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1 June 2011, 11:48 am

 

Welcome to a very WIDE blog.

Many people who know me or Pete or even both of us will know a certain obsession gets in the way of our normal lives…. Yup, Offwidths! We’ve both had a bit of fixation about these strange wide cracks that everyone else hates for over 2 years now and in many ways the whole process has been building towards one massive finale.

A mega tour of the USA – a MEGA WIDE TOUR!!

We’ve travelled over much of the UK and Europe to repeat and establish the hardest routes there are in this genre over the last couple of years. This pilgrimage has taken in classics like Ray’s Roof, Thai Boxing and Gobbler’s Roof to name a few. Unfortunately though, we’ve pretty much reached the end of the journey for what Europe has to offer and now there really is only one destination that cannot be avoided. The location of some of the most famous offwidths in the world and home to the very highest calibre of offwidth climber – the Grand Old USA!

Our trip to the USA for a 2 month Wide Tour this year will be documented by Hotaches and Alstrin Films to hopefully create a visual experience never before seen…. The story will be following our training and climbing exploits back in the UK before following us westwards over the Pacific. This blog will hopefully keep you all in touch with what we’re getting up to in preparation for the trip and also the epics that we undergo whilst out in America.

Neither of us have written a blog before, so apologies in advance for any major “blog gaffs” that we make and we’ll try to keep it fairly light-hearted! We’ll be posting up the tales of hardcore training, trad shuffling, Pete moaning and me falling off lots (that’s how it goes usually anyway…)





Source: Wide Boyz Blog

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Peter of the Wide
1 June 2011, 12:21 pm





By Tom:

It’s always a bit of a tricky thing trying to start a blog. It’s like you’re starting a new chapter in a book – and when you start, I think it’s always nice to have a bit of an introduction to the people involved in the story. As Pete and I have climbed together for a few years now and have done a huge amount of climbing together we thought it might be an idea to write a little introduction to each other. That way, we can tacitly take the piss out of each other and hopefully the other person won’t notice too much.

Many people know Pete for his general all-round trad climbing – he’s bloody good at it, so no surprises there! However, I think it’s actually his wide crack skills that he should be best known for. He’s repeated or established pretty much every single hard offwidth crack in Europe and as yet, none have withheld his shuffle*. Many good climbers would be happy with ticking Ray’s Roof alone, but when you’ve soloed this as a warm-up, done choss E8 offwidth, repeated Thai Boxing twice in a day and put up beefy test-pieces like Gloves of War…… well, you know you’re cooking!

Loads of people think Pete’s climbed these routes because he has this innate talent for climbing and that’s he’s as strong as an ox. Well, they’re wrong…. (well about one part anyway…) It’s actually his massive bloody-mindedness to never give up on anything and 100% commitment that truly wins through. It’s probably why I’ve enjoyed climbing with him so much over the years as it’s awesome to have someone who’ll get so psyched. It honestly doesn’t matter what it is half of the time. We’ve done deadhanging sessions at the bottom of crags in -10 degress, spent hours trying to climb V0 boulder problems upside-down, created a million variations on Technical Master in the pitch black of night and it’s all been amazing fun!

There is one weakness in Pete though. A true Achilles heel. Just ask him about The Holy Grail Grade Chart and The Walk of Life…. Oh shit, I’ve said it now.  

* Shuffle can also be replaced with; Randy Hump/Trout Tickle/Invert Torpedo/Greek Toe



Source: Wide Boyz Blog

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Randall of the Hump
1 June 2011, 12:31 pm





In Pete's words....

It was maybe 3 years ago when I first met Tom, although it seems longer than that, having been on many trips around the UK and abroad. Or maybe it just seems longer because of the amount of crack climbs I’ve had to suffer from being his partner.

I think the only crack that I had climbed before I met Tom was The Vice, which was tough and the very first time I tried it I couldn’t actually pull off the floor (no joke). So, in reality I wonder why did the climbing partnership stick? Well, really I’m not sure…but what I do know is that he is probably the best climbing partner I’ve ever had (maybe ever will have?).

Being well known for his crack climbing prowess and obsessed by this style it was only a matter of time until it would probably rub off on me. Really it was actually inevitable, because climbing with someone who has now climbed London Wall 32 times and had a replica of Greenspit in their living room instead of a television, maybe it was impossible not to. However it was one type of crack genre that Tom was particularly engrossed and excelled in, and that was the 5+ inch variety, or more specifically…the offwidth. I quickly got enticed.

