Finally got round to doing the project at Tremadog! Now named 'The Philtrum'; anatomically the groove under your nose, metaphorically the groove under everyones nose; an overlooked line on the Vector buttress! Now the ivy has been stripped the line is quite striking, clearly visible from the Grim Wall abseil. I've spoken to a couple of North Wales activists who knew of the line but had never bothered to clean it or give it a proper look, and I have the ivy to thank for masking its quality until now.
I did discover an old peg on the route (I hope it doesn't turn out that its already been climbed and just not documented) but I suppose I'm not too bothered... I'm just psyched that my inclination to explore paid off with the re-discovery of this line; regardless of whether it's already been climbed or not it is now a magnificent route with sustained and varied climbing from beginning to end, ready to be enjoyed by anyone who has or think they have the minerals to do it.
The Lowdown.
After failing to link it on top-rope during my first play on it back in January I knew I needed to get fitter and stronger, but was also worried that some wad might notice it and nip up it before me. But with some decent recent form I felt confident, and on the day of the ascent I clocked a better sequence and got it linked clean after a couple of attempts. Psyched to go for a lead! Headpointing is so vastly different from onsighting. You fly through the moves with conviction, and to me they always feel easier on the lead than on top-rope, when your muscles are primed with the adrenaline and you're switched on and focused on your sequence, but also in that zoned in/out state where movement becomes very intuitive.
Anyway, I got to the ok rest above the roof no sweat, just a mild pump which I knew I could recover from and now the climbing was less steep & pumpy and more delicate & flowing, with inspiring gear right by me to spur me upwards. Flying through the groove sequence I arrived all of a sudden at the sloping shelf, but as I scuffled my heel on I felt in an odd position, unable to go with my right hand like I had been in practice. Winging it, with the peg and a small cam a few feet below me, I turned my right down to a palm, rocked on my heel and crept my left awkwardly across my bunched body and up the wall to the flatty with a Stevey Mac "Yeaaaaaay Hoh" woop of success and a flood of satisfaction and contentment, which, contrary to a previous post, I fully allowed myself to be for the rest of the day; sated as can be. Cheers to Duncan for the belay on the ascent, and Jono for the belay back in January.
What a Feeling!
Also here are links to the UKC logbook and forum for the route.
Friday 25 March 2011
Monday 21 March 2011
Set me free from the shackles
I'm writing this post in anticipation of liberation from my blossoming 'career' as a waiter. I've got the hunger for climbing; hungrier than when I had all the time in the world and none of the urgency. Keen to make the most of every moment of free time that I get I nipped on the bus to Llanberis after an early finish, intent on a bit of soloing and a reccy at the routes up at Drws-y-Gwynt and over by Owain's Arete (I fancy a look at that if anyone's keen?). But to my disappointment I bumped into George, and had to settle for some trad on the Grochan and what felt like the first proper trad 6b action of the season (grit doesn't count), Ulrich gliding his way up the aptly named Pump and myself floating up the groove of Pus (feel free to ponder as to whether that's sarcasm or not). And it being pay day and all I went and indulged in some Pete's Eats grub and the Llamff after-party at the Fricsan, big in the game!
But after working full-time now for just a week I am even more content in being time-rich money-poor for the foreseeable future, and I'm stumped as to why people choose to devote their lives to working in pursuit of material wealth. Give me a bit of pocket money, a rack and ropes, food in my belly and feathers under my head and I will be content for at least a couple of weeks, before I decide I need to go to DWSing in Majorca and can't afford the flights. Can't wait for that trip in September!
But in the meantime I have some serious earning to do; my 10 days in Font and 14 in El Choro aren't gona pay for themselves! But that will be when pay day really comes for me. The day I get handed the wad of cash is almost trivial; only appreciated when the time comes to send the likes of Carnage/Eclipse/Noir Desir/any or all of the Big 4, or going for the flash attempt of Lourdes (might aswell have a bash, I'll hopefully be quite fit by then!)
