[tommytwotone]

I know this is being discussed over on CT, but though the funniest bit is being missed...

OTE has a step by step guide by Monsieur Moon on how to do Cresent Arete...no probs, good filler and some fly pics as well.  However, it tells your prospective ascendant that a good next step would be to get on Archangel!

I for one will be standing at the bottom with a camcorder to watch people winging it short of the break!

[SA Chris]

I know of a certain someone who fell off Archangel from just below the break and managed to walk (well hobble) away from it. Without a mat. Step forward Stu and tell the tale. You muppet.

[hongkongstuey]

I know of a certain someone who fell off Archangel from just below the break and managed to walk (well hobble) away from it. Without a mat. Step forward Stu and tell the tale. You muppet.

twas when i was young and stupid and had very big gonads (as well as floppy hair - chirist i must have been young to even have had hair! - picture of me mid lob somewhere on cocktalk)

basically fell off the move to get the break when a smear popped and landed in that horrible boulder strewn gully.

ankle doubled in size from rolling it a bit on impact but other than that i was ok - even had one of my best days at Stanage the following weekend when i just went round bagging all the classic HVS's i'd skipped when jumping up through the grades (did over 10 of them and then Telli to finish it all off - ahhh halcyon days)

[dave]

OTE has a step by step guide by Monsieur Moon on how to do Cresent Arete...no probs, good filler and some fly pics as well.  However, it tells your prospective ascendant that a good next step would be to get on Archangel!

Moony is talking out of his sludge-pipe. I did crescent arete for the first and only time several years ago (3+ years) and despite having been at the plantation more times than i care to remember i've not yet plucked up the courage to go more than 8foot up crescent arete, even on the days i'd specifially set out to do it. And its worth noting its not cos i'm some kind of route-shy cowardly boulderer type, i've done loads of other routes of a similar boldness (if not more bold) like froggatt's Great Slab, The Brush Off etc etc but its no help.

the problem is CA has got footholds and face holds, good and bad bits on the arete, whereas Archangel is almost totally uniform, so you can't even eye-up a sequence.

[Johnny Brown]

Dave wrote:

whereas Archangel is almost totally uniform, so you can't even eye-up a sequence.

actually the moves are quite varied on Archangel, each move being a little different, and the higher you get the more features there are.

For a really uniform treat climb the other side - Don- at much the same grade. Do the same move roughly twenty times, realise you're dead high up and scuttle for the safety of the pockets before the break.

If you're into this kinda shit, perhaps the best warm-up circuit on grit is 'The grand hotel 3-pitch warm-up'.
Do Crescent arete, then Breadline, then Archangel.
If they feel good, come down Goliath's groove and then do White wand. The left-side, right-side alternation is dead satisfying - hence why I don't do Ulysses - it'd break the pattern :wink:

[dave]

If you're into this kinda shit, perhaps the best warm-up circuit on grit is 'The grand hotel 3-pitch warm-up'.
Do Crescent arete, then Breadline, then Archangel.
If they feel good, come down Goliath's groove and then do White wand

Otherwise known as an "adrian berry E10".  :wink:

[Johnny Brown]

...actually would be Berry E12 according to the latest guide

[erm, sam]

Just a quick thought.... When talking about Crescent Arete, people always seem to talk about the lefthand side, with the pockets etc. The much wickeder right hand side is often forgotten. And it's rad.

[Johnny Brown]

yer not wrong...one of the best problems at the crag.

I'd also go for Don over Archangel as well

[hongkongstuey]

here we go: http://www.ukclimbing.com/images/i/602.jpg

how not to climb Archangel by Stuart Millis

[Jim]

Not done the right hand side of CA yet, will try it next time I go. Love the two problems to the right of this, esp the one where you pull off three pebbles

[Rancid]

my mate fell off archangel  a few wkends ago. just below the break, landed on a mat but ended up badly spraining one ankle and breaking the bones in the other- hes just come out of hospital with 2 bolts now in his ankle..... no climbing for months.

he was more than capable of doing the route but sometimes shit happens when u solo- becareful everyone.

[tommytwotone]

If you're into this kinda shit, perhaps the best warm-up circuit on grit is 'The grand hotel 3-pitch warm-up'.
Do Crescent arete, then Breadline, then Archangel.

What's Breadline like? Always thought it was a high boulder problem, then looked at it at it seems to warrant the E points - I'm currently bouldering about B5-6, 7 on a good day, reckon a cacky armed punter has a chance?

[Johnny Brown]

...you'll have no problem. The E3 bit is in case you go down the nasty gap - which is pretty unlikely. People tend to fire off backwards and land *safely* on the boulder.
The same can't be said of Beneath the Breadline, Pat King's (that guy again) direct start which is terrifying despite being only 5 foot up.

...there is a third option on Crescent arete...




...a cheval!!!

undoubtedly the best (and hardest) way!

[Bubba]

I think Mark's experienced the Breadline gap first hand!

Crescent Arete a Cheval   :!:  :shock:

[dave]

we always thought doing archangel au cheval would be the ultimate filler-in route - gibson/craggs eat your heart out.

