Best of 2024

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Nice! I was so tired by the time I arrived at the second anchor that I couldn't contemplate continuing. But also amazed that you haven't onsighted 8a before? Must be lack of interest?
Thanks! Um, onsighting has really never been my strong point. I think I'm pretty good at faffing around and getting weird beta to work well for me, but that means I tend to rely a lot more on unlikely rests and tricks than actually being fit, which is a lot less useful for onsighting. I onsighted some 7c+s in 2020, then decided I needed to get stronger to be able to redpoint the routes I aspired to do and just focused on bouldering for a year. Then for a couple of years I kept getting sick just before trips with covid or flu, and/or getting really fit by trad climbing then injuring my fingers. I also had quite a few close calls over that time but my head game wasn't good enough, and once you've punted a few times on easy post-crux ground it becomes even more of a mental challenge!

(I forgot my best redpoints/slightly lesser known Greek crag recommendations:

Herouvim 8a at Lagada, possibly the best quality tufa cave I've ever been to for 8a-8b. A Kostas Roussos route, so will never be upgraded despite being totally savage, but so worth the effort. Flows like the platonic ideal of a long dreamy tufa endurance route. Took me quite a lot of goes to beta it down to anywhere near the given grade. Good to know about this crag if you're in Leonidio and it's too hot, but apparently it's best to leave your car unlocked with nothing in it to avoid getting the windows broken.

A Muerte 8a, Agiofarago, Cretan sport climbing is so weird. If all crags were bunched together it would be one of the best destinations in Europe but they're miles apart and all annoying to get to for various reasons. This one has a savage dirt road that you either need a 4x4 or a car you don't care about. Style wise, A Muerte would kind of fit in in Siurana, where I think it'd be the most sought after 8a there - and possibly one of the hardest!). First redpoint but nearly exploded in the process. Ashimopapo, the 7b to the left is possibly the best of the grade I've ever done and would be the best tufa-jug haul of that grade in Leonidio or Kalymnos IMO. Also a banging line!
 
I've thought about writing this post a few times but kept backing out as I wasn't sure I really had much to say. Now it's mid-january it's getting on a bit, but Thom's post got me psyched, so here goes...

Despite still being keen and getting out a fair bit locally, as the years go by I'm feeling less and less like a 'proper' climber. Trips away, big days out gibbering above the sea, watching the sunset from an icy belay, they all seem like things that 'proper' climbers do, but feel like distant memories to me. I guess that's what happens when you grow up and choose to get more responsibilities.

Like the last few years, most of my climbing has been within a short radius of home, squeezed in to the hours between school runs. I'm almost 100% a boulderer now, just cos its so hard to find people with the same sort of objectives and time limitations as me. Fortunately, there are still a few boulders lurking in the local glens that keep me keen, and one or two problems from 2024 stood out. For the most part though, I'm most enjoying developing a deep connection with the local area, the landscape, ecology and history. Stumbling around the woods, tripping over old ruined sheilings and illicit whisky stills or WW2 mica quarries. The arrival of the geese in autumn, the fieldfares in winter, the warblers in spring, the fucking midges in the summer. And occasionally finding a boulder or wall worth developing and sharing with the world. Apologies for the insta-spam.

Top 4 boulder FAs
The Singleton, 6Cish

A highball slab that I cleaned on a rope but decided to climb ground up. I'm so glad I did, it just made the experience so much more memorable. I love a good slab, but finding one that's not covered in jugs is pretty rare in these parts.


The Wheels on the Bus, 7Bish
As lip traverses go, this one is pretty good. Made the more special by the beautiful location in the old mossy birchwood beside the river, and working it out over a series of freezing wintery sessions.


Hyper-Dyno, 7B+ish
Possibly my hardest FA, but it's not really about that. The Landmark Roof is a really bonny spot above Scatwell in Strathconon, with amazing views out across the strath to Ben Wyvis. This one took a fair few sessions, and I got into a really fun routine of heading up the glen after school drop off, the walk in, fingerboard in the tree for the warm up, failing, failing, and eventually, that rare sprinkle of magic when it all comes together and the walk out feels like floating back to the car.


