[fashionguru]

On Saturday myself and Mike A made a trip out over Strines to a new little area which does not look to have been  climbed on before.

The area is marked on the Map as Smallfield just a few hundred yards up the road from Agden Bridge. If you gain the strines road from the A57 and follow this past the strines pub, down into the first dip(switch back) and continue onto the 2nd (agden bridge) where you take the switch back continue up the road and take the 1st right turn. The craglet can been seen on the left. Park about 50 yards down the road on the right in some lay-by type things. The Roof section is on the left of the crag. (looks crap from the road but persevere)

The roof has 5 problems on it from right to left we have: (all starting sitting on the back block)

Jive Arete:- SS out over roof to reach and climb the arete on its right. Fb6a ish

Dancing Man:- SS 1m left of arete climb out over the roof via slotty flake and undercut-sidepull to gain the slopey finger edge above the lip with left hand. Hold the swing (easier said than done) and top out.  Fb7b ish

Dancing Man Left hand variation: SS as for DM but take the slotty flake with right and pocket in roof with left. Over lip to gain the slopey finger edge(of DM) with right and then hold swing and top.  Fb7cish

Larger lout:- SS at the right hand side of the back block climb out through the roof via undercuts and foot jams to the jug on lip. Heel over and top out.  Fb7a(+)ish

Boozed up: SS very RH end climb over lip and to top. Fb6c ish

Will go back to take photos and do a small topo .

Enjoy they are great problems.

Tony Simpson

[Bonjoy]

  Fi mentioned having spotted a good looking block around there a couple of weeks ago. Had got it pencilled in for a xmas recce. Eee well, beaten to it  Will have to go have a look.
 Any pics?
 
 Whilst you're about Tony, do you know anything about Mike's thing below Massacre at Stanage Apparent North? Would be good to get it included in the new BMC guide but I have no idea on name, grade or description.

[Rice Boy]

Is this the Strines nr New Mills?

[Bonjoy]

No, it's toward Bradfield, just north of the A57, not far west of Sheffield.

[Rice Boy]

Thanks, will definitely check it out on the way to Wharncliffe 

[grimer]

 
 Whilst you're about Tony, do you know anything about Mike's thing below Massacre at Stanage Apparent North? Would be good to get it included in the new BMC guide but I have no idea on name, grade or description.

Is that that blind, curving flake thing? That looked desperate.

[Bonjoy]

Yes, straight up into the end of the trav on Massacre as far as i can tell. Looks like a very thin gaston rockover.

[Houdini]

Mmmmmmm!  Thin gaston rockover.

[dave]

Will go back to take photos and do a small topo .

Enjoy they are great problems.

Tony Simpson

hello tony (if that is your real name.....

how does this place compare to the other strines roof, i.e. is it lowball, rock landing, glued holds, a bit shit, or what? How high is the roof off the ground, whats the landing like, rock quality, whats the general situation, wind direction etc. If you can furnish us with some of that beta it would be good to gauge if and when to visit. For example i wound't want to nip out there one afternoon to find i need a spotter for everything, or write it off as shit and miss out. Fill us in with some human interest.

assuming theres not some unmentioned shitness to it, then it sounds pretty good! i'm a bit psyched. just tell me its better than the other strines roof! word

[dave]

alright fuckzips.

went to this place today. its pretty good. nice location (though the thick fog curtailed the view somewhat), decent problems and decent rock. about 1min approach time and you can keep an eye on the car anall. there was a wet puddle on top of the RH side that wet some of the sidewall, but other than that everything was dry, looks like a seepeage comes through the back in one place that doesn't effect the problems.

and so to the existing problems. i took the liberty of knocking up a quick topo to try and establish what tony and mick have done compared to what me and dutch did today. you'll have to excuse the weird wide-angle-take-from-underneath thing cos it was the only way to get everything in one shot. to those who havent been there it makes the roof look a shape it isn't really but hey:



Jive arete seemed about right at 6a.

Dancing Man: The way tony describes this looks like starting on ledge C, getting slot E with left hand, getting undercut G with right hand, getting slopey pocket/dish I with left hand, taking a swing and topping out (holds above are good). I wasn't getting much luck at holding a swing here (pocket I was taking nuff skin) so the way me and subsequently dutch ended up doing this was start on ledge C, getting slot E with left hand, pocket F with right hand, then jumping out to good break H with right hand, feet on then top out. Felt about 7a/+. These are probably 2 sequences on the same line, so i would say Dancing Man should get 7a/+ to reflect the easiest method. Excellent problem (photos to follow).

Dancing Man LH: Tony describes as starting on C, getting E with RH, little pocket M with left, pocket I with RH, then finish somehow at 7c. The way me and dutch ended up climbing this line was starting on C, left hand in slot E, RH on pocket I, LH out to decent hold J, bring feet out then slap up on the good holds to finish. This felt to us harder then the previous problem, so maybe 7a+/b and very morpho. I could see the original sequence being 7c, but it would only make sense to me as either an eliminate (or are there some rules i've not been told?!) or some sequence you'd use if you were short and coulnd't get heel-toes in the back, but that doesn't make sense cos I know both Tony and mick are probably taller than me and dutch! anyway, this felt like a decent problem but probably not as good as the previous one. what with it not being independant and a bit sidewaysy.

