Chamonix 4.5 (Thoughts on Frendo Spur)

Looking back: Thoughts on Frendo Spur.

[If the terms “Engineer” and “Artist” make no sense then that's ok. It means you'll have to read through a book by Mark Twight called Extreme Alpinism. Other than being full of useful information based on his own experiences, it's full of stories and opinions in a blunt and witful style that makes it a fantastic read, especially seeing as it could be quite a boring textbook on alpinsim]

The Engineer

It's seem like all the route we've done up to this one have been training for Frendo. I'd like to think when I look back that Frendo itself was used a training for bigger and better things. Through out each trip into the mountains I've been doing little things like keeping an eye on how much gas we've used so that I don't over prepare, making note of what gear was actually used and what was just left in the pack (like my down jacket, which was left behind) and how much I need to keep on top of a mirad on little things that don't seem important at the time, but in the long run are important... like drinking and eating.

We did almost everything right on Frendo down to spending weeks before hand training up on other routes, constantly getting used to different snow conditions throughout the days, carrying almost only what we needed. We're almost on first name terms with the guides at their office in Chamonix (they have a funny smile, which seems to say “oh no, here come those British Lads again” every time we walk in) after going in over and over to ask about conditions and routes. Hell, this was my 5^th proper alpine route and Andy's 4^th and he's ony been ice climbing since Easter this year! We were lucky with our ascent, not because we needed to be but because we prepared for it correctly.

I don't think it was all a fairy tale ascent though. We didn't drink enough water (barely 1.5 litres each) throughout the day and by the end of it we were both lagging and suffering with dehydration. It also meant that we had to force loads of water down our necks at the bivi. Eating was another issue, but in an odd way. We had surplus food by the time we'd finished which meant that on both days we'd not eaten enough during the day. I know day one seemed to consist of a couple of bars of chocolate, some goats cheese and half a pack of Frites (the cheapest of sweets from Super-U). Day 2 wasn't much different after we'd had breakfast as it was back to the frites from me and virtually nothing for Andy. It's just a small thing to remember for next time I'm climbing. I'll make sure I'll put me food and water in the top of my pack so that I have them ready to hand at each belay or whenever we stop.

I know some people will think it quite sad that I do this after each route, sit down and analyse the climb to see what I could have done better but I don't care. I like to think of each climb as a learning experience (some can be a lot of steeper than others!) and being able to do this might just make me a better performing, safe and faster climber.

The Artist

Looking back how was the route; what did I enjoy and what didn't I enjoy? The first isn't hard to answer at all. The ice on day 2 was my favourite part of the whole experience, made all the better after spending the night on the ledge and watching the sun go down. We'd spent hours deciding whether to go left or right for days really, but in the end right was the obvious choice as far as I was concerned, it stay in the shade till later and was longer, longer being important. I don't get to climb as much ice as I'd like so when I do I'll take the opportunity. Climbing ice is so unbelievably simple, from climbing it to belaying on it to everything about it (ok, I know it's not actually “simple” but compared to technical rock climbing it is). Everything in my mind quiet, like some form of bizarre meditation where all I can here is the screaming of my various muscles (mostly my calves). The screaming sounds like the noise at the end of a tunnel though, it doesn't realy bother the solace in my mind.

The other side of it is when the ice meets the rock. Then the mind is focused, so much on a point (literally sometimes on the point of my axe or crampon) that everything is still silent. I have no worries, no cares, no concerns . Whatever is going on in the rest of my life. The climbing is suddenly engaging, like climbing a steep slab where at any moment your foot could go... but instead it's somethings all your points of connection. Working out how I'm going to haul myself up some steep groove with weird cracks and small amounts of ice just mentally sandblasts me. It feels like my mind has been cleaned out and all the little things don't matter.

Sadly you can't stay up there forever and sooner or later the rope pulls tight at your waste. It's the end of the line and the pitch is over. In the smallest way it's back to reality but you know there'll be another pitch. When the climb is over is when I get really sad. You just don't know when the next one will be.

Oddly enough it was the rock climbing on the first day that I enjoyed the least. There is plenty of rock in England and I get to climb on a lot of it but there's not much ice and mixed. I spent most of the time thinking “once this rock is over then it'll be back to ice and possibly mixed, just keep climbing and waiting”. That's probably quite a sad way to view it but it was just a means to an end. I like rock climbing when it's challenging. 

