[Will Hunt]

It is with great relief that I offer this one up to the masses. Over the course of 6 visits I've figured out everything there is to be solved about one of the last great problems at Earl Seat - the wall left of Womb With A View (the big crack). Now it just needs doing!





The beta: take 4 pads and preferably a spotter. You could probably get away with three pads.
Wall dries fast and is of very good quality grit, as good as any on Barden. All the holds have been cleaned.
Climb the wall just right of left rib of the buttress. Step onto first smear with your right and take the good two finger undercut with your left. Smear up with your left and step through with your right.
Reach up with your right and grab the spiteful two finger crozzle crimp that sits on the vague sloping rail feature. You get this best if you twist your hand ever so slightly, so the top of your hand is pointing to "2 o' clock" or "north by northeast". Wrap a thumb over the top of the crimp.
Take your left toe and place it precisely on a smear near your left hand undercut. This smear doesn't care about you. It does not like you. It doesn't give a shit whether you stick to it or not.
Put your left hand around the rib and feel for a pebble (tick marks really help find it). Drape your middle finger over this.
Now stand up, crush living shit out of the crozzle crimp and gingerly reach your left hand up and over you for the obvious high slot. This is joyously positive.
Relax and don't drop the top. Paste your right toe onto a small pebble (when you look down there's a pair of small pebbles that work really well) and reach up and swap hands in the pocket. This is deceptively hard since the pocket is only really big enough for one hand and you have to wiggle fingers out in order to cram more in. You're still stood on the Smear of Hate and this might pop at any moment.
This is my high point. On my best go I did the hand swap but didn't get all the fingers in that I needed to so couldn't execute the last simple pull.
Palm your left hand down on the vague rail, run your feet up the wall so your right toe is on the crozzle crimp, and slap your left hand onto the top.

Those with sausage fingers may struggle on the slot. Tiny people may struggle to reach the slot and may end up overstretched on that cantankerous smear.

I'm confident that it's harder than any of the 7B+ walls that I've done. I think it's at least 7C and wouldn't be surprised if it got 7C+. Get to it, wads.

[Oldmanmatt]

There appears to be no holds.


All posts either sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek or mildly mocking-in-a-friendly-way unless otherwise stated. I always forget to put those smiley things...

[Footwork]

DON'T LISTEN TO HIM THIS IS NOT AN OPEN PROJECT.

Will, you have almost done it. I've seen you basically do it. Don't throw the towel in now.

Just look at how glorious the wall looks in the pictures.

[dunnyg]

Allez will! This is yours. Also give me my sticker back yeah?

[36chambers]

What's wrong with offering it up to your mates before putting it out to the masses. Or would you rather it be anyone but them??

and more importantly, get back to it fool.

[Rob F]

Sure I did that one years ago. Bout 3rd go from memory...

[Rob F]

Hang on, hang on!!! Panics over- Seems like the projects back on!!!!!
Just checked my logbook and it appears I used the arete of the crack with the right hand to make a leap for the top. Get to it Will- gonna have to be an after work headtorcher now. Fully expecting it to be crazy busy up there next weekend...

[Teaboy]

Will, you have almost done it. I've seen you basically do it. Don't throw the towel in now.

No one give up on anything around here unless a presenter on Countryfile tells you you can

[Will Hunt]

Hang on, hang on!!! Panics over- Seems like the projects back on!!!!!
Just checked my logbook and it appears I used the arete of the crack with the right hand to make a leap for the top. Get to it Will- gonna have to be an after work headtorcher now. Fully expecting it to be crazy busy up there next weekend...

Ah, now that is interesting, Rob. Did you actually do that? Can't tell whether you're joking or not but what you've described is actually completely feasible (especially for a man mountain such as yourself). I've climbed the wall just left of the crack which is steady enough. You get established in a little dish with the top out of reach. There's a massive bucket just over the top there but no obvious way to get to it without either jumping or doing a bizarre rockover onto The World's Most Fragile Looking Pebble (it's a wonder to behold). When I found myself in the dish it was ridiculously eliminate not to reach into the crack and escape onto the chockstone so I didn't pursue it any further.

