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Grit Expectations - Brimham (Read 11901 times)

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Grit Expectations - Brimham
September 23, 2010, 10:20:54 am
Had a play on this the other day - found the starting wall nails! Even the grotty green guidebook crux higher up was (way) easier. Hence, beta request. How do folks do the start? I could manage twin pockets, arete for right, pinchy thing for left, then stuck. Is it just a massive throw for the big pockets or am i missing some of this mythical technique thing?? Short-arse friendly advice appreciated!

I found a sequence stepping in from the left using a lh undercut in a pocket, rh on the pinchy thing and a dyno for the big pocket that I could manage, but guessing this is off route?

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#1 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
September 23, 2010, 12:15:05 pm
i think you sort off rock up to get that two finger undercut with your left.then rh pinchy thing and up to pocket.but as it was 10+ years ago when i did this i might be talking bollocks.i felt the top bit was the crux having previously decked it from up there 15 years before.

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#2 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
September 24, 2010, 03:42:58 pm
i think you sort off rock up to get that two finger undercut with your left.then rh pinchy thing and up to pocket.but as it was 10+ years ago when i did this i might be talking bollocks.i felt the top bit was the crux having previously decked it from up there 15 years before.

Hmm, sounds similar to my left hand method. So instead of using the arete, you go from the low twin pockets, rock up and left to get a pocket with lh, undercut it, rh on the pinchy thing and slap the top twin pockets. That would make sense to me, cos direct up the arete feels utterly nails for '6a'.

Re the deck out - yeouch! Wire in the groove ripped? S'gonna need some serious cleaning on the top half to make it a reasonable/pleasant proposition anyhow.

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#3 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
September 24, 2010, 04:11:26 pm

Re the deck out - yeouch! Wire in the groove ripped? S'gonna need some serious cleaning on the top half to make it a reasonable/pleasant proposition anyhow.
no it was in the days when the scoop had a grass sod in it and you had to mantel up on it with out pulling too hard.i pulled too hard.
so after waiting about 15 years for the memory to fade i went back and top roped it then led it.i don't think when it was first done the wires that were around would have fitted that placement rp?

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#4 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
September 24, 2010, 04:51:21 pm
Mantelling onto a grass sod? Classic.  ;D

so after waiting about 15 years for the memory to fade i went back and top roped it then led it.i don't think when it was first done the wires that were around would have fitted that placement rp?

Dunno what the placement is, was too busy sliding around on the green ming to look - prob an rp though, mebbe a crappy cam higher up in the flake. Keen to try and lead it, but guessing some careful cleaning is in order. What works best for removing the green coating without damaging the fragile rock - soft brushes only I guess but will they deal with the grot?

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#5 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
September 27, 2010, 08:24:37 am
By far the best way to clean very green grit is to do it when it's properly wet during or after rain. That way even really hard to remove green comes off easily using a decent plastic/wood bristle brush. It's also crucial to bring a small bucket of water to clean your brush when all the bristles get clogged up with gunk, otherwise you just end up smearing the muck around.
It can be a fairly messy miserable affair dangling on a slimy crag in the rain, but the results are amazing and the rock isn't damaged in the cleaning. I'd give you a wad point for it as GE is on my list of routes to do.

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#6 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
September 27, 2010, 08:38:44 am
IS GE the one just near Giggling crack? If so its always been nails - one of those old-school routes which are proper hard. Don't remember any of our lot ever doing it.

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#7 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
September 27, 2010, 08:56:51 am
IS GE the one just near Giggling crack?

No, it's in the Hattery Area. Left arete of Hatter's Groove IIRC.

This was one of the few routes that got a downgrade in the millenium edition Yorkshire Grit. I recall a few eyebrows being raised at the Uni club at the time.

Eyed it up once or twice, but I think Hong Kong Stuey had a go, failed and said it was nails, so never bothered. I thjink he used a small alien cam somewhere.

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#8 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
September 27, 2010, 08:58:27 am
I thought it was fine, not too surprised to hear about the downgrade.

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#9 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
September 27, 2010, 09:02:49 am
Well then you are clearly the man to furnish the beta.

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#10 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
September 27, 2010, 09:32:15 am
God no, it was far too long ago. I think I'd better apologise for a couple of incredibly useless posts.

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#11 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
September 27, 2010, 09:41:06 am
IS GE the one just near Giggling crack? If so its always been nails - one of those old-school routes which are proper hard. Don't remember any of our lot ever doing it.

I think that one is True Grit?

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#12 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
September 27, 2010, 10:01:41 am
Ah yes, that sounds right. Ignore the above.

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#13 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
September 27, 2010, 10:44:13 am
Right, thanks for the tip Bonjoy. Somehow I suspected the answer might involve dangling around in the pissing rain. Just checked the forecast and this week seems keen to supply pissing rain in quantities of abundance, so might try and head across sometime soon - if I get the chance I'll let folks know here.