I knew very little at the start, but puntered along trying to make it look like I knew what I was doing, (accumulating lots of scar tissue in the process,) whilst Tom looked comfy and restful in double fist stacks and hanging by his feet. Over time he taught me the way - showing me that hand jams, stacked hands, knee locks and chicken wings were all better than the Dalmatian suitcase-handle holds that go up the Five Ten wall at The Foundry.

So what is it that makes him pretty flipping good at offwidthing and often leaves me thinking ‘oh crap now I’ve got to try and second that pitch…why couldn’t he just have fallen off, then we could have all gone home…?’ Maybe it’s the tenacity and ability to push past the sickness and pain, or maybe it’s just his high class bush whacking skills? (I’m not sure)

Or perhaps it’s the list of offwidths that he crushed with relative ease, Ray’s Roof, Cedar Eater and Gloves of War. Personally I think it’s his ability to eat chocolate bars in an invert position half way up Thai Boxing, the hardest offwidth in Europe.

So where has this offwidth obsession lead him? To The U S of A in September. BOOM.

Anyway I feel like I was far too complementary in the above text, so in summary – He floundered on Ray’s Roof, looked shaky on Gloves of War and puntered Thai Boxing ;-)



Source: Wide Boyz Blog

[Fiend]

Hehe perverts. This should be worth following.

[SA Chris]

Word.

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The Dyno Wing
4 June 2011, 9:24 pm

I was out at Burbage South a while back doing some private offwidth coaching with someone (yes, I know - who'd pay for that you ask??!) and spotted a rather intriguing problem. Down on the normal boulder circuit is a rather nice flared crack which can be climbed as a simple 2 move problem, which teaches the art of double fist stacking. A good problem in itself - but as soon as you see the boulder opposite, the running jump into the crack reveals itself... well, it did to me!

The Dyno Wing is a tricky nut to crack for sure. It requires a certain belief that you won't rip your entire tricep off and also that chicken wings really are as good as a belay. I really had to convince (or is that fool?) myself of this whilst staring at the jump, but if you go and have a go you might get a nice surprise. Think of it as the next step up from Giggling Crack.

Think like Johnny, land like Johnny, feel like Johnny.........



Source: Wide Boyz Blog

[Fiend]

Demented 

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Super Jam
11 June 2011, 8:33 pm

With a trip down to Cornwall planned, most people would be thinking of beautiful granite slabs and walls to climb. However the only route that I desperately wanted to do, was the route, which if asked to be climbed, most people would say they’d rather go and stand at the very North end of Sennen on a wavy day and wait for the tide to come in; strange one really! This little number; Super jam, is probably relatively unheard of maybe due to the fact that it is only E5, the fact that you probably never see anybody on it or possibly because there are harder graded routes of this style in the country such as Ray’s Roof and Gobbler’s Roof. (I’d only heard about and seen it when I saw some photos from the BMC international meet).

 

Being only E5 I couldn’t believe how flared the final section of crack looked. No wonder nobody went up there out of option, it looked horrendous; but that’s what I liked about it and went up optimistic that I could onsight it.

The start is simple, reaching off big undercuts to bomber hand jams. From these I flicked my feet above my head into the flared pod and engaged some stacks, just one shuffle leads you to the lip turn where you somehow have to get your whole body from completely inverted to the correct way up in the space of about a metre. I spent about 10/15minutes on the onsight wondering what to do; right foot in, left foot in, wide ponying, trout tickling, invert torpedo. I actually managed to get the good hold and pull round the corner on it, but my right foot had got into the most ridiculous position it cammed in so hard I couldn’t get it out. I looked back into the crack and actually wondered whether it was still attached to my leg.





After some more ground up battles, a sore right ankle, 2 tape rolls later and a bored Katy on belay I decided to pull on and check the foot placements. 30 seconds later the sequence was solved. The route was stripped and 30 minutes later lead, to what became a much more enjoyable experience as the sensation of nausea, full body pump and tomato heads is a natural and pleasant feeling for me now.



 

This route emphasized even more then ever to me that grades of offwidths just mean absolutely nothing at all. Most are harsh or sandbags, simply because not many people climb them and the people that do climb them, know its all about the effort that is put in on these puppies that counts. Whether it is VS or E7, you’re usually just more relieved that it’s your second that has to go through what you just did rather then being happy with what you actually climbed! (I had to ab because nobody wanted to follow)

In comparison, I thought that Super Jam was similar in style but harder then Ray’s Roof with a broader array of offwidth skills required.So, does that mean Jardine’s original grade of E4 for Ray’s was actually correct or Super Jam is a super sandbag?

