Sunday, 25 October 2009
Previous Pages: Page 110
Due to bouldering, job applications/interviews, friends weddings many other reasons which shouldn't affect the amount of climbing I do but does I thought I would use the gap to write a little about routes in the book that I did before I moved to Sheffield. Hopefully I can stop the blog going too stagnant in this way.
Page 110
Before moving to Sheffield I was at University at York St John, and took charge of the climbing club there. It was a lot of fun, a lot of work, but a lot of fun. I tried to keep a culture of climbing routes outdoors in a trad style, as I thought (rightly or wrongly,) that it was the place of climbing clubs to uphold an ethic to some degree. Anyway, this meant a fair amount of Gritstone, and generally me leading with 3, 4 or even 5 seconds (I wasn't setting up a top rope. How could it be a top rope, I climbed the routes and sat at the top and everything :P) In February 2008 (I know because I have written it in the guide,) A group of us headed to the peak on a day trip. There were 5 of us on this trip, and as always they started hanging around in a car park in york, tired, cold and with me trying to convince everyone that the weather was going to be great, the cold didn't matter and to generally be up beat.
I don't remember much about the day in general, but I do remember the reason why I thought Crow Chin would be a good buttress to head for. Crow Chin is a great target for a mixed ability group, with a starred route at a range of standards.
After discussion, friend, who went on to take charge of the climbing club after I left, led the first route. This was mainly due to wanted to get an easy route led, and also because I had my eye on October slab and May Crack. He led Bent Crack with no difficulty, which can't be said for his novice and semi-novice seconds, who struggled up the steep initial section, but the climbing above that I pleasant, big holds and nicely exposed without that 'out there' feeling you get on some routes (notably traverses over big drops, In future I might try and write some short pieces about other favourite routes, and the Spinx at Wainstones would fit into the 'out there' category, if you ever find yourself near Middlesbrough head to it,) I remember it being very windy and my friend placing a cam just below the top and having a bit of a struggle catching the quick draw at the same time as holding the rope as it was dancing around in front of his face, but he clipped in and topped out.
After sorting the gear and having a chat I racked up for October slab. At this point i think many of the less experienced members of the group would have been quite happy to find the outside cafe and a massive slice of cake, but I wanted to lead something so with a little trepidation I set up through the initial steep section of October Slab. I remember the relative steepness of the starting moves, the good flat holds, but with moves which I was move used to bouldering out than finding on routes. I think I may have even got a heel on and rocked up, like a proper rock star! I remember good holds, long moves and small, plentiful gear. The meat of the route however is the rising traverse of the underside of a flake. I had recently got a small red cam, and I remember placing it whilst doing the moves up the flake. The clean rock, the sweep of the ropes, and the whistle of the wind through the holes in my helmet were life affirming. Sometimes I find myself scared on routes I have no reason to fear, and I need to employ a little mental strength to carry on. On this route i was just in a place of control, of enjoyment. I had started the route a little angry, mainly at the indecision of others (this is a bad trait of mine, but once a plan is made, i like to see the plan through unless there are good reasons not too,) but when ever i look at page 110 of Eastern Grit I am pulling through the moves on the underside of the flake towards the top, leaving my gear behind but in complete control and happy....
Page 110
Before moving to Sheffield I was at University at York St John, and took charge of the climbing club there. It was a lot of fun, a lot of work, but a lot of fun. I tried to keep a culture of climbing routes outdoors in a trad style, as I thought (rightly or wrongly,) that it was the place of climbing clubs to uphold an ethic to some degree. Anyway, this meant a fair amount of Gritstone, and generally me leading with 3, 4 or even 5 seconds (I wasn't setting up a top rope. How could it be a top rope, I climbed the routes and sat at the top and everything :P) In February 2008 (I know because I have written it in the guide,) A group of us headed to the peak on a day trip. There were 5 of us on this trip, and as always they started hanging around in a car park in york, tired, cold and with me trying to convince everyone that the weather was going to be great, the cold didn't matter and to generally be up beat.
I don't remember much about the day in general, but I do remember the reason why I thought Crow Chin would be a good buttress to head for. Crow Chin is a great target for a mixed ability group, with a starred route at a range of standards.
After discussion, friend, who went on to take charge of the climbing club after I left, led the first route. This was mainly due to wanted to get an easy route led, and also because I had my eye on October slab and May Crack. He led Bent Crack with no difficulty, which can't be said for his novice and semi-novice seconds, who struggled up the steep initial section, but the climbing above that I pleasant, big holds and nicely exposed without that 'out there' feeling you get on some routes (notably traverses over big drops, In future I might try and write some short pieces about other favourite routes, and the Spinx at Wainstones would fit into the 'out there' category, if you ever find yourself near Middlesbrough head to it,) I remember it being very windy and my friend placing a cam just below the top and having a bit of a struggle catching the quick draw at the same time as holding the rope as it was dancing around in front of his face, but he clipped in and topped out.
