[abarro81]

What would 'regeneration training' involve?

Not training.

[cheque]

Thanks for the knowledge. 

[comPiler]

The Staffordshire Nose Speed Record
27 August 2012, 9:43 pm

Whilst out in America last year, Pete, Alex and I went to see a local showing of the REEL Rock Tour that shows every Autumn. The town of Laramie near the wide crack Mecca of Vedauwoo, was hosting a round of the climbing films and one evening we drove down to take advantage of the free screening.

Sketchy Andy doing it his way At first we were excited just because we were getting to see it a few weeks earlier than anyone back at home, but this soon turned into a massive bout of psyche once we’d seen the “Speed on the Nose” film and also the “Sketchy Andy” short. The latter, was like watching a modern day version of Dan Osman – a Desert Rat by the name of Andy doing anything and everything that you’ve probably never had the balls to do yourself (or is that lack of self-preservation?!). However, it was really the Nose film that got us thinking…..

Pete during the 550 routes in a day fiasco. We don’t have El Cap in the Peak District, nor do we have zee Huber Brothers or Hollywood Hans…. but we do have our own very special (and very British?) version of this challenge – “The Staffordshire Nose.”

The Challenge

I’m not sure who conjured up this beauty, but I do remember reading Andi Turner’s article in the mags about how he and Mark Sharratt had tried to complete the deed. They’d battled with late starts (isn’t that normal Andi??), Ramshaw horrors and of course plenty of jamming. In the end I think Crack of Gloom got the better of them and they called it a (very long) day just inches short of the finishing line.

The “Staffs Nose” is also known by some as the “Brown and Whillans Challenge” and not that surprisingly asks the participant to climb all of the B & W routes (Western Grit) in a single day. There around 30 of them, which in essence doesn’t sound very taxing. However, if you consider that this includes routes like Ramshaw Crack, Crack of Gloom, Brown’s Crack and Teck Crack, then you start to see the dilemma. The problem lies in the depth of the difficulty that you have to complete rather than the volume – sandbag after sandbag and nearly every route includes some form of desperate jamming.

After Andi and Mark had valiantly battled it out, then I believe that Grimer and someone else tried “The Nose.” Possibly if my memory serves me – Graham Hoey and Mike Waters tried? Ultimately, all parties got tantilisingly close but stumbled at the finishing due to exhaustion, wet conditions, skin loss etc. When Pete and I tried to complete this challenge a couple of years back we knew of all the previous attempts and this definitely spurred us on. By sometime in the evening, we completed the last of the routes to finish in a time of 9hrs 31mins.

So Where’s The Real challenge?

To conclude my initial thoughts about getting psyched on the REEL Rock Tour, I’ve decided to write this blog in the hope that someone out there will get motivated and go and beat mine and Pete’s time. We weren’t really very slick on our strategy and we definitely did take a good long lunch break! I’m really keen that someone out there can get some Hollywood Hans competitiveness going and go and thrash our time – bring California to Staffordshire!

The man himself. Don Andi Turner. You don’t need to be an awesome climber – most of the climbing is below E2, but you do need to be a decent all-rounder. With some good decisions and some planning I reckon the time can easily go to 7 or 8 hours and maybe less if some risks are taken. Know anyone who’d be keen?

The Rules

As far as I know (Andi correct me if I’m wrong) the rules are:

• All Brown and Whillan’s routes at Ramshaw, Hencloud and Roaches must be climbed by both people on the team.
• You can either solo the routes or do one lead and one second per party.
• There must be no falls on route (by leader or seconder). If this does happen, then either party must lower to the ground and re-start.
• The routes can be climbed in any order.
• No pre-placed (A la Huber Brothers) protection can be strategically placed on the routes before commencing.
• Time starts as leader starts first route and finishes as seconder tops the last route.
• Motorised transport can be used between crags.

Champagne always awaits the successful finisher… unless you’re Grimer.



