This week I managed to get myself up High Fidelity, 8b, one of gritstone’s proudest lines that was first put up by Del boy Dunning. I have looked at this line on most of my visits to Caley; and a few weeks back I even walked up to give the line a go, only to find myself intimidated by the height and the amount of cleaning/dangling off a rope it would take. 

High Fidelity isn't the kind of problem that lends itself to a quick ascent. It is high, almost always needs cleaning, and has some tricky moves high from the deck. So when I headed up there for an after work session with fellow locals, Dan Turner and Rob Lay, I only really had it in my mind that I would try to get the moves figured out and prepare myself for a seige. After a brief warm up on the great flake (lower half only!!) we moved the pads across to HF. After a few goes I found myself at the undercut midway up the climb and hit what I thought would be the stopper move that would stand in the way of victory. The move is an awkward undercut lock with your left hand which you have to lay back off slightly to get your heel to work around the arete. From there you have to slap again with your right hand up the arete. I had another few goes from the ground at doing this move but found that I couldn't make a convincing effort of holding the slap...

Then, seemingly out of nowhere (I ignored his complaints at carrying it up the hill) Dan revealed the game changer: A Ladder. I have used these a couple of times whilst out bouldering and it's certainly not a new idea. However, on High Fidelity it made a huge difference in breaking down the climb whilst saving a lot of time bumbling around with a rope. I got myself up the ladder, pulled on as though I had held the slap move and from here I manged to do the rest of the moves up to the glory pocket. Now it just came down to one move, which, thanks to the ladder, I worked out in a few more attempts. On the ascent itself I managed to climb with a good amount of precision, which was rather out of character for me, but I soon returned to form when I hit the juggy pocket where all technique disappeared and I found myself scrabbling/foot-popping the rest of the way to victory. High Fidelity in an after work session! 

Thankfully, Jordan B took a bit of time off from routes in order to saunter up this problem a couple of weeks previously and really showed off his window-cleaning prowess at the same time. The problem was spick and span, which made the climb look much more attainable and almost certainly saved a session of cleaning it myself... well done that man! 

Sadly, this is a broadsheet style blog (with tabloid standard writing) as I didn't manage to get any pictues. They wouldn't have been great anyway, as the light was fading.

Height:

6"6 Weighing 190 pounds

Ape index:

+4

Born:

04/08/1987

Current Location:

Silsden - "The Den"

Been climbing for:

8 Years

Fav 5:10 Shoe:

Dragon

Memorable Climbing Moment:

Climbing Boogalagga, Switzerland

Climbing Heroes:

Ned Feehally

Loves:

Endless summer days and Ned

Hates:

British weather

Fav Book:

The Count of Monte Cristo

Fav Music:

Currently playing The Generationals

Fav Climb:

I'll get back to you on that...

Other Hobbies:

Cycling, Swimming, Kettle bell

Occupation:

Hydrology Consultant

Website:

N/A

Daves's Blog

Here are a few pictures which were took up at Crookrise t'other day. Typically, I never get many pictures from the crag but after my friend, Crad, knackered his finger early in the day he decided to rest up on the finger and take some pictures instead. The conditions at the crag were perfect so after making a surprisingly quick ascent of Sideliner we joined a few others and did a tour of some of the classics.

Sideliner, 8a

Sideliner, 8a

Sideliner, 8a

Troll's Arete, 7a+

Tim Stubley on Pixie Tits, 7b+

Karajala, 7a+

Thanks to Tom Peckitt for the photos.

9 degrees and an easterly breeze. These were the key ingredients for a good slice of ‘send pie’ last weekend at Badger Cove, where I managed the 1^st repeat of marra Varian’s “Dandelion Mind”. Since trying this problem in early 2011 it has been high on my to-do list. The problem is steep, powerful, and on skin-friendly limestone holds, perfect for someone who trains on a board week in week out!

