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The John Gaskins Appreciation Thread (Read 59625 times)

Fiend

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I worship at the G Altar Of Ultimate Strength, not the G Catacomb Of Inverse Quality ;)

He has done some vaguely inspiring stuff that ISN'T El Pirata. WAss, VNB, Pillbox, Ilsa De Thingy...

TomP

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Great work with the photos!!!! Particularly like At the Heart of It All and Walk Away SDS cos you see him pulling but you know they are almost impossible.

Dave Flanagan

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Presumably that's the "Un named 7b in Ireland" that won't link anymore on your old thread?

Definitely looks like wicklow. Pretty sure its not Glendo. Could be Away From The Numbers in Lough Bray?

I take it then you have never been to Lough Bray? Its 2.4 Pascals, 7aish, Glendalough.

chillax

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Shit, how did I not peg that? Must be a funny angle on the boulder or something...  :oops:

Duma

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you lot been over to 8a recently? bocks fan club dissing our hero again...

r-man

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Fight! Fight! Fight! Brilliant,  this plugs a gap in my life experience. I've always felt like I was missing something not being into football.

Quote from: someone silly from 8a.nu
a little bit gossip ;-)...there was great doubt in the repetition of john gaskins. he war's a noname and came to frankenjura and climbed one of the hardest bouldering-problem this time in the world and the hardest in germany, without proof camera or witnesses. markus bock showed him how the moves go and he could not even make the moves with assistance. after hard bouldering three days, he said that he had made gossip. very strange........

Oooh, doesn't it just make your blood boil...  :wall:  :lol:




Oli

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Can someone with an 8a.nu account offer one of their wads to come and try Hubble?
Oh, hang on a minute...

Ru

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Just seen the discussion on 8a.nu. There's one post by someone who states that numerous people have seen Gaskins warm up on Hubble and trying Brandenburg Gate. I just want to inject some balance into the reporting of his achievements before we end up in a land of hearsay.

I did Make it Funky one of the summers that he was trying Brandenburg Gate (2002?), and was getting to the Tor early doors to catch the cool temps. More often than not at 8.30 in the morning Gaskins was either packing up having got there several hours earlier, or having his final attempts on the route. I chatted to him and Nicola regularly and saw him attempt Brandenburg Gate a lot that summer. It was after one of these days that I think it was reported that he'd either done Hubble again or been on it again, and thought it easy when compared to the project. Certainly he told me something similar himself on one day, but I can't remember the detail.

This has subsequently mutated into "numerous people have seen him warm up on Hubble". I'd be happy to be wrong, but I'm not aware that that's true.

Jaspersharpe

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How close did he look to doing the project when you saw him on it Ru?

r-man

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Just seen the discussion on 8a.nu. There's one post by someone who states that numerous people have seen Gaskins warm up on Hubble and trying Brandenburg Gate. I just want to inject some balance into the reporting of his achievements before we end up in a land of hearsay.

Unfortunately the whole thing is rooted in the land of hearsay. For instance, one of Bock's arguments against Gaskins's ability involves rumours he heard about him on Hubble.

Quote
Als ich vor einigen Wochen in England war und Lokals wie Ben Moon nach
John Gaskins fragte, kam mir zu Ohren das Ihm wohl nicht alle die Be-
gehung von HUBBLE abnehmen.Jerry Moffatt hat Ihn damals eine Woche
vor seiner angeblichen Begehung von HUBBLE in der Tour gesehen, als
er die Züge nur mit starkem Seilzug klettern konnte.

