Gritstone 20111/2012

Now its warming up I though it would be a good time to reflect on this winter's gritstone season. I really enjoyed going big this year, here are my highball highlights:

Samson
I tried to do this ground up but got a bit stuck. Rather than banging my head on a pebbly wall I decided to check out the top on a rope. I immediately found a sequence that worked (albeit very different to the sequence I was expecting/trying) and fell from the very top on my next go. 

 

We returned a few days later with a mountain of pads and I did it.

It is a great effort by John Welford who did this above minimal pads a good number of years ago. His ascent was way ahead of its time – respect.

 

Lip of fools
Jon Fullwood climbed this route at Eastwood a couple of years ago. He protected it with “baby bouncers” using gear in gear in a crack on the right and a tree on the left, making for a pretty physical and exciting, but totally safe E7. He had recommended it as a potential highball and after the weather had taken a turn for the worse it seemed like the perfect perma-dry option.
After some begging and borrowing of pads from pretty much everyone at the crag (thanks) we had a decent landing zone. The route traverses a lip on crimps at about 15 feet before busting straight up the head wall. The gear tree that protects the lead actually makes the landing worse for a highball ascent. Oh well, your on jugs by then.

After some initial wobbly goes getting used to the fall I committed to the last of the hard moves and gingerly shuffled through the top section in a sea of greenness. It felt good to be reasonably relaxed at such a height (although I am sure I didn’t look it).

 

Superboc

A couple of days later things had dried out considerably. One of my main goals for this winter was Miles Gibsons’ Superboc at Moorside. This was climbed as an E8 above 2 small pads (and seemingly in the height of the summer, in a pair of tiny shorts) many years ago. Nowadays it qualifies as a mere highball. The crux is pretty low down but the top out is far from easy or obvious. I had been to Moorside many times before but things had never quite aligned. Either bad conditions, bad skin or weak arms had let me down time and time again.

This time a freezing wind was whistling down the crag keeping the crucial pockets in prime condition and I was feeling well rested. After a quick brush and a couple of goes I surprised myself by getting right to the top only to explode off in a cloud of gritty dirt. My keenness had got the better of me and the dirty top out spat me off without even a whisper of warning.

After another (proper) clean and the obligatory rubbish second last go I found myself flopping onto the top. Brilliant. How things change. I remember the first time I went to superboc (3 or 4 years ago?) I saw it as a huge and very intimidating highball and got totally shut down. This visit it felt relatively small and I didn’t think twice about committing to the top out. Maybe that’s foolish…

 

The Promise

I first tried this about 3 years ago with Gaz Parry and Tony Musslebrook. I remember being terrified above a few pads and not really making any progress. I went back again this year and had more luck,. After a few big falls I got through the crux only to find myself stranded. I didn’t have the holds well enough to push on, and I couldn’t reverse. All that was left to do was shakily jump off. Oof! The fall wasn’t actually that bad but I was lacking the commitment to really go for the moves.
The next session was with Michele Caminati, the visiting Italian beast. This time we had even more pads (about 10) and committing was slightly easier. Michele cruised up it 2^nd go and this inspired me to pull my finger out and do it. Not exactly ground breaking stuff but I am really pleased to have finished this off as it was my last highball goal for the winter.

All these were caught on camera and have been included in a new film called Life on Hold (http://www.outcropfilms.com/). You get to see Dan and I, and many others making fools of ourselves and trying to climb. You should buy it!

 

 

 

Day 1: We seemed to spend all day crawling along snowy motorways but eventually arrived to a white out. Very cold. Go to sleep.

Day 2: Have a look around Cresciano as it’s the only crag we can get to with all the snow on the roads. After an exciting approach we run around looking at boulders and sweeping the things we want to try. Franks Wild Years is totally snow free so we do it. I’m climbing like a sack of spuds and decide to blame the traveling rather than a lack of ability, or any sort of warm up.

