UKC

Not heard of this style of ascent before.

After top-roping, climber places crag-length insitu sling on three pebble slab and leads, clipping in with quickdraws at 4 foot intervals.

https://twitter.com/PunterWatchUK/status/694953377650843652

Needs a name ?point

In reply to Owen W-G:

(k)Notpoint

In reply to Owen W-G:

Punterpoint?
Yellowpoint?

In reply to Owen W-G:

? = almost no

In reply to Owen W-G:
What's the point?

Edit - I defer to Mike above!

In reply to Owen W-G:

It's sort of sport climbing without bolting, isn't it?

In reply to Owen W-G:

Their own point?

In reply to Owen W-G:

A 'No Point'?

In reply to Owen W-G:

Trad climbing for Wusses?
Frigging?

Al

In reply to Owen W-G:
On TPS, it's gotta be an E point.

In reply to Owen W-G:

Old fashioned auto belay practising without a silent partner or grigri? I thought you guys were all for the traditional approaches!

By the way, I don´t know what is worse about that punterwatch link, the sheer idiocy or the arrogance.

CB

could say the same thing about the style of accent on your twitter photo

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/539154149385199616/KfxX9fu5.jpeg

In reply to Owen W-G:

What an incredibly boring way to do TPS - the whole character of the route is in the runout to the top!

In reply to Owen W-G:

Johnny dawes did this on the first ascent of windows of perception (E6 7a) after his drill was broken and later put a bolt in the same place!

In reply to Owen W-G:

I used the abbreviation LTR (Led on top-rope) when I used to do this as a lonely, frustrated youngster in the Lancashire quarries back in the 80s, but obviously back then top-roping wasn't illegal.

In reply to Owen W-G:

Zero point

In reply to Owen W-G:

noballs point

In reply to Owen W-G:

Either a 'whatsthepoint' or a 'beigepoint'.

In reply to Owen W-G:

Missing the point?

In reply to Owen W-G:

Someone has commented underneath the pic on Twitter "at least he is getting out there and doing it" - some punter called Ben Moon ......

In reply to Owen W-G:

bluntpoint

In reply to Owen W-G:

Isn't it stupidpoint?

If the climber ascended to a point where his krab was just below his next knot, then fell, the shockload on a 4 foot fall onto non dynamic tape would rip something or someone apart.

In reply to Fredt:

He's leading on a rope - the dynamism is in the rope. Surely no different to falling onto a thread runner?

In reply to Fredt:
No, you're wrong, look again. The super-long sling arrangement effectively just a giant quickdraw hanging down from the top. He's leading on a dynamic rope in the normal fashion and is at no point exposed to a potential fall above a fall factor of approximately bugger all.

Whatever form of ascent it is, it's clean - no harm done to the rock, anyone or anything else. So mildly baffling as it is, if he just wanted to temporarily turn TPS into an easy sport route that's ok by me.

In reply to Owen W-G:

Pointless

In reply to Owen W-G:

Surely it's an enjoyinghimselfpoint? Or am I missing the point in climbing? If someone is having fun and not inconveniencing anyone else in the process, then who are we to judge?

In reply to Otis:


Absolutely - despite what my "grumpy old git" doppelganger may have posted upthread! If it's fun, and harmless, then it has merit.

In reply to Owen W-G:

I have to say for lower-grade stuff like TPS or the lower E graded slab routes at Froggat, do they really need climbing in any other style than lead onsight (or solo for the main slab routes). Physically they aren't hard to most people who have access to indoor walls or modern training equipment, plus sticky rubber.

Good for him at least doing some climbing but I can't help but feel that he and others doing the same thing (toproping easyscary routes) are really missing out on something.

I nearly toproped Downhill Racer in the summer after doing LJS and Great Slab, and I'm happy I didn't as I hopefully will be able to go for the onsight this year if there is some actual decent weather.

In reply to cb294:

what a weird site! Its like the cast of Heathers have got together to write a Climbing Fashion Police site to laugh at the uncool kids from. wtf is the problem with helmets and gear on the outside of rucksacks? People may 1) not have enough room in the rucksac for their helmet OR 2) pick up stuff at the last minute and clip it on or 3) keep their shoes clipped outside the sack coz it helps stop them smelling bad. I thought it was supposed to be all about the climbing, not about whether you dressed and carried your gear the same way as the cool kids.

In reply to cb294:
Another beauty:" WTF?! Who actually keeps the gay carry sack for a harness?"
I dont know about the sexuality of the carry sack, but I'm so glad punterwatch was here to alert me to another Crag Fashion faux pas I wasnt aware of. Perhaps he/she could produce a crag style guide for us, so we can all look like Rad Dudes too? Seasonally updated , obviously, would be social death to be caught following winter grit trends after the limestone season started!

PunterWatch: what a smug, self satisfied display of bell-endery.

In reply to Owen W-G:

Good lad! Looks like he's having fun out climbing. No animals or children were harmed, all good.

