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Tarned and Feathered
8 April 2010, 10:58 am

My god I'm busy. A long absence from posting has been because my life has contained little but work and training these past few months. The pace of writing lectures, trying to keep up with research and actually teach at the same time has been draining. Each tomorrow creeps in it's petty pace with little time to catch breath. On the days when I train I'll work until 6, go straight to the wall, go home, eat and straight to bed. The days I don't train, and most weekends I catch up with work. I know people who fit in climbing around this schedule and have time for small kids too. Frankly, I am in awe.  Easter sees the students leave and gave an opportunity to prove it's not all work, work work. For once I persuaded the wife not to go to Spain, and tickets to Tarn were booked. I had pretty high expectations; after all I finished last year on a high, and had worked like a bastard to keep the training up. Plus, Tarn's all soft touches anyway, right?  So now I'm back. The trip was good and bad. On one hand, I discovered that "Le Bel Ete" in Sainte Enimie serves the best crepes in the known world. On the other, my climbing was a constant source of frustration. This is a damning fact because, viewed objectively, I have to admit it was a pretty good trip. I was consistently onsighting the 7c's and 7c+'s. Hell, I even snagged an 8a flash, albeit on Moules Frites which is not the hardest 8a around, to put it delicately.     Bruno crushing Les Ailes du Desir

So the fact that I feel bummed out about this has prompted me to take a bit of a look at my expectations and self motivation. I think my feelings have three root causes:  

• My performance is a backwards step from last autumn. The 7c+'s I did were real fights, and they felt pretty casual in Rodellar.
• My expectations were too high. I thought I'd be crushing 8a onsight, and maybe even snag another 8a+ flash. In retrospect, I'm not there yet.
• (and this is the kicker) Bruno was better than me.

 Bruno and I have known each other since university and I have always, always been better than him - even at long pumpy routes at which he excels and I suck. In the years we've known each other he has got steadily better and on this trip he was quite clearly better than me on those long routes. I did not deal well with this fact.   Bruno crushing a 7b+ at Tennessee

So Tarn has reminded me that I can be too competitive. But to be aware of this fact is to be curiously liberated of it. Just by typing this post I am starting to feel better; happier with my climbing and pleased for Bruno without the complicating pangs of jealousy I felt on holiday. Freed from this jealousy I am starting to feel the psyche return, fuelled by the simple joy of climbing great routes on good rock in the company of old friends. If only I didn't have all this work to do...  



Source: The Spherical Cow

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formula weekend
18 April 2010, 8:18 pm

This weekend looked like it was going to be pretty miserable. Saturday dawned clear, sunny and warm. I had to work; getting Mondays lecture written so I didn't have to wing it in front of 70 students. luckily I pulled a blinder and got everything done, so I was free to climb on Sunday. And so this morning, bright and early, the missus and I bundled into our shiny red mini and trundled peak-wards. we thought we'd check out Thor's cave. ever since Spikes dad put in a mega bolting effort this has been one of the best sport crags in the peak. sadly it's wet. Hold your horses cave fans. And so it was we trundled up to the trusty old Tor. Mr Davies was present, and Stone (as always). About three years ago Ru put Seraphim up on the RHS of the crag. It's short, gnarly and hard; with one desperate move but sustained from start to finish. Strong steve repeated it this week and I thought it was about time I tore the route up and ticked one of the best short routes in the UK. Oh dear. That move hasn't got any easier, has it?Rupert was in fine form; doing the harder pinches wall problems on 2 fingers and pissing Malc's one armer. Also, he made a very casual repeat of Tumbleweed. Beast. bizarrely, the tor is still quite wet, despite it being dry for weeks. Where does it come from?

Source: The Spherical Cow

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kilnsey!!
26 April 2010, 11:08 pm

it's not yet may and yet Kilnsey is dry which may not yet be usual. After a whole term of writing lectures I decided to drop my standards somewhat, and decided that writing Monday's lecture was monday's problem. For the first time this year that gave me two days free to climb at the weekend, and there's nothing I like better than a weekend climbing and camping at britain's premier limestone crag near a trout farm. kilnsey really does have it all; great routes, a good pub nearby, a beautiful campsite at the right price and the aforementioned trouty attraction. this weekend it had the added attraction of watching big malc on a tour de force, crushing everything beneath his mighty frame. that might be a slight exaggeration, but it was awesome to see him in action again. amongst the highlights were casual retro-flashes of biological need and zero option, and an almost-flash of massala martyr (he fell off the start, once). I missed his ascent of Indian Summer, but apparently it was sufficiently casual for onlookers to mistake it for a repeat of the ashes!amongst us lesser mortals, it was great to catch up with Rob Sutton, surely the inspiration for They Might Be Giant's "Triangle Man". picking himself up from his punishing schedule of raising two young kids and training for triathlons by cycling the 30 miles to work, he managed a good onsight of biological, and provided me with enough beta to scrape up a flash ascent by the skin of my teeth. rob obviously didn't find two days at kilnsey as tiring as his homelife, as he finished his weekend off by running to malham. he's good company, but he makes me feel very lazy...other highlights of the weekend include shunning britain's best bum doctor, starting his quest for fitness and thinness; and playing on Indian Summer. this is a great addition from steve dunning. I don't know why it isn't more popular; perhaps because it starts up sticky wicket, the world's gnarliest 7b...? anyway, I still have to work out a viable sequence on the headwall, but am looking forward to doing just that over the bank holiday. between now and then I have two whole evenings free to go to the tor! an unprecedented amount of free time for climbing. I am excited beyond belief, and especially looking forward to seeing if I can do "the" move on seraphim. hope springs eternal, after all...

