Goals for 2012

So, the traditional listing of all those aims one has for the coming year is here. Grades, routes, classics, competition etc. Well, for the first time in my life I can honestly say I don't give a shit about grades. I don't care if I onsight E6 or E7 or HS. If it's about your own improvement then grades don't matter and if it's about competing with others then you might as well give up now, as there will always be someone who has totally lost grasp in the point of climbing and trains like a maniac and is hence better than you.

No, my climbing aims this year are far more spiritual. I want the North York Moors to become monogomous, perhaps sharing themselves only with dooge et al, but certainly focused on me, like I am with them. Relationships are nothing without monogamy and I feel the lengths of adventure I was prepared to go to with the moors, deserves a little respect back. So more talking to the stone me thinks.

Once we have bonded and the Moors lets me explore that mythical state of ultimate friction, where every gram of possible resistance is available to me for upward propulsion, then it's time to abandon the no hands problems and strangery; and head on to the routes.

When it comes to routes, I am interested in the obvious new discoveries, such as the Smuggler's Terrace, but I am not looking for huge quantities of 'fast food'. In general I'll be looking for those really unique routes; routes like the magic scoop at Highcliffe or the footless rib at Danby. These lines are special. They are absurdly difficult, but not in terms of numbers, in terms of what your head and body has to do to climb them. It's not some equation you can work out and rationalise; and to climb them as such is risking seriously pissing off the moors gods permanently- which is never a good move.

So my aims this year are a bit less egotistical, but probably totally unobtainable:
*To climb a mythical line in the moors. Something that makes the first part of my life complete.
*To finish my apprenticeship with the moors and finally feel at peace with them.
*To climb those last routes that I never got round to doing- especially things like Stratagem
*To climb some of Ramsden's and Waterton's routes ground up.

I see a good year this year. I've had a great life so far and if I can avoid the dangerous moments it seems to just be getting better and better.

2011 Finally Over

What a funny year. What a dangerous year. I'm really quite pleased to be looking back at 2011. It was a horrible year really. There were a lot of really great times, loads of new discoveries and I feel a much better person for all the experiences of last year, but there are some rather indelible scars 2011 has left me with.

There have been some pretty big changes in my personal life, namely moving to Austria and splitting up with my girlfriend, that have unsurprisingly had some effects on my climbing; or maybe they are all indicators of a changing me.
















The year started with bad form and very little climbing, culminating in me nearly dying at Tintwistle. This isn't some romantic exaggeration to try and talk about the wonders of the inner workings of the climber's mind, but a reality. The odds would have dictated death was more than likely, but for some reason (or lack of reason) I survived. At the time I didn't think this had affected me at all. I still climbed. I still had a laugh. I still went out and listened to trance music. But on reflection it definitely had an affect on me.

Fast forward 5 months, through a few uneventful new routes and messing around on the welsh testpieces and classics such as poetry pink, and I'm in the alps with Luke. I love climbing with Luke. He's bold when he needs to be, compassionate, really keen and he is kind of the father figure in my climbing. It had been a long time since I had climbed with Luke and it was great to think that I was heading out to the alps with him and his medic friends, who are equally eccentric and interesting. Dave missed this one out, but he was back at home and waiting for 3 weeks on god's own rock afterwards.

Then it all went disastrously. After just over a week of lots of good ticks and making the best of bad weather, we tried Gulliver's travels on the Grand Capucin. I could retell the tale of the great form we were on, and our climbing that gave us cause to be arrogant, but when I think back to that day it is a minor detail in what was basically a totally shit day out. 'Shit' doesn't really do the day justice actually; perhaps 'horrifying' in the true sense of the word is better. In fact when I hear the word horror, I think to that day.

It was the first time I have experienced real horror I think. I have thought before that I was about to die- I have thought before that I had actually died, but this was different. Whatever pain you endure yourself is a pittance in comparison to seeing another's pain. You don't really hear a lot about how it feels to see your friend die before your very eyes. It's not a very popular subject for some reason. This might seem like exaggeration again, Luke is not only alive, but completely fine, so what the hell am I on about? I don't really know. But that old saying 'whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger' is complete bollocks. I may perhaps be a weak-minded individual, but I have got kind of tired of thinking my close friends are dead. Climbing is a game after all and I think climbing in the forever-melting alps is a ridiculous one.

