UKC

The film below is three years' worth of footage of some desperate trad climbing in the Peak District. With footage piling up on his hard drive, strong youth Jim Pope decided to use the lockdown wisely and edit Big Balls & Ground Falls.

Brilliant, has a nice retro feel to it as well. And Wimberry really is savage isn't it! There's 3 or 4 pages in the rockfax where pretty much every route is in the black group. 

Watched this last night and it's brilliant!

That's what climbings about  

Heartstopping moment right at the end!

Great watch, really got us sweating just sat here. I just wonder why most of them don't wear helmets? Not having a go, just curious.

GREAT video, thanks a lot

I saw that particular clip a while ago but even knowing that it was coming, it was still amazing. I can't believe he just instinctively one-armed the hold he still had to get himself back on in that position.

I assume/hope the guy off Never Never Land was ok.

Wow brilliant - I really enjoyed this the best climbing film I have seen in a very long time!!

I've always enjoyed a lime with my climbing film too, thought i was the only one!

I jest of course, great film! 

I premiered it live and thought it was brilliant. 

Knowing Pat, that knee must have really hurt if he looked like that.

Strange that.  It used to be all about NOT falling

Al

"*** man, I thought you were off then!"

It's been more than 30 years since I climbed grit. Great video brings memories flooding back. The feel of the rock, the often wicked wind. But I never climbed as hard as these guys, not even in my wildest dreams.

Kudos to these folks, who seem to have no fear!

brilliant video,takes me back 20 years. good to see the young ones (apart from gus) pushing themselves on grit.

How was the guy who fell off End of the affair?

CJ Bolland - The Prophet

choon!

Great.  Love the music as well.

Nice one.  

This is already a classic.  Top work!

Shit hot film. Palms sweating and foot tapping!

More please🤔

Wonderful. Reminds you of the sheer beauty of the place, too.

jcm 

Foot slip on an e9?

Don't worry about it, just one armer that sloper and carry on !!!!

Impressive

Absolutely wicked - basically a climbing rave.  Tons of energy and a raw feeling to it. 

A refreshing change from the often overly-slick content we seem to get a lot of nowadays with climbers wandering around talking about their feelings and their "journey". 

Some good footage and, as others have said, the footage of Jim on Appointment with Death is heart stopping - he must be fiercely strong!

Absolute class film, thanks Jim. Love when you hear Andre's scream out of shot. He was ok though despite decking out

That's a great film. Reminded me of the Beardown Productions film A Gritstone Year. Nice to see loads of climbing. 

In reply to Gaston Rubberpants:

Having read the post in question I didn't take it to be a joke, I just took it - as I'm sure many did - to be a somewhat cynical view of both the film at hand and the climbers within it.

Whether or not that is what you intended is another matter altogether, but that's how it came across - hence the dislikes.

Does this get you inspired for some gritstone headpointing next autumn/winter, or did it do the opposite and completely put you off? 

In reply to Gaston Rubberpants:

I disliked it. It was a sh*t joke. 

I thought the etiquette was add a smiley it's a joke? I'm mortified that it was taken as a snide remark.

It just shows UKC is a dangerous environment and my ignorance knows no bounds. Sorry to anyone who took offence it was not intended that way. I was just contrasting with when I started and the principle was "the leader does not fall" I thought in a jokey manner.  Perhaps I'm getting too old for all this forum communication is proving to be a minefield for me these days.

Al

Hi Al  

Don't worry about it. It's a forum. Sometimes meanings and context come across differently to their intention. Just like conversation to be honest. Forget it. 

No worries, sounds like we're all cleared up anyway now - always good to clarify

If it's any consolation I don't think it's an age thing, it's just that internet thing - there's no nuance. As I've said several times before, if we were all sat in the same pub having exactly the same conversations as we're having here we'd likely have a lot less arguments, but put us all online and we end up with situations like this. 

When it comes to the sentiment you were seeking to explore, it is pretty funny watching the video with the old adage of "the leader does not fall" or "never do a move you can't reverse" in mind. Some of the falls within the film really are unreal: Andre's off End of the Affair (how did he not break his legs) and Dom Bridgewood's off Never Never Land being two of the most shocking (so much so that I'm still shocked a day on from watching it!).

That said, it has brought Gaia back into my mind again and I'm not sure whether this is entirely a good thing or not. Thankfully it's not going to happen this spring and with a bit of luck I'll have forgotten about it by next winter...

