left hand gaston onto the 'slab' just where the route joins Waddage. I could barely do these moves in isolation whilst working the route so was a little apprehensive about linking the whole thing. Luckily I need not have worried as it came together quite nicely. The start of Green Alternative (a burly 7c) leads to a poor rest on an overhung ledge before Rooster Booster pitch 2 kicks in (a physical 7c). Then the route gets a lot easier at the Cream Team break where you move left to a junction with the Waddage rest. I was able to get almost full recovery before the top bit, which I reckon has to be V6 moves at least, the incentive in not falling was avoiding doing all the bottom bit again!

At Kilnsey, I reluctantly decided that Full Tilt was not an option due to it being too wet so got stuck in to Cold Steal instead which I initially found pretty hard. With repeated attempts, it soon got easier though. On redpoint, I pumped out on the last 4 moves just before the last clip which was gutting so had to come back the following weekend to seal the deal.

At Rubicon, the last few evening sessions of the year were spent trying the Pinch Test, a very tricky 7c+ of Zippy's and one of the last lines at the crag which I haven't done which won't involve protracted sieging. That said, it took me 4 sessions so it was with relief that I clipped the anchor yesterday. I managed to capture the ascent on video so here it is. This may be the only video in existence of this route so I hope the beta is of some use, it took ages to work out!

Today, I was quite tired second day on trying the Inch Test and didn't manage to make much headway so that will have to wait until the Autumn cool when I return from the south of France, which is where im headed tomorrow. Ceuse will be on the agenda although this trip will be more of a sightseeing journey to be honest, it would be good to sneak a 7c or two though!

Taking Stock

Well its been a while since my last post I thought I would wait until i had something to write about. Since coming back from the Jura in May I have been trying to keep it real on the Peak/ Yorkshire crags. First up was Climb of the Century at Malham which I tried with Keefe Murphy. He gave me some excellent beta and I managed to find some tweaks to the beta myself keeping my feet very low to avoid the heinous looking move on the cover of the last guide! It was a close run thing on the redpoint as i had to improvise the top slab with extremely pumped arms, luckily I made it!

Next I got stuck into my projects Idefix at Malham and Full Tilt at Kilney. Idefix was going well before the recent deluge with a new highpoint being reached with 2 moves to go before easy ground, although these are the redpoint crux. I have found taping up whilst working the crux moves off the very sharp pocket seems to work in saving your skin as 3 years ago, I had to stop this route when nearly ready to redpoint it as I had a pretty bad puncture wound on the side of my finger, I still have the scar! Dave showed me some great new beta on Full Tilt going direct past the fourth bolt where i have always gone (desparately) right on a big detour. It involves a crazy flag move and a tiny LH sidepull so you don't have to make the huge reach off the undercut, which I am too short to span. So, this one is prepped ready for when the crags ever dry out.

After work evening sessions are in full swing right now and I used the time to get Chimes wired again so I could have a crack at Waddage. I managed to link from the end of the roof to the jump move OK so it all came down to the dyno. I sessioned this and got it wired in the end but it is a really physical leap from a massive hold. If it was on Minus 10 it would be V5 I reckon. With the rest out right, you are basically climbing two routes (8a+ with a 7c/7c+ on top after the rest). As others have said, it is a bit of a psycological battle up there as you don't want to blow it after doing chimes. On the redpoint, I managed to get through the bottom OK and it all came together up high after a 10 min rest in the break.

I bagged off Idefix due to the state of the crag and switched it up by trying Overnite. I had always saved this for the flash but realised that this was perhaps being optimistic. It nearly went down in a session but I missed a key hold on the top flag move (which incidentally is one of the funkiest I have done on the catwalk, very cool) and fell off this on redpoint. I went back the other week to seal the deal and was lucky to be able to redpoint it past a wet sidepull by the fourth bolt which I had to towel dry and chalk on redpoint.

Since then I have done Ring of Fire at the Tor, which is one of the last ones on the right wing at a reasonable grade I haven't done. Here is an impromptu vid of the ascent, not the greatest quality but which will offer some beta if nothing else. Remember, stay right of the bolts at the top, don't use the minging slopers by the bolt!

Last weekend, I tried the Inch Test and nearly stuck the sidepull on the crimpy english 7a move but no cigar, this will have to wait til next time. I did eat the rich, which is a nice 7b+ but make sure you actually get your hands over the top of the crag before dropping off and avoiding the loose looking jugs to top out - lowering off before the roof misses out a couple of beefy moves.

Anyway, off the the Orme tomorrow to seek out some dry stone, which may be a forlorn hope at this rate!
Peace.

Jura Report

Hi well I have been back in the UK for a couple of weeks now and the awesome trip we just had to the Jura has just about sunk in! It was such an amazing time, with so many cool experiences on and off the rocks that there will not be space to record it all on here. Hopefully these pictures will give a flavour of the holiday. I managed to get my 3 hardest climbs of the trip on video somehow so here they are, enjoy, beta available upon request! So, this ain't no war and peace epic, maybe more text next time, I've kinda busy since I got back.

A big shout out to our wonderful host Tanja who put us up and provided the full Bavarian experience, beer and schnitzel included!