This was then contrasted by our return to England- the magical, peaceful and fruitful valleys of the north york moors. People like to pretend that there is nothing in the UK left to explore, that there is no climbing in the Moors worth probing and developing. Maybe that's true, who knows? All I know is that the 4 weeks after the alps were some of the happiest of my life. I could climb all day with good friends, develop new crags and then go out at evenings for a lot of beer.It didn't even matter that some of the routes we put up turned out to be massive soft touches. The moors is my home. I understand the people and the rock. The faint grooves and impossible aretes inspire me. They make me happy. Recently we have also found a new crag, which promises more happy future memories, away from the terror of the alps.

Horror, horrifying and horrific. Terror, Terrifying and Terrific. The positives are rarer than pain in life and the moors is the natural spring for optimism and happiness I think.

So with every year I get closer to the perfect balance, or perhaps I am nearing total derangement? I have cause to be happy again in my life and when it comes to climbing I know that a couple of really classic new routes a year makes me a lot happier than a cohort of generic nails testpieces. Delusion on the bounty.

The Yule Return- Some New Moors Classics.

I remember when I first started climbing it seemed as if classics had existed an eternity. They were indelibly stained into the spirit that floats around the moors. When you leave the moors for three months and then come back, even to see a classic, such as Cling Wrap (HVS 5b**) at Camp Hill, makes a big emotional stir. The idea of creating one's own moorland classic seemed banished to the realm of dreams. But now it is not. And that causes some pretty spectacular emotions.

I like to think that me and Dave have had an important role in recent years, developing new routes and large portions of lost, forgotten or unexplored crags. But my brief return from Austria for Christmas let us embark on an entirely new experience- discovering an entirely new venue, completely hidden and undiscovered.

Getting Dark on Haddock Crack (HVS 5a**) - Crag X


We have never kept the details of a crag secret before, as generally the routes are of high grades that interest few people and we can return in a short amount of time to finish off development, but with this crag secrecy is unfortunately a necessity.

There are a large number of tall cracks at moderate grades. These are neither short, nor broken, but strong lines, with sustained interest. We climbed a couple which looked the best and they were really good. On a par with Valiant (VS 5a***) at Danby.

The tale of discovery would give away it's location, but we first spotted the crag through an oblique angle and a faint glimpse of an enormous arete. It looked in every way like Dunne's Divided years and we had to keep our excitement in control as we scrambled towards it. We assumed that a 30 metre prow of sandstone would have to be sandy, loose and crappy to have been left untouched, but it wasn't. It was just ace.

It is still an unknown quantity really. We climbed a few lines and abed down six. There is a poorly protected hanging arete that will be the best route in the moors when it is climbed. 16 metres of climbing, with tricams and poor RPs. I forgot my shunt, so I'm not sure how hard it will be, but perhaps a super classic E6 or something. Another 2/3 star route to the left up the wall at E5 6a or something. 3 star highball font 7a+ arete below, with brilliant balance moves, from which all the routes on this one (of eight) buttress begin.

The best buttress is hidden and offers a 14 metre E2 and a 12 metre HVS. A poor band of rock for the first couple of metres damages their quality a bit, but the rock is then perfect and there s no danger of injury with all the protection sound.

Further to the right and left are more buttresses- still of an unknown quantity. The rock is better than Stoupe and Danby, which isn't bad anyway and the rock is generally pretty clean. So I think all that can be said is that it is about the perfect find. I'm sure there will be hard stuff there too and it seemed quite nice in a winter gale, so I suppose in summer it will be ace. A bit cold yesterday like!

The Vanishing Consistency In The Lakes Winter Debate

The first winter ascent of 'Tell Chris Craggs Nowt' (IX 9)- The crux is topping out where summer climbers have ripped the turf off the top to provide a 'nicer' finish. The issues are clouded a bit here, as I was also the first summer ascentionist. Classic line, surprisingly not featuring in the Rockfax guide.

The recent debate about lakes winter climbing has been fairly interesting, with the same old arguments being churned out along with a few new ones. Anyone who has been following the online part of the debate will probably have seen me being one of the most vigorous 'defenders' of winter climbing on 'classic rock routes'. I don't actually have an opinion though, and I'll explain why.

The stance of the vast majority of people is either an inbuilt revulsion to the idea of ice axes being used on rock, or simply a thoughtless following of the majority-held view. This whole issue has a strange echo of the GM food or renewable energy debates- mass knee-jerk condemnation of a topic few people know anything about. I'm happy to admit that I know very little about the exact amount of damage the average winter outing up a rock route causes, but others aren't and still express their view. This willingness to forge an opinion in the complete absence of fact is what leads to such a brilliantly successful and sensationalised press- such as the News of the World, or UKC. Why don't we try and assess the issues first, before forging an opinion that could effectively end a person's sport forever.