Putting together a guidebook...

I had a friend who used to read by blog and she would always complain that it was always about climbing. On several occasions I did point out that it was a climbing blog, and there for I was just doing the title justice but that didn’t matter. I’ve tried before to write about things on here that are not climbing related, and it always ends up coming back to climbing in some way or form.

However this week I’ve been off for half term. You’d think that I’d have been away. I’m normally away in Scotland but time, conditions, money and probably most importantly drive, have kept me away from the snow and ice. I’m not giving up ice climbing, but I definitely seem to be taking a sabbatical from it. This has left a rather large hole in my climbing life which has been filled by 2 things; gardening and sitting in front of my laptop. Added to this my partner has been very ill and I’ve been home every day with her. Some things are more important than climbing over rocks. Dealing with the latter first I’ve been typing up a crag that me and Soames have been working on. At the moment I think we’ve climbing 30% of the routes there and I am eager to get back, but I’m also very eager to get it written up properly. Hence the sitting at my computer and typing away like a man possessed. 

This has given me a very good insight into how much effort goes into producing a guidebook. I can tell you that it’s a lot of effort. It isn’t just all sitting behind a computer, but many hours actually out at the cliff, photographing, drawing and scribbling on various pieces of paper and route grade checking. Once this has been done (or at least started) then the sitting behind a computer and compiling, putting together starts. Topo’s have been drawn, maps doodled and words typed out. I’ve had to recall computer skills I thought I’d forgotten… and it’s times like this I’d wished I’d taken the time to become competent with photoshop. Never the less it’s been a fun journey getting down all the idea in my head, drafting and re-drafting, and hoping that it’ll all turn out alright. 

Gardening? Me? I’m not exactly green fingered but this doesn’t stop me. With my partner we’ve been potting, building and planting and we’re now waiting for chillies to germinate in the bathroom and mushrooms to establish themselves in the airing cupboard. As far as building goes there is now a small greenhouse on our balcony ready for when it warms up a little. I’ve even built a vermicomposter, but I now require some worms for it to start working properly. I’ve not yet found a place for it in the flat.  

So instead of actually going climbing this half term, I’ve been writing. Drafting, rewriting and working out where everything should go. Next time I buy another guidebook I’ll understand somewhat the lengths that someone went to, to put it together.

New DMM stuff...

It seems that every blog I've read over the last few days has has news of the new kit that DMM is producing. There's a link to a low resolution PDF here and I feel I should write at least something. I've had a good look at the PDF and discussed it with quite a few friends and I've come to a few conclusions about all this new kit. 

It's not all that new, which isn't such a bad thing. Maybe they've done a lot of market research and have come to the conclusion that producing products tailored to the need of people is the best way forward... I mean they are trying to make some money at the end of the day. So we've a load of new axes, which look a lot like some models already on the market (one looks rather like a Petzl Nomic) or following a general trend (like people retrofitting pinky rest's onto their DMM flys). I think that the coloured screwgates are just simply a nice idea. They sort of go against a few things I follow when buying gear (like buy nothing for a specific job and try to make sure everything has more than one use). But having brightly coloured 'biners could make arranging clustered belays better. Something simple like having one person attached by a red 'biner and another by a blue. I figure that they'll probably be more useful for people workin' in the outdoor industry that you're average weekend warrior bumblie.

As for the Demon Cams, well what can I say? Shamelessly filling the gap left in the market by WC not continuing to produce WC friends, but with a little extra in the way of an extend able sling. Hell yeah! In fact the more I think about it, the more I like the idea. There are a lot of people out there who'll like the idea of being able to buy a replacement size cam when their Friends tire out, especially when it'll be the same size cam lobes. I know they look a little crappy, but DMM must have loads of lobes left over and there seems to be a split in what people buy (single or double stem cams) and DMM have covered both of these markets.

I do like the look of the terrier and if I climbed enough in winter I'd be buying one. It does scream a little of something Andy K said a couple of years ago, just sayin' like.

Offsets and tri-cams...

I wrote a post a while back about DMM alloy offset nuts and whether or not I was missing out. In the weeks since I've borrowed my partners set of 5 offsets and made a real effort to look for placements and place them. For the short period they stayed on my rack (before they had to be returned) I tried to turn to them first and found myself using them all up on most of the pitches of mountain rock I climbed.

