A couple of weeks ago Sheffield based photographer/film maker Nick Brown won UKC photo of the week with his excellent shot of Ned Feehally on The Ace (8B) at Stanage.

However Ned, who just had an impressive trip to Switzerland, was not the only climber to tick this hard classic recently...

British bouldering team member Tom Newman has had a good winter on the grit, with highlights being ascents of The Ace (8B) and Voyager (8B) at Burbage.

We spoke to Tom to get some more details of his exploits over the last few months:

"In October I had a day out with Will Atkinson and George Carmichael, I had gone out with the intention of trying Dark Star, a highball 7C+ near Burbage South. Upon arriving at the boulder it was warm but we cracked on anyway, after a bunch of rubbish goes, I surprisingly thrutched my way to the top. At this point we moved onto Burbage South where Will and myself ticked off a classic 7B+ known as The Rib.

Then Will had been talking about The Ace, saying he was close and that he could run laps on the Joker (the stand start). This got me keen. I had tried The Joker briefly four or five years ago with no joy, so I was keen to get back on it.

Will showed me the numbers and I fired it off fourth go. I had one go on The Ace straight after and made it to the last move but then the temperature got higher and my attempts got lower :-/ but my account was now open and I was keen to get back on it.

A few weeks later Richard Sharp and myself went up at night after work. We arrived at the boulder after a warm up. I had one go and got close then had another go and did it, splitting my tip in the process. This boosted my confidence a little I guess, as I then had a good evening session at Burbage West doing classics like Westside Story, Western Eyes and Blazing48's.

Needless to say Voyager soon caught my attention. After four return trips and lots of sore skin from trying Voyager I unexpectedly did it."

VIDEO: Tom Newman - Voyager - 8B

"Before getting stuck into the peak gritstone, I did a few classic's in Yorkshire such as Ben's Groove Sit (7C+) at Caley, Banana Republic and Curious Yellow (7C+) at Ilkley, which all receive lower grades than the stuff I did in the peak but in my personal opinion felt harder and took longer, but I guess that simply highlights how personal climbing can be and how grades sometimes just do not apply that well when you are as gangly as myself .

I'm keen to get abroad but for the mean time work commitments make that challenging, so I'm happy just trying to tick stuff in the UK and get in shape for this year's Boulder World Cup circuit but that's only if I do well in the team selection..."

Nice one Tom, thanks for the info and good luck in the team selection!