Ethos

A climber is defined by the routes that he has climbed; A truly great line leaves a lasting impression and a truly wild adventure changes 'the being'.

It is because of this that the majority of my climbing is based around the exploration of new routes, new areas and new ways to climb. There is nothing inherently wrong about repeating another's line, or going places where others have already been. But climbing is a race against time; with far more than a lifetime's worth of climbing in the world; and so it's a splendid idea to use every precious minute on the rock to explore new things and perhaps get a sense for where the boundaries of possibility lie.


Working on weaknesses is a grand idea if you're interested in becoming a good all-round climber, but I find it very difficult to do things that feel unnatural to me, and so I often get drawn to the same style of route. These are primarily slabs and ultra-fingery, balancy aretes and walls. With tiny, positive holds you can accurately feel, through your fingertips, just how close to the edge you are and that really heightens my sense of understanding the stone. 


Climbing is the only thing I have found where you combine the magic three things about humans: A bizarrely versatile body, A wonderful mind and outrageously sensitive fingers. The 'finger-thing' in particular is really unique to climbing; with such an amazing 'language' of hand movements and positions, combining totally smoothly with body position- it becomes almost supernatural..


Despite a separation in my mind between climbing and 'sport', I do feel a duty to become stronger, so that in my later years I will not ponder the 'what ifs'. But I look forward to a time when I have explored the 2D world of power and can really focus on what climbing is about for me- the raw movement we can experience without any physical training. This is where the future of climbing lies- not doing pull ups in gyms.

Style
Climbing style is always a popular topic of discussion on internet forums and I used to be a die-hard 'onsight' advocate- partially just to cause arguments. These days I'm a lot less strict with myself about the whole thing. The old polish argument is a trivial point outside of the peak district and in the North York Moors top roping is actually great for keeping routes in good condition.


So the only consideration is yourself and your own ambitions- great! This generally means that I headpoint new routes that look hard (for reasons of self preservation) and leave established routes for future ground up ascents. This approach has worked pretty well so far, allowing ground-up ascents of many moors E5/6s, which have never previously been climbed ground up, and even some new routes climbed ground up. The world of E6 and E7 onsight in the moors is a terrifying one, but one I fear I must soon enter. Climbing Waterton and Dixon classics (the previous hardest routes in the moors) ground up is of course the eventual aim and a noble one I feel- a dream which you can't really comprehend before you have climbed in the Moors. 


I'm very happy with my climbing so far and the best is no doubt still to come!