A proper grit weekend (9th - 10th October) Part 2

I'd like to say we had a big night in the pub, but in reality that didn't happen at all. We had a big meal! and for me a single beer but we all pretty much fell asleep at the table. We stayed up at North Lees campsite. I've not stayed there in about 6 years (amazingly) so it's changed a bit since my last visit (nicer toilets, better washing up facilities and a place to log in a pay). We depitched after a few cups of tea and headed back to Outside as the general vote was for a cafe breakfast. Over breakfast we threw around idea's about where to go climbing for the day. Many ideas were thrown around but in the end we settled on Gardom's Edge, based for me at least on the chance to do Moyer's Buttress.

Gardom's Edge! a new crag. I'd spotted it in the guidebook the weekend before as I wandered into Birchen and it looked pretty cool. Infact we picked it because there was a lot of routes are a variety of grades and it was sheltered from the bitter wind blowing around (it's got trees). After a winding journey with a crap map we parked up and walked in. The amount of junk I'll carry to the crag is ridiculus when it's somewhere like the peak. I had my normal gear, and Matt Snells harness, shoes helmet and misc gear and if that wasn't enough my bouldering mat. I'd never dream of all this is the mountains but yeah well, you know, it's like the peak district.

We headed straight for Moyer's Buttress (E1 5b) which was a route of "historical significance" as discribed in the guidebook. In reality it had a nice name, a nice story and was the crag classic so Andy suggested that I should get on it. After a nice walk in across a bit of moorland then a little forest (foraging for mushrooms) we had a nasty little damp descent before arriving at the base of Moyer's Buttress. The line looked clean and awesome so I pretty much jumped straight on it with Andy Rainer belaying. The initial slab wasn't a problem, then came the move round the arete past the loose block. It's loose but unable to fall out of the wall. I climbed it too quick and very nearly blew the crux as I'd stopped thinking about it. I quick retreat and the finding of a proper solid knee bar allowed a hands off rest and some good gear before my second attempt the the crux. This time I sent it (shakily) and headed on off up the final slab, which was hard. The moves felt pretty sketchy but I was just not used the grit or Gardoms (each edge has it's own character). I ended placing loads of gear on this final section but in all reality it wasn't that bad. I topped out smiling and brought up Andy.


Ronnie then had a crack at this on lead. He did pretty well but couldn't get the knee bar in so had to just go for the crux. Sadly he pumped out and missed it falling off. It was a pretty safe fall at the go and we got it on camera so await another video. 


Where next? Well Andy wasn't too psyched for anything so after his recommendation I set off up Nowanda (HVS 5a). It's a proper crack climb that'll just spit you out if you can't jam. Which very nearly happened to me. I fought and fought with the blood rushing to my arms (and out of the end of them too) and manged to pull it off arrving panting and smiling on the top. Andy seconded it and agreed it was just as hard as last time. 


With barely a moment to stop I was back on the lead of Landsick (E1 5b). This was a fun lead which I managed to mess up. I pumped out and just went for the crux instead of retreating and placing a good piece of gear. I narrowly avoided a nasty injury as I crashing into a boulder when I fell off. Back on the lead I placed a piece higher this time round and sent it, pumped. I normally hate falling off and failing on something, but this didn't bother me. I was having way too much fun climbing to care that much. 


Andy found a route and he set off up a VS 5a slab climb. It was a little polished but it actually went pretty well. Andy flew up it making the moves look pretty easy and I seconded him trying for a direct line of nasty little crimps. In between all this I got loads of photoage of Ronnie leading and topping out for another little video. 


Climbing was almost over for the day. I'd sent a crag classic, fallen off, got pumped, slipped on wet grass and just enjoyed myself. I managed to sneak seconding Nat up a Vs 5a to finish off the day nicely before the walk out and drive home. Couldn't really ask for more.

A proper grit weekend (9th - 10th October) Part 1

Cold weather? dryish? strong wind? sounds like grit season to me! Infact the original plan was to go to wales with Sid, Claire and Matt, but that all fell through at the last minute. Instead I ended up in the Peak with Ronnie, Andy, Nat & Jake the dog and what a bloody good weekend of grit climbing it was.