[Rob F]

Yep- seem to remember doing some kind of belly flop top out rather than moving right. Back in the day prior to filming ascents- so you didn't have to be so bothered about style and things like that...

[andy popp]

Hello Will. I don't suppose you can really declare this project "closed" but it definitely seems like you should be persisting with it yourself.

[Bonjoy]

What's wrong with offering it up to your mates before putting it out to the masses. Or would you rather it be anyone but them??

and more importantly, get back to it fool.

To be fair, this is already a well known LGP. Pretty sure at least one guide mentions it. The beta is pretty handy though.

[Will Hunt]

What's wrong with offering it up to your mates before putting it out to the masses. Or would you rather it be anyone but them??

and more importantly, get back to it fool.

To be fair, this is already a well known LGP. Pretty sure at least one guide mentions it. The beta is pretty handy though.

Indeed. I made mention of it in the Earl Seat section of the latest Yorkshire definitive guide. However there is some confusion around it because there are two LGPs at the crag. This one is the easier of the two and has been overlooked because it stands in the shadow of its big brother - the right arête - which is Lanny Bassham on steroids. It makes LB look like a jugfest.
I know that Ben Bransby has been to the crag to look at the right arête but not sure if he looked at the left hand wall. Steve Dunning mentioned to me once that some people had tried it ground up, at the time I thought he meant the left hand wall but I now suspect he meant the right.
One thing about that right hand one. I suspect it's been tried from the ground, which to me looks like it might be impossible, however I don't know if anyone has tried to traverse in from either the chockstone to the left, or the jamming crack on the right. Both would be good opening gambits and would solve the possible looking upper wall.

The only definite attention that the left hand wall has received is by Paul Clarke who tried it before highballing was a thing. He worked out an alternative line to the right of the sequence that I found and got himself ready to solo it. A high pebble snapped, he went up to his shins in the mulch at the bottom (very lucky), and could no longer link together a sequence. I suspect his method climbed the wall just left of the big crack, with the only way to do it now being the Fenton Finish declared above.

[Will Hunt]

Sorry to bump this thread but I just can't resist recounting this little morsel.

That crack with the chockstone in it is an entertaining VDiff. You scramble up onto the chockstone, and then start to slide your way into the crag, and upwards towards the light. The crag was first developed by two separate teams, who were each developing it unbeknownst to the other. The arguments over who did what first were never properly settled, I don't think. However, when the two teams compared their notes, they were shocked to discover that each of them had independently given the crack the same name - Womb With A View!

[Will Hunt]

Was mooching round Eavestone over Christmas and this caught my eye. Went back and spent a bit of time cleaning which mainly involved digging a load of mud off the top and scrubbing off lots of moss. Needs some more work after a dry spell or when it warms up a bit. Tree belays at the top to ab down.

This is the arete of the boathouse bluff which is the buttress to the left of the crevasse where the hard bouldering is. There's an E4 6c that does a hard pebble pull over on the left before shuffling along a little ledge to get to the arete. Then mantels the big rounded boss of the ledge (probably quite scary). There's also an E2 5c that hand traverses the low break and climbs the arete on its right side. I thought a direct might be a cool highball, but after a quick play decided to sack it off. It's there for anyone who fancies it.

[dunnyg]

How much for that apple munching stunners number, will?

[SA Chris]

Black and White, crop square - will look like the album cover to his new LP - Yorkshire Open Projects

[Will Hunt]

Was mooching round Eavestone over Christmas and this caught my eye. Went back and spent a bit of time cleaning which mainly involved digging a load of mud off the top and scrubbing off lots of moss. Needs some more work after a dry spell or when it warms up a bit. Tree belays at the top to ab down.

This is the arete of the boathouse bluff which is the buttress to the left of the crevasse where the hard bouldering is. There's an E4 6c that does a hard pebble pull over on the left before shuffling along a little ledge to get to the arete. Then mantels the big rounded boss of the ledge (probably quite scary). There's also an E2 5c that hand traverses the low break and climbs the arete on its right side. I thought a direct might be a cool highball, but after a quick play decided to sack it off. It's there for anyone who fancies it.

