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A Law of Averages
9 April 2010, 9:52 pm

well it's been a good week of weather! and with the evenings getting longer i've been getting out and about.

Friday: Borrowdale volcanicsBefore coming back to Sheff  I nipped in to say hi to the Bowderstone, it was still there, and so was the hold that bust my finger, i'll be giving that project a few more months I reckon. I had decided it was time to tackle sidekick, the last thing i really wanted to get done on the stone. After getting slapped about trying to ram a sharp bit of rock through my knee for about an hour I figured out that i only needed it for a split second and good old fashioned burl could take care of the rest. This is a brilliant problem and probably the best 8 on the stone. I remember seeing Glenn wilson try this  with his half red half yellow hair(when it was v9 and still a project) back in the day in my first year of climbing! The consensus seems to be that its a tough 8a or more like a soft 8a+ and it's certainly harder than special cases. In the end i got it near the end of the session and had to try pretty hard, especially as the oxygen depletion to my brain stopped my feet working properly and my Jet7s turned into clogs before my eyes.

Sunday: Yorkshire Grit I was driving back down the country so nipped in to see my good mate Kev in't Bingley town. Now I think i've only been to Caley when Kev's been there and I've only been 3 times, and none of those were in the last 3 years! I think i'd forgotten just how awesome it is (except for the prolific victorian chipping) There are loads of things that I want to get done here but an obvious one was the striking line of Ranieri's Reach. After declaring it piss on my third go i then got bored of controlling my limbs properly for the next 30minutes, including dropping it after the crux 3 times, after a bit of a break and a re-warming up of the support team as well as a cameo appearance from legend of the lakes, triple-daddy, Rob Fielding. I gave myself a good talking to and made good on my original declaration. This was much easier than Sidekick and is kicking a good sized hole through the ceiling into the realm of 7c+ . After that it was skin loss time on nothings safe, which went from being painful and jerky in my mind to eccentrically brilliant, especially with the top move being a good value pull off a pinky mono! Now bellies were growling by this point and Kev's easter egg was a distant memory so binge o' clock was called.

Wednesday: Peak Gritmy next chance to get out saw me tired from training but lapping up a bit of afternoon vitamin D at Curbar, i thought i'd check out what the low roof hoo haa was all about. It looked less low than i remember but it looks like some sterling patio skills have been put into place (effort!). After a good chin wag with the a nice Mr Marek whom was there also. I got stuck into la musee. I quickly sacked off trying to use the jug as the ridiculously dabby move spoilt the problem for me (as did the jug). I worked out a slightly harder (physicaly) but less dabby way of not using the jug at all by keeping the toe hook in whilst nipping along the slopers. This flowed nicely and was much more enjoyable. 5 minutes later i linked it up and found it much easier than Sidekick and Ranieri's. To me it seemed to be no harder than ben's roof (at the Tor) or columns at the roaches So soft 7c+ seems about right. I was getting tired by this point but went 1 foot further back to the newly extended start. After working out how to get my leg out of the massive, and slightly painful kneebar without my fat arse touching the floor (this sequence takes you straight into the start holds of la musee) I was getting through things ok but had run out of juice for the full thing. And by this time things were getting pretty sunny under there, so I packed my bags and shot off home. The line from the back is the full line though and a good addition to peak 8's, very unique climbing for grit too.  

Friday: peak limeI nipped out in the afternoon to make the most of the good weather. Cough. really horrible still warm conditions. Cough. My chosen sweat box was Dark Therapy, the perma goppy holds are bloody well annoying on this. Despite that it is a truly great problem slightly marred by greasy crag acne. after battling the grease for a while I had a good go where I didn't slide on the holds too much and luckily ended up on top and not on my back. For me I reckon this is a benchmark 8a, although it is a bit morpho and conditions dependent (if you ever see the start holds bone dry then get on it!), I really like the unique bulge climbing on this and it features a good candidate for legitimately busting out a 1 armer on the last move. After that i spent 45 minutes on another problem reminding myself that i have lost a lot of nouse and now have to compute hard foot moves like a commodore 64 faced with endless lines of code whilst my upper body hangs there waiting for something useful to happen. Basically I can't wait to be able to turn my brain off  and just climb again!

So there we go four lovely British "8a"s and all of them completely different to each other in rock type and style and grade, yet apparently all the in the same place on a scorecard.



Source: beastmakerblog

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keepin' on keepin' on
21 April 2010, 6:01 pm

So after forgetting to fall off a bunch of stuff last week I thought I'd try and build on the previous weeks 8ertainment and sample some more low 8's. First up was a spur of the moment decision to get on Solomon's seal, a problem that must just about win the award for sitting on my must try list the longest. I sat about until 5ish then launched my machine Stanageward. It was still stinky hot but just about ok and after about an hours worth of pottering on some solos (Anniversary Arete is amazing and now vies with Queersville as my fav Stanage solo). Golden hour was starting and it was time to sharpen my teeth. After dispatching the stand fast I hopped straight on the sit, after half persuading myself that it went from there anyway. After about 15minutes i had a rough sequence and had done all the moves, but it took another 25 minutes or so to refine it down enough to be able to drop the 2nd last move twice. This seemed to have something to do with a weird kind of smeary juice coming out my fingers by the last move one of Stanage's grizzliest small crimps. 15 minutes of chilled out pottering and sitting about seemed to have cooled things off for one last go, having basically already admitted defeat this was a one for the road. Then that elusive ladyluck stepped in and I hit stuff grain-perfect and found myself at the last move and luckily I seized my chance. I'm not normally one for renaming sitters unless they're in keeping with a rough theme of the stand. So if Solomon Grundy sticks then that's cool. It adds some hard moves and makes it a nice mid 8a I think. A brilliant session though and one to remember next time I'm grumbling.