Hi Al

I knew you were joking even if you hadn't put the smiley on. I could see how someone might take umbrage if they didn't realise the historical association about not falling off. I'm not of the hemp rope and alpenstock generation but do know how things were back before gear became so good. Maybe it's a generational thing? I'm 60 and got your intention right away. Perhaps more of the dislikers could air their reasons?

Definitely got me fired up. I've never headpointed a grit route. What could possibly go wrong?

It's spoilt the onsight for me. All those classic lines I'll sadly have to forego. Sigh ...

Jim told me about this year. I thought he was joking about the title. Looking forward to the sequel 'Big Bollocks and Ground Wallops'...

Enjoyed that, Jim!

The title is a bit blokey isn't it, although I think there are no women in the entire film (I was doing the washing up whilst watching it so apologies if I missed anyone), so perhaps fitting in that way!

Yeah not because I thought it was inappropriate, it just sounded funny!

That last shot gave me a gasp I've never had from any other climbing film I've ever seen, I don't think there's many people in the world who would've stayed on there. 

Outstanding collection of footage and a great selection of minimal and rolling techno to keep the mood just right. 

That is truly excellent

and oh my word! That foot slip off AwD! 

That's very good point, how come there's no girls in the film? 

I suspect it's a mix of scary grit still being more of a young bloke thing and then obviously a lot of the clips are of Jim himself or the people he climbs with, so if it just happens he doesn't climb with many women then this film makes it 'look' like there are no women doing hard grit, when that might not actually be the case.

Very anecdotally, I climb reasonably regularly on Eastern grit and although there are plenty of women climbing I don't see that many doing harder and hard stuff. Although it's not that common to see men doing hard routes either - hard being things above the E2/Quietus sort of level. I'm sure if you are a good climber (like you Ramon!) and you climb with lots of people at a similar level whenever you go out you see people projecting and onsighting hard routes, but's my impression climbing with people who are climbing around my level, VS/HVS and a bit harder E2-ish.

Awsome footage - love the soundtrack! Proper bangers. 

The footage looks REALLY great but ultimately I couldn't watch it. Music wrecks it for me.

Put something else on? 

Yep. Two people I climb with often are women who climb these sorts of grades but not on scary grit. Different scene. 

The music makes it, Mark. :-P

Friends were introduced in the late 1970s, likewise Wild Country rocks. So by the time you were 20 - if not 18 - there was basically modern gear, other than perhaps sit harnesses. Yes it was more expensive than now, but it did exist. 
 

As a youngster I was much more into caving than climbing although I did both simultaneously. I recall camping in the clough below Brownstones and climbing in Woollies pumps bought in Bolton when I'd have been about 14 or 15. Gear seemed to go through a big evolution in a very short space of time back then. For caving it was from boiler suit and old clothes, home made wetsuits, proper wetsuits and on to furry suits with oversuits in just a few years. I think most cavers now would wear pretty much the same as what was worn back in the mid 80s. The biggest difference now is lighting rigs - apparently everything is LED, no carbide or bulky lead acid in sight. I remember using hawser laid to start with in the mid 70s but very soon moved onto kernmantel. First harness was a waistbelt rapidly replaced by a Whillans. Nuts were a motley collection of anything from actual machine nuts to a few wires and Moac type things on cord. I do remember Friends coming on the scene and buying a few. I used to walk around putting them into cracks and trying to work out how they worked! It almost seemed like magic. Basically, racks are pretty much set from that day to now. The 'essentials' were in position by the late 70s.

Jim's Country & Western collection didn't survive the move up to Sheffield unfortunately.

More seriously, whilst I'll agree it's not to everyone's taste, this style of electronic music is culturally significant within this particular scene, and has been since the Hard Grit days. It would have been odd if it hadn't been included.

Yeah I get that, but all the way through??

Yeah I guess I could just turn the screen off and listen to the music then.

Yeah I did, Limmy's Homemade Show.

Good choice.

The music goes perfectly with footage. I'd never listen to it on its own, but for a gritstone scene video it's absolutely perfect. 

Also its a video that some mates have made, to show to their other mates and anyone else who wants to see it. They can put whatever music they want on it  

After watching it, I did precisely that while working, since there hasn't been a Decomposed Radio release in a while...

Plus, Sheffield climbing and Techno do tend to go hand in hand. :-P

Yep, absolutely and I can comment on it.

Break the stereotypes, man.

That is obviously a matter of taste -I thought it was truly dire!

That is fine and I thought there were some sequences as fine and gripping as pretty much any climbing footage I have seen, but, in an ideal world, they would have made a distilled version for "anyone else", maybe about a third the length, cutting out a lot of nondescript badly backlit stuff to give something at a whole higher level. I must admit that I probably wouldn't have watched to the end if I hadn't read some of the comments on here (I'm glad I did though; in fact I watched the end bit three times!).