Day 3: Brione. The roads are fine but there is at least a foot of snow everywhere making getting to the boulders a cold wet nightmare. Again, we sweep a few things and then get stuck in. The rock is incredible, swirly granite with an almost sandstone feel to it. I do Marilyn Munroe then we retreat to the big cave so we don’t have to stand around in the snow. I do Fake Pamplemousse (flashed it, chuffed) and Ganymede Takeover (nearly flashed it, gutted) then fall off the massive holds in the middle of Frogger as exhaustion sets in. Its hard work being cold all day, let alone trying to climb.

Day 4: Rest. Skin good but body broken.

Day 5: Feel good. Time to try something hard. We warm up (nearly) on Harry Spotter then go straight to La Boule. I have a go at flashing it but fall off the 1^st 2a move. Strong start. Next go I fall off the last hard move with totally numb fingers. Maybe there is something in warming up properly? After a few minutes with the mitts on my hands warm up and i get it done.

Next up La Proue. It looks easy, the handholds are massive. But then you see/don’t see the footholds. Tiny, like raisins squashed onto the wall. After a few goes working out what to stand on and generally flapping about I start getting close to the crux 1^st move. I get a shove through to get familiar with the top – still tricky but not a problem if your feet stick to the raisins. A few goes later I hold the crux and do it. 2 Stone Love ticks in a day. Yesssss. I feel like Malc!

Day 5: The dagger. Try this for an hour or so and work out some of the moves. Its great fun. I still can’t work out why climbing on such big holds is this hard. I leave feeling totally beaten up but keen. Maybe I can do all the moves with a bit more work.

Day 6: Rest. Aching all over.

Day 7: The Dagger. Sort the moves out finally. Fall off making a stupid mistake on easy(ish) ground. I think I can do this now, it seems like I fell off purely because I’m not clever enough to remember the million move sequence! Nice one Ned, how embarrassing. Go home and do some crosswords to wake my brain up.

Day 8: Rest, this is getting frustrating, I want to actually climb something. Ive not come on holiday to rest (strangely).

Day 9: The Dagger. The end is easy, the start feels fine but for some reason I feel totally exhausted and just can’t link the 2 halves. I know I can do this… I think. Decide to bin it off and have a look at Confessions as its fewer moves, so less chance of getting pumped!

The crux of Confessions is supposed to be the doing the splits between 2 heels. Wow. I surprise myself by doing the moves pretty fast and falling off the jugs at the end, totally pumped. Something isn’t right, I shouldn’t be falling off jugs. Annoying. Phil makes me go for a walk with him to sweep snow off some boulders and force me to rest (grumbling to myself the whole time). After a walk and a brew I put my shoes back on and dispatch, by the skin of my teeth. Mantling the flat top feels like the hardest move I’ve ever done.

I feel totally done in now but at least I topped out on something today so tomorrows aching will feel deserved.
Day 10: Rest, no skin and aching all over. Go out spotting various people on various problems (secretly taking notes on their sequences)

Day 11: Chironico. Yay new crag. It’s still really snowy but some boulders are clean and dry. Freak Brothers first. It looks amazing. Mince around for a bit then find a toe hook that makes all the difference and it feels ok. Not as big as I was hoping but its a beautiful wall and a world class problem.

Conquistadors next. I had spotted Ben on this a couple of times so had a good idea of the sequence (from my secret note taking). The holds all feel good from the comfort of the floor. After pulling on I have one of those rare moments when climbing feels effortless (how I imagine climbing feels all the time for small, skinny people) and with Ben talking me though it move by move I flash it. Another world class boulder, and better still we have time for a 3^rd venue.

Finish the day on Reve de Mario. I have an old Prana postcard of Fred Nicole doing this, I think it’s from 1996 or something when I just started climbing. It’s a boulder I had always wanted to do so it was a nice end to the day. What a move.

Day 12: The Dagger. I am pretty tired but it’s the last day so I’m up for a brawl. I fall off most the way through the problem as I just cant make a toehook stick. My body is giving up on me, unhappy with 2 weeks of shivering and poor warm ups. Have to call it a day. Gutted. Do Jungle Book as a small consolation prize, it’s a brilliant problem. Still annoyed so go home and eat loads.

