UKC

Yesterday Mark Rankine made the second ascent of Andy Popp's technical masterpiece Time Regained at Helsby, E8 6c Time Regained (E8 6c)- the hardest route in the Cheshire and Merseyside Sandstone guidebook. Andy's other claim to fame is that he is the only person on UKC to have read (and finished!) Proust's A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu - as the route name implies. More details on Friends of Pex Hill facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/271570429959569/

 

In reply to Pekkie:

Great route and great effort! 

In reply to Pekkie:

Nice one Mark!! 

In reply to Pekkie:

Great climber and nice guy.Even  does a route of mine now and again.

 

     For bouldering connoisseurs,Computer Say No at Froggatt may be of interest.

In reply to Pekkie:

How do you know?!

In reply to Pekkie:

Great to see the grand old crag receiving some attention

In reply to Pekkie:

Great effort Mark - what a route and what a crag too!

I remember once leading a route at Helsby with the cams at half height being the only runners. I then belayed my friend who climbed it on my gear. He gave the cams a gentle tug to test them and the rock around them exploded. You can see why a lot of the locals top rope! 

In reply to thebigfriendlymoose:

Because there was once a discussion about Proust on UKC (I know, but it’s true) when I was trying to be clever and Andy’s knowledge of the book(s) proved to be a lot more encyclopaedic than mine. Or I’m a lying twxt and I made it up. Take your pick.

In reply to Pekkie:

I was not doubting that Andy has read the books, that is evident from his regular contributions to UKB's ongoing books thread.  I was querying how you can be sure that none of the other thousands of folks with UKC profiles have.

In reply to thebigfriendlymoose:

I can’t be sure can I? It was a joke. Best concentrate on Mark’s achievement.

Just the other hardest route at the crag left now. The cover photo!

 

In reply to Pekkie:

If thebigfriendlymoose is plain old Moose on UKB then I'm pretty sure he's read Proust too.

In reply to Andrew Popp:

What? Moose from Llanberis?

In reply to Theo Moore: Actually, the rock and gear placements on the classic, starred, routes are well-tested and reliable. It’s only when you get away from the beaten track that it get’s dodgy. 

 

In reply to Adam Lincoln:

Yuppie's arete. Great pic!    Helsby#photos - second one in.

In reply to Pekkie:

Yeah there's lots of great classic routes there - Flake Crack being the obvious stand-out and with as much gear as you like.

In reply to Pekkie:

Glad you like the pic. The gear does not look inspiring. 2 cams in a crumbly break and a number 2 rock. And the landing is poor....and a long way down. 

In reply to Pekkie:

I’m not so sure Pete. I have seen several climbers take leader falls on Helsby and seen the gear fail on several occaisons including one notable first ascent with Mr Popp.  That’s one of the great characteristics of the crag; technique, a cool head and sound judgement are a pre requisite for a successful lead. It’s not a crag to go gung ho on!

 

In reply to mark hounslea:

Maybe we should grid bolt it to make it a popular mid-grade sport crag?

sorry, couldn’t resist..!

In reply to mark hounslea:

There’s a lot in what you say, Mark. All those incidents you refer to seem to have involved cams. I first went there in about 1976 with my first set of hexcentrics - no cams - and did Flake Crack, Wood’s Climb etc. We thought that it was no different to a gritstone crag. Maybe hexcentrics are safer on sandstone than cams - more metal in contact with the rock?

 

In reply to Pekkie:

Unless the placement is deep in the heavily oxidised black rock I think the rock will fail. When Pete led Yuppies Arête he was mostly climbing sport routes so I think his judgement on the placements on that route was optimistic to say the least!

great effort and I would love to see it get a second ascent

 

In reply to paul mitchell:

is this reply for real? 

In reply to mark hounslea:

Yep, I always thought that Pete Chadwick was a very good climber but a non-bold Bolt-clipper. Then he goes and does a desperately hard trad route with dodgy gear on a historic crag like Helsby. Impressed!

In reply to Pekkie:

Superb work. It's great to see things like this getting repeated. 

In reply to Franco Cookson:

Cover shot for guide waiting for a second ascent once your ankles are better!

In reply to Franco Cookson:

I think it would be right up your street Franco - the route and the crag. Hope the ankles are healing.

In reply to Adam Lincoln:

What is that? Looks like a flipped strapadictomy. 

 

edit: Yuppies arete? Looks cool and very bold! 

In reply to Pekkie:

Good story behind the name too!

In reply to Pekkie:

Whatever happened to the Yuppie?

In reply to slinky wizard:

They took early retirement 5 years ago, are living off their portfolio, ride sportives on their £10K Cervélo, surf and snowboard a bit, gave up climbing in the early 90s.

(I have no idea who the Yuppie in question was, but this answer seems to apply to most of them)

In reply to flaneur:

Er, yuppie stands for ‘young urban professional’. So ‘early retirement’?

In reply to Pekkie:

The yuppie who the route is named after was a very likeable but slightly arrogant chap who arrived on the Merseyside scene in the 8o’s from pastures south. In the days before mats we used a piece of carpet to clean our feet and he refused to use one of our gangs carpet because it ‘looks like it’s come from a Council house’.

he was quite a good climber and attempted his eponymous arête several times on a top rope.

In reply to mark hounslea:

The legendary council house matting incident 

In reply to mark hounslea: Great story, Mark. Now I’m trying to get a name... begins with ‘G’?  Maybe not.

 

In reply to Pekkie:

Let's say our mythical yuppie was in his mid-20s when trying his eponymous arete in the late 80s. He'd now be in his mid 50s. He made a pile of money as fund manager/student property landlord/mobile phone entrepreneur so easily able to retire in his early 50s.

(Any resemblance to real individuals is purely coincidental)

 

Belated congratulations to Mark.

In reply to flaneur: Yes, let’s not forget Mark Rankine, the real hero of this post.

 

In reply to Pekkie:

Well over due, and terrific news. Flipping hard that one. Well done, Mark!

In reply to Pekkie:

Wandered past on a training run, looked at the holds, shook head and ran away in disbelief. Top effort and good to see Helsby getting some (elite) traffic!