UKC

NEWS: Richard Waterton Climbs The Kepwick Groove - E8

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 UKC News 23 Oct 2013
Richard Waterton Climbs The Kepwick Groove - E8, 4 kb

After on and off attempts over the past 15 years, Richard Waterton has lead 'The Groove' at Kepwick, finally climbing the North York Moors' most well-known last great problem. He named his new route Gold and gave it the grade of E8 7a.

 "The rock on the crux is inherently a bit sandy so that sometimes, even if you climb it perfectly, then your hands can just slip/ roll off the holds!"



Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=68432
 Chris Shorter 23 Oct 2013
In reply to UKC News:

> "I had a 'look' at the Kepwick groove with Steve Findlay......"

In our case, the "look" was all we had. To misquote Caesar: "we came, we saw, we ran away!

Great acheivement Richard!

Chris
 Wild Country 23 Oct 2013
In reply to UKC News:
Sounds amazing, any more photos?? This one doesn't show it too well...
 UKB Shark 23 Oct 2013
In reply to Richie Patterson, Wild Country:
> (In reply to UKC News)
> Sounds amazing, any more photos?? This one doesn't show it too well...



Looks like he's tied on for a 5c boulder problem at Curbar.
 1poundSOCKS 23 Oct 2013
In reply to UKC News: If you've got children under 5, are you allowed to top-rope the 1st ascent?
 jo banner 23 Oct 2013
In reply to Richie Patterson, Wild Country:
Sorry, but I was also belaying at the time!
 robin mueller 23 Oct 2013
In reply to Richie Patterson, Wild Country:
> (In reply to UKC News)
> Sounds amazing, any more photos?? This one doesn't show it too well...

Video of the left-hand finish. vimeo.com/12985965

 dunnyg 23 Oct 2013
In reply to robin mueller: Who is the french belayer?
 Paul Figg 23 Oct 2013
In reply to UKC News: Great effort Richard, all those late night sessions at Kilnsey paid off. Congratulations to you and Franco for keeping the North York Moors sandstone on the map.
 rjwaterton 24 Oct 2013
In reply to 1poundSOCKS:
Hi - having looked at the earlier thread on UKC forums started by Franco I understand that use of the side runners (which are just a couple of feet to the left of the skyhook placement at roughly the same level) on Gold is a little devisive, however I believe that the way I've led the line is legitimate and responsible (towards the rock, as falls onto the side runners don't damage the route) and is in a style that others might want to repeat the line. The grade of E8 7a reflects both the style and difficulty of the route - it's something like a bouldery Fr8a+, whilst the left-hand exit is only about Fr7b+ with the direct start to the groove (H7 to lead with just the skyhook??), or Fr 7b with the start up the corner as for True. Detailed route descriptions can be found at http://www.climbonline.co.uk/kepwick.htm
The only way to genuinely improve on the style of my ascent of Gold would be to place the skyhook on the lead and then not fall off (which makes a mess of the pocket due to the soft rock!), and as falls are pretty likely and the skyhook is not certain to hold I can't see there being many takers for this option, which as I've previously suggested would be a fairly suicidal E9.
I'd also like to emphasize a previous comment that I've made about taking care of the rock if and when anyone tries the route, i.e. Please be very respectful: in particular the start of 'Gold' has become quite a lot harder 6c as opposed to 6b (only just possible with cunning!) as the shallow dish/ pocket that you reach for whilst standing on the protruding block at the base of the wall partially broke away (a couple of years ago when other parties were trying the line) and eroded (as it's also a key foothold on the route).
If this pocket erodes any more then any future ascents of Gold would have to start up True, which incidentally would be slightly easier but get the same grade of E8 7a, but then the 'side runners' would be exactly on route! Also incidentally the climbing to reach the bottom of the groove by starting up the corner of True isn't completely trivial - it's about english 6a/b as opposed to 6c for the direct.
Finally as regards the 7a technical grade for the crux on Gold, I'd note that it could possibly reduce to 6c for the very tall - I'm 6ft but that's not nearly enough!
Regards,
Richard.
Andy_Fox 24 Oct 2013
In reply to rjwaterton:
Hi Rich,
Good job! Two decades and still truckin'.
Look me up if you're ever passing through Boulder. Hi to Jo too!
 Franco Cookson 24 Oct 2013
In reply to rjwaterton:

It's good to have some french grades for the Groove and interesting that you think the left-hand is so much easier than the right. I always thought that for a lot of people, the left-hand could prove really hard, with that last move being a big one. Haven't been on it for years though, so maybe it's not actually that tough.

The rock quality issue is a real shame. The start was always the crux of the route when we were top roping it, but I hope we didn't contribute to the wear. Perhaps there should be a 'no top-roping' ethic at Kepwick .

You're right about the side-runners too. It must be pretty easy to just traverse leftwards to place them on gold (so they're not really side-runners at all). That will all change if that corner block falls out though.
 Steve Crowe Global Crag Moderator 24 Oct 2013
In reply to UKC News:

More North York Moors news can be found here: http://www.climbonline.co.uk/news.htm
 1poundSOCKS 24 Oct 2013
In reply to rjwaterton: I don't accept your excuse and the route still awaits a first ascent.

Obviously I'm not even slightly serious Richard, it was just nod towards other arguments I've seen about what does and does not constitute a first ascent and potentially comical 'ethics' involving how having children changes the requirements.

Thanks for the response anyway, and good effort.
 j_duds 24 Oct 2013
In reply to UKC News:
is that snow in the bottom right corner of the picture?
 Puppythedog 24 Oct 2013
In reply to UKC News: nice writing from Franco too.

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