Source: Tom Randall Climbing

[comPiler]

The World’s Hardest Back-And-Foot Chimney?
15 September 2012, 9:14 pm

The Quarryman is one of those iconic British routes that is known round the world. Johnny Dawes, in his usual flair produced an incredible multipitch adventure out of Twll Mawr (“The Big Hole”). which featured one insane pitch of climbing. I remember watching the video of him climbing it when I was a teenager and thinking it looked like the best piece of climbing EVER. Like most people I never thought I’d ever go and even try the route, as it seemed impossibly hard and Johnny was too much of a legend to try and think about repeating one of his feats of climbing.



Photo: Pete Whittaker showing off his golden palms

10 years later, I’d served a decent trad apprenticeship and gone on a mission of madness to do a load of horrible wide cracks. Which, was perfect…… as the Quarryman Groove pitch has been suggested as being the world’s hardest back-and-foot chimney! My first trip to try the Quarryman with Pete was a bit of a nightmare (well, much like the one today as well) as I absolutely hate heights and Twll Mawr is a bloody big hole in the ground. I have to confess pulling up off the ledge into the starting bit of the groove gave me the shakes and took me ages to try and block out the sensation of being so high on a slate wall. Most routes I do, I choose because they’re not too high, but the Quarryman is such a stunning bit of line, I had to dig deep to motivate myself to go there. At times I sat on that ledge thinking I hated it, but once I was into the climbing movement it all made up for it.



Photo: Sean Villaneuva O’Driscoll probably feeling totally relaxed. Unlike me.

Today, I went out with Adam Bailes (that boy will go far!!) and we both did the route after a few abortive attempts – some falls from the final move were met with a few tantrums! On working the route, I’d found that you can actually climb the whole beginning groove with none of Johnny’s funkiness (just a sketchy chicken wing and some heel-toeing in the corner), but after it a while it turned out that whilst possible, this method wasn’t exactly the easiest way of doing it! So back to the squirming it was…. Overall the groove is a route of two halves; thrutch for 30ft and then do a Superman for 30ft. Both totally exhausting in their own ways, but mainly just incredible climbing. Is it the hardest back-and-foot though?? I’d have to say I have my doubts as Book of Hate in Yosemite (5.13c/d?) looks a good bit harder, but then again looks can be deceiving. I think Caff is the only person to have done both. Good man.



Source: Tom Randall Climbing

[comPiler]

Grit Season Nearly Upon Us?
16 October 2012, 7:56 pm

It looks like the grit season is nearly upon us. Both Pete and I have put up a new route each (obviously very dubious in style and quality) which normally marks the coming of better conditions! Those lovely frosty mornings, long johns under the trousers and duvet jackets really get me pysched. I think it’s the thought of all the routes I’m going to get terrified on and the foraging around obscure crags looking for new bits of rock to climb. It’s totally backwater and obscure but I flippin’ love it.

I’m always at Millstone taking a quick wonder round the bottom of the crag with my daughter in tow (advanced babysitting, whilst trying to look responsible) and for once I spotted something that caught my eye. I’ve abbed down most bits of the crag, but the wall above Xanadu had always appeared blank. A few days later I was back with a rope and found that wall had a bucket load of holds all over it (promising) but quite a few missing at the top. Never mind I thought, it’ll be easy. After a couple of sessions of cleaning and working, it was apparent that most of the route is a cruise, but the top move is a bit of niggler. A nasty shouldery gaston-press in a certain deck out position. King Ellmore E6 6a/b is the man for you!



Going back to lead the route one evening after work was actually a bit trickier than I thought. I’ve not done any bold routes for absolutely ages, so many of the usual mind games played away. It just goes to remind me how much you can train the body, but if you forget the mind you’ll be a whole load of trouble. Unfortunately my mind and body are both a little off the pace (my pulley injury is still being a bit of a nightmare) but I can feel them both heading in a good direction now. The crack progression is really hopeful for me at the moment and I’m getting the planning done for some trips next year for some crack shuffling of the very loveliest kind. Oooh, so excited!

