UKC

North Wales-based Jemma Powell has just made the first ascent of a hard new problem at Rhiw Goch in the Conwy Valley.

Jemma has called the problem Arya and graded it 7B+, though feels it may well be harder...

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=68926

In reply to UKC News:

Nice one Jemma!

Nice one Jem! Bit of a soppy article though... :-p Good old Kieran "wise-man" King eh!

In reply to UKC News:

Not to take away from the Jemma's achievement but is this news worthy?! If so, there would be 10's of news articles like this every day, would there not?

(someone had to say it)

In reply to cha1n:

I don't think there are that many women putting up new problems in the 7C ish range - granted there are plenty repeating harder existing line. I may be wrong though.

In reply to cha1n:

live with Raynaud's for a bit and then go out and climb 7c?

In reply to UKC News:
Surely it's not right that a woman should make the news for climbing 7B+ when there are women out there capable of climbing 8B.

Why should the rules be any different for men or women? Aren't we all trying to be equal? When I see stuff like this it feels like a message is being sent to women that it's OK for them to perform at half the level of the top guys and make the news, when they should be thinking that if the guys can do it, so can I.

Same as when women get sponsored for having a pretty face but they're not really that good a climber.

*** I'd like to reiterate that I'm not saying it's not a great achievement. I'm pleased for anyone who climbs something at their limit, I just don't expect it to make the news unless it at a high level ***

In reply to cha1n:

http://i.imgur.com/Hkq3c.gif

In reply to cha1n:

She isn't making the news for climbing 7B+/7C, she's making the news for climbing a 7B+/7C first ascent. This may well be the first ever for a woman in the UK and in any case must be very rare, certainly newsworthy, and hopefully also inspiring to her and other female climbers to push the UK standard even higher.

Well done Jemma!

In reply to john arran:

what John said about what you said

In reply to UKC News:

I'd imagine that a fair few FAs are going up at that grade range around the country though. I know of a handful recently in the Bristol area and that is rare because we don't have much bouldering down here. I don't recall the guys sending their story into UKC though. If they did, do you think these MEN would have made the news?

Might be something for a separate topic though...

In reply to cha1n:
To be honest, how many new new 7b+ problems have any 8b climbing females reported in the last say, five years. I thought so.

There are some amazing achievements going on out there, at a very high standard. This is a pretty fine addition - nice one Gemma.

Also, how many of the top performing female boulderers out there have a child to look after, and a mortgage to pay? Again, I thought so.

Have any of you suffered or are suffering from Raynards? It's a real pain! I have had this for 3 years now, and it's no fun, considering that we like it cold as boulderers.

Get a grip guys, or go and f*ck yourselves.

In reply to UKC News:

Let's imagine I'm a top performing female athlete, would I expect a dedicated report on a 7B+ FA? I think not. Perhaps coupled with a bunch of 8A repeats on a short trip or something.

For the record, I call this a story for a top performing female athlete; http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=68169

I remember watching videos in the past of this woman; youtube.com/watch?v=JPOz0W7wVUs& Four kids, works as a nurse. Boulders V11 and 5.14B routes. Pretty impressive but probably achievable if you train instead of sitting on the sofa watching TV.

FA's are more to do with how much rock is around you than anything else. I was working a boulder problem with some guys in the Madrid area recently, got to the top and they were like "hey, you just did the first ascent" all casual like. They didn't think much of it because they put up FA's on a daily basis because there is rock everywhere.

I'm not going to contribute any more to this thread though as I have nothing against Jemma as a person. I just fail to see how something I could climb in a session or two could be considered as news. Myself who does no training, has been climbing 5 years. Whereas with something like an 8B repeat like Coxey did you can comprehend the work involved in getting to that level. The dedicated training that must be required to perform at that level and that's what makes it news worthy in my opinion.

In reply to cha1n:

Total Turkey

In reply to UKC News: Good effort! interestingly (fir me at least), I suffer from Raynauds. My fingers go white and numb ad per, however I was amazed to discover when I started climbing, The opposite effect to Gemma. My first outdoor trip in near zero temps, found my fingers almost unbearably hot after the first few climbs. How pleased was I?

In reply to cha1n:

Like John said, it is quite possibly the hardest FA by a woman in the UK. I don't think pointing out this fact is unfair. If a country or region had its first 9a put up by a man (or woman), would that not be news? Even though there are now hundreds of 9as around the world. Surely that is a comparable scenario?
Will 'equality' not only be reached by highlighting the breakthroughs and achievements women are making?
It's also worth noting that Arya is most certainly 7C, if not 7C+ and has already seen off a few >8A boulderers.

In reply to Alex Mason:

The news article might have benefited from pointing this out then. I was like others a bit sceptical about whether it was news...these little details means it surely is noteworthy.

FWIW, well done Jemma.

In reply to UKC News:
Well done Jemma. However, this crag is in the Lledr Valley. The Afon Conwy is a few miles away! As it's only about a mile from my house I'll have to go and and have a look.

In reply to UKC News:

It's not about the grade, it's supporting someone who's out there making hard FAs, potentially with the added benefit of inspiring some of the other strong girls to get out there as well. Most FAs are put up by men, I think a hard FA by a woman is definitely news, and good news at that.
Congrats!

In reply to Ramiel:
Interesting that no one has actually mentioned anything about the line, the aesthetics and the actual 'feel good' factor that people get from putting up a first ascent in a beautiful part of the country. That boulder problem looks awesome!

Jemma is definitely not one to court sensationalism of newsflash headlines, and climbing news is not always about in your face epics...

Sometimes it's just nice to hear of a great climber, doing a great line in an unknown area, and (as much as you may dislike it people) enjoying it.

That to me is just as relevant and pleasing as any news...

In reply to Simon:

Well said Simon, and well done Jemma.

In reply to UKC News:

to me its more inspiring to read this bit of news about a problem in the UK, that is a reasonable climbing objective to a mere mortal than to hear about Ondra onsighting some 9a, somewhere I'll never go and never be good enough to have a go at anyway!!