Or does it mean you should get over to Staffordshire and get the tick before some offwidth gangstas come over from America and say it really is 5.11?

It probably just means to never trust the grade and instead trust the width…(whatever that means?!?!?)

Thanks very much to Pete Saunders for this last photo “Resting on Super Jam". © PETE SAUNDERS

Pete

Source: Wide Boyz Blog

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Luck, Injury and Peak Performance
20 June 2011, 11:20 pm

How the relationship between injury, luck and performance plays out over the course of a few months can be totally random - the line that we tread along these is so very thin at times. I've always liked the golfer, Gary Player's quote:

"The more I practice, the luckier I get"

I'm not sure that this works always though, if I take the last month of my life into consideration. It's seemed more like "the more I train, the unluckier I get." This is probably completely untrue, but it certainly has seemed that way. Or maybe I'm just getting paranoid about the ensuing trip to the US and not blowing out on some ridiculous bodily malfunction.

 

Unlucky once.....

First injury to crop up was a chronic heel injury that once put me out of climbing for 2 years. It's never come back (touch wood) until this month! 2 back-to-back sessions of heel-toe bathanging hanging with sit ups, resulted in hideously painful heels again. I thought it was due to the excessive "invert time" intially, but in fact it turns out that these new offwidthing shoes that 5.10 have sent through the post are rather aggressive on the heels. It's all ok though.... a week of iced peas and flip flops have brought me back.

Photo: Pete on the weighted hangs

Unlucky twice.....

Secondly, I was trying some double fist stacking laps down in the cellar and boosh, I'm out of the crack, on my back and nowhere near the mattress. Cue swollen elbow and no armbars, deadbars or dyno wings for a while. How do I miss 3 matresses and a million boulder pads?!

Photo: No more Deadbarring for a few weeks!

Unlucky thrice....

The third instance really was a killer for me. A real moment of "have I blown the next 6 months of climbing for myself here?"Pete and I decided to take part in the Edale Fell Race a couple of weeks ago. Pete, because he's a local lad and he's done it every year (why??!) and me, because I'm an idiot. The race went pretty well to begin with, considering that we're complete fell racing punters - note that Pete wears headphones whilst competing (wtf?!) and I considered doing it in a hoodie as it was cold. We hit the top plateau over Kinder somewhere around 40th position and sustained the level of exhaustion until the drop back into Edale. At this point Pete started to run down the track like a madman and I followed like an old man. At the final steep section of wet slope I slipped over a couple times (my road running trainers didn't seem to be very adept at wet grass) and on one particularly hard fall I thought to myself "careful here old man, this just isn't worth it. Take it easy." Of course, I got up and instantly fell over again.... POP. Oh shit, the knee had gone.

Photo: Team Wide Boyz not having a clue....

Well, what am I moaning about? I had to not work or climb for a week, see some consultants and physios in the hospital (they gave me some fairly reassuring news) and get to know my pack of iced peas very well again. Apparently it's my ITB, the tear is only minor in all liklihood and the pain is only temporary. Problem? Nah.... not any more!

So it's back to the training once more. Psyche is running high and I'm can't wait for another beasting. Pete's coming round on Thursday for a massive cellar session. Bring on the pain.

Photo: Self-talk and motivation at your finger tips

In fact, it's only midnight - time for a quick session now.

Source: Wide Boyz Blog

[grimer]

Am I right in thinking that Tom's cellar doesn't have an overhanging wall of crimps, a beastmaker or a campus board? Just a few planks at various distances from each other? 

[nik at work]

Brilliant post Tom, cheered me right up this grey morning. Get well soon.

[Tommy]

You'd be exactly right there Niall! 

Who needs deadhanging, when you've got deadbarring?

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Ondra, Wide Cracks and the Next Generation
3 July 2011, 9:04 pm

 

Yesterday I had a dream. A very strange dream….

Three people came together that must never come together – if they do it could be the end of everything as we know it. Somehow my mind created the potential lethal combination of a sport uber-wad, internet media mogul and wide crack punter. All fighting over one project.

  Phone rings…..

[Me] “Hello?”