A real shame this whole thing ever happened. It does sound like sour grapes on Bock's part.

carlisle slapper

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Hey Ru

sorry that was me getting pissed at stupid foreign people speaking with the confidence of ignorance, i was thinking more of Dunning, pritch and Stu, having all seen him pull hard at the tor, there are more but i need to remember when i spoke to them or if it's 2nd hand. Think Steve is the one who saw John pull on from the crux undercuts and waltz to the top after a brief jaunt on the sardine area(will check but am fairly sure), in that old OTE article it say how his essentially non climbing brother did the moves too (in bransby eigg issue - best issue ever). Didn't realise you were there too Ru, Stu says your calling BS on shadowplay? boo to that i say, although i am only just realising how it might be possible. I've also realised that most peoples training must be around 90% not on underclings, where as john's must be more on underclings (poorly phrased, apologies) therefore we (general bouldering types) are naturally going to be shite and poorly equipped to try it. Dunning is also a monster on underclings, which is probably why second coming is so bloody desperate too.

Micky did LW by a better sequence t'other day too, going to sidepull RH and back down to undercling LH then upto pocket. This is a a slightly more efficient way of climbing it (will still be harder than torniquet i'd guess) and also sounds like a cool sequence. (just incase you don't fancy ruining your tips on that razor crimp)


Jaspersharpe

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Quote from: Babelfish Bock
When I was several weeks ago in England and asked restaurant such as Ben Moon for John Gaskins, me to ears him probably everything did not come going from HUBBLE to decrease. Jerry Moffatt saw it at that time one week before its alleged committing of HUBBLE in the route, when he could climb the courses only with strong push pull cable.

:lol:

Seriously, I've asked the Shadowplay question a few times on here and never got an answer.

As in, I thought I heard that it might have been an elaborate "fuck you" type wind up in response to Bock's toy chucking and doubting allegations? The fact that John gave it a lower grade than some of his other problems which have turned out to be more feasible fitting in with the theory.

Personally I would think this unlikely having climbed with John a fair bit (albeit years ago) but I'm sure someone told me that this was a rumour doing the rounds a while back.

Anyone?  :shrug:

Ru

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No, I'm not calling BS on Shadowplay, its just like everyone else who sees it I had trouble reconciling it with everything else I've seen climbing wise over the years. It's clearly at another level and one that I have difficulty comprehending at a grade that's anywhere near what its given, indeed have some trouble comprehending at all. But I don't think John would invent an ascent, otherwise why not claim Brandenburg Gate after trying it for 2 years?

I think the "Shadowplay was a wind up" rumour was just that.
« Last Edit: June 03, 2009, 05:29:36 pm by Ru »

Jaspersharpe

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Thanks Ru.

a dense loner

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don't really want to speak for benpritch but i think he's filming in the valley at the moment. ben saw john working brandenburg gates and said he moved up the rock like a gecko and he couldn't really believe what he was seeing. his impression of john climbing it is fantastic, especially if you've both had a few beers.

not that this means anything except that john was moving up BG like a gecko

GCW

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Came across this:

Quote from: Bjorn Pohl
If rumors are to be believed, John Gaskins is the strongest boulderer on the planet. His top three FA:s; Walk away sd, Il Pirata and Shadowplay, all 8C and all unrepeated, are supposed to be futuristic, if not impossible, and at least one notch above everything else. In fact, grades seem to be quite relative when it comes to Gaskins, as most of his FA:s above 8A remain unrepeated. Tyler Landman, one of the strongest boulderers in the world, says the hardest thing he's ever tried was one of Gaskins' 8A/B's... But is it really possible for one man to be so much ahead of everyone else? If so, HOW is it possible? I'd really like to ask the man, but since I and 8a.nu screwed up a few years back, he doesn't want to talk to me... What went wrong? Well, it seems we didn't play our cards right in the whole Gossip-controvercy, and, regrettably, in the end the man was deeply offended, even though we made clear we believed the accusations to be groundless... Anyway, let's not get into that.

Another question is why none of the top climbers step up to the challange and try his harder problems. Sure, the lines might not be the most attractive, but still.