Its totally subjective,  isn't it? I hated it - started off at distracting and ramping to downright annoying. Personally I thought some of the footage deserved better. 

I thought the music (though not my taste) went with the style of editing of the film, lots of short scenes quickly going from route to route, keeping the pace up. It certainly added to the tension in the film - of which there was lots.

The bit where his foot slips at the top of AWD - whoa, had to watch that bit again to see how he hadn't come off.

Def Leppard and Joe Cocker must be turning in their graves

Al

I tried to watch the film when it first appeared on here, but gave up after about two minutes because I found the music so excruciating. I then read some of the comments and decided to give it another go - it was worth tolerating for the best bits of film. 

Only one member of Def Leppard has a grave, to my knowledge.

Never liked their style of NWOBHM, Yorkshire produced much better than that (see: Saxon).

I do find the "I couldn't watch it because of the awful music" reaction odd - not just you, various others have said the same. I can't really think of any music that bothers me that much. Are my aesthetic reactions particularly weak in this respect or yours particularly strong?  

I believe it is the one armed drummer from Def Leppard who is about the only famous person to come out of the town I live in just South of Sheffield, but importantly in Derbyshire, but really they were a Sheffield band - which means they are (were?) a Yorkshire band. I'm not trying to defend Def Leppard, as a kid/teenager in the 80s I found all metal pretty ridiculous, and hair-metal in particular, more just point out they were a Yorkshire band. 

Anyway, I thought all the good metal came from Birmingham.

Well I did end up watching it despite the music and I'm glad I did for the two or three absolute gems in there.

These days we get a vast amount of video thrust upon us and there isn't time to watch it all, so we do need filters. I regularly watch the start of things and am almost looking for reasons to bin them - in this case, the music was sufficient excuse. As I said, others' comments later brought me back to it.

Anyone know what the route is 1min 40 sec in?  (Good foot ledge, awkward stand up, pounce and stab into the next break.  A load of pre placed gear on the right, cams I think). It looks great.

Cheers

Beast of Bauston 

To say nothing about The Human League and Heaven 17!

Actually, my initial reaction to the music was to almost stop during the first track (not more annoying twiddle music!) but I persevered and it got better and did add some atmosphere to the footage. I won't be queuing up outside HMV for their latest albums though post-lockdown.

Oh, yeah, I'm not saying they aren't a Yorkshire band, just that they are not a very good Yorkshire band and that Barnsley produced better.

But yes, the best early metal was definitely Brummie.

People's reaction to music is highly personal: if you love music, it reaches deep into the brain. Whether you want classify those differences in aesthetic reactions as 'weak' or 'strong' isn't the point: fact is, they're 'different.'

I can't remember reading a single positive comment from you on here, regardless of subject, and the line you use here about looking for excuses to "bin" things perfectly sums up my impression of your attitude across topics. 

Is it not exhausting to find fault with so much?  

Obviously it's your call but, even if just for a bit of variety, it might be worth trying to flip your "bin it" attitude around and approach things with less judgement.  That might lead you to see the good aspects of things rather than purposefully looking for the bad.  

Robert listens to Coldplay, so you can ignore pretty much anything he says about music

I genuinely find this remark absolutely astonishing. In this very thread I have made some very positive comments. You have either read rather few of my comments or have a sadly negative and selective memory- maybe it is you who only sees the nagative in things!

I'm sorry if what I was asying was so hard for you to understand. Perhaps try reading it again with your brain engaged.

I'm sorry if you personally have no constructively critical faculties.

If you have actually read my posts on this thread you will see that I very much saw the good aspects of this film. I see good aspects of many, many things.

Oh, and by the way, I took the trouble to start a thread only about an hour ago linking to another short film that I thought was wonderful. I hope some others might get as much pleasure from it as I did.

I started climbing in 1982 so had a couple of friends on my rack from early on. But even when I was living in the lake District in the mid 90's and knew quite a few climbers falling off was a very rare occurrence. I got up to leading E3 and think I only fell off 3 times in my first 30 years of climbing, all of these were slips on smooth/sweaty/dirty rock.

It seems with the advent of bouldering mats and for some, an almost sport climbing approach to well protected (or for some even for not very well protected) trad, falling off is not a big thing now.

In my circles and I suspect quite a few others the leader doesn't fall attitude took many years to change despite the major improvements in harnesses, ropes and protection in the 1970s.

