Becoming a Warrior

As we approached the Cornice yesterday we were greeted by a host of British climbing legends steadily warming up and pottering about, and later even more turned up, most notably grit master Dawes back for his second session of the week after we first bumped into him a few days before.
After warming up ourselves we watched Zippy wander off into the wilderness in search of "dirt" while Kristian checked out his latest project and Mcclure made a swift ascent of the new line "Easy Rider".
In the end it proved to be another successful few hours in the Dale of Chee as I was able to tick another ol rig I've always been keen for, that is the super fun line of The Roof Warrior (8a). It is a pretty funky route with burly moves through the wide roof up to a bomber knee bar rest! After trying to milk this for as long as my arms would take it was all about sticking the tricky move out left and staying relaxed on the finishing moves. Anyone who hasn't done this already I would definitely recommend them going to give it a barney.
We finished the day off by treking up to the The Embankment and made a quick ascent of Sturgeon in the Cupboard (7c). Another one of those routes you've always been syked for at some point but never got round to getting on them. It made a change anyway to break out from the darkness that engulfs the Cornice and actually climb in sunlight!
Four Doors beckons next along with what is supposedly one of the best 8b's in the Peak, Bricktop!
Ceuse is looking more and more promising and if all goes to plan we'll be flying out on July 1st for a whole month at one of the most amazing crags in the world!

Super Tuesday

Having a really chilled out sesh today sat around at home so thought I'd write a short bit about the ventures of the last few days.
Its extremely motivating when you can see the progression on a route from one session to the next, and feel yourself getting stronger and more in tune with the climbing. You learn tricks to help you relax and re-gain that extra power you need to stick the next move. The end product of this is all super rewarding when it finally comes together. On Tuesday I was able to tick another Cornice test piece, R 'n' P (8a+). It was a bit of a fight towards the end but just about hung in there long enough on the headwall to power up to the finish. Another one in the bag!
After this we took advantage of Stones cleaning efforts and nabbed a quick ascent of the short bouldery 7c+ 'This is the Sea" and Jon cleaned and made short work of 'Dirty Old Man' another 7c+ to the right.

We've also had a few sessions down Dovedale just lately on the fantastic Reynards Arch. If people fancy a day climbing somewhere slightly different to the regular venues around and somewhere you can virtually guarantee won't be over run with climbers then go check this place out.
There is something for everyone here, from the recently retro-bolted 'The Lime Arch' (6b+) which takes in terrain that you wouldn't normally find on a grade at this level in the Peak, all the way to the steep 'Sworn Enemy' (8a) that JC put up last year. With a couple of low end 7's thrown into the mix as well! And of course the arch is home to the old 80's classic and what many people believe to be the best 7c+ in the Peak, Arch Enemies! I managed to crank my way up this yesterday and have to agree that its arguably one of the best routes of the grade I've done, and in a wicked setting. Have a video of this on its way so will post it up sometime when I get a chance.

In other news we are currently in the middle of organising a month long trip to Céüse in July with the Hamer boys! Super excited about this, should be an immense 4 weeks. Will be blogging about our adventures as we go along. So be sure to check out the site for updates!

Taking Shape

Mentioned in a previous post that the Mock Rock team have been busy in Leicester this last week building a brand new climbing wall for a school there. Anyway the structure is up and are now just waiting on some safety matting to arrive. Few shots of their progress so far below. Good work guys!

Cornice shots

A few pictures from the days adventures down int' dale.

Roy cranking out the crux of R 'n' P

32...

Punter!

Nemesis

Woke up Tuesday morning feeling propa syked about heading down the Cornice to try and finish off the 8a+ Nemesis and hoping that the rain from the previous day hadn't seeped through that much. Met up with JC in le Cromford, we drove on over and quickly made our way along the new approach. Gareth was also down for the day continuing his quest to tick Roof Warrior with some pizza from the night before aiding him in this mission!
After a brief warmup and a couple of redpoints I cranked my way onto the headwall, chilled out, took a breather and quickly found myself clipping the chains! Allez! Its a fantastic route, a true burly classic and stoked to get it done and continue on with the Cornice siege! Definitely up there as one of my favorite routes I've done for sure. Next on the list is the pumpy little number of R 'n' P. Came close on this last year so another route we are hoping to polish off. Keen to have a blast over the coming weekend, so we'll see how it goes.

Next week I will be joining the MockRock team in Leicester for some route setting on the brand new wall they have been building! So check back over the coming days to see how things go!

Peace out

Malham Trip

Last week we headed to Malham for a couple days with Sam and Caff and had a pretty sweet time! We arrived Thursday dinner to be greeted by the screams of Ondra trying hard on Overshadow, not quite what we were expecting but it was totally awesome to watch the guy tearing the place up, warming up on 8a+'s before cruising up Overnight Sensation and launching into the desperate wall above. Inspiring stuff for sure! We were amazed to find out we'd even be camping right next to the beast!

Later we were joined by numerous other wads and it ended up being a really cool scene on the catwalk. Caff got stuck into Power Ranger and narrowly missed out on bagging it, but then sent Connect 5 and Sam managed to crush his way up Overnight! Respect brothers.
I came close an a couple things and we now have the Malham syke! Cannot wait to get back up there as soon as possible to get stuck in. Hoping for another trip over half term.

Thursday we decided on having a gander down Dovedale to give Eye of the Tiger a bash. Such an incredible piece of rock rising up over the dale. Had a brief go with Sam making super quick work of the thing, nailing it second go! So, very keen to go back to try it again and also to get Arch Enemies done, which is a stunning looking line! Contender for the best 7c+ in the Peak? Without a doubt.

Sam in cruise mode on Eye of the Tiger

Arch Enemies

Today it was back to the Cornice, and got Nemesis completely dialed, just ran out of skin in the end, next week we hopeful it might all come together. Sam came uber uber close to Four Doors, taking the huge and slightly painful whipper in the process. Should go down pretty easy next time I imagine.

Mawson getting stuck into Bricktop

And that is a rap, enjoy the pictures.

Out

Theoria

Met up with Mike last week at The Nook for a date with Theoria, a bouldery 8a+. In the last post I wrote that I'd had a quick burn on this short cellar-board route a few days before, given it a good brush up and sorted out all the moves. The start is ace, involving good pinches and a launch to a really positive crimper, from here a series of side-pulls and smaller crimps lead to a big throw to a huge jug. Above this a decaying lower-off awaits but not before a pretty sneaky last move to the finishing hold.
Anyway after a few tries I pulled through the lower crux, teetered my way across to the shagged lower-off, and it was in the bag. Really awesome micro route and I'm sure once we've rigged it up with fresh pins it'll see a lot more ascents, just as Lockless did last year. We have the bolts now, thanks to Kristian and now just waiting for the drill from the JC.

More news from the dale is that the Cornice is super dry, as I'm sure everyone is pretty much aware by now. Amazing what a week or so of hot weather and wind can do! We've also been ticking our way through the new routes over on Dogs-Dinner, which has been cool, and also got stuck back into R n P and Nemesis! Been good to see last years crew slowly starting to emerge down there, and I think everyone is syked by how early the place has dried out! Looking like another wicked summer is on the cards...