In the rest of the week I nipped up Banana Republic and just about managed to keep my skin intact, but then an unfortunate broken leg from another very unlucky boulderer stalled the days antics somewhat. After taking 2 days off to sand 70+ beastmakers and develop a few things. It was back to the blocs and a meeting with a hideously strong bugger of the yorkshire persuasion, Mr Mark Katz. After seeing him make full power look easier than falling over when drunk I thought i better pull my finger out and give it a stab whilst Mark was trying 8ball via a look how stretched i am, cheek against rock display of body tension, good job too or else it'd be a party piece for the guy. The send train picked us both up after about 25minutes of waiting and we whisked ourselves off to Moorside. Where Katz found another much more impressive project which didn't seem to kick up much initial resistance, but then a wild Jackie Chan footping tomb stoned him onto the pads, and nothing puts a downer on a good session like horrendous whiplash. We moved onto the sausage king of meersbrook and rumours of 8a-ness. For my height this is more like Ian's original grade of 7c and a few footlocks later she was on board the send train too (great problem this and well worth hunting out). The weekend saw another illicit lime visit and an 8 with a bit of everything. That took me upto 9 in 14 days with a few 7cs, the odd training session and two 10ks thrown in there too. I've stepped things up a bit for the next months list, i'm also on the lookout for some slightly opto projects, unfortunately there isn't a match.com for that sort of thing, just alot of legwork and thinking/ training.

we're starting to work and train for our beastmaker vid too which should get people keen. We're going to round up all the beasts and their beastly feats who are keen for a bit of dangling and show people what can be done if you can be arsed to dangle and watch tv rather than sit and watch tv.



Source: beastmakerblog

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Feet of strength
21 April 2010, 7:47 pm



Feet of strength, originally uploaded by Beastmaker. inc.An old pic of Jonesy on what became "feet of strength" Ned's new 7c/+ at queens from a few weeks back

Source: beastmakerblog

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you call that a line?
25 April 2010, 11:28 am

from beastmaker.co.uk on Vimeo.



Source: beastmakerblog

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Ironhide sds
28 April 2010, 6:25 pm



Ironhide sds, originally uploaded by Beastmaker. inc.nice pic of a really nice bloc i got up last week

Source: beastmakerblog

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Down at Nigga rock...
4 May 2010, 7:32 pm



The temps dropped right off on sunday and the cloud was loitering about the sky like chavs in a bus stop, it looked like things would just about stay ok but things could have kicked off at any time. I decided to hedge my bets and try a problem i'd run past for a few months now and admired. So i hooked into my whip and kicked through a few gears down the drag, screaming through the rough suburban neighborhoods and perilous gang land of Hallamshire golf club, where many a white man has been clubbed. skirmishing through the trees i arrived at the treacherous gangland destination of "Nigga rock" (formerly known as Bell Hagg) see pic below, believe me i wish i was making this stuff up.I wanted to try the whippet (Mike Adams fine addition to the crag) and quickly found out that i was strung out like a banjo trying to keep my feet on the back whilst compressing the crap out of nothing, this way is at least hard 8a+. So i turned to a heel on slightly less than nothing too and worked the angles, 20+ attempts later it stuck and i managed to keep it together on the 6a top out and propped a crap in its ass, or whatever them gangsters say innit.I thought this was a great problem and with it being 1.7miles from my house it's not like i had an excuse!

Dance your cares away,

Worry's for another day.

Let the music play,

Down at Nigga Rock.

Work you cares away,

Dancing's for another day.

Let the Fraggles play,

We're Gobo, Mokey, Wembley, Boober, Red.

Dance your cares away,

Worry's for another day.

Let the music play,

Down at Nigga Rock.

Down at Nigga Rock.

Down at Nigga Rock.

for some reason i had a black gang version of that in my head all session, and thought i'd share it with you :)



Source: beastmakerblog

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Tamora
6 May 2010, 9:58 am

from beastmaker.co.uk on Vimeo.



Source: beastmakerblog

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recent movements
1 June 2010, 12:38 pm

We've been busy of late. Ned's in worldcup mode and has been on the plastic, but his fingjury isn't helping things much.I've been getting out a bit here and there, and finally found a nice way of climbing keen roof, as this problem has annoyed me in the past by always feeling dicky for my height and like i'm missing something. No proper tick yet though as i'm starting from the ben's roof sit like a good boy, then going straight into keen roof via a big move like a logical person might. Hopefully my exit strategy for peak lime bouldering will all go to plan and i can just be on projects by the end of the year, fingers crossed.Whilst heading back up to Cumbria the other day I met up with luke and finally managed a visit to Earl crag, which has been the most glaring omission burning a hole in my bouldering crag ticks. Luke was an awesome guide and we just ran round in the belting wind like kids in a playground doing classic after classic, it was one of my funnest evenings bouldering in a long time despite totally randomly opening up a massive flapper on my index finger on a crystal in the start hold of lager lager lager. This was nice but i preferred close range and underworld on the whole as the moves are better and the blocs bigger. It's a fantastic crag though and what it lacks in big lines it makes up for in quality moves and wall climbs. Ned's off in vail hucking for some sickrad fully awesome crazy holds next week.

