UKC

Dutch climber Jorg Verhoeven had a lovely, if slightly blustery, morning climbing a few routes at Craig Bwlch y Moch, Tremadog earlier ths week.

"I climbed One Step in the Clouds (VS), The Weaver (E2), Strawberries (E7) and Cream (E4)."

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=62371

In reply to UKC News:
Great effort. It has always baffled me how a route can be E6/7 in such a prominent position has never(well once maybe twice) have been onsighted, I have mentioned it to one or two top climbers who I have met in the course of organising lectures, and non of them gave me an answer that explained it to me.
Well done Jorg.

In reply to sjc:

The line I've always heard is that there is a move at the end of the crux section which is very hard to read. You have to slap for a hold, but what looks like a hold isn't, and the real hold is much harder to spot. Go for the wrong one and you're off unless you have a LOT still in the tank.

In reply to sjc:

It's true, it's very hard to read the moves out of the top of the crack and they are the sort of sidepully moves that are totally committing and would be desperate to reverse. It's 'only' F7c+ climbing if you have it wired, but it remains a really hard route to on-sight. It's not like it's completely 'safe' either, as it's desperate to get the gear in through the crux section, so actually there's a massive runout - hence the iconic photo of Glowacz 15 feet above his last piece! I don't know why it's given the split grade... I can only think the dark forces of Wesh guidebook writing are at work. It's solid E7!

In reply to Tom Briggs:

There was a spate of hard routes at the time which were clearly harder than the E6 they were given. Beau Geste and Ulysses are other examples. I think it was because these were some of the first routes to be worked repeatedly (either on top-rope or by yoyo) by talented climbers before they were successful, and people at the time didn't appreciate quite how much harder you could climb after working a route well. They're all solid E7 at least for a genuine onsight.

In reply to UKC News: Niiice! heard about this yesterday, and was well interested to see who had crushed it!!

Is there any video footage??

DC

In reply to Duncan Campbell:

2 facts in the report the may be related:

'Although Jorg didn't struggle with the route, it has seen off many good climbers over the years '

'Jorg ... has flashed several F8c routes '

In reply to Ian Patterson:


Err... gulp!

Mick

In reply to UKC News:

This is all very well, but what's he ever done on grit?... Oh, hang on a minute. What's he ever done on grit apart from Paralogism onsight?

Bloody Hell, Stefan Glowacz would have been in for a big old lob if he'd fallen off!

Good effort, sounds like a very difficult onsight

In reply to UKC News:

Nice effort from Jorg however Stefan gets the cool tights award :p

In reply to UKC News: Sorry to throw in a vague chinese whisper but for intrigue's sake....
When I was at Rubicon a couple of years ago I'm sure I overheard a sheffield ol' G talking about his onsight of Strawberries back in the day.... I'm not entirely sure who it is/was but obviously had strong pedigree. This conversation was just after Nico Favesse did it 2nd go or whatever on his welsh trad spree, hence the discussion I think.

In reply to Steve Ramsden: Ooooooh Steve you temptress you! Is that all you have??

Mega inspirational effort from Jorg... got on Cream and got spanked in March but had loads of fun and looking left to Strawberries it looks amazing! definately a route I aspire to try in the future! Wicked how he still appreciated One Step and The Weaver too. The Weaver is ace! Man I wanna go Tremadog!!

Dunc

In reply to UKC News:

Nice to see climbers of that calibre talking about VSs too.

Chris

In reply to Steve Ramsden:

I thought it had been onsighted by Al Murray and Mike Owen but when I checked I was put right. See bottom of the article on the link below

http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=1117

In reply to Morgan Woods:

Morgan, those kecks are quite restrained for the era. Unfortunately, (for me anyway) natty tights did SFA for my onsighting ability (or my cool-ness).

In reply to Chris Ellyatt:

This.

In reply to Kipper-Phil Smith: Al Murray? Pint for the fella, white wine or a fruit based drink for the lady??

In reply to Clauso:

Lol!

I remember the route description in BMC Roaches guide is something like: "blind, slappy, bouldering moves in a position of extreme danger". Does anyone know if anyone else has done Paralogism on sight?

In reply to James B:

Ben Heason, IIRC.

In reply to Peter Walker:

I thought it was Rich Simpson?!

jcm

In reply to johncoxmysteriously: (chuckles)...

In reply to UKC News:
shortly after the first ascent i remember watching a guy trying to repeat it: his particular idiosyncrasy was to park his van as closely as possible to the foot of the route and proceed to climb (or in this case enjoy multiple falls) to the accompaniment of a mahler symphony - i don't remember his name, ring any bells for anyone?

Possibly stirring up a hornets nest here, but it's been 24 years since Stefan Glowacz made the first on sight accent,and now the 2nd has been made by a Dutch climber.

How come a British climber hasn't on-sighted it yet, especially as it's nearly a quarter of a century since Glowacz's accent?

Considering there are Brits operating at E10 etc, it seems a bit strange.

In reply to cdeardley: I think I have heard stories of John Redhead trying it like this...

In reply to UKC News: Num Num onsighted a bowl of strawberries this evening

In reply to UKC News: Nice one Jorg, see you in Arco

In reply to birdie num num:
Was that the 1st?

In reply to iceox:

Out of interest, did you ever do Strawberries?

In reply to Peter Walker:


Minus a rope!

In reply to Southern Man:

You've lost me...?

In reply to sjc:

I think it's because it's right on the edge where anaerobic and aerobic ability meet. I think track runners say something of the sort about the 400m race.