Cornelius

Here are a few photos and a short clip of our trip to the Churnet a couple weeks ago. It is such a sweet spot down here and Cornelius in particular is one of the most perfect lines you could wish for. For those of you that don't know about this line, its something that sits somewhere in between a highball boulder and route. Its pretty dam high whatever way you look at it! Originally given E8 6c but now generally thought of as V9, which seems fair. The crag is also situated in what feels like the gardens of Alton Towers!
I do love the Churnet, its very unique with mostly immaculate rock wherever you go. Its certainly a different vibe climbing here and makes for a nice change.

Thanks again to Jon Clark for hanging on a rope all day to get these shots for us. And to Dan for capturing our ascents on video!

Sam pebble pulling above his nest on 'Inaccessible' E5 6a

More hard grit...

Its been a case of back to reality this week, in terms of the weather anyway, and it doesn't look like its gona change much over the coming days! So I thought I'd take a break from training and sulking over the state of things outside and post up a short blog with some cool pictures from last week.

I made a trip over to Shining Cliff about a week ago, its probably one of the closest crags to my house being about a 15/20min drive. This place has had a bit of attention of late from our friend Tom Randall where he made the long awaited FA of 'My Kai' the direct to Seb Grieves route, Gecko Blaster. Another great lump of solid, slightly overhanging gritstone, on small crimps, sidepulls and gastons with a spicey last move... Awesome effort from Tom on this, a frickin BOLDD solo for sure!

 Gecko Blaster, E7 6c

We ended up doing a slight hyrbid of the two routes, joining the direct version lower down rather than at the overlap. It felt to be about french 7c this way, and even though I didn't have a try at the boulder problem start it looks pretty tricky and I can see why Tom suggested hard 8a for the linkup! Keen to return sometime soon. Big thanks to Jon Clark again for coming out and getting some more sweet shots!

 

 Sketchy last move, long way above the ground...

Then a few days later it was back up on the edges joined this time by photographer Mike Hutton. We all had a fantastic day out, sunshine and blue skies for everyone. Why can't it be like this all time! Check out what we got up to below. Cheers Mike for the pics, great work! You can see more of his work here: www.mikehuttonphotography.com

Cool Moon, E7 6c

Spanish Fly, E6 6c below

 

I also bagged another couple of funky routes, that hardly get much attention, back up at Black Rocks. One being Tom de Gays 'Small Things' E6 6c. A wild and unusual sort of line to the left of Golden Days. I guess its slightly eliminate... but not by much and who cares anyway. If you are up around that way, I'd recommend you give it a look as its all squeaky clean now! Then it was a quick trip around onto the front face for 'Camel Hot' a rad exposed arete from the 80's. Its crazy to think of the stuff people were doing back then, much respect to those guys!

Cheers for checkin in ya'll, have a good weekend!

 

Don't play with cams kidzzz!!!

7 UP

I've just had one of my best few days on the grit EVERR! Temps have been super chilled, its been dry and perfect for getting stuff done! Me and my homie Sam have been to check out a few 'esoteric' places and routes that are absolutely brilliant but for whatever reasons, never get done.

The tick-list that we have managed to drum up between us over the last few days goes something like this:

Fat Slapper - E7 6c, third and fourth ascent...?
Speak the Truth - E7 6b
Jumping on a Beetle - E7 6c
Moon Madness - E7 6c
Benign Lives - E7 6c
Velvet Silence - E6 6c

Fat Slapper is a Seb Grieve classic, and a route made famous in the opening minutes of the movie, Hard Grit. When this was first done I would have been about 5 years old! We all randomly got inspired to try this historic line a few months back and finally went to give it a bash, it didn't disappoint! It is honestly one of the finest grit routes I've ever done, steep pulling with big moves on a good set of holds. It went down super smooth after a good scrubbing and we left on a massive high. Cheers Seb!

The next day we wandered into a dank and grotty looking quarry... Hardly stunning surroundings but there is a hidden gem here that sticks out from all the crap the minute you walk in. If it was anywhere else I'm sure it would prove to be immensely popular. A razor sharp arete rising up from the brambles and boulders below! Bit of a sketchy landing.... but immaculate climbing nonetheless! Check it in the video.

As the weekend came round we popped to Froggatt. Here Sam floated up the tricky Dawes slab Benign Lives. Rad effort from the lad on this, its all in the feet guys. I definitely wasn't feeling it so we packed up and made the trek across to Moon Buttress at Curbar.

 All or nothing on Benign...

The snow flurries seemed to be getting heavier and oddly falling from clear blue skies???? But conditions were top drawer and as the sun went down I went for it on Moon Madness, everything clicked, hands sticking to the holds like no tomorrow. A surprise tick to finish the day. Will post up a video soon.
I seem to have tapped into something pretty crazy at the moment, knowing I'm 100% confident of being able to execute the route without any problems or fear. Its a great feeling for sure!
Time to step it up a gear...

