Gotta light?

Around three weeks ago I suddenly remembered a route that I'd talked about trying in the past but never got to the point where I felt fully keen to go check out. It was partly due to the fact it is situated half way up one of the biggest crags in Derbyshire, rumoured to be 8b with a desperate move and since being climbed 6 years ago it hadn't had a second ascent...
I don't know what it was that got me psyched but all of sudden I said, right I really want to head up to try Limelight and see what its all about. So I called up the first ascentionist, Jon Clark, who was equally psyched to head up there with me and excited to finally see someone on his route.
The last time I climbed on High Tor was around 6 or 7 years ago, still a youth doing my GCSE's. I felt super excited to be climbing somewhere new, and the thought of pulling hard moves high up off the deck with all that exposure behind you made my palms sweat!

The route isn't actually all that long, tackling the big roof immediately to the left of the famous E5, Castellan. It had been a project of Malc Taylors back in 1992, but one move shut him down and he never got to complete the line, and said it could potentially be 8c!! In 2007 JC made the first ascent and not really knowing how hard it felt he gave it a grade somewhere roughly between 8a+ and 8b...
It is one of those lines where I'm sure it'd feel much easier for someone 6ft odd with a huge ape index, as the crux involves one desperate span off a deep undercut pocket to get around the bulging roof before a sustained but steady headwall. But for anyone else its a biggie!

 Jon throwing the crux on the FA

So I gave it a good clean and worked out what needed to be done before the holes in my hands (and left arm!) meant I'd have to come back another day. Which we did a few days later but after a bunch more tries and refining beta for the move it shut me down again. However I'd made a big link through the crux to the top which gave my confidence a massive boost as I was beginning to wonder if it was even going to physically possible for me. All that needed to be done was to add the four starting moves and it'd be done...

The next session started off well with all the moves feeling steady on the warm up burn, but then as soon as I'd try from the floor the span move would just spit me off. I got a little frustrated with myself as Jon and Pete had put the time in to come up and support me and it didn't look like it'd be going down that day. Then suddenly I changed the way I was holding the undercut ever so slightly and straight away made the move and thankfully managed to keep it together on the easier post crux moves all the way up to the belay. Relief!

 Crux span!

Thanks go out again to Team Clark for coming out with me on this one, I really appreciate the time they put in to get me up it! We got some awesome video footage too so keep an eye out for that being released sometime soon. I hope it inspires people to head up there to try the line as it is really unique and in an amazing position above the valley.

 

Wales, new places, new people and cake!

The last few weeks have all been a bit of a whirlwind for me. They seem to have passed by so quickly its hard to believe it'll be September next week! I am psyched for the coming season and a return to the brown stuff but it'd be nice to just hang onto the long summer days all the chillin in shorts and t-shirts and clipping those bolts for just a little longer.

I mentioned in the last post about our trip over to Wales just over a week ago to hook up with the Mammut team and a bunch of shop reps from all over the country. The idea was to get everyone together to learn about and test some of next years range of hardware and basically squeeze as much climbing in as possible!

I'd not been to Wales in probably over 5 years and never even set foot on the Orme! So I was obviously pretty excited to check it out and hopefully get some time to climb there. We managed a session in the cave of power, Parisella's, a place I've wanted to get to for a long time! I thought Stoney was badly polished but this place takes it to a different level.... Still, it has some mind boggling problems and linkups and I can finally say that I've been. Rock Attrocity got done quickly on our first day and we'll be eager to return in the future for more.

There is so much to do in North Wales and I can see that next year I'm going to have to make a tonne more trips over. On the way back to The Brenin one evening I persuaded the guys to make a quick stop at Jerry's Roof in the Pass. Extremely glad we did as it lived up to everything I'd heard and a nice way to finish the day. Then it was back to base for tea and cake!

 Jerry's Roof, V9 | Llanberis Pass

© Ollie Berkin

 © Ollie Berkin

 We also fancied taking a look at Pigeons Cave which has seen a massive amount attention of late and on the last day we got the chance to head down. Its a stunning venue, in a sweet little cove right next to the ocean with a really different style of rock. Unfortunately it was all soggy and wet but we were too syked to care and while we left Nathan to go wading through the incoming tide in search of a boulder, both Cailean and myself got in on the action with an ascent of Stiff Upper Lip. A real smash and grab job!

The impressive and super steep Pigeons Cave

Livin' it large on Pill Box wall....

The trip definitely opened my eyes some more as to how much Wales has to offer. Very refreshing to be at totally new crags and in a breathtaking part of the country. And we didn't even managed to make it down to one of the best spots, LPT! Something that we need to sort out for next year its just another place where there is soooo much to go at.
Thanks again to Mammut for putting together a fun week for us all, looking forward to the next one!

