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the shizzle => shootin' the shit => music, art and culture => Topic started by: Will Hunt on May 26, 2009, 07:23:21 pm

Title: Andy Popp's Stomping Grounds
Post by: Will Hunt on May 26, 2009, 07:23:21 pm
Kudos Andy. I don't buy the mag any more but picked up a copy to read your article. Not just about the area but about the attachment that we feel to our Stomping Grounds. Excellently written as always and very moving. Thanks for sharing it.
Title: Re: Andy Popp's Stomping Grounds
Post by: fatneck on May 27, 2009, 11:29:43 am
Well said Will. I thought it was the best Stomping Ground article yet. Heartfelt and meaningfull.
How does Bermuda Triangle ever, ever get V2 though?
Title: Re: Andy Popp's Stomping Grounds
Post by: fatneck on May 27, 2009, 11:32:48 am
Just found this on another thread which might explain the BT grading issue...

Quote from: King of Cheshire Sandbagging
Its just that I seem to have lost all sense of grades

 ;)
Title: Re: Andy Popp's Stomping Grounds
Post by: Richie Crouch on May 27, 2009, 11:42:00 am
Well Catalepsy is around 6b/+ and clearly 2-3 grades harder than BT, hence it being ~ 5c/6a in new money  :devangel:
Title: Re: Andy Popp's Stomping Grounds
Post by: andy_e on May 27, 2009, 12:26:34 pm
Hard V5 for Monoblock then?
Title: Re: Andy Popp's Stomping Grounds
Post by: Oli on May 27, 2009, 12:52:24 pm
Hard V5 for Monoblock then?

 :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank:

Hard 6C+ for Monoblock then?

 :shrug:
Title: Re: Andy Popp's Stomping Grounds
Post by: moose on May 27, 2009, 12:59:17 pm
Hard V5 for Monoblock then?

fffhhhhhh.... you must be joking!  It can't be that hard: it's a slab.  I have it on good authority (passers-by & my mum) that difficulty is in direct proportion to angle of overhang.  Now excuse me whilst I train for my next big send using the monkey-bars at the local kids playground.
Title: Re: Andy Popp's Stomping Grounds
Post by: Will Hunt on May 27, 2009, 02:34:50 pm
At first I thought that it was a shame that the rock looked green and a bit unappealing in the photos but after reading it I was reallly enthused to go and do the routes. I've barely left Pex.

A friend who works in Mountain Intelligence and thus who is kitted out with all the latest gear and knowledge said that BB Guns had said that on the day of the shoot it was raining to an extent where a hood had to be put on the lens of the camera which would explain some greenness
Title: Re: Andy Popp's Stomping Grounds
Post by: GCW on May 27, 2009, 02:38:05 pm
Yeah, Andi_e said you'd said he'd said you said it had been said by a friend of yours that BB guns had said that.   ???
Title: Re: Andy Popp's Stomping Grounds
Post by: Will Hunt on May 27, 2009, 02:49:00 pm
No no no  ::)

I said that you said that she said that your mum said that you said...  :read:
Title: Re: Andy Popp's Stomping Grounds
Post by: slackline on May 27, 2009, 02:52:51 pm
Ironic that praise for Andy's elegant prose has degraded into Vicki Pollard speak  :lol:
Title: Re: Andy Popp's Stomping Grounds
Post by: Will Hunt on May 27, 2009, 07:31:52 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UT02--Ijdc&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UT02--Ijdc&feature=related)
Title: Re: Andy Popp's Stomping Grounds
Post by: Falling Down on May 27, 2009, 08:04:36 pm
Ironic that praise for Andy's elegant prose has degraded into Vicki Pollard speak  :lol:

And a grading debate....
Title: Re: Andy Popp's Stomping Grounds
Post by: fatneck on May 29, 2009, 07:28:05 pm
Quote from: Wise Folk
Ironic that praise for Andy's elegant prose has degraded into Vicki Pollard speak 
And a grading debate....

Sorry about that  :-[

Back on topic, the article inspired me to head over to Helsby today and the greenness is all but gone, the crag in great nick and I had a really nice time, the Peregrines above adding to the sense of time and place.

In the words of the Poppmeister:

"Helsby has a marvelous outlook. All the world seemingly beneath your feet. Industry and landscape and habitation.... And there to the West is Wales; the promised land. Sat on top, we can see Kirkus, the crags most illustrious son, pushing westward on his bike, full of excitement for another snatched visit to the heartland, his tragically early death foretold by the ravens wheeling through the skies..."

Genius
Title: Re: Andy Popp's Stomping Grounds
Post by: Will Hunt on May 29, 2009, 07:38:03 pm
Nice prose innit loike?

Can't wait to get over there in the Summer. Shame I'm only getting two weeks holiday as I'm starting this job.
Title: Re: Andy Popp's Stomping Grounds
Post by: BenF on June 01, 2009, 07:28:57 am
BB Guns had said that on the day of the shoot it was raining to an extent where a hood had to be put on the lens of the camera which would explain some greenness

I was with him at Pex and it wasn't raining, in fact it was all dry as fuck although rain was expected so the visit was unfortunately very hurried.  I imagine by the time they got to Helsby it was a bit damp though.  More amusing was that when I arrived Ben was trying desperately to get warmed up on Breakaway, mistakenly thinking it was Bermuda Triangle.  It pleased me to think that a visitor could be expecting Pex grades to be so tough that they could confuse a 7b with a 6a+.   ;) 
Title: Re: Andy Popp's Stomping Grounds
Post by: Johnny Brown on June 01, 2009, 09:35:03 am
Perhaps I made the same mistake... I did what I thought was Bermuda triangle and it felt about 7b. I think I told this to Ben as well...

Nice article Andy. Any chance of getting the full 'at the end of an evening's climbing in staffordshire' online?
Title: Re: Andy Popp's Stomping Grounds
Post by: Monolith on June 01, 2009, 03:01:56 pm
Finally got to read it yesterday Andy. Very nicely written mate. Feeling a resurgence of psyche coming on for Helsby since reading it. I really know very little of Helsby having only ever climbed on that barrel shaped boulder across the course of many sessions when I first started climbing as well as Flake Crack and Eliminate One (is it called?). In any case, I think there was a photo of you on something called The Runnels (?) that looked awesome. Good work good man.
Title: Re: Andy Popp's Stomping Grounds
Post by: andy popp on June 02, 2009, 07:53:30 pm
Thanks everyone for the kind comments, its nice to know something has been read and enjoyed. I'll try and scan and post that earlier piece in the next day or so.
Title: Re: Andy Popp's Stomping Grounds
Post by: andy popp on June 24, 2009, 10:08:52 am
So much for next day or so - anyway, as requested, here's 'At the End of an Evening Climbing in Staffordshire' (OTE 11)

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3381/3656000931_e5edd822c6_b.jpg)
Title: Re: Andy Popp's Stomping Grounds
Post by: Johnny Brown on June 24, 2009, 10:14:39 am
Magic stuff that, Andy, much appreciated.
Title: Re: Andy Popp's Stomping Grounds
Post by: Falling Down on June 24, 2009, 05:27:28 pm
Thanks Andy
Title: Re: Andy Popp's Stomping Grounds
Post by: fatneck on June 25, 2009, 09:58:51 pm
Boss!
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