[petejh]

I've fucked my bicep longhead tendon. I aggravated it last week frigging on a draw on The Brute, so I switched focus to some more vertical stamina 8s. The shoulder was healing up well and should have been fine if I'd been sensible... so I pushed it harder on a burn up The Shining last night and aggravated it quite badly. I won't be climbing anything physical for the rest of the summer/autumn.

Keen to try to get out on trad slabs (or sport slabs except there aren't many in UK worth doing?) while my shoulder heals - proper slabs with very little requirement to use shoulders. i.e. some slate, grit smearing, anywhere else with friction climbing.

Anyone have ideas for other good routes or good venues for friction climbing with little requirement to use shoulders? Would consider some quick trips abroad -maybe a quick hit to Swizz/Italy (mello?)
Any grades except total death or yosemite 5.9.

Also keen to hook up with anyone who fancies some run-out smeary teetering.

[Doylo]

Slate and Tommy Chamonix. But you know about them.

[SA Chris]

Try voodoo flossing.

Post number 2000 coming up for petejh....

[petejh]

Post number 2000 coming up for petejh....

Brand new Turbo Express ice screws - the new models. 5 available, all 13cm. Still in packaging, never used. Retail for 40 quid. 35 pounds each.

petellanrhos at hotmail dot com

Bump.

[Fiend]

See you on the slate soon?? 

Also....LA PEDRIZA. Autumn/winter venue, amazing friction/crystal slabs.

[kelvin]

-maybe a quick hit to Swizz/Italy (mello?)
Any grades except total death or yosemite 5.9.

I can put you in touch with my mate - Rene Schweizer (Swiss Rene). Lot's of amazing granite slabs in Goshenenalp up to 7c, he's bolted all of them from what I gathered and the setting is superb as usual. Campsite in the valley or a guesthaus, there's certainly enough to go at for a quick hit and I've a few pics of some of them. Some in the local guides, other not. All decently bolted with no big runouts.

[petejh]

Cool thanks, have pm'd you.

[TobyD]

Keen to try to get out on trad slabs (or sport slabs except there aren't many in UK worth doing?)

Try Shadowbeast at LQP, and adjacent 7b-c+ slabs. I went to Ailefroide and did granite friction slabs with a totally blown finger: no pulling required! North Devon has lots: Smoothlands (hard) Baggy point (mostly easy...)

[SA Chris]

Trouble with things like harder steep culm and slate routes, they often involve having to bone like fuck on tiny crimps and do contorted weird mantles, which aren't great for upper arm / shoulder injuries.

Head for some Granite / Gneiss slabs where you can actually get away with padding; Etive, Strathconnon, the entire NW Scotland...

[Fiend]

the entire NW Scotland...

Not that many up there apart from Diabeg (and bits of Tollie/Tollaidh), even then you have to pull fairly hard on some routes. Most of the Gneiss / Sandstone is too featured for decent mid-grade slabs.

Culm (/greywacke /barcud sandstone) is no worse than Slate for contorted moves, in fact there are usually more options hold-wise.

[Johnny Brown]

The few routes I've done at Hodge close seemed more conventional than Llanberis slate, as if the rock has been exposed longer and has weathered into something more natural. But I think on both it's rare you don't have to pull at all. Both obviously have plenty of sport slabs.

Roaches for slabs obviously. Things like Elegy and San Melas don't really have enough handholds to tweak.

Have you not thought of doing some trad shuffling? I don't remember being able to pull hard on routes like Crow. Quite a similar experience to a big winter route for me.

[Fiend]

Doris is mostly a slab! 

[petejh]

I'm going to do some trad shuffling, I do anyway through most years. But I can't even do that yet - I can't yet hold/pour a quarter-full kettle with my tweaked shoulder, but I could pad up a trad or sport slab and use crimps for balance.

[i_a_coops]

Try Shadowbeast at LQP, and adjacent 7b-c+ slabs.

Seconded, especially Mustard Custard (to the right of Shadowbeast) which is amazing.

Also there's some fantastic granite slabs in the Ariege - there are single pitch slabs at Auzat up to 'old school 7c+' (i.e. desperate!) and more chilled big multipitch padding up the Dent d'Orlu. There are a couple of long routes at around 26 pitches of slab as far as I remember, they might only be 6a+ and 6b but that grade of holdless fricton slab is surprisingly hard!

[kingholmesy]

Try Shadowbeast at LQP, and adjacent 7b-c+ slabs.
[/quote]

I don't agree with this.  The crux of the route doesn't really climb like a slab.

For a SW trip I can recommend the following:

Flashdance (E3) & Crinoid (E1) - Telegraph Hole. Blinding Flash (E4) also looks good.

Black Ice (E3) - Long Quarry Point.  Renegade (E4) looks good too.

Harvestman (E5) - Chudleigh.  No stars but I thought this was ace.

Crimtyphon (E2) & Penelope Won't Leave The Pitstop (E5) - Compass Point.  Beware the rockfall at the RH side of the crag.

Half Life (E3) & Nose Decay (E4) - Screda Point.

Sacre Coeur (E2) - Blackchurch. Jamaican Dub (E3) looked hard to me so I used the exuse of incoming tide not to try it.

Terrapin (E3) - Baggy Point.  Plenty of others here of a similar style too.

That should keep you going for at least one trip!

For more recommendations look on the other channel for the ticklist "Best slab climbs of the UK".

[Fiend]

Some grit...some of these may be inappropriate, there may be other suitable routes. No Yorkshire as Yorkshire doesn't have any hard safe E4+ slabs.

Protectable:

Wings Of Unreason E4 6b
Track Of The Cat E5 6a
Nature Trail E5 6b
Counterstroke Of Equity E5 6c
(^^^ if start okay)
Barriers In Time E6 6b
Clive Coolhead E5 6b
Bloodstone E5 6b
Bloodspeed E6 6b
(^^^ if bulge okay)
Judge Dread E6 6b
Trout E6 6b
Salmon Direct E6 6c
Salmon E7 6c
Smoked Salmon E7 7a
Poached Salmon E5 6b
Life Assurance E6 6b
Earthboots E6 6c
Flex E6 6c
Green Devil E5 6b

Highballs:

Apache Dawn E5 6c
Catastrophe Internationale E5 6b
Script For A Tear E6 6c
Shirley's Shining Temple E5 7a
The Snivelling E5 6a
El Vino Collapso E5 6a
White Water E6 6c
Benign Lives E6 6b
Long John's Direct E6 6c
can't remember the name of this E5 6c
Yarn Spinner E4 6c

(missed out a few obvious ones that have burly starts e.g. Black Rocks Block, Entropy's Jaw)

[Johnny Brown]

That looks a lot like the life ticklist I wrote at Uni. I am about a third of the way through, good luck Pete!

[Ru]

I hurt my shoulder when I was at uni and spent the summer holidays working my way though the Roaches slabs. Lots of smearing, not really any pulling apart from a few starts on things like Entropy's Jaw.