Source: beastmakerblog

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lager lager lager
1 June 2010, 12:58 pm



lager lager lager, originally uploaded by Beastmaker. inc.

Source: beastmakerblog

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a bloccy exit plan
16 June 2010, 10:09 am

First of all thanks to the army of adoring hot asian birds who have left comments saying how amazing their new beastmaker is (I cant read the comments but I reckon that's what they're saying) but by feeling the need to make us feel insecure by hotlinking to some cheap viagra site, you've gone a step too far. Anyway thanks to this spammy crap i've disabled comments except for blog members.

We've been having some right good weather lately. And whilst it has been a bit waarm some days it has mostly been an awesome year so far. To top it off Swizzy and central europe have been getting all the crap weather we normally get as the mighty Icelandic high has been funneling all the wet lows into an already warm central europe. I've heard the Jura has been consistently rainy and magic wood looks biblically wet from the blogs i've seen. GREAT, now they might realise how lucky they are most of the time, maybe they'll learn to knuckle down and do some hardcore training rather than climbing endless amazing font 8s. Come to England foreign wads, it might be a little off Fred Nicole's radar but at least its dry. Our holds tend to be smaller so they don't get as wet so easily ;) (both those facts are way off the mark mind)

I've mostly been hunting down new peak blocs in the last month, and thanks to some great finds, my brain seems to be more psyched to get the last few (cough several) lime boulders i haven't done in the peak finished off. In hindsight I think the reason why I was leaving a few things is down to not knowing what to do if I had've got on them properly and done them (yeah bullshit excuse i know), so instead i've always dabbled on things like superman and keen roof with the odd sporadic session a year, yet always lacking the drive to actually see them off. It's like the brain needs an exit strategy or it'll just fizzle out of motivation after you tick the last thing you care about doing. luckily for me I'm not too picky so long as its either good or hard or independent. It doesn't necessarily have to be both. So I'd like to climb everything which isn't a linkup or traverse (unless its a great traverse). there are about seven 8's left on my peak list which i'm hoping to see off in July and August but we'll see.

Now that I have a bunch of new blocs to get spanked on hopefully I can see off these old "nemesises" quick smart to give me time to start anew, but who knows or cares for that matter, at least it keeps me busy...

Source: beastmakerblog

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Escape to the county
22 June 2010, 11:11 am



Northumberland is without a doubt my favourite place to boulder in the country, It embodies nearly all the reasons why I like bouldering outdoors so much, with striking lines beautiful scenery, skin friendly holds which tease the layers off gradually with each failed attempt rather than ripping away big chunks all at once. The weathering of the features produces some incredible formations too. I've been revisiting queens this last week, trying to mop up the last of the lines I want to do which'd burn a hole in my mind if I sat back in sheffield leaving them undone. Of all of these the Crackline on the main crag at Queens stood as the last of the big 4, It is also by far the biggest at just over 8m. It is a fantastic feature, a meandering crackline flows down from the top of the crag before completely disappearing at about 4m, leading up from the ground is another crackline and a micro break stopping at about 2.5m in the void is a 1/4 pad sidepull, and it looks at you like it is being generous for leaving you anything, basically the problem comes down to using this sidepull and putting your foot in your armpit on the micro break and rocking it out until you can jam your thumb in the bottom of the crack, the climbing after this is still hard, but compared to a 1move 7c+, it is alot more do able. This would have been a hard trad route years ago, especially if it was housed in a trad crag of other E numbers. But i'm claiming this one for the boulderers. "the Crack in the shadows" highball font 8a to ground up I imagine and a good representation of the height standards can be pushed to. Unfortunately I had to clean it on abseil or it would have still been unclimbably scrittly as much of Queens lies dormant in this state, but I kept working it to a minimum on the ab rope. Queens now has one of the best wall problems (it doesn't climb like a crack as there isn't a proper jam on it) in the UK, as well as arete, prow, groove (how soon is now), and lunge (slot). Which isn't bad for something so small in length.

The Pic shows the arete of kicking steps which climbs up on the LHS of it in its entirety from its base, which supercedes an E5 from last year (glorious) which climbs the E2 gloria on the right arete  on the right for 3/4 and uses all the gear on this before turning the arete for a few moves to finish. On the left all the way it is a magnificent new school 8m high  font 7a+ highball (it's protectionless anyway) The crack in the shadows is takes the centre of the shady wall to its left all the way, this pic doesn't even approach doing it justice but should help to place it

I also climbed a nice new 7bish thing out the roof near the wall staying on undercuts the whole way until a pinch is reached on the lip where you come into a flat undercut and lunge round to a nice edge

In other news, Cumbria's fastest fisherman, mr Bullit, nabbed an ascent of queen kong whilst it wasn't looking. Immediately he questioned the grade (Rob only ever lets himself climb 7b+), it certainly is a lot cleaner these days and could quite easily be 7c+ (I think it is). It seems pretty hard to regrade anything these days without getting branded a willy waving sandbagger or spoilsport etc. The fact is that the problem is about 75% cleaner than it was 5 years ago when i first did it, and it was originally done with double toe hooks by me and chris where as nowadays heel hooks on the crux make it a lot higher percentage, new beta (if it makes a difference) should always lead to a new grade otherwise there is no point in grading something for the easiest sequence, bradpitt is the textbook example of this, if someone did it with a heel first and gave it 7b+ it'd be a completely different problem historically.



