Never, Never Land

A classic route at a rare sunny Ramshaw crag, from last weekend!

Big span move leaving the crack

Commited

A bit camp that

Slopey shizz

Phew...

Dry rock hunt!

Right, since getting back from Thailand about 3 weeks ago now, the weathers been totally shite and the overall psyche’s been hard to come by and would choose 35 degrees and crazy humidity any day over piss wet British rock, but we’ve tried and have found the odd line to claw up!
So here’s where we’ve been, what we’ve done and all the rest is history… Peace x

• Malham (Very wet + cold!): New Age traveller 8a, L’ob session 7c+ (me!), Herbie 7c+ (onsight-ed), Obsession 7b+ (os-ed), The Last Toad 7b+ (os), Conceptual 7b.
• Orme (Even wetter!): Masterclass 8a (just me, Ed couldnt be arsed to go up there), Loui Armstrong V13 (hefty grade dispatched by the youth!)
• Llandullas cave (too windy!): Manjekeews 7b+, Whirral whip 7c+
• Dinbren (waterfall!): Walking with barrence 7b, I punched Judy first 7b+ (great name!), Flowers are for the dead 7c. Ed didn’t climb, he wanted to go home and weep!
• Stanage (dry and mint..finally!): Brad titt 7c+ (thank the lord!) Archangle E3 5b (classico)
• Lovely Matlock quarry (dryish): The power of the dark side (was E8 but more like cool E6/7 6b, mint line though).
• Harston rocks/Churnet (well good!): We both did One Chromosomes Missing E7 6b and then I sketched my way up Pair O’Genes E7 6c. Two awesome routes in a very esoteric seeting!
Check out the shots of Power of the darkside and a funny little video of the Churnet!

Yeh so that’s it, short and sweet. Don’t know how people can write so much gobbledygook about the art of climbing rocks. Less is more… Cut the crap like……………….. over and out youths

 

East Asia!!

I've just returned back home from an amazing 3 weeks in Asia. The first few days were spent in Hong Kong watching Fiji run loops around all other oposition in the Rugby 7's tournement. Then we headed off to Thailand with a couple of mad days in Bangkok before flying off to Krabi and then the climbing paradise that is Tonsai! So instead of writing an essay about the trip thought I would just put loads of pictures up documenting it! Enjoy.....

Boooom!

Final- Fiji vs New Zealand

Fiji won!!

Towerblocks above the stadium

Chinese dragon celebration

Hong Kong skyline!

Zimbos beating the Canadians!

Hong Kong stadium

Hong Kong island

Bangkok Thailand

Now thats a hat!

The Thais like there brights colours!

Bangkok tansport

hmm maybe not

Monks in orange

Grand Palace

Bangkok at night

Krabi

Elephant riding in Au Nang!!

Early morning sea fishing!

Type= Needle Fish

Tonsai and Railay beach

Longboats

Dum's kitchen

7b+ on Tyrolean Wall

These guys knew how to climb!

Wild moves on Tantrum 8a+

Our family abode

Sex Power 8a on Tonsai wall

litl one

Throwing funky shapes

Phet Maak 7c+

One of the crag inhabitants

Baby Gorilla 7c

Warming up

Now those are Stalactites!

Classic Tonsai route Tidal wave 7b+

Tonsai beach

Low Tide wall

Paradise!

Bouldering shizz

Ed Update:-
Over the past month and a half since we returned from Turkey we have been trying to get out as much as possible on zee Gritstone. The weather has been far from helpful but there have been a few decent days between the 10 bad ones!

I have slowly been ticking my way through some brilliant problems that the grit has to offer. First up was a great session up at Row Tor were I managed to make the 3rd Ascent of Dave Mason’s ‘Pink Lady’ (8A). It’s a must do problem with some very hard tension moves on some pretty small undercut’s. As there was still enough light I went down to finish the day by ticking ‘Domes Sit Start’ (7C) which has now turned out to be my favourite problem on the grit. A great day with some video footage to come!!
Next was the Roaches, I had been meaning to go and try Tetris for ages and finally decided to go and check it out. We arrived, the boulder was completely dry and I managed to make a quick ascent of Tetris (7C) followed by a surprised flash on Columns (7C+), Great Day.
After those two amazing session’s on the grit, the weather crapped out again BUT this didn’t hold us back as I decided to go and meet up with Ted and Ethan and hit Stoney, the place of all dreams. Surprisingly the conditions were incredible and around 30 problems went down between us that day. Some of these include Arm bandit (7C), Denses White Ladder (7C), Pete’s Power Pull (7C+), Nasty Traverse (7C+), Jerry’s Problem (7C+) and an un-named 7B+.

After talking with Ethan and Bails we all decided to go and check out Turningstone edge near Eastwood Rocks but on the other side of the valley. Our aim was to try and climb ‘River Of Life’ (8A). As we arrived the conditions were awful. The rock was all wet and the psyche was low. We decided to try and dry the holds and see if we could dig out some of the moves. After around 30 minutes of drying we realised that there was potential for climbing on it. We all gradually worked out the beta and finally I managed to make a send of it. Ethan and Bails were very close to sticking the crux and will deffo get it next time! Good effort Lad’s!!!

Photos taken by Adam Bails

Gasper’s Week;
Just Last week my good friend Gasper Pintar from Slovenia visited the UK for 1 week. We had already decided to take him up to the Plantation on the Tuesday. He started off by ticking ‘The Green Traverse’ (7A) and then Dope on a Slope (7A+). He and I also had a play on Deliverance (7B+) which shot us both down but was fun to try. He also got a send of the classic Not to Be Taken Away. We all then finished off the day by trying ‘Brad Pit’ (7C+). I had about 400 goes with loads of different heels from different makes of shoe which didn’t work. Gasper then kindly leant me his La Sportiva shoes which stick on like a babe in the wood. I FINALLY sent the problem all thanks to Gasper’s shoe. Thanks mate, you legend!!!!!
After a hard and long day up at Stanage we decided to take a rest day by having a really hard board session. Fantastic preparation for Friday’s venture.

Last but not least, we all headed down to the Churnet to check out the amazing looking Ina's Rock. This is a truely awesome piece of weathered sandstone hidden away in the woods, with two classic highball/solo's side by side. With a big team and even bigger loads of crash pads I've ever seen, we were ready for action! First line to go down was Thumberlina (highball V6 or E6), this is a brilliant line up a smooth wall with a wierd pockety start involving a big heal hook. Then some positive crimpers and a final scary lunge right at the top! This got 5 ascents in good time, including Gaspers first E graded route! Next up we moved all the pads over to the left and got stuck into the harder Cornelious (V9 or E7). Anyway Dave showed the way with a stylish ascent followed by myself and then Bails! What a great day!!

Dave sending Cornelious

Pads galore!

Me on the crux stretch!

Oh yeh and here are a couple of cool vid's that Ethan made a few weeks ago.

1. Churnet Bouldering

2. Beast of Bauston

I nicked them off his blog! Cheers mate!