[dave]

http://www.planetfear.com/climbing/news/item.html?id=790

Thats fairly hard I would say. Nice one son - rizpek

 :eek3:

[Bubba]

'Twas the power of The Lord ! :batangel:

Maybe if I start being a bit more devout, I'll be able to get up anything harder than a V7 again.

[dave]

I wonder if he's ever going to do that F9a+ project right of hubble - that would truly put the cat amongst the pigeons. :up:

[Big Frank]

V15!!!  

Good effort  :worthy:

[Bubba]

that F9a+ project right of hubble

Is that the one he's been working on for a while already?

[dave]

Yeah - i think he mentioned it on that cragx interview article. I belive it sort of goes direct into Make It Funky - or summert like that.

He's one crazy strong mofo.

[Bubba]

I like the way he power-squeaks along that nasty traverse at Woodwell in Stick It. Has us in stitches every time  :D

[Bubba]

Would like to get up to visit that South Lakes stuff, but probably soaked for the winter now.

[Pantontino]

Everybody who has the vaguest interest in the subculture of bouldering should at some point in their life, go and stand underneath John's Trowbarrow project (i.e. the rudely overhanging wall left of Isla de Encanta).
Absolutely f***ing gobsmacking!

If he does this, then Malcolm, Ben, Jerry etc may as well burn their stinky rock shoes in a symbolic funeral pyre marking their submission to the dominance of the mighty Gaskins.

Or more likely, it will be ignored by the big boys because it's too far to drive (funny how John has made it to Raven Tor nearly every week all summer) and that Walk Away thing is just a sit down start (sounds a bit like 8 Ball, which John repeated easily) and blah, blah, blah...

John rang me up last week and told me about the Walk Away sit down. He wasn't sure about the grade and we started to wonder who might be up for a repeat attempt. When you start to think about it, is there anybody in this country who is up to the job? I'm not sure anymore. It seems like Gaskins is beginning to operate in a different league. Maybe we need a visit from Fred or Bernd Zangerl?

Malcolm and Ben are in Meschia this week with that globetrotting playboy photographer Ray Wood. Lets hope they come back, all guns blazing, ready to answer the challenge of John's remarkable South Lakes test pieces.

The man is operating in a vacuum, imagine how hard he would climb with the push of genuine competition?

Cheers, Simon.

[Bubba]

Without doubt it's an awesome achievement, and puts him into the very exclusive band who've bouldered 8c - Zangl/Nicole and who else? Dave Graham repeated Dreamtime, but has anyone else repeated any of these super-problems? Loskot?

Maybe it's what's finally needed to attract some of the worlds best over to give our scene the whuppin' shake up that's long overdue. I agree, it'll be interesting to see if there's any other brits who are lining up to try the thing. Not many people do seem to make the trek over there - the only major repeat I've heard of is Vickers' of Anasthesia, the aforementioned squeaky traverse.

Is this new version to get a new name, or will it just be "the sit start..."?

Here's a pic of "Isla de Encanta" (V13) at Woodwell:




And another one of Johns (several!) other V13's at Woodwell, "Cloning Technology":

[hongkongstuey]

Here's a pic of "Isla de Encanta" (V13) at Woodwell

Trowbarrow Mike, come on, get the facts right!

[Bubba]

I'm glad somebody spotted my deliberate mistake.....ahem! eerrrrrmmmm...yes...that's Trowbarrow. Sorry, it was late :?

[Bubba]

but has anyone else repeated any of these super-problems? Loskot?

Nope, not Loskot as far as I can tell. Zangerl has also done "Dreamtime", making it an V15 trade-route (!) with 3 ascents, but nobody else. There's quite a few who've reached V14 though, so maybe it won't be long.


There's an interview with John and more pics at cragx.com

And there's topos of the South Lakes limestone at cragx.com and megagrip

[dobbin]

Didn't Klem give that Australian cave monster thing about v14? is that only 8b? i'll get me coat.

[dave]

On the general subject of 8cs, it will be interesting to see if any of them hold their grade after a few repeats - it seems normal in hard bouldering for the living end problems to go down a notch or two in time. Remember when Klem and big Fred were downgrading easch others problems left right and centre, and even Vickers thought Anesthesia was 8a+. Or of course on the other hand some of them may turn out to be V16....... only time will tell.

[Bubba]

V14 is 8b+ - piece of piss!

[dobbin]

Bloody warm up

[Bubba]

descent route, more like  :wink:

[fatboySlimfast]

Aiiiiiii, bet hes never done owt at um, well um um um
BELL HAGG
yeah bald jeezus freak punter
im off for another pie

[Bubba]

On the general subject of 8cs, it will be interesting to see if any of them hold their grade after a few repeats

Nobody seems to be disputing Dreamtime though, but I agree, things do often drop when people find out that new crafty technique, etc.

[Bubba]

Just read on 8a.nu, that there's another 8C:

"Banshousha", on the Ogawayama Crystal Slab, in Japan is....wait for it.....a slab!!

Ohmigod - what sort of technical horrorshow will this be?

[hongkongstuey]

keep meaning to do a quick trip to Japan - easily doable for a long weekend from here (especially with this cheap flight thing i've got) - and now you've given another reason to go peek at the bouldering around Tokyo - i can only imagine that if its a slab its got about the same number of holds on it as that wall right of Ulysses!

[Bubba]

I'm hoping to get out there some day too - my brother and his wife live there and I'd like to experience the place - it's supposed to be a completely bizarre place for a westerner visiting for the first time.

Have you seen "Frequent Flyers"? That's the only bouldering footage I've seen of Japan and some of it looks really good, although the filiming wasn't as good as in the rest of the video imho.

Also there's this guide on cragx.com

[hongkongstuey]

It does look pretty damn nice on Frequent Fliers doesn't it - i think Autumn would be the time to go - getting colours like that surrounding you whilst climbing would add a nice ambience to the place (aswell as looking good in any footage you may happen to shoot)

Found the stuff on CragX a whoile back but other than that there seems to be relatively little info out there (in English anyway)

A few Jap climbers use the same bouldering wall i do so i think i'll start befriending!

[Bubba]

Yeah, especially that stuff right at the end, when they're down by the river. Looks absolutely mint. I liked the attitude of the boulderers too, just flinging themselves at stuff until they got up it - well impressive.

I suppose communication would be the major problem. Can you speak any Japanese? My brother can't and he's been there for years, although my sister was fluent(ish!) after  putting in a couple of years worth of effort.