Swiss style gear demo

© Ollie Berkin

In news a little closer to home I've been spending a lot of my time down at Two Tier, ticking our way through the classics, stuff I've never really got round to checking out before. I think one week I spent about 5 days here! Pretty keen yes and I'm sure some of you will laugh, but with so much to do and not knowing when the weather might take a turn for the worse I decided to get stuck in.
Conditions down here have been top drawer and its been the place to go since the cornice died the death and for those not quite wanting to sulk back to the Tor just yet.

 The Simon Nadin classic 'Gonads' 8a+

Secteur Nadin is brilliant with a whole bunch of those classic limestone routes that should be high on peoples lists. Abberation, Celebration, Minos and Gonads are all quality and it was great fun working our way along the crag. For some reason Gonads was another one that always put me off and could never get massively inspired for it. When it reality it ain't all that bad with some funky moves from start to finish and has a slightly different feel to it than other routes in the dale of a similar grade. Its all about mixing things up with your climbing and keeping things fresh and as long as you're motivated and having fun, its all plain sailing.

Have a good bank holiday guyz

Ethan

Gran Techo video edit:

If you've not seen this already then I'm pretty stoked to be able to share another cool video edit from Jon Clark. Featuring my ascent of Gran Techo down the Chee Dale Cornice last month. He's done up another slick looking job on this and I hope it gets people keen to go check it out next year.

It's a massive shame the whole crag is now totally soaked, we really did have a hella lot of rain in such a short space of time a few weeks back. But it was great while it lasted and at least we still have plenty of dry rock to keep us going! Time is flying by, its literally insane how fast it goes. I don't know if its the same for everyone but I really struggle sometimes to get my head around it. Just where has the summer gone??? Anyway here it is!

I had a awesome time in Wales last week with the Mammut team, climbing on The Orme for the first time, testing out a bunch of shiny new gear that's due out next year (there is some seriously snazzy stuff on its way) and consuming a large amount of extremely good cake. I'll get round to writing up something for that later but big thanks to the guys at head office for sorting it all out and to the Plas y Brenin staff for putting up with us all!

Currently on a rest day and gearing up for a mini adventure tomorrow... Buzzing for something a little different!

Hope you guys enjoy the video, I'm off to cook up a tasty chicken casserole!

Cheers

A Muerte!

Chee Dale is where its at right now. Even more so if you want to escape the infernal heat that has appeared out of nowhere and is now providing those endless summer days many of us had forgotten about or even knew were possible this side of the channel!

I signed off my Tor season a couple weeks back with a tick of Revelations, 8b and I'm quite content now to leave the place till the autumn arrives and with it the cold temps needed to climb well down there.

I had two main routes in mind down at the Chee Dale cornice at the start of the season. One I had tried the last time it was dry 2/3 years ago, Kristian's big roof masterpiece Gran Techo, 8b and an uber bouldery 8a+, Devonshire Arms.
With all the hot weather they both quickly came into condition and I was really fired up to get stuck into climbing here again. That summer of 2010 seemed a long time ago and its just fantastic to see the whole scene reappearing, see everyone syked and have everything dry once more.

After reacquainting myself with Gran Techo (which literally means 'big/great roof' in Spanish) it went down fairly quickly, and I had brief thoughts of trying Bob Hickish's harder direct finish, Techno Prisoners which he gave 8b+. I remember him doing this a couple of years ago and it was just something on another planet to me at the time and never imagined trying it. I knew I had the roof dialled up well so started to wonder how hard it'd be to carry on for a few extra moves, even though I'd heard rumours of a HUGE span on the head wall.
Before that though I had a date with Devonshire. Nige had given us all the beta for this very short lived and burly product of the 90's, a couple days previous and I almost sent the morning after climbing Techo! But it wasn't to be so we came back on what turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year, hardly ideal at all for this route... Much to my relief I made it through the powerful sequence of undercuts, chalking way more than usual to keep the grime and sweat at bay and suddenly the chain was staring me in the face and it was laid to rest.
I think a lot of people are put off by this one after hearing how hard it is and how it should really be 8b. Maybe it should... I don't know, but it isn't as bad as its made out, you just have to be prepared to pull a bit harder! So get to it and ENJOYYYY!

 Gran Techo | Screenshot from an upcoming video short...

I've had to try enormously hard on routes many a time, but yesterdays efforts on Techno Prisoners seem to eclipse previous endeavours. It literally felt like the fight of my life! I could have dropped every move after the crux so easily, spat into the waiting void behind me. Maybe the next try would have gone better, if I had blown it, and quite often I prefer to climb something with the feeling of being in total cruise control on every move. But to have tried so hard and succeed makes it all the more sweeter.
Most sport routes pass us by and we generally forget what it all felt like to get to the top. I've read a lot lately from folk about how it is the 'process' that we all crave and enjoy, rather than the eventual send. With this, yes I enjoyed the whole process immensely but I equally enjoyed, if not more so, the actual feeling of redpoint success. It was a close one, and an experience I won't be forgetting in a hurry.