Like all good climbing weekends for me it started with a beer in the pub the night before and then finding a couch to surf the night away on. This time I actually got a bed... shared with none other than my not-so-famous-trad-climbing-french-friend Sid (don't worry I was safely tucked away in my sleeping bag). I picked Andy Rainer up in the morning (affectionatly known as "old Andy" due to him being a little older than us when I was at uni) and off we set to the Peak, Nat, Ronnie and Jake following. The plan was for a day at Stanage Edge with a possible crack at the unconquerables however a much more important tasked needed doing first, breakfast. Climbing at Stanage to the cafe in Outside, Hathersage. This also meant we could all pick up vital supplies for the day (cheese) at the Spar.

Claire and Matt were already up at Stanage by the time we'd finished breakfast and got up there. They'd meet some other friends and were working thier way across from Plantation to meet near unconquerables area. We'd parked at the top and walked in eyeing up routes all across the base of the crag until we spotted line up what looked like a blank slab. The line was Morrision's Reboute (E1 5b) and apparently soft for the grade, which is good because you'll deck should you fail the first proper move. I jumped on the lead with Andy belaying me. This was the first route in the about 4 years of knowing each other that we'd shared a rope on. The block you started on threw me until Andy pointed out I'd missed a crucial hold, then a crimpy sidepull to gain the break that turned out to be unpositive and slopey! I crammed a cam in, clipped and off I set. The route remained interesting throughout with a couple more hard 5a moves till I could belay on top. Andy came up to join me with no problems, then Ronnie flashed it. I would have liked to have seen Ronnie climb it as he's much shorter to he's a lot more technical than me. 

Andy's lead now and he'd been eyeing up the line of Mississippi Buttress Varient (HVS 5a). I deracked all my kit and Andy racked all his and set off up the slightly overhanging groove line. Seeing Andy climb was a real pleasure. He actually apologised for climbing slowly. He wasn't at all though. Andy seemed to consider every move before he made it, not setting off before he was sure of what he do and where he'd get to next. I thought this was a goof approach to climbing, and very safe. The Varient climbs its parent route to about half height then makes a tricky set right and then traverses diagonally upwards with a 5a move in the middle. I felt like I really struggled seconding it. 

My lead and I jumped on Link (HVS 5b). I took a direct line up the overhanging arete next to Dark Continent. The Roof is split by a nice crack and good holds but it was just brutal. From the start it was hard, then a brief respite before tackling the overhang. Here I ran out of chalk and a random guuy named Wes threw me up a chalk ball. I then cursed, pulled and pumped my up over the overhang only to get stumped by the mantleshelf move. I was just so pumped! I managed it and arrived on top with screaming arms, out of breath with a smile from ear to ear. Andy came up with ease and then Wes tied on an came up. He was really grateful to be able to have a crack at this route and I thanked him for the chalkball.


Andy now lead Centre Stage (HVS 5a), another 2 star route. He gave it a little variation start which was pretty hard and the slab and roof seperatly where quite nice. However there was a big ledge below the roof you could have bivied on which took away from the route somewhat. It was still a good lead though. I then wondered around before deciding on the next route. Dark Continent (E1 5c) had been a bit of a white elephanthanging around for me all day. We'd seen a couple of teams attempt it (and bail) and we climbed routes around it all day. It also caught me eye as one of Andy Kirkpatrick's top 5 routes. Apparently it needed a large cam, so carrying both size 4's as they were the largest we had I set off. 

The start was intesting moving along under a roof to make a big move round the lip. Forget a heel hook, I had a full leg hook going on. Me and Andy both thought that this would have been the crux, at the back of my mind my brain thought "that wasn't so hard, so where is the crux?". Onward and upward through sustained 5a ground to gain a break in the middle of the face. Here I needed the "big cam" a size 4. In all reality I could have gotten away with a size 3.5 but I guess the not everyone is carrying such big gear all the time. Then came the wild move in the middle of the face. Gaining the break with a left hand and getting my right foot in the break I smeared my left foot up the wall and reached my my right hand up and up and up! I took me a few goes ot work out exactly where I had to put everything but I snagged a really positive pocket with my finger tips and rocked onto my right foot. The route was sustained 5b climbing from then on but I was fly so I placed a cam and gunned it to the top. 

