Foundations...

Sent. Micro-bouldering at Malham Cove in the early 90's.

After my brief visit to Preston I came away with the above photograph. Obviously this foray into micro-bouldering, at what is an internationally renowned sport climbing venue, laid the building blocks for what has now become one major obsession.

Good lines, stay safe and see you on the wet stuff...
Iain

University Work

I'm down in Preston at the moment, and have been since Thursday. However, the weather has not been too favourable during my stay, meaning that many of the rock gems that encircle Preston have been out of condition. This has not really been a problem; with one thing and another I've not really had the time to get out on the rock. I arrived on Thursday afternoon, and after an evening in the pub for Ribble Canoe Club's AGM, I didn't surface until 10am the following day. It was raining when I did surface so I headed over to Lytham to make use of the family sewing machine so that I could get some work done on an assignment, which is due in, in a couple of weeks.

I'm guessing your now wondering if I've transferred degrees from a BA (Hons) in Outdoor Leadership to a BA (Hons) in Fashion and Textiles. I have not. Don't worry, but as part of the elective module, Technology in Outdoor Education, we've got to design a new item, or improve an existing item, of outdoor adventure equipment. Hopefully you've deduced from the fact that I need a sewing machine for the assignment I am looking at improving a piece of clothing. To be precise it's a pair of trousers for climbing and today I was out testing the prototype at Craig y Longridge.

Orientating myself with the layout of the problems.

I've visited Craig y Longridge on one previous occasion and on that visit the crag was damp in places. On today's visit it was still damp, but there were enough lines to go at and what made the search for dry problems easier were the little numbers painted onto the rock, which corresponded to the numbers besides the problems in the guidebook. Maybe all bouldering venues should have such a system.

Psyching myself up to make the throw for the top-out on Like a Slug but Sucks (Font 6b).

The damp crag conditions were ideal for testing my prototype; it was very wet and muddy underfoot, which meant that I could see how effective the design concept was.

Getting some university work done in mid-session.

You might be able to work out what the design concept is from the above picture, but basically it combines two solutions for cleaning your climbing shoes - wiping them on a rag of towel; or your trousers - by attaching a patch of towel to the trousers so that you can clean your climbing shoes quickly and easily. The testing was conclusive; the idea has legs! I now just need to perfect the material to wipe your shoes on and make them a bit more aesthetically pleasing and I should be onto a winner.

I quickly dispatched two problems that I had worked during my previous visit and after one spectacular fall and some further testing of my prototype I set about one of Craig y Longridge's many power endurance traverses.

Trying to get some strength back on the Font 6a traverse, Gruts, with a cheeky toe hook.

I managed to get the whole problem wired and commit the moves to memory however I just didn't have enough puff to link it all together. I had to eventually walk away from the crag, with one simple move (matching the finish hold) left to get the tick.

Two moves from the finish of Gruts (Font 6a).

More pictures can be found here.

Good lines, stay safe and see you on the wet stuff...
Iain

Gambling with precipitation... Again

John Gaskin's on Violent New Breed (9a+).

I climb a lot at the Newton Rigg Climbing Centre. The main reason being that the wall is on campus and for this reason it allows me to train in between lecturers and on an evening all for a very reasonable price. I suppose "a very reasonable price" could be read as free as I give my time, free of charge, to manage the wall on a Friday evening. However, on one of the wall's is a poster, with the above picture being the main focus. The route is Violent New Breed (9a+), which is one of the hardest sport routes in the world, and for this reason you'd think it was in some far flung place. However, it isn't. It's down the road at Giggleswick South, which is about seventy miles away from me in Carlisle.

On Thursday I had the urge to get out on the rock and see what this bolt clipping was all about and I thought that as a destination Giggleswick would be one of the best. I'm not sure why I thought this, but I suppose seeing such an iconic route on the wall of my main training venue could be a major driving force behind my choice. All I now had to do was find a belayer/partner for Sunday (I was working on Saturday) and pray that the weather would be reasonable.

From the above picture, I am sure you can deduce that the weather was not favourable. I got as far as Sedbergh before I was thwarted by 'Road Closed' signs and the frozen precipitation. It was obvious that the gamble with the weather forecast had not paid off on this occasion and so I returned to Carlisle and hit the fingerboard instead. I've now got a week off from lectures and with this I am hoping that the weeks training schedule can incorporate a couple of outdoor sessions bouldering, leading or shunting, whilst also tapping countless words out on the keyboard all in the name of academia.

Good lines, stay safe and see you on the wet stuff...
Iain

Juxtaposition

Frozen ropes.

I don't think I have ever had two successive posts that have contrasted so much. It is strange to think that on Saturday I was climbing on dry, sun soaked rock, and two days later I was seven miles away ticking off a snow choked, grade I/II gully.

Crossing a snow slope on the approach to the gully.

Today's climb was part of a practical session run by the University and if I was being honest it was one of the best sessions I've had. We started out from the disused mines besides Glenridding Youth Hostel and beat our way up towards Red Tarn and Catstye Cam before contouring off to the base of Catstye Cam's central gully.

Bouldering on an ice fall at the base of the gully.

Once we were at the base of the gully and the small ice falls, which were near by, had been exhausted we sped off up the gully, running out 60m rope lengths at a time, before bringing our second up, who would then repeat the process until we eventually made it to the summit.

Looking down into the gully.

On the summit of Catstye Cam after a successful ascent of the gully.

Once at the summit we quickly packed the gear away before jogging down to Red Tarn and the tourist path, which follows Red Tarn Beck, back down to the Youth Hostel.

More pictures of the day can be found here.

Good lines, stay safe and see you on the wet stuff...
Iain