But that's 3 and a half weeks into the future, and I'm stuck here in the present, travelling into the future at a meager 24 hours per day, which is much too slow to go doing breakless 9 hour shifts. I guess I'll just have to do what everyone else does for a bit; wait patiently and stop complaining. And get as fit and strong as possible while I wait.
But after working full-time now for just a week I am even more content in being time-rich money-poor for the foreseeable future, and I'm stumped as to why people choose to devote their lives to working in pursuit of material wealth. Give me a bit of pocket money, a rack and ropes, food in my belly and feathers under my head and I will be content for at least a couple of weeks, before I decide I need to go to DWSing in Majorca and can't afford the flights. Can't wait for that trip in September!
But in the meantime I have some serious earning to do; my 10 days in Font and 14 in El Choro aren't gona pay for themselves! But that will be when pay day really comes for me. The day I get handed the wad of cash is almost trivial; only appreciated when the time comes to send the likes of Carnage/Eclipse/Noir Desir/any or all of the Big 4, or going for the flash attempt of Lourdes (might aswell have a bash, I'll hopefully be quite fit by then!)
But that's 3 and a half weeks into the future, and I'm stuck here in the present, travelling into the future at a meager 24 hours per day, which is much too slow to go doing breakless 9 hour shifts. I guess I'll just have to do what everyone else does for a bit; wait patiently and stop complaining. And get as fit and strong as possible while I wait.
Thursday 17 March 2011
Public transport, retro-flashing and day-long fitness
You might think not having a car can be a bit of a shite sometimes, and I suppose it is, but I haven't let it stop me getting out, with Gwynedd County having the 26th best public transport service in Wales! (I'd also add that 63% of my statistics have been made up). From the hub that is Bangor you can get a train or bus to Holyhead for North Stack, a bus to Llanberis for slate or an easy hitch to the Pass, or Bethesda for an easy hitch to Ogwen (both prime hitching routes on roads that only lead to one place), and Gerlan for Caseg boulders (about £2 return!). The other day Duncan even got a bus all the way to Tremadog (you can get to Aberystwyth on this for £5.40, and then your halfway to Pembroke!), and my personal favorite, and a regular pilgrimage last year; the trusty Number 5 to Llandudno for the Orme. This is a safe bet be it rain or shine; it offers wet-weather bouldering in Parisella's and a host of top-class limestone sport and trad routes! With all the students balls-deep in academia this week no lifts had arisen, so for the first time in 2011 I made the familiar pad-laden trudge to the bus stop to meet Tim 'Pectoralis Major' Peck. Public Transport rocks!
Unrelenting rain on the journey didn't bode well for routes, but when we rocked up at the cave the sun was out and conditions felt prime! Warming up in Split Infinity my muscles felt supercharged, retro-flashing Lickety Split and knocking out a quick send of Bellpig (V9), which I was close to last session but with fresh arms today it went 3rd go. Moving into the 'proper cave' I was feeling electric, with a routine retro flash of Clever Beaver and a surprise retro flash of Rockatrocity, feeling really comfortable on the moves even though I only had a pad for the starting moves, and then sticking the first move on Trigger Cut (V11) for the first time!
Time for lunch and some idle spectating of Jim McCormack crushing Tomorrow People F7c. With as much beta as a man of his stature could give me I threw myself at the flash attempt, fighting my way up through the bouldery crux, but with just one more hard pull from the awesome up-side-down-knee-bar rest my arms refused to pull and I had no choice but to slump onto the rope, totally boxed but psyched that I had got so close on the first steep sport route of the year.
