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
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!
Since doing Offspring the other week I was really keen to try Masters of the Universe, E7 6b which is the stunning, hanging arete of the Cioch block. So last week I headed back to the place with bold grit man, Nathan Lee, who was equally syked to give it a go. We went through the moves and got set up for giving it a burn. This is another route were you have to abseil in to start climbing after tying off the ab rope at the bottom to back up the rather rusty looking old bolts! I managed to get the flash in the end, after a brief, spooky moment half way up the arete, with a large beckoning fall looming below! We got some footage of Nathans ascent so have a look. It might be soft for E7 and probably more like E6 but who cares, its another sick route and one that should get more attention! You can also get a good view below of Tom and Ed finishing up this route after doing the traverse on Silent Scream.
I am full on loving the trad at the minute along with the lighter evenings. Its been really good to finally get some more consistent and settled weather were you can actually go out, get stuff done without worrying about freezing fingers and how long you've got until it starts raining! Burbage South has continued to get a lot of attention, with another hit over the weekend with my revived trad homie Ted! I don't know exactly why I'm so syked for this place just now. Maybe because I have never really done much in the way of routes there before, and there are just so many classic lines to get done.
Warming down in the evening light
Ed pulling hard in Semi's
Adam Bailes Photography
The Sheep!
I've been carrying on the bouldering front just lately, mainly because its quick and easy to bail if the weather craps out. Had an awesome session last weekend with Ted again, this time at Burbage South where I came super close to flashing Zorev, 7C only to fall slapping for the top. Managed to get it second go and my brother was standing by with the camera, so check the video below. We then carried on to tick Trellis, Electrical Storm, Attitude Inspector, and Iain's Roof. A pretty good day doing some classics in the sunshine!