James Turnbull did this recently and graded it 7B+. Climb the arête on the left before switching back right for the top mantel (as for the E2).

[SA Chris]

Who owns Eavestone, and what would it need to get some of the trees chopped down. I've been a couple of times and it's a stunning spot, but I found you climb what's dry / not green rather than doing what you would like.

[Will Hunt]

Not sure, but I suspect that different bits might be owned by different people. I'm not convinced that much tree clearance is necessary. In my experience the stuff that gets traffic does stay clean and the stuff that doesn't get done gets dirty - same as anywhere else.
A targeted clean up and an accompanying Vimeo video of the problems cleaned would sort it out. If you want to generate traffic on a problem you have to video it with an HD camera from several angles and put some shit music over the top. People don't climb problems that haven't been videoed recently and had shit music put over the top. It's simply not done.

I actually think the next step with guidebooks might be to make them a bit more like those cheesy musical birthday cards. When you open it at a page which covers some underloved boulder that needs traffic it starts to play some sik riddims from an onboard tinny monotone speaker.

[Fiend]

I'm psyched for Eavestone to get more attention. Not really near the area now but if it helps I can choose some shit music to accompany the videos??

[Will Hunt]

To be honest Fiend, you'd have the time of your life on a day at Eavestone. If trad between HVS and E3 is your bag then all the following stay clean (despite the hollow stars in the guide):

The Alamo - E2
Oubliette - E2
Hallmark - E3 (going on E1 if you find the kneebar on the crux)
Probably loads of other stuff on the front of the Fort (like Excalibur) up to E4.
Eavestone Wall - E3, and the easiest E3 6b in the world to onsight, despite it actually being a 6b move.
Crazy Paver - E2
Eavesdropper - HVS
Wedgewood - HVS
Fat Chance - E3

That's an awesome day out by anyone's yard stick.

[SA Chris]

The Wedge is an amazing looking bit of rock, quite spectacular, but looks like it gets climbed on once or twice a year.

A couple of felled trees (or even just carefully selected branches) would really help it get some light and air.

[Will Hunt]

The wall between the crack and arete at Amphitheatre Buttress, St Ives. The pocket near the bottom of the seam is good (accessible from a good hold down and left), and you can reach from there to get a good pocket near the right arete. You can get a kneebar in under the roof to reach the high "pocket" but this is nowhere near as good as it looks - actually just a shit sloper. Alternatively there's a little intermediate dish on the LHS which can be used to access the top "pocket". From there I suspect you'll have to match and throw for the top or use a pebble.

Looks piss but probably 7B+ or above. The undercut nature of the start makes it feel quite overhung. Might be worth a star when it gets done but I wouldn't say it's going to be stellar.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CLZS58XjmuM/

[Fiend]

To be honest Fiend, you'd have the time of your life on a day at Eavestone. If trad between HVS and E3 is your bag then all the following stay clean (despite the hollow stars in the guide):

The Alamo - E2
Oubliette - E2
Hallmark - E3 (going on E1 if you find the kneebar on the crux)
Probably loads of other stuff on the front of the Fort (like Excalibur) up to E4.
Eavestone Wall - E3, and the easiest E3 6b in the world to onsight, despite it actually being a 6b move.
Crazy Paver - E2
Eavesdropper - HVS
Wedgewood - HVS
Fat Chance - E3

That's an awesome day out by anyone's yard stick.

How bizarre that I missed this.
Alamo - did in 2019 after getting a friend to scrub it, varied and nice
Hallmark - did decades ago and was good fun, E2 without the kneebar.
Did the E2 on the right wall (King Of The Castle?) on the same day as Hallmark and thought the E1 bit low down was poky. Did the E1 6a further right on the same day as Alamo and that was fun.
Wedgewood - did decades ago.
Fat Chance - ditto, good line!
Last time I checked that area was getting pretty damn grubby. Maybe it's improved via regular monsoons, increase in jungle over time, lockdowns, and the death of trad climbing??