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Great Britons by Steve McClure
The next generation is definitely here. That was the message in last month's Climb. Looking abroad at sport climbing the numbers are clear indicators. It's obvious that we have made some serious jumps in recent years. Adam Ondra is the new star. One of his recent trips to Kalymnos stood out to me, as in just a few days he'd on-sighted a F8c, a F8c+ and put up a new F9a. The F8c was the 'Ultimate Route' on one of the Petzl Roc Trips, attempted by many wads over a number of days and not even nearly flashed by any.
Only Sharma, Andrada and myself redpointed it, and we were all pretty pleased! The F8c+ I'd redpointed in a couple of mornings, but probably spent the whole of one of them figuring out the boulder problem crux. There was absolutely no chance of me on-sighting this in a million years! On a personal level I can relate to just where Ondra is at the moment, just where the next generation is, and I wonder at where they are going!
It seemed that Britain was lacking in its own next generation. Using such specific sport climbing numbers to gauge success we have barely kept up with the last. I pointed this out, but a closer look at the sport as a whole reveals that British climbing is pretty healthy. We have to look at how we play the game in Britain. Relative to many European countries our sport climbing crags are basically rubbish. We've a few good venues, but nothing like the forcing grounds of Spain and France where the hardest routes and the hardest climbers live.
Los Mallos de Riglos
Speed climbing is a bit stupid isn't it? Doing multiple ascents of a route until you have it totally wired then reclimbing it as fast as you can is extremely contrived. Safety is sacrificed for speed and it is most certainly not good style!
It is however a great way to cover massive vertical distances in minimal time with maximum enjoyment. It presents opportunities to play with techniques and experiment with ideas. Some of these concepts develop into practices that can be applied 'in the real world' i.e. climbing on-sight, on big walls.
Riglos, located in the low foothills of the Pyrenees, is a fantastic playground to explore these ideas, training body and mind in the process. The spectacular 300m high towers are made up of conglomerate rock. An unusual rock type consisting of pebbles of all sizes from marbles to rugby balls glued into the towers by a natural concrete. If it wasn't for all the chalk you would think the entire crag was a teetering pile of choss. I was particularly alarmed when I first saw a picture of the protruding nature of the Riglos rock. What is even more remarkable is the severely overhanging angle of the faces; surely this is nature's house of cards?
Historically Riglos was a hard man's playground. Many of the first ascents were multi-day affairs done with a lot of aid climbing during the 1950s and '60s.
Back then the towers were very loose. Four men died attempting the first ascent of El Puro. Fast forward to the new millennia of easy access by car or train, add the incredibly stable microclimate (300 days of sunshine) plus a unique, enjoyable climbing style and it's easy to see why Riglos has become one of Spain's foremost multi-pitch climbing destinations.
Though at first one tends to pull gingerly on the holds it doesn't take long to realize that decades of traffic have removed almost all of the loose holds within reaching distance of the bolted lines on all the classics. Although you do occasionally see a rucksack sized boulder covered in chalk, with a bolt in it below one of the less popular routes!
The Power Of A Woman
Historically there has always been a handful of bright lights that stand out such as Fliss Butler (the original trad queen, first E6 on-sight), Rachel Farmer (first F8a), Glenda Huxter (first E7 on-sight), Ruth Jenkins (first F8b), Lucy Creamer (E7 and F8a on-sights, F8b+ redpoint), Airlie Anderson (first E7) and Clare Murphy (first Font 8a+). But the depth was missing and without these individuals it always seemed a fragile state of affairs.
Talent emerged in the youth competitions, but few seemed to make the transition to the senior age categories or transfer to rock.
So what happened? We can herald the long awaited arrival of the new band of young talent! Magazine regulars Leah Crane and Katy Whittaker have genuinely made the step from teen competitor to rock warrior. As well as Leah's bouldering successes (up to F7c+) she was tantalising close to winning the Climbing Works International Festival, settling for second place behind the French competition star Maud Ansade. Mina Leslie-Wujastyk came third in the same competition and has bouldered up to Font 8a, but you need to look at the sheer volume to understand her talents: to date she has climbed 13 problems of Font 7c and above. And then there's Katy flying the flag for gritstone headpointing with three E7s under her belt along with a flash of Nosferatu (E5/6).
But hot on their heals are the exciting prospects of Shauna Coxey (age 16), Kitty Wallace (14) and Natalie Berry (17). For Shauna, in a short space of time, has knocked off Raindogs (8a) at Malham, Carnage sit (7c), Alta and Rubis sur l'ongle (both 7b+) all in Font. Kitty climbed Carnage standing (7b+) in Font and impressed many with her smooth ascent of Dani Boy (8a) in Kalymnos last year. And we can't forget about Natalie Berry, outstanding competition superstar. In 2007 the placed 3rd overall in Europe, winning at Kranj.
Gear – Krabs & Belay Devices
In the mid 1990s, not long after the collapse of the Soviet Union (USSR), I was climbing in the Caucasus mountains in Russia. Both the economies, and even state boundaries, across the whole of the USSR had fallen apart and many highly trained and capable people had lost their jobs and were earning at best a meagre living where they could. Sound a bit familiar?
Anyway, with our team we had a local Russian guide called Vadeem. In a previous era he had worked in a university, had a PhD in glaciology and had been to both the North and South Pole, amongst many other things. In many ways he enjoyed his new more modest lifestyle despite the limited work and minimal pay. Like the rest of us he had a passion for the mountains and wild places and enjoyed sharing his enthusiasm with others.
At the end of our trip he became somewhat sad, depressed even.
The reason was that the already pretty inadequate boots that he had were finally falling apart and there was no possibility of getting any others anywhere in the whole of the former Soviet Union at that time.
No boots equalled no work!
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