Source: The Spherical Cow

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Shoulda, Woulda, Ondra
4 May 2010, 5:04 pm

  Adam Ondra onsighting Mandela - Credit: Ru Davies

“Greatness lies, not in being strong, but in the right using of strength.” - Henry Ward Beecher

 This week and bank holiday weekend the British sport climbing scene was set alight by the visit of Adam Ondra to our finest two crags; Malham and Kilnsey. The internet forums are awash with rumours of his feats and claim and counter-claim are fizzing over the information superhighway. The bank holiday brought an opportunity to see the truth for ourselves and so, sure in the knowledge that Adam would be at Malham trying Overshadow, the wife and I headed to Kilnsey.   Our plan for some time away from the circus was foiled though, as Adam sacked off the Malham route and headed for Kilnsey's North buttress; which has been left dry by some freak of nature which is obviously a precursor of impending apocalypse. This had one obvious drawback, as it meant no-one was interested in my paltry redpoint attempts on Massala Martyr. I am accustomed to being the main attraction at the crag, so clearly this was disgruntling. Nevertheless, for those still interested (Hi Mum!) I crushed with aplomb. A great little route this; and well worth seeking out. The top bulge seems to be shedding holds with alarming regularity though; best get in quick!   Adam did nothing. Just worked the moves on some route over on the right hand side.   Since Kilnsey was so cold on saturday, we headed to Malham on Sunday (are there more than two crags in Yorkshire?) The wife opened her account on Predator and I had a peek at the headwall of Victor Hugo. It's amazing to me that Jules is now working routes of the same standard that I am; even if her timescales for success might be slightly different, it's a testament to how far her climbing has progressed. More on that perhaps in another post. Victor is an extension to the standard warm-up Consenting Adults. Put up by Gaz Parry at 8b it's been repeated by Strong Steve and (as far as I know) no-one else. Rumour has it that Mick Lovatt has repeated it; can anyone confirm? The route climbs to the chains of Consenting, where a no-hands kneebar can be had for the short-legged. After that some powerful moves on large undercuts take you to a big hole full of bird-shit at the lip of the roof. Drop off here and you've enjoyed Pete Gomersall's "Thriller", 7c+. If you can crush a few more desperate moves on small crimps and cruise the easier headwall; that's Victor Hugo.   I've been on it before but really struggled on the moves past the lip of the big roof, so I was really pleased to find that they now feel OK. On my first redpoint I did the hard first move and couldn't do the second. The second redpoint saw me through the hard moves by the absolute skin of my teeth as I wildly improvised through the crux, including a thumbs-only gaston move. Once on the easier headwall you shouldn't drop the route, so I was mortified when I got nervous, fumbled a clip and then grabbed the draw! I think I panicked a bit and wasn't thinking straight. That was the last go before it got dark, so at some point I've got to go and get back through the crux somehow, and then remind myself to calm down!    Even the most stylishly dressed punters couldn't keep warm at Kilnsey this weekend

When Monday dawned it was one of those difficult days; too sunny for good conditions but with a stiff north wind that meant baltic conditions at the big K. Perhaps foolishly we opted for Kilnsey; maybe I was intentionally avoiding a rematch with Victor? Anyway, it was completely freezing and most people wisely opted not to climb. Rupert was there trying to warm up enough to tick Massalla Martyr; floating up to the last move and fumbling it each time. The last move is a really quick slap; perhaps it was too cold for quick movement? The Ondra machine rolled on. He'd ticked North Star (9a) on Sunday and made a quick redpoint of Northern Lights (9a) today. How did he keep warm? He even went up it in his T-shirt for photos! After ticking that, he had an onsight attempt at a dirty True North (8c) and very nearly made it. Heavily taped fingers prevented an onsight of Indian Summer but he did manage onsights of Ecstasy (which he downgraded) and Mandela, which hasn't been climbed since Kristian and Steve did it years ago and must be filthy. Apparently the holds are so big it doesn't matter; or doesn't if you are the best climber in the world, anyway.    I was trying Indian Summer. Put up by one strong Steve and flashed by another, it has recently been repeated by Malcolm Smith and is a very underrated 8b+ with good climbing of increasing difficulty and some cool rests. Kind of like a harder 50 for 5... I'd had a couple of burns on it previously but was unable to work out a decent sequence for the last move from a big sidepull to a thin letterbox pocket. Thanks to the magic of facebook I am now equipped with a sequence for this section and manage to do the moves, but they feel really hard; how will I be able to do them from the ground, after 20 meters of 8a climbing? Amazingly, I nearly find out on my first redpoint of the day, cruising through the lower section and falling off with my fingers in the final letterbox slot; so close! The cold conditions really helped but it was so cold that none of my other goes came to anything and so once again no cigar.   A cool weekend though; I came so close to ticking the kind of 8b's that would have been impossible for me a few years ago. It's so exciting to have made this sort of progress, and makes me hope that some of my long term goals in climbing are still possible. More importantly, it makes me think that the last six months of heavy training after work have been worthwhile after all. Can't wait for next weekend!!