Here's a description (by Nigel?) of Il Pirata, from the time of the ascent:
From what I remember of my several "looks" at this outrageous line, it starts matched on a fairly good edge, which is however nails to pull up on. Oh yeah, no footholds. In a roof by the way. Then it lashes out with the left hand absolutely miles to a tiny two finger divot. (It says on Greg's site that John used an intermediate on the way. All I can imagine is that its intermediate between existing and not existing, 'cos there's fuck all there.) This divot is utterly shite, literally 2 fingerTIPS. Can I just re-emphasise that this is a roof. And there are no footholds. Now all you have to do is whip your right hand out fucking light years to the next, OK-ish edge. Quite how this movement is generated is beyond me (no footholds!), but the real headfuck is how you end up still on the rock when you hit it, and not on your arse! There is no option to cut loose, so its another Gaskins body tension victory. Then by the sounds it gets the lip of the boulder in the left hand really low down and commits a rising traverse of the lip up to the obvious finishing jug of the 'V8 slap'. Like John says, this bit is OK. As a bit of extra interest, when I was contacting John last year (the year before the ascent that is) about his problems for the "South Lakes Bouldering History" on Lakesbloc, I asked why he had not yet done this cave start to the V8 slap (since it was always assumed that this is where it would finish). The reason was that while trying it a few years ago he broke a hold and it became much worse (the two finger crock of shite I think). After this he had not since been able to hold the positions anymore since he couldn't hang the holds. Bear in mind that this was around the time that he climbed Walk Away, so he wasn't weak. Now he has done the problem. Fucking hell.

If you know anything about the Gaskins, I'd really like to hear about it, and John, in the unlikely case you read this, drop me a line, please.

JohnH

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More on Bjorn Pohl's blog - http://bjornpohl.blogspot.com/2009/06/gossip-gossip.html , nice to see a bit of balance.

GCW

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Just for posterity, copied it here:

Quote from:  Bjorn Pohl
The words "can" and " worms" come to mind, but as it's already opened, I might as well add a couple of bits and pieces to the story.

Quote from: Markus Cock
Markus: "1. On monday 05.07.2005 I showed him GOSSIP and the sequence how to climb it. JOHN tried it then for 1 1/2h, but doesn't climb any of the hard moves. I stayed with him all the time. Also I have gave him some powerspot, but also with less weight NO CHANCE. 2. I asked him per shortmassage about his different sequence. He told me it, but it's not different. MICHL KAISER (he climbed a lot of hard boulders here) tried this sequence for a while in the last 2 years, he is 185cm tall and said that he missed 10 cm to reach the next hold. JOHN is about 172 tall! 3. I climbed with him all the day.before we stayed at a place with a 8A trav..He tried the moves in the traverse,and he has had problems to do the crux-moves. 4. He told me at Monday morning that he climbed ZERBERUS 8B+ at the morning in 1h.After I have seen him in Gossip, I stopped at ZERBERUS and asked him how he has done the moves: It turned out after some minutes that he climbed a 7C Boulder there, which is directly right to ZERBERUS. 5. After that,I showed him some other hard stuff and he told me by the way that he has also done RIOT ACT 8B+ in one day (the day he arrived in Frankenjura, Tuesday 29.06.2005) I write you this before any news report from JOHN about his "success" arrived you. And I write in the name of all who have done hard stuff here and tried GOSSIP for long time. We are all the same opinion: ITS NOT POSSIBLE THAT HE HAS DONE IT."