In reply to steveriley:

In the beginning, climbers led and/or top-roped routes (supposedly) with a view to leading them, since anything other than leading was somehow not 'proper' climbing.
Some folk then wanted to climb unprotectable or very poorly protectable rock without high risk, and since top-roping was not 'proper' climbing they bolted routes so they could be led.
Some folk, happy with the sport-climbing experience, wanted to recreate something similar on trad routes. They tried top-roping but they were laughed at and ridiculed.
Some then decided that they enjoyed the buzz they got from leading on bolts, so they simulated bolts by using a knotted hanging rope. This satisfied pretty much all of the accusers' concerns over rock damage, while allowing them to enjoy a 'safe' leading experience.
They were still laughed at and ridiculed for not wanting to climb in the 'traditional' way.

If I were one of those such climbers I would be wondering quite what makes onsight leading on trad gear so much more 'right' than any other non-destructive way of climbing, other than because some people seem convinced it's the 'proper' way.

In reply to Owen W-G:

Hat's off to that man for attempting this unusual style on one of the busiest crags in the country, knowing full well that ridicule will subsequently commence. Makes me think how lucky I am to live in Lancashire where I'm free to experiment without fear of retribution, providing I don't damage the rock or tell anyone. Its fair to say though, I'd also have to get up early to have a completely unhindered experience. Without further context I think I'd re-grade the route to something like 5+, and call it an on-sight lead, providing the climber successfully completed his ascent. Sorry for the lack of imagination.

In reply to john arran:


Really though? I've 'honestly' top roped a few slabs at Froggatt, and I've also done a few others on the sly by seconding more talented climbers up them. (I have a vague fuzzy memory that at some point in the dim & distant past, one of those more talented leaders may actually have been you John. :O)

Don't recall ever being laughed at or ridiculed, and wouldn't have taken any notice if I were. It's always just come down to the same couple of questions to ask myself: "Am I going to lead this route some day, and if so do I want that to be the first time I climb it?" -vs- "Given that I'm not up to leading it today, just how badly do I want to climb it today?"

As it happens TPS was one of the routes I 'saved' for an onsight-ish lead and was glad I did - what a buzz! One of the ones I didn't bother to save was Brown's Eliminate, and again made the right call there I think - have seconded it cleanly a couple of times and thoroughly enjoyed it, never did have the psyche to lead it and probably never will.

If he fancied the mildly spicy experience of a well protected lead, I'm not sure why the bloke the OP is sneering at didn't go and do, say, Sunset Crack instead. Or maybe Motorcade with cheeky high side runners in Tody's Wall, or CMC slab with gear galore in Heather Wall. But hey - whatever floats his boat. Maybe he's already done those, or maybe he just has lots of slings and no nuts. ;O)

In reply to Mark Collins:

Well, maybe. Hard to believe sometimes, but a lot of the climbing world has yet to be exposed to the bitchy bullshit and occasional brilliance that is UCK. ;O)

In reply to Owen W-G:

It's a "If you can't climb it properly, go away and grow some balls. Come back when you are readypoint"

In reply to Owen W-G:

What about 'mind your own fking business you arsehole, I'll climb things however I want' point?

or 'stop dick measuring and just have fun on the rock' point?

or 'good on him for having a go' point

etc

In reply to I can eat 50 eggs:





So dry tooling TPS is in then?

;~))

In reply to Owen W-G:

Why doesn't he just top rope it? Seems like an awful lot of faff, unless they like the faff (we all do to some degree) in which case, fair enough, nice day out

In reply to Wood for Trees:

Far too much tolerance for the behaviour on this thread.

UKC has CHANGED.

Or maybe I'm getting old.

In reply to Owen W-G:

I have to admit to clipping a runner onto a nearby ab rope when some nice looking starred route in some out of the way zawn in Cornwall turned into a total nightmare of crumply biscuit rock. I call my style of ascent 'survival'

In reply to Owen W-G:

I bet every one of us on here has at some time frigged a route

In reply to Owen W-G:

Nearly readypoint

In reply to Owen W-G:

A disgrace!

In reply to jshields:

Super super sport

In reply to the power:

I think it looks a right laugh. Those routes on great slab would be great.

In reply to the power:
I think super sport is my favourite style of accent

In reply to Owen W-G:

The only way of getting decent sport climbing in the UK?

In reply to Owen W-G:

keeping himself alive and enjoying himself,presumably while many others were on plastic.

In reply to Owen W-G:

Enjoying climbing.... He's a disgrace...he and his belayer should be lined up against 3PS and shot at dawn.

In reply to JamButty:

whats Dawn ever done to deserve that?

In reply to Owen W-G:

I'm not having a crack at dawn ( )

Perhaps a few stray bullets could create some holds and downgrade it back to HVS!

In reply to Owen W-G:

'twas much easier in the day when it had all its pebbles...you could just crank up on them!