UKC

In this short video from GO Outdoors, Paul Craven from the climbing equipment company Edelrid climbs Quietus E2 5C at Stanage Edge in The Peak District. Paul climbed Quietus several different times on the shoot. We were all blown away by his fluency on this famous trad gritstone classic Quietus. It was great to watch on the day, and we hope that some of that comes across in this short video.

Watch the video: http://www.ukclimbing.com/videos/play.php?i=1655

In reply to UKC Videos: I remeber watching Paul climb Raindogs on that Channel 4 Equinox programme "Fear of Falling". Looked fairly smooth then too.

In reply to Jim Walton:

I was going to say - presumably this is not so much 'Paul Craven from the outdoor equipment company Edelrid' as 'THE Paul Craven'. Not surprising he made Quietus look easy, specially since he has the good sense not to put his hands anywhere near the left-hand crack. Still nice to see, though.

jcm

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

Perhaps that explains why I failed so miserably.

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

Ah, is that it...?! Foxed me completely. Never did like grit.

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

eh??? do you mean the right hand hanging corner crack as his hand is in the left crack at ~38s

In reply to Offwidth:

You might be right, but I don't think it is; I think he's briefly using a hold at the base of the crack. Anyway, the main thing he's not doing is 'jamming out of the horizontal up the cruel twin cracks' as recommended by some joker in one of the old guides, but getting his feet up and laybacking up the right-hand one, which is the procedure I (and many others) recommend. The left-hand crack is rather unaccommodating for jamming in for some reason, whereas the right-hand one is much more amenable.

jcm

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

"he has the good sense not to put his hands anywhere near the left-hand crack"

"I think he's briefly using a hold at the base of the crack"

I love your contributions (seriously! the place would be much less fun without you and such schoolboy errors are rare

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

I still have a scar on the back of my left hand from a desperate attempt, aged 17, to make a jam stick in that left crack. The beta was doled out by none other than Sloper, who we had met the night before in the campsite...

In reply to Offwidth:

PS nil points for preplaced gear and not doing the first half of the route! Paul is a legend though, I remember flicking through my copy of On Peak Rock and struggling to find a route he hadn't done.

In reply to Adam Long:

Always full of advice based on his own peculiarites of style, he sandbagged me once and I never listened again.

In reply to Adam Long:

Posted my thoughts 60 seconds before I hit the reply key.
I cruised this once, dare not try again in case I spoil it.

Paul has been a legend since before I first met him as a shy 15 year old.

This video is beautifully shot!

In reply to Jon Stewart: You failed because you're obviously rubbish at climbing!

In reply to Offwidth:

Only the best jam ever... if it fits.

Mick

In reply to Mick Ward:



Aaaarrr, you have a woman's hand... youtube.com/watch?v=_EfW9znJYjw&

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

There's a rounded boss at the base of the L hand crack, I push down on that while laying off the right, feet on right wall I think.

In reply to faceworker:

I thought that the camerawork really let it down.

In reply to Mick Ward:

Jam! Call that a jam, Mick? I can see most of his hand!

In reply to Mick Ward:

Isn't he using his left hand in the right-hand crack?

jcm

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

I can't see that he touches the left hand crack at any point. He reaches out far left and uses that 'nose' for one move, but well out beyond the crack. .... What an incredibly useful video for anyone wanting to lead Quietus now ...

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: Thanks for all the kind comments. I had climbed Quietus before, by the correct start, possibly 32 years ago? To make the filming easier I chose the unconventional start on this occasion. The gear was placed on lead on the first trip up the route, I climbed it a total of 8 times for the filming and to retrieve the gear I climbed to the lip and down climbed removing the gear! A very pleasant hour on a mega classic route, go and enjoy.

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:


I think there's some confusion because there are three cracks.

In reply to Dave Garnett:

I think you'll find in the end, Dave, that these guys know what they're talking about and that Paul didn't actually climb it right. Hell, it even looks like he tied on with a bowline too... lucky to be alive, I'd say.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Unlike this one. I think I watched this before I tried it.

youtube.com/watch?v=wPhHjOyy770&

Cheers Oli

In reply to UKC Videos: Fantastic ! Paul strolls up that and makes it look so easy that even a total punter like me thinks that he might one day be able to climb it !

In reply to Dave Garnett:


That's it! You've totally done my head in. I remember two cracks. I could handle two cracks. But three? That's far too many.

Mick

In reply to johncoxmysteriously (and jon):


It's getting even more confusing - and Chipper looks confused as well.

Mick

In reply to Jon Stewart: Damn I hoped you hadn't realised it was me! Ian

In reply to Mick Ward:

Ha, great video and thread.