Catch u soon folks! Peace

Slimline 8a+

Inquisition 8a

Leftfield 8a

Selected pics:

Jura Calling

Heyup this will be my last blog post before my upcoming 12 day trip to the Frankenjura with my good homie Ethan Walker! The last couple of weeks have mainly been hitting the plastic for some intense training sessions but I have managed to get out on zee rock a few times. I have invested in a new camera that takes sick HD movies so watch this space for some forthcoming productions from Germany soon! Check out this vid of Mossatrocity stand start I made to test the thing out. I managed to work out the bottom moves but the full link will have to wait til May when get back. Hopefully it won't be too hot for the odd grit tick then.

The weekend before last I managed to work out Ben's Sidewall at Gardoms finally with Ethan. Camming your foot between the ledge and the underside of the roof seemed to take 3 grades off the problem and it went from practically impossible to easy in about 2 minutes, that's grit for you! I tried Heartland again and nearly managed to link this, doing the crux move for the first time but the next move after slapping up for the slopers on top of the boulder proved elusive.

Just a few words on training, how do you train for a trip involving hard bouldering with a rope on? Well, I have been doing 2 - 3 hour bouldering sessions mixed up with route sessions with between 10 - 13 tie ins. Never less than 10 tie ins is the golden rule! Stockport Wall has been great for this as the problems are cool, challenging and long too. The routes are also good - keeping the fitness topped up has been key for me this year, I feel fitter at this stage than usual, remember its not all about power folks!

When I get back from the Jura, it will finally be time to hit the lime so I intend to get involved up at Malham, Kilnsey and the Tor. Psyched to check out a new area on this trip and sample some German cake and beer too. Keep it real!

Dartmoor Hit

Hi I thought I would update you on my last couple of outdoor missions. Last sunday I was up at Kilnsey at a freakishly dry crag trying Full Tilt. I refreshed all the moves since my last go on it nearly 3 years ago and did some good links. I need to invest in a knee pad for that top kneebar but I managed to find a slightly easier method for that killer last move!

After a good couple of training sessions down at Stockport wall I felt in decent shape for the weekend's exploits. A trip down south to Devon to visit family gave me the opportunity for a quick visit to my favourite south west crag, Bonehill Rocks. I have been coming here since 1997 and have gradually worked my way up the grades, ticking a lot of the classics along the way. I was stoked to do Tsunami about 2 months ago and meant to return to finish off The Wave Traverse, the rightwards finish to this, without finishing up the Wave, a classic V6. Check out Dave Henderson's excellent online topos for further detail: http://javu.co.uk/Climbing/Guides/DartmoorBouldering/Bonehill/ After trying my original beta on Tsunami for 45 mins, I had an epiphany and thinking back to Dave doing Tsunami in Gone West, I revised my sequence to crossing through on the crimps and spanning to the slot rather than cranking on the bear claw. It worked and the problem went down next go, another one off the list! Then I tried Floater, an unrepeated V9 following a higher break to the Wave Traverse, quality climbing but ti was unfortunately born without a landing in the initial moves!

After looking at a crimpy sidepull left of the Wave I thought that was maybe something John Gaskins could pull on. I didn't look totally impossible so I tried to envision how you could pull on such a hold. Surprisingly, it proved to be simpler than I first thought and the problem went at a lowly V6. I named it Rip Curl to fit in with the nautical theme of this sector. The link from Tsumani may bump it up to V9. Check this video I made. Peace out.



 

First Tor Outing of the Year

Hi, I have decided to start a blog to record what I have been up to climbing wise and to share beta and information with other climbers. After years of snooping at other climber's blogs I thought it would be cool to actually write down some of my experiences. I have kept up an 8a.nu profile for the last 12 years which I will keep up, see http://www.8a.nu/Index.aspx?CountryCode=GBR. No trad on there but don't worry, all the juicy details will be splashed over here!

So down to business, today was the first day of the Tor season for me. After hearing of tales of Mecca being ticked it was time to get involved. Psyche has been high for grit bouldering this winter with highlights for me being Zorev, Brass Monkeys, Sole Power and other easier stuff. I decided to stick to the Peak this year and have only been over to Llandudno to the Cave once so far. Three years ago, my last full season in the Peak before leaving Manchester to work in Jersey and Dorset for 2 years, I was going to the Orme every weekend but I decided this time to focus on some unfinished business on the gritstone, which has been great. Finishing old projects means starting new ones which keep it interesting and climbing on grit regularly certainly helps with strength, I feel wiped out after a good session on the grit!

I got on Make it Funky after warming up and chatting to all the regulars. It had certainly not got any easier since I had 2 sessions on it in October 2009. Back then I linked a few of the upper moves together so I was keen to see if I could make some headway.The bottom traverse was wet so I tried the middle bulge which is a burly Font 7c. To be honest it felt desparate but I knew that would be the case, I was only going on it to try the moves and to see if my ring finger still fitted into the mono after I hyperextended it and broke it in Ceuse last summer. It fits but not quite as well as before and I couldn't do the mono move after two goes.  Not to worry, I will put this one on the back burner, try and tick some other easier routes and maybe come back to this later in the year. My goals for the spring/ summer are K3 at the Cornice, Full Tilt at Kilnsey and Idefix at Malham. Best get to it!

After the Tor, I went to Gardoms where The Gritstone Treaty was ticked, a nice Font 7b with another mono, not that scary actually with 4 pads. Then I had a go on Heartland, a short Font 7c which is a bit low youth! If this is 7c then the Make it Funky crux is certainly the same grade. I got close but no cigar.

So, that wasn't too hard setting out my first blog post, see more like this soon!