UKC

Am I missing something or is this the most spectacularly out-of-condition ascent I've ever seen?

https://twitter.com/seapinkSounds/status/803351682004488192

In reply to Jamie B:

Oh dear, not usually one to judge but that is grim.

In reply to Jamie B:

Oh dear oh dear oh dear oh dear................................................................... ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?

In reply to Jamie B:

Oh dearie, dearie me!!!!

In reply to Jamie B:

... the turf was rock hard, it was so cold....

In reply to Pay Attention:

I bet the rock was rock hard as well.

In reply to Jamie B:

Other than it being foolish to share the photo of this ascent, does it really matter? A scrappy pile of boulders in the arse end of the cairngorms is climbed in less than ideal conditions. Break out the tar and feathers.

In reply to 3leggeddog:

Tar and feathers not required, but massive piss-taking well earned!

In reply to 3leggeddog:


I suppose you could use the tar to stick the feathers to the rock and make it look white...

In reply to 3leggeddog:

Have to agree, no different to climbing stuff with a cosmetic dusting.... at least they are being honest, nice quarry...oh yeah!!! can't believe people do the shortest walkin in the country, to climb on that shit.

In reply to DaveHK:


Not if the feathers are from an out of condition ptarmigan.

In reply to 3leggeddog:


I guess 'nice rock' is subjective, but it doesn't look that bad?

In reply to Jamie B:
I only have a black and white iPad so it looks absolutely fine to me?

In reply to Jamie B:

Must have too much money and not so much sense. Every time my crampons hit rock I think that's another tuppence, plus I prefer all my teetering blocks to be frozen in place before I start levering on them with what is in effect a small crow bar! We can all get on routes that are in less than ideal condition, but normally that's not obvious from the start.

In reply to Robert Durran:

If the ptarmigan are white they are in*.


*the pot.

In reply to davidbeynon:



So do ptarmigan just have to have a wintery appearance to be considered "in"? Or do they have to be harder to catch as well?

In reply to Robert Durran:

I think that they have to be harder to catch.

If they are anything like the arctic hares on Bleaklow they spend thaws strutting around confident that they are invisible while predators home in from a couple of miles away.

In reply to Jamie B:

Yeah OK. I take back everything I said in defence of marginal conditions on the other thread.

In reply to Jamie B:

Holy feck that is desperate. What a couple of fuds

In reply to Robert Durran:
Surely an out of condition ptarmigan is puffin ?

In reply to Jamie B:

there should be a law against climbing pure rock in crampons

In reply to Jamie B:

Surely it would have been easier to climb this minus the metalwork, even if you still carried the stuff up the route strapped to your bag.

In reply to gethin_allen:


I guess that would depend on how verglassed the rock was in places, which is not something you can judge from the picture.

In reply to DundeeDave:

But we do know the conditions and temperatures on the day, and days leading up.

In reply to Jamie B:

As a guy not familiar with technical winter climbing, what is the issue with this picture?

In reply to TheFasting:


There's no indication that it actually was winter

In reply to nufkin:

So it's more like a bragging rights thing?

In reply to gavmac:

Indeed. I was out of Fiacaill Ridge the day before and there was a lot of verglassed rock. Summit temperatures were minus 3 and stayed that way until yesterday. If someone told me Creag Cha-No was covered in slippy verglass and crampons helped on Monday, I would believe them.

In reply to TheFasting:


:0)
No it's about doing the same sport. If the sport is different than a correct choice of venue applies. It is not alright to play golf on a bowling green. They use grass and balls but not in the same way!

Dry-tooling is an accepted sport and should be practiced in dry-tooling crags. All the rest is semantics (was it white...) or non-arguments except when it comes to turf damages (it scratches/ or not). Turf damage is an issue ecologically but that is NOT why most people get annoyed (like me). The issue is that once the turf is gone the route may be either significantly harder (one move wonder) or impossible (completely blank). I stated above I am no ecologist (if I were I would stop travelling places to climb) but I know that turf forms at an astonishingly slow rate (mm per century or some such).

However, you can always brag when you were successful on a route due to really thick rime when everyone else use this as an excuse to bail

In reply to Jamie B:

That is obviously ridiculous. But what saddens me/worries me more is that people now seem to think that "a scrappy pile of boulders in the arse end of the cairngorms" is an acceptable way to talk about our limited, yet beautiful climbing resource/world.

In reply to Heike:

I stand by those comments. Cha no is a modern crag, recently discovered and developed, not because of its magnificent stature and soaring great lines but because it is short and close to the car park making it ideal for instructors to take their charges too.

In Yorkshire terms, if shelterstone is malham then cha no is giggleswick.

In reply to 3leggeddog:

In many ways that it is a short walk, well used,good for beginners is a reason to try and keep it from being trashed.
Personally I think it's a great place, let's you do a half day, climb in appalling weather and generally be relaxed.
Not all winter days need involve mega walks and total commitment.

In reply to 3leggeddog:


Giggleswick is a nice crag.

In reply to Jamie B:

You know me. I'm a nice relaxed friendly laid back calm sort of girl. I don't get judgemental about marginal-conditions antics or join in black-crag flame-wars.

But just for once I'll break my rule and say: FFS. If it looks like that and you want to climb it, fine, but put the axes and crampons away first.

In reply to Robert Durran:

Somebody needs to get out more, says the bloke behind the keyboard.

In reply to TheFasting:
Winter climbing is like Mornington Cresent. Whichever rule variant you use has an impact on how the game will pan out. These guys are using the 2014 White Goods variation. This variant of the rules has yet to be ratified by the UIAA and as such will mean their ascent will almost certainly cost them a deduction of 73 points. Had they played it cool, waited for conditions that would justify use of Robin
Smith's 1959 variant (abridged), they would almost certainly have won 100 points and perhaps more had they seen a Golden Eagle that day.

In reply to Heike:


I agree Heike, and I would go further - I wish people would stop wrecking and scratching to death classic Lakeland Summer rock climbs and finding aggressive excuses for doing so.

I fear however that particular battle is well and truly lost.