I had planned to head to The Hangar comp with Tom Newman on the Saturday but after waking up to cool sunny conditions it would have been a crying shame to waste it indoors. The obligatory weather check turned up even more good news when it promised an easterly breeze at Buxton. This is just what is needed at Badger Cove, as it is sheltered on the west side of a deep valley and thus tends to be sheltered by the prevailing South Westerly’s. As the Easterly breeze is more rare than chicken lips, the decision was quickly made and we were soon on the road.

The walk in was the standard bumble along steep unstable slopes but I was surprised when we arrived in the cove and were greeted by 4ft high nettles, which were quickly tackled by the ever-handy stick brush. After a brief warm up, I got straight onto “Dandelion” and was pleasantly surprised to find I was much stronger on the line than when I had tried previously. The only problem was I had completely forgotten the sequence to the easier end moves, which I had written off as being pretty straightforward. This caused slight panic as I wasn’t too eager to spend energy working out the working beta. I tried to get Newman to suss out the move but quickly realised that his lengthy limbs wouldn’t give great beta for me. So, after a quick leg up, I had a working sequence and I was happy it would do the job when I got up there. Sure enough, after a few more attempts the problem was in my satchel.

Dandelion Mind from David Jones on Vimeo.

In other news, I managed a wee first ascent at Trowbarrow a couple of weeks ago. “Barbaric Yawp” is a small gem on the Shelter Stone, which packs in two good moves before topping out at head height! Brilliant. More info on it here: http://lakesbloc.com/news/423-trowbarrow-barbaric-yawp.html 

A boulder problem…. at Kilnsey!? Last week I succeeded in climbing Primitive Notion, a V12 that was put up by Steve Dunning a few years back. I have spent a few sessions trying this over the summer. It’s tucked away at the left-hand end of Kilnsey where you get the privilege of making awkward conversation with route climbers on their way round the corner for a p*ss stop. It goes without saying that the boulder problems at Kilnsey aren’t anywhere near as impressive as the routes, but thankfully the rock quality of the crag makes for some interesting problems. Primitive Notion itself includes 2 heel-toe locks, a toe hook, a crux dyno/jump, a cross-through and a final tricky lerp to the finish jug.

Earlier on in the summer I got close to the ‘send’ but fell off when I got overzealous on the crux jump, completely overshooting the hold. Despite my best efforts, it took a good couple of months to get the problem in the satchel, having returned on a few occasions only to be driven away by an onslaught of midges and soggy rock. The good conditions were delivered last week and all previous disappointments were forgotten.

Below is a video screenshot of the climb, the first of the two toe hooks.

#BOOM

DJ

I was planning on basing my first blog report on some form of climbing success . . . and so I have been putting it off for quite a while. However, with the weather lingering in its current state of soggy, I decided to make the most of the spare time and get on the blog roll. For the past couple months I have been keeping a low profile and have been dedicating most of my climbing time to training. This tends to be my default setting, as I find it far too easy to head indoors and have myself an “hour of power”--instant gratification!

This weekend I was staying in Durham and so I seized the opportunity to get a bit of climbing done in the county. The first day was spent at a damp and muggy Bowden, which left me feeling pretty feeble despite being fuelled by the sweetest (banoffee) coffee I have ever had! Sunday was a vast improvement as a bit of a wind had kicked up, which led me on the road to Shaftoe. This place is never high on my list of places to go, but I am always lured in by its proximity to Durham. The highlight of the day was an ascent of Purely Belter, which gets the grand ol’ grade of 8a (although a number of ascentionists have placed it closer to the 7b+ mark). This has been a bit of a nemesis of mine as I have always thought it should be easy but never actually managed to climb it. Amazingly, after preparing myself for an epic affair, I got myself up it in just a few goes and after topping out I couldn’t understand why I had found the problem so hard. I would like to think it is a result of training paying off, but I will have to put it down to a simple case of MTFU. The rest of the day went well with plenty of skin-eating mileage and a quick ascent of “Power is Nothing without Control” which to me still felt easier than Purely Belter!  


Time to get back to the cellar, but first, no self-respecting blog would be complete without a poor quality hipster image . . .



DJ