I figured that I better report back as to my conclusions at this moment in time. Before I had a set of offset nuts, I never really found myself wanting and needing to place them. I know there are some devout (some would consider almost zealous) followers of offset nut's who'll tell you that you need them on your rack and that for every parallel sided placement there'll be an million offset placements but thats simply not true. I will accept that there are tonnes of offset placements out there, but (and this is the crucial point) if you don't carry offset nuts (or normally carry them) , or are used to parrellel sided nuts you and you're good climber who is used to using thier own rack, you'll simply bypass offset placements in favour of one that you're rack will fit.

Now this would seem obvious. If you don't use a piece of gear, then how are you supposed to get (or at least understand) the benefits that piece can bring. When I returned said offsets I did for a while keep looking for offset placements and then had to bypass them in favour of one that my rack would fit so there hasn't really been a loss in this experiment. But there has been one significant gain, a change in my opinion.

About 4 years ago I read about tri-cams for winter climbing. I then aquired a set and took them out during my first season. Needless to say I was unimpressed. I found them fiddly and awkward to place and they never turned out to be my first choice piece of gear. I've got a couple more winter seasons under my belt now, and I find myself missing out on the cam placements I bypass in winter alot. Coming into winter from a rock climbing back ground means that I do really miss out when I'm carrying a smaller rack. I'm just used to so much more gear. Carrying cams is something I really miss out on in winter, but I just can't justify the weight of them and time needed to place them.

There is of course an obvious solution. Actually there are several obvious solutions, the first being to stop whining. There were people climbing the routes I've done with nowt but a single alpenstock and homemade crampons, so what am I complaining for. The other solution is to find a camming device that is light weight and supposedly better in iced up cracks... tri-cams.

So I've been carrying them on my rack for the past few weeks doing the esotertic routes with Rachel and took them with us this weekend to wales. It takes a real effort to force myself to actually place them because I'm just so unused to using them but I can say that they've been a astounding success so far. I've been using them both passively and cammed in an effort to sort of intergrate them into my rack and I hope they'll get alot more use this winter too.

The death of the climbing guide?

Well it seems like it's happened. A iphone app has been developed for use in the quarries, therefore meaning that all of those with a iphone can now download said app and use it instead of a guidebook. I feel sad as although it might be a little old fashioned I like owning a guidebook to an area.

At uni my friends would be a little surprised when we'd be discussing route idea for the day and they'd say something like "whats that classic VS down the Nant Gwynant Vally?" and I'd pipe up with "you mean Bovine right? or Oxo, or oxine?". I like to read guidebooks. Apart from being stuff full ot routes they usually have a history section or a local geology section (or even local plantlife etc). I found that they are usually really awesome to read. Take something like the Cloggy Guide. It's a small guide which contains all the winter and summer lines on cloggy. Now apart from being a very well set out guidebook and very neat, it has a history section like no other. I'll appreciate that Cloggy lends itself to a good history section (what with so many stories surrounding the cliff like the Indian Face Saga etc) but the point is that they didn't have include this rich history that adds to the cliff.

I think that maybe books appeal to a certain type of climber. I value the time spent in the pub reading up when a route was first put up, who the first ascentionist was and all the little tit-bits that get included with decent guides (like why they named the route as they did, see the old '92 slate guide for examples of this). It's nice to see who did what and at what time the route was put up. For example Bengal Buttress was climbed in 1930, and it's still a hard route today, but at the time it must have been a massive achievement! This kind of stuff is put in guidebooks.

I know quite a few climbers who wouldn't dream of reading thier climbing guide. People who'll use it as a guide to get them to a crag and then up a route (infact I know a few climbers who use them to get them to a crag, but don't fully read the route descriptions!). They'll treat it as a guide rather than the wealth of information and this saddens me.

So is this the way it's going? Am I going to be an old climber, sporting a patchy beard and still climbing with traditional protection (scorning the bolts that adorn my beloved cliffs) and thumbing through a tatterned up well cherised stack of bound paper while young hip cool climbers pause on thier belay ledges to check the route on thier iphones and update thier facebook statuses about who the last pitch was. I hope this doesn't happen...

Trees as fixed gear?