After a bit of a rest and a pear (the fruit that gets things sent!) I casually pulled onto left wall to finish off the session, but ended up getting to the LW high/low fork feeling fresh, so thought I'd give the LWH a shot. At the sideways-heel-on-the-flake rest I was in disbelief; how had I recovered so well from my recent and deep-set pump?! Just the heinous V6 finish to go now! The final left drop-knee move felt glorious; retro-flashing 2 V9s and ticking a new V9 3rd go, with a lot of climbing in between. The last few weeks of long-day 'training' (just doing lots of climbing in a day) has paid dividends, no doubt about it! I foresee this being pretty beneficial come Font and El Chorro, where you have a limited time to do a lot of stuff. To add to this, my skin regeneration also seems really good, partly due to the sheer volume of recent climbing, and also due to lots of washing up.
So here's a link to a fantastic little bouldering film by Mark Reeves, Amateur Hardcore, which features loads of classics at a range of North Wales bouldering venues, great for some beta-snatching and psyche.
And here is a nice little video by Mason of him doing Left Wall High last year. It's said to be about F8a+, quite power-endurancey with around 25 hand moves and a fair bit of foot trickery, one of the classic true lines of the cave!
Unrelenting rain on the journey didn't bode well for routes, but when we rocked up at the cave the sun was out and conditions felt prime! Warming up in Split Infinity my muscles felt supercharged, retro-flashing Lickety Split and knocking out a quick send of Bellpig (V9), which I was close to last session but with fresh arms today it went 3rd go. Moving into the 'proper cave' I was feeling electric, with a routine retro flash of Clever Beaver and a surprise retro flash of Rockatrocity, feeling really comfortable on the moves even though I only had a pad for the starting moves, and then sticking the first move on Trigger Cut (V11) for the first time!
Time for lunch and some idle spectating of Jim McCormack crushing Tomorrow People F7c. With as much beta as a man of his stature could give me I threw myself at the flash attempt, fighting my way up through the bouldery crux, but with just one more hard pull from the awesome up-side-down-knee-bar rest my arms refused to pull and I had no choice but to slump onto the rope, totally boxed but psyched that I had got so close on the first steep sport route of the year.
After a bit of a rest and a pear (the fruit that gets things sent!) I casually pulled onto left wall to finish off the session, but ended up getting to the LW high/low fork feeling fresh, so thought I'd give the LWH a shot. At the sideways-heel-on-the-flake rest I was in disbelief; how had I recovered so well from my recent and deep-set pump?! Just the heinous V6 finish to go now! The final left drop-knee move felt glorious; retro-flashing 2 V9s and ticking a new V9 3rd go, with a lot of climbing in between. The last few weeks of long-day 'training' (just doing lots of climbing in a day) has paid dividends, no doubt about it! I foresee this being pretty beneficial come Font and El Chorro, where you have a limited time to do a lot of stuff. To add to this, my skin regeneration also seems really good, partly due to the sheer volume of recent climbing, and also due to lots of washing up.
So here's a link to a fantastic little bouldering film by Mark Reeves, Amateur Hardcore, which features loads of classics at a range of North Wales bouldering venues, great for some beta-snatching and psyche.
And here is a nice little video by Mason of him doing Left Wall High last year. It's said to be about F8a+, quite power-endurancey with around 25 hand moves and a fair bit of foot trickery, one of the classic true lines of the cave!
Monday 14 March 2011
If you believe you can do it, and you crank like a demon!
Today was a sweet day! At first I was feeling a little hard-done-by because I had a job interview at Tesco (it went very well thanks) while everyone else ventured off into the sunny and crisp springtime conditions with high hopes to do daring deeds. Still keen to get something out of the day I hitched my way to the Quarries with this guy, who happened to be a friend of John Redheads (he gave me some interesting advice, something about letting go of the competitive side of climbing and being a part of the moment and climb to be free... or something along those lines). So, keen to merge with the Earth's energy, and equipped with my faithful shunt I went to find some people to burn off, but I didn't find anyone so had a bash at the Medium on seamstress slab instead.
