UKC

I ordered the current issue of Climb Magazine online exactely one week ago. It has still not arrived. I have emailed them to ask the estimated delivery date, and I have had no reply.

Just wondering if anyone else orders this magazine online ... Are they always this slow?

In reply to A Longleat Boulderer: Have always received a response quickly and they have always been helpful.

Are you sure you used the right address? Have an email address for the publisher?

In reply to A Longleat Boulderer: I renewed my subscription on line, making a credit card payment which appeared to be authorised. I have received no magazines since, and the payment has not been debited to my card.

In reply to John2:

I have recieved a email saying that payment was recieved, and this morning recieved my bank statement which had a payment to climb magazine on it.

I am not normally this uptight about a magazine, but apparently I am mentioned in it and I can't get hold of a copy for the life of me ... grrrrrrr!

In reply to A Longleat Boulderer:

You are, I think. One of four to repeat Bursting the Wave?

In reply to Tyler: Which seems to have been downgraded to 7c+

In reply to Tyler:

Thats right ... I want to see it!!

In reply to Mark Lloyd:

The first two, i.e. Me and James did it at 8a. Ally and Dave did it at 7c+ with a new sequence ...

So yes, it has been downgraded to 7c+ (if you manage to find the very complicated and unobvious sequence, otherwise it is more likely 8a)

In reply to A Longleat Boulderer:


So it's 7c+ then! Anyway, if it appears as 8a in the guide then you're able to take the 8a tick

In reply to A Longleat Boulderer: you cant give a route two grades depending on how you do it.

In reply to Tyler:

It was given 8a in the new guide, and every ascent was 8a until Ally found a new sequence, which he and dave subsequently used. The new sequence is mid to hard 7c+.

So yes, now the route is 7c+. But we all agree any 7c+ climber would be hard pressed to climb it in a session without beta of Ally's sequence. The obvious way (as the first ascenionist used) was a semi-dyno to gain the top. This was the crux and is english 6c. However, ally found a very complicated way to do it statically, which makes the move hard 6b (although it feels 6c after climbing up to it)...

In reply to mark s:

I agree with that, although there are exceptions, especially with bouldering (as this route is virtually a boulder problem) ... Brad Pit at the plantation for example ... The original method is still one of the hardest problems in the peak ...

In reply to A Longleat Boulderer: So its F8a for the onsight? After all I heards thats what French grades graded for...

In reply to Oli:

Lol - ha-de-ha oli!


But ignoring the wind up: I hasn't be onsighted... and i doubt it will be for a long time ... very sequency ... even below the crux. There is nobody down here good enough to do it.

In reply to A Longleat Boulderer:

Whoa! Now I am confused! Every ascent until Ally, who I'm presuming to be the fourth ascentionist, it seems that the grade is just settling in to me.

And it's 7c+ but a 7c+ climber would struggle to climb it?

And the top move is now 6b, but feels 6c, which would make it the same as the original grade?

Very weird indeed!

In reply to andi turner:


This route has had God knows how many ascents (Cheddar 8's are pretty popular) each agreeing with 8a. This was right up until Ally found he pyhsically couldn't do the crux move the way we were doing it, so he he spent ages figuring out a new way to climb the top - I think he would have given up if I didn't keep wanting to go back to the route. Luckily on the day he did the crux, I was filming him, the next session he could not repeat the sequence for love nor money, so he went home to look at the footage of the previous session for the sequence and subsequently did the route with Dave Pickford (who used the same sequence).

Just for the record, I couldnt see how to do it even after watching the video! And for this reason, due to the extreme un-obviousness of the 7c+ sequence, I think it would stop almost all 7c+ climbers in their tracks. They would be try to go direct, this is the most obvious (and looks to be only) way to get to the top, and of course, any fule who has done the route knows, this was the original Pete Oxley method and is 8a. It would take them some considerable time to discover the 7c+ sequence - even then they might not. You really need to try the route before you can understand how hidden the sequence is. It has taken over a decade of ascents to discover.


The top move with Ally's method is 6b in isolation, as the english grading system demands. But after climbing the start of the route, the move feels as if it could easily warrent 6c. Then you rest on the rope and try it again, and it feels piss... However, the direct way of doing the move feels hard whether in isolation or not.

Basically what I'm trying to say is, the route IS 7c+, but the majority (if not all) of future ascentionists are likely to miss the 7c+ sequence and use the original sequence which makes the route a grade harder.

Anyway, what does it matter? It is an awesome route, with a nice long-ish safe fall from the crux right at the top. GO AND GET ON IT!

In reply to A Longleat Boulderer:

I understand, I think! So the four repeats mentioned in Climb aren't the first four repeats, but just another four repeats which have been done.

I was under the impression that you and your mate had done the second and third ascent which would explain the grade being slighly out and the new sequence having not been discovered.

How will it be written up in future guides then? Will it be given 8a but then somewhere mentioned that a trick sequence can bring it down to 7c+, it's probably not a bad idea as some routes, particularly the bouldery ones, are often like this and therefore notoriously dificult to grade.

In reply to andi turner:

F*cking magazine still hasn't come, and Climb arn't answering my emails or phone calls ... I know it's only three pounds fifty, it would be easy to say 'sod it' and buy from the ever brilliant Planetfear, but it's the principle, the fact that Climb have taken my money that is getting to me...

I can't believe I'm getting so wound up about a climbing magazine! It's not like im a regular magazine reader or anything!

In reply to A Longleat Boulderer:
It's not like im a regular magazine reader or anything!

Maybe they know this and this is why they're shunning you

I've ordered a few back issues before (from the number in the mag, I think they come direct from Greenshires the publishers, not the magazine editors) I they came within a few days, I'd try phoning Greenshires. Of course the postal service starts to get a bit back logged this time of year. Happy xmas everyone!

In reply to andi turner:
maybe he shud have been in the new 'GRAVITY' magazine instead- thats a free magazine !!

In reply to A Longleat Boulderer:

it's cheaper to get 'climbing' magazine from the states, if you subscribe, and that arrives on time, same with 'rock & ice'

In reply to A Longleat Boulderer:

Fred, if I paid you three quid fifty to endure a bucket load of stress, would you take the money? Nope. So forget it.

Sorry about the downgrading... if it really is one. My first 7c promptly went down to very, very hard but only 7b+ (well, unless you were female!) And the giddy (for me) heights of 7c+ went down to 7c (even if you were short, had a peg leg, etc). Yours was still a great effort. And you'll climb harder, a lot harder.

Mick