The Sheiling Shuffle, 6Cish, Glenmarksie
Sessions in the latter part of the year were mainly spent cleaning and climbing problems on a growing circuit in Glenmarksie, just off Strathconon. I'd been aware of this boulder for a while, but it took me ages to actually look at it and realise there was a quality problem right through the middle of it.


Top repeat
Komorebi, 6C+, Loch Ness Boulders

Thom has already mentioned doing the sit start to this. I was just happy to get up the stand start. Quality. flowy moves with the crux at the top, where it should be. The boulder is the best addition to the Inverness area for a long while.

Top sport
One Lord A-leaping, 7b+, Glenmarksie

I had a brief spell of managing a bit of sport climbing in the spring and this route stood out as the best of the bunch. Partly because it's a really good route, short and punchy (good for a boulderer), but partly because it's local, and I just love being able to do great climbs but still be able to be there for the family when the school bell rings.
 
Great reading this thread and nice to see Jackson Tor, Lime Kiln Quarry, Dale Quarry and Jugholes in the mix with the likes of Font, Taipan Wall and Pabbay. Wrote some notes a while ago but forgot to post them until I was reminded today. As per usual keeping the list local as, with one exception, I didn't get much further than Beeley.

Another tricky year health-wise, the long tail of my 2021 covid infection continues. Started well in Jan and Feb, feeling back to normal and got a fair bit done but another viral illness in late Feb meant spring and early summer were pretty much wiped out. Summer was busy, a minor car accident causing a lot of issues and then helping my son relocate. Since then I've been up and down with fatigue, fortunately seem to be starting to recover since Christmas. Not the best year but some decent highlights to reflect on.

2 new problems on grit
The Good Life 6C+ Black Rocks
Back in Feb on a glorious morning, walking up from the car park through the clouds to a perfect inversion just below the crag. Decent highball feeling slab that I'd talked about trying for ages.



Triple Top 6B+ Fallinge Edge
I'm not recommending anyone to visit Fallinge Edge. It's a ballache of a walk across the moor for a short wall of fine grained grit with a few 6th grade eliminate style problems. However, the view is sublime and it's very peaceful.

1 not new problem on grit
Bazinga/Paua Prow 6A Baslow
I climbed this random worthwhile prow that I stumbled across, unrecorded but thought it must have been done before so I put a vid on my only flans account and within an hour had 2 retro claims including a possible FA photo from 24 years ago.

1 new problem on limestone
Witness the P-ness 7A+ The P
I spent a bit of time at The P this summer trying to regain some fitness whilst getting shut down by stuff I used to show pony in a former life.
This one is bit of a link/traverse which would be the tricky last section of the full monty left to right.

4 new routes limestone
Pop-o-matic 7a+ North East Quarry
I bolted this at the end of 2023 but ran out of time with the weather so happy to finally get it done. It climbs the unusual and very cool lower wall of Buckaroo tand takes a technical 2 bolt left hand finish up the headwall. Satisfying bouldering on a rope. Shame about the ledge, it's 2 sections of great climbing which would be worth a few stars as a continuous pitch.

Battle of Hastings 6c Shaw Quarry
Shaw is mostly about shady slabs on sunny afternoons with a picnic on the grass. This is one of the few exceptions. A grotty lower section which provided good trundling action leads to a tricky pull onto the steep and well positioned upper wall. Not a recommendation for car insurance.

Big Billy Bass Eyes 7a Lime Kiln Quarry.
A big left to right link up across the Amethyst Wall Starts up Diamond Dogs clipping as many bolts as possible with some tricky moves across the headwall to finish top left up The Hardest Man in Wirksworth. Unclassic but had to be done. The name relates to the effect of half a dozen pints of Bass as demonstrated by a local in the bar that night

Fischer King 7a/6b+ Lime Kiln Quarry
A short route which required a fair bit of hold stabilisation to make the best of a grotty bit of rock. Someone repeated it, pulled a hold off and downgraded it to 6b+. Hopefully a few more holds will disintegrate and make it a good 6a warm up.