Abbing down, it was obvious where the crux was. The bit with no holds on. But after some toil, a little rest and some cheeky inspiration I stumbled across the solution to the stopper move; my foot popped but I boned them crimps like I did yo' mama, and found my leg had swung into a really unlikely flagging position, finally in balance to do the obligatory no-handed one-legged-squat rockover on an annoying foothold to reach the 'cornflakes' and beyond. So I lead that with a belay and some helpful support from Tombo and Jezer (cheers guys! And super effort from Tom to lead Slug Club Special and Kubla Kahn back to back). Then I headed down with Al n Laura to the Pass and boshed out the tourist start to Jerry's Roof. It was nice to do it in front of the post-work WAD crew, consisting of Caff, Ioan, Jim and some other crusher doin Mr. Fantastic (cheers to you guys too for encouragement).
It feels like I might have gone up to the next plateau on the proverbial graph. It's hard to guage performance sometimes - there's a lot of variability if your going on what grade your climbing, and I imagine muscle memory plays a big part if you're repeating problems you've done before. But intrinsically I can tell that I'm stronger, more controlled in my movement, and my body feels good n tensiony. I still can't do a full one-armer though, so bst gt 2 d indy.
For lunch today I had pitta and humus, a pear, a penguin and 500ml bottle of lucozade. I think that helped.
Abbing down, it was obvious where the crux was. The bit with no holds on. But after some toil, a little rest and some cheeky inspiration I stumbled across the solution to the stopper move; my foot popped but I boned them crimps like I did yo' mama, and found my leg had swung into a really unlikely flagging position, finally in balance to do the obligatory no-handed one-legged-squat rockover on an annoying foothold to reach the 'cornflakes' and beyond. So I lead that with a belay and some helpful support from Tombo and Jezer (cheers guys! And super effort from Tom to lead Slug Club Special and Kubla Kahn back to back). Then I headed down with Al n Laura to the Pass and boshed out the tourist start to Jerry's Roof. It was nice to do it in front of the post-work WAD crew, consisting of Caff, Ioan, Jim and some other crusher doin Mr. Fantastic (cheers to you guys too for encouragement).
It feels like I might have gone up to the next plateau on the proverbial graph. It's hard to guage performance sometimes - there's a lot of variability if your going on what grade your climbing, and I imagine muscle memory plays a big part if you're repeating problems you've done before. But intrinsically I can tell that I'm stronger, more controlled in my movement, and my body feels good n tensiony. I still can't do a full one-armer though, so bst gt 2 d indy.
For lunch today I had pitta and humus, a pear, a penguin and 500ml bottle of lucozade. I think that helped.
Saturday 12 March 2011
A little something I was thinkin about.
Everytime I arrive in the Peak District I am awestruck by the nature and quality of natural Grit formations. I am also blown away by how thoughtful the quarrymen were; surely when quarrying away they had more important things to think about than ensuring they left all these perfect slabs and walls for future climbers; a brilliant stroke of foresight on their part.
The way that grit climbs also gives a very specific and unusual style. It's certainly not for everyone; I know a lot of people who have a really hard time on it. But I love it. It suits my morphological, psychological and technique...ological assets perfectly; often bold, balancey and precarious, it demands trust in your footwork, and subtlety and awareness in adjusting your centre of gravity. Often large areas of rock will only have just enough features to get up it, no more and no less. The lines it can produce range from thin and necky slabs to plum-vertical walls, striking cracks, soaring aretes, and its fair share of savage thrutchy chimneys and offwidths. Steve and I also noticed throughout the course of my trip to the Peak that I did a remarkable number of high-foot/rock-over moves (not just on the slabs either). Having strong legs and good flexibility proved to be one the most prominent and beneficial maneuvers in the grit-climbing repertoire, allowing me and Steve to climb at a similar standard, even though he is a powerful wildebeast and I'm a lanky cheese string in comparison!