On a completely different note, I’m finally able to put some pictures from a fashion shoot that I did with the Sunday Telegraph Magazine earlier in the summer. It was for a climbing/Yosemite themed editorial (why the heck choose The Peak you may ask???!) which meant I got to mince around at Stanage for a couple of days showing some of the London boys how gnarly it is to solo VDiffs. I kept trying to get them involved with something a little more tricky, but they loved the VDiffs, so that’s where we stuck!



I think my highlight of the two days was to get one of the FHM male models stuck in an offwidth doing an armbar in a £800 down jacket. It was so ridiculous, you just had to laugh. I never thought I’d be able to persuade a photographer that it was a good idea, but there he was in all his glory – lichen coveved armbar and all!





Source: Tom Randall Climbing

[Wood FT]

the route looks really good, nice shadow of the tree on the picture as well

[tomtom]

Superb post Tom, made me think of Zoolander visiting the crag

[Fiend]

Are you abbing down Millstone with your daughter in a papoose??

[Tommy]

Tomtom; Zoolander is a huge inspiration for me - in my fashion and dance moves. I'll never be the man he is, but I can keep trying.

Fiend; not after that Daily Mail episode! Sitting on a bouldering mat is plenty hardcore enough for her ;-)

[slackline]

Hemp rope and cams! 

[biscuit]

What a chump, he's got his jumper on backwards. The v neck is clearly visible at the back, or am i just behind on this season's London look ?

[Gritlad]

Randalls school for kids who can't jam good is just waiting to be opened no?

[comPiler]

Kendal Film Festival
19 November 2012, 10:26 pm

Last weekend, was one of the big ones in the outdoor events calendar – The Kendal Film Fest! This year for me was a big one, as the film – “Wide Boyz” – that Pete Whittaker and I made with Hotaches out in the US last year was going to finally premiere. It feels like it’s been ages since I climbed an offwidth, but last weekend was like a strange dip back in a very weird past. 

I headed up to Kendal on Friday for the premiere with my wife and daughter, quite excited that they were both going to see what I’d actually got up to in America. It’s always been the case that they’ve know what I did each day, but never saw any footage. I think the knowledge that my family was there (as well as the general public) to pass general opinion on the film made me nervous for the first time in absolutely ages. It felt like being a teenager at school with my first bit of public speaking, except this time there were hundreds of people to see if I cocked up! 



Photo: Packed sweaty cinema did little for the palms…

All my nerves disappeared though, when after 10 seconds into the film playing (where there is shot of me on screen) my daughter Hannah screamed out “Daddy!!” in the cinema and everyone laughed! Watching the whole film in its final form was a really cool experience and despite the fact that I was there when it was all filmed, the tension still got to me. I guess that’s the art of a good film maker?!



Photo: Hannah starting to learn bad habits from Dad.

On the Saturday, it was lots of Q&A sessions after the film viewings and it was good to get some really interesting questions from people and also still hear what things people couldn’t get their heads round e.g. is it easier to run it out or step round Friend 6′s?! Physical vs. Mental. In the afternoon Pete and I headed off to the town hall for our lecture, which despite being in front of 350+ people didn’t seem half as scary as the premiere. Yet again at the lecture the question of “how do you clean a roof crack” came up – it’s starting to make me wonder if this is a common problem out there! Outside of the lecture hall Rab had made a funny “Tom and Pete cutout” that we had some fun on – although I couldn’t really use it as my head is such a terrible pin-shape that it doesn’t fit in the hole. Probably the reason why I look a bit of a mushroom head in a helmet….



Photo: Kim and Hannah show me how it’s done.

As I pointed out to many people on the weekend, much of the adventure and trip that Pete and I had out in the States, has to be owed to the generousity of Wild Country, Rab (Patagonia for Pete) that helped fund it. Having a bit of wild faith in two British wide boy punters who could have totally fallen flat on their faces, has to be recognised a form of true altruism.