After sorting the gear and having a chat I racked up for October slab. At this point i think many of the less experienced members of the group would have been quite happy to find the outside cafe and a massive slice of cake, but I wanted to lead something so with a little trepidation I set up through the initial steep section of October Slab. I remember the relative steepness of the starting moves, the good flat holds, but with moves which I was move used to bouldering out than finding on routes. I think I may have even got a heel on and rocked up, like a proper rock star! I remember good holds, long moves and small, plentiful gear. The meat of the route however is the rising traverse of the underside of a flake. I had recently got a small red cam, and I remember placing it whilst doing the moves up the flake. The clean rock, the sweep of the ropes, and the whistle of the wind through the holes in my helmet were life affirming. Sometimes I find myself scared on routes I have no reason to fear, and I need to employ a little mental strength to carry on. On this route i was just in a place of control, of enjoyment. I had started the route a little angry, mainly at the indecision of others (this is a bad trait of mine, but once a plan is made, i like to see the plan through unless there are good reasons not too,) but when ever i look at page 110 of Eastern Grit I am pulling through the moves on the underside of the flake towards the top, leaving my gear behind but in complete control and happy....
Monday, 12 October 2009
The weather was great...
But we had a bit of an issue. Visiting friend had a problem during the night which meant about 4 miles of walking, £20 in taxi's and a visit to A and E. All is well but the 9.20 train back to York was caught and I was pretty tired. I was kind of good really, as I bouldered on Thursday, trained on Friday and did a couple of routes on Saturday, so it was nice to have a day off. However the weather is good so I'm going to head out to the Peak now. I think I will go and have a look at Burbage West, as it is another close crag I have never been to which looks like it might hold some projects for when I have nobody to hold my rope.
Ill try and get some photos/videos up on the blog but in the mean time your just have to use your minds eye.
Ill try and get some photos/videos up on the blog but in the mean time your just have to use your minds eye.
Saturday, 10 October 2009
103 and 109
Today a friend from Uni cam to visit and mentioned he had never been to the far end of Stanage. Having never been myself I saw the opportunity to climb a couple of routes in a place that is not right on the road. After a night of wine and Mario we woke up pretty late and the crag was RAMMED. We did manage to find some parking and headed up to the furthest point of Stanage with no route in mind.
Every buttress had somebody climbing it until we got to the final slabs. Checking the guide I notice Prospero's Climb, a VDiff with 2 stars. Although the start looked polished and green it seemed to clean up higher up. The route was damp and gritty, but quality did shine through with some good moves and good gear with a few short run outs between good runners. I did have a little panic and forced a number 9 wire, and had a little scare on a slippery mantel high up but enjoyed the route. My friend failed to get my number 9 out so there is some crag swag if you fancy it. We came down to find we had been joined by many members of the Southampton University Mountaineering Club. They seemed like a good crack, and I hoped that one of there well kitted out members (with a rack which would not look out of place at Gogarth,) who had just started up the route would be able to get my nut for me. After we had spent 20 minuets putting gear away and the climber was umming and arhhing about whether to go up or down from her stance 6 ft up, I let the wire go, it being 5 years old and well loved.
We then headed back toward the car stopping to watch somebody cruise the top of a route up Marble wall, ether Goosey Goosey Gander (E5 6a) or the end of the traverse The Lamia (E3 5c). I was very impressed by the way they made the top crack look like a staircase so when we went up to try a route round to the right, called Richard's Sister (HS) I told them as we passed I was impressed. It was then I recognised them as 'rock star' Nic Seller and film maker Rich Heap. I suppose anything is easy once you have climbed E9....
Richard's Sister was great, a lovely clean crack with interesting, sustained climbing that made me remember why i love climbing grit.
So a good, if little unproductive day was topped off with a nice meal and a pint in the local and a good forecast for tomorrow...
