[dunnyg]

 The photo is on a tommy top rope I think?

[36chambers]

so they edited out the top rope?

well that sucks.

[jamesturnbull97]

Probably happens more than you think to get extra shots on dangerous things. A few sneaky TR shots in Hard grit if you look closely, Seb on Paralogism for example.

[cheque]

Probably happens more than you think to get extra shots on dangerous things.

That doesn’t make it right.

[Oldmanmatt]

Probably happens more than you think to get extra shots on dangerous things.

That doesn’t make it right.

He climbed it, ground up, on lead?

Probably TR’d it a few times, maybe even ghost roped to practice placing and clipping the gear?

Some shots from that process were better than the ones on the day?

It’s not “wrong” is it?

[teestub]

I thought the TR may just be around the corner out of shot?

[spidermonkey09]

Some shots from that process were better than the ones on the day?

It’s not “wrong” is it?

Social media is a highly selective representation of peoples lives. Don't see why people expect the photos of climbing to be any different. Its not wrong, its just the way it is. Like the footage of Hazel on Mind Control isn't of the actual redpoint, or indeed the footage of her on OUAT in Reel Rock. And the photos of Steve on Strawberries are not actually of the onsight go. They're just a few examples that come to mind.

To me it makes the raw photos/footage even better as they're more ephemeral ;think Ondra on La Dura Dura, the grainy footage of Nalle on BoD, Caff on Isis is Angry in Onsight.

[DAVETHOMAS90]

If the rope is just hidden, that's one thing, but hopefully not photo-shopped.

I'm sure it probably does happen, and more than we'd like to imagine, but it's a terrible precedent 

I'd prefer a grainy, out of focus bum shot from the FA, than something doctored. But then I guess it's easy to forget to iron your labels first.

Time to dig out the old Leica.

Had a play on the left arete years ago. With Si Jones, IIRC. It was a truly pathetic effort on my part. Seem to remember the slap up L onto it being quite hard. Leaving a skyhook at that point? I thought James Pearson had TR'd it?

[tomtom]

All this is frankly deeply unsettling.

Next you'll be telling us that Grimer actually edits the episodes of Jam Crack!!!

[Steve R]

The top rope photo thing looks more just a case of it being out of view on the other side of the arete than intentionally deceptive. ( ukc report clears it up anyway.) 
Perhaps more interestingly, Jim's relatively short isn't he so FSAA? Those moves on the slopers after the big slap always look quite reachy in vids.  Possibly had to do stuff different from the usual sequence there though I suppose he's good/strong enough that it was relatively path like either way. 

[Steve R]

All this is frankly deeply unsettling.

Next you'll be telling us that Grimer actually edits the episodes of Jam Crack!!!

  Let's hope the imminent monetization of the show doesn't erode its integrity in this way.  Actually....

[Nutty]

The top rope photo thing looks more just a case of it being out of view on the other side of the arete than intentionally deceptive. ( ukc report clears it up anyway.) 

The UKC report captions the top photo in their report (sans helmet and visible rope) 'Jim Pope repeats Meshuga E9 6c', I don't think having a footnote acknowledging the lie excuses the lie. (I'm not saying the statement 'Jim Pope repeats Meshuga E9 6c' is a lie, just that it is untrue as a caption for what the photo depicts).

[danm]

The top rope photo thing looks more just a case of it being out of view on the other side of the arete than intentionally deceptive. ( ukc report clears it up anyway.) 
Perhaps more interestingly, Jim's relatively short isn't he so FSAA? Those moves on the slopers after the big slap always look quite reachy in vids.  Possibly had to do stuff different from the usual sequence there though I suppose he's good/strong enough that it was relatively path like either way.

Dunno about that, Nige is no giant. Him and Hickish did this a few years ago, under the radar of course.

[cheque]

I wasn’t 100% serious with the “doesn’t make it right” comment you know. 

I do think that if we take the “everything’s fake anyway” attitude it’s just a race to the bottom though. I agree with Dave that grainy shots of the actual ascent are always going to have some magic lacking in technically better ones that are posed or otherwise manipulated but the ideal has to be to combine the two. It’s not like it’s impossible- the days of needing perfect light and having to advance the film manually are long gone now. There’s no excuse for not getting decent shots of the actual go for headpoints either- you get to prepare in the same way that the climber does!

In most cases though (including this one it seems) you’re looking at a situation where the photographer simply wasn’t there for the “send”. In the case of sport climbing you can’t really blame them- if you have shots of the climber on a redpoint go then they’re trying really hard and they’re on the sharp end too so it’s likely to be indistinguishable from the real thing. Obviously for headpoints it’s different.

Interestingly the stills of Seb on Meshuga are a good example of “recreated” shots with a hidden toprope- there are at least three sets of pictures of him on the crux, each with different arrangements of cams on his harness, none of which appear to have been taken at the same time as the ascent in the film. 