By the time Andy got up there it was getting properly dark (not to say Andy climbed slow, it was pretty dark when I topped out). We had to nip down quick, pack up and walk out by torch light. This would have been simple if Jake hadn't ran off. We were staying at North Lee's Campsite, just below Stanage Edge, but decided that we'd all earned a beer and some decent grub, so going on Andy's suggestion we all met at the Jon's Pub.

Andy Kirkpatrick & Tim Emmett

It's been a busy week. I've lost my work keys which is almost annoying to the point of amusement (I'm in a lot of different rooms around school, all of which are now locked to me). I had a really good session at Redpoint on Tuesday that has left the tips of my fingers weeping for days. I missed the opening of the new bouldering wall at Redpoint because I was at lectures. In fact I think it's actually a good reason I missed it, last time I went to a wall opening I woke up the night after with incredibly sore hand (stupid new abrasive holds). 

The majority of my week has been actually going to some lectures. Wednesday night was Andy Kirkpatrick at the Severn Theatre in Shrewbury and Tim Emmett was small and personal at the Old Edwardian Sports club, Solihull. Both night were a success and they are really the only climbing lectures I've ever been too. Having said that I did get to see Katherine Sherrmacher at Plas-y-Brenin one cold Saturday night, for free.

Andy Kirkpatrick has sort of been a hero of mine for along time. In fact I think he's probably a lot of peoples hero's. I used to read up everything he'd written when I discovered his site psychovertical many years ago. I didn't actually know much about him at the time. I knew he'd climbed in Patagonia, the Lafaille Route on the Dru and loads on El Cap, but I didn't really know what any of this meant. At the end of the day he was just another climber to me, but someone who had done the stuff I wanted to be doing.

Andy Kirkpatrick's talk was well structured. He opened with a talk of him growing up, the fact he was going through a divorce (which he seemed happy about) and that he had a new "girlfriend, partner, thing" called Karen, who was disabled. He then went on to explain his motivation for climbing based around Captain Kirk, how he's turned away from alpinism as it's all about suffering and hard work and why El Capitain is the best place to climb. He talked about scaling Zodiac (A2, 5.8) with his Karen Darke (girlfriend) and how he "cornered the market in getting disabled people up big walls) which lead to him climbing it with Phil Packer (injured service man, raising money for charity). He rounded the talk off with a discussion about his own attempts to solo Zodiac in one single day, and the people he climbed it with and how his own ascent went (he failed, but in a good way). The talk was all in good humour, and very frank and open. He took the mick out of himself much more than he took it out of anyone else (apart from Bear Ghyrills). Sadly I didn't think he finished the talk too well, leaving me questioning the point of it all. I think that's how he intended to leave it though. All in all the lecture was very slick, his material very honest and the talk funny. If you get the chance to see him, I'd take it even if it's only once.

Thursday night was Tim Emmett. Rachel has spotted and sorted tickets for this and it was held in a Rugby club house in Solihull. There must only have been about 50 people there, packed into this little room most seemed to be cradling a beer (they had hobgoblin on tap!) and waiting from Tim to start. Tim was walking round, talking to people, fiddling around with his computer and projector, downloading something off the net to stream from us at the end (something we were not supposed to see) and generally being real. I'll get to the last bit later on. Then after about an hour of fiddling he started. This blonde haired, ripped but unassuming guy started off on a talk about his climbing, BASE jumping and wing suiting career.  

He was so enthusiastic about his climbing and life that the fact that he'd not quite prepared (or had prepared too much material) didn't matter. He talked us through his rock climbing, then

his ice climbing, a mountaineering trip to the Himalaya with Ian Parnell and then base jumping and wing suiting. He went on about told us about amazing adventures he'd had around the world, how he's tried to combine things into para-alpinism. He was pretty open about how he makes his money from sponsor ship deals with various different companies. He finished his talk off with a little about "the big climb" with Dave McLeod and Muy Caliente (E10 hard letter, hard number). He actually had loads of really nice things to say about Dave McLeod especially about focused he is about his climbing. The little section on Muy Caliente was sort of old news for me as it's been all over UKC for a week or so, but he did show us a film from Bamboo Chicken Productions about the climb. It was pretty cool to see a guy like Tim Emmett struggling at the height of his grade, just the same as anyone else pushing themselves to do something hard. 