Karma Killin'

There is a route down in Water Cum Jolly that waited over 10 years for a second ascent. Karma Killer was first put up in 1997 by Tony Coutts and given 8b. Although I'm lead to believe it has been tried by a fair few since, it was Jon Clark that grabbed the long awaited repeat of this neglected 90's testpiece a couple of years ago.

"A chequered history. It's the route that mentally broke Tony Coutts (he gave up climbing having done it & emigrated to Australia) & physically broke Steve Fearne & Robin Barker (that mono)."
Andy Harris

It has been on my ever growing 'wishlist' for some time and I finally went to give it a serious look sometime back in May but then it got wet so my attention turned to other things. I like the way Rupert described one of the holds to me when I was quizzed him for beta, calling it a "cornflake". You couldn't describe this tiny undercut better. It's thin, small, and as if someone has got creative with a box of Kellogs and tube of sika. This is what the crux revolves around, oh and a one pad mono thrown in there too. It is a pretty unique rig and wouldn't look too out of place buried in the forests of the Frankenjura.

 Jura pulling dream!

© Jon Clark

I was incredibly pleased and slightly bewildered to get this done early Saturday morning and make the 4th? ascent... It's firmly up there with one of my favourite ticks without a doubt and I'd highly recommend it. Just make sure those tendons are fully warmed up first ya'll!!!

The day after I was keen to look at another route on this wall, Agent Provocatuer, a fierce 8a+ to the right of Karma. The photo below of Jon on the head wall of this always put me off... So I was pleased to find out from someone that Ryan Pasquill had found some new way for these final moves. Basically a huge span... With some heel/toe trickery and a final big dyno to a glory jug. An absolutely brilliant move if you like that sort of thing. The skin felt shredded and bruised so we left to go home, but it was all dialed up for the next time.

 © Pete Clark

Yesterday, fully rested and with nice fresh skin on the tips I went back with the young and keen George Carmichael and JC in tow and pulled my way to the belay. The start is technical, and tenuous on the feet but not too bad and you'd have to say it beats routes like The Inch Test and Caviar for quality... Get to it people, its clean, chalked and waiting!

Jon has been following us around over the last week collecting some cool looking footage of various routes and he managed to get yesterdays send on camera too, so keep an eye out for that. I'll post it up as soon as he's finished doing his thing with it!

Cheers

The Big One

Where to start. Its been another crazy few weeks since my last update. The summer weather we've all been wanting has continued, crags are drying out again and sending conditions have been in abundance.

The Cornice in Chee Dale sounds as if it is approaching something of the state we all enjoyed over that famous summer a couple of years ago... However I've been biding my time a little before venturing back down here, mainly down to the fact I've had other projects on the go.

Yesterday marked a big step forward in my climbing and a major dream realised that I've had for as long as I can remember. Mecca at Raven Tor is probably one of the most famous routes in the country and lusted after by many. My Dad can remember it as an old aid route back in the day and the majority of UK climbers will know of its history.
I've had a fair few friends over the years take down this short, power endurance test piece and I even gave it a try myself a year or two ago but the madding crowd waiting in the blocks behind me, rearing for there turn, always put me off and I decided to leave it.

My psyche returned for it though a few weeks ago after knocking out an ascent of the long 8b Waddage, amongst a few other endurance fests. While its hard to compare the two routes, as one is pure endurance with no totally desperate hard move and the other a short bouldery rig, it suddenly dawned on me that I might actually have the fitness required to have a good go at Mecca. So about a week ago I decided to jump on and see how it felt. The moves came back to me fairly quickly and after various beta from folk I had done the main big 'pocket link'. I was buzzing as all that was required now was to add around 4/5 extra moves and it could be game on... So I went away stoked on the rapid progress and spent the next few days barely being able to contain my excitement for the next session.

One thing about this route is that it can destroy your skin, particular the left hand so I took a few days rest and waited for the temps to cool down. Saturday came around and I ventured back, hoping the extra couple days rest had done me some good. Conditions felt prime when we arrived at around 8.30am and there was a good breeze. I was fairly confident of being in with a chance of pushing on through to the top, using my new found fitness and ability to recover, if I could just get established in the base of the groove. I tied in, pulled through the start fine, set myself up for the crux and before I knew what was happening, found myself at the top of the groove. However the fatigue quickly set in as I attempted to free myself from the tangle of knee bars and egyptians and I peeled off into space.
But I was on the home straight. This was it, the feeling we all know when we suddenly realise something is within our grasp. Four redpoints later and I had gradually increased my highpoint inch by inch, with my last try proving to be the closest yet. A simple foot pop prevented me from reaching the final hold you use to rock over into the finishing flake. Gutted but psyched out of my head at the same time I decided to call it a day and I'd take a couple days off to fully recover and grow some much needed skin!

