[pete D]

I was bouldering at Rivelin Quarries last week and climbed two problems that may be new.  They're both in the first bay of the quarry as you approach from the Norfolk Arms car park (about 20m left of Earth Boots).  The best problem is called "Snatch" and felt about Font 7a.  It climbs the centre of the wall to the left of Ipecacuanha Groove (HVS) as far as the obvious big hold via a rock over to a crimp and then a lovely little dyno to better holds.  The arete to the right of Ipecacuanah Groove was also climbed at about 5+.  Next time I'm there, I'll get a pic and post it here.

[Bonjoy]

Nice one. Will take a look next time i'm there.

[nik at work]

Anyone know of any repeats of existing problems, just curious ...

[Bonjoy]

 Still no repeat of Nik's Wall to date as far as I know. Was trying to egg crimp-boy Dense into trying it, I think he's keen.

[dave]

i think a fair few people roll up to nik's wall, go "fuck i'm going to have a go at this, it can't be too bad look at the size of that foothold", put their boots on, chalk up and proceed to not be able to get both feet off the floor. i'm not thinking about any kim in particular.

[Paz]

No French start?

[Jim]

Them hand grips are tiny yo

[Tommy]

I can confirm the quality of Snatch - really, really excellent problem. The arete to right is probably more like Font 6a+ though.

This part of the quarry is an amazing sun trap, so if you find yourself a nasty, cold and windy day, it's great here...

[Bonjoy]

 You do know that Paul B gave the same name to his new prob at Stanage a couple of months ago?

[pete D]

I'd forgotten about Paul B's problem.  Knew the name sounded familiar but couldn't remember where from.  A great name for that problem and on that boulder.  Not sure how to post links but this is quite amusing: .  A new name then...

Roget's thesaurus suggests: abduct, catch, clutch, collar, gain, glom onto, grapple, grasp, grip, jerk, jump, kidnap, nab, nail, pluck, pull, rescue, seize, snag, spirit away, steal, take, win, wrench, wrest, yank.

I quite like "Glom Onto" Font 7a.

[r-man]

Interesting...

Glom being an Americanism of Scots Glaum.

'O, cam ye here the fight to shun,
Or herd the sheep wi' me, man?
Or were ye at the Sherra-moor,
Or did the battle see, man?'
'I saw the battle, sair and teugh,
And reekin-red ran monie a sheugh;
My heart for fear gae sough for sough,
To hear the thuds, and see the cluds
O' clans frae woods in tartan duds,
Wha glaum'd at kingdoms three, man.

the rest here...http://www.worldburnsclub.com/poems/translations/454.htm

[nik at work]

You do know that Paul B gave the same name to his new prob at Stanage a couple of months ago?

And he was just copying the name of my problem at Denham...


...probably

[r-man]

Is Nik's Wall harder or easier than your Snatch problem Nik? Just curious.

[nik at work]

The short answer is Nik's Wall is probably harder.
The slightly more involved answer would be that I climbed Nik's Wall when I was climbing almost constantly and was certainly at my best in terms of technique, strength etc etc. It took ages before I did it. It was at the time the hardest problem I had done by a significant margin. At the time I was obsessive about Rivelin Quarries and obsessive about the problem. I got a combination of a day of great conditions lining up with me climbing well and being uninjured etc. At the time I did it I had no idea of the grade, the V11 grade was first suggested by someone else. I still don't know whether it is accurate as it is unrepeated AFAIK.
Snatch was climbed several years later when I was worrking full time, not climbing anywhere near as much as I wanted/needed to. It still took a long time and is still very thin tricky climbing, but it is just not in the same band of difficulty in my opinion. The grade I gave was V10/11, but realistically it is probably just V10 when compared to Niks Wall at V11
Obviously it is difficult to compare the two given the time between the ascents, and the fact that they are both unrepeated? So there is no consensus on grade. So someone needs to get to it and repeat the two problems so this question can be definitively answered once and for all and the whole climbing community can move onto other great unresolved issues, such as "two mats and one spotter or one mat and two spotters?".

[Tommy]

I would post a photo of "Snatch/Glom onto" if I knew how? I doesn't involve using something like flickr does it? What the fork, with that name Pete - just call it "My Snatch"  

[Fiend]

Two mats and one spotter, definitely.

[nik at work]

Is there nothing left to discuss? Has bouldering become an empty shell...

[webbo]

Two mats and one spotter, definitely.

depends on the make of the mat and the origin of the spotter.

[r-man]

Why not compromise? One and a half of both.

[Tommy]

Here Nik,

I'll discuss something...

TML - Nails. Start, ok. Middle ok-ish. Step up and slap to sloper - agh! Swing round - uggh! Top - easy.

I'm glad your dog was spotting you so well that day 

And........ was there that dirty great fallen over tree stump at the bottom when you did it?

[nik at work]

Yes the stump was there, inviting landing. Especially as I thought that I'd probably face plant onto it as I get pulled off the sloper.

So you've actually tried it then?
Or have you repeated it?
Effort if you have, in fact effort for even trying it (I get the impression it's not attempted all that frequently).

I always thought the slab to the right would become an awsome problem one day if you're interested...

[Tommy]

Yeah, I've bouldered up into the middle of the hard sequence and fallen/jumped off (good landing) and then shunted the rest once. I can't do the running slap thing. Frickin hard in my opinion. Whether I'll do it is an entirely different question. 7a tech is not really my sphere of influence to be honest! I'm amazed that you did it in a session with no spotters. 

The slab to the right.... now there's a interesting one. I have to admit I have had a little fiddle with the holds and have held off from cleaning it up. Looks mighty dynamic or requires the skills of a mantle magician!

[GCW]

Hi Nik:  I've had a look at Snatch.  I couldn't see (a) where it goes or (b) any holds 
"The Obvious Sidepull" bit, I assume, refers to to the rightwards facing thing from where the rest looks awfully thin.  May have another look if the place ever dries out properly.  Did you ground-up the problem or have a play on a rope?  My knees are bad enough as it is....

[nik at work]

Cheers.

Yeah some kind of wierd fingertip mantle type thing, pretty desp from what I remember fo the brief play I had on it.

Have you done any of the other routes in the quarries? There's some real quality there at E5+

Do I know you?

[nik at work]

If you couldn't see any holds then you could see where it goes

I played on a rope first because a) it's quite high and b) you really can't see the holds so I didn't even know if there were any to start with.
The sequence from what I remember is:
Do easy starting bit.
Get the rightward facing sidepull with your left as a gaston.
Move left foot to obvious good foothold by right hand
Move right hand to appalling tiny tiny hold, like a circular dent in the rock, out right.
Move right foot up to tiny iron rugosity style ripple (if you are tall you might be able to leave your foot on the lower good foothold which would probably make the problem easier)
Rock up onto right foot.
Reach up with right hand to invisible  thin crimp pretty much at full stretch directly above your head.
Move left hand up to a little dishy sidepull doo-dah
Paste left foot on something and move right foot up to a higher crap foothold
Slap with left hand to a better crimp.
A couple more pulls on actual holds and your at the shelf.

I think thats pretty acurate but it was a few years ago so I might slightly confused the sequence in my senile mind...