Larger Lout: From what i could tell this goes along the lines of starting at Crack A, left hand out to good slot/flake L, heel-toes, can steady yourself on some undercuts, then out to jug K (i actually held a good hold just above this to match the other hand in the jug) then finish up on good flatties. This is a good problem, not morpho, felt about 6c.

The last problem Boozed Up we didn't try or really find, there didn't seem to be enough roof left to climb could see it climbing the bit after the lip but, it was wet and there was a bush in the way of the top wall. does this start in the back of the roof? I couldn't see any chalk. never mind. can you fill us in tony?

anyway, I also did another couple of things, people will have to speak up if these have been done before.

The first one was a Cloning Technology woodwell style traverse in the roof (footlocks in the back etc, not reaching to the lip). started as for what I took to be Lager Lout, so start on crack jug A, moving right through the roof using holds like L M D E F however you fancy to reach the right arete and finish up the 6a problem. I would guess at this being about a 6cish problem, felt nice. I also did this but upon reaching slot E and pocket F fninshed as for our version of Dancing Man, jumping out to hold H. This combo is probably 7a+/b.

The other potentially "new" thing was a kinda direct start to our version of Dancing Man LH. The sequence was start on pinchey ledge B, RH to pocket M, heel toe in back then left hand out to hold J, right hand to pocket I then feet out and finish as before. This felt a bit harder than our sequence on Dancing Man LH but in many ways its good cos it would make this problem totally independant of Dancing Man the slap way.  its probably ~7bish.

I can think up names for them last 2 if they turn out to be new.

These grades I've given here could be a bit out cos I was grading in a relative manner (i.e. thinking how they felt relative to each other), and had no solid benchmark here, so the whole lot could be out by a grade if i'm mis-calibrated..... Clearly some of the grades I'm thinking are a bit out from tony's but we've not used the same sequences. I think it is one of them places where the lines around the Dancing Man/LH bit can almost chop and change to fit whatever type of problem you're after. Hopefully one of you boys will see this and give us the 7-11.

Good little crag anyway, would be interested to know if theres owt else on that edge/line.

[dave]

photos

dutch on dancing man the slappy way:





the master killa thinking:



douche-bag trying top reach the big span on DMLH:



and finishing off the send:

[Turboman]

I had a play around on this roof last Xmas!  Didn't do much on the roof (possibly standing start to Dancing Man.  You've obviously got more vision than me 

I did some easy stuff on the vertical walls to the right.

If your in the area check out the block on Hurkling Stones Edge.

To get to it follow directions to this venue but instead of taking the first right after Agden Bridge continue to the top of the hill.  Park in a layby near the top of the hill.  A path leads through a gate/style up across the moor.  Follow this well worn path for about 100m and some blocks appear low on the left. 

The central block has a nice arete.  RHS goes at about 5 from a sitter.
The LHS goes at about 6c from standing.

I never completed the obvious sitting start to this arete. Should be about 7a and very nice. GO GET IT!!

I've got a photo of the block. I tried to start a gallery but got nowhere. Is it working?

[SA Chris]

I've got a photo of the block. I tried to start a gallery but got nowhere. Is it working?

No, it's rooted. Load pic to FLICKR or somewhere and link it.

[Turboman]

What a pulava 

Hopefully below is a link to a couple of picks of the Hurkling Stones Block.

Sorry there's nothing on there to give a sense of scale.  The block's not massive but worth visiting if your off to look at Fashiongurus roof.

Enjoy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23567078@N00/

[David S]

Hey up Tony.
Climbed on the vertical walls and edge of roof many years ago when I lived in Stannington Village (early nineties) but nothing hard (or that good from memory). Went there with a picnic and chilled bottle of wine with the ex missus on the pretence of spending time with her but snook in a pair of rock shoes like you do.
I've been meaning to go back up there for ages to have another look but too bloody lazy so good effort.
Used to wander around in that area a lot at the time and have a few other bits 'n pieces that I know about to check out. May find time in the next few weeks.

Cheers

David

[cofe]

went and checked these out last night. dave's descriptions seem to be the most logical and grades probably more accurate.

only difference/points to mention are: me and banksy (neither of us play basketball) kept feet at back on dancing man but it's a big burly reach - midgets might struggle but then they could do it the jump way like dave and dutch. really good problem. conversely, we didn't keep feet at back on dancing man left hand but once we had slopey dish I on lip we brought right heel right round and did amazing tension move out to J and up. another good prob.

good rock here and some good roof probs. tony's right; it doesn't look much from the road but it is well worth persevering. lovely spot too far away from the crowds of the rest of the peak.

[Andy B]

I also recommend the two other problems described by Dave above.
I would say that the two natural, non-eliminate lines on this roof are Larger Lout and Dancing Man, but the others are obvious, not too contrived eliminates, and have the best moves on them.
A really nice little change of venue, and not a grain of scrittle.