UKC

James McHaffie has made a lightening fast repeat of the crux pitch of The Long Hope Route, Hoy, Scotland.

James climbed the headwall pitch after abseiling in to check it out. He successfully climbed it on his third lead attempt...

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=67427

In reply to UKC News:

When's he doing the rest of the route?

In reply to Saor Alba:

Read to the bottom of the article

In reply to UKC News: Nice one Caff!

In reply to UKC News:

Amazing effort, well done to him!

In reply to Tyler:

Thanks, I didn't see that. It would be good to get an article once he has completed the route.

In reply to UKC News: Fantastic effort, but was he just passing by? Just interested as this seems a little unlikely, but then making the huge effort to get all the way up there to try the route but not having time to try the whole route also seems odd?!

Anyway - well done Caff and good luck with the weather gods to try the whole thing in the spring.

In reply to TobyA: But to get to the top pitch you can abb in so it's fairly easy to work? Maybe he thought he wasn't going to go so easily?

In reply to TobyA:

Yes, seems odd, Hoy isn't really on the way to anywhere is it!

In reply to Southern Man:

Maybe we haven't heard about his mega project on Shetland!

Top effort, anyway. What a beast!

In reply to Ramblin dave:


Or the Faeroes?!

In reply to TobyA:


maybe because the top pitch is the "challenging" pitch?

In reply to Pylon King Liberation Front: its more of a challenge if you do the previous pitches. anyhow well done to him, I wish I was strong enough to try such an awesome route.

In reply to TobyA:

Or Foula?

Anyone for the super-steep bit of Nebbifield?

http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/37_Edge/FoulaHigh/FoulaHigh02.jpg

In reply to TobyA:

I'm guessing when he says 'didn't have time' he means 'didn't have time to wait for suitable weather'. Caff and Dan both have dayjobs to get back to, they're not fulltime climbers by any means.

In reply to Adam Long: Which makes it even more impressive. Hope they get another chance with good weather.

In reply to UKC News:

Nice one, (but I think Andy Turner should have also got a mention in the article.)

In reply to UKC News:
Awesome effort. I wonder what the fall was like, I guess there was some decent protection? Some bits looked hideously run out on sandy protection in Dave McLeods video.

In reply to Fraser:

Why?

This was an article about Caff repeating the crux top pitch of LHR. Andy T didn't climb this pitch - he jugged up it on a static rope after Dave Macleod had abbed down and cleaned the line following his own lead.

Not sure it's that relevant to this specific article.

In reply to UKC News:

Fine effort especially with the weather we had on Hoy. Hope we didn't disturb you too much on our return to the bothy early this morning

In reply to UKC News: Whoa, that's bloody impressive! Climbing 7a on a boulder problem 3rd go is good going let alone at the top of some tottering sea cliff!

In reply to Southern Man:

What a cliff! I've heard of that before but thats the first pic i've seen, it's fantastic! have you any other pics/information on it?

In reply to jack_eadie: It's in the related section.

In reply to jack_eadie:

There are two recorded routes in the SMC Northern Highlands North guidebook (an E2 and an E4) which take lines up the highest section of the cliff (not in that photo). There's an entertaining description of the E4 here: http://daveeabrown.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/nebbifield-nose-foula.html

In reply to rosmat:

I didn't realise that, so it's a fair point - thanks for clarifying. However, notwithstanding that, I always believe it takes two to make a successful ascent....unless you're Alex Honnold! (plus, the route is the full route, not just the final crux pitch, so AT contributed to the 'tick'.)

In reply to jack_eadie:

Never been there. As Mark Bull says there's a couple of Dave Turnbull routes (I think) that look a bit mental nearby. Don't think there's anything on this.

After you...

In reply to jack_eadie:


Where have you been the past couple of years?

http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=62956

http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/review.php?id=4253

http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=62760

http://www.ukclimbing.com/videos/play.php?i=842


Chris

In reply to Chris Craggs:

I thought he was asking about Foula? If so there was thhis thread a while back:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=317692

In reply to Tyler:

Oooops, re-reading it I think you are right. I must admit I was a bit surprised that he hadn't heard of the No Hope Route!


Chris

In reply to Chris Craggs:

classic foula vid. well worth rewatching.

vimeo.com/34440652

In reply to UKC News: Great to see the pitch so quickly climbed. How rock climbing progresses! St Johns always rewards those with believe. Now that the top pitch has almost been onsighted, apart from an errant leg, the onsight continuous first ascent is nearing. 7 days, 3 months, 2 years, soon two days or even one. The march of time, belief and athleticism. On St Johns if you believe you can, you will. Just a Firm Hope away.

In reply to UKC News: Cheers for that all. What a place it looks. There must be loads more adventures to be had on Foula for those with the commitment to find them. Fair play to Caff on the Longhope pitch. I just hope he does come back to do the whole route as he says which surely is the complete St Johns Head experience. Look forward to hearing about it!

In reply to UKC News:

Great report from Dan Varian on ukb: http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,10607.msg375307.html#msg37530...

In reply to flaneur:

Cheers for that.

So, linked first try then without any further work succeeded on third lead attempt in nasty gusting winds. What a superb piece of climbing from McHaffie! He has certainly been going very well this year but the relative ease with which this pitch went down is still surprising.

In reply to UKC News:

JM proposed a downgrade from DM's 8b+ to 8a+, I hear.

James Pearson's reaction to that piece of news would be worth hearing....

jcm

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

Scottish VS, I heard

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

http://www.jamesmchaffie.com/caffs-blog.html

E8 7a or 8a+ for that pitch he says. Sounds like a bit of an epic trip all told!

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

You should take Caff's downgrades with a pinch of salt, he declares everything 'piss'. I suspect the truth, if there's such a thing, will be somewhere in the middle.

In reply to jack_eadie:
We've just launched shetlandclimbing.info to try and collate information on climbing up here.
It's obviously a work in progress as it's just been launched, but the Foula page is here: http://shetlandclimbing.info/?trad-crag=the-kame
We have most of the available info on the routes climbed there over the years. =)

Andrew H

In reply to AJM:


This is a great story! Everyone should read. A friend told me a similar experience of jugging up a loose line on El Cap and just going as fast as he could because the exposure made him want to throw up. Epic stuff. well done to the team.