GCW

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Quote from: Our Lord G
John: "Thanks for contacting me although I also have to say I was a bit surprised to receive this email. I spent an afternoon with Markus whilst he climbed. After that he showed me where Gossip was (I had been climbing that morning so I didn't climb that afternoon, then I briefly tried Gossip in the evening although by that time I was far from focused especially given that my {non climbing} wife and I had been out climbing for about 9 hours and I knew that she wanted to go). In the subsequent days I worked out a totally different (and for me easier) sequence to that which Markus had used and had had me trying that initial evening. Indeed on the day I climbed the problem I found a further refinement to my sequence that was for me the key to my success especially when allied to that mornings good conditions and the fact that I climb better first thing in the morning (I generally climb a number of grades harder before lunchtime than I do after). We also discussed Riot Act, where we had both used virtually identical sequences. After that I exchanged a couple of texts (SMS), at no point did Markus raise this issue with me. Regarding Zerberus I'm really puzzled. As Markus knows I was misinformed as to the exact line of the problem and hence didn't actually climb it, although prior to discovering this misinformation over the line I thought I had climbed it. As regards other things, both in my local area and elsewhere, various people have seen me either doing them or doing all the moves whilst working them. Indeed I have shown people the moves on many of these things by climbing them (the individual moves) after my ascents. In addition there is video footage of me climbing (i.e. linking all the moves together) on most of my hardest "sends". Certainly at this point in time I have nothing to gain from claiming things I haven't done. I am not, and never have, tried to build a reputation etc indeed I will very soon move on to concentrate on my work career. I did the problems (in the Frankenjura) purely for myself, as with everything that I have done. Indeed when I first started trying most of my hardest problems (i.e. those in my local area), bouldering was not a major activity. I am saddened that people now wish to maliciously claim, without any foundation, that I have not climbed these things when I have worked hard over many years, both in terms of training time and also the physical number of days trying these things prior to completing them."

GCW

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Quote from: Our Lord G
John: "I've just looked at what you've written/published, more specifically Markus' comments. Re. Zerberus: The line I climbed (as Markus knows) was neither the 7C nor Zerberus, rather it was a line in between the 2 and using holds of both. To me this was the central line (which was the line I had been told Zerberus was, whereas Zerberus is really left of centre). Markus appears to be being deliberately misleading people regarding this problem to support his story. The reach thing on Gossip is rubbish, it really is not that far between the holds, although very good body tension is a prerequiste. The distance is certainly less, and on better holds, than between the holds on my own problem, At the Heart of it All (Woodwell) which also crosses a roof. I would not say meeting at 2:30 in the afternoon is climbing all day with someone. Whilst my only attempt on the 8A was an attempted flash. I could continue but I have no interest in a "one side says this, another that argument", merely I wish to add perspective to Markus' comments which have, at best, minimal foundation in what actually happened, whilst most are totally inaccurate. P.S. Markus has put the wrong year on his dates (2005 rather than 2004). Also the date of my ascent of Riot Act is wrong, as also is his assertion that I climbed Riot Act the day I arrived in the Frankenjura."


Quote from: Bjorn Pohl
The only reason I write about this again, is that I think it would be dead wrong if only one side of the story gets heard. Personally, I believe John did the 2nd ascent of Gossip. What possible reason would he have had to lie about such a thing? What could he gain from it? Remember he never made his Frankenjura ascents public in any way. I contacted him, not the other way around.

Jaspersharpe

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Lest we forget, didn't Bock accuse Rosta Stefanek of bullshitting about repeating various routes and problems. The same kind of accusations levelled at John: He wasn't strong enough, shit conditions would have made it impossible etc etc.

All very well except Stefanek then went and climbed some really hard shit in Font in front of witnesses in the middle of summer and produced video evidence of him doing a 9a route.

Plattsy

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you lot been over to 8a recently? bocks fan club dissing our hero again...

Can't find the thread on 8a (is it hiding under an unrelated name?). Can someone please do the honours and point an imbecile at it.

Mucho thanko.

Jaspersharpe

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Can't link straight to it but if you go to the forum it's this thread.......

Forum: GLOBAL / News / 8C by Markus Windisch

Not much to it really. Just some idiots (who've never heard of John) mouthing off and Dan putting them in their place.

Nibile

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well, i've had the honour of being introduced to one of g's testpieces (pill box) by masters of ceremonies of the cult doylo and monolith.
i don't need any video evidence to believe he ripped the 'jura apart.
when you have a very specific style of climbing like in the 'jura, you tend to think you master that style. well it's simply not true, there are many other strong mofos that can shove your style up your...

we have similar shit going around italy as well, regarding the finale ligure area. the grades are supposed to be very hard there (and probably are) but because the style is very rare (vertical stuff). the grading policy is a complete mala fides affair there.

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« Last Edit: January 09, 2010, 09:01:30 pm by GCW »

 

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