UKC

I'm fascinated by John Gaskins - he's climbed some of the hardest problems in the UK and abroad and yet has now 'disappeared', save for Shark's excellent interviews with him. I've only ever seen about three pictures of him climbing anything and he looked outrageously strong. So, what's he done, what has been repeated, and how hard was it deemed to be? Could the recent 9A talk mean that his stuff was ahead of its time and some of it's 8C+ after all?

In reply to Mr Fuller:

(For what it's worth, I tried pulling on to Shadowplay at Kentmere but found it pretty hard work.)

In reply to Mr Fuller:

Shadowplay is the hardest looking thing I've ever seen. Fingertip undercuts and marginal smears on a 30° overhanging rhyolite wall. Burden of Dreams looks like it has holds you could pull on (if strong enough), Shadowplay needs an ability to levitate.

Andy F

In reply to Mr Fuller:

Have you seen his slab at Stanworth in Lancashire. There aren't any holds that I can see. It's not even been given8c, it looks way harder.

In reply to JimHolmes69:

Nope, not seen that. Assume no one's given a serious attempt at repeating it?

In reply to Mr Fuller:
Some very good climbers have tried but couldn't even pull on never mind get to the top. Rumoured to be the hardest slab in the world. But I haven't got a clue about that. But he had or still has the ability to pull on microscopic nothingness. I'll never be good enough, I had a look at it to clean it, but I could see anything to clean! But like I said, it's way to hard for me. It's called Endless Nameless (e7 7b or 8b take your pick).

In reply to Mr Fuller:


Well that seems to be an open question.

In reply to Mr Fuller:

The Hardest route on Grit?

A Moment of Clarity (E10 7a)

In reply to Lemony:


What do you mean by that?

In reply to aln:


Gaskins' ascents have been questioned in the past. My memory is hazy but I though it had been put to bed with sufficient hard evidence to quell the sceptics.

In reply to Mr Fuller:

So what of his stuff has been repeated? I remember Ondra had a look at Violent New Breed and thought better of it, but surely some of his 'easier' 8Bs and stuff must have been done? Did his thing at Almscliff get a repeat?

In reply to Mr Fuller:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item/45974/greg_chapman_repeats_gaskins_v13

Akin to levitation.

In reply to Mr Fuller:
I think the hardest of John Gaskins' problems to have been repeated is 'At the Heart of it All' (8B+) at Woodwell OTR. Sam Davenhall (AKA Blackpool Sam) made the second ascent a few years ago. It's a great looking bit of rock.

In reply to andy farnell:

I think quite a few people (*cough* UKB *cough*) believe that this is not climbable in its current state and that G climbed it when it was vaguely more climbable i.e. pre some form of hold damage. However he still gave it 8C and looking at his 8B+'s I can't really imagine it being much better than it is currently. As much as I love G, he is my training motivation, I do not think he climbed shadowplay as it looks now.

I vaguely also remember him wanting to give it 8B+, before Greg Chapman stepped in and told him the universe would no longer make sense if he did.

In reply to ian caton:


And the sitter is even harder!


Shadowplay is certainly an enigma, it could be way ahead of it's time, but without a confirmation from Gaskins that the problem is unchanged since he did and what holds were used we'll never know which would be a shame. A few qualified people have had a look and declared it impossible.

In reply to AMorris:



I think the only way to move this along a bit is for John to meet up with Dan Varian to go through the moves which I suggested to both of them but didn't happen. John told me he was very willing to do this and Dan too but hardly a priority for either of them I imagine. John was vague in the interview on his sequence but an onsite meet would no doubt provide the visual prompts for him to be more specific on the sequence and identify if holds are gone. If you know Dan then give him a nudge...

In reply to ukb shark:

Yeah I remember the discussion after your interview with him (very enjoyable, by the way). It would be nice to see, but I can't really imagine it happening simply to appease people, that has never really been Johns way. Having said that, it is a significant part of british bouldering history and it would be nice to have some documentation on a potential sequence just incase a passing wad wants to have play on it.

I would not be surprised if some edges have disappeared or degraded in usuability, since that rock has lost bits and pieces in the past (such as the foot on Tornequet resulting in Reinvented being unclimbable). That's just my two pence however, pure conjecture!