1 Trad new route
Mr Suit E3 6a Shining Cliff, Ambergate
A nice find which looks odd but climbs well. I did climb a harder direct finish but it didn't really work as it felt too eliminate.

Top 3 boulders
No Bull 6C Andle Stone
As per Fiend's list after he'd done a good job cleaning the top slopers. Topped off a fine day out in February with Fiend and M20. Unfortunately succumbed to the lurgi just after this.

Puck 6C+ Stanton Moor
Good find by Jamie Big Hands on the back of the Green Man block.

Big Slab Arete 6C Stanton In
Did a bit of groundwork to improve the landing zone at the end of last year on a wet day so this is more doable on the circuit with a couple of pads. Still a jibbering wreck at the top.

Top 3 trad routes

Marathon Man E3 6a Shining Cliff
Lovely climbing on this, t shirt day in January.

Visually Stunning Underpants E5 6b Shining Cliff
Bouldering on a rope above an old peg and a good RP. Early season good form before illness.

Jellyache E3 6a Cocking Tor
Great moves on the upper arete on this one.

Top 3 sport routes non Wirksworth
My son was at uni in Athens for 5 months so had a visit and tagged on a trip to Leonedio. First time on a solo climbing trip in a long time but found someone to climb with on FB and worked perfectly.
Could have picked anything, such any enjoyable 5 days

Milopeta 6b+ Kokkinvrakos Central
Arrived in Leonedio, parked in the market place and was tieing in to this one 20 mins later. Satisfyingly efficient planning.

51% Theo's 6c+ Theos
2nd day on a sport rope in 4 months. Felt a bit intimidating but enjoyed pushing on through the fear.

Savra Extension 7a Yellow Eyes
Last route on a glorious day with a good bunch of people, at this well situated crag. Holiday grading a bonus.
 
Well here we are again!
Apologies for being late to the party, great work from everyone posting their exploits. There's some ace stories, experiences and vibes in this thread as ever. I flippin love it and it gets me well psyched !!
For me it's been another year of climbing being on the back burner for work and other training reasons, which again I never thought I'd be saying but hey, sometimes you've just gotta do life!
I still love it though and I'm keen to be a bit more active and keep ticking over more this year!
That said I've still done some stuff, along with getting my RCDI qualification, which is quite a tough one, plus getting pretty good at riding horses if I do say so myself!!!

Ok, heeeeere we gooooooo......


Top 3 Trad

“The Bludgeon” E1 5b, Shepherd’s Crag.

Blummin ‘eck! What an absolute burly mauler this is! Flippin ace and has a little bit of everything!
Led this with Caff after a fantastic “coaching performance trad climbing” training course which featured some great climbing in itself between VS - E2!
Hadn’t been doing loads of trad really so got full value from it. Really intimidating and chunky at the grade with offwidth / corner grovelling, an unforgettable position once you’ve manteled onto that pinnacle, and even overhanging edges and jugs to finish!
Followed by a fair few pints and a good old rant with Caff. Mega!

“Winter’s Grip” E6 6b, Millstone.

One that’s been on the list to check out for a while which is always satisfying to rattle off!
A cool, techy and bold arete at a crag covered in technical bold aretes. Apparently protected by 3 “blade pegs” whatever they are? Needless to say I don’t have any of those so just cracked on without! It started raining halfway through the crux which wasn’t ideal!
Added bonus was one of my OG climbing mates Ant got a great snap of me on it which I think was UKC’s photo of the week!

“Juan Cur” E5 5c, Ramshaw.

One off my “mate’s rates” ticklist, from that man again … Seb Grieve. Named after the “see you next Tuesday” who nicked his belay rig at the top! (Think about it….)
Climbs pretty steadily but not one to fall off, and with some weird protection (giant nut or some wood, classic Ramshaw!) Flippin ace line plus you get to finish up the mega “Untouchable” jamming crack. It was so windy on the day that it was making the video footage that Andi got blurry, mental!
Ridiculously a week later, I was doing some Trad coaching with a feisty Italian client, and someone nicked the pre-placed belay that we had set at the top! Luckily they were still in sight, so needless to say they got both barrels!!!