Source: The Spherical Cow

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The success of friends
9 May 2010, 7:53 pm

  8B crusher, Ru Davies

A great weekend just gone. Given the relentless self-publicity that I seek through this blog, it will not surprise any of you that by nature I am quite a self obsessed individual. This weekend however events occurred that gave me that rare experience; genuine pleasure in the success of another. Ru Davies is one of my oldest climbing friends. We have been climbing together since my university days; long enough ago by now that I don't care to think about it. Ru is also one of the strongest climbers in Britain, surprisingly still true even though he holds down a very demanding job as a barrister. He's also one of the biggest under-acheivers on the peak scene, having never bouldered 8B; a feat achieved by many these days.   Well no longer, for little Ru crushed Keen Roof at the Tor this Saturday. And crushed it with aplomb. No longer will Rupert sleep poorly at night, for he is an 8B climber, and will surely drink mead at the high table in Valhalla. I think he was a bit shocked to succeed this weekend, as he staggered about the Tor afterwards in a daze, struggling to come to terms which his awesome new found power. Anyway, it totally made my weekend to see him succeed; I hope he has similar success on some of his other yearly projects.   On an unrelated note, it was heaving at the Tor this weekend. The entire length of the crag was draped with punters of various persuasions with some very strong individuals bearing down on the tiny tiny holds . More worryingly, the right-hand end of the crag was home to this dodgy young man; if you see him at the crag in future, do not approach him, but just call the relevant authorities at 1-800-DOBBIN-IS-A-FREAK...  

Source: The Spherical Cow

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Mandela
19 May 2010, 9:43 pm

  Mark Leach making the first ascent of Mandela, in the days before heel hooks. Photo: Ian Horrocks

"Only a rope-length from the ground, it was like nothing one had ever experienced before." - Dave Nicol, Hard Rock.

 Perched on a square foot of real estate; trying to block out both the wide plains of Wharfedale below and the oppressive heft of the roof above, the real meaning of these words hit home. And yet, this was familiar ground. There has been many times I've tentatively approached the main overhang at Kilnsey, only to lower off; shuddering and thinking of new excuses for my cowardice. The break looks wet. The in-situ gear is rotting away. In reality, they were only ever masks to hide the truth; that I was terrified by that massive, frozen bulk of limestone.   I think Mandela has been one of my climbing ambitions from the day I first put toe to rock. Christmas, 1990, and I'm sat in bed wearing my brand new Joe Brown helmet (canary yellow, to match my lycra) and reading about Kilnsey Main Overhang in a pristine copy of Hard Rock. Summer, 1998, and I'm getting to grips with some of the harder sport routes at Kilnsey; glancing up at the overhang with a mixture of lust and trepidation. But mostly the latter. During the bank holiday I watched Adam Ondra onsight it with ease and realised it was time to slay the great grey whale. It was clean. It was dry. The in-situ draws were new. Time to go big, or go home.   On Sunday myself, Bob Hickish and Dan Walker got to grips with Mandela. Bob equipped the roof with draws and worked a sequence. Dan went up and scrubbed the holds. Nothing left for me to do but try and flash the thing. The weight of 20 years of expectation compressed my fear until I was crouched below the roof, the panic welling in my mouth. Tense and crablike I crept up and out along the juggy break until I reached the first hard move at which point I snapped, yelled take, and sat on the bolt, whimpering.   For the rest of the day I had redpoints which all failed at the crux moves; a technical rose move into a thin, back-three finger pocket halfway along the break. When Kristian Klemmow climbed Mandela he said it would be 7c+ if it were at ground level. That might not be too far wrong. Apart from these moves, and some slaps at the lip, the route climbs massive jugs and the whole roof is crossed in a surprisingly small number of moves. But the route is not at ground level and the exposure teases frayed nerves. I found it almost impossible to climb well; both the desire to achieve a childhood ambition, and the terrible position made a relaxed climbing style impossible. I wasn't going to do it that day.   On Monday, I sat in my office and daydreamed about Mandela. At the end of the week I'm going to Chile. A work trip; three weeks. Would it still be dry when I returned? I couldn't leave it to chance. Bob was a student; he'd definitely be up for a mid-week raid. And so yesterday saw us back up on the roof. Up the directissima to warm up and straight into a redpoint. Relaxed now on the enormous holds; able to enjoy the situation. Watching the crows surf the updrafts below me. With a calmer mind I cruised to the crux and, feeling strong, easily reached the thin pocket. Disaster. Instead of the rose move I'd meant to do I had crossed over, and couldn't unwind. There was nothing to do but slump onto the rope. Things went from bad to worse; dogging the moves through the lip I find myself suddenly in space, watching the remains of the finishing jug plummet earthwards. A new, harder sequence has to be worked at the lip. I wonder if this will make a difference.   It does. The next go I get through the crux, and find myself below the lip, a few moves from glory. Now I am at the lip, my head and torso into the vertical. Now my foot is over the lip and... No. Disaster again. I forget that both feet need to be over the lip before the finishing jug can be reached and am off again. With the rests at the top of the Directissima each redpoint is taking over an hour. I am running out of time.   Third time works the charm. I am more tense than the goes before; feeling the pressure. My climbing is tight. Jerky. Still, I stagger through the crux moves, I lurch to the lip and thrutch my way over onto grassy holds and glory. The sudden change of angle is bewildering. Inspired by my success Bob nails it too, power-barking his way round the lip as the light fades over Wharfedale.   I am still glowing; I have climbed Mandela. The route my gym teacher showed me, tauntingly, when I told him I was a rock climber. The reality lived up to my expectations in every way; it was intimidating and spectacular. I urge everyone to get on it, and get it done. The route is dry and clean and, though we've taken out most of the decaying fixed gear, it is easy to reverse and get your clips out once you're done. As for the grade, I think 8a+; it was surprisingly hard to link, and the lip moves are no longer as easy as they were once... It might be easier though; get on it and find out!  