[hongkongstuey]

Doesn't one of the guide books make reference to it being done - all be it with an innertube tied between the knees for extra purchase?

or maybe i'm just dreaming...........

[(woz)]

is breadline any good? It has always looked too scary/crappy/hard to me
what is it's official grade too.
cheers
woz

[mark]

I think Mark's experienced the Breadline gap first hand!

Yes, indeed. And it hurt. Used to do it as part of my standard circuit at the Plantation and must have climbed it twenty times or so without incident. Then one day my right hand slipped off as I was rocking up on the foothold on the lip. Shot off sidways, landed on the edge of the boulder you start from and rolled into the chasm, pummelling myself on the rocks at the bottom. Pretty shaken up with a couple of cuts and a lot of bruises. I have treated Breadline with a little more respect since then!

[dave]

Doesn't one of the guide books make reference to it being done - all be it with an innertube tied between the knees for extra purchase?

or maybe i'm just dreaming...........

i think that was don willans on a toprope in the 50s.

[tommytwotone]

I might be mixing up my problems here, now I'm confused!

Is Breadline the left arete next to Big Air?

And if it is, then I assume you start by leaning/hopping over the gap then climbing it on the left hand side?

I always thought it were from the ground on the right hand side, is that something hard/scary as well?

[mark]

I might be mixing up my problems here, now I'm confused!

Is Breadline the left arete next to Big Air?

And if it is, then I assume you start by leaning/hopping over the gap then climbing it on the left hand side?

I always thought it were from the ground on the right hand side, is that something hard/scary as well?

Breadline is the right-hand side of the arete starting off the block.

Starting from the ground and climbing the left side then swinging round to finish up Breadline is Pat King's Beneath the Breadline Font 7a+ or E5 6c.

The left wall starting from about the same point as The Storm then traversing to the arete and finishing up its left hand side is Richie Patterson's Deadline Font 7b+ or E5 6c. Looks properly hard to me. Anyone tried/done it?

[tommytwotone]

Respect. Cheers.

One last thing - what does Breadline get as a grade? I think I saw it up at E4 something, is that right?

[Bubba]

Yeah, E4 6b last time I saw it in a guide....

[dave]

i tell you whats funny, the number of people who think they've just done E4 cos they've done that 6b hanging arete problem thats wrongly captioned as Breadline on The Real Thing!

[Bubba]

Which problem is that then? Can't picture it in the video....

[Adam Lincoln]

i tell you whats funny, the number of people who think they've just done E4 cos they've done that 6b hanging arete problem thats wrongly captioned as Breadline on The Real Thing!

I corrected someone only Saturday about this!

Personally i think Breadline is easier than that hanging arete! And safer!

[dave]

Which problem is that then? Can't picture it in the video....

say you're stood looking at NTBTA then the handing 6b arete is up and right, on the near arete of the photograph block. you know, 2 slots, sloper on the nose then arete:



never donw breadline or even tried it cos it looks like theres no grips, but i shoudl really have a go.

[Bubba]

Oh yeah, I know the one, but never done it - the landing's a bit tasty innit? Though not as bad as the Breadline slot if you do a Mark.

Seen JohnnyBrown attempting Patta's thing, but he didn't top out on that occasion....

[vivahate]

never tried CA, i gotta wait about a month before i next get a chance to go check it out. Is it in the reals of possibiliy for me if i have climbed 2 problems on the slabby side of the lone boulder. Im assuming its similar kind of technique?

[Bubba]

Crescent Arete isn't difficult at all, it just feels committing, especially the first time you do it. Hmmm....and if you've not done it for a while like me!

To make this better, look for an obvious pocket at about 3/4 height - you're aiming to get your foot in that - once you've stood in that you're basically in there, because the arete starts sloping off to a more friendly angle.

It's not really the same style problem as the Lone Boulder slabs though....

[vivahate]

cheers.. it sounds like a good problem that i'd like to try, just trying to visualise the moves

[Jim]

all you need is a couple of mats to give you some confidence, not really difficult as there is face holds as well so not all smears and slopers

[simone]

if you just trust your feet on it you should be fine. also when you get near the top there is a little pebble that you can use for your right foot to enable you to reach the top. it took me a while to find this pebble when i was on it :!: Quality problem :D

[tommytwotone]

viva,

get on it, you'll have no probs - the crux (for me at least) is rocking over onto my right foot on a dodgy-looking but perfectly sticky smear.

Hope no-ones had any bad experience with this prob, but I reckon that once your left foot's in the little pocket you'd have to really try quite hard to fall off cos the arete gets really juggy.

Good luck with it - take a spotter though.

[Bubba]

Hope no-ones had any bad experience with this prob

Oh, I think it's seen more than it's fair share of mini-epics  :D

[vivahate]

viva,

get on it, you'll have no probs - the crux (for me at least) is rocking over onto my right foot on a dodgy-looking but perfectly sticky smear.

Hope no-ones had any bad experience with this prob, but I reckon that once your left foot's in the little pocket you'd have to really try quite hard to fall off cos the arete gets really juggy.

Good luck with it - take a spotter though.

cheers for your help mate, i appreciate it.

ill remember to pack a spotter

cheers
Chris