| When Adam Bailes and Dan Varian said yes to a trip to Hoy I was excited. It’s always nice when you ring people to go on a trip and they say they’re well keen, it’s like they’re saying they don’t think you’re too much of a tool, although me and Dan were gutted Adam said yes as we only asked him out of politeness (only kidding). Inspired by the pictures of Dave Macleod on the top pitch of Long Hope we were keen to check it out ready for an attempt on the whole thing in the longer days (and hopefully better weather) of next year. Battered Haggis & Chips | |
| | Waking up to very strong winds we head to the Anvil where Dan goes up Firepower to check the moves and does it easily next go. Watching him piss the V10 crux I remembered he’s got several grades in hand. I nurse tired arms from the poor warm up the day before and head back early for a coffee and guidebook read. We drive to Fort and stay with Guy and Blair. Next day we head to Reiff. This place is special. The rock feels like granite. We solo abit and walk for hours without finding the routes i was keen for. We do a nice E4, Walk like an Egyptian where Adam showed his disco routine on the top corner. |
| | The next day makes up for the first. After a lazy start we ab into Rora head again (with a guidebook) and do an amazing 3 pitch E6 called Two Wee Laddies. The position and gear was great and it ranks as one of the finest of its grade I’ve done in the UK. The next day we make the pilgrimage back to St Johns head. Abseiling down the face is sheltered from the strong Southerlies giving perfect climbing conditions. I spend half an hour on a grigri playing on the moves and checking the protection. Adam goes down for a look and when its my turn for a top rope I’m keen to do the longest link i can and manage to link it 1st go |
| The pitch would way in at E8 7a, with good protection after the initial E5 start. It’s a great achievement by Dave Macleod to do it after all the other pitches as climbing an E8 7a when tired is hard. The pitch itself is not E9 because it’s lacking in any form of runout with many E6/7s being much more serious propositions than this. Once you’ve done the E5 start you could fall off any move and not go very far and even the E5 you’d just take airtime. It also has only 1 move that would warrant 7a, and 2 of 6c. | E9/10 should have multiple 6c/7a moves and a runout, when you look at Macleods Echo wall and Rhapsody these routes fit the remit of E11 well, 8c with big runouts - amazing efforts and a big step forward in trad standards in the UK. Ricky Bells the Rachlin Effect is blatantly a sandbag at the grade of E8 having 8a+ climbing and a 6b move after a 10m runout nr the end which would give you plenty of time to admire Rachlin wall, sounds like E9 to me. If Longhopes top pitch was graded harder than Ricky’s I don’t think it would be fair as I doubt it’s anywhere near as big a lead. I look forward to getting back up there with a team next year and expect it to be one of the uber classic hard routes of the UK as it deserves. Stunning efforts from Drummond, Hill, Arran, Turnbull, Macleod and Turner. Get up there. |
| Heading to Yosemite tomorrow with a largish team. I’ve been there 3 times previously. The first was 11 years ago with my dad, after he’d retired from building footpaths for the National Trust. We’d planned to try the Nose as he’d loved the history with Harding and regarded Lynn Hills 1 day effort as the best ever. Unfortunately the journey took its toll on his already pummelled hip so walking was issue enough but it was great to see the place. The second time was with Al and Joe Wilson, Chris Hope the ‘other Chris’ in 2002. 2 friends I was meant to be climbing with had bailed near the time of departure but it was still a pretty good trip doing lots of the smaller Valley classics like Astroman, Rostrum, West Face of El Cap etc. I climbed Astroman with a guy called Joe, I’d been warned not to climb with him for being too slow but we topped out at 14.00 and apart from getting his helmet stuck in the Slot for 5 mins he seemed quite fast. When we topped out he asked, “Do you think Warren was watching us?” I assured him that he certainly had. The 3rd trip was last October and was somewhat special in terms of shit luck. I had had high expectations of this trip for having a great team of people and being twice as fit as when I was last there. Alison Osius emailed what I was hoping to do and I naively said Golden Gate, El Nino and Freerider. Myself, Neil Mawson, Adam Hocking and Hazel Findlay travelled out and Ryan Pasquil, Katy Whittaker, Paul Smitten, Pete and Vicky Hurley were already out there. | Hock on the Hollow I’d booked a 4-door economy hire car through Dollar. On arriving they said we wouldn’t fit and would have to upgrade via lots more money. We said we’d try and going down to the garage I felt like Victor Meldrew when I saw the car they’d allotted us. It was a 2-door car with no boot. After an angry interchange at their office it ended with my credit card getting brought out... |