The way that slate climbs also gives a very a specific and unusual style. Again, it's not for everyone; I know a lot of people who have a really hard time on it. But again, I love it. It too suits my morphological, psychological and techniqueological assets; bold, balancey and precarious, demanding trust in your footwork (just on tiny edges instead of tenuous smears), subtlety and awareness in adjusting your center of gravity. You see where this is going...? For some reason when I think of slate I always think of desperate thin slabs and nothing else, and I all too easily forget the top quality routes it has in it's other slightly unique styles. It has the infamous thin slabs, but again like grit it has the plum-vertical walls, striking cracks, soaring aretes and even the odd savage thrutchy chimney-grooves like Gin Palace and the Quarryman. Steve and I first noticed my extensive use of high-foot/rock-over moves on slate, before we noticed it in my grit climbing too. Having strong legs and good flexibility has proved to be the most prominent and beneficial maneuvers in the slate-climbing repertoire; just need to work on my pain-tolerance now.
I find it quite unusual to think about grit and slate, rough and smooth, rounded and sharp, both yielding such similar climbing styles with such high contrast in geology and form, but those two paragraphs match up nicely, and only leads me to conclude that if Steve and I had his powerful upper body and my stretchy strong lower body, plus a decent ape index, and a massive knob while we're wishing, and my face (obv), then not only would I/he/we look like a freakish ape man, we'd also be crushing French 9a slabs in no time.
So, we all better get stretching, squatting and slacklining as part of our training to become heros/wads/beasts/extreme punters/crushers or whatever you aspire to be, it will do us favors no end!
The way that grit climbs also gives a very specific and unusual style. It's certainly not for everyone; I know a lot of people who have a really hard time on it. But I love it. It suits my morphological, psychological and technique...ological assets perfectly; often bold, balancey and precarious, it demands trust in your footwork, and subtlety and awareness in adjusting your centre of gravity. Often large areas of rock will only have just enough features to get up it, no more and no less. The lines it can produce range from thin and necky slabs to plum-vertical walls, striking cracks, soaring aretes, and its fair share of savage thrutchy chimneys and offwidths. Steve and I also noticed throughout the course of my trip to the Peak that I did a remarkable number of high-foot/rock-over moves (not just on the slabs either). Having strong legs and good flexibility proved to be one the most prominent and beneficial maneuvers in the grit-climbing repertoire, allowing me and Steve to climb at a similar standard, even though he is a powerful wildebeast and I'm a lanky cheese string in comparison!
The way that slate climbs also gives a very a specific and unusual style. Again, it's not for everyone; I know a lot of people who have a really hard time on it. But again, I love it. It too suits my morphological, psychological and techniqueological assets; bold, balancey and precarious, demanding trust in your footwork (just on tiny edges instead of tenuous smears), subtlety and awareness in adjusting your center of gravity. You see where this is going...? For some reason when I think of slate I always think of desperate thin slabs and nothing else, and I all too easily forget the top quality routes it has in it's other slightly unique styles. It has the infamous thin slabs, but again like grit it has the plum-vertical walls, striking cracks, soaring aretes and even the odd savage thrutchy chimney-grooves like Gin Palace and the Quarryman. Steve and I first noticed my extensive use of high-foot/rock-over moves on slate, before we noticed it in my grit climbing too. Having strong legs and good flexibility has proved to be the most prominent and beneficial maneuvers in the slate-climbing repertoire; just need to work on my pain-tolerance now.
I find it quite unusual to think about grit and slate, rough and smooth, rounded and sharp, both yielding such similar climbing styles with such high contrast in geology and form, but those two paragraphs match up nicely, and only leads me to conclude that if Steve and I had his powerful upper body and my stretchy strong lower body, plus a decent ape index, and a massive knob while we're wishing, and my face (obv), then not only would I/he/we look like a freakish ape man, we'd also be crushing French 9a slabs in no time.
So, we all better get stretching, squatting and slacklining as part of our training to become heros/wads/beasts/extreme punters/crushers or whatever you aspire to be, it will do us favors no end!
