[Greg C]

News Just In...

http://www.lakesbloc.co.uk/8.html   :shock:

[dave]

sounds obscene.

[Bubba]

If Gaskins' success rate on the crux move is 1% then this might be quite a testing little problem  :wink:

Is the Lakes becoming the hard problem capital of Britain?

[Greg C]

It sure does have a fair few hatd problems, it would be nice to see the UK's elite come and have a bash at a few of these problems.

I think one problem is alot of people head to Woodwell as a first port of call see Kaizen (V14) which to be fair is'nt a great problem, although very hard. And think that is a yard stick for the other problems. I definately got that impression when we gave Andy Earl a tour of Woodwell and Trowbarrow.

I think ego has alot to do with it to nobody high profile wants to be seen to be getting spanked on anything. Malcom Smith pointed out on Planet Fear that Gaskins's problems are probably very specific and conditionsy, which is a fair point, but surely this is the same with most hard problems?

[Adam Lincoln]

Fook, hows he doing on the last problem on the boulder Greg? The undercut wall? Surely another V15?

[squeek]

Awesome!  I reckon he's a Manchine.   :D

[Greg C]

He was on it the other week and managed to link a few moves that he had not been able to before, and proposed (via his melodious laugh) the rather tongue in cheek grade of V16, but by his own admission doing a few moves on this problem is a whole different kettle of fish to actually climbing the line. That said "I" still think its well within his potential capabilities.

[Doylo]

What exactly is this new thing, i can't picture it. Is it by Ru's start thingy on the main boulder?

[Greg C]

Hey Chris,
Shelter Stone/Main Boulder - To the left of Ru's Start is a cave which narrows the further back you get.
Starts at the back and comes straight out then trends rightward towards the boulders lip. Its not as good a line as Walk Away or the other project on the boulder but its defnately very hard!

[Adam Lincoln]

Hey Chris,
Shelter Stone/Main Boulder - To the left of Ru's Start is a cave which narrows the further back you get.
Starts at the back and comes straight out then trends rightward towards the boulders lip. Its not as good a line as Walk Away or the other project on the boulder but its defnately very hard!

Doesnt finish up the V8 thing then?

[Doylo]

I got ya, sounds like it does finish up the V8, for a moment i thought the main trowbarrow project had been done for a minute! nearly fainted :shock:
Its fucked up how many hard problems there are in south lakes, two V15s, two V14s?, shit loads of V13s. And thats all in about 4 small crags, there's only one V13 in the whole of Wales despite it being a much bigger area. Whens Gaskins gonna come and do battle with the Caseg FFraith bulge Greg?

[ian h]

mega

good to here of another world class prob going up.

greg: how many v15 lines does he actually have to project? any comment on wether it is harder than walk away ss?

[c.j.d.]

Sorry, but I think I may have ascended this in my underpants after a bottle of the devils own a couple of evenings ago.  I could be wrong though.  V16 sounds fine to me Jon.

[Pantontino]

John has already seen the Caseg Fraith project, and even he was sceptical if it could be done from a sds.

The stand up is another matter altogether though :wink:

[Greg C]

No offence Ian but how the hell am I supposed to know if its harder than Walk Away SS!  :wink: I'm a solid V6 climber!

Seriously though, he did not make a comparrison so who knows?
Personally I don't care there both obviously well hard and unlike other hard problems in the world both are easily accessable, so feel free to have a go and depending which one you :onsight: you will have your answer.

[ian h]

did not really mean that you would physically know which was harder more to do with you reporting it and me thinking you might know because of this

does not matter anyway excellent ascent.

lol re flashing them. quite amusing

[Nigel]

Being an ex-local I feel compelled to reply to this one, first and foremost to congratulate John on a fucking fierce effort!

I'm sure there are a few keenies out there who would like to know a bit more about the problem and who have never climbed on the Trowbarrow Boulder (gasp!). From what I remember of my several "looks" at this outrageous line, it starts matched on a fairly good edge, which is however nails to pull up on. Oh yeah, no footholds. In a roof by the way.
Then it lashes out with the left hand absolutely miles to a tiny two finger divot. (It says on Greg's site that John used an intermediate on the way. All I can imagine is that its intermediate between existing and not existing, 'cos there's fuck all there.)
This divot is utterly shite, literally 2 fingerTIPS. Can I just re-emphasise that this is a roof. And there are no footholds. Now all you have to do is whip your right hand out fucking light years to the next, OK-ish edge. Quite how this movement is generated is beyond me (no footholds!), but the real headfuck is how you end up still on the rock when you hit it, and not on your arse! There is no option to cut loose, so its another Gaskins body tension victory.
Then by the sounds it gets the lip of the boulder in the left hand really low down and commits a rising traverse of the lip up to the obvious finishing jug of the 'V8 slap'. Like John says, this bit is OK. I know the description is a bit confusing, but it doesn't in fact finish via the V8 slap problem Chris.

As a bit of extra interest, when I was contacting John last year about his problems for the "South Lakes Bouldering History" on Lakesbloc, I asked why he had not yet done this cave start to the V8 slap (since it was always assumed that this is where it would finish). The reason was that while trying it a few years ago he broke a hold and it became much worse (the two finger crock of shite I think). After this he had not since been able to hold the positions anymore since he couldn't hang the holds. Bear in mind that this was around the time that he climbed Walk Away, so he wasn't weak. Now he has done the problem. Fucking hell.

Finally, you should probably all go and look at this, Walk Away, and At The Heart of it All. Especially if your name is Malcolm Smith. These don't "manufacture" extra difficulty by linking lots of hard moves a la Dreamtime etc, which is a pathetic stamina climber's way to do things. Instead you get your V15 squeezed nicely into a couple of utterly desperate moves, the proper hard man's way. Its my guess that these moves may be the hardest that exist on rock in the world. Have a look and I think you'll probably agree.

As they say in Wales: "Nice one John"

[Doylo]

He hasn't done The Dog at Pot Hole Quarry though has he nige :wink:

[Kim]

Nigel, that's the best description of a problem I've ever read :D  :worthy:

[Greg C]

:oldgit:
I asked John about the name, and it refers to the recently deceased Italian cycling hero Marco Pantani, also known as the "ll Pirita" (The Pirate).

[ian h]

any sign of some pics of il pirata yet?

[si]

[Doylo]

found another one

[dave]

or:

[Paz]