Source: The Spherical Cow

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Living at the speed
7 July 2010, 1:34 pm

Forgive me Internet for I have sinned. It has been two months since my last confession. A pause in communication brought about by a month long Chile trip to use the telescopes in the Atacama desert. We had more rain than the UK did. Don't ask. Then I had exams to mark, with the pleasant surprise that the students did quite well. Must have been doing something right.

Since then it's been getting back into climbing. This is hard. I've been at this game for more than twenty years and I didn't have a clue for most of those. It's no surprise that my body is nearly 80% scar tissue. Therefore, after a long break all that scar tissue builds up and some sort of injury is totally inevitable.

No change this time either. A horribly jet-lagged session on Free Monster was enough to bring on a middle finger pulley tweak. The last few weeks have been about managing that before starting to train again. As a result I'm not ticking much, but ticking over, with an Anstey's cove trip to finish of Tuppence a particular highlight. I've nothing left to do down there but nasty link-ups, which is a relief; best mates John and Sheila are leaving Exeter for Nice, so I was hoping to replace Anstey's raids with trips to the South of France!

This week the training starts in earnest again; probably the hardest week's training I've ever done, and on the same week I turn 34. I'm not worried though; I've got a secret weapon...

Location:

Source: The Spherical Cow

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Damages
13 July 2010, 12:04 am

Can't sleep tonight and I've finished watching the Green Zone and Serenity (again); so a late night post seemed apposite.

Turns out I didn't completely survive last weeks sessions, even with assistance from deep heat. On the last circuit of the last night something went crunch in my stomach and breathing, moving around and sneezing got really painful. The diagnosis is a torn/pulled intercostal muscle, but it seems to be healing quick so no worries there.

Saturday we got rained off from Chapel Head Scar. We went there 'cos the otherwise excellent northern limestone guide told us it'd be ok in heavy rain. Erm, nope. So we salvaged the afternoon by paying Ru a visit in his new house. Turns out he lives in dingly dell in a fairy tale cottage. No campus board up yet though.

On Sunday, the day of rest, we join the rest of the English speaking world at the cheedale cornice. Are climbers tribal, sheep-like or just unimaginative? Anyway, the world is there. The Hamer brothers representing the young blood and looking strong, as always, whilst the old guard is there in force. 90's legends like Seb Grieve, 7b+ Welford and Robin 'rolypoint' Barker are there lapping the 7s. Ru, Jon Fullwod and myself make up the in-betweeners. Jon is on Monumental Armblaster which seems quite hard now after hold loss. I am reminding myself that I can't climb slabs on Unleashing the Wild Physique and Ru shuffles off round the corner to onsight the Lockless Monster. He doesn't seem too happy though; I guess he thinks it's soft but the reality is probably just that he's a beast. Crap at plumbing though.

More training this week, if I'm allowed. I have a physio appointment tomorrow to see if I'm doing lasting damage to my chest by climbing. I hope not, as I need to get fit and fast. DWS season is nearly upon us...



Source: The Spherical Cow

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Dry Spell
18 July 2010, 8:56 pm

I can't seem to climb for shit at the moment.

Since returning from Chile my climbing performance has been showing solid and steady progress. Unfortunately it's all been downhill! My body is falling apart, showing a startling amount of synchronicity with my 34th birthday. The list at time of writing consists of pulled stomach muscles, three fingers showing tweaks of various levels of seriousness and a very sore wrist which the physio thinks might need surgery.