The Jabberwock (VII 8)- Would be nice with a bit of turf on the ledge...

This in it's self sounds sensationalised, but it's true. I'm a rock climber primarily- with 4 alpine trips and about 5 winter routes under my belt I'm no Will Sim, and so people might wonder why I defend lakes winter climbers like Steve Ashworth. It's not because I intend on climbing a load of winter routes in the lakes- I'll climb a few, but i'll always be primarily a rock climber. It is because I don't believe in defending others less than myself. People will want to winter climb in the future and if we create a precedent for highly restricted winter climbing in the lakes, then that will be very hard to go back on. In short, we should give winter climbing a fair trial and stop putting our own interests first, just because we think it will only affect 'the few'. As mentioned earlier, this is the path to persecution and even genocide (although this probably won't happen in the lakes).

At this point I think we need to establish a fact that is key to this debate- the difference between gully/turf routes and technical mixed. This debate has been made far more complicated by the confusion of these two activities. There are far fewer ecological issues with technical mixed and it is fair to say it can not be practiced in many places other than on established rock routes. There are also fewer climbers interested in it. People might like to suggest that there is no need to venture onto established rock climbs, but they are wrong and it is a dead-end and at best ill-informed argument to say otherwise. So in this respect we are talking about the survival of one sport against another (technical mixed Vs. Summer)- both in need of the same routes and both clashing in their demands in this respect.

So, this brings us to the topic of consistency. Any decision I make in regard to style and ethics has to be consistent, as I have to be sure I'm taking the right path when I'm mid crux and I start to doubt myself. This means for me that simply saying 'we shouldn't climb on Gimmer in winter' won't work. If I couldn't climb on it in winter, then I wouldn't be able to climb on it in summer, unless there was a good reason. At this point people will be crying out that there 'is a good reason- winter climbing threatens to damage summer climbs irreparably'. This is true and it is one of the greatest dilemmas I faced when setting out on one of my few winter routes, but summer climbing also damages winter routes. And it's no good responding with a patronising and dismissive smirk to that point. The damage is real. So get used to that. The debate is how the damage summer climbing causes compares to the damage winter climbing causes.

This brings us back to the idea of forming an opinion without facts. Already here, the majority of readers will have made their mind up that they think this argument against summer climbing damaging winter routes, through deturfing, to be preposterous. So I ask you what evidence we have that winter climbing is more damaging to holds, than summer climbing is to turf patches. I'm open minded and consistent and am happy to change my approach to climbing depending on what evidence and ideas are presented. Repeating the old 'ice axes torqued in classic HVSs!!!' mantra won't convince me though. I know the damage of mixed climbing is real, but look at a route like the Jabberwock and tell me that summer climbing hasn't also made winter ascents 2/3 grades harder. We need consistency and we need to protect the minority of a new and vulnerable sport, from the largely-ignorant majority.

Thoughts On The Moors- And My New Book!

Two months in to my Innsbruck purgatory and I'm starting to see things back in the moors a lot clearer- you always do when you're away for some reason. This is all project related- unclimbed lines in the moors.

There is so much, that it has started to overwhelm me and I've been attacking them with no sensible logic or reason. I've been trying to top rope moves of routes that will be H10+, whilst having lead attempts on bouldery E7s ground up. This might be an effective way to work if you're Adam Ondra; but I aint!

This unsystematic and unprofessional way of working is most fun, which is apparently what climbing is all about, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't fueled by self-ravishing (or should that be raddishing) ambition. So how to make my four months in summer (and two weeks at the start of April it's looking like) more efficient...

So there is the mono wall.... I've been getting stronger in Innsbruck, with a mega long 10 deg. overhanging traverse on tiny holds as my own little project indoors, but not strong enough to solo font 8a or whatever it is. I have also compiled a list of 40 odd things of around E6/7 to have a look at, but I'd be lying to myself if I said I didn't want to put something up in the moors next year that is 'proper hard' by anyone's standard. So this is the dilemma of the esoteric activist... Work on one project and risk doing nowt, or fail to climb something you think really represents your abilities and passion. I don't know why, but an H10 seems a lot more appetising than 15 H7s. Hopefully we'll have time for both.