@JB - yeah that's True Grit, looks truly horrendous - the bottom crack looks nails but seems chalked regularly, but the top "crack" looks like a slopey flared Brimham bum fest, and I've never ever seen it chalked. Urgh.

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#14 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
September 27, 2010, 11:36:43 am
i've done that one as well.i think i did the bottom crank a couple of times and escaped right before manning up to do the proper finish.i remember sort of manteling on a hand jam to get out at the top.
re grit expections you can get quite good rps in it.rocks abit sandy though.

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#15 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
September 27, 2010, 02:04:21 pm
It shouldn't need too much cleaning to make it climbable, but an autumn clean would be well received by me. I cleaned it about this time last year, but only cleaned the holds that looked any use, so it probably still looks very green. I'd intended to go back and climb it once it had dried out, but never got round to it. It's worth cleaning the runner slots out as there's some bomber placements in there - don't want to give away too much about what and where, but it's kind of obvious when you ab down it (probably the reason for the downgrade!).

Neil.

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#16 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
October 30, 2016, 06:12:48 pm
An update. The route is so clean it looks like someone has chucked bleach down it. It was found to be a bit scrittly though. Footwork abbed down to give it a brush and try and get rid of the scrittle. He then fiddled for ages getting a wire in. Not the kind of thing to try and place blind it would seem! What looked like a bomber rock 7 from the ground soon became a small wire teased in.

We then deployed our secret weapon and sent the Dave Warburton™ up above a good number of pads. He can normally be relied upon up path up anything. He climbed a line fairly central up the wall, not really particularly close to the aręte. Then got to the gear, had a look at the moves above and promptly came back down. Had another couple of goes and sacked it off. Footwork ended up top roping it but made it look non trivial and quite sequency. He has vowed to be back in decent conditions.

So there you go. Proper E4 it would seem.

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#17 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
October 30, 2016, 06:21:37 pm
I think it was HVS when I decked out off it. It's was E5 when I  headpointed it.

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#18 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
October 30, 2016, 07:32:03 pm
Glad I didn't try it last week now. Looks piss from the floor :)

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#19 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
October 30, 2016, 07:35:35 pm
Good old 'HVS'.

Felt similar in aspect to Quark at Caley, the meat of the climbing revolving around one wire that your Tibia and Fibular  are counting on before some bold, but less taxing, top moves.

The line is brilliant and begs to be climbed, but sadly the crack is slightly sandy and the gear a bit fiddly (and stressful) to place! We need to recalibrate the Warburton Canon.

Proper grit E4 this.

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#20 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
October 30, 2016, 08:33:24 pm
I think it was HVS when I decked out off it. It's was E5 when I  headpointed it.
Wasn't that in the day when there was grass growing above the bulge?
I think the full story is worth telling for the youth of today.
The version I heard was highly amusing and harrowing at the same time

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#21 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
October 31, 2016, 08:59:10 am
When Al Manson did the first ascent he left the grass sod in the scoop as he wasn't sure there were any holds underneath. So the method was to grap two handfuls of grass and try to mantel on to it quickly. I was there with the Berzin brothers and Chris " the flash" Hamper. We were all trying the start when Chris managed it, I got up there next and as I pulled on the grass it came off like a piece of Velcro detaching. I landed on my feet still clutching the grass sod and then fell backwards completely unscathed. There was a guy belaying at the bottom of Hatters groove who nearly had a panic attack at what he witnessed.
Chris then informed me " I thought it was loose but I didn't tell you in case it put you off"
Surviving this enabled me to solo Jokers Wall later that day as I reckoned the JW crux wasn't as high so I would be alright jumping off if I needed to.

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#22 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
October 31, 2016, 09:09:50 am
Great story. Back when men were men and the bus from Leeds to Brimham cost a thrupenny bit.

Worth mentioning for anyone googling this in the future that nobody really struggled getting to the pockets today, but the holds above were found to be minging. Could have been the anti-connies talking though.

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#23 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
October 31, 2016, 10:54:58 am
Surviving this enabled me to solo Jokers Wall later that day as I reckoned the JW crux wasn't as high so I would be alright jumping off if I needed to.

Btw, what was the rationale behind soloing Joker's Wall? Was that the de facto way of climbing it back then? Syrett certainly soloed the FA. Seems like an unusual approach given that the top mantle would be a bad one to blow with no gear in (land on your head?) and it's a safe route.

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#24 Re: Grit Expectations - Brimham
October 31, 2016, 06:20:01 pm
Cams hadn't been invented then, also less chance of getting pumped if you don't have to stop to place gear.
What mantel. I remember tricky moves going right, then rocking over on to the aręte ledge off a jam.

 

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