I do it like Chipper, but with the important twist that I, er, don't twist my hand. So, a thumb up jam with the left hand in the middle crack, then right hand to the top, after a bit of an intermediate, that hold by the side of same crack in the bottom rh of the photo. With his longer way round each individual move is probably easier and it's a lovely sequence. Must try it some time.

In reply to John Gillott:

By his longer way round, I mean Paul Craven's longer way round, just to avoid more confusion, though I can imagine that after placing a back jam with his left hand Chipper also embarked on some kind of long way round!

In reply to UKC Videos:

I think this is a realistic assessment of the route by Andy Kirkpatrick to temper the impression given in this thread that Quietus is a path:

"In Paul Nun’s Rock Climbing in the Peak District, Quietus (45ft E2 5b) on High Neb, Stanage, is described thus: A steep groove leads to the overhang. Pull onto the slab and ascend to the overhang. Hand traverse a thin flake to the edge, pull up and finish using parallel cracks.

Sounds great doesn’t it. Well I have to admit that I’ve never climbed Quietus, but my reasons are many and convincing.

First off, unless I’m sitting on a ladder and hammering in tiles I’m just the wrong shape for climbing roofs. To do this you need to have an arm to thigh ratio of about 1.1, where as mine is more like 5.1. I’m not saying that my arms are weak, only that my thighs are enormous (Andy Cave once pointed out that one of my legs was as wide as his waist). This means that no matter how hard I try, unless my legs are involved, my arms just don’t have the gas. I put this down to too much cycling up hills in my teens, and if roofs are your thing then I recommend buying a hand bike as soon as you can, or maybe getting your legs put in plaster for a while.

The upside is that I’m well equipped for standing around watching other people climb roofs, especially Quietus.

My other excuse comes from said standing around and watching people trying to climb said route. It’s always the same, some young gun fresh from a long list of successes on other grit test pieces, psyches himself up for Quietus, knowing he’s strong and brave enough to tackle such a route. He’s an iron man down the wall, and he knows the route was climbed when his Dad was a boy by a man in a woolly hat. So how hard could it be?

He stands at the start puffing himself up with the vengeful rage of youth, about to trump an old man’s glory, replete with enough space age hardware to climb Great Trango, his hands slapping against each other as he banishes the notion that it could ever be better then him.

Fast forward 60 minutes.

The leader now hangs dejected from half a dozen cams, his head bowed, his body deflated, looking like a paratrooper left hanging in a tree. Every one who has stood to watch him has now wandered away with embarrassment. It’ll soon by dark. The belayer asks if he wants to be lowered, but he grumpily says no. He pulls up again. He looks as strong as ever, but as soon as he tries to find the jam and get over the roof, yet again, he deflates and slithers back onto the gear. He shouts that it’s a rubbish route, and that a hold must have broken off, and then after a pause, lowers back to the ground where he sits and picks at his boots for a while.

Usually such climbers go home better men for trying, but the unfortunate few try and nip up the neighbouring HVS Kelly’s Overhang, only to fail on that too. Quietus you see is like the Nose of El Cap; there are primarily two types of climber in the world, those who want to climb it and those who’ve failed to climb it.

Another reason for not trying the route is that steepness just isn’t my bag, and to be honest I’ve never really seen the appeal of roofs, apart from keeping the rain out. Unfortunately steepness seems to be the big thing. Gone are the days of less than vertical waves of slate, run out mountain slabs, and ice fields, now it’s all about upside down feet stacks, footless campusing and figure of fours. The same is true of climbing walls, it’s all about getting pumped and strong rather than getting better and just staying weak like when I was a lad.

I also don’t get as inspired by steep climbers, skinny men and woman who seem to have a clinical Thatcherite approach to climbing, aiming for the longest, steepest, lactic burn possible.

Where’s the beauty at 45 degrees?

To be honest I have a long list of routes I never want to try, both hard and small, and many of them are roofs; climbs such as Ray’s Roof, Separate Reality, Action Directe (well seeing as I’m not doing it, it may as well go on the list).

Quietus is only 30 minutes from my house and if I wanted to, I could go and climb it right now, well try and climb it right now. This of course is the main reason for not trying it, because I think it’s a it’s a beautiful statement by a great climber in a fantastic setting, and I just don’t want to hang there like a big thighed idiot and wish I’d waited."

In reply to lmarenzi:
I got a bit stuck on the lip but (luckily )soon found a sequence that worked for me. Well forgotten now of course.

A few years ago, from a good viewpoint at the top of Kelly's overhang, I watched an accomplished youth in theory climbing several grades below his limit fall off the top of Quietus.

He had this idea that he did not need to reverse any move on a route if it was only E2.

He peddled furiously with both hands on a sloping ledge before , amusingly, disappearing from view.