This all sounds a bit anal; as if I have already decided what is going to get climbed this year and as if there is no adventure left. This isn't the case. Perhaps this is just the waffle that surrounds my brain, that is necessary to get psyched for training, or perhaps it is actually quite absent from my head during most of the week due to my new project: My Book. And before you all start to fear, it isn't a rather premature auto-biography, it's a semi instructional and hopefully mind-bending book on how to politically manipulate children. Disturbing you might say, but I assure you it will be a best seller.

Slow Motion Edit Of Tintwistle Fall

Just for those of you who need easier access to the happy event.

Video- 3 New Moors H7s

Footage of:

The fingery 'boulder problem in the sky' Die By The Sword (6c)

The great line and enduro route The White Scoop (6b)

And the wild the Waves of Inspiration (6c?)- A biscuit for the second ascentionist.

The Last Day Of The Summer- Two New H7s

On Waves

We were feeling the pressure as we only had 48 hours before I emigrated to Austria and Dooge left for Uni. Because of this we nipped over to Stoupe Brow today, despite the poor forecast, in the hope that we might be able to salvage something of the remaining time we had in god's own land. I had only got to bed at half four after a heavy night in Middlesbrough, so I chilled out by belaying Dave on the old scoop project as I tried to stop myself swaying.

Waves Of Inspiration (H5 6b***)

Dave looked smooth whilst refining a few moves and soon got sorted for the lead. I had another play on a top rope, but I'd forgotten how hard it is when you don't know the sequence and was well and truly beaten. A good warm up for my own cauterised rib project though, so I wasn't too upset at my trouncing.

The White Scoop (E5 6a***)

A fair bit of a Runout

As Dave set out on lead I was way more nervous than he was, which is becoming a common theme. He calmly cruised up to and beyond the gear, making the whole thing look very easy, but on toping out we both realised that our perception of the route as something that was alright to fall off of, with just a big fall, was wrong. The pictures show clear enough the enormous run out on the buttress and despite the moderate level of climbing, (about f7b) it becomes a pretty hard overall proposition. Respect to Dooge, that's his third moors death route safely navigated and I'm happy I didn't have to do it! Class feature.

After an impressive second, considering he's only just got back into climbing, Nick then went off to try and climb a new offwidth he'd just cleaned. There seems to be some strange bonding ritual, involving offwidths, between the Warburton brothers and Nick's ascent was a classic and incredibly bold thrutching outing. Dave Managed to second more elegantly and 'The Best Of Both' (E1 5a*) was born. Top effort, unfortunately the pictures were really blurry.

A bit more of a runout...

Next it was my turn. Normally I'm really nervous before leading dangerous things and I suppose I kind of was today, but I was also really inspired by the line and just wanted to be the first person to climb the feature. It's such an amazing wall, a little short I suppose (about 10 metres at a stretch), but the climbing is really superb, with good footholds and long reaches. I left the ground and got up to the big ledge, getting the cam and tricam in (this gear is pretty good collectively) and then paused a few moments to really get in the zone.

Feeling odd after divine intervention

I then set off from the ledge in a daze and totally missed the good crimp you jump up to. Luckily I just slipped onto it and caught it with a digit and delicately caressed it. I then brought my right foot through so I could get an outside edge smear. This part is so cool, as you are really on the edge- anything could just rip off at any moment, but you are also kind of solid at the same time.

I then got the small crimp and lobbed a foot out left. It kept coming, but it all felt so easy and like it wasn't me who was climbing. It's just such a fabulously smooth and exciting wall, with move after move of exquisite desperation and all the time just feeling so floaty. This is really what I've been searching for this summer and I'm glad I've finally found it. Now just to find something a couple of notches harder next year.

The End Of The Danby Season- New Route Round Up

Jack Metcalfe On 'The Jungle Drum' (E4 6a**)

I feel it wouldn't be right for me to leave for Innsbruck on Tuesday without a few words of thanks to our most beloved Danby Crag. Sitting in my kitchen with thunder and the rain pattering on the velux windows, it really does feel like the end of the Danby season. It feels like we've had a really personal relationship with this crag, partially because it has been disregarded by so many for so long as a bit of an esoteric back-water and also because we have spent so much time there. We have found it the opposite of how most view it, with it perhaps being the provider of some of the best new routes of England in 2011.

What has been special about our experience is the solitude Me, Dave, Sam, Jack, Nick and Twig have enjoyed at the crag over various days; the varying weather; the cows and the brilliant moves that we have found behind the generally thin (sometimes rather thick) veil of lichen, dirt, dust and snappy rock.