[Mick Ryan] “Tom, glad to have got through to you. I’ve got something very special for you boys. You and Pete are going to love this.”

[Me] “Oh yeah? This sounds good….”

[Mick Ryan] “I’ve got this project to hand over to you. Apparently Adam Ondra has found this wide crack project in the Czech Republic and he’s been utterly shut down by it. It’s supposed to be 7 inches of limestone beauty and Adam hasn’t got a clue how to Tickle a Trout or Greek Stack”

[Me] What?! No…. you’re kidding….. this can’t be true Mick. How can this happen? Ok…. Hang on a second. I’ll ring Pete, get some flights booked and we’re on it.”

“Tom……… Tom…………. TOM!!”

Oh dear. It’s all a dream and my wife has just woken me from an afternoon nap. No Ondra, no Mick Ryan from UKC and no limestone project. I think about this for a second and then start to chuckle to myself. How on earth did my mind come up with this scenario? Ondra on wide cracks? Not a chance!!

Clearly though, as I’m an old codger (well, relative to Ondra) there needs to be a new entrant into the wide crack scene. Most of us offwidth aficionados are over 30 (Pete makes a significant break from the trend on this), male and think knee patches are the practical option and not a fashion statement. Fortunately there could be a new kid in town….

 

My wife and I were lucky enough to be bundled a little sack of joy, tears and soggy nappies last month. We’ve named her Hannah Sofia (I wasn’t allowed the Pamela/Handstack/Offwidthina/Lucille options on names) and she’s already proved to be quite feisty! I’m not sure that she ever will partake in the obsession that bothers her Dad so much, but if she ever does want to sneak down to the cellar to learn some butterfly jams I’ll be the first to point her in the opposite direction. Tennis is much more sensible!

Source: Wide Boyz Blog

[SA Chris]

Congrats on the arrival of the sprag. I mean sprog.

[Tommy]

Thanks Chris.

All my mates told me how having a child would slow me down and I'd never go climbing again. I've not noticed that particular effect, but I do seem rather tired all the time and have lost 3kgs!

New climbing hard tip: have a baby - it does wonders for your waistline!

[Hoseyb]

Thanks Chris.

All my mates told me how having a child would slow me down and I'd never go climbing again. I've not noticed that particular effect, but I do seem rather tired all the time and have lost 3kgs!

New climbing hard tip: have a baby - it does wonders for your waistline!

I was the same after Logan, as after the nails first months, Sam was able to sleep when he did, and therefore was able to free me up to climb, and less sleep means more time in calorie burning mode (at least if you forget to eat more... Doh) so I dropped to my old fighting weight. Its only been since the twins that I've got rock envy.

New climbing hard tip: have one baby - it does wonders for your waistline!

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Pain Threshold Training - FOR YOU!
9 July 2011, 3:34 pm

Right before you read any further…beware this is quite a boring post that consists of very minimal pain, shuffling or pressure wounds on my behalf.

Maybe it might inflict more pain on you having to read it. I guess by reading it, it could be considered good training for offwidths then?!It’s painful but has no bruising or cuts as side effects.

[tr][td][/td][/tr][tr][td]Don't worry no side affects like this will occur.[/td][/tr]

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Can’t lose really!! A free bit of training without having to break sweat or move anything but your eyes across the computer screen.So if you fancy a bit of pain threshold training read on and it might just get you up your next project. Whether you’ve got full body pump in some horrendous squeeze chimney, forearms so painful and full of lactate they feel they might explode, or the rawest tips known to man, by reading on the next time you come to one of these painful situations your mind will take you back to this painfully boring blog post and what you had to put up with when reading it and you will be able to push on easily.(btw if your still reading this, good effort).

Right, we’ll push on……

So I got a new camping mat the other day, (oh dear, that’s it, you’ve stood up haven’t you? Your shutting the computer down now, right now your leaving the room ……sorry, I told you it was going to be boring).

For those that have managed to get through that first sentence, we’ll carry on. So, yes…I got a new camping mat the other day. It is for my America trip in September. It is a right beast of a thing, it has some fare girth to it being proper thick and wide, and its still quite light. I reckon this should give me a good nights sleep whilst I’m out there snoozing away. It should help me wake up fresh and ready to go and get munched in some sharp, Vedauwoo, flared chimney!