Unsurprisingly confidence levels are dropping in step with performance levels so I was hoping for a step up this weekend to get this dry spell over and done with. No joy; the only downpours have been meteorological. On Saturday I went to the Cornice (Cheedale) and fell off Monumental. Flipping brilliant route. On Sunday I went to the Cornice (WCJ) and fell off Rumble in the Jungle (brilliant route) and Yorkshire 8b (crap route). Also, I managed to fall off Brachiation Dance during my warm down. That's a lot of falling off. By contrast I saw Neil Dyer both days, who was very impressive, crushing Monumental on Saturday and nearly flashing Unleashing the Wild Physique. He looks to be fully on a roll; I am well jealous!

If my climbing state of mind is depressed, it seems as naught compared to my general mood about the direction we are heading in. The coalition government has embraced 'austerity' with open arms and is bearing down full-bore on the budget deficit. Quite rightly in my view. However, as predicted, public spending is bearing the brunt of the load, with the balance between spending cuts and tax rises being roughly 4:1. It's hard not to feel that the coalition government is letting ideology, as opposed to sound economic reasoning, be their guide in these decisions, and I'm appalled by the prospects of what 25% cuts will do to my home turf of Universities and Science funding.

Everyone considers the Thatcher government to be a paragon of cold-hearted axe-wielding. Faced with a gently recovering economy but massive public discontent with the direction the country was heading, Thatcher too undertook a deficit reduction program. The period is remembered with some horror by many people who lived in the industrial north but even Thatcher's plans only had 2:1 ratio between spending cuts and tax rises. In fact, I don't think we've ever faced such a dramatic cut-back in the size of the state in modern history.

Still, we all know that New Labour was profligate, pouring vast unaffordable sums of money into the public sector. Worst of all, it is a standard trope that much of that money was wasted. After all, take the NHS; all that money seemed to go into cosy salaries for GPs and layers of bureaucracy. It's no surprise the public sector is so horribly inefficient, is it? Surely massive cuts to public spending could be a good thing. Won't the good old private sector handle things more efficiently and deliver some sorely-needed efficiency reforms?

Well, no, I don't think so. You think the NHS is bloated and inefficient? Not so: even after all that wasteful New Labour spending, the Commonwealth Fund still found it to be the most efficient Health Service out of the seven it looked at, including Germany, USA, Canada, New Zealand - all of which have a larger role played by the private sector. The idea that the Health Service (and by extension the whole public sector) is bloated by nature seems totally unproven to me, and I have a terrible depressing feeling that the coalition government is going to embark on a massive series of cuts, re-organisations and private sector initiatives only to find that in areas from health care to education we're going to get an awful lot less service, for a bit less money.

Enjoy your Monday.



Source: The Spherical Cow

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In Brine
25 July 2010, 7:16 pm

The morose post before this one invited a certain amount of comments from my fans, for which I'm always grateful. Britain's best bum doctor suggested that trying to mix hard training and hard climbing was trying to have my cake and eat it. He should know, because he's medically trained. Nevertheless, what's the point of having cake unless you're going to eat it? Meanwhile, purely by chance, Dave Mac posted on his blog that "there's nothing worse than moaning blogs...". And he's right; I hate whiners, and happy blogs are much nicer to read. Like that nice chap Ben Morton. Over on the Blog of Dob he's got a funny post about how women really want a Gok Norris, but often get a Chuck Wang. It's better than I make it sound.

So I'm going to be more happy, which isn't hard because I've just had one of those fucking brilliant weekends that split your face from ear to ear. Anyone who knows anything knows that it's ALL just training for deep water soloing, and this weekend was a chance to put all that training into action. Great weather, great company and plenty of salty warm water to fall into; what more can anyone ask for?

Specifics are needed; this weekend I hit the south coast along with a group of reprobates from my Exeter days. Sutton and Happy have the enthusiasm (and energy) of a Labrador puppy; Fat Will isn't but is a laid back cheerful counterweight. Then there's the infinitely mellow Jules V and Theo; an incorrigible pervert with enough charisma to get away with it. Think Jerry Moffat meets the sex offenders register.

All in all the team brought more testosterone than a gender re-alignment clinic so it's little surprise that the wife sat this one out. First port of call was Lulworth, where we met South Coast legend Gav Symmonds for some briny fun. I think Lulworth is the best place on earth; nowhere else combines swinging around footless on jugs with a soft, salty landing and a nearby cafe and ice cream shop. Perfect. With such a psyched team it was all going off; Rob Sutton made the first(?) solo of Never Kneel to Skeletor, Gav did Pump up the Beast and I managed a slimy ascent of Adrenochrome. The rest of the lads provided much entertainment by hurling themselves like lemmings at the area classic 'Mark of the Beast' with varying degrees of success. Nearly everyone got wet, with some spectacular faceplants into the ocean from the top of the cliff. As good as DWS gets, I reckon. All rounded off with dinner in a beautiful old pub near Langton Matravers, which serves the best Ginger sponge pudding on the planet; or at least those bits of the planet that I have both visited, and bought Ginger sponge pudding in.

