UKC

In Wide boyz, or as it could have been called, A journey into the brutal beauty of offwidth climbing, from Hot Aches Productions, we get to follow Pete Whittaker and Tom Randall, on their quest to fulfill their lifetime dream of freeing the legendary 40 meter off width roof crack of Century crack...

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/review.php?id=5154

In reply to UKC News:

I'm getting a copy for Xmas, can't wait :0)

PS it may be good to get someone to proof read the write up. I know English is the writers second language but it has quite a few errors that make it hard to read in places.

In reply to biscuit:

Yea there are some errors, but if English is your first language how could it be difficult to read?

Every now and then people make petty comments about the quality of Björn Pohl posts, they are hardly horrific and are not puzzling to read! Yawn.

In reply to UKC News:

I'm getting a "doesn't exist in the database" error.

In reply to gabre:

I wasn't being petty, no they are not horrific, but one section in particular was puzzling to read to me. I am not going to get into a detailed discussion about it as i wouldn't like someone to do that to me on a public forum.

I live in Spain so am very aware of learning/using a second language.

I think Bjorn's posts are normally very good for EASL. This one however had a few errors that stood out more than normal.

How long would it take to send a copy to any of the UKC staff who have English as a first language and get them to proof read it ?

It's not a complaint or something that will make me stop reading the articles.

And lastly how will Bjorn improve his English if no one points out any errors ?

In reply to biscuit:

I agree and it's not petty. We all overlook some of Bjorn's more minor "flaws" in English grammar but this review is distractingly off kilter. Again no offence to Bjorn himself.

In reply to UKC News: Reagrding the film, I bought it whilst at the Kendal MFF, I really enjoyed the film but it felt like at least half of the story was missing. There should have been more footage from the other climbs to give more of a sense of journey. I think if I'd seen the film at the festival I wouldn't have bought the film, I buy quite a few films and think Pete and Tom are ace but the film is missing something.

In reply to UKC News:

I'm also an immigrant. In 100 years time, if my French is as good as your English Bjorn I'll be a very happy man. Great review - I had no problems with it.

E

In reply to biscuit:

lovely. perhaps we should get somebody to proof read your posts, too, hmm? :P

In reply to Blue Straggler:

What's off kilter about the review ? I saw the film and this review is a reasonable feflection on what I saw.

In reply to GrahamD:

I meant the quality of Bjorn's English was "off kilter" compared to previous article's he's written. However this is a silly distraction.

I saw WideBoyz in the cinema on Sunday and enjoyed it but I didn't see it as something that one would want to buy and keep (for the record I don't tend to watch many of these sorts of films repeatedly anyway, other than perhaps The Sharp End which I've seen 3 or 4 times).
I also saw Tom Randall give a talk about the offwidth training and trip, last year, which was excellent.
I agree with another poster here that perhaps a bit more about the climbs other than Century Crack might have been nice. I also think, having seen Tom's talk, that just a little more detail on the training "dungeon" could have been good - I know there was plenty, I'm only talking in terms of maybe 10% more on that.
I found it curious that Pamela Pack was not even mentioned, let alone featured, in the film, as Tom was full of praise and admiration for her during his talk (I think he said she was helpful with tips and recommendations too). Maybe that was her choice though.
I didn't think Stevie Haston came out of it well at all, he seemed petulant and bitter. A friend of mine suggested that he may have been playing the "Stevie Haston character" but if so, that's a fool's game. I remember his original blog post at the time, the "I see Century Crack still hasn't had its ascent" one, which I thought a bit childish - could have worded it better. Then even when they do lead it "properly", his "praise" is very very back handed, at least the way it comes across in the film (he seems to be criticising their long runouts, with a subtle implication that HE could have done it if he was "fool" enough to put such long runouts in). So I wondered why he was featured in the film at such length, really.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

In what way? I could spot maybe one word out of place the: (well).

The description of Pete's photo as 'Pete Whittaker in Century crack' may scan poorly because of reader's expectations but is just as easily a play on words ie he is literally in it rather the convention of describing him as on it?

In reply to winhill:

Sorry, when I said "silly distraction" I meant that we shouldn't be picking apart the English, and should be looking at the opinion expressed in the review and the film and discussing those

In reply to UKC News: I agree, this review could have done with some final editing. Win for the author, win for the readers.

In reply to UKC News: I was lucky enough to do one of the Wideboyz crack school days at the Castle and chatted to Tom about the lack of footage of the previous ascents (having seen the short version at Reel Rock). He said quite simply it was because there wasn't anyone there filming them (rather than an editing decision). Simple!

In reply to UKC News: Minor gripe, but to have Belly Full of Bad Berries splashed across the cover of the DVD and then have it bearly feature in the film itself feels almost like mis-selling. I take the point though, that Century Crack is like its ugly cousin. Anyway, that said I went to the premiere at Kendal and bought the DVD, and think what those guys achieved is amazing.

In reply to UKC News: Epic film - one of the best films i've seen so far - could of been longer but i think left wanting more is better than falling asleep halfway through !
My none climbing friends were gripped to the very end ! Normally talking through the film or nodding off is common !!
e,g Psyche 1+2 , The long hope ,moonflower , echo wall e,c,t

In reply to UKC News:
The discount code at the bottom of the article doesn't work for me.

In reply to Alun:

But not you obviously as you don't even use capital letters. ;P

In reply to 'others':

Not what i wanted at all, which is why i had a think about whether i was going to post that opinion. I eventually decided that i will never improve my Spanish if people don't point out my mistakes and i guess the same applies to Bjorn.

It was well intentioned and wasn't in any way a dig at Bjorn, so i fail to see why it gets people so wound up.

Anyway, as others have said lets leave it there i suppose.