Source: Tom Randall Climbing

[comPiler]

Golfer’s Elbow – A Possible Solution?
23 November 2012, 11:44 pm

Around 2004 I started to climb indoors a lot – as in 4 times a week or more. As you might expect, my grades started to creep upwards but at the very same time I developed a nasty case of Golfer’s Elbow. That deep pain on the inner side of your elbow (the fancy word being medial epicondylitis) which only seems to get deeper and more excruciating the more you lock-off or do pull-ups. Know the feeling?



Like many other climbers I sought the advice of the internet and a series of physios. I tried the usual methods; rest, ice, hot-cold treatment, massage, anti-inflammatory medicine, postural correcting exercises and lots of antagonist work. I must have spent a good £1000 or so seeing different people, buying books and feeding my growing Ibuprofen habit. Unfortunately though, nothing seemed to hit the spot. Every person I asked recommended some kind of combination of the above, but I started to get frustrated as the pain continued to get worse. Eventually I made the hard decision to take some time out from climbing and training as I knew no other solution. 

Just as I’d made this decision I coincidentally got talking to one of the GB Senior Team members called Drew Haigh (I was managing the team at the time) about my plight and he showed me an exercise a yoga teacher had showed him for Golfer’s Elbow. Drew sounded really convinced about this “magical stretch” that he had been taught, but I remained sceptical as nothing had worked until this point. I got the beta off Drew at a training session and guess what………. 2 weeks later my Golfer’s Elbow had totally disappeared! I couldn’t believe it. Two years of pain had been removed in 2 weeks. 

The Stretch

I have no idea what this exercise is called, but hopefully with the aid of the following photos and a little description some people out there may benefit in the same way as I did. I’ve shown this stretch to a number of people I’ve coached over the years and it has to be said that it’s not always successful – it’s seems to work best when none of the conventional approaches (physio, antagonists, NSAIDS) work. Give it a try though – you’ll only have wasted a few minutes if it doesn’t work. 

The start pose - the position that you’re aiming to hold with your arms is that shown in the picture below. You want your palms facing outwards and for your elbows to almost touch in the middle – it feels quite awkward to hold this position. You should note that in the correct position your elbows should be about the height of your belly-button and inside the line of your body i.e. arms not lying down the side of your body. Got that so far?



The finish pose – ok, so with that in mind, you now have to perform that same arm positioning, but on the ground lying on your front! This means that you’ll be lying on top of your arms and your bodyweight is forcing your arms and elbows into a nice straight/open position. Note that it’s really important that you do this exercise on a solid floor (not soft matting) as you don’t want to be able to hyper-extend your elbows. In this position you should feel a nice stretch – if it feels painful, then stop! I find looking straight at the ground in front of me or to one side is most comfortable with the neck.



The movements – once you’ve gained confidence with the initial positioning and you’re happy that there’s no undue pain, then you can try raising one leg at a time (I do reps of 10) which results in the front of your hip bone pushing into the back of your forearm giving extra stretch. The leg needs to be raised out 10inches or so off the ground and I do just 10 reps on each leg. Once done, I get up off the floor shake my arms out, and get back to whatever I was doing 2 minutes earlier!



Below is a quick shot of the back of the forearm to show you the point at which it makes contact with the front of your hip bone once you’re lying on top of your arms.



If this helps one person, then it’s all worth it! Please do pass on the information if you find it useful and I only came across it by word of mouth from Drew. I owe you big time Drew!



Source: Tom Randall Climbing

[andy_e]

Did you continue to use them after the two weeks?

[dave k]

I have managed to get my elbow back in adequate condition with physio and shoulder stab exercises.

But I definitely still have a weakness that could flare up again.