He finished off with a short film about climbing and BASE jumping off the Old Man of Hoy with too friends. It's worth a watch here. I've seen it before but this time I saw it through Tim's eyes as he described the journey of climbing to the too and jumping off with too close friends, both of which have never really climbed outdoors. His enjoyment seemed to come from seeing his friends achieve what for them was the impossible and enjoying it along the way. 


Going back to "Tim being real". What did I mean by that? Well Andy Kirkpatrick came across and real the when I saw him. I could see him on stage, listen to what he had to say and enjoy his honesty and humour. I came away from the lecture, sort of wishing I had not gone and just left him as this hero in my mind. Tim's lecture was same, in a bar. I could see every expression and every smile. The passion he had for life, not just for climbing came across with every breath. He seemed much more real to me than just another hard climber who puts up E10's.

Goretex or Event? Whats the deal?

I've managed to get away with only owning 2 lightweight outershell jackets over the years. Both have been the cheapest deal I could get away with so I've not paid over £160 for either. My first was a RAB latok Alpine. You could almost say that Outside gave it to me to test as they put it through the till wrong and sold it me for £1.60 instead. I didn't notice at the time, only after when they sent me a polite note asking for the grand sum of £158.00 for thier mistake. I didn't pay.

RAB Latok Alpine

When I first got the Rab jacket I was very impressed. It was cut well for use as a climbing jacket (I prefere it a little larger) had nice big pockets and was dry. Having a dry jacket was new to me. Because I didn't really know any better I didn't see many faults with it. It did all I asked of it. 

Then it stopped being dry, so I cleaning it and retreated it. That didn't seem to do much, so instead I cleaned it off and tumble dried it (as per instructions given to me by a RAB seller). This also didn't work. The jacket soon became worn less and less and subsequent rainy adventures stopped being undertaken. It was quite sad, but I also completly lost my fair in Event. The same thing happened to my friend Latok alpine. Maybe I was asking too much of the jacket? Maye it just wasn't up to the use I was giving it? either way it sucked.

Outdoor Research Yellow Thing

Then I snagged a Outdoor Research jacket from V12 at Half price. I've only got a few items of OR kit but they've been really werll designed and simple. The Vert Work Glaves are excellent in winter. Turns out I'd managed to get thier flagship do all winter, alpine, superalpine etc jacket. It was made of Gore-Tex Proshell and a nice yellow colour (a bright colour is of most importance). It was made of stronger fabric than my old Latok. The seams sealed better, pockets slightly better designed and a hood that really does work with my helmet. I've plowed it through crap wet britsh storms, days of scottish winter, digging snowholes and occasionally wearing around school when I have to do a duty in the rain (this kids already think I'm an odd teacher)

The big difference for me is that the jacket is still water proof. So what if the sleeve leak a little, thats acceptable, I get heavy wear there. The Goretex Fabric is pretty good to say the least. It's breathable, waterproof and yellow.

So Goretex or Event? Goretex everytime I think for me... or maybe I should try paramo?

god dammit!

I always remember reading somewhere that climbing was a relatively inexpensive hobby. Now at the time I was buying one nut a week with a little of my paycheck from the pub where I worked and was looking horrified at the price of a rope. Eventually it dawned on me that maybe climbing was inexpensive. Once you have your rack, it should last you at least 10 years.

Ok so if you climb close to home then climbing is a relativly cheap sport. However add winter climbing, alpine climbing, trips to all parts of the country each weekend and it adds a little more on. I'm not sure where this rant is going but I finally had to replace a cam sling.

Well infact it wasn't a good weekend for my gear. In transit too and from crags I've managed the damage 3 trigger wires (3 seperate cams) so they've had to be replaced. Replacing the trigger kits is obvious but it's still pretty hard work requiring a hammer and a pair of decent piles. With those repaired it was time to look at the sling on the size one cam. I've had the thing for 6 years now and its had a alot of heavy use and for a while the sling has been overly furry and generally looking a bit knackered. I did look into sending it back to Wild Country, but its £15 and they'll get it back within 3 weeks! 3 Weeks? I can't be without such a cam for that long! Well, instead I looked reslinging it myself.

After looking into various ways of reslinging and checking the BD website for thier lab tests on stuff like this, I narrowed it down to either a thing tape or dyneema. I was put off by the dyneema as I thought the knot would be massive and chunky (you need to tie a triple fishermans knot) so opted for some sling. As it happened the sling material was too thick and I ended up with the dyneema! The knots isn't actually that bulky at all and it works just fine. I was worried that I would worry about using a tied piece of gear, but it gives me no bother. All in all I'm happy with it.

