[Ross Barker]

T-Crack climbs really well despite the rules on the block at the start (logical) and avoiding the chip (obviously).

At the risk of going off topic what are the rules for the starting block? Hands only to the right of the crack?

[Andy W]

Fontainebleau, 'L'Angle Parfait, L'Angle Allain. The first because it's horrible, the second because I can't do it.

[nai]

At the risk of going off topic what are the rules for the starting block? Hands only to the right of the crack?

And feet

[Andy W]

Fontainebleau, 'L'Angle Parfait, L'Angle Allain. The first because it's horrible, the second because I can't do it.

Oh I forgot L'Angle Ben's, horrid problem.

[Ross Barker]

At the risk of going off topic what are the rules for the starting block? Hands only to the right of the crack?

And feet

Having just rewatched a video that makes complete sense! I definitely misremembered how the starting block looks

[Nibile]

Souvenir in Chironico. Coloured rock, Fred's classic, etc., then I got there and found it's a morpho, painful problem, that lends itself to every imaginable cheating trickery.
Then I did it (twice) and realized it is indeed a majestic problem.

[sdm]

Fontainebleau, 'L'Angle Parfait, L'Angle Allain. The first because it's horrible, the second because I can't do it.

Oh I forgot L'Angle Ben's, horrid problem.

I guess you aren't much of a fan of aretes?

I enjoyed L'Angle Parfait, although L'Angle Plus que Parfait opposite it was even better.

We did L'Angle Allain as a warm up without realising what problem it was. It was fine but unremarkable.

[Will Hunt]

Fontainebleau, 'L'Angle Parfait, L'Angle Allain. The first because it's horrible, the second because I can't do it.

Oh I forgot L'Angle Ben's, horrid problem.

Get the fuck out of here.

[Coops_13]

Not national levels of disappointment but Heroes at Baslow looks a really cool feature as you approach it from the right and you imagine clamping up the prow, but unfortunately the line of least resistance leads you up the left side and you actually only touch the right side once.  It's not touted as a classic but feels like it's cutting the corner and missing out on what the problem should be

Rhino in Rocklands would fall down for the same reason, doesn't climb as good as it looks and sticks to one side of the prow apart from the start...

[Duma]

"Not climbing as good as it looks" still leaves The Rhino plenty of room to be fucking amazing, which it is.

[Coops_13]

"Not climbing as good as it looks" still leaves The Rhino plenty of room to be fucking amazing, which it is.

OH yeah, def deserves to be nowhere near this thread

[Andy W]

Fontainebleau, 'L'Angle Parfait, L'Angle Allain. The first because it's horrible, the second because I can't do it.

Oh I forgot L'Angle Ben's, horrid problem.

Get the fuck out of here.

Forgive me...actually I got that all wrong, L'Angle Allain is obv not hard and I've done that one, (one move really) Parfait I haven't done, Ben's is horrible, nasty hold and slippy.  I do like aretes, just not sharp ones where you feel like a slip might hurt and it all comes down to what shoes you are wearing. 

[lagerstarfish]

Fontainebleau, 'L'Angle Parfait, L'Angle Allain. The first because it's horrible, the second because I can't do it.

Oh I forgot L'Angle Ben's, horrid problem.

The whole point of L'Angle Bens is that it doesn't stick

[Bradders]

"Not climbing as good as it looks" still leaves The Rhino plenty of room to be fucking amazing, which it is.

OH yeah, def deserves to be nowhere near this thread

Why'd you bring it up then? 

Heard a couple of people say they weren't all that impressed but I thought it was great fun!

On Rocklands though; Question of Balance. Supposed to be super classic up a big overhanging face on a massive boulder. Turns out to involve a horrible lurch on grim, polished holds and with a side helping of knee injury if you're not careful.

Full disclaimer, I tried it for 20 minutes, didn't do it but worked out the above and decided there were thousands of much better things to do.

[remus]

On Rocklands though; Question of Balance. Supposed to be super classic up a big overhanging face on a massive boulder. Turns out to involve a horrible lurch on grim, polished holds and with a side helping of knee injury if you're not careful.

I think this is just quite a knacky move. It took me a while and it felt pretty thrutchy when I didnt have the position, but as soon as I got the heel just right it was straightforward and pretty satisfying. One of those where I felt like I got very marginally better at climbing in doing the problem.

[Bonjoy]

I was a bit disappointed by Brain Dead at Cratcliffe. Not bad by any means but the moves left me a bit underwhelmed at the top even without properly lanking it!

It climbs much better on the right side.


Hey Cofe, don't worry about that pocket on AWOL, it's fine, you just need to put some tape on one finger. 

