UKC

19-year-old GB Ice Climbing Team member Emma Powell has ticked Quick Release at The Works, Hodge Close.

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In reply to UKC News:

From the photo it looks like sombeody's drilled holes in it for the picks to go in?

In reply to UKC News:

Isn't this aid climbing? Pulling on skyhooks gives a similar result (pulling on wires only slightly less-so). Not sure rock can survive the demands we sometimes place on it.

In reply to Shani:

As someone who has climbed Quick Release and has also done a fair bit of aid climbing I can confirm that they are not even remotely similar!

Nice work Emma.

In reply to maybe_si:

Google "skyhook".

In reply to UKC News:

Nice one Emma! Some brutal moves on that.

In reply to UKC News:

My god, women do this as well!!??

In reply to Red Rover:

Yes, the slots are drilled. Most of the axe placements at The Works are, some are enhanced ‘natural’ features (it’s a quarry so nothing is natural I suppose) and there’s also the odd ‘natural’ hold. Most British tooling crags are like that. The only one which is entirely ‘natural’ is White Goods.

In reply to Shani:

I remember people going on about mixed climbing being "yarding about on skyhooks" and aid climbing 20 years ago on UKC. Surely you can come up with something more original?

I can see it's not for everyone, but belittling others' efforts seems a bit sad really - particularly when its a bunch of middle aged men scoffing at a young woman climber.

In reply to Shani:

I got a couple skyhooks you can borrow this weekend so you can give it a bash and show these glorified aid climbers how things are done. I would offer a belay but i really want to witness it from a good vantage point off the portaledge and i'll need my hands to hold the popcorn. Saturday ok with you?

In reply to Shani:

You’re absolutely right. Them tools are quite like skyhooks. The difference between aiding and mixed climbing is that in aid you clip into the hook and use etriers to go higher. In mixed climbing you hang from the ”hooks” with yer hands.
 

Why don’t you have a go and see how easy it is. Remember, only hooks no etriers or daysies. And no resting on them hooks, only allowed to yard on them with yer hand.

In reply to Red Rover:

P.S. not sure why I got those downvotes. I wasn't having a go, I just didn't know that this was done. Not much harm in drilling a few holes in an un-climbable roof in a grotty section of a quarry.

In reply to Shani:

It's basically ice climbing but without the ice 😁, which allows various angles/positions and moves etc that you'd be unlikely to find on ice.

In reply to TobyA:

Gender has nothing to do with it. Nor does age. I don't doubt how technical or demanding it is.

My comment was driven by the use of tools on rock not "belittling others' effort". I thought dry-tooling was only done between the icy bits on a route.

My concern about how we treat rock stands. If we're going to chip holds and use bolts, why not make the routes on artificial walls? 

In reply to Michael Hood:

Thanks for this explanation. I didn't know this.

In reply to Shani:

The rock in dry tooling area In the UK are almost always quarried rock and totally unsuitable for any other style of climbing. Like other have said, have a go or go and watch and then see what you think before criticising.

In reply to Alex Riley:

The non quarried areas, such as south coast chalk cliffs, are in some people's opinion, totally unsuitable for any kind of climbing 😁

In reply to Alex Riley:

Or perhaps ask questions on a forum where i have come across it, to understand a bit more about it, before i go and try it?

In reply to Shani:

Your profile photo - I take it you had skinned up? (and I mean on your skis - to the top of the hill, not the other type!)

In reply to Misha:

I know I'm going to get crucified for this, but can someone explain why this is acceptable for  mixed climbing but not for rock climbing?

In reply to TheGeneralist:

I sympathise with you on that point actually. I guess its really that the cliffs developed for drytooling (note: its not mixed, that's winter climbing and you would never drill placements! At least not in the UK and I don't think often other places although I might be wrong on that) in the UK are so horrible and fally-y-down-y that no one is particularly bothered.

I've (normal) climbed a bit in Masson Lees this summer. The dry-tooling area is pretty awful looking rock - impressive climbing though! - while the normal sports routes are generally OK, at least by the standard of old Peak quarries.

In reply to TobyA:

I think i understand both your reference points here , but to compare apples with apples, clearly as climbers we draw the line on manufacturing holds outdoors, and on points of aid?

Otherwise, can you tell me if Millstone* is in nick yet?

*Joke - i meant Burbage South.

In reply to Shani:

its a fecking dirty quarried hole in the ground, how much more artificial can you get!

In reply to Webster:

Horseshoe?

In reply to Shani:

The main wall at Horseshoe is shimmering sheet of limestone perfection, up there with the Verdon Gorge and the best bits of Pembroke, in comparison to the back wall of Masson Lees!

In reply to TheGeneralist:

that quarry is riddled with boreholes which are used for the tools. The drilled placements are in addition to it. You could try rock climbing it if you bring a shovel to scoop the slime with it beforehand. 