Source: beastmakerblog

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the rough and the smooth
28 June 2010, 9:21 pm

I've been climbing outside solidly for the last 2 weeks as a kind of summer break from training and just a general chillout relaxo time. Its been great to make use of the stable weather and get up to the highergrounds. One brilliant session (more so than usual) was last wednesdays. With our bunch of overpaid, undertrained ball chasers distracting much of the paunched population from leaving the house I made an afternoon sortie up to Ravensheugh with man of the match, triple daddy, Rob Fielding (hi Rob!) robs new approach is to fit a weeks worth of climbing into his 1 free afternoon and he's recently been taking up the torch in the inspiring lines department.

check this shid out:

I can confirm, despite the heat flies and midgies which would normally have sent me home, that this is a cracking bloc, it climbs like you want everything to and the hold texture and curves are like a sandstone Nigella Lawson.

Anyhows we busted upto Ravensheugh, the Ceuse of the county, as i had an eye on a line i'd tried months ago with Ned when there were snow drifts on the ground. We arrived to a belting wind and cloud, which provided some poff like conditions. It took me ages to refine 1 move in the roof the rest of the beta coming from my previous brainstorming session with Ned. Which was handy as this move was hard, if i was just a bit taller and stronger and my second name was Adams then i might have been able to stretch off a good foot way back, instead I ended up smearing in the roof and slapping off one vertical sidepull into a slopey dish, the only thing keeping you on being a slopey heel. from here a series of 1 foot slaps  between boat keels and letterboxes get you out the underbelly of the 9ft high roof and established on the lip, with 1 arm, a big lock off out left then sees you on a small but ok hold staring the last moves in the face. After tweaking the beta and shifting up a gear i found myself at the end move again and again with a wilting lat and some strange noises coming out my mouth. the sound of weakness. Gaskins just squeeks, no sound is strong enough to fully escape him. I was howling away and back on the ground. The two being correlated. I pushed on and emptied the tank, whilst having the most fun i'd had in yonks, about 3 goes after I shouldn't have been able to pull of the ground i was still getting to the last move and wilting. I'd given it my best shot and it'd won, i worked the end moves, found better beta (as is always the case) and returned on saturday with bullit.

where by i got hot, shutdown and fustrated at not even sticking the dish for a whole hour. I sacked it off cleaned up billy biscuit a cracking E5 (which is now climbable rather than being a gallery of lichen) and it gradually clouded over and rained. This cooled things off just enough for me to be able to stick the dish, 3 goes later i was dragging the last 2 holds swinging out, silent and possessed by pent up expectations. Job done, it was more like a job on saturday than wednesday too, wednesday was fun and frolicks, saturday was pressure and grease. I finished off by ground upping billy biscuit, although after cleaning the holds on the abb that term is a bit loose but i had no other choice the route was unclimably filthy.

The next day we decided to mix things up a bit and remind ourselves why the county is so good. So a long steep walk in was called for and a venue with yawning chasms for landings and rock with the texture which could only be replicated by mixing a tray of concrete and chucking in 2 boxes of assorted screws, smashing 5 champagne bottles into the mix, and about 3kg of rust shavings. Which  is a shame because the lines at the Lad stones are stiking and compelling and the situation alone is worth the walk if your eyes appreciate being massaged.

I had a fairly decent day anyway, did groove armada ground up, and had a bit of a "moment" turning the top slab, would have been useful to have the holds chalked and looked at after an ab but instead i ended up crimping bits of fossilised broken glass and embracing the security of searing pain before cutting and getting my foot up, where after all the holds revealed themselves from their hiding places. Tom's new additions are good fun too even if the pockets on smoking guns are proper dog mouthers. I might have added a new line... not sure, it was quite nice though on small pockets (again sharp). I think i'm addicted to the smell of cordite, which certainly helps with patioing :)

from beastmaker.co.uk on Vimeo.



Source: beastmakerblog

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Ivan dobsky & lupino lane pics
20 July 2010, 10:53 am



A fortnight or so ago I was fortunate enough to manage to slap my way up a nice new problem up at Ravensheugh and Mark Savage was at hand to capture it, he's compiling a book of county climbs and blocs and is really going to some effort to do the area justice. Often climbers keep busting a gut well after the good light has gone, so nowadays Mark simply busts out a special array of light emitting gubbins to be able to keep shooting unique pics, where most photographers would be forced to pack up or plunder a stupidly high iso (these pics were shot between 9 and 10.30 at night).

I reckon the problem comes in at soft 8a+ish as an initial guestimate, and it is utterly enjoyable. In a time when boulderers are beginning to settle for doing new link ups at old crags i cannot recommend enough going to that bit more effort to find proud independent new lines. With lines like Hispaniola (infact this is just 1 of many great looking problems Mark has put up in the 8's this year), Preperation H, Ironhide, Groove is in the Heart, and The Tracks all being excellent examples from the past 8 months. Its pretty hard to stay positive if the future of british bouldering lies in people driving for hours to link limestone problems up, or for me it is anyway, it's nothing other than chasing points outdoors. Boudering is almost beginning to seperate into traditional bouldering, and what used to be called training outdoors, but is now the art of writing up every single new addition/alteration to a problem without them ever being superceded. Not that any of this is a great crime, but it never hurts to check priorities once in a while.