However I think the best thing about this mat and why I decided to write this pointless post is that it’s called a ‘WIDE BOY,’ how cool is that?! I was well psyched when I found that out. It’s like it was made for me! I can feel this mat will bring me good wide fortune in the US. Hopefully it will give me that extra bit of good sleep and help me win against the wideness. (we’ll just have to see whether that happens or not).

Right I can’t believe you actually just read all that! haha. If you did manage to digest any of it all…well…I solute you sir!! Your pain threshold training is over, well done. You are now ready to go and devour that really painful project. Go on…get to it.

Source: Wide Boyz Blog

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Fuck the pain, one more lap
11 July 2011, 10:30 am

When Pete and I came up with the plan to take on the dark, painful and wonderful world of offwidth climbing, we knew that we'd have to take things to a new level - a level of offwidth climbing that's perhaps not been achieved before...

Photo: Just another day in the office

I remember being sat down in Kalymnos a couple of years back with mine and Pete's family thinking - What would Dave Binney do? After all, Dave had been a strong influence in both of our climbing approaches; Pete through his younger years in the GB Juniors and mine as a coach for the GB Team. So, what would we do....? The resounding answer was to build a cellar like no other; no crimps, no pinches, no 45 board and no campus board. Instead I strapped to the underside of my house two different sizes of offwidth roof crack, a massive long 35ft hand crack, a 45 degree double fist offwidth and a knee-bar sit up machine.

With this strange DIY task completed, we then set about getting psyched. Very psyched indeed. I've had sessions down there where after dropping from the multiple laps I could no longer walk properly, my legs and stomach were so filled with lactic acid. I've seen Pete turn into a mushy mess where he's hardly managing to talk any more and his back has turned a colour so red that you'd have thought he would pass out from blood loss to the brain. We've broken ourselves down in that cellar and we've been happy to do it, because if you want to make a difference, it's gonna hurt.

Photo: The Board of Truth

 

So where has all this taken us? I think (and I'm starting to believe it now) it's achieved for us that new level that we'd previously hoped for - the Binney Dream of athletic development through focused training. Where previously we'd been happy to do laps on the equivalent of 8a's down the cellar, we can now do them with huge weights vests or with a 6c cruxes thrown in every 5 moves to increase the intensity of a 100 move circuit. It's still scary though, to wonder what it'll all be like when we go over to the States and actually do some of this stuff that we've dreamed of for so long.

This weekend we headed out to Gobbler's Roof with Rocketman Rob Smith to do some mileage on probably the UK's hardest offwidth, Gobbler's Roof (E7 6c). It's a filthy, dirty and dark offwidth roof crack that's probably about 8a to climb if you had to give it a sport grade and is whole new level above stuff like Ray's and Giggling. Fortunately (given how much effort we've ploughed into the training) the route feels very reasonable now and it was great to feel the gains on some real rock and not just 2 pieces of kitchen sideboard bolted 7 inches apart!

Photo: Pete doing some eliminates on the crux lip turn of Gobbler's Roof

It was also great to see Rocketman on this route as well - in fact it was just good to go out climbing with him as he's so motivated! It's pretty rare that you meet other people out there that are so versatile with their styles of climbing and good at it too. I think when we go back for some filming with the Hotaches crew in a couple of weeks he'll definitely get the 3rd ascent of this filth-fest. Go on Rob!

Source: Wide Boyz Blog

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New Helium Friends!
17 July 2011, 10:01 pm

It's only a week away until we start with the UK part of our film project and Wild Country have very kindly come up with some new goodies -  the new Helium friends!

Photo: trialing the new gear. (c) Ian Parnell

I was lucky enough to get a bit of sneak preview of the new friends at the beginning of the year when I headed over to Wales with Richie Patterson and Ian Parnell. Unfortunately on the day I wasn't able to spend that much time playing around with the gear as it was bloody freezing and Richie was encouraging me to speed up from my usual "snail pace!"

This week however, me and the gear could get cosy and I managed to have a proper look at the business end. There's a massive list on the Wild Country website of all of the changes that have been made to these devices, but it's really a few things that stand out for me as the end user - trad climber.



1. The stem is way longer - much easier to get out of deep cracks and more play in the stem on flared grit breaks

2. Soooooooooooooooo much lighter! Not really noticable on 1 friend, but take a whole rack and you're talking.

3. New thumb loop. Much that Richie P would have killed me for saying it, I always liked the Black Diamond plasticated thumb loops and I think Wild Country have made a great choice in using this with their new pieces.Comfortable, and practical.

