UKBouldering.com
the shizzle => chuffing => Topic started by: cofe on January 19, 2009, 08:01:13 pm
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someone asked me the other day and I didn't know.
Question?
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What be the rules?
Pure crack top to bottom? Main crux is a crack?
What about Strawberries, described by Big Ron as old school finger locks in On-Sight, but from the vids its the moves from the top of the crack that seem to be where people were coming off.
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Ray's Roof at Baldstones has got to be up there. At least two ascentionists have had whities on it ???
From UKC News - Tom Randall reports:
"We'd both been out a couple of times recently and were really psyched for some burly roof action, so it was perfect that we both got ascents one after the other. Pete managed to look pretty sketchy on the bottom section, but really got stuck in past the lip, with some of the most inspiring climbing I've seen in quite some time. I think his words were "let me rest here a bit, I think I'm going to throw up!"
The other being Bransby???
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Ray's Roof at Baldstones has got to be up there. At least two ascentionists have had whities on it ???
From UKC News - Tom Randall reports:
"We'd both been out a couple of times recently and were really psyched for some burly roof action, so it was perfect that we both got ascents one after the other. Pete managed to look pretty sketchy on the bottom section, but really got stuck in past the lip, with some of the most inspiring climbing I've seen in quite some time. I think his words were "let me rest here a bit, I think I'm going to throw up!"
The other being Bransby???
I'd say that being objective about it, Ray's Roof isn't actually that bad ;) Burly, but quite short and nothing too powerful.
My vote would go for:
Crack boulder: All Elements V11
Crack route: Street Fighting Years E7 or Ugly E7?
Crack multipitch: Laughing Arthur E7/8
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i wonder about direquiem or whatever sonnie trotter did at dumby, whether that counts?
glad you've turned up tommy, if anyone would know...
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Laughing Arthur was going to be my guess. Has the whole thing been freed yet?
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Screaming Dream's got to be a contender hasn't it, considering the number of repeats?
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To be honest I've got no idea where the Direquiem line goes - I thought it was maybe a cop out to the arete from Dave's E11? I which case, maybe the most ground upable E10 around? I've been up on that headwall recently and couldn't work out what was going on! (Probably as I was too gripped! :) )
Laughing Arthur has been all freed (Pete Oxley), but is in a bad state now - I've had a couple of close calls on the first pitch. It certainly needs to be done by someone who's got the time and mental fortitude!
Thought of another one - an E8 thing on granite near the sea, which has footage of Dave Mac in some film. I think it's a finger crack?
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Even Requem gets E8. I don't think Direquiem follows a crack as we know it Jim.
As for Dave mac's thing by the sea, do you mean The Great Escape E8 on Arran? If so it's a Dunne route, and i don't think the crux follows a crack. Unless my guess is way off. Do you mean Flocktalk E8 on Lewis (http://www.climbing.com/exclusive/features/dumbydave/index5.html (http://www.climbing.com/exclusive/features/dumbydave/index5.html)) see cover pic.
If not I haven't a clue, but here are some other possibilities http://www.scottishclimbs.com/wiki/Hardest_Scottish_Trad_Routes (http://www.scottishclimbs.com/wiki/Hardest_Scottish_Trad_Routes)
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Welcome To The Cruel World (i think) E9 7a on Scafell. It IS a crack, just a very thin one. Dave Birkett of course, you know, with the pinkie mono jam on it.
The problem is crack routes are even less tangible than slackers alludes to....where does crack climbing stop and very small vertical slotty hold cranking begin??
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To quote Big Ron 'the hard cracks are the old cracks', ie the newer, harder routes aren't really crack climbing. Screaming dream certainly ain't, I think the lack of repeats is more to do with being too short to bother leading and too bad a landing to try highballing.
Similarly I suspect our offwidth testpieces on grit and gogarth wouldn't be that hard to a Veaudavoo (sp?) local.
Welcome to the cruel world would get my vote.
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Thought of another one - an E8 thing on granite near the sea, which has footage of Dave Mac in some film. I think it's a finger crack?
