[andy popp]

Looked in on Pex this am to check conditions - Lady Jane wall is very clean and dry. However it looks like someone has had a real go at crag classic Breakaway. The footholds just above the low break are v.scrubbed but, worse, the crucial high r.hand crimp definitely looks altered. I didn't have any gear so couldn't climb up to check it. If anyone who knows the problem goes can you try it out and report back.

This looks like it might be the result of heavy use of a wirebrush. This shouldn't need saying but Pex just won't take this treatment - toothbrushes only please

[Sloper]

I hope you're wrong but I sadly suspect you're right

[Monolith]

i was at pex about two months ago and heard a chipping sound for about half an hour. I had a look to see if a culprit was around, but couldnt see anyone. An hour later some right weirdo with an old school rucksack emerged from a dank gap in the trees (no it wasnt ken wilson). When I went for a wander, I found freshly chipped parts of the rock, but sadly cant confirm exactly where it was as I dont know the exact name of the wall. May well have been that bastard.

[BenF]

Unfortunately I think Andy's right on this one.  I noticed some heavy brush marks around the Breakaway area the other day.  Didn't look closely as the problem itself was wet, but it certainly seemed a little different to how it used to be.  

We all know that the nature of the rock at Pex means that holds do change a little as pebbles and edges break, but I have noticed a rather high number of altered holds over the past year or so.   Frequently these changes appear to be where edges (those Pex diagonal edges) have got deeper, something that may well be due to vigorous brushing or even use of a sharp implement to gouge out more edge from the rock.  Luckily no-one has attempted to alter my favourite three slopers on Pisa Wall yet, but it's all rather depressing.

[andy popp]

Spoke to Pete Chadwick last night, who last did Breakaway a couple of weeks ago. Noticed brushing but said the hold felt the same. However, it really didn't look right from the ground yesterday so maybe someone's going to keep going back till the things big enough for them to pull on.

[Andy F]

I hope the person(s) responsible for any over-eager 'cleaning' are there next time I go down as I'll show them the right way to use their 'tools'  :x

[fatneck]

Well said Andy F. Will likely be down on Sunday pm if anyone's keen?

[Andy F]

Probably off to Llandudno on Sunday, going to (try to) do Tomorrow People and some stuff in the caves.

[andy popp]

Went to Pex this afternoon - mint shady conditions. Unfortunately I was also able to confirm my suspicions re: Breakaway. The hold has definitely been altered and is bigger and more positive. The grade is definitely affected, maybe 7a now. Why oh why oh why!

[Andy F]

Bugger   .  This was mt Pex Nemesis, then one problem I'd yet to crack despite many many attempts, and now it's ruined forever  :evil:

[BenF]

Bugger   .  This was mt Pex Nemesis, then one problem I'd yet to crack despite many many attempts, and now it's ruined forever  :evil:

Yeah, I just spoke to Owen and he was a bit peeved about it too.  It was his current Pex project.  Now you'll both have to seige Monoblock instead.

[Andy F]

At least Breakaway was feasable, Monoblock isn't  

[BenF]

At least Breakaway was feasable, Monoblock isn't  

Ooh, I don't know.  Last time I was down there I actually managed to see a few holds on Monoblock, or brush marks at least.  Or maybe they were just snail trails or summat.

[Pantontino]

That is really sad - I suppose a repair job would be very tricky to pull off, yes, no?

[Scouse D]

Can't even automatically lay blame on inexperinced younger climbers as some of the old school "guardians" of the place are partial to a bit of wire brushing.
I ain't seen the damage si but I'm imagining there is little you could do to repair this sort of damage. The thing with these problems is that any tiny improvement in the hold leads to the grades tumbling(less than 1mm could be crucial on the more slabby problems such as breakaway). Repair of such tiny alterations is gonna be nigh on impossible to get right.

[BenF]

That is really sad - I suppose a repair job would be very tricky to pull off, yes, no?

Yes unfortunately.  As Scouse says, the change could be as minute as 1mm worth of extra rock available to hold onto.  So to repair such a tiny amount of rock would be nigh on impossible.  Or rather, to repair it in a decent fashion would be nigh on impossible.  The thin hard shell of the rock also adds to the difficulty of fixing anything at Pex or similar venues.  Probably best to leave it and lament the loss (although obviously the problem is not actually lost in this instance, just dragged down in grade).