Understandably after a day like that, Sunday was a bit more mellow, and we all went to Connor Cove to bask in the sun and tick a few more classics. It wasn't all mellow though; most people managed to fall or jump from near the top, and Theo pulled out a masterful and improbable ascent of the very hard "Herman Borg's Basic Pulley Slippage" which seemed to consist of power screams and more footless moves than seems prudent for a slab climb.

That done, it was time for everyone to go their separate ways again, back to wives, kids, jobs and other things which aren't climbing above the sea. As we all make our way home, I can bet that everyone has the same thought running through their heads; how soon can I get back?

Location:

Source: The Spherical Cow

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Germs, Grades and Shoes
1 August 2010, 9:03 pm

Disclaimer: massive post this week, and with no point whatsoever. Feel free to skip to the last paragraph, where the controversy is.

I was really looking forward to this week; I was going to take a couple of days off to climb in Wales with the missus and was massively psyched to visit LPT as there's quite a few routes of (just about) onsightable standard there. I'm running out of routes around the 7c+/8a level in the UK that I haven't already blown the onsight on, so anticipation was high and I was making and re-making lists of projects to have a crack at.

Sadly, the best laid plans of mice and midgets gang aft gan agley. Agley'ing us this time was a nasty little virus. As usual this struck the wife down viciously whilst I was relatively unaffected. Neither of us were going to be tearing it up though, so we came home after a day's pootling on the boulders in the pass.

The trip wasn't a total washout, however, as I bought a pair of Sportiva Miura Velcros. I'm quite fetishistic about my climbing shoes. In fact, I'm the Imelda Marcos of climbing. I certainly own more climbing shoes than you. Probably. After all, what other piece of climbing gear can give you half a grade's performance for a week's pay packet? And these shoes are, hands-down, the best pair of climbing shoes I've ever owned. They feel foot-shaped, as opposed to my five-tens which are very much not foot-shaped, unless the foot in question belongs to a duck-billed platypus. I've put up with Five Ten's odd toe boxes because I used to think that no rubber could match stealth, especially on the horribly polished limestone of my favourite crags. How happy I am that the Miura's have proved me wrong. I think I'm a sportiva man from now on, despite the horrible, horrible £120 price tag.

This weekend I have been unleashing my fantastic new shoes on Kilnsey and the Tor. On Saturday I returned to Indian Summer, with the hope of finishing it off, but failed even to get back to the crux. I was exhausted just getting through the bottom 7b section. I'm blaming residual sickness and poor conditions, unless anyone has any better ideas? The Tor on Sunday was fun. Spent the day with Rupert, trying Ru's own Seraphim, and Revelations. Still nowhere on both routes as both feature spectacularly tough moves which I can't figure out at all. Revelations in particular must be all of font 7c+ on the crux, and there are people who insist it is only 8a+. What are they on? I have never done the crux move, but Paul Reeve has, and in fact can do it with ease. Which brings us to the controversy.

At the start of this year, Paul Reeve ticked Unjustified (8c), along with two of his foundry compatriates. This is an amazing display of determination and grit, particularly as it was done on two disintegrating elbows. Then a week ago I saw a certain someone refer to an ascent of an 8b+ at Kilnsey as the 'hardest ascent this year on Yorkshire Limestone'. This comment comes amongst the background of mutterings that the route is overgraded. I have to say, these mutterings have made me a tiny bit annoyed. Annoyed because I don't know anyone who's actually done the route and suggested a downgrade. The mutterings seem to have arisen because the route had four pretty quick ascents this year, by some dark horses (and Paul). Anyway, I just wanted to remind the mutterers that the repeaters of this route are complete beasts, who can do the crux move on Revelations, amongst other things. So repeat the route, or stop muttering. Pretty please?

Source: The Spherical Cow

[uptown]

Disclaimer: massive post this week, and with no point whatsoever. Feel free to skip to the last paragraph, where the controversy is.

a week ago I saw a certain someone refer to an ascent of an 8b+ at Kilnsey as the 'hardest ascent this year on Yorkshire Limestone'. This comment comes amongst the background of mutterings that the route is overgraded. I have to say, these mutterings have made me a tiny bit annoyed. So repeat the route, or stop muttering. Pretty please?

Source: The Spherical Cow

I have to apologise unreservedly for that Stu. It wasn't actually a deliberately inflamatory comment, although I can now see how you could interpret it that way (thanks to the Stallion) - I had actually meant it as positive praise for what I believed to be a significant Yakshur ascent - similar to me back-slapping your ascent of Unjustified (which I, as Priscilla, correctly identified as an 8c.)

An aging has-been sport climber seems to have logged another 8c recently. 6th ascent? - After Mitchell, Malc Smith, Steve Mac, Gaz Parry and God apparently. 

I hadn't remembered the ascents of Unjustified as I asked:

I know this won't appeal to many, but I'm impressed by Paul Smitton repeating Dalliance at Kilnsey - I don't think it's had many ascents with the true finish, and I think he's been trying it a fair bit. Hardest ascent so far this year in Yakshir anyone? 

I'd love to repeat it, yet I've got a lot of easier route experience to gain first, and as a serial overgrader, I'll be taking 8c for it!
I'll not be box-hopping again anytime soon,
Apologies again,
Andy.