My brother-in-law from Leeds told me when we moved to Sheffield, Sheffield people aren't really Yorkshire people, they are Midlanders with pretensions. As a West Midlander myself I see nothing wrong with that but I thought you might be another Leeds person who has it in for Sheffield.  Actually it appears that you're just a big Saxon fan! Lolz 

I'm listening on youtube now because I think I might be just a bit too young to remember them in their prime. Ummm... well, yes, not really my cup of tea, although it wouldn't make switch of a cool climbing movie! 

Come on Robert, going right back to the first ambassadors maybe a decade ago, you do seem to enjoy wearing the grumpy old man jacket, at least at times.

Hi Dan. You could at least take my side against here - you replied to a really positive comment I made about the Huber Brothers Asgard film on here just the other day!

Edit: So Coldplay's another thing about which I am positive 

Yes, of course I take pleasure in being grumpy about that sort of nonsense, but that is completely diffferent to what I am being accused of - never being positive about anything! And in a thread about a film - it's utterly ridiculous!

I saw a few of the NWOBHM bands back in the late 70's including Def Leppard at Belle Vue. They were pretty good then. I think the big hair and posing thing came in a few years later when they upped sticks and went to the States. Never saw Saxon so can't comment on 'Barnsley's Finest' but I did have a couple of their early albums - Strangers in the Night would be quite a good backing track for some of those grit clips? One thing I'll value the NWOBHM for would be saving me from becoming a punk (the thought of all those safety pins ..... ).

Agree with all this. I used to fight like hell to stay on the rock even when pumped to billy-o with a bomber nut just underneath. I hated the thought of losing the onsight and I even carried this over into sport when we started heading to Spain and suchlike. I'd literally bust a vein clinging on. The first time I saw a partner casually sit on a bolt at Pen Trwyn I was truly shocked! Couldn't believe how casual he was about it all.

I've no interest in one of your petty squabbles! There's some great footage in the film and I liked some of the music and I appreciate when someone goes to the time and effort to document and share that with others.

I'd rather look deeper than the usual music bashing..  personally I'm not really entertained by further glorification of hard/dangerous trad unless it brings a good story with it. I just feel this has been done to death already. It just speaks a bit macho as a standalone, but no disrespect meant to the impressive climbers/climbing.

But yes you are sometimes positive!

Just happy to stir then........

I think I agree with all this. I would have ideally preferred the best action (and it was very good indeed) with a bit more context.

Thanks

Yeah this is my point - the leader didn't fall because the gear wasn't good enough, but because the mentality was different. I was living in Leeds in the early 90s and people certainly used to fall off a reasonable amount, tho they were not quite as casual as today.... I think people like the lad I saw recently fifteen feet up Dexterity at Millstone, hanging off his single cam because he couldn't jam, are the unwitting losers in this relaxation about falling (which in general I think is a good thing).

What struck me about this film was that we were actually shown some dangerous falls and near misses on headpoints (though maybe the guy on End of The Affair was onsighting - or was it just a headpoint that went badly wrong?). Is this because other films have refrained from showing the headpoints that go wrong, or has there been a change of mentality so that people are taking more risks and getting on things without being sure reasonable doubt that they are not going to fall (the fact that there do not seem to be many bad accidents suggests this has genaerally been the case). Genuinely interested - I am far removed from this sort of scene and am only going on occasional videos.

Clearly it being much easier to film climbs is going to have some effect but generally I have no idea. Hopefully someone more enlightened can tell us!

I've been wondering the same thing.

Edit: http://andrehedger.blogspot.com/2014/11/flirting-with-danger.html says it was a headpoint.

Both Jim Pope and Andre Hedger are on social media so not impossible to ask them...

Despite RB's astonishment, I (along with 11 others at time of posting) tend to agree with your summation.

There seem to be a lot of people on here who can only see the negatives. They must live pretty sad lives. I'm glad I'm not one of them

The eota footage seemed a dead cert from the start as to what would happen. 

Excellent video, thanks. Sweaty palms here........

Chris

What I like about these videos is how the grit can level the field a little, I suspect most of the climbers have ticked font 8a+ and climbed sport 8a+ but get them on a English 6b frittner, it shows how much having a strong head comes into it. I am not a great climber but have done a few routes that some others haven't, just because they haven't got the head for it rather than lacking the technical skills or strength. 

It was precisely because some of the initial moves looked tentative that I was wondering whether it might have been an on-sight attempt.

(Just to be clear: no 'judgement' from me in any of my comments here! I myself love climbing on the grit; enjoyed the film; and very much hope that no harm came from that fall.)

Are you positive about that