Shame and I bet it's not the last time it happens at Pex. :cry:

[andy popp]

I agree, any attempt at repair will be pretty arbitrary in terms of how much smaller to make the hold. The problem actually climbs exactly the same, at least for me. Obviously we'll have to wait for others opinions but whilst I can normally do the problem first go I absolutely walked it yesterday, perhaps easier than catalepsy now

[andy popp]

Meant to say that my first thought yesterday was for people like Andy F who I know have had Breakaway as a long term ambition and for others who aspired to do it

[BenF]

Exactly.  That's the totally stupid thing about incidents like this one, it's no longer really Breakaway is it?  An object of desire (and opportunity for satisfaction and enjoyment) has been taken away from people simply so that one person can "achieve" something they wanted to do.  Except of course they didn't really achieve anything, they just managed to get up a particular featureless slab of rock.

[Scouse D]

yo, checked this out today but didn't try it. Damage is all too obvious though, shame like.
On an aside, I did Catalepsy again which was as brilliant as I remebered (anyone else think this is very soft for V7? Did I really suggest that a problem at Pex was soft?). Bermuda Triangle aswell, what a problem! Great times...

[andy popp]

yeah, not really sure where this grade came from

[Andy F]

Catalepsy feels V7 to me, but it does get easier with knowing it. It's not powerfull, just technical and balancy. I went to Pex earlier and had a good look at Breakaway. The crimp has been improved, from 2 fingers to 2+2 good tips, much easier to pull on now. Still didn't do it though, 

[Houdini]

 An object of desire (and opportunity for satisfaction and enjoyment) has been taken away from people simply so that one person can "achieve" something they wanted to do.  Except of course they didn't really achieve anything, they just managed to get up a particular featureless slab of rock.

Bang on.  Kleinian Envy in it's purest, undilluted form.



Whenever I read about chipping I'm always cast back to the incident @ Robin Hood's Stride (the chipping, climbing, villification, filling, & subsequent reclimbing of a poor slab-line) and the crass-as-you-like attempts to justify the act (in OTE if memory serves correctly) with little more than a, "I didn't know any better at the time".  It's a crock of shit, and a classic example of a bird that shits in it's own nest.

Has anyone ever seen a repair done well?  I've yet to see one.

A few year ago, I delved deep into the N. Wales slate quarries armed with a selection of chisels with the intention of practicing my chipping skills (on the detritus @ the bottom of the crag, you understand).  Even on a rock as soft as slate and with a good selection of tools - it is desperately hard to do a good job - even if fracture lines are present.  I realized there and then it would take me weeks/months of practice before I'd be confident enough to go to one of the many absolutely mirror-blank walls in these holes, and attempt another Manic Strain (a rateable route).  I gave up there and then: the chances of fucking it up were too great.  How anyone can come to the conclusion that they could make it work on grit is beyond me. 

(My girlfriend is an occasional sculptress.  She works in chalkstone, soapstone etc..  Rocks that are easily sculpted.  She won't touch marble or granite - it's just too unpredictable in the way it breaks when you strike it.)

Chippers (not the selective and successfully creative JR variety) steal from history - they never make it.  Fuck 'em.  I'd rather hang underneath a boulder problem and fail to climb it for a thousand years that chip it and admit to the world that I am a shit-weak gaylord-underachiever with a low attention span.  Fuck 'em!

[widdop]

40 plus years back i lived close to a millstone boulder field. and hammer stones could be heard early mornings,route making, and if we went over and spoke with them ,members of clubs, we stood a chance of having hammer stones dropped on our heads,we were thought eletist snobs that climbed in P.A.s  that cant spell,  still its sad to se that that things are no diferent ,the good side is that now club members treat the rock as the artifact it is and treat it as sutch.sorry for the rant, but i feel a lot better after that.

[Will Hunt]

Apparenlty someones taken a chunk out of Pisa Wall. Probably not serious as Pisa is pockmarcked to hell anyway. Scalies should be stopped!