I've already posted this on UKC because I thought it provoke an interesting discussion (or at least an interesting argument) among the posters but I thought I'd get it down here as well.

Basically the new slate guide has come out and thumbing through it with Rach we spotted a picture of Mark Dicken and Ioan Doyle doing Giddy Variations on a Theme (E2 5b) on page 303 (if anyone whats to know). Apart for suddenly catching my imagination almost completely this picture started a little discussion between the two of us.

Rach: So what grade [Giddy variations on a theme] is it then?

Me: E2 5b

Rach: Why though? It's just a slab, isn't it.

Me: Yeah, but it's probably sustained 5b climbing for most of the route and [referring to the original picture] there isn't much gear in it and there is some long run outs.

Rach: So, why isn't it just bolted then?

Me: What? Why would you bolt it?

Rach: Well because it's in a quarry, why else?

Me: but but it's a slate route, it's different, what about designer danger [see end] ? whats about it's history? what... what...

And as you can probably guess my argument trailed off seemingly based around noble ideals like not bolting things just because it's a quarry, giving the rock a sporting chance and "what about the routes history". However Rach couldn't see why a route wasn't bolted in the slate quarries and thus I explained about slate ethics and the original boom period in the 80's, the slate head and the concept of designer danger and then the recent, and I hesitate the use the word, renaissance where many bolted routes of a more sport climbing nature have been developed. Soon enough she muttered something like "well slate is just a bunch of unbolted sport routes" anyway.

So of course bolting had been brought up and thus a discussion probably took a turn for the worst (bolting is always a bad discussion to have with me, I get quite enthusiastic/enraged). This then extended to all kinds of fixed gear. The concept of "designer danger" came up and Rach finally ended with:

Is is ethical to plant a tree in a crack, so that in 20 years when the tree has grown it can be slung as a piece of gear?

Literally I was stumped (excuse the pun) and I've been wondering about it ever since...

University Mountaineering Clubs

Well it's that time of the year again. The time when helpful people post on UKC that your favourite crag is going to be descended on by hoards of freshers being taken out by their university mountaineering club. Seems to me like it's the time to head a little way into the mountains or off the beaten track to avoid these groups of people, but are they really all that bad?

From personal experience yes and no. I've been in a UMC myself, which for my time as an official member and student wasn't that bad. We had our own indoor wall and I got taken out at least once and shown the basics of building belays. This has stuck with me forever, but for my part during my time at uni I wasn't very active in the club or in fact very helpful (I didn't pay my membership for the year I was kit secratary, then I lost a load of kit. It was in the years afterward that I realised what a great opportunity the club represented and it was during this time that I've been most active. I've been taking people out, running days out on freshers trips, trying to push the older more experienced members and basically trying to make up for my second year (when I lost all the kit). 

When I've been out with my old uni club they've been reasonably well behave. There have actually been no accidents, on offical club trips. There have been a couple of accidents along the way with members on non-official trips but these have always be dealt with excellently. When we've gone away to wales or a lakes I've always tried to pick crags that'll keep the club out od peoples way. 

Sadly this isn't exactly the case with all student mountaineering clubs. It just happens that I got to see Manchester Uni MC at Birchen Edge the other day. It seemed that the majority of the older members of the club, and what I can only assume was the chairman (as he was the loudest and most obnoxious) just sat at the top of the crag yelling down to everyone else. They just wouldn't shut up. I don't mind a bit of shouting and yelling at the crag, but this was excessive to say the least. Then the slightly more concerning parts occured. It was actually Rachel who spotted and lad who was leading a route. He wasn't on the route he wanted to be on, but he still got to the top but it was his second who turned up along the base of the crag, tied in wrong and then tried to set off without actually double backing his harness that really annoyed her (and me). She then had the chance to witness someone start climbing before the belay was even built, and the rope taken in. 

This might just be one group in a hundred but it give Uni.MCs a bad name. I see other mountaineering clubs at crags around the country, those not affiliated with a university and they seem to behave well, climb sensibly and look out for each other. I see groups of friends who I climb with, but other who are just brought together by thier want to climb who manage to be sensible, safe and have fun at the crag. 

(my old uni club, messing around at least 5km for anywhere else)

DMM offsets. Am I missing something?

