[Will Hunt]

Kudos Andy. I don't buy the mag any more but picked up a copy to read your article. Not just about the area but about the attachment that we feel to our Stomping Grounds. Excellently written as always and very moving. Thanks for sharing it.

[fatneck]

Well said Will. I thought it was the best Stomping Ground article yet. Heartfelt and meaningfull.
How does Bermuda Triangle ever, ever get V2 though?

[fatneck]

Just found this on another thread which might explain the BT grading issue...

Its just that I seem to have lost all sense of grades

 

[Richie Crouch]

Well Catalepsy is around 6b/+ and clearly 2-3 grades harder than BT, hence it being ~ 5c/6a in new money 

[andy_e]

Hard V5 for Monoblock then?

[Oli]

Hard V5 for Monoblock then?

 

Hard 6C+ for Monoblock then?

 

[moose]

Hard V5 for Monoblock then?

fffhhhhhh.... you must be joking!  It can't be that hard: it's a slab.  I have it on good authority (passers-by & my mum) that difficulty is in direct proportion to angle of overhang.  Now excuse me whilst I train for my next big send using the monkey-bars at the local kids playground.

[Will Hunt]

At first I thought that it was a shame that the rock looked green and a bit unappealing in the photos but after reading it I was reallly enthused to go and do the routes. I've barely left Pex.

A friend who works in Mountain Intelligence and thus who is kitted out with all the latest gear and knowledge said that BB Guns had said that on the day of the shoot it was raining to an extent where a hood had to be put on the lens of the camera which would explain some greenness

[GCW]

Yeah, Andi_e said you'd said he'd said you said it had been said by a friend of yours that BB guns had said that.   ???

[Will Hunt]

No no no 

I said that you said that she said that your mum said that you said... 

[slackline]

Ironic that praise for Andy's elegant prose has degraded into Vicki Pollard speak 

[Will Hunt]

[Falling Down]

Ironic that praise for Andy's elegant prose has degraded into Vicki Pollard speak 

And a grading debate....

[fatneck]

Ironic that praise for Andy's elegant prose has degraded into Vicki Pollard speak 
And a grading debate....

Sorry about that 

Back on topic, the article inspired me to head over to Helsby today and the greenness is all but gone, the crag in great nick and I had a really nice time, the Peregrines above adding to the sense of time and place.

In the words of the Poppmeister:

"Helsby has a marvelous outlook. All the world seemingly beneath your feet. Industry and landscape and habitation.... And there to the West is Wales; the promised land. Sat on top, we can see Kirkus, the crags most illustrious son, pushing westward on his bike, full of excitement for another snatched visit to the heartland, his tragically early death foretold by the ravens wheeling through the skies..."

Genius

[Will Hunt]

Nice prose innit loike?

Can't wait to get over there in the Summer. Shame I'm only getting two weeks holiday as I'm starting this job.

[BenF]

BB Guns had said that on the day of the shoot it was raining to an extent where a hood had to be put on the lens of the camera which would explain some greenness

I was with him at Pex and it wasn't raining, in fact it was all dry as fuck although rain was expected so the visit was unfortunately very hurried.  I imagine by the time they got to Helsby it was a bit damp though.  More amusing was that when I arrived Ben was trying desperately to get warmed up on Breakaway, mistakenly thinking it was Bermuda Triangle.  It pleased me to think that a visitor could be expecting Pex grades to be so tough that they could confuse a 7b with a 6a+.    

[Johnny Brown]

Perhaps I made the same mistake... I did what I thought was Bermuda triangle and it felt about 7b. I think I told this to Ben as well...

Nice article Andy. Any chance of getting the full 'at the end of an evening's climbing in staffordshire' online?

[Monolith]

Finally got to read it yesterday Andy. Very nicely written mate. Feeling a resurgence of psyche coming on for Helsby since reading it. I really know very little of Helsby having only ever climbed on that barrel shaped boulder across the course of many sessions when I first started climbing as well as Flake Crack and Eliminate One (is it called?). In any case, I think there was a photo of you on something called The Runnels (?) that looked awesome. Good work good man.

[andy popp]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments, its nice to know something has been read and enjoyed. I'll try and scan and post that earlier piece in the next day or so.

[andy popp]

So much for next day or so - anyway, as requested, here's 'At the End of an Evening Climbing in Staffordshire' (OTE 11)

[Johnny Brown]

Magic stuff that, Andy, much appreciated.

[Falling Down]

Thanks Andy

[fatneck]

Boss!