Thursday 10 March 2011
The Lord's Shit, aka: the Grit - Part 3
Fourth day of the trip - 3rd day on grit. Skin was feeling a little worse for wear to say the least. Quarried grit is definitely kinder on the skin than natural. I have never climbed at Millstone, and in my fragile state I didn't want to go there and have a half-hearted day - if I go there I want to have a crushing day! So decided to head to Frogatt for some bold slab action. Artless and Heartless Hare (both E5) both went down, before laying siege to a ground-up padded ascent of Narcissus (E6), tricky! But once the sequence was sussed it went nicely (if a little slappy...). It's quite hard though, probably a very highball V5 crux (I jumped off from the bottom of the crux fine, but any higher could be a bit uncomfortable). On the way back along the crag I stood and oggled at Beau Geste and Soul Doubt, inspired for them!
On previous visits to the Peak I have only ever been to Curbar, Frogatt, Stanage and Lawrencefield before, so I had not yet explored new territory on this trip. I'd become sated with bold onsighting for the trip, so decided to go to Headpoint somethin, possibly quite hard... With the warm sun still shining Steve suggested Burbage South to get some cool conditions. What a crag! Hard route after hard route, all superb-looking lines and a really atmospheric aura to go with the seriousness of the routes. Steve had errands to run, so he dropped me off equipped with shunt and a couple of pads. Simba's Pride is a route that has inspired me since I saw Ben Cossey slap his way to victory on Committed, and stood underneath it only multiplied my awe. The moves are amazing - hugging the prow on pockets and slopers, with the top 2 moves making the wild slappy crux. But I'm not ready. The moves feel too close to my limit to even consider on solo. One for the back-burner I guess. For the days tick a nice solitary solo of the Knock (E4) finished off an incredible send-fest on the grit, ready to rest up for the CWIF qualifiers the next day.
What amazed me about this week, something Steve noted too, is that nobody else seem to DO anything! 4 days of perfect weather; dry & cool (a bit on the sunny side but you cant complain) and we barely saw anyone else out, just the odd partnership jangling around up some lower-grade classics. It makes me glad to not live in the Peak; so I'm staying hungry and making the most of my time and energy, and trying to keep that ethic in mind when I'm in North Wales, or wherever I am for that matter.
On previous visits to the Peak I have only ever been to Curbar, Frogatt, Stanage and Lawrencefield before, so I had not yet explored new territory on this trip. I'd become sated with bold onsighting for the trip, so decided to go to Headpoint somethin, possibly quite hard... With the warm sun still shining Steve suggested Burbage South to get some cool conditions. What a crag! Hard route after hard route, all superb-looking lines and a really atmospheric aura to go with the seriousness of the routes. Steve had errands to run, so he dropped me off equipped with shunt and a couple of pads. Simba's Pride is a route that has inspired me since I saw Ben Cossey slap his way to victory on Committed, and stood underneath it only multiplied my awe. The moves are amazing - hugging the prow on pockets and slopers, with the top 2 moves making the wild slappy crux. But I'm not ready. The moves feel too close to my limit to even consider on solo. One for the back-burner I guess. For the days tick a nice solitary solo of the Knock (E4) finished off an incredible send-fest on the grit, ready to rest up for the CWIF qualifiers the next day.
What amazed me about this week, something Steve noted too, is that nobody else seem to DO anything! 4 days of perfect weather; dry & cool (a bit on the sunny side but you cant complain) and we barely saw anyone else out, just the odd partnership jangling around up some lower-grade classics. It makes me glad to not live in the Peak; so I'm staying hungry and making the most of my time and energy, and trying to keep that ethic in mind when I'm in North Wales, or wherever I am for that matter.