Every buttress had somebody climbing it until we got to the final slabs. Checking the guide I notice Prospero's Climb, a VDiff with 2 stars. Although the start looked polished and green it seemed to clean up higher up. The route was damp and gritty, but quality did shine through with some good moves and good gear with a few short run outs between good runners. I did have a little panic and forced a number 9 wire, and had a little scare on a slippery mantel high up but enjoyed the route. My friend failed to get my number 9 out so there is some crag swag if you fancy it. We came down to find we had been joined by many members of the Southampton University Mountaineering Club. They seemed like a good crack, and I hoped that one of there well kitted out members (with a rack which would not look out of place at Gogarth,) who had just started up the route would be able to get my nut for me. After we had spent 20 minuets putting gear away and the climber was umming and arhhing about whether to go up or down from her stance 6 ft up, I let the wire go, it being 5 years old and well loved.
We then headed back toward the car stopping to watch somebody cruise the top of a route up Marble wall, ether Goosey Goosey Gander (E5 6a) or the end of the traverse The Lamia (E3 5c). I was very impressed by the way they made the top crack look like a staircase so when we went up to try a route round to the right, called Richard's Sister (HS) I told them as we passed I was impressed. It was then I recognised them as 'rock star' Nic Seller and film maker Rich Heap. I suppose anything is easy once you have climbed E9....
Richard's Sister was great, a lovely clean crack with interesting, sustained climbing that made me remember why i love climbing grit.
So a good, if little unproductive day was topped off with a nice meal and a pint in the local and a good forecast for tomorrow...
Start...
Its October 2009. My girlfriend and I have just moved to Sheffield, and we are keen to climb a lot of routes in a lot of beautiful places. In my head a plan began to form.
In 2006 Chris Craggs and Alan James released a rewrite to Peak Gritstone East, a book titled Eastern Grit. Flicking through I noticed that there were many routes that seemed possible, at my current grade of around VS. As a way of climbing across the Peak I decided to set the challenge of climbing a route from each of the 263 pages with routes on. I will have to go to nearly every buttress on the 19 main crags, as well as 2 routes from the 7 esoteric crags.
With a closer look I found the crux of the whole project staring at me bold as the buttress it is on, alone and proud on page 216. There is only one page with a single route on it and it is on page 216. That route is on The Leaning Block at Higgar Tor, and is called The Sander (E4 6a)
This route will obviously have to wait a whilst and may well be my first headpoint route.
Other hard pages include 368, The Promontory at Black Rocks. There is a choice of 6 routes on this page, 5 of them are E2 and the other is the feared Meshuga. So I'll pick an E2 then....
the Third hardest page on paper (excuse the pun,) is page 303 at Curbar, Elder Crack area. With 4 routes to pick from it looks unremarkable. However one is an unrepeated former LGP in Steve McLure's The New Statesman, one is possibly the most dangerous E9's around, Knockin' on Heaven's Door one is an E4, which forces me to look at the VS which is described as "Another grovel ... that adds to Curbar's reputation." I'm not a massive fan of the grovel.
Highlights should included an ascent of the Rivlin Needle, forming a relationship with the wild moorland grit of Dovestone Tor and finding amazing routes that I wouldn't have climbed otherwise.
Before I started this blog I had climbed routes on just 24 pages. This blog will be a diary about every other page.
Let the Challenge begin!!
In 2006 Chris Craggs and Alan James released a rewrite to Peak Gritstone East, a book titled Eastern Grit. Flicking through I noticed that there were many routes that seemed possible, at my current grade of around VS. As a way of climbing across the Peak I decided to set the challenge of climbing a route from each of the 263 pages with routes on. I will have to go to nearly every buttress on the 19 main crags, as well as 2 routes from the 7 esoteric crags.
With a closer look I found the crux of the whole project staring at me bold as the buttress it is on, alone and proud on page 216. There is only one page with a single route on it and it is on page 216. That route is on The Leaning Block at Higgar Tor, and is called The Sander (E4 6a)
This route will obviously have to wait a whilst and may well be my first headpoint route.
Other hard pages include 368, The Promontory at Black Rocks. There is a choice of 6 routes on this page, 5 of them are E2 and the other is the feared Meshuga. So I'll pick an E2 then....
the Third hardest page on paper (excuse the pun,) is page 303 at Curbar, Elder Crack area. With 4 routes to pick from it looks unremarkable. However one is an unrepeated former LGP in Steve McLure's The New Statesman, one is possibly the most dangerous E9's around, Knockin' on Heaven's Door one is an E4, which forces me to look at the VS which is described as "Another grovel ... that adds to Curbar's reputation." I'm not a massive fan of the grovel.
Highlights should included an ascent of the Rivlin Needle, forming a relationship with the wild moorland grit of Dovestone Tor and finding amazing routes that I wouldn't have climbed otherwise.
Before I started this blog I had climbed routes on just 24 pages. This blog will be a diary about every other page.
Let the Challenge begin!!
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