If you don't know who Ivan Dobsky is then a bit of should amend the fact that you missed one of the greatest cartoon series to have been on tv in previous years. Very poignant with the recent affairs near rothbury!

I also managed the 2nd (ttbomk) ascent of Nick Dixons Lupino lane which bizarrely gets 8a or E2 7b but is probably best celebrated as just how varied "climbing" can be with this one lending itself more to parkour than bouldering. you basically leg it down the hill jump on top of the 2 boulders in the picture then kick up the lower smear in the pic and onto the higher one (which has some dubious chipped texture on!!!!!) then double dyno sideways about 2m and catch opposing sidepulls, which is then the start of an E2 arete. I've mentioned it in a previous post but this pic of the go i did it from Mark does it a fair bit more justice:

english 7b in daescents!



Source: beastmakerblog

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A Dark Hour for Bouldering
9 August 2010, 1:39 pm



That's right, it seems as soon as the weather takes a couple of turns for the better. Which lets us look up out our soggy downjackets. We get all wistful and cocky with ignoring forecasts, and digging out harnesses from the back of pad stores, next thing you know the boat has not only been rocked but driven to the point of the mary celeste. We've been hemorrhaging core boulderers for the last 3 months, some have fled to the mountains and coasts with their harnesses and gear. But most have been seeking the sanctity of bolted cliffs. Luckily mike adams has been tending the fire waiting for others to return, with some inspiring new lines like the seldom seen kid, and hard seldom climbed lines like Sean's roof. Fear not Mike we shall return.UKC's hardest lists, show the extent of the situation. With the boulders list being over a month behind the routes in volume. And it'd be much worse if it wasn't for the stirling efforts of brothers Freeman, boldly listing and adding many a 7c-8a (a plethora of sends infact). The Stone and south lakes limestone link ups can't be tapped forever and at somepoint we'll need a powerful meme to be sewn to bring back regular summer ascents of things in parasellas, the pass and possibly even in sport strongholds like yorkshire and the peak.

I feel the loss of Big Malc to sport climbing early in the season prooved to powerful a blow. with 9a's emerging from blank stone after he got his fists on the Anvil (how manly a crag name is that!), only the iron willed boulderer could ignore the calling of the ropes. Now, I fear it would take a resurgence of The mighty G to stem this tide of ropes, or possibly a sacrifice of gary gibson to the bouldering gods.

I've even found myself bolting in the last week, with resins, it'll take alot of confession time to amend these sins. At the minute i'm kidding myself that i'm just bouldering on a rope, breaking moves down into boulder problems, itfeels less dirty that take. But with every shout of take and the tell tale signs of harness rash, i become more and more of a lost cause. Ned and I have been ticking routes down the dales from 8a+ to 8b+ all of which should kept hush so as to try and not make a bad situation worse.

I've also managed to track down a picture of the mental state of mind Caff is in whenever he pulls on (if you think its the man, think again...) well inspiring to say the least.In many ways its been fun this year to do a few more routes. And when the veritable atlantis of crags, that is the cheedale cornice, surfaces it's just rude not to sample its fine underclings and soaring tufa lines (ok that bits made up) soaring sika lines is a bit more accurate. But bloody good anyhow.

Hopefully once i get shot of a few more routes i can get back to the boulders and start making amends.



Source: beastmakerblog

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water proofing
17 August 2010, 2:12 pm

This is something i've wanted to do in the peak for ages, never mind future proofing. Since coming to the peak i have yearned after climbing Monumental Armblaster and Sean's roof. Two of the finest examples of routes in their style that the peak has to offer. Both, however, seemed to be under an ever deepening clag-olith of depressing gloop. That was until this year that is, and the gloop turned to crust, from which holds revealed themselves. With Sean's not having been climbed in a decade, and quietly having shed some holds (haven't they all!) there was a fair bit of beta to be procured. The start was all easy enough, it just involved a bit of elbow grease and for the rock to be dry enough. But sure enough within a session it was only the last move stopping success, and the go before this one: from dobbin on Vimeo.

I'd stuck the last move with this beta. But after that fall and a weeks shoulder stiffness I decided there must be a better way to boulder it out. With a rope taking the swing off the jug is better beta and i can see why all the old guard say the start is the crux and can't remember much about the finish , and rope tension certainly plays a role in this too, providing a nice grey area of uncertainty as to whether you received the tiniest of helpful tugs. A few sessions, and an  swift & impressive roped ascent from the daddy Adams, later (his first route since pretty much forever!). I still couldn't match the finishing jug without the face in road beta, but gradually some fun beta arose from cutting earlier off the smaller crimps and doing a hard move to get the jug, which then turned into a brilliant heel hook move once Ned'd refined it. And voila Sean's is now a fantastic 8a+ boulder which won't get you run over on a bad go. It'd be my vote for the best of its kind on limestone even if it is barely ever dry. Boulderers debolting a sport route, that'd send a clear message to the sport gods to stop stealing all the boulderers. Its not something i've ever heard of but this is a prime candidate ;) It's not like its far from the road, infact its a bit too near it really. you could bring a high jump mat if you wanted, but 3 mats is perfectly adequate with this beta. Leo 'mojo' moger (he don't know nothin') also put his mandible crimps to their usual STRONG use even after a crash diet of steak and beer.To top the day off a rogue cyclist accosted us with a short ditty. C'mon lads you're better than that, think of your heritage think of your past."

from beastmaker.co.uk on Vimeo.