[buster martin]

Great ascent from Pope, was inspiring watching him even on a top rope.

I took the photos. They're not edited or posed at all, I just took a couple shots on his compact while he practised the moves.  The top rope was round the corner, was not deliberate just couldn't see it from where I was standing.

Sure he would have loved to get some shots from the lead but it was just the two of them at the crag that day.

edit: just looked at the shots again and can see why people think its edited on the landscape one. Jim was belayed from the top and the rope wasn't really running down in the best way and was round the other side of the prow, we later sorted that out... (probably an e7 tope rope tbh )

[remus]

Century Crack has had it's first repeat (if you count the Randall/Whittaker offwidthing duo as a joint FA).

https://www.instagram.com/p/BpZiNu0HcbR/?hl=en&taken-by=cheyeah

[DAVETHOMAS90]

And nice effort by Jim Pope - which was the glaring omission from my post, sorry. 

The slight irony here, may be that the way in which social media highlights "the spectacle" - and everything that goes with it - detracts from the basic facts of the ascent.

It's as though the promotion takes away from the ascent, in my opinion.

[slab_happy]

Century Crack has had it's first repeat (if you count the Randall/Whittaker offwidthing duo as a joint FA).

https://www.instagram.com/p/BpZiNu0HcbR/?hl=en&taken-by=cheyeah

Effort! I liked this snippet of his training: https://www.instagram.com/p/BmM1LYrDn6D/?taken-by=cheyeah

[dunnyg]

The fact he went from projecting a 40 foot 5.9 OW to century crack. Dedication. What a hero. The psyche is incredibly inspiring.

[jwi]

Maybe not that significant, but add another “almost onsight” of El Cap. Erik Grandelius had one hang on El Corazon, the rest onsight or flash on toprope (the route was climbed in team free with Aleksej Jaruta). Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/BpcmQIFns3u/

[Johnny Brown]

Dunno about that, Nige is no giant.

He's not short though, he's my height (5'8"/9" ish). Jim is properly short iirc, shorter even than the likes of Dawes, Bransby etc. Having seen Hazel get totally shut down on a lot of grit stuff, it does make a big difference.

Good to see folk still care about genuine photos. I'd say a lot more were posed than people realise. I only ever did one 'hidden top-rope' shoot (at the climber's request, not my idea), and left the shadow of the top-rope visible so a close inspection would reveal what was going on.

[slab_happy]

The fact he went from projecting a 40 foot 5.9 OW to century crack. Dedication. What a hero. The psyche is incredibly inspiring.

I am charmed by the idea that someone who appears to be American looked at the Wideboyz and went "if only one day I too could train on disturbing homemade machinery like two loons in a Sheffield cellar!" And bless them for sharing their training strategies with him.

Also, recruiting an Offwidth Army seems like an impressive way to hone and share one's skills: https://blog.momentumclimbing.com/danny-and-the-offwidth-army/

[Wood FT]

Dunno about that, Nige is no giant.

He's not short though, he's my height (5'8"/9" ish).

Giants, the pair of ya.

[mrjonathanr]

Good to see folk still care about genuine photos. I'd say a lot more were posed than people realise. I only ever did one 'hidden top-rope' shoot (at the climber's request, not my idea), and left the shadow of the top-rope visible so a close inspection would reveal what was going on.

Like the Indian Face FA photo where he’s laying away wearing shorts and vest. Will have to ask him where the TR/ ab rope is - unless someone knows? The real FA photos are those he reproduced in the book.

[Nigel]

Dunno about that, Nige is no giant.

He's not short though, he's my height (5'8"/9" ish). Jim is properly short iirc, shorter even than the likes of Dawes, Bransby etc. Having seen Hazel get totally shut down on a lot of grit stuff, it does make a big difference.

Good to see folk still care about genuine photos. I'd say a lot more were posed than people realise. I only ever did one 'hidden top-rope' shoot (at the climber's request, not my idea), and left the shadow of the top-rope visible so a close inspection would reveal what was going on.

I wouldn't call myself short either, unless of course I'm getting burnt off by you.

If Jim really is as short as you say then doing Meshuga is impressive, the big slap round the corner is obviously that much harder for the short. Also the last move to the break is just a reach if you're tall as you can keep both feet on, but the shorter you are the more you have to pull up off your lower foot and onto a slopey heel. I thought it was goey at my height so it must have been sketchy for him!

For myself I think Meshuga has been done too many times already for headpoint repeats to be newsworthy, but its a great personal achievement. That said UKC need to write something (I suspect it was them "picking up" on the instagram info rather than the ascent being "pushed" by the climber?), and hopefully Jim's mate got a few quid for the pics so its all good.

More generally, certainly you are right JB, I suspect quite a few more pictures are staged than people realise. I disagree with staged pictures "pretending" to be real on principle, but that news piece makes it clear they aren't of the ascent which I've no problem with.