[Stu Littlefair]

Andy, thanks for the post!

I had assumed that you were being sly in your post, so cheers for the clarification. The blog post wasn't really aimed at you specifically though; I've heard a lot of people question the grade of Unjustified and it's symptomatic of a trend which I find a bit weird amongst climbers.

Most of the downgrade suggestions for Unjustified came after Paul climbed it. It seems as a group we are incredibly quick to suggest a downgrade for a route when it's climbed by a climber who raises his game significantly to make the ascent. My blog post really came about because I had a really hard time on Revelations and it reminded me what a beast Paul actually is. After all, we're talking about someone who can almost lap Mecca, and warmed down from redpoints on the power 8b's at Malham with nonchalant top-ropes of GBH. When a guy like that climbs 8c it shouldn't be such a surprise.

Anyway, cheers again for the clarification; we're all friends now. And I'm sure you could tick Unjustified. After all, it's only 8b+ 

[Doylo]

Germs, Grades and Shoes
I was really looking forward to this week; I was going to take a couple of days off to climb in Wales with the missus and was massively psyched to visit LPT as there's quite a few routes of (just about) onsightable standard there. I'm running out of routes around the 7c+/8a level in the UK that I haven't already blown the onsight on, so anticipation was high and I was making and re-making lists of projects to have a crack at.
Source: The Spherical Cow

Let me know if you make it back over Stu, you might find this graded list useful when planning your onsight onslaught:

Easiest First:
Martha 7c
Rompsville 7c
Bad Boy
Battle of the Parasites 7c+ (prob not a good onsight though, clips are hard to get in)
Fair Sized Fish
Mussel Beach 8a
Over the Moon Direct
Parasite
Battle of the Little Big Orme (once again nails onsight due to clips)
Statement of Youth
Over the Moon (the hardest 8a due to the top crack)
Moonwalk 8a+
Wild Understatement
Melon Beach
Pas de Deux

And don't forget its nearly Diamond time!

[Stu Littlefair]

Brilliant. I shall start at the top and work down!

[comPiler]

Tor. Huh. What is it good for?
4 August 2010, 10:07 pm

It's good for just about blinking everything. Back to the best crag in the world again for another failure session on Revelations. I am convinced this is the hardest move ever climbed by humans. Am convincing myself I'm making incremental progress, but it's hard to say as it boils down to whether I manage to stay in contact with the hold for 3 or 4 microseconds. What an amazing route though.

It was a good scene at the Tor today, with Ed, Dylan, Dobbin and Nedwin van Feehally all present and correct. Dobbin is doing well on Mecca; much better than he thinks he is. His redpoints nearly take him into the groove, a point at which most aspirants start to dream of success. He needs to believe he's up to the route (which he is) and take the time to become comfortable with climbing and falling off the top groove. If he spends some time getting happy with the idea of falling, he'll do it for sure. Ned also plays on Mecca, but looks bored by the sheer number of moves; a boulderer's boulderer! Nevertheless he works out some sort of sequence. Ned - if you read this, this shows Smitton milking the kneebar! Then he gets on Hubble and looks strong; nearly busting out three of the six moves on his first go up. This is actually a fierce effort and I inform him of this, but he looks sceptical. I would love to be strong enough for Hubble, but I fear there is one move (the last) which will always elude me. Shame.

The downside of trying revelations is that falling off the second move again and again doesn't leave you feeling sated. So to get a burn at the end of the day I climb Revelations from the third move in, strip it and try Mecca without resting; desperate! The groove is in really smeggy condition and I realise what a good effort the boys have been putting in. I will consider myself fit when I can lap this route; I'm about a year off this I reckon.

Go home thinking how brilliant the Tor is. There are so many good moves here, and so much history. I just love it.

p.s my sportivas are still brilliant.

Location:

Source: The Spherical Cow

[shark]

Most of the downgrade suggestions for Unjustified came after Paul climbed it. It seems as a group we are incredibly quick to suggest a downgrade for a route when it's climbed by a climber who raises his game significantly to make the ascent. My blog post really came about because I had a really hard time on Revelations and it reminded me what a beast Paul actually is. After all, we're talking about someone who can almost lap Mecca, and warmed down from redpoints on the power 8b's at Malham with nonchalant top-ropes of GBH. When a guy like that climbs 8c it shouldn't be such a surprise.

I think you are overstating the case. It was always mooted that Cry Freedom (graded 8b+) was a harder proposition than Unjustified. In your blog post from October last year (before Paul's ascent) even you said: " Unjustified has a reputation as being very soft for the grade, and the grade math backs this up; it's probably 7b+/c to the big undercuts underneath the roof, and maybe 8a to the top from here. That shouldn't add up to 8c, but I think it does."

The fact that Dan, Rob and Paul and Adam Jeworth? do it in fairly quickly as their first 8c's has lent further weight to the already existing impression of it being at least a soft touch if not 8b+. I don't think this is an unreasonable or unfair shift of armchair opinion on the route given a range of evidence which includes Paul but does not single him out.