...Indeed, perhaps i should have explained that we were training for quietus. He clearly hadn't seen one summer anyhow. This was an awesome solo effort by mark leach.

I think part of the reason for sean's struggling to dry out these days is due to tree growth on the opposite side of the valley above the red or dead buttress, this means the sun only comes in the cave for about 3 minutes rather than around 30-50 which'd vastly improve drying.

plenty more been going on too sheffside, just need ta pen it down



Source: beastmakerblog

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some thoughts on cornwall
21 September 2010, 10:55 am

this year I ended up agreeing to go back to the amazing Frankenjura for another limestone holiday. However it seemed a shame to go straight there especially when we had a cornwall visit planned for a week also. So after a bit of research and some good advice off a well travelled Mr Adams a bit of a road trip was planned. Cornwall to kerlouan to ploumanach to font to frankenjura. A bit of a dogleg, Yes, but a scenic and less travelled one which breaks up the drive rather well.

Cornwall was good, amazing in places and very distinctive. Paying over £7 in parking on our first day in Cornwall was a bit of a piss take though (multiple venue days are not advisable for the wallet down there) still thats why its the south, its the bit you end up seeing once your fully doubled over from jumping through all the rule-a-hoops. We checked out Godrevy first but the tide was well in so we only got an hour of excellent bouldering in the main cave. After being pushed out by the tide we headed for Clodgy. After stupidly parking in st ives and only being allowed 2 hours due to monetary restraints we hot footed it round the coast to clodgy point and Mikes sitter to Barnaby carvers excellent problem The Groove. Sufficed to say that this was the only thing at this venue i really wanted to climb, although Salad fingers and boomerang are both excellent, being on nice holds, the rest of the venue is massively lacking in inspiring 7/8s and lacking in potential for more.The rock is overachieving in that British past time of falling apart in most places. Horribly angular and shattered it struggles to form any sort of stable overhang. Basically i thought Clodgy was more of a locals venue, mind you it has never been championed as anything more than this . After doing the groove stand after warming up (a crimp snapped on the flash) and figuring out the beta on the sitter it was time to get back to the car to avoid being clamped. The next climbing day I worked out that if you park at helesveor farm the walk in is the same and you can park all day with no clamping worries (i offered the lady £2 for her troubles). Half the arete holds were pisswrapped thanks to the gully to the right being full of soil from it having tipped it down the day before. (if this was my project i’d clean the soil out the crack off a ladder to stop this seepage) After a bit of a moan i manned up and did the sitter in a couple of goes, with some serious hold towelling. My sequence was much easier than Mike’s (i did the moves on mikes sequence and i’d have definitely given it 8A+ if i’d used that) That said the boulder is generally exholdiating  so i can see this problem changing grades alot if it gets lots of attention over coming years. For the sequence i used (will put a video up when i get a decent connection) i’d feel bad taking more than 7C+ for it. And the stand up seemed fair at 7B after using the sequence on Barnaby carver’s video.

Aah Godrevy how i wish you were a bit further north. I really really rate this venue. I feel the rock makes what is there 10X better than it’d normally be. rounded slate slopers have got to be some of the greatest holds on the planet. We spent 3 days here in total and i liked every problem i did and i did as many as i could, except for controvoscopy which was a bit buried under pebbles i think? details on start holds?. I did some nice projects too (tbc) which i got on video. Infact there seemed to be projects appearing out of nowhere. on my last day there I got ooh so close to a nice and hard roof project which was hidden in plain sight, oh to have 1 more session, this would have been hard 8a/+ ish and it has a great leftwards extension at 8b/+ish for sure. thanks to the blankness of the slate alot of the climbing here can be brutally basic this project has a great (almost) 1 armer in (Leo you’d crush it). Again its on video so i’ll whack it up at some point. Providence was also excellent and the dyno drive by move is a real keeper for the memory banks. This place has got to be due a new guide soon to do it justice? just some photo topos’d do the trick. Or maybe Greg just spoils us up in the lakes.



Source: beastmakerblog

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cornwall vid
28 September 2010, 11:14 am

from beastmaker.co.uk on Vimeo.

Source: beastmakerblog

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19 October 2010, 12:13 pm



Kerlouan.

There is alot of great free info on this venue. And i had seen a video of some strong frenchies like Loic Gaidoz putting up stuff here (there used to be a good video on the french solomon website but it seems to have disappeared??). Anyway, the Brittany coast seems to be a place where they know what wind means. Lamp posts and flag poles tin out a hypnotic tune in every town and large hedges surround most gardens. fortunately this means it is a nice place to climb in the shade in summer. It’s easy to find a breeze at kerlouan when you need it. The rock is incredibly rough but mostly through lack of traffic, Its pretty tacky granite really, the type you’d buy in bulk from netto rather than the smooth expensive swiss stuff. But its had a bash anyway, with a heck of a lotto’ massif on the coast some of it inevitably ends up being good, really good actually. With some of the lines like aeroplane blind being total classics. There is also an amazing 8a called Ah Men.

reading the topo also has one distinct advantage in that the sea is on one side and land on the other so we're talking vectors rather than raster for boulder searching. Kerlouan itself is a bit of a windy ghost town after the school holiday masses leave at the end of august. Our municipal campsite was €3 a night and was 50m from a beautiful quiet beach (out of season). There are tons of problems to go at in the 7’s and a handful of really good 8’s with potential for much more. We only had 2 days there but it felt much longer, I climbed as many amazing looking classics upto 8a as i could until my skin was screaming to stop.