| Dan (broken heel) McManus | We manage to get a camping space in upper pines the first night where in the middle of the night we get flooded and spend the next day drying out everything. At some point that night I think I reversed the car slightly into one of the concrete bunkers in the parking spaces but thought nothing of it until Mawson points out a scratch on the back. Nobody had wanted to pay additional insurance and any damage to the car would be taken by the credit card used. This made me nervous during the whole trip and for pretty good reason as it was used like a wheelbarrow for much of the trip. The weather was awful the first 2 days so we visited a steep sport cliff called Jailhouse. On arriving I couldn’t believe my luck, Alex Honnold and Niko Favresse were there, 2 of the modern time climbers I had most respect for. I’d spoken with my friend Pete Robbins about such a possibility. Being on higher than normal sport fitness and being a total idiot I try to impress them. After falling high on a climb in the middle of the cliff 3 times I was totally wasted. |
| Adam shouts to take him there and I look down to see blood around him. He manages to jumar up to me and I see blood and goo in his hair. I knew he was a tough git as in primary school I’d chased him over a 2m drop he’d taken headfirst when his feet clipped a rail, he’d got up and walked away with a bump and bleeding but not crying. The decision to abseil off was quick and to get back across to Hollow Flake involved jumaring sideways on 3 little bits of core attached to one peg with a heavy haulbag attached to me. At the fixed lines we met Piton Pete who had been pissed to lose a partner 2 days previous but had found someone more willing and with a haulbag dedicated to beer they were resting and getting aled up. I’d melted the top of my widebrimmer hat using it as a teatowel for a percolator minus its necessary water so with that and Adams face covered in blood we looked a pair of tools. Pete gave us some great advice as we passed “you wankers go get yourselves some helmets”. We touchdown, walk back to Camp4 and Hock gets his head looked at which thankfully only needs a few stitches. | Hocks Face at the Base |
| Hock on Separate Reality | Deciding on how much damage was done took a few anxious minutes but luckily he’d only broken his heel and also that it was the last two days of his holiday. Walking back to camp 4 I’d decided on two possible options for the afternoon. Option 1 was to read my kindle, option two, to write about how turd the trip had been. On arriving I find my kindle is broken probably from the flooding the first night. Hocking and myself were living in a ‘holy’ tent lent by the great Libby from SARS and it made for quite a dry dusty environment. After a few days moaning about everything even Hocking had had enough and set off on Pete Hurley & Cos’s perilous journey up Half Dome which was going to involve 9 people bivvying on a small foot shelf. This fellowship was broken after the first 2 pitches and a small elite team came back successfully a few days later. |
| In the New Year I changed my mind remembering that when I first got into climbing doing a big route on El Cap was a primary objective. Another team has been ‘assembled’ and I’m feeling a bit luckier this time although one member of the team Ben Bransby has just cancelled two days ago due to having a virus, Vertigo or Labrynthitus? Ben will be sorely missed on any pitch involving hard moves, especially the steep ones but hopefully will be recovered for Longhope next June. Myself, Callum Muskett and Dan (broken heel) McManus are heading out. Others include; Hazel, Alex H? And Neil Dyer will be there as well. Callum and Dan are going for Golden Gate and everyone else is going for Muir Wall and if there is time I’d love to try Salathe. Dan did Goliath 15 times the other night before doing some sort of speed solo on it so I’m sure he’ll find the Monster OW easy (ha). I’m looking forward to hanging out on El Cap as much as I can and I’m hoping to do less abseiling and moaning. | Sean with Flute |
