[AMorris]

I was thinking last night about how I would feel if a travelling mega-wad (i.e. Nalle or Ondra) made his way over to the darkest corners of the lakelands and managed to repeat some of Gaskins untouchables.

I'm thinking of Shadowplay mostly, I think the majority of us are of the opinion that it is in fact somewhere north of 8C. So how would you feel if (for example) he came over and got first repeat of it and declared it to in fact be 8C, quashing any romantic notions about it being essentially impossible and maybe one or two grades harder than anything else in the world? I think we all enjoy the fact that it has not seen any repeats, giving weight to the theory that it is a secret 8C+ and that G actually IS that strong in comparison to everyone else.

I think we have the hardest climbing in the world here and the fact that none of his harder stuff has seen concerted attempts just adds to the mystery. I suppose I would be disappointed if it turned out that his harder stuff (particularly Shadowplay and VNB) weren't any harder than the grades suggest.

[SA Chris]

Yes.

[slackline]

Maybe.

[shark]

Pink anasazi

[Johnny Brown]

I wouldn't believe it.

[abarro81]

Did he ever agree to go back and see if the holds were all still there on Shadowplay (that's the one DV thought holds must have broken on right?)?

[Fiend]

I think only Jasper Sharpe can answer this topic.

[AMorris]

Did he ever agree to go back and see if the holds were all still there on Shadowplay (that's the one DV thought holds must have broken on right?)?

Yeah thats the one, alot of people have said that it might have lost holds since the FA. He said he would go back there with DV and have a look at it again to see if its still in original condition but its just getting the time to do it. I think Shark was trying to sort something out with that but I don't know how far he got.

[shark]

Did he ever agree to go back and see if the holds were all still there on Shadowplay (that's the one DV thought holds must have broken on right?)?

Yeah thats the one, alot of people have said that it might have lost holds since the FA. He said he would go back there with DV and have a look at it again to see if its still in original condition but its just getting the time to do it. I think Shark was trying to sort something out with that but I don't know how far he got.

I tried to set things up with Dan Varian to go up there to meet John. Adam Hocking was doing a film project that it could have been part of but apparently he's had a kid and I haven't heard anything since.

[AMorris]

Did he ever agree to go back and see if the holds were all still there on Shadowplay (that's the one DV thought holds must have broken on right?)?

Yeah thats the one, alot of people have said that it might have lost holds since the FA. He said he would go back there with DV and have a look at it again to see if its still in original condition but its just getting the time to do it. I think Shark was trying to sort something out with that but I don't know how far he got.

I tried to set things up with Dan Varian to go up there to meet John. Adam Hocking was doing a film project that it could have been part of but apparently he's had a kid and I haven't heard anything since.

Poor excuse!
But seriously, congrats to him in that case. Would have been nice to resolve a bit more of the Shadowplay mystery though.

[tomtom]

But it wouldnt be any fun if it was all resolved...

[carlisle slapper]

More than happy to nip over whenever to jog john's memory on that vague series of layaways whenever. tin openers at the ready! I have a decent memory of the boulder in question having climbed there since before it was ascended. A Morris, AFAIK no one has ever pulled on the first four moves, including John on the day when he went with Ray to get pics, hence 0 pictures and just John's word. Would be good to clear that up.

[liam fyfe]

Would be awesome to clear up!!!! Is the consensus that this is the most impossible/hardest looking of all the unrepeated gaskins problems?

[a dense loner]

No the consensus is that it's not been climbed

[shark]

More than happy to nip over whenever to jog john's memory on that vague series of layaways whenever. tin openers at the ready! I have a decent memory of the boulder in question having climbed there since before it was ascended. A Morris, AFAIK no one has ever pulled on the first four moves, including John on the day when he went with Ray to get pics, hence 0 pictures and just John's word. Would be good to clear that up.

Do you have John's number/email to sort it out direct ? Maybe better to do it as a low key meet up off camera.

[carlisle slapper]

I've got his email i think but not number (PM if you like with email to check if its current as not emailed him since little women days). agreed i've no time for youtube schadenfreude, it just needs sorting out as it is a very important problem if it has been climbed, and a quick ironing out of the record books if it hasn't. I'd prefer to know it has, rather than have to guess either way. Much of John's development has been brilliant for the south lakes as he has put quite a few crags on the map, although it's probably worth pointing out that Si o' put "little font" on the map, there is currently more evidence in the public domain supporting that he climbed little women first (posed photo in a 6cish pull on position) than John having climbed shadowplay. Then again i've also defended john to quite a few climbers in the past, even the odd huge german one whilst stood under gossip but ultimately they didn't know the key facts either way as all they had was a very unlikely sequence and no witnesses. So anyway i've been on both sides of the opinion fence over the years.

[r-man]

AFAIK no one has ever pulled on the first four moves, including John on the day when he went with Ray to get pics, hence 0 pictures and just John's word. Would be good to clear that up.

Story I heard was it rained and they didn't go. Is this wrong?

[AMorris]

No the consensus is that it's not been climbed

Is this really the consensus? This may be  but I have for a while been of the opinion that he has never given anyone any reason to doubt his ability to climb really unspeakably hard and that Shadowplay is another one of those G style problems that he seems to excel at. He obviously convinced Gresh enough for him to nudge John to go for 8C rather than 8B+ (I suppose that gives more weight to the snapped holds theory) given the apparent difficulty of the line.

My general explanation for it seeming so unclimbable is that when I was climbing in the low 6's I used to look at problems in the high 7's and 8's which seemed to me to be impossible (monk life appalled me) and I couldn't imagine how anyone could hang the holds let alone do the moves, it helps if you seem someone do said problem and brings it into the realms of reality quickly. I even remember seeing pebble wall at almscliff for the first time and wondering how it was possible to pull on those pebbles, but in reality its not hard if you know how. Obviously this is slightly different since even top climbers have looked at it and not seen a line, but I think my general point still stands.

That's just my musing though, I truly understand why people doubt the ascent but I like to keep the faith!

[John Boy]

No the consensus is that it's not been climbed

No it's not. You're opinion is that it's not been climbed; which is not a consensus.

[liam fyfe]

 

No the consensus is that it's not been climbed

No it's not. You're opinion is that it's not been climbed; which is not a consensus.

  lets hope john agrees to go and explain to dan v about holds sequence etc, dan was also saying he can remember how the holds were before it was ascended does it look like they have broke?

[Moo]

I can feel a poll coming on maybe ?

[tomtom]

I think we need to form a committee to determine the wording for a poll on whether or not we have reached a consensus on the consensus. I nominate Sloper to chair the committee

[Fiend]

I can feel a poll coming on maybe ?

As long as we can title the poll "Is John Gaskins a liar who falsely claimed problems he didn't climb"...






...and then only have the pain au anasazi options available.

[shark]

I can feel a poll coming on maybe ?

I think that given John gave up his time for us to be interviewed and also said he was happy to meet Dan it would be churlish to post a poll like that

[liam fyfe]

A return of the G is what we need.