Driving over early yesterday morning I felt a mix of excitement and nerves clashing together but I was fully confident in myself and knew that in theory it should all be a formality... I met up with the crew and after a good warm up I fancied giving it a try. The bottom moves felt totally solid, skin felt good flicking between the crimps then all of a sudden POP and my right foot slid off. That certainly wasn't in the script to happen, at all. It did throw me for a split second and I felt a tiny sliver of doubt suddenly creep its way into the back of my mind. But back on the ground I tried to focus in, put it down to a false start and keep my eye firmly on the task in hand. After a brief rest I was back up there in the same position but my foot popped again! Only this time I crimped up hard, readjusted and fired up to the horn. Clip, clip, shake, undercut, crimp, drop knee, crimp and I was back at my highpoint, the last hold staring in my face. This time I made sure my foot was solid, tensed my core, boned down on the crimp like no tomorrow and it was there. I stabbed my feet over, reached into the flake and clipped the belay.

A lifetime dream, a route I've looked up at and wondered about since I first visted the Tor as a kid, was complete and it felt dam good! But now I'm hungrier than ever for more and we'll be back out in the next few days and onto the next project. That's how the wagon rolls, and how we progress!

Thanks a lot for reading and checking in folks. Have fun out there!

Yorkshire Trip Trippin

Last week we headed up to Yorkshire for a few days, camping at the brilliant little campsite at the mouth of Gordale. I've not been to Malham in about 2 years so I was mega keen to get back there and change things up a bit. It turned out to be one of the best weeks camping we've ever had. The weather was incredible! Waking up to clear blue skies and bright sunshine every morning gets you really psyched and sets you up good for the day ahead. Nothing is worse than hearing the rain hammering down on your tent as you wake up!

Waking up to this every morning!

I wanted to try and get to as many crags as possible and seek out some of the classics I've never done. So first up was Raindogs at Malham, a must do and probably the most popular and sort after 8a in the UK? Definitely in Yorkshire anyway. We were at the crag for about 8.00am, in a bid to beat the heat, which was building by the minute, and the dreaded midges!
 It was a bit of a race as the sun was moving around fast and our window was small but fortunately it went down without too much trouble and it was time to bail and find some shade!

It may surprise some people but I've only ever been to Kilnsey once, about 3/4 years ago for a very brief visit. It is incredibly impressive and I'm still amazed at its length and size. We spent an afternoon here ticking our way through a few of the classic lines including , Comedy, Pantomime and Tragedy. Then it was back to chill in Gordale and eat a tonne of food ready for more the next day.

I'd heard a lot about Giggleswick and one of its sectors in particular caught my eye flicking through the guidebook. The Hollywood Bowl. Its a very unusual sort of crag for the UK, and something you'd more expect to find on the continent somewhere. Its dripping in tufa's of all shapes and sizes. Big, fat, thin it seems to have them all. While its nothing compared to places like The Loup it made a huge changed from boning down on rat crimps. Along with this and the warm breeze you could easily lose yourself for a second and think you were chillin' at some crag in the South of France.

 

 The Hollywood Bowl

There are a lot of hard routes here with many a FA from Steve Dunning and recently Jordan Buys, that tackle the tufa on the lower walls and then launch through the big roof above. Kleptomania stood out to me, as I'm sure it does to many. An extremely short route that is more like an extended boulder problem up a perfectly formed thin tufa. Apparently some kind of knee bar makes this easier....? I found it to be pretty dam tough and clipping the belay felt like the absolute living end! Anyone who jumps to the chain on this is a douchebag!
I'd love to come back to this awesome crag soon to get on more of the routes here. There is a hella lot to do!

 

Tufa heaven! 

After this I decided to go search out the famous G-Spot sector. Home to probably one of the hardest routes in the world. John Gaskins unrepeated 9a+ Violent New Breed. While I'd already decided to save this one for laters the line to the right, Militia, is a popular 8a+ and after wandering around searching for the crag, which is probably the smallest crag I've ever been to, we eventually stumbled upon it. As soon as I saw it I was syked immediately and quickly set to work brushing the holds and figuring out a sequence. From a distance it looks super short, which in reality it is, but then you realise it starts way down in the cave at the bottom and actually packs quite a few moves in. It suited my style perfectly. Steep, small edges, big moves and even some sneaky toe hooks that unlocked the starting moves. A slight change of foot beta through the crux proved the difference and I was yarding my way to the top on my 3rd try. It must be one of the few sport crags around that you can actually top out on.  I'd highly recommend this rig to anyone, go check it out. It is class!

 

 Post send Creme Egg

It was a perfect finish to a brilliant few days of hanging out with my Dad, chillin in the sun and getting a bunch of cool ticks. Looking forward to heading back up very soon!

Peace