Patience

Suns out, conditions are minted and we finally have dry rock! When it comes good its freaking awesome and begins to make up for all the wet days we've had recently. I've been going out my mind the last couple of weeks, waiting for a decent day and spending a lot of time pulling on plastic. So it made the weekend feel all the better when we woke up and saw how good it was looking outside.
First up was a trip to Gardoms to seek out 'Make it Snappy' E6 6b. I had my eye on this a few years ago but never checked out but I had made sure it was on my ticklist for this winter. Its another sweet route and it was nice to be back on a rope and running it out!

I've also been giving Black Rocks a bit of a revival of late. This is like my home crag and the place I first went climbing. I can remember when I first lead the old time classic Lone Tree Groove and how amazing it felt (and hard!) and then looking up at some of the other test pieces and never imagining that I might one day be able to climb them. One of these was a route called Pseudonym that goes right up the middle of the West wall. I used to mess around on this back in the day and the thought of leading it used to scare the life out of me! While its not exactly anything too desperate it was just really cool to tick after all these years and it still felt a little on the scary side haa!

Yesterday I went back up to try another route that has always been a dream of mine to do. Velvet Silence, a line that nowadays is pretty much considered a highball but still something that most people wouldn't be too keen to slip off on near the top... It was super dry, the sun was bouncing off the slab and I was buzzing for it! We gave it a quick brush and it was done! Another one crossed off the list. This one definitely felt a bit special to me, pure faith in friction and a test of balance!

 Velvet Silence, E6 6c or 7A+...

We are full on back in route mode now, and have SOOOOOO many things to get on. Weather looks good for the next week. Time to get involved init, nahhhh mean ya'll. CHEERS x

Mammut Team Meet

It was great to meet up with team last weekend and big thanks firstly to Mammut for sorting everything out and making it possible and The Foundry for putting up with us all and being top hosts! There was a huge turnout and it was cool to see people psyched and getting involved. Hoping everyone enjoyed the masterclasses from Anna and Jakob and we're already looking forward to the next one.

It was a shame we couldn't get out on the grit for very long, but we did manage a few hours up at Curbar and an interesting short while at Minus Ten wall...

Also thanks to Mike Hutton for taking pictures all weekend!

 

 

Bloc action

Since the start of the year I've really been enjoying going out and doing a lot of bouldering. Mainly because it has been a bit too cold at times for routes, but its also great fun showing friends around areas they've never been and just doing a bunch of new stuff.

I've had a few sweet sessions at Rowtor with the crew, ticking things like Jon Fullwood's, My Apple and Domes Sitter, which has the most awesome sequence of burly roof techinical-ness. Grit bouldering at its best I'd say. Real big thanks to Jon Clark for the shots, this lad knows his stuff.

Ted and myself have also been busy up at Burbage where we both did the highball/route Nefertiti. Originally E6 6c... but these days more like a 7A boulder... HA I actually don't have a clue. It had been on the list for ages but just one I never got around to, so we thought screw it, chucked a few pads down and went for it. Seriously cool climbing, and safe as houses! Managed to get a quick video of the man of the hour on his send below...

I'm also full on psyched for training at the minute too, and spending a lot of time down the wall and hanging off the board at home. Trying to get strong for our upcoming trips abroad! Time is flying by like crazy and it won't be long before we're packing our bags again and jetting off.

Don't forget to pop down The Foundry this Saturday for a series of Mammut Masterclasses and cash prize routes! Come find us and say hello!

Cheers, I'm off to build a snowman and cook up a curry. x

Mammut Masterclass at The Foundry

Kickstart a new year of climbing with a masterclass from Mammut Pro Team members and Team Mammut UK

Mammut Pro Team climbers, Jakob Schubert and Anna Stöhr are heading to the UK later this month and for a series of masterclasses. Jakob will be offering tips to lead climbers whilst Anna will be on the bouldering room. Whether you’ve just started out or are a seasoned climber get in touch to reserve your space!




Check out masterclass times on the Foundry website or their facebook page then call the Foundry to register. The Foundry will take names up to Tuesday 22nd January then pick the names of those in each masterclass out of a chalk bag! There are four spaces in each class and six classes in total.

FREE entry to The Foundry and freebies for masterclass students,

© Reinhard Fichtinger

Win a place in one of these classes and you’ll get free entry to The Foundry for the day plus a free Mammut goody bag

Spot prizes and giveaways
Mammut will be dishing out random spot prizes and giveaways all afternoon – stickers, pens, toys, beanies!

Cash prize routes
The guys at The Foundry will be setting a couple of fiendishly hard routes – whoever gets the highest gets some cold hard cash!

Harness and belay device demos
We’ll have a range of climbing harnesses and belay kit from Mammut to try out.

Mammut Climbing Challenge
The all-new Mammut climbing challenge will be up and running with prizes a plenty! Twelve routes both top rope and lead from 5+ to 8b will be set for you to try.

Team Mammut UK on hand form tips and advice
Cailean Harker, Ethan Walker, Jess McCaskey, Nathan Lee and Oli Grounsell will be on hand for advice.

When? Saturday 26th January from 2.00 – 6.00pm

For more information visit www.foundryclimbing.com or call The Foundry on 0114 279 6331.