[Andy W]

Fontainebleau, 'L'Angle Parfait, L'Angle Allain. The first because it's horrible, the second because I can't do it.

Oh I forgot L'Angle Ben's, horrid problem.

The whole point of L'Angle Bens is that it doesn't stick

So I see the problem, it looks great, try and climb it, then disappointingly find my foot keeps slipping, meretricious little so and so!

[mark20]

West Side Story.
John Allen E4 7a, perfect line of sidepulls and a tasty height. Sounds perfect
But in reality it's all about the horribly conditions dependent left hand crimp you have to wiggle your fingers into, that skins your knuckles when you inevitably ping off it. Then a perma-damp awkward cross handed finish. And an in situ show pony getting in the way

[tomtom]

West Side Story.
John Allen E4 7a, perfect line of sidepulls and a tasty height. Sounds perfect
But in reality it's all about the horribly conditions dependent left hand crimp you have to wiggle your fingers into, that skins your knuckles when you inevitably ping off it. Then a perma-damp awkward cross handed finish. And an in situ show pony getting in the way

I'm gonna have to disagree with this.... I've not 'done it' as I've never topped out - but been up to the porthole 2-3 times...

The LH little crimpy edge is hard - but on the right day, with good skin it sticks in there fine. Then its a set of (for me) really cool sequency moves up the face, where body position and the right footholds can make the impossible suddenly click and flow smoothly. Which is (i'd argue) one of the great things about grit problems...

[tomtom]

West Side Story.
John Allen E4 7a, perfect line of sidepulls and a tasty height. Sounds perfect
But in reality it's all about the horribly conditions dependent left hand crimp you have to wiggle your fingers into, that skins your knuckles when you inevitably ping off it. Then a perma-damp awkward cross handed finish. And an in situ show pony getting in the way

But - In a similar vein, I'm gonna nominate Fight on the Black at Widdop. Looks like such. a. line. But really is a test of how much pain you can endure wrapping your left index finger around a large sharpish pebble, work your feet up blind to hopefully the right dimples then throw for a scrittly/green (dependant on the weather) break. Then a death defying top out involving a usually green and damp 45 degree sloping slab. The problem has a great back story (hence the name) and looks cool - but ffs its pretty wank.

[Bradders]

West Side Story.

Madness. One of the best problems on grit!

Fight on the Black at Widdop

It's been a while since I last did it, so I could be wrong, but I think it's both easier and much more pleasant if you don't use the big pebble and get a little dish thing higher up?

I remember it being a lovely little test of gritstone movement anyway.

If we're judging on skin intensiveness then you could add a lot of grit problems here (unfairly in my view).

[remus]

West Side Story.
John Allen E4 7a, perfect line of sidepulls and a tasty height. Sounds perfect
But in reality it's all about the horribly conditions dependent left hand crimp you have to wiggle your fingers into, that skins your knuckles when you inevitably ping off it. Then a perma-damp awkward cross handed finish. And an in situ show pony getting in the way

Didn't think I'd hear that coming from you! I was considering mentioning it but hadn't dared for fear of being lynched.

[Fiend]

I was a bit disappointed by Brain Dead at Cratcliffe. Not bad by any means but the moves left me a bit underwhelmed at the top even without properly lanking it!

It climbs much better on the right side.

The problem with Brain Dead is if you're expecting a 6C on the left or right, starting off the RH ledge, you're going to be a bit disappointed with the lovely but easy highball 6B you get, and if you're expecting a 6C starting off the ground on the left, you're going to be a bit disappointed in the grim >7A "foot in armpit" prolapse-inducing grovel you get.

There's probably quite a few blocs that would be considerably less bogus and disappointing if they had accurate descriptions and grades...

[Will Hunt]

I toyed with the idea of Fight on Black. I'd been looking forward to it for years and ended up a bit disappointed as I didn't think the movement matched up to the quality of the line and history. But I'm conscious that I had reeeeeeally thin skin when I did it and it ended up as a race against time before I split. I seem to remember doing it as you did it TT, with a blind foothold that I had to put huge tick marks on (I brushed them off afterwards obvs) to guide me into it - I think shorter/more flexible people tend to do a high heel on the arête instead which maybe feels better. More a case of having a 1-star experience on a 3-star problem than something actually being overrated.

[T_B]

West Side Story.
John Allen E4 7a, perfect line of sidepulls and a tasty height. Sounds perfect
But in reality it's all about the horribly conditions dependent left hand crimp you have to wiggle your fingers into, that skins your knuckles when you inevitably ping off it. Then a perma-damp awkward cross handed finish. And an in situ show pony getting in the way

The nicest sequence doesn’t even use the crimp, but it’s more core intensive and you need to be flexible.

I can’t actually think of a finer problem on the Eastern edges.