The Lord's Shit, aka: the Grit: Part 2
Day 3; a day of aretes! Off the back of a sweet day at Curbar confidence was booming and the weather was fine! I had aspirations and classics to do at all the big grit crags. After umming and aahhing about where to go, we ended up at Stanage Plantation, laden with 4 pads and a basic rack just in case. A warm-up on Crescent Arete (on its left, right and with one hand) set the tone for the day. I did Archangel and Don sans pads before spotting Steve on a padded White Wand. This route is unique from its classic neighbors, in that it has a sequence of moves and holds rather than a pure clean arete. Steve took a good sized barndoor-fall/dismount while matching the arete (crux), before I did a repeat ascent and he sussed out the way soon after. I had a little recce on Ulysses' Bow, again without pads (I feel like I should go for the full arete-set paddless (and hopefully onsight) now I have come this far) but it feels a bit beyond me right now, especially with the sun beaming down its evil rays; perfect conditions will be required!
After all that boldness (and some mellow sun-bathing) we were in no state of mind to continue with our bold soloing excursion, so we had a look at Brad Pit. First few goes went well but my Anasazi heel felt shit! I changed my left shoe to a Testerossa and boom it went down next try! Classic case of using the right shoe for the job.
Content with the day's ascents but again not wanting to waste daylight and sunshine, we wandered over to do some chilling soloing, Right Unconquerable being particularly enjoyable! So as not to feel like we carried the rack up for no reason, I nipped up Telli, which confirmed that I was done for the day - painfully thin skin on a pebble-pulling slab didn't do anything to motivate me. Plus we were starving hungry (I had forgot my lunch so we'd shared Steves banana, single pitta with brie and handful of raisins), and when I get hungry, I can get cranky. So off we went to gorge on pasta, bacon, screw-balls and hob-nobs, and apply a fair lathering of climb-on!
After all that boldness (and some mellow sun-bathing) we were in no state of mind to continue with our bold soloing excursion, so we had a look at Brad Pit. First few goes went well but my Anasazi heel felt shit! I changed my left shoe to a Testerossa and boom it went down next try! Classic case of using the right shoe for the job.
Content with the day's ascents but again not wanting to waste daylight and sunshine, we wandered over to do some chilling soloing, Right Unconquerable being particularly enjoyable! So as not to feel like we carried the rack up for no reason, I nipped up Telli, which confirmed that I was done for the day - painfully thin skin on a pebble-pulling slab didn't do anything to motivate me. Plus we were starving hungry (I had forgot my lunch so we'd shared Steves banana, single pitta with brie and handful of raisins), and when I get hungry, I can get cranky. So off we went to gorge on pasta, bacon, screw-balls and hob-nobs, and apply a fair lathering of climb-on!
The Lord's Shit, aka: the Grit: Part 1
The joy of only having casual part-time work is that when the opportunity of a lift and accommodation for a week-long trip to the Peak District is thrust upon you, there is nothing stopping you from seizing it. After a productive visit for Steve Ramsden to North Wales (doing some 'proper trad'), he and I headed back to Sheffield along with a great weather forecast and a sense of urgency to get some sweet grit ticks done before it gets too hot! It did not disappoint...
On the first day, to my dismay, Sheffield was haunted by a hanging mist and humid drizzle. So after lurking around at Curbar for a few hours to see if things perked up (they didn't) we headed for a light evening sesh at the Works.
The next day was more promising, probably being the most prolific day of climbing I've ever had. I won't go into intimate detail about each route (if you want to see my comments go onto my UKC Logbook), but by 3 o'clock I had worked my way up L'horla (E1), Committed (E6), Unreachable Star (E3), Ulysses or Bust (E5), Moon Walk (E4) and although Steve gave me the Lion's share of climbing time, he also cruised a cool-headed headpoint solo of Cool Moon (E7) (cool is the word!). We checked the time and it was only about 3; still plenty of daylight left, but after all that we both felt that sated contentment and full body & mind tiredness that only a long bold day of trad and soloing can give. We pushed on however, wanting to make up for yesterdays bad weather and lack of ticks, so I did Diet of Worms (E4) and both boshed out a flash of Slackers (E6), which, with a belayer to keep you from goin down the slope, is essentially just a bit of a highball (much like Committed actually).