In reply to TobyA:

Indeed. 😁

In reply to UKC News:

Good effort Emma, onto the Guardian now. Or even better Beinn Eighe! Sundance would a good route that would suit you and a great first VIII, 8. 

In reply to UKC News:

A simple very well done to a young climber seems appropriate here.

It seems that a lot of us dont really understand exactly whats involved in this and how hard it is.  Me included.  Maybe expand the article or follow up so readers can get a better gist of whats involved

In reply to Ramon Marin:

I'm not sure how I found Emma's instagram, but I've followed her there (very difficult to say that without it sound quite disturbing! ) for a few years. I was fascinated by how she got into dry tooling - because if I remember correctly she has done very little winter climbing in the UK or ice climbing elsewhere. So if you send her off to slog into Beinn Eighe, you better offer to go and guide her to the route and down from the top. I suspect Emma would do fine on the actual climbing bit, like you suggest!

In reply to UKC News:

Solid effort Emma, its a great route. Relentlessly steep and you look super solid in the video 👌

In reply to TobyA:Emma got into drytooling by coming out with me (her dad) as was the case when she started climbing in general. As far as ice and mixed, she’s been out with me to Rjukan and the Ecrins and 1 trip to the Ben. The problem has always been that she’s concentrated so much on her ice competitions that it’s not left too much time for much else. Hopefully this will change and she can come with me on more trips 😊

In reply to TobyA:

Everything in its own time I guess, took me ages to get into scottish winter, and only done a very few routes so far. She'll find her way, and to be honest, she can do whatever she well pleases as long as she's having fun! Comps seem to be an end on itself nowadays so be it. But only said that because with her training and fitness, she's bound to find some scottish winter routes really fun and straight forward which can further fuel the passion for drytooling. It certainly has with me.

In reply to Ramon Marin:thanks Ramon. Having fun has been our aim from day 1. It’s always been her choice if she wants to compete or not. Some of the best days we’ve had is climbing up some choss pile and sitting having lunch together. Hopefully we can hook up at some point 

In reply to Climber climb:

Hi Phil, just want to put on record that my comments above were in no way intended to be personal - by all accounts Emma's achievements are notable.

My comment was fuelled by ignorance of what dry-tooling is/has evolved in to. I've learned a bit about it on this thread (from Michael Hood's contribution above). All sports diversify as they mature. This is just a branch of ice-climbing I'd not really come across/considered before (and context is lost on social media).

Cheers,

EDIT: None of the downvotes on this thread are mine.

In reply to Shani:

Hey Shani. It’s not a problem. A lot of people don’t know/don’t get dry tooling. It is a niche sport for sure. Originally used as winter training, it’s definitely grown in to a sport in its own rights now. It just means we spend a lot of time in dank, drippy slimy quarries 😂

In reply to UKC News:

Great effort on doing it DTS Emma! 

In reply to Climber climb:

It's tough being a winter climber in England anyway; even in Scotland it's not totally simple. I spent four years in Glasgow as a student trying to get out most winter weekends, but it was only when I moved to Finland after that, that I really got chance to properly learn to climb ice, as opposed to UK mixed. 

Congrats to Emma on this send, it looks nails. I can see from her Instagram that she has trained really hard for it. Kudos!

In reply to TobyA:

Thanks. No the uk isn’t the easiest place for WI at all. I’m hoping to get out and do some more trips and some sport mixed with Emms. Just gotta find time in between her uni degree and the possibility of comps. I’d like to spend more time that way rather than the comps, but whilst she’s enjoying them what can you do lol 

In reply to Shani:

There are only a few dry tooling crags in the country and they're typically chossy, grotty holes which no one would want to free climb (and in many cases it wouldn't be possible anyway). So I don't think anyone really cares how the rock at those crags is treated.

I'd love to have a local wall which allows tooling but almost all the walls don't.

In reply to TheGeneralist:

It's acceptable at some/most dry tooling crags because (1) no one cares about the rock there and (2) the rock is so blank that it wouldn't be possible to climb without the slots. Whereas with rock climbing people do care about the rock and rightly so. Different disciplines, different crags (or at least parts of crags - there are places like Masson Lees where sport routes coexist with tooling routes at the same crag). 

In reply to Qwerty2019:

In terms of how hard it is compared to other forms of climbing, different people will give you different answers as it will depend on their relative strengths and weaknesses. For me, in terms of effort required and difficulty of climbing it's around 7b+. It's probably harder for Emma as she has less reach and there are some long moves, one in particular which is at the limit of my dynamic reach so I've no idea how she does it!

In reply to Misha:

Thanks for that bud

In reply to UKC News: Awesome effort Em!!!!  Well done on pushing your own boundaries and showing us all how it’s done. S xx

In reply to Simon Yearsley:Emms says thanks Si. Hope you guys are all ok