4. I've not seen this quoted anywhere, but in my opinion the cams are a lot better in their "stickiness/adherence" to the rock. It could be something about the way they're coated in anodising, but it's really good.

Anyway, it'll be time to get them seriously dirty in some wide cracks over the coming 2 weeks. Nine days of filming and a lot of wideness to be enjoyed - I think we're climbing practically every hard wide crack in the UK in the space of a week so better eat my Shreddies!

Source: Wide Boyz Blog

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Filming the Wide and Wonderful - Part 1
28 July 2011, 6:18 pm

The last week and a bit has been an interesting time for me and Pete - both mentally and physically! We've been out with Hotaches filming for our US/UK wide obsession, and also a project code-named "Crack School" and............ also a Wild Country promo. Phew, it's been quite a busy time! Whilst we've learnt lots about presenting to camera (that's a major skill I do NOT have), it's been the journey re-visiting many of the UK classics that's been the real eye opener. So much training has been done and so much has been put on the line, but would all the old classics feel hard any more?

Day 1 - Millstone and Curbar

The first day started off with a bit of crack school stuff at Millstone doing some easy cracks, but the real meat of the day revolved around Right Eliminate at Curbar. Katherine Schirrmacher was out with us to either be "set up by Richie Patterson" or "learn some wide technique from Tom."

Katherine got really stuck in the with the task and put in a bloody good fighting effort. She used all the usual techniques to start with (swearing, sliding, thrutching) but soon resorted to some good old armbars, footlocks and chicken wings. It certainly didn't all quite end as plannned though........ but maybe you'll see that in footage....?

 

To be fair to Katherine, we didn't allow her to use any face holds and she could only employ classic offwidth technique to maintain upward progress. To add to this, the chockstone was missing making the crux much harder - and that's before excluding face holds! Certainly a good effort by her on a much harder route that its supposed E3. She'll probably never want to climb another offwidth again, but I think she's got the aptitude - she likes trying hard, is tough, and knows cracks ain't always fun.

Day 2 - Ramshaw and Baldstones

The second day started with a solo of Ray's Roof - good effort again Pete for doing this as the warm-up. I pitched off from the final knee lock over the roof and landed on Pete on my effort, which rewarded me with a sore ankle and some skin loss. Pete then had a go with a 20kg weight vest on lead....... and nearly did it! Man, that was a fine effort as he weighed nearly the same as John Dunne with that vest on. US "Wad-Beast" Brian Kim had a go, so did Katy Whittaker and also Sheffield's best looking man, Ned Freehaly. You'll have to ask them how they did though!

Photo: From the original solo day (c) Andi Turner

The day was finished off getting some footage on Melvin Bragg, a V8 offwidth boulder problem that I did a couple of years ago on top of Ramshaw. With retrospect I think I might have overgraded that one, as it seems pretty ok these days. Maybe I'm just getting better though?

Day 3 - Harborough Rocks

Gobbler's Roof, E7 6c was the plan for the third day of climbing and we were lucky enough to have "Rocketman" Rob Smith along with us for the fun. Unfortunately conditions were absolutely terrible (although, that's not saying much in that cave!) and Rob couldn't quite get the third ascent we'd privately hoped for. He made a solid effort though and I think it's just a matter of time now for him. I'm proper psyched for you Rob!

Pete and I went back on the route as well, to get some footage of some upside down madness. Paul Diffley had made an incredible job of lighting up the whole cave, so it's was a really unique opportunity to get on the route without the usual gloom. The training has definitely paid off, as the roof section felt very comfortable and only the lip turn still seemed tricky - and still not one to fall off. As Rob nearly proved on one attempt....

Photo: Pete Re-Livin' The Dream on Gobbler's.

 

Rest of the week.....

I'll split this blog post into 2 parts I'm afraid, as I'm nearly falling asleep with 8 days of constant thrutching, but to whet your appetite, there'll be:

Giggling Crack E6 6c, Solo

Me getting totally whooped on one of Pete's FAs

Liquid Armbar E4 6c, 2nd Ascent

Some Crack School stuff on George's Crack in the Ogwen Valley

Another Stevie Hastone Slate Offwidth.....

Cobalt Dream E5 6b, onsight

Pete taking a big whipper......

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasive cellar training session.