Top 3 Sport UK

“Prophets of Rage” 7b, Dancing Ledge.

I flipping love climbing by the sea, and I especially love Dorset!
Dancing ledge is such a chilled, special place with some great stern powerful routes! One of the advantages of being a bit off the pace and no your usual standard is that you get full value from anything remotely challenging. This one felt well chunky and put up a great fight. Topped off by the obligatory swim and pint in The Square and Compass Obvs!!

“Modern Nightmare” 7a, The Cuttings.

Bloody good stuff this. I’d kinda written off the cuttings as a bit crap, but there’s actually some absolutely mega routes there if you just get stuck in. This ones kinds hidden in plain sight, a tech wall and corner lading to an outrageous steep finale on fantastic tufa rock straight out of Kalymnos!!
Followed by the obligatory swim and a pint in The Cove House Inn Obvs. (Theme emerging here….)

“Reverence” 7a+, Wallsend.

I’ve never really had an “Alzheimer’s insight” experience as I normally have a decent memory for moves and routes, but this was exactly that! (Maybe I’m getting old…….. Nah…NEVER!!!!)
As soon as I pulled on was certain I’d done the route before, but knew absolutely nothing about the route and the climbing on it. I was well out of shape and nearly gave up and said “take” probably 10 times throughout the ascent, but every time gripped myself and pushed on. Was absolutely destroyed mentally and physical afterwards . Followed by etc etc etc……

Top 3 Boulder Problems UK:

“G-Thang” 6c, Gardoms.

Done before but flippin ‘eck this is good. Went there for a Climber mag photo shoot and someone had to do it. Harder than I remember but OK once the grit feel comes back.
No way I was doing Suavito again for photos though! Absolute recipe for disaster!!

“The Haddon Haul” 5+ / 8b, Robin Hood’s Stride.

One for the crack and jamming connoisseurs! This was during a fantastic youth coaching day where I was mega impressed by the youth climbers, and hopefully assisted in them getting up problems like “Razor Roof” “T-Crack” and “Jerry’s Traverse” amongst others, mainly just through a bit of well timed beta and general encouragement . Pretty awesome tick list that for a day!
Towards the end of the session, one of the climbers was a bit frustrated that they perhaps hadn’t achieved what they wanted to, so I decided to thrutch my way up this (without jamming gloves…major error!!) After borrowing my jamming gloves they duly followed, and after a few tries and a major fight, including an outrageous cut loose on jams, they dispatched and were made up. It was the highlight of the day!

"Pop for the Top" 7a, Goblin's Cave

Always worth getting out and after it when you're in a new area. really cool Peak-esque bouldering venue with a great scene and local crew! Looks to be some absolutely classic hard bouldering here and was great to see some demos from some of the locals!

Top 3 DWS

“Aquamarine” 7b/ E4 6b, Cave Hole.

One that’s been on the list for a while. One of those S2/3 jobs depending on tide. I’ve tried it a few times at high tide but always fell off high up and hit myself on underwater rocks, despite landing in the right place so I decided to dangle off a rope and check a few holds out, after which reasonably smoothly. This was followed up with my other top 2 DWS’s, which I probably do every year, but they’re just so good!

“Ixtlan” and

“Russian roulette”


Top 3 Sport Routes Abroad:

“Torellis Toys” 7b+, Leonidio.

Class this! Bouldery power endurance into blind steep stamina terrain. Felt absolutely nails on first acquaintance so was nice to figure it out and it feel pretty steady in the end. Repointing rocks!!!

“Silent Crusade” 7b, Leonidio.

After 2 amazing weeks to ourselves in a new place, with new crags and routes and a fantastic AirBnB it was nice for our trip to crossover for a day or so with some good friends. We’d been pretty lazy with our explorations but for this day we quested up the hillside to check out the monastery crags, where it would have been mint to get stuck in to the chunky steep high 7’s and 8’s, but not on the last day, so this was the highpoint of a lovely day of routes, followed by some great local scran and beer!

“Les Chevaliers du Fiel” 7b+/c, Leonidio.