[comPiler]

The Age of Vice
9 August 2010, 11:28 am

Rupert loves Cheedale. So we went there.

Saturday. Breezy, cool, humid.

Venue: Two Tier

Nearly a massive angry rant day as my trick wrist was feeling very sore and I was getting box-pumped on 6b's when warming up. Plus I couldn't do any of the moves on my route. Rupert turns up and saves the day with beta and levity. Seven years ago, Rupert crimped his way up an old Gav Ellis project to give one of the best 8b's in the peak. From time to time he reminds me that I haven't done it and I come up with a variety of excuses to mask the fact that this is because it looks too thin, and too hard. Today I run out of excuses and MTFU.

It's interesting for Ru to see what's become of his project. Intermediates have been found and brushed up. The sequence has been refined; removing five hard moves. Finally, the addition of a belay to the right has meant the hard climbing finishes a couple of moves earlier on a big jug. The modern Kali Yuga aspirant faces a much softer challenge than Rupert. Such is the lonely fate of the first ascentionist. The moves are still hard and at the limit of my crimping tolerance so Rupert's beta is essential and allows me to shake like a shitting dog to the chains. I am pleased to tick, Rupert enjoys seeing me do his route. Everyone is happy. We go back to Rupert's gaffe in dingley dell where I spend the night trying to ignore Ru's kittens, which are sat on my pillow, purring constantly and farting occasionally.

Sunday. Cool then Hot. Still.

Venue: The Nook

Rupert still loves Cheedale, so we return on Sunday, but not before Sarah fuels us up with tea, toast and apple muffins. The Davies' appear to have reached a level of domestic happiness that our household lacks. Suitably alerted to this fact, I shall attempt to persuade my wife to make muffins for me in the morning. I predict this will meet with failure. I have never climbed on the Nook, because it's too far to walk, always wet and usually has decaying animal matter underneath it. It is now dry and free from the stench of death, but I still moan to Rupert about the walk in, which has not improved, sadly. We aim to do old-skool boulder/route classic, Theoria. Theoria is a route from John Hart, who was everyone's favourite old warrior until Keith stole his crown. It is short, steep and slappy. I am very excited.

Rupert and I display all the professionalism we have learnt from 15 years sport climbing. We attempt to pre-equip the route and succeed in getting two and a half clips in, and the clipstick stuck. Some inelegant rope-work and a bit of thrutching fix this problem, with the added benefit of showering Rupert with a good covering of Cheedale dirt. Rupert and I both express relief that Adam Long wasn't here to witness all this chicanery, and agree that it's a good job we don't try many big walls in Patagonia. With the route clean and equipped I fully fail to work out any of the moves and send Rupert up to sort things out. He fares slightly better and a sequence of sorts is cobbled together. In the meantime, Gus and Sam pop over to the Nook, in a very shabby state from the night before. Banter ensues and Sam crushes Lockless in about 0.3 seconds, after which they leave us to our thoughts. Rupert wants to know why I'm not as entertaining as Sam. This makes me angry enough to tick the route. I warm down by also crushing Lockless, just to show Sam who's boss. Admittedly he'd left by then, but maybe he'll read this and gracefully accept my mastery in the comments section?

All in all, a good weekend. A bit like the good old days, but with more arthritis.

Source: The Spherical Cow

[cofe]

it's just banger after banger from Mr Stupert Littledavies.

[Nibile]

in the current state of my relationship I would like to try one day, to ask my g/f to make me muffins before I go climbing.

[comPiler]

Training with Fatxi
9 August 2010, 9:12 pm

After finally ticking a few routes at the weekend, it's time to start the hard training again. Monday night is campus night so I pootled down the works to take advantage of their massive campus board.

Dobbin was in his customary position under the beastmaker board. I've taken to calling him Fatxi because he's got a Patxi-style weight vest, isn't as thin as Patxi but there is a faint resemblance there (not in climbing ability, obviously). Sadly, this appears to have gone to his head, as he is now sporting a Patxi-style haircut (see above). Since reading the bible as a child I'm a firm believer in the strength giving properties of hair. Time will tell if Fatxi's new do gives him a grade...

On the subject of campussing, Ru showed me an old Gresham article discussing the future of climbing, and the likely influence of the Nürnberg Lat Board, as people were calling it then. Gresham hinted at rumours that Wolfgang was close to a one-arm campus move. Such a feat (Gresham wrote) would surely be 9a.  I reckon this is the only way I'm ever climbing 9a, so I'm taking the tick. Unfortunately, I couldn't find "pointless showboating" using 8a.nu's "search and add" feature, so I can't put it on my scorecard. Shame.



Source: The Spherical Cow

[Falling Down]

Keep it up Stu..... 

[grimer]

Yes, what FD said.  It is my impression that some people (eg stu or Dobbin or Lore) must spend hours writing these. Please don't tell me you just dash them off between reps.

[Stu Littlefair]

It's worse than that Grimes; I don't even get off the fingerboard. Just type with one hand man...

[grimer]

You mean some people type with two?