| One of the few forays outdoors since I’ve been back was to have a day out at Dorys with Sophie. We chose Samarkand, an E5 just right of Byzantium which I know has some of the best rock on the cliff. I gave Sophie 2 tips before starting. One was not to fall off the start as seconding with 45m of rope out could easily put you on the deck/boulders with the stretch. The other was to check every hold before using it as it’s not like grit. The contrast between the good Yosemite granite and the ‘good’ Dorys rock felt considerable and after our ascent we met a friend Sam at the Beacon Climbing Wall who had pulled a flake off the top of the same climb and broken his leg in the fall. I classed this as getting away lightly having been nervous about the prospect of pulling a hold off the top wall my imagination had made the consequences more serious. There are many terrifying stories people have from climbing on the Lleyn. Sat in the Heights with Leigh McGinley he tells the story of him and Chris Wentworth going for a repeat of Littlejohns and Sustads epic traverse of Dorys, War and Peace, a 16 pitch E5. Towards the end a ledge collapsed on Leigh and his fall pulled out Chris’ belay with the pair of them left hanging on one cam and both of them battered and bloodied. They had no car so had to walk back to Abersoch and hitch back to the Heights in Llanberis to consume lots of ale. I presume they had a thousand mile stare on each of them. | Climbing on Terrorhawk, a Littlejohn and White masterpiece |
| | See Left - The Matadors and an incriminating picture off a social networking site put there by the person who gained some airtime on the Enduro Corner (and many more pitches) on Astroman just above. |
The Ambassador, E8 7a (http://www.jamesmchaffie.com/1/post/2013/09/the-ambassador-e8-7a.html)
The Wrinkled Retainer is definitely lacking attention at the moment
Source: James Mchaffie - Caffs (B)Log... (http://www.jamesmchaffie.com/caffs-blog.html)
| Stan and Cian on the belay of Big Groove direct, E4. Gogarth Main cliff | Catrin and Cameron climbing Hardd, staying dry in the heavy rain |
| Morning views from the Priests Hole | The Priests Hole |
| Neil abseiling in from the top | Neil warming up |
17
Nice list Caff
:)
Jeez. I've led two and seconded three, one of which we agreed (Caff led) was E4!
Pics don't come through tho :S
What I like about Leos achievement is that he abhorred training, wasn’t a keen sports climber but with all the modern strength gains the best of today would still struggle to replicate his effort. Although some UKBeliebers would argue the point.
Exactly
Whilst Bishrat comes across as quite thoughtful and eloquent, this guy comes across as a fuckwit, to the level that it doesn't seem worth responding to the post
I thought he hit the nail on the head to be honest.
Well, among the top women in novel dws comps at least. She does appear to perform best in a bikini.
I think there's legs in the idea of pairing together dry-witted pasty sun-avoiding British trad onsighting machine Caff with cute effervescent smiley US blonde boulderer-model Sierra. Chuck them both into an outdoors US bouldering comp, followed by a trip into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and film the outcome.
Seems to have got people talking anyway...
https://climbcore.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/sierra-blair-coyle-who-gives-a-s-if-shes-a-model-who-climbs-hard/
I think there's legs in the idea of pairing together dry-witted pasty sun-avoiding British trad onsighting machine Caff with cute effervescent smiley US blonde boulderer-model Sierra. Chuck them both into an outdoors US bouldering comp, followed by a trip into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and film the outcome.
Any others? There must be some shallow douchebag guys that over-emphasize their masculinity to attract media exposure, in a context loosely based around climbing/mountaineering.
Livesey gave his routes minimal inspection.
That has got be the biggest mis quote of the year/ century about the man who invented how to pre practice and the art of bringing a route down to your standard rather training up to how hard it is.
I thought it was interesting and must have raised a few eyebrows recently in the training beta podcast when Ondra revealed that he weighs 68kg, which is well over 10.5 stone... It doesn't seem to stop him cranking out the big numbers! ;)
Perhaps when the club huts ‘die out’ they’ll be bought up and made into climbing walls where one can hire a ‘mind-full performance climbing coach’ who doesn’t climb but has a background in kayaking, learning styles and training paradigms.Snort! Top blog, we need more of this sort of stuff.
Leave Cadfael alone you cunt :boxing:
Aitor recommended a route called Azul de Samarcanda a 6b+ diagonal line as a warm up! Aitor lent me encouragement on the first 3m I managed to clip the 2nd bolt with relief and thought back to Dawes words. It had felt like an e4 6b
“James Mcbullshit I’m wearing these”
rumour of Dave Macleod losing loads of weight living on cheesecake and butter
It’s worth remembering that many of the UKs top sport climbers very rarely climb above E5 without use of a top rope and if they do it normally involves a cameraman to capture the rarity so being able to onsight E5/6 on a variety of different rock types is a bigger deal than the modern media often makes out.
