UKC

Sunday was almost a perfect Gritstone day, the showers retreated, the sky was blue and the temperatures were low. Stanage was packed with punters like myself cruising Diffs and VS's and having a whale of a time. Conditions were also perfect for those operating a little higher up our unique British grading scale.

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

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:
I thought this was going to be an article about Northumberland. You've got the title wrong.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

ha ha, I like the fact that Ben Bransby was going
to use his mum and dog as spotters

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Paul Diffley at Hot Aches has further pics of James Pearson on Promise.

http://hotaches.blogspot.com/

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

This Sunday looks like wall to wall sunshine and cold air for Grit lovers everywhere!
I will however be working, tomorrow I will be day off and the weather is going to be absolute shite!

In reply to A Nidderdale boulderer.:

From James Pearson

Thought you guys might be interested in a bit of info and some of my feelings about the route?

A few years ago I decided I would like put up my own hard grit route. I wanted to climb something that was a great line, had fantastic moves, was technically at another level and also very bold. I racked my brains, asked lots of friends and scoured through guidebooks but nothing seemed right. I realized that if I wanted to stand a good chance doing something really hard then I needed to get stronger and so started to dedicate more of my time to bouldering.
For the last two years I have been pretty much only bouldering and it has made a big difference to my strength and general ability. I first looked at the arête right of superstition about one year ago but it was too hard to contemplate leading, at the start of this season, I got psyched for it once again and I was surprised to find the moves felt a lot easier. I managed to link it in two sections and the process began…

The climbing on The Promise is powerful, technical and very conditions dependant. The landing is very, very poor and the crux comes right at the top. It is a very intense route, you don’t even get chance to chalk. The bottom half is overhanging, with big moves on good holds, the top half is vertical, with crimps, pockets, pebbles and slopers, all of them small and poor. I found it very hard to link in one, falling on the last moves more often than not. The climbing is both physically and mentally harder than Equilibrium E10 7a.

The day of the lead was like most other day on the route in that, on a toprope, I fell off the last move lots and lots. Eventually the sun went down, the conditions improved and everything felt easy on the lead. I even got to make a trade mark sketch!

It feels really good to have it done, for the last month or so this has been a major part of my life and I was begining to doubt if I would get it done. I was planning on bouldering again for the near future but I have definitely got a little of my route psych back and have had a sneaky look at one or two other “last great problems”, time will tell…

http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,6749.20.html

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: Mick you're so hopelessly out of touch, why bother reporting this as news, are you trying for a job in the BBC newsroom?

In reply to Jon Greengrass:

I do get a tad bored of these comments, but I'll give you my pat reply.

We have 25,000+ registered users at UKClimbing.com and over 150,000 different people visit the site each month. Not all are as switched on as some of you keenie newshounds and have the time to troll the web for news. They use UKClimbing.com as their only news source, and as a portal to other sources.

Some reports we get up right away, others not right away. Some are from other sources, some are generated by us, some are sent to us. This is the nature of news in any media. You will see plenty of examples of this on our news page.

We have a tiny staff and we try are best. Our news pages get read by over 50,000 climbers each month so we must be getting something right. They are the most popular climbing news pages in the UK, of any media, print or web.

As you can see, our news page is quite diverse, like our readership.

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

But as always Jon, I appreciate your concern.

Have a lovely evening.

Mick

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Mick,

FWIW as a recent critic I thought your write up was timely enough (2 days after) newsworthy, low on hype and buzzwords, high on fact and content, balanced and interesting.

Best, Simon

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

well said. i'm not online all the time. i can't be arsed trawling through loads of sites for info. if it comes on here a bit later then so what... not really that big an issue surely.

the parthian shot direct line looks absolutely stunning. it's a pity it wasn't filmed although might've been difficult in the dark.
danny.

In reply to Simon Lee:

Thanks Simon, it is worth a lot. I listen to critics and of course take on board good suggestions.

I want to produce the best climbing news service in the UK and I can not do it without your feedback.

I don't live in an ivory tower issuing diktats.

Mick

In reply to DannyC: I thought child's play went straight up to the flake, not up the left arete?

Is the start of the line shown in the linked topo on here, not the bottom section of braille traille direct?

In reply to Oli:
There's an old Paul Mitchell E4 up the arete to the break, isn't there? Also down as CP in the new guide. Bit of a grade discrepancy E4 or E7, eh?

In reply to Jon Read: So am i correct in what i was thinking?

In reply to Oli: From the Peak new route's database on this site:

Child's Play E7 6c Darren Thomas on-sight 13/Aug/95

Essentially a direct start to Parthian Shot. Climb the centre of the face on cruel crimps and an amazing move on a flake to reach a rib then a huge reach or dyno to gain the horizontal break below the initial dyno on Parthian Shot. A very hard route which is a dangerous eliminate.

It looks like you're right. Did the Auzzie's go up the arete for sure?

In reply to Jon Read:

Sounds like they went up the slab - quote from planetfear:


http://planetfear.com/news_detail.asp?n_id=6082

In reply to robin mueller:
they went to the arete. Childs Play went up the slab, via a hard, eliminate move to get to the break. This is probably why there is the confusion about the tec grade as the move to the break on CP is hard (6c) but Lee said he thought the direct start was around 6a

In reply to word:

It says on planetfear that he thought thought it was 6b:

>Ben climbed the 'official' direct start to the route, up Child's Play (E7 6c - though he reckoned 6b).

So is the planetfear report wrong?

In reply to robin mueller:
No, not wrong, because the PF report was from BEN. I said LEE thought it arround 6a.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:


I second these thoughts, it is newsworthy and good to read on here, keep it up. All news is always welcome...

In reply to word: In reply to word:

Fair enough. So just to be clear, Ben and Lee had different opinions on the grade of the direct start, but they both went up the arete, not the slab? (and didn't actually do child's play, but the E4 to the left?)

Whatever the case - Parthian Shot by headtorch - blimey!

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Grit?! God's own rock?! Never seen a mod put a troll up before.

In reply to Mike Hartley:

I first heard "God's Own Rock" from the mouth of the Grit God, Jerry Peel sometime in the 80's at a Yorkshire Grit guidebook meeting in Leeds.

Mick

In reply to graeme jackson: Where's northumberland!

In reply to robin mueller:

Someone earlier said:

This suggests climbing up the wall but joining the arete at some point.
I'll ask Ben next time I see him