Hypocrisy Of Moose (H8 6c***)

The difficulty of many of the routes has supplied us with real entertainment, a challenge and also training, but in the grand scheme of things it is the great quality of these unclimbed lines that is the lasting memory I have from this whole experience. I hope in time many of these routes will be repeated and this quality realised and indeed the yet unclimbed quality climbing taken advantage of.

I will be away for a year, so the rest of the routes will have to wait and I kind of hope they remain unclimbed! The remaining projects are mainly harder routes of H7 and above- the two main ones being the Arete to the left of Vulcan (which I was upset at not managing to get done) and the 'mono wall', which will be utterly fantastic when it is completed. There's a great day out at this crag at any grade except for E1&E2, so come and explore one of the most generous crags in the North York Moors!

Dave On 'The Polish Diplomat' (E5 6b*)

'The Chocolate Moose' (E4 6b**)

Dave On 'Howl Psyche' (E7 6b**)

The crag originally had nothing above HVS, which instantly raised mine and Dave's suspicions as to whether there was any potential for new routing at the crag. Development began with two massive onsight lead falls off of what were to become 'The Battle For Tripoli' (E6 6a**) and 'The Hypocrisy of Moose' (H8 6c***). This led to a headpointing tactic being deployed and the creation of 'The Otter Wilderness Route' (E5 6b**) and the Hypocrisy Of Moose- Both on a buttress that had not previously been Climbed.

Dave On The Offwidth 'Stalin' (E3 5b**)

'Die By The (Pork) Sword' (H7 6c**)

Dave On An Established Route- 'Roosevelt' (VS 4c**)

The Future of Danby- The Mono Wall (H9 7aish)

We then abandoned the Crag for a year (loosing our way with alpine flirtations, slate climbing and tintwistle death routes), until I returned and found the endless potential of high quality new routes. None were quite as good as 'The Hypocrisy of Moose', but many were almost there and a few of the remaining unclimbed things are indeed up at that level of quality. Since then we have gradually picked the projects off one by one, until the list of new routes since we started our campaign is somewhat ridiculous:

Routes:

The Otter Wilderness Route (E5 6b**)

The Hypocrisy of Moose (H8 6c***)

The Jungle Drum (E4 6a**)

The Polish Diplomat (E5 6b*)

The Chocolate Moose (E4 6b*)

Howl Psyche (E7 6b**)

The Battle For Tripoli (E6 6a**)

Die By The Sword (H7 6c**)

Stalin (E3 5b**)

Roosevelt Eliminate (HVS 5a)

Bouldering:

Vulcan Bloc Arete (font 6b+**)

Marine Band Traverse (font 7a*)

The Effervescent Pheasant (font 7a***)

Palma Ham (font 6c*)

Sam On The Classic Valiant (HVS 5a***)

Gutted to not get this done- The arete left of Vulcan (E7/8 6c)

Stoupe Brow Exploration

Lunar Landscape

A few photos of some projects at Stoupe Brow today. There's some extraordinary climbing to be done here and I was very pleased to find out that a blunt arete that I had assumed was impossible actually yielded to a reasonable series of moves, albeit sustained and difficult.

The Right Walls

Dooge trying some of the moves on the Blunt rib- will be about E7 7a.

Nice moves with high feet

The rib starts off with an easy pre-amble to get stood on a ledge. From here you lean over and place a small tricam and a blue camalot in the large pocket on the left. These are both pretty good. You get the big pocket with your left hand and step up near it with your left foot. A big rockover allows you to lunge for a nice crimp with your right hand and you end up in quite an unbalanced situation. You then pop up with your left hand to an ok crimp and step through with the outside edge of your right foot on a smeary thing near the pocket.

From here you lob a left foot out to an ok foot hold and then pull like mad on the crimps to jump into a nice finger-locky pocket. You could go direct from here, but I pop out left again with my left hand to a big side pull and lob my right hand into the pocket hold. You can then swing your right foot upto where your right hand just was and then rock over to another good pocket. The climbing gets a little easier now, but somewhat insecure. If you're tall you can rock up with the aid of some not very good holds to get the good crimps and a scary move up to the big top flattys, or if you're small a few more moves out right are needed to gain the same holds.

It's difficult to say where the crux is, but it's safe to say it's hardish climbing from the ledge upto the good crimpy pockets. Perhaps not quite the 'nails testpiece' I've been looking for, but it's a step in the right direction and proper class!