[r-man]

Yesterday the Groundhog sitstart went down. By about 3 inches. Paul Robins made the first matless ascent and felt it worthy of V9, much harder than with a mat, which Jordan Buys climbed in February and thought was worth around V7/8.

Here's the entry in the Brownstones guide:

V9 6c - Ground hog Sitstart. The lower arete itself is a great problem, finishing at the obvious jug. Though rumours of the "been done years before" variety abound, the only known ascents have come this year, first with a visit from Jordan Buys, who took less than half an hour to complete the problem, then a couple of months later when Paul Robins climbed the problem from a matless sit-start, which he felt worthy of a much harder grade. F.A. Jordan Buys, 26th Feb 2005. First matless ascent Paul Robins 27 April 2005.

And the updated Brownstones topo (with a few other problems also added since last time, such as the V6 traverse of Tulip and the V7 eliminate Unpinched) is here:

Brownstones pdf

[SA Chris]

Paul Robins made the first matless ascent and felt it worthy of V9, much harder than without a mat, which Jordan Buys climbed in February and thought was worth around V7/8.

I think you got it a bit wrong there?

[r-man]

Paul Robins made the first matless ascent and felt it worthy of V9, much harder than without a mat, which Jordan Buys climbed in February and thought was worth around V7/8.

I think you got it a bit wrong there?

   I think you're right. I seem to be doing that a lot today. I'll edit the above.

[a dense loner]

first matless ascent? get a fuckin grip. the most stupid thing i've ever heard. the hardest thing about this problem would be trying to say my heels didn't touch the ground while keeping a straight face

[Scouse D]

Paul Robins made the first matless ascent and felt it worthy of V9, much harder than with a mat,

 First matless ascent Paul Robins 27 April 2005.

This is very funny. I hope it's a piss take.

[cofe]

classic.

[dave]

its gotta be a gotcha - wheres noel edmunds? I'm just waiting for mr blobby to come careering into the forum knocking stuff over and shit.

[r-man]

Paul Robins made the first matless ascent and felt it worthy of V9, much harder than with a mat,

 First matless ascent Paul Robins 27 April 2005.

This is very funny. I hope it's a piss take.

All true, just a bit tongue in cheek. Paul didn't know Jordan had climbed it a couple of months earlier, so thought it was a first ascent. It's just me that's emphasising the matless bit - not Paul's fault. I just thought I'd highlight a good ascent of a good problem, and Noel Edmunds was begging to help.

[Bonjoy]

Is anyone working on the bare-arse extension? Those two layers of fabric make a world of difference you know!

[andy_e]

tunnel start? i'm sure r-man's 'Dig For Victory' idea of making a crag bigger by digging a bit will make stuff harder.

[a dense loner]

since it would be another first ascent a new name would be in order, the cheesegrater

[clm]

im having my but cheeks excised by laser right now in preparation.

on a more serious note i found it a very stumpy problem ie i have too much gangle and with knees either side of my chin and hands down by my ankles i couldnt pull on.

ps.  i know that makes me sound horribly deformed but think about it...if a mat can make a difference.....

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

 :shock: words fail me....

[Johnny Brown]

Any of you access crew recognise that. Can it be Ian 'Mac' Macnulty??

[r-man]

tunnel start? i'm sure r-man's 'Dig For Victory' idea of making a crag bigger by digging a bit will make stuff harder.

It's worked in the past. :wink: Though to be honest that was only to flatten out the landing. I discovered during that experiment that to actually make any sizeable difference to the height of a problem, you'd need to do a hell of a lot of digging. Where's my lackey?

[r-man]

Is anyone working on the bare-arse extension? Those two layers of fabric make a world of difference you know!

 

I think I should probably point out again that Paul didn't make a big thing of not using a mat, and I over-exaggerated the whole mat thing. I should have just said that the Ground hog sit start has been done again, and is probably around V8/9. But the comedy value was just too tempting...  :wink:

[JR]

get them excuses in early.....

   :wink:  :roll:

[cofe]

think i just passed r-man backtracking out the forum as i sauntered in...

is anyone else concerned about all the talk of tunnel entry etc going on by a load of g(u)ys on an internet forum? no? just me then.

bummers are deaf.

[dave]

bummers are deaf.

say what?