[grimer]

Actually, I swear to god, I was sure for a long time that it was somebody on here who had invented him for the crack.

[account_inactive]

That would be funny if I'd not had a drunken night in Sheffield and pontificated on setting up a similar ruse

[Falling Down]

Grimer - I was reading Millstone and Beyond and came across all those claimed ascents and blinkered lines from that youth who was in Sheff for a while and wrote up all his routes like Williams' Indian Face description - whatever happened to him?

[grimer]

Is that John Marsden? God knows what happened to him. My guess is he stopped being a self-obsessed teenage hothead and probably caught himself on.

[Johnny Brown]

Don't you mean Darren Thomas? Works down the foundry now i think.

[dave]

no darren thomas was the one claiming things like direct start to parthian and E1 7as done in trainers, this other guy is the one who wrote things like:

'Between Covent Garden and Lotto is a blunt and scooped arete with bouldering problems, get up this (6a) to the grassy ledge and thus reaching a short but impressively sharp arete. Gear at your feet. Two very delicate moves with an anti-barndoor (Jeee-SUS CHRRRISSTT!!!) lunge will see this over with or you under the worms. From the top of this arete and on the left wall is a shield shaped block with heather on top, get on top, but first place crap gear behind this shield or spy a small rock spike, put a narrow tape round it then a nut above in order to keep the tape in place DO NOT CLIP THE NUT. Then get that top with your hands, do not stand. More gear?. Then throw out the left leg to you know what. THEN left hand up to a ……., anything which will support . THEN bring up your right foot to the side of the right hand. THEN come to a stance and find a hidden little edge above your head, using the hole to the left crimp up like a bloody fool to the big break, far too big for gear, tearfully scrape yourself left to the roof crack, bang in gear where you was to put your hand but it's a bomber and the rest is easy.'

[Greg C]

Si O'Conor wrote on his blog: The back of the Bowderstone has always been a bit of an unsung classic aye. I once did a full traverse from left of 4x through & rightward up to the 'hand-shakey' hole & so on...which can make you quite tired. 4X hadn't been named back then but had definately been surmounted.

 

Pretty impressive; Si apparently did a left to right traverse on the back of The Stone, and XXXX had also been climbed before Ryan claimed it.

CHINNY RECKON!

[Dude]

Cheers for that J.Marsden quote Dave, that's funny!  Heres some more.....

'To the left (of Great Portland Street) is Monopoly but the guide gives no indication of the route so: follow the curving crack/flake line to the ledges on top. Step up then move left then direct to finish just left of the uper horizontal crack.' 'Start just right and boulder through green stuff to land on decent ledges then direct keeping 5 ... 6 feet left of Great Portland Street'. 'One of these is Monopoly, neither is 6b. Both were self belayed and both were soloed. I would consider both to be E5 6a. Obviously the second of these is safer because of the gear in Great Portland Street. But I'm sexy enough to solo it, so there'. (21m)

and

The Impetus for Stranger Feaces (sic) E5 5c  John Marsden after self-belay. Led belayed by a bloke from Grimsby.

quality.......

[grimer]

Darren Thomas also, most likely, did the first ascent of Ben Moon's Striker, as Demeter More Direct, in 1995. And Trellis.

[Johnny Brown]

No surprises over Trellis, but Striker, that's fuckin impressive.

[nik at work]

I may well be senile but I am absolutely sure that John Marsden had a back pages article in climber or OTE a good few years back. I have a feeling he was writing about climbing Nosferatu, and how if an old, knackered codger like himself could climb it then it couldn't be E6 (or 5 or whatever). Seem to remember some part of it mentioned a bone in his thumb sticking out through his skin and him pulling it out (which apparently hurt a bit). I'm sure it was written by a John Marsden, whether it is the John Marsdsen in question I dunno.

Then again I might have imagined it all...

[dave]

but Striker, that's fuckin impressive.

"onsight solo"

[Paz]

Darren'd probably burn off any climber to come out of Rawmarsh, if he could be arsed.