After this, reflecting on how good a day it had been, I concluded that I had so far done an E1, E3, two E4s, an E5 and 2 E6's. It would be rude not to do a quick E2 classic to do the complete E1 to E6 full-house. Skimming through the guide I selected Elder Crack as the E2 of choice, not realizing the nature of the route until I was underneath it. Joe Brown goes up in my estimations every time I do one of his routes (I can't wait to do Right Eliminate next time I'm at Curbar!), and Elder Crack is no exception to his extensive list of absolute gems! I think I climbed it OK; a bit of thrutching in the offwidth section is all part of it (although I have learned since that it is easier to layback), but having 2 big cams to plug in definitely makes that slightly insecure scrabbling and scuffling that bit less nerve-wracking, so more credit to the man!
So there it ended, with a grand total of 31 E points for myself and 19 for Steve. The message that I would give from this day is this; don't be content! When you feel that sense of lethargic contentment creeping up on you, press on in whatever way you feel you can, even if it's just a bit of easy mileage or repeating routes you've done before. By doing this you will develop that all-day stamina which allows you to really make the most of a day out, especially now the days are getting longer! With that type of stamina all sorts of clever and fun little day-challenges are made possible; like doing all the routes of the alphabet, the Tremadog V-challenge, all the Sub-E1 routes of an area etc; these days are great fun and super satisfying for the tick-hungry logbook fiend like myself.
On the first day, to my dismay, Sheffield was haunted by a hanging mist and humid drizzle. So after lurking around at Curbar for a few hours to see if things perked up (they didn't) we headed for a light evening sesh at the Works.
The next day was more promising, probably being the most prolific day of climbing I've ever had. I won't go into intimate detail about each route (if you want to see my comments go onto my UKC Logbook), but by 3 o'clock I had worked my way up L'horla (E1), Committed (E6), Unreachable Star (E3), Ulysses or Bust (E5), Moon Walk (E4) and although Steve gave me the Lion's share of climbing time, he also cruised a cool-headed headpoint solo of Cool Moon (E7) (cool is the word!). We checked the time and it was only about 3; still plenty of daylight left, but after all that we both felt that sated contentment and full body & mind tiredness that only a long bold day of trad and soloing can give. We pushed on however, wanting to make up for yesterdays bad weather and lack of ticks, so I did Diet of Worms (E4) and both boshed out a flash of Slackers (E6), which, with a belayer to keep you from goin down the slope, is essentially just a bit of a highball (much like Committed actually).
After this, reflecting on how good a day it had been, I concluded that I had so far done an E1, E3, two E4s, an E5 and 2 E6's. It would be rude not to do a quick E2 classic to do the complete E1 to E6 full-house. Skimming through the guide I selected Elder Crack as the E2 of choice, not realizing the nature of the route until I was underneath it. Joe Brown goes up in my estimations every time I do one of his routes (I can't wait to do Right Eliminate next time I'm at Curbar!), and Elder Crack is no exception to his extensive list of absolute gems! I think I climbed it OK; a bit of thrutching in the offwidth section is all part of it (although I have learned since that it is easier to layback), but having 2 big cams to plug in definitely makes that slightly insecure scrabbling and scuffling that bit less nerve-wracking, so more credit to the man!
So there it ended, with a grand total of 31 E points for myself and 19 for Steve. The message that I would give from this day is this; don't be content! When you feel that sense of lethargic contentment creeping up on you, press on in whatever way you feel you can, even if it's just a bit of easy mileage or repeating routes you've done before. By doing this you will develop that all-day stamina which allows you to really make the most of a day out, especially now the days are getting longer! With that type of stamina all sorts of clever and fun little day-challenges are made possible; like doing all the routes of the alphabet, the Tremadog V-challenge, all the Sub-E1 routes of an area etc; these days are great fun and super satisfying for the tick-hungry logbook fiend like myself.
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