UKC Forums - Hard Bouldering (Gaskins), Hard Grit (Bransby)

Hard Bouldering (Gaskins), Hard Grit (Bransby)

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UKC News 20 Oct 2005

John Gaskins, master boulderer and Alpha Wad, has repeated Malcom Smith's Monk's Life Font 8b+ (V14) at Kyloe in the Woods. Simon Panton reports on ukbouldering.com that, "John had first tried it briefly eight years ago, but to no avail. This time he nailed it in two sessions." Bare in mind that this was a ten year project for Malcom Smith........................

More at:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/

UKB Shark 20 Oct 2005

In reply to UKC News:

'Bare in mind' - I feel a bit like that this morning

Anonymous 20 Oct 2005

In reply to UKC News:

Your Roaches photo is of the wrong roof. Ben's new route is on the same roof as Paralogism, not The Sloth.

Swirly 20 Oct 2005

In reply to UKC News: Good effort by Bransby, I was reading about that roof in the roaches gide the other day which claimed 7a climbing with a serious lack of gear.

MarkM 20 Oct 2005

In reply to UKC News:

Good effort.

I'm sure I read somewhere a while back that John Gaskins was pretty much giving up bouldering at such a level as he was starting a new career...... obviously not!

Mark

Tyler 20 Oct 2005

In reply to Anonymous:

Is it the same route that Neil Bently top roped a few times 4 or 5 years ago, a project that was previously tried by Robin Barker and Seb Grieve?

robin mueller 20 Oct 2005

In reply to UKC News:

> Nota bene: this is a partial summary of Gaskins recent activity.

You missed out perhaps the most impressive line! He climbed the long-standing slab project in Stanworth that Dawes was once interested in, at a hefty V13. It reputedly has sustained 7a/b moves, and has seen off some very able climbers in the past. There was mention of a V11 slab at Trowbarrow as well.

And he's also apparently been pretty busy repeating hard trad with a couple of E8s (Toxic Bilberries and Vortex).

UKB Shark 20 Oct 2005

In reply to Tyler: Robin was close until he pulled a crucial hold off.

Tyler 20 Oct 2005

In reply to Simon Lee:

It is the same one then? NB must have been even closer because I saw him top rope it in a oner a couple of times, I think he was reticent about leading it because it "belonged" to someone else.

Simon Caldwell 20 Oct 2005

In reply to Simon Lee:

> Robin was close until he pulled a crucial hold off.

apparently not that crucial...

UKB Shark 20 Oct 2005

In reply to Simon Caldwell: Crucial for him

andi turner 20 Oct 2005

In reply to UKC News:

Bens line is actually slightly different to the 'scooped overhang project' which had the snappy flakes on it. The scooped wall goes 'up' the roof while bens routes comes 'across' it. Kind of difficult to explain, but easy when you see it.

A great piece of climing, especially considering ther conditions on the day, the midges were swarming and the rock was certainly not perfect!