I have given this stretch a go last night and this morning. I find it slightly uncomfortable during stretch. Not painful. Afterwards it aches quite a bit. Even the elbow that has never caused me trouble. I have iced immediately after stretch. Within 10 mins the ache goes.

Just a few questions.

1) Do you get this post stretch ache?

2) Is carpet too soft to avoid hyper extension? Should I be on laminate? I think the ache I get might be because of this issue.

 I must have short arms as my hip pushes in much further down. Still increases the stretch.

[Fiend]

I'm doing these. I can feel a very vague stretch but no discomfort. I've taken to lifting both legs to really drive my hips into the arms - good workout for the lower back.

[rich d]

Been doing these for a few days now. Lifting one leg is ok but like you Fiend I find that 2 legs off stretches the elbow more. For me it gives a similar sort of feeling in the elbow to when I get the weight on a stick thing at the right angle. I'll see how it goes after a couple of weeks of twice a day. (Combined with press ups)

[Tommy]

Dave K - I definitely feel no need to ice my elbow after the stretch. In fact the feeling afterwards is amazing - like someone just opened my elbows up and they're rushing with blood. Sounds like you need to stop.

Fiend - yup doing both legs is way more effective. Drew Haigh likes to hold the position with the legs up in the air, I like to raise the legs up and down.

It seems to be something that either works 100% or does toss all. Worth a try if you're desperate! I tried getting Steve Mac to do it once and he had such stiff elbows that he couldn't even get into the position to lie on top of his arms!

[comPiler]

Hook or Book; The Zone E9 6c
3 December 2012, 10:57 pm

So far this winter I’ve struggled and struggled. My two projects have seen sessions of no success and to be honest I’ve been feeling a bit frustrated. It’s not like the training isn’t going well – my fingers (and specific training goals) are the best they’ve ever been and I regularly PB, but it’s still not quite enough for success on the given line. I guess, I’ve got to be patient. The best thing to do when this happens though, is to get out and do something – something that will give you a bit of a buzz and feel like progress. That’s right isn’t it?

I decided I wanted to see how my projects and finger strength compared to something on the hard grit circuit and thus see if progress from last year really was being made. The Zone, E9 6c at Curbar kind of fitted the bill. Nice wall climbing, fairly challenging sport grade (not the usual gritstone 7a+ frightener) and bold enough to thrill. This route was put up by British climbing legend John Arran and one I remember the first ascent of it well, back in the day.



Photo: Gnarly bugger and inveterate soloist. John Arran

This weekend, I finally bit the bullet and called up Pete Whittaker and told him I’d man up if he promised to hold my ropes and carry me to my car if it went pear shaped. As usual he was totally psyched for it – I already felt stronger just listening to the enthusiasm on the phone! It’s way easier to commit to routes like this when you’ve got a good mate who’s going to bring the right vibe to the crag on the day and who knows even less about skyhooks than me.

The first half of the route is a highball boulder problem up to a series of flatty edges where you can arrange some skyhooks. This highball V3 takes a little of the edge off the nerves to start and settles you into a rhythm, which you then immediately break by spending 10 minutes trying to place the hooks. In fact I got totally pumped putting them in place and the ensuing down climb of a few moves was desperate in this state – a big reminder that I’ve not done any AeroCap for about 3 months!



Photo: the 2 poorest hooks – my mind needed them though.

After taking a few hours of resting, faffing, waiting for the holds to stop being warm and procrastinating I finally went for the lead. I’d moaned for the previous 2 hours about how the crux hold wasn’t cool enough, but somehow I felt that I’d probably sketch it out if I really needed. Climbing the bottom section felt reassuringly solid the next time and arriving at the hooks for a shake out, I bolstered my confidence by only eye-balling the good group of skyhooks. I couldn’t face even a glance at the bad ones as I knew they were there only to make me feel less scared.



Photo: the good grouping of hooks – surely these are ok?