That point strikes me as a bit stereotypical of those who find it difficult remembering that being strong physically doesn’t equate to being adept on physically easier but bold climbing - or even on climbs with any perceived risk greater than a typical sport climb.
Whereas the facts are that onsighting E6 is still a level few achieve with any regularity. Why?
Not sure I agree more beta was around back in the day?
QuoteIt’s worth remembering that many of the UKs top sport climbers very rarely climb above E5 without use of a top rope and if they do it normally involves a cameraman to capture the rarity so being able to onsight E5/6 on a variety of different rock types is a bigger deal than the modern media often makes out.
I'm glad this has come up, something about that comment annoyed me. Of course that is Caffs raison d'etre.
I just thought, how does he know what anyone is doing? And of course I then wondered exactly who the dig is aimed at? or is this ire just the media, the sponsors, British climbings existential question.
, then regularly on sighting E6 is equivalent to 8c+ redpoints in my book. But cooler.
I think Caff's totally right, and from my perspective as a sport weeny who underperforms at trad the reason is training.
5-10 years ago there was hardly anyone climbing 8c and above. Now there are tons, and the difference is training. In the 90s it was all grit and bouldering and no-one bothered to train stamina. Now it's in fashion and sport grades have rocketed.
, then regularly on sighting E6 is equivalent to 8c+ redpoints in my book. But cooler.
Trad is to sport climbing what skateboarding is to rollerblading. You can do bigger flips and tricks on a pair of rollerblades but skateboarding will always be cooler.
, then regularly on sighting E6 is equivalent to 8c+ redpoints in my book. But cooler.
Trad is to sport climbing what skateboarding is to rollerblading. You can do bigger flips and tricks on a pair of rollerblades but skateboarding will always be cooler.
Thats a terrible analogy. Maybe more like skating vert and street.
, then regularly on sighting E6 is equivalent to 8c+ redpoints in my book. But cooler.
Trad is to sport climbing what skateboarding is to rollerblading. You can do bigger flips and tricks on a pair of rollerblades but skateboarding will always be cooler.
Thats a terrible analogy. Maybe more like skating vert and street.
.
As a result, if you measure impressiveness by the number of people doing it on a regular basis, then regularly on sighting E6 is equivalent to 8c+ redpoints in my book. But cooler.
(and earache off his wife).
It's not that complicated. Less people are having a trad apprenticeship now as they're distracted with sport and bouldering, indoor walls and all this training business
..
As a result, if you measure impressiveness by the number of people doing it on a regular basis, then regularly on sighting E6 is equivalent to 8c+ redpoints in my book. But cooler.
That's because you've climbed 9a but are relatively crap at trad. The numbers are down because of the reasons I stated above not because it's the equivalent of climbing 8c+. For someone who's good at trad like Pete Robins onsighting e6 is a rest day whereas climbing 8c+ is a summers worth of stress and effort (and earache off his wife).
It's not that complicated. Less people are having a trad apprenticeship now as they're distracted with sport and bouldering, indoor walls and all this training business
..
As a result, if you measure impressiveness by the number of people doing it on a regular basis, then regularly on sighting E6 is equivalent to 8c+ redpoints in my book. But cooler.
That's because you've climbed 9a but are relatively crap at trad. The numbers are down because of the reasons I stated above not because it's the equivalent of climbing 8c+. For someone who's good at trad like Pete Robins onsighting e6 is a rest day whereas climbing 8c+ is a summers worth of stress and effort (and earache off his wife).
As a result, if you measure impressiveness by the number of people doing it on a regular basis, then regularly on sighting E6 is equivalent to 8c+ redpoints in my book
It was going to be necessary to walk back to the ferry and change the time to the following day. Varian was too nice to ask to do this duty, Adam too lazy, Ray too old and Ben just too simple to be trusted with the task, DMM gave him some ’work’ as part of a community responsibility scheme.:lol: