UKC Forums - Clematis, Almscliff

Clematis, Almscliff

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jkarran 05 Aug 2010

So what's the trick?

I've been saving this for years waiting 'till I was going well enough to stand a chance, after a summer of sport I thought I might be but still it shuts me down

Is there a trick to gaining the top break? Using the undercut pinch out left maybe? I put a cam in the best RH handhold (the one your man in the pic is about to place) which does make the reach bigger but didn't feel I could get a hand off to place it anywhere else (way out left). Without that hold I had to eventually resort to a ridiculous egyptian (and several falls), that section alone felt V4/5... nothing like E2 5c, not even accounting for the Almscliff factor.

http://www.ukclimbing.com/images/dbpage.php?id=128766 to jog memories

jk
<still sulky>

Gandalf 05 Aug 2010

In reply to jkarran:
you really should've put a "(Beta)" or something in your title :¬(

OP jkarran 05 Aug 2010

In reply to jkarran:

Why? The first line of the post is "So what's the trick?"... it's clearly a 'beta' thread!

What have you learned from my original post besides I had to resort to silly maneuvers and found it bastard hard at the top... probably meaning I missed a trick. Also, I've not described anything you can't clearly see from the floor.

jk

steve webster 05 Aug 2010

In reply to jkarran:
you might be a bit too far left.i wouldn't worry too much about getting to the top break as the hard bit is getting in it and squirming off left.

OP jkarran 05 Aug 2010

In reply to steve webster:

Ah, just to clarify, that's not me in the pic, it's a random photo off UKC. I had those holds, went up and right from there to the break then up to the top pod (and it's uninspiring runner) then weasled off right (no guidebook and given up in disgust anyway). It's a huge move from those holds to the vertical feature below the top break.

I presume the true line slaps left out of the top pod into the hidden runnel then follows this to the top? Squirming off left looks awful!

jk

steve webster 05 Aug 2010

In reply to jkarran:
i think you use a undercut to reach a bit of a fluting below the top break.going right at the top is way easier than doing the horizontal off width.however the original went left.

OP jkarran 05 Aug 2010

In reply to steve webster:

Interesting, I think I could see the undercut (more of a pinch) and it had obviously been pawed previously but I couldn't make it work for me. I'm hopeless at those over the head/shoulder undercut moves.

I guess I'll do the proper line if I get back on it but as it was I was pumped, concerned about the top gear and not going to get the 'tick' for it either way so weaseling right made sense especially in the absence of a guidebook to confirm the line.

Are you sure the original groveled off along that awful 'shelf'? Both of my guides suggest it follows the runnel up left over the final bulge from the big pod (Nelly Moser tackles the bulge direct).

Thanks,
jk

Hephaestus 05 Aug 2010

In reply to jkarran: There's a big circular pocket with good sidepull/undercut out to the left that allows access to the break. From there different guidebooks recommend different courses of action, but the best is to do as you describe - stand up and step to the left. Direct is also possible, but harder and slightly gritty. Going right via a squirm through the break feels like a cop out.

thebigfriendlymoose 05 Aug 2010

In reply to jkarran:

Sounds familiar - I remember a move using a slopey undercut / side-pull to get to the huge break (where I failed to get a runner in... curse my lack of giant cams). The exit is then a thrutchy grovel leftwards - hard to see what to use as it all bulges in an awkward fashion. The direct is E3 - more delicate slopiness that might be preferable if you have the gear in.

Wiley Coyote2 05 Aug 2010

In reply to thebigfriendlymoose:
A smart man walks straight past it and does Western Front/Wall of Horrors instead! They are terrific while Clematis is just 'orrible

Hephaestus 05 Aug 2010

In reply to Wiley Coyote:

> (In reply to thebigfriendlymoose)
> Clematis is just 'orrible

I don't know about that. Good moves, good gear and you don't have to grovel at all - it's possible to stand up and climb out to the left as well as directly.

pamplemouse 05 Aug 2010

In reply to Wiley Coyote:

But if you have done western front and wall of horrors? From memory, this is quite a spicy E2 but then this is Almscliff

steve webster 06 Aug 2010

In reply to jkarran:
is it not still hvs.with the easy right hand exit it used to be part of a summer evenings soloing circuit.

OP jkarran 06 Aug 2010

In reply to steve webster:

> is it not still hvs.with the easy right hand exit it used to be part of a summer evenings soloing circuit.

Are you taking the p***?

Fair enough if you had it wired and soloed it frequently, in fact I imagine it could be a fair bit easier to solo without gear in the holds but it isn't anything like HVS.
jk

overdrawnboy 06 Aug 2010

In reply to jkarran: Wasn't everything HVS, Virgin, Gypsy, Opus all benchmarks for the grade!

Dave Warburton 06 Aug 2010

In reply to overdrawnboy: that's why yorkshire grit is shite.

Wiley Coyote2 06 Aug 2010

In reply to pamplemouse:

> (In reply to Wiley Coyote)
>
> But if you have done western front and wall of horrors?

Do 'em again of course. They are mega routes. Clematis is just a side show - and bloody hard with it!

steve webster 06 Aug 2010

In reply to jkarran:
it was hvs like birdlime,blackwall elim,z climb elim and the others that overdrawnboy pointed out.as to having it wired i think i soloed it with r/h exit 1/2 dozen times before putting a rope on to do it properly.