CWIF and more grit

Last weekend was a big few days in Sheffield with the arrival of a bunch of strong climbers for the CWIF. I met up with Ted for another hit of the grit bouldering on Saturday morning, and the geezer yanked his way up Zorev. I know he was very keen to get this done so good effort mate! We then moved onto Burbage North to escape the hurricane like winds that were battering the quarries and us! Here we did the classic highball 'Sphinx' 7A+ or E5 6c in the olden days, before walking over to tick 'Zaff Skoczylas' 7C and then a good flash of 'Boyager' 7B. If you haven't done this its definitely worth seeking out as its a real gem of a boulder.

Warming down in the evening light

We woke up Sunday to more amazing weather, but it was all about heading down to The Works for the semi finals and to give some support to our friends competing. It was an awesome atmosphere with a huge crowd and some dam strong guys and gals all fighting it out for a spot in the final on some pretty nails looking blocs.
After stuffing our faces with burgers and scones it was finals time. It was very cool to watch those guys all battling super hard and big congrats to Dave and Shauna who totally crushed and for once it wasn't those French on top of the podium, or in this case, spacehoppers!

Ed pulling hard in Semi's

Adam Bailes Photography

It provided a good rest day for those of us not competing so the following day we all once again hit Burbage, in perfect conditions. I was pretty stoked to top out on The Knock E4/5 5c after warming up, a route I've always wanted to do and with the weather, it meant you could just enjoy the whole thing so much more! We ventured down the crag a bit more after this and 'The Alliance' got flashed before a few more things got sent by the rest of the team, including 'The Rib' and 'Desparate'.

It was really starting to warm up as we walked back for the main event of the day, the E6 6b Nosferatu! The arete was in full sun and we pondered for a good while at the bottom before Ted decided to just go for it. A recce or two later he was at the last move, stretching to the huge bucket of a hold that awaits those successful and it was in the bag!
By this time the temps had cooled loads and everything seemed just right for giving it a go, I tied in, set off and quickly found myself at the break clipping the gear and setting up for the launch to the jug! I pulled over and stood on top in brilliant late afternoon sunshine and pretty syked on the flash, but mainly just to climb a really sick line and another route that's been on the list for a while. Should have a load of pictures from Bailes coming through sometime so I'll post them up when I get hold of them, but cheers to Kitty for most of these! Have a look at Adams facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Minus-Ten-Productions/380115828672510
In the mean time, for those of you not familiar with the route, check out the video below of Katy climbing it a few years ago.

We finished the long weekend with the best carvery in the world and all you can eat ice cream! Nice one youths, and massive cheers to Denise for putting up with us all again!!

The Sheep!