The highlight of this area came upon finding this amazing world beater of a line, after searching it out i sieged it into submission and got a rather incredible feather in my cap which i'll cherish forever more.



My main regret from here was not going swimming, the lagoons are really clear and would make a perfect rest day or end of climbing day activity.

more info (mostly in french) looks like they are starting to write the new topo for kerlouan too.

http://krimpadenn.free.fr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=90&Itemid=46

http://www.escalademag.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1006&Itemid=61

http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/France/West/Bretagne/Kerlouan/photo300745.htm

from beastmaker.co.uk on Vimeo.

the bad technique is due to it all being flashes, except for bruit du frigo which is nails when you try and climb it like a muppet

In Comparison i though ploumanach was pretty rubbish to climb on and very underfeatured but amazing to look at. Parabola is the obvious exception to the rule here and it is one of the purest boulders i've seen anywhere and an incredible line/climb, certainly an obscure Fred Nicole tick aswell. There is a sitter to this which would go (it was in the high 20's when i was there and still so i didn't stick around for too long after doing parabola, when your pits are sticker than the holds its time to move on!)

Source: beastmakerblog

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close comfort
8 November 2010, 11:45 am



Since i got back from Germany i've been just as keen for getting out as ever, if not keener, which is unusual as usually after getting back from a holiday i'm up for putting my feet up. I had a crack at a few projects from last year and felt much better on the whole, after splitting a tip on one i took a walk round wyming brook before heading home to train. Wyming brook is 5 minutes drive from my house in sheffield with a free car park and a 1minute walk in to the rocks. It has no decent recorded boulder problems. until now! (actually thats open to opinion but they certainly seem good)

That's not to say it has a lot of boulder problems, yet, or ever will have. But when such a nice venue (peaceful woodland with a stream) and good problems lie so close to sheffield it really is worth the 5 minute drive if you live there. If you don't live in sheffield but 7b is a tricky grade for you then the above picture of, Superbrook 7b should hopefully encourage you to check out a nice problem to try. Its called superbrook due to it being a smaller easier version of superbloc on initial appearance.

We also climbed a nearby problem (named brookside 7b+) under Matthew Thompson's route, parthian shit (great name) it takes the arete right of the crack on its RHS  with the crack being avoided for hands and feet. We (me nick and ben

Another nice arete lies on the opposite side of the brook, on the isolated slab, it takes the overaging LHS of the arete upto the ledge at about 7a and is called the Rhyming BookAll pics Nick Brown.

i'll put these up on peakbouldering.info soon with directions for people to find easily



Source: beastmakerblog

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Price change
8 November 2010, 2:44 pm



face 1, originally uploaded by Beastmaker. inc.Unfortunately due to the VAT changes coming in January 2011 and the effect this will have on retailers we are moving the price of the boards to £75, this will take place from the 20th of November.

Source: beastmakerblog

[Fiend]

Wyming Brook & Superbrook....

(Wanted to post on this blog but couldn't see a comments link)

Well done on spotting and climbing this....it had to happen in the end.

I found it a few years ago when out for a walk - due to the curious lichen patterns the line is surprisingly hidden from the path. It was obviously too hard for me but I have a sheff mate who is very keen for esoteric grit projects and I excitedly texted him straight away. Later on I abbed down and thoroughly cleaned and brushed it (this took some effort as you can tell from the rock). My mate had a few sessions on it that winter and it seemed pretty hard. Just with me spotting, we were determined to keep it secret. My video/shots of Parthian Shit were carefully cropped as the prow is obvious in that!

We came back the next winter, pleased to note the extensive cleaning had kept it in fairly good condition. Again my mate had many attempts but was just finding it hard. I spent several afternoons sitting against the big tree drinking herbal tea inbetween spotting (we had a cam in the wee crack to anchor a mat to). Eventually my mate got injured and busy and I moved away. I don't know if he tried it last season. The name was going to be "Fiend Or Foe" in honour of my cleaning/spotting, but we'd noticed the distinct similarity to Superbloc. My mate climbs grit pretty well and usually cruises 7b/c prows, I suspect this might be "welford" 7b .

There's still the right side of course. And the faint rib on the left, did you do that??

[carlisle slapper]

Hey fiend. i thought this might have a history, that was a nice read.

that certainly explains the recent chalk, Jonboy said rob smith had tried it in the past too (although i haven't seen rob in the last week to ask him). i think the rib to the left detracts from the arete somewhat, and that due to the venue being quiet and with few problems its best left until someone who really wants to climb it does as they'd appreciate it more. Sorry for nicking the arete, i texted jonboy to check it wasn't his but after that i really didn't know where to ask as i assumed welford and mike would have done it by now.
7b but morpho should be right, 3 of us did it on the day and we plumped for that. its easier than spare rib, and secret seventh etc but harder than stuff like english voodoo (sit) or the new problem (scrapheap challenge) jon did the other day. upon getting the crimp in the pic you go RH up and right to the nose of the slopey top and slap over again to the top with your right (bit committing)

bloody awesome problem though and one of the best 7b aretes i've done in the peak, if not the best (as there arent many) The RH finish would be ballsy but worth doing. there is stuff further down in the trees about 30m further on from andy's E6

Thanks for cleaning it, thats a privilege i rarely get these days!