Day 13: Up at 4am, drive to airport (get lost on the way, obviously) and fly home.

It was a great little trip. 2 weeks of perfect weather and lots of world class boulders. Still gutted about the dagger however. Will have to go back...

 

I decided to stay a few more days with the plan of doing some easier classics. After getting some stuff under my belt I got keen again and headed to Merveille. I had tried this briefly on 2 previous trips but always sacked it off as it was hot, it felt so hard, it was scary and it is very very sharp. The crux hold is the size of a couple of pound coins, with the edges sharpened for good measure. Beauty. After reaching this hold way above your head, you stand up bit by bit until you are eventually undercutting it and you can reach the top (or not).

On my first go of this trip I surprised myself by getting to the last move. I wasn’t exactly sure what to do so went for the obvious, busting a move for the top. I came up just short not once or twice but 5 times before a sore back and legs and fading light sent me on my way.

Last day of the trip I pottered around with Michele Caminati. Its good to climb with someone so keen when your lacking motivation. I mentioned Merveille and he got all excited offering me a spot and an extra pad, twisting my arm into trying it. I charged straight there and abbed it again, finding a small smear that was perfectly placed for the last move. I hadn’t seen this hold before as it was tiny but it’s all that was needed. I waited for Michele to turn up as a spot and another pad would have been nice but the sun was gettng low in the sky and I was getting cold. Twiddling my thumbs wasnt keeping my fingers warm! I got impatient and set off anyway cruising upwards move by move. It felt easy for some reason. The crimp bit in to my already sore (and taped) fingers bruising them further, but I knew what to do now so I pressed on. One more sketchy foot move and I was bouncing to the jug! Battle over. The best problem in font I reckon.

Michele turned up a few minutes later and made me do it again for a photo: 

 

Photo: Michele Caminati

 

Being British, I love a good winge. Its either too hot, too wet, to cold too average etc. Font had been unseasonably warm – up to 18 degrees in November! And not really dropping below 10 degrees even at night. Still, at least it wasn’t too wet.  

When I planned this trip I had one thing on my mind – gecko assis. The perfect font problem revolving around weird moves between terrible slopers. The issue is that for me to link gecko I need perfect conditions, dry, cold and breezy (for Ondra bad conditions and one go would suffice). Sadly this wasn’t going to happen so I had to make other plans. Fortunately font has a bit to choose from so finding something to try until it got cold wasn’t too difficult.

Narcotic is a roof, mostly on big jugs so perfect for warm weather. First session was spent spooging around in the heat figuring out the moves and nearly linking it. After a rest day I was back with more favorable conditions, 17deg! Get in. However it was wet. After walking up that hill I wasn’t going to leave empty handed so out came the towels and after an hour of drying and emptying the finishing jugs of water it was ready for action. After tweaking the sequence (and poor Leo tweaking his knee even more) it was done.

 

One rainy day we went up to check out Satan I Helvete. Its steep and crimpy with a crux leap between 2 poor edges. It is considered to be quite hard for the grade and the hard climbing is packed into half of 1 move – holding a swing on some crimps.  Not your typical font problem. Steep dynamic climbing on crimps is probably my weakest style and I really didn’t think I’d stand a chance so was keen to avoid it.

However in the warm it made sense to stay away from slopers and climb on more positive holds. I dragged people up to spot me way too often, usually finding very poor conditions. Because the rock was cool and the air was warm and humid we were having problems with condensation. The undersides of the boulders were coated in a layer of water at night which would only dry off if the breeze picked up. Eventually the temps dropped to 9deg with a slight breeze. I was really fed up with throwing myself at 1 move which I thought I had no chance of doing, but in better conditions it suddenly felt very possible.

Instead of rushing in order to keep as much chalk on my fingers as possible I was able to relax and climb more slowly, grabbing everything just right and sailing across to the sloping edge with strength to spare (thats how it felt on that go anyway!) After digging my teeth into my chin to kill the swing I paused to catch my breath, even the smallest mistake on the last few moves and I would have been doing battle with that flipping move, again! Luckily I held it together.

photo: Leo Moger