Absolutely mugged myself off on this by not reading the guidebook properly on day 1 of the trip and larning up this thinking it was 7a!!
I recall thinking it felt a bit stiff at the grade but was so psyched to be at a new crag in a new place that I just kept pushing on, culminating on a biiiig fall from high up on it, pulling back on and still struggling on the thin top section.
Was a bit sacked off until I lowered down and discovered it was 7c in the local guidebook! Result!

Top 3 jobs:

This seems to have gone down well the last couple of years so here goes:

Scrapping with Danny Dyer and his mates:

If you’ve seen “The Football Factory” then You’ll know the score here, although this new film seems like it’ll be a bit more tongue in cheek / self aware. Anyway, it’s predictably called “Marching Powder”. Look out for a drug dealer getting kicked full whack in the Crown Jewels (luckily I have a very good groin guard!!) and decked by Danny’s Mates!

Crashing cars on a wild POV action film.

Absolutely crackers scenes, luckily we managed to sort it so it was do-able safely, which is kind of the trick of the trade really!!

Getting murdered in a murder mystery.

Holding my breath for what seemed like an hour (but was probably actually a minute or two max) face down in a pool of water, with fire, smoke and all sorts around me!


Well, that’s it for another year!
If anyone’s yet to offer up a confession and is sitting on the fence thinking that people might not want to read about your exploits…. Please, please do! As ever this is always the best thread of the year, and pure psyche and inspiration !!

Big up !!
 
I wasn't going to bother, but Gus guilted me into it!
  • Top three boulder problems, UK
This was the year of Johnsheugh. On the South Facing wall (tentatively called Plan D as it's always there as a fallback) I've had many a lunchtime making up hundreds of eliminates. It's south facing, takes no drainage, is exposed to the win and largely unaffected by birds and is fine with just one pad. The North facing wall side of the headland is none of these, but home to a collection of about a dozen high quality problems. I worked out the hard crux of the 6C about 18 months ago but still had to do the whole thing, which i finally did in June when the birds had mostly gone. I then set to work on the 7A+ just to the right, with some hard moves through a stepped roof to a jug, and then a very droppable finish. Finally managed this in after 3 sessions and a lot of fingerbording in August, and mate did it the same day, using a horrendous sequence as he can't heelhook to save his life. If it is 7A+ (anyone passing who can confirm, I will happily spot you), it's my hardest yet at age 55.
  • Top three trad routes/solos UK
Had a great spring session at Fulmar Wall in May, first trad in years, and another at Rowan Edge on Bellamore Crag. Such a fantastic spot, great rock and almost gritstone like routs with stunning views down Deeside and deserted when the Pass was rammed.
  • Top three sport routes UK.
Clipped some bolts at Yellow Wall early season, then lost interest, mainly due to not getting any routes done at the wall due to lack of partners.
  • Top three routes abroad (any genre)
Actually did some climbing abroad! A few nice sport routes at Sa Font in Mallorca and lovely 5c called Paramuero at the beautiful Cala Magraner, before a swim in the sea. I don't think i have clipped a bolt in Europe since about 2002.

Also did some fun easy DWS above beach at Santanyi.
  • Top three new routes/problems put up
See Johnsheugh South above
  • Top spankings
The 6a just to the left of the 5c I did above. It got very very hot, I got very very bothered, the crux bolt had a spinning hanger, my belayer was getting impatient so after hanging on too may bolts and starting to feel dizzy from the heat I yarded across the 5c finished up that clean them both nd went and lay in the sea.

Would have liked to do more DWS but the crags around where we were in Porto Colom were sadly always deserted, so chickened out of going it alone.

After 2 sessions trying the 7B just left of the routes I did t J-heugh I can still barely do two moves in a row.

Knackered back playing in pool with kids and then going sea kayaking. Took about a moth to get over it.

Flu over Xmas.

Failed top lead trad project on the coast for the 4th year in a row. Still amazes me no-one else has climbed it yet.

  • Top non-climbing
Great ski trip in Jan and family one at Easter, where the kids clicked with it and really started enjoying it.

PB in both the running events I did.

Kyle embracing indoor climbing for his DoE and leading a few 6a, 6a+ and 6b routes.
 

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