I think you mean Comfortably Numb on the Aberdeen sea cliffs (first climbed by Tim Rankin) which was in Committed. E8 6c or fr8a ish so probs not the hardest crack in the UK.
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Of course. must be the one he was referring to. Good detective work Niall.
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Welcome to the cruel world would get my vote.
Yeah nice one JB. I think you've hit the nail on the head there. About French 8b isn't it? I was talking to Al Philzakea about it and he's even mentioned it might be safeish! Well, well....
Shame most climbers haven't got the leg strength and fitness to do the walk in :whistle:
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If i remember rightly Screaming Dream is f8b.
It is by no means not worth bothering with JB, you are so strange.
Although it is not, strictly speaking, crack climbing.
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Always wondered what French grade for Gigantic in Wilton 1. Anyone know?
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Always wondered what French grade for Gigantic in Wilton 1. Anyone know?
8a+ ish
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Let's not take the piss here. I think we all know the hardest cracks are:
Minion's Way
Tippling Crack
The fucking thing after the roof section of Western Front
Bird's Nest Crack (to solo :whistle:)
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If i remember rightly Screaming Dream is f8b.
It is by no means not worth bothering with JB, you are so strange.
I never said that! I just tried to give a reason why it is ignored whilst the Jerry cover tick next door is mobbed.
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If i remember rightly Screaming Dream is f8b.
It is by no means not worth bothering with JB, you are so strange.
I never said that! I just tried to give a reason why it is ignored whilst the Jerry cover tick next door is mobbed.
and it is two grades harder
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Minion's Way
Word. After visiting Brimham intermittently for my 3 years in Leeds, my best effort was 3 moves up. I reckon it's morpho, and hard for people who have bodies that can't jam for toffee (although after Squamish I would like to have another crack (see what I did there) at it). Is it polished to hell now?
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surely giggling crack has to be up there too...?
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A potential must be the little one right of Ramshaw Crack.
What's the world's hardest cracks? Greenspit? Cobra Crack? The old Ron Kauk bolted one. The Meltdown?
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surely giggling crack has to be up there too...?
I seriously doubt that the hardest crack in the UK is an offwidth. I should add that I haven't tried giggling crack yet, at this point.
But we (ie brits) are essentially shite at them, and i don't think (again, this is currently specualtion since i haven't tried it yet) that Jardine's original grade for Ray's Roof was taking the piss that much.
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Cobra Crack? The Meltdown?
grade wise, I think it's one of the two, depending on your body type.
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Chris, I spent a pleasant quarter of an hour or so being laughed at by school children as I tried to get more than one move off the floor. I think the cam I had in was putting me off but we didn't have any pads that day so didn't want to risk anything. Came away with the most mauled hands I've ever had. The starting footholds are now like glass covered in fairy liquid.
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Surely, one of the problems with grading cracks is the size of your fingers/hand relative to the crack. Am thinking of Lynn Hill on The Nose and Beth Rodden on The Optimist- is it not true that cos they have teeny lasses' hands and fingers they can utilise the small cracks much more effectively.
Works the other way round too. I was able to downgrade Pongo direct (dumbarton) from fb8a to 7b simply cos my knuckles were the right size for a particular jam... :whistle:
Morpho indeed.
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surely giggling crack has to be up there too...?
I am told it's easier wearing a wetsuit......
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:agree:
Although some are inherently heinous like Ray's Roof and Gigglin' Crack.
I know a girl who can get her whole hand into a perfect jam on Ilkley's Tufted Crack :spank:
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Surely, one of the problems with grading cracks is the size of your fingers/hand relative to the crack. Am thinking of Lynn Hill on The Nose and Beth Rodden on The Optimist- is it not true that cos they have teeny lasses' hands and fingers they can utilise the small cracks much more effectively.
In the case of the nose, i have been told that this was mainly used as a lame excuse by people who thought it would be easier / didn't want to get spanked on a route FAd by a lass. Generally, i would agree though - on a pure crack grades are even more subjective than they normally are.
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surely giggling crack has to be up there too...?
I seriously doubt that the hardest crack in the UK is an offwidth. I should add that I haven't tried giggling crack yet, at this point.