Source: Wide Boyz Blog

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Filming the Wide and Wonderful - Part 2
30 July 2011, 12:13 pm

Day 4 - Giggling Crack  So after ticking and soloing the 2 hardest offwidths in the country it was time to go up to Brimham for the thrutch fest of ‘Giggling Crack’ (given E6 6c). The plan was to solo the crack. I think Bancroft may have soloed this back in the day when he was drunk, which is funny. Anyway we thought it would be cool to have a go aswell…not drunk, obviously. Tom stepped up first and to say he walked it is an understatement, he absolutely cruised it into next year, I’m not joking he made it look no more then HVS. Amazing! After Tom’s ascent I felt more nervous because of how easy he made it look. In the end it was fine and thankfully I felt solid. Infact we both felt so solid on it we went back for round 2 and put in an extra solo lap for some training mileage and Paul to get a different angle with the camera. That deadbarring seems to be paying off!

[tr][td][/td][/tr][tr][td]Paul with his Camera near the top of Giggling[/td][/tr]

[/table]We decided to get Richie P on it, which was funny. He definitely couldn’t have put more effort in then he did as I’ve never seen The Patterson power scream, however on the top section downward thrutching did seem to out weigh the upward thruthing and unfortunately he didn’t quite make it. Next time Richie.  

Below is a video one of my first attempts of Giggling back when i was 16/17ish. I guess this just showed to me how much i have improved on this type of climbing and how much of a complete punter I was, you can see my technique is so unbelievably shocking, (i can guarantee that i won't have been arm barring and whats my left foot doing?!...puntering). Its funny that i can do this route without a rope now and it feels about E3 5c rather then feeling the E6 6c sandbag it did back then.

Day 5 - Our Forte  So today I was really out for the laugh as Tom and Richie had decided to have ago on a new route I did a few months back at Stanton Moor Quarry. The line is a 15m splitter hand and finger crack which I named ‘Our Forte’ and gave E5 6b. it requires 2 sets of cams, some good core (even though it’s a slab) and good hand jamming endurance.

Tom put in a really good effort, getting past the beach section at the start, to the last move of the crux sequence and resorted to using some of the funniest traversing technique I’ve seen for a while. Round 2 is waiting for him.

After watching Tom, Richie decided to second. He also decided not to tape up and came out with the most mauled hands I’ve seen for a while. Anybody next up on the route should be fine as sequence of jams should be perfectly lined with blood.

[tr][td][/td][/tr][tr][td]Richie busting the moves, seconding 'Our Forte'[/td][/tr]

[/table]Day 6 - Slate ActionWe Met up with Mark Dicken (Hosey B) today, which was cool. He was psyched to show us around a slate quarry on the other side of Llanberis where he had done some first ascents. Obvioulsy being another wide crack enthusiast his route we went to try was of the 7 inch variety. He called it Liquid Armbar. It was a good route to get on because there were minimal face holds so pure offwidth technique was needed the whole way up. The crack was a little wide for knee locks so a good dose of thigh locking was used which felt like a good bit of practice. Tom and I made the 2^nd and 3^rd ascent of this short little beauty. A technical classic I reckon.We also made a rare repeat of a Stevie H offwidth. It wasn’t hard but I just thought it was funny because Tom got his knee stuck from getting overly keen with a knee lock.

[tr][td][/td][/tr][tr][td]Team Wide in the Pass[/td][/tr]

[/table]After the filming I had a real personal mission I had wanted to do for so long. Basically it involved Vivian Quarry and a headtorch and that’s all I can bare to say at the moment…

Man, a lot has happened over the last 9 days, so the next few days, which consists of:

A lot of squeezing on Colbalt Dream, bit of wide pony action and a massive training sessionI will post up when I’ve written them.

Source: Wide Boyz Blog

[Bonjoy]

Bugger, I've had that line at Stanton on my things to try list for years, but never got round to it. Oh well, you snooze you lose. Any good?

[Bonjoy]

I'm guessing Rocketman told you about it. I'll kick his ass!

[Rocketman Rob Smith]

not me, apparently Patta tipped off Pete months ago as he had known about it for years. I didn't know anything about it and have never been there. Looks very good though. We should go do it anyway

[Tommy]

Rocketman's right - it was Richie P who told Pete about it. He said that Plantpot had tried it but not succeeded so suggested that Pete try. He's now very gutted he told him! An absolute beauty of a line and perfect for those that like cracks.

I'll definitely go with you one eve if you fancy it? I failed to onsight it, so need to go back again if you or Rob are keen?