[douglas]

Can anyone clarify the starting position of Ache Ball and the holds to finish on, please?

Does it start matched on the large undercut tooth notch hold and the first move to the dish pocket, then finish on two holds near the break, after the rail hold that you jump to?

Thanks!

I'm just back from Hartland Quay and thought the climbing was excellent. The free pdf guide was great, however the next edition could usefully include a little more info on the start holds, I thought.

[Barratt]

I'd second that, Hartland is a great venue with a good range of problems and superb setting.

Frustrating that injury means I can't go back whilst down here.

[wintermute]

Yep, you start matched on the big undercut. Not sure what you mean by 'dish pocket', the first move used to be going RH to a sharp crimp in the roof (its been a while since i did it so dish pocket my actually be a perfectly legitimate description of that hold!). After you jump to the rail there is a fairly obvious flat jug in the break at the top of the ramp where you finish.
I'm sure you're aware of this, but if not it has suffered storm damage in the last year or so and is now a fair bit easier by all accounts. I haven't seen it though so can't comment on how holds have changed.

[douglas]

Okay thanks. My dish pocket is exactly your sharp crimp. Didn't spot the flat jug to finish on. How many moves after the rail is it?

I thought the first move was desperate and harder than the rest of the problem combined! So I couldn't do that, but linked the rest. Thought it about 7B+ from one move in.

[wintermute]

The first move always used to be by far the easiest!
Interested to know what its like now.

The 'jug' is just after the rail, once you've popped to the rail you just swing a heel on the arete (you can knee bar against the corner too) by your hand and reach up to the higher bit of the break. I seem to remember there being two good bits about a foot apart?

[granticus]

Once you have popped for the rail there is one easy move up and left into an obvious big slot, match this and your done.

Did you get down the otherside?  Carnage is super classic and a must do if you're in the area.

Try getting your heel on high for the first move and putting a little ooomf into it, feels weird at first but then becomes easier.

[douglas]

Thanks for the info folks. Maybe I needed to persist with the sit start but tbh the ground was really awkward just there, with the pebbles sloping away pretty heavily and my skin was getting shot. Bit disappointed I didn't just man up and get it done now.

We did check out Carnage but were surprised by the landing, it looked a bit dodgy for us so we went to the Clinical Edge block and did those, which were great!

[granticus]

We did check out Carnage but were surprised by the landing, it looked a bit dodgy for us so we went to the Clinical Edge block and did those, which were great!

Yeah!  The landing is a little sketchy, at least a 3 padder I reckon and 1 (good) spotter.  But once you get into the higher moves you miss that pedestal that sticks up and land in the flat bit.  It can change a lot as the big pebbles get shifted around if there's been some swell, normally requires a little patio building to level things out.  The moves are class though!

Clinical Edge is great too and Me Julie is particularly fine (tis named after Mrs Granticus  )!