But we (ie brits) are essentially shite at them, and i don't think (again, this is currently specualtion since i haven't tried it yet) that Jardine's original grade for Ray's Roof was taking the piss that much.
Good point young creamtime beast. I couldn't get my arse up Generator Crack could I? So these Brit things can't be that hard ;)
Elder Crack is about 5.8 in the Valley and Right Eliminate 5.9. Those Yanks know how to cruise the wide, that's for sure.
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I imagine the standard of crack climbing has gone up very little in Britain in the last 30 years or so. Remember, Joe Brown basically soloed Right Eliminate, as, I imagine, did most of those who repeated it, until the chock was inserted. Steve Bancroft said that when he was young, Goliath was no big deal, just the next one up from doing The Rasp. There really haven't been all that many pure cracks added in recent decades, has there?
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I guess the thing about a lot of cracks is that, in the terms you're speaking of there, they were the obvious lines of the time. Without sticky rubber the slabs that people are drawn to today are feasible in a way that they wouldn't have been back in Brown's day. And then there's the fact that most advances in climbing ability have come in the foot department while crack climbing is often very much in the arms, something which, unless training hard, hasn't really improved much since we are still the same homo sapien. Dare I say something like Goliath might be easier in big boots? Isn't there a picture of someone doing Ray's Roof in roller skates?! Have I just made that up?
Still major props to those doing these routes in the time before cams and the like.
How many good quality pure crack climbs that are unclimbed are there in England?
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i wonder also what the hardest crack is that's been climbed while bubbling crack?
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How many good quality pure crack climbs that are unclimbed are there in England?
Loads on Scotland. One notable (unrepeated) Scottish one is Noth West Eliminate up at Sheigra. Given E4 6a and FAed by Martin Boysen. Offwidth and just about protectable with massive cams.See the FA list in the back of Northern Highlands North, where Boysen is quoted as saying "That will ladder their fancy fucking tights". Class.
Also Burning Desire at Ardmair is amazing. crack is not the crux though.
(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/228/488832007_edf92312ea.jpg?v=1198528391)
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I imagine the standard of crack climbing has gone up very little in Britain in the last 30 years or so. Remember, Joe Brown basically soloed Right Eliminate, as, I imagine, did most of those who repeated it, until the chock was inserted. Steve Bancroft said that when he was young, Goliath was no big deal, just the next one up from doing The Rasp. There really haven't been all that many pure cracks added in recent decades, has there?
Also, some wide cracks are definitely easier to climb in approach shoes than in modern climbing shoes. Especially pure cracks in sizes from baggy camalot #4 up to #6.
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while crack climbing is often very much in the arms,
this belief may explain the extent of your difficulty with it. ;)
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There really haven't been all that many pure cracks added in recent decades, has there?
True. But there aren't many left in my opinion. Even Ramshaw Crack Right seems to be more fridge hugging than true crack climbing.
The last one I remember was probably The Obscene Cleft, but as far as I'm aware it's not really off widthing at all. The only true display I've seen in recent times would be Tom's Melvin Bragg at Ramshaw, which requires a wide array of techniques. It's atleast the only problem or route i've ever been on that truly requires stacking or anything beyond fist jamming or narrow chimneying style techniques.
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3264/3155456447_9b17b76bfd.jpg?v=0)
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3124/3162916165_6f8671f06b.jpg?v=0)
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3242/3163738320_3940731186.jpg?v=0)
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Nice photo's Andi, especially the bottom two :whistle:
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Its a strange place for a pirate to end up, thats for sure.
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Ha! Brilliant! Nice photos Andi - the bottom one sums it all up pretty well. Got it done yet? :)
After you've finished that one, I've found another which climbs just like Ray's - wrong side of the Peak mind you! :P
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The bottom two pics are Martin 'Mini' Dearden's. This was the weekend after you guys did it, we still didn't manage it, next time!
Keen to see your new project, sounds interesting.
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Its a strange place for a pirate to end up, thats for sure.
Do you think he always goes Ooaaaar when getting a double fist in the crack.
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..ooh, i know i do sweetheart