[Fiend]

Interesting stuff. Mate was laying off the crap pocket with his right and slapping up for the top with his left. He agrees it "might" be 7b for the lengthier gentlemen and says congrats too. Hidden in plain view eh, at least it escaped Jonboy hehe. They should give it some good attention tho, would suit team ascents...

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The Young
10 November 2010, 12:17 pm



Ever since the start of the year there has been 1 name scribbled on the top of my little whiteboard ticklist. The Young. I have wanted to try it for years after hearing tales off springer about its quality. Last year on a plus 30 degree day we were driving back from back bowden after pottering about sun dodging all day and we decided to walk in to have a look, it was near the longest day and the forest was carpeted in blueberries, you could literally eat your way there! And whilst the walk in was long and hilly with pad raping branches. It was worth it. The Young is one of the most incredible pieces of sandstone i have seen in the flesh, a perfect tablet of stone situated in the forest with an incredible view, soft grassy landing (with even the slightest rock or root this route would become alot scarier). Andy first did it in summer 2000 and a picture which gives nothing away appeared in the new route guide, other than andy looks like he's trying hard, which is good as that means its probably quite hard. Springer had mooted font 8a/+ about with andy's sequence. This route was a phenomenal effort back in 2000, it'd equal any hard grit route in terms of difficulty and boldness, infact this route is more like a slightly higher high fidelity in terms of its niche, easier of course. unprotectable and high. that said the landing on the young is perfect soft grass so it never quite feels too serious.the bottom of the route is obscured in this shot, its a bit below the tree's shadow, its only just dry!

That day in 2009 i had a quick punt ground up and got to the large juggy patina just before the crux at about 1/3rd height, its about font7b+ to here or there abouts i think. Arriving on Sunday with Mark we were blessed in that either side of the route was wet due to the last nights rain, but the route itself was dry. The top was wet too but i figured i could work most of the route and atleast get a feel for it. I had resigned to top roping it first as basically i wanted to do it, climbing in the county is alot more effort than in sheffield where pads and spotters are easily available, and the walk in to this is over a mile and hilly so lots of pads are ruled out. I carried 3 in which nearly killed me, however Mark always manages to win on the sherpa challenge and he lugged 50kg of camera japery in.So after a quick clean on an ab, and writing off Andy's sequence as having FA blinkers i decided to use a small RH pocket he must of missed, this let me flick out to where he crosses over to a pocket, as a mono and with a bit of dainty footwork i could launch direct upto the first of the dinnerplates (big patina blobs, they are so cool!) this sequence was quick, safe as it kept me going straight up above the pads and i had no spotter to move them, and ridiculously fun. What follows is 8 moves of some of the most amazing climbing i've done.

nothing but blank wall and slopey dinner plates to come (stick a dinner plate so the bottom faces away from a wall and you'll see the similarity) Flicking, popping and locking between the slopey patina dinnerplates and badger heads (bigger and more round than chicken heads) All the moves are do or die though and hanging around isn't a great idea, the route is also inescapable. That said it is only low font 7 climbing so compared to the lower section it is alot easier. I'd managed to clean two jugs enough at the top to make it worth going for. As a compromise Mark knotted a rope for me to help top out once i'd reached the jugs as the grass and tree roots were wet and lethal. On my actual go once i got the top jugs i monoed the bottom knot in the rope for security, upon pulling on it it stretched and i found myself with 1 finger in a mono below my shoulder and my other hand on a wet flat jug, there was only one thing for it, teeth, in a spur of the moment i bit the rope weighted it so as it wouldn't unstretch moved my LH up and topped out over the grass and tree roots. Top roper and aid climber!one of the tricker moves into the mono (you can 2 finger it but it felt better as a mono to me), Andy gets this hold with his right using his stronger sequence.I spent the rest of the day lapping the best boulder route (boute?) i've ever done anywhere upto where it gets too scary to jump off. This route was totally worth the wait, it is a stunning bit of climbing and phonomenal effort by andy 10years ago, especially via his original sequence as it was an even harder proposition. With my sequence it feels like a highball font7c+, or a route 8a solo, i believe my sequence is very ground uppable for someone with the balls and this would be an awesome awesome route to ground up, very pure too as there is no gear and no rope. That challenge still remains. As i didn't ground up it but it feels weird commenting on the trad grade but my gut feeling is that this is well worth E8 for a ground up or onsight attempt, and i think atleast 1 fall would take place from the top section unless you had perfect beta, which would be a big fall, a long very awkward way from help.

Even though Andy is widely regarded as one of the best boulderers in the UK i feel his trad routes are mostly overlooked nationally and heavily under rated, despite his hard trad routes being amongst the best in the country of their style (short (10-16m), bold and hard) Apart from this, (which went unrepeated for 10 years) only Endless Flight Direct has been repeated of the E8s and harder (by Graham, Fielding and Watson). Neither has been ground upped. Mark Savage's routes, even bolder often but not quite as hard technically have also seen few repeats (i'm guilty too, sorry Mark) if any. Sadly most of this is through lack of attention from anyone but the locals.The Young is a beautiful wall (it actually overhangs by about 2 degrees), and deserves its place amongst the classics of the country rather than some obscure side note at the back of a guide somewhere (its actually mentioned in the bouldering guide if you look at the very back pages)

All pictures Mark Savage

Source: beastmakerblog

[benj_d]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading that Dan, great to see hard northumberland testpieces being repeated, especially ones that look as awe inspiring as that piece of rock.