Moving onto the top sequence of the route I kept thinking about the mental tricks that I learnt on Century Crack last year. The moves glanced by so sutbly that even when I got the crux hold and it felt terrible I didn’t think much of it. Adjust thumb, sit on right foot, bump right hand up a touch (go further than you think), throw for pebbly-boss…. OH SHIT….. that was nearly off. In someways I felt like I’d actually fallen off the route, but there I was feeling gripped on the last hard move. Pete was telling me I was looking smooth (good liar) and all I had to do was crimp it up. Index finger on, crimp that finger first, adjust hip left a little, feel toes inside boot, move foot across, share feet….. ah. Ok all over.



Photo (Mike Hutton): bottom V3 highball – great problem in its own right. Luverly.

Topping out on the route was such a disappointing feeling though. I’ve never done a headpoint before where I only did it to progress my headspace. I’d always done them in previous years because I wanted the route so badly. This time, I’d taken my obsessive approach to training and self-progression to a headpoint and it didn’t work. Trying dangerous routes in this style for me has to be about how much I want the experience, not just as a tool for progression. A real lesson learnt this weekend. In the end I just ended up thinking about what I really wanted; to do those other projects!!

Many thanks to Mike Hutton for the photos…



Source: Tom Randall Climbing

[Paul B]

Dave K - I definitely feel no need to ice my elbow after the stretch. In fact the feeling afterwards is amazing - like someone just opened my elbows up and they're rushing with blood. Sounds like you need to stop.

Fiend - yup doing both legs is way more effective. Drew Haigh likes to hold the position with the legs up in the air, I like to raise the legs up and down.

It seems to be something that either works 100% or does toss all. Worth a try if you're desperate! I tried getting Steve Mac to do it once and he had such stiff elbows that he couldn't even get into the position to lie on top of his arms!

I finally got this stretch to work by pressing my thumbs against the floor as I did them. It seems to cure my pains for the short term but obviously, I haven't been using them long enough to comment on any long-term good.

Cheers Tom.

[comPiler]

Climbers Against Cancer
28 December 2012, 7:50 pm

Twelve months ago, a friend of mine was diagnosed with terminal cancer. His name is John Ellison. I’ve known John ever since I got involved with coaching and managing the GB Climbing Teams back in 2007; it’s hard not to know him, as he’s always there! He has given tirelessly to climbing and to competition climbing over the years and it was a massive shock when he told us all about his illness. It seemed impossible that such an amazing person could have anything negative happen to them. I’d always kind of assumed that the perma-grim on his face was some kind of lucky charm.



Photo: John in his natural environment…. you guess the answer!

His reaction to this news though, has been something that has re-affirmed why he always looks so happy. Instead of running away from the black news and devastation he has ploughed an incredible amount of energy into creating a new organisation called “Climbers Against Cancer.” He recognised that climbing and climbers are “special in that no matter what the creed or colour, there is a natural desire to support each other and encourage one another to succeed.” He would like climbers to come together as a family of friends who will support John in his cause to raise awareness and funds for research.



As you may have noticed through Facebook and Twitter already, there are some big wad supporters already! John seems to have a strange ability to chat up pretty much any climber, get them in a t-shirt and then snap the photo for the cause! I even saw him with his arm round Chris Sharma and Tom Bolger’s waist the other day….. John, you naughty boy.



So what can you do to help share the love?

1. Get on Facebook and “like” the official CAC page

2. Share any photos of CAC supporters.

3. Visit the CAC website in about 2 weeks to buy yourself a supporting t-shirt!

4. In the meantime I know you can buy CAC t-shirts from The Climbing Works

5. Alternatively, you can always get involved with Cancer Research UK

So, just  remember if John can pick himself up after this situation has landed on his doorstep then we as climbers are more than capable of getting off our arses to help in some way. I doesn’t have to be money – even spreading the word and helping John in his mission will be much appreciated.

Even big wad photographer and all-round nice guy Lukasz Warzecha gave up his studio and time to get John surrounded by 2 of the loveliest ladies in comp climbing, 1 ice climber with massive biceps and 2 jokers with big Friends.