My rack consists of a hodge-podge of gear, especially my wires. I mean they seem to consist of a wires picked up from here there and everywhere. I think something like a third of them have actually been found rather than actually brought. I think the problem began when I first started buying a rack and I brought something like 1 or 2 nuts each week in a effort to build it up with each paycheck. At the time I didn't really know any better and a nut was a nut as far as I was concerned. Over time my rack grew and I eventually forked out for a set of decent nuts, metolius curve nuts. Not the lightest nut on the market (at the time) but they looked different and I was willing to try them out (plus they came with a free nuts key, back when they were cheap). Having used both DMM wallnuts and WC rocks before it was a welcome change to use the curve nuts.

Over time my rack grew still. I doubled up on a few sizes of curve nuts and replaced things a I dropped, bailed or welded them into place. Eventually my defining feature for what nut I'd buy was the price because well curve nuts had gone expensive and wallnuts/rock were cheap. My rack of wires now sits at around 40 depending on the last count. At least 9 of these nuts have been found over the years and at least 9 are also small wires, either made in brass just really tiny (that are sub about 3kn). 

I actually own a few specifically offset nuts, 3 brass offsets (the smallest sizes) and a yellow alloy offset. Again price was the defining feature in thier purchase (alloy) and because I couldn't find anything smaller (brass). But I've still never found myself wanting an offset nut. What am I missing? Offset nuts seem to have a sort fo cult following in the British climbing world. I know quite alot of people who swear by them. In fact it really annoys me when people start recommending them to new climbers, raving on about how awesome they are. I think part of the problem (my lack of offset nut love) comes from having WC single wires (slightly offset in shape) and the Curve nuts that make for the basic of my rack. 

I'm still not sure whether I'm missing out of something revolutionary, but with 40 wires on my rack (that I can't seem to trim down) I can't really afford to add another 5 heavy offsets. 

Helium Friends? were they worth making?

Since the patent came up on double axel cams there seems to have been a minor revolution within the cam market. It seemed very much 5 years ago that the British market was dominated by DMM 4cus, Wild Country Tech Friends and then BD camalots. This wasn't a bad thing as each offered a significant difference when compared to the others. 4cu's had extendable slings, useful to those hardcore trad climbers but wanted to save weight. BD camalot had increased range and there for usefulness. Tech Friends it seems just sort of set the bar as to what a decent cam should be.

Then the patent went [on double axel designs] and it's sort of opened the doors for a wide range of new cams. It's not just the patent going world wide either, but little things like CCH Aliens which stopped being shipped to Britain leaving a gap in the market place for the microcam market to develop. Wild Country Zeros and Metolius Master Cams have a new lease of life and seem to be doing well, but it's DMM who really hit the nail on the head.

BD camalots are good. No-one can ignore it. They have a smooth action, they are reasonable stable. They're made with hard wearing components. DMM dragon cams are just even better. They have the same smooth action, but are lighter. The metal and plastic components are hard wearing but the slings are made of dyneema. Is this a big problem? no! because DMM have offered to resling the cams as and when needed. They also have an extendable sling, something that is a real benefit for trad climbers in Britain. At places like gogarth where routes wander all over the place, lessening rope drag is a real bonus. I like dragon cam, I think they are a really well though out product.

I thought I was a die hard wild country tech friend advocate. I've got like 11 of them, all battered and scratched, most with repaired cables (one with a paper clip) and 1 with a tied cord as the sling worn out. I thought that I'd never replace them, until a climbing partner left one in a belay and it was never seen again. I'm not laying it on, but it was my favourite cam. It was my red size 2, the one I'd carry everywhere. I can still see the pattern of scratched on the lobes of the cam. Meh, it's gone but instead on missing n old friend (literally!) I took this opportunity to try something new, and cheaper. 

I brought a red dragon cam. It's awesome, simply awesome. I don't need to say anything else. When I retire my tech friends, or loose them, I'll just replace them with dragon cams. It is really that simple. They are also light enough I'd carry them in winter. 

The thing is, DMM have clearly put alot of thought into the dragon cam. BD clearly though long and hard about the Camalot and the old tech friend just sets the bar for what a good cam should really be like. The new helium cams just look crap. They don't strike me as a great step forward in cam production. For the same weight you can get the equivalent size Dragon. They feel clunky and heavy. They don't have such a smooth action and the thing that is most annoying? It just looks like Wild Country have just on the hot forging band wagon (following DMM) and made forged cam lobes and then stuck them on a BD camalot stem. 