Birchen, chopsticks and mushrooms

After a week of either good grit weather (cold and dry) or seemingly torrential rain I managed to get out at the weekend for a foray into the Peak district. Considering I spent 3 years living in Stoke I never really explored the Peak to it's full potential as I always seemed to end up at the Roaches, windgather or trying to go to wales. Since I brought the Stanage Guide and the Froggatt to Black Rocks Guide, I've been determined to explore the east peak more, so Saturday morning I got up early with Rachel, dropping in at Stoke to pick up everyones favourite French trad climber (Sid) and headed off to Birchen Edge.

A few of my friends have been to Birchen before and I've heard good things about it but I'd never been myself. We took a winding journey through the Peak driving through the grounds of Chatsworth House which was nice surprise. We also managed to spot a feild of Reindeer and a field of smaller more native looking deer. We parked up at the Robin Hood pub and walking in from thier, walking across the top of the crag instead of along the bottom.

Sid took the sharp end first and lead Trafalgar Wall (S 4b) which had a pretty hard start. Not bad for Sid's 4th trad lead ever. While Rach was taking a few photo's she met a Guy from her last trip to Font there named Chopsticks Phil, and his climbing partner Hannah. Chopsticks Phil is named from the use of Chopsticks that hold his hair up, Hannah was simply named at birth (I guess). From this chance meeting our party grew in size. I then tried a route called Hangover (E1 5b) but messed it up so many times and fell off I gave up in the end. Instead I jumped on Camperdown Crawl (HS 4c) which had a hard start and a very easy finish (reflecting the grade). It was a really treat to get some awesome finger jams in on the start though. They where just big enough for my fingers! 


After watching a guy solo the arete next to me while I was doing Camperdown, me and Chopsticks with his battered looking bouldering pad set about having a crack at it. Phil soloed it first with a tiny crimp round the Arete and a mono pocket low down then I managed it with the arete and a crimpy sidepull on the face. Both yeilded a nice solo seeing as the difficulties only extended to the first 10ft and I had Bulbous Brow (E1 5c) in the bag. Seeing as I'd managed to solo brow I then did the 5b and 5c starts to Camperdown Crawl.


The day was going well so we decided to explore another bit of Birchen Edge, especially after seeing the picture of the corner crack of Nelson's Nemesis in the guide book. We wondered across to the buttress, us through the woods and Phil and Hannah along the top till we heard Phil yodelling to annouce he'd found the crag. Phil and Hannah racked up for a "well endowed" HVD route (which Phil displayed his amazing mountain boot hell hooking ability) and Sid went for Nelson's Nemsis (HS 4b). This was Sid's hardest lead to date. He started off really well and eventually bunged in a good cam. Then he bridged up the corner crack and placed a nice and unshiny torque nut before moving out under the roof.


Then he went for it getting his hands along the traverse and leaving his feet behind. Me and Rach started yelling to take adventage of the little tiny edges for his feet. In the end he retreated from the lip shaking. He yell for me to take and I asked why?, "so I can rest" was the response. I told him I wasn't and that he'd be fine. This time he went for it again, moving quicker with the hands and getting his feet sorted, straight to the edge and getting round the arete where he sighed with relief. In went another piece of gear, clip and he was off again. I watched his shaking legs dissappear from view and soon later I heard "safe". I felt bad for not taking him, but he needed it. In the end I think he appriciated it. 


I seconded the route and found that the hand traverse was HARD. Coming out from the corner and getting the handhold by the lip was hard, The little holds for your feet where polished as hell and the good hold I thought he was going for was a shite crimp. Bloody marvelous effort from Sid.

I then took Cook's Rib (E1 6a) as much final route of the day. The crux was a escapable and avoidable rockovery move, protected above your head by a good cam. I went up, placed my gear and reversed to the floor, had a good look at the route and then went for it, slapping for a flat edged hold which was a bit crap to be honest. Then I rocked over. It was quite good. Both Rach and Sid seconded the route using the arete to get the 5c tick. I guess climbing was over for the day after that. We walked back through the sunset looking for mushrooms before getting into the Robin Hood's in for a nice Pint of Cockery Hoop. All in all a good day.