Spread the love!





Source: Tom Randall Climbing

[comPiler]

Wideboyz Film Available For Download
4 January 2013, 8:48 pm

I’ve decided to progress my somewhat basic web skills into offering the Wideboyz Film that Hotaches produced last year through my website. I never thought I’d see the day where someone would actually want to film me doing something, let alone me being competent enough to sell it! Well, here goes……….

As it turns out, it’s pretty simple really. You just have to click here to buy the film and not long after it’ll be slowly using up all the hard space on your computer! I’ll be donating £1 of every copy of the download sold to Climber’s Against Cancer, which is a charity run by a friend of mine.

You can read about him on my blog or an excellent article here.



Buy the download here:

http://www.digitalgoodsstore.com/c/udeRKd/7ZeILf



Source: Tom Randall Climbing

[comPiler]

Gritstone New Routing – My Kai
30 January 2013, 11:16 pm

One of the things I like about starting a new year is that you can draw a line under anything from the previous year. Even if I’ve spent forever working on something in one year, I always feel like a fresh start is made on a route/problem once January comes round. Maybe it’s my way of convincing myself I’m not stuck on a plateau?!

Last year I made the decision to commit to two FA projects on grit – one really, really hard and the other as something that was my anti-style. I wanted to do this as I’ve had a tendency in the past to climb things that were either relatively quite easy (under sport grade 8a on trad) or that suited me in climbing style. Both projects seemed to progress at an equally boring rate and just before Christmas I decided to take a break from both and go do The Zone at Curbar just to get my head out of it all and get something done.



Photo: headpointing The Zone, E9 6c (image courtesy of Mike Hutton)

This January’s mix of snow, rain and generally terrible climbing conditions has kind of been a mixed blessing for my “anti-style” project at Shining Cliff. The direct start project to Geckoblaster is almost always dry and also conveniently on the way to work at The Climbing Station in Loughborough. The direct moves into Geckoblaster partly follow Jon Fullwood’s boulder problem “Moo Cow” which is about the most perplexing Font 7a+ you’re going to find on grit! Weird, contorted, tiny crimps, everything facing the wrong way….. All I can say, is thank goodness Jon could give me the beta!



Photo: Intricate and brilliant climbing on Moo Cow (photo, James Blay)

Once I’d finally worked out what the hell I was doing on the bottom section, it was a case of linking the whole thing together, which involves some really powerful climbing with big moves, very unlike most grit routes. Whilst everyone else was moaning about the snow and wet crags I knew that Shining Cliff would be my only hope and sure enough on the wettest miserable day last week, the project was perfect. As I’d dragged a few belayers/spotters out over recent months, I felt like I couldn’t do it again, so I ended up soloing the line (there is an RP2 on the top headwall for sensible people). Unusually for me, the ascent felt harder than expected, even though I was in a committed mindset. I have to confess, I didn’t have as much a margin as I’d hoped for.



Photo: getting a little more committed on My Kai (Photo, James Blay)

After finally completing the route, my mind immediately wondered back to The Zone and how I’d felt on that route – after all, this was my most recent reference point and a “break” from project stagnation. The Zone had felt something like 7c+ and fairly dangerous, whereas My Kai was more like a hard 8a and just as dangerous. It had also taken perhaps 4 times as long to do!

Sat there thinking about it, I could feel myself getting dragged in the “grade relativity” argument and that’s something I’ve tried to stay away from over the years. After a couple of minutes thinking about it, I went for my gut feeling of E8 6c as sometimes you can’t apply science and logic to grit. Maybe that’s why we all love it so much?

 



Source: Tom Randall Climbing

[TobyD]

Gritstone New Routing – My Kai
30 January 2013, 11:16 pm

Weird, contorted, tiny crimps, everything facing the wrong way…..


Source: Tom Randall Climbing

That sounds like pure bliss