All I'm saying is, was it really worth putting the money into developing them, let alone trying to sell them?

honesty, trait of a good climber.

When I climbed Chalkstorm, an mildly infamous route which has destroyed a few ankles of people I know in it's time (3 and my last count, and one was air lifted out), there was a big psychological barrier for me on it. I was climbing really well (for me) and seeing as it is a 5c slab climb it should really be me thing. Earlier that morning I'd also done Appaloosa Sunset, also graded E3 5c. This is a longer grit route found on the third cloud in front of the Roaches. Actually it's probably in front of skyline area but who cares. Appaloosa sunset was an awesome route in every sense for me. It was long (enough), hard and had enough of a risk that I really didn't want to fall off. It's a wall climb, like straight up and the crux is right in the middle of the slab and your gear is a long way off. If you mess it up your going for a swing but you'll be ok, maybe a bit battered and bruised. Basically Appaloosa was awesome.


So high off my success of Appaloosa I set off for Chalkstorm, seeing as I was climbing well. At the base, weary of the many people who I know who've messed up on it I decided that 1, I would NOT top-rope it, or abseil down it. I've never done it before and I don't see why I should start doing it now and 2, I would place side runners because the risk/gain ratio just wasn't worth it for a non side runner lead. I'll happily admit it. Instead I placed some side runners, probably reducing the grade to around E1, maybe even HVS by some peoples standards and lead it. It wasn't too bad but didn't really strike me and a route of merit. I can apprieciate that I didn't do it in what is percieved as the "best style" but who cares. I don't lead things for other people, I rather selfishly climb for well guess who, me! 


So I did the route in the style I felt most appropriate but in the looses sense of the word I'd still done Chalkstorm. I'd climbed up it, however when I comment or tell someone I climbed chalkstorm I always, always make sure I tell them that I did it onsight and placed side runners bringing the abjective grade down. 


This post was originally entitled "lying in climbing" but I decided against that because when someone does a route and doesn't comment of the 6 hours of top-rope practise they had before hand or the spare rope that was hanging by for them then they aren't lying, they still did the route, but they are NOT telling the whole truth. Maybe it is just a pet hate, or maybe it's something a little deeper but if you're honest about how you climbed something it means much more. I know plenty of people who've done this route and done that route and tell everyone that "today I climbed [insert route here]" and there is no mention of the pad that they placed beneath the start to protect the bad landing, or the abseil inspection and cleaning of holds, or the top-roping/redpointing they've been doing for the last 6 months, or the beta they received from a guy (or girl) who'd done the route previously. 


Maybe I'm being pedantic and all this is just silly. Maybe how you do something doesn't matter.

Snow, People and Red lights...

So we've had about a 9 inches of snow here in Birmingham and you can guess whats happened... mad panic! Maybe Britian sufferers from some sort of super snow as apposed to the rest of world? or maybe it's because we're British and we like to make a fuss of everything. I'm currently sitting in my room, with a nice big mug of coffee, checking every weather report I can and trying to decided whether to go wales tonight or tomorrow for some climbing. A little bit of snow isn't going to put me off, infact it's precisely the reason I'm going. 

However I just thought I'd enlighten any readers to the plight of the poor poor people of Birmingham and the west midlands and add some words of advice. The snow isn't actually that bad here. Yes, I'm sure there are roads that are impassable but all the mainroads seem to be fine, as long as you take it easy. I've seen so many people just avoiding redlights ar junctions in the snow, or plain not stopping for things. The other thing is people are not helping other people. I don't know when this culture of "ladders up jack, I'm alright" came about, or whether its a commen thing in winter but seriously! why not just help that guy push his car out of that snow. It's amazing how easy it can be to move a stuck car with a few people. 

When I'm out in the mountains it seems there is a never ending supply of people willing to push someone out, or jump someones car or even tow them to the nearest pub! However there is a different mentalilty in cities. 

I'm still going to stop and help that guy out next time I see him, even if he is driving a BMW....

And so to finish, please don't drive if your not prepared to help someone else on the road, able to cope with some snow and have some spare gear in the car. I leave you with a tree...