The boys in beris decided that although I hadn’t slept and had had an epic drive back, what I needed was to go straight down the Lleyn, with beer, and do a bit of soloing! Gotta love Llanberis!

The soloing didn’t go too well, so after a few ups and downs, snapping holds and generally thinking a 50ft fall on to rocks wasn’t looking great, I reversed the large roof and led a pleasant E2 instead, trying to remember how to trad climb as I went.

Here is a photo of ‘Sam the sexy log man’ on a nice looking E3 from that day.

Sam the sexy log man on some pile of choss. What a punter.

I am psyching up for a big lead on the Lleyn though, as it has now been almost a year since I hung up my choss hat. The time has come to put that hat firmly back on! Bring on the looseness. I’ll post up here if I ever man up enough to get something done.

But anyway: the Arco rockmaster was great. Super hot, great for getting sun burnt, not so great for the competitors. I managed to climb only a couple of routes, as I was very busy at the competition and also on the jury for the Rockmaster awards, but still I was happy with my climbing performance, being able to flash 7c in VERY sweaty conditions without too much bother. I also climbed a great multipitch route too.

A few photos from the rockmaster are below. I put a report on UKC with general photos, so here are a few of people I was with on the trip.

Dave Pickford in Arco - Climb Magazine

Niall Grimes in Arco - mainly for the pizza and beer!

Alex Messenger from Summit magazine

Sarah from Klettern.de

Ralph from Klettern Magazine

News from Wales is: A certain someone has been trying the Indian Face again. Pete ticked another 8c at LPT (UKC News), I’ve had another look at Gribin Wall climb in Ogwen. Scary. Caff has been onsighting everything as usual. Caff did (and I almost did) Cobalt Dream, which was well cool – the E4 (ha ha ha) offwidth roof crack in Ogwen. Chris just did his funky roof project at Llandulas and Nick Bulllock has been up at Gallt yr Ogof trying my unrepeated route Aftershock, which he thinks might be full value at E6…

Also loads of people have been making the most of the amazing weather and many fine ascents have been made.

So some photos in vague chronological order:

The apple boulder - an outdoor bouldering wall in Stuttgart - here I'm working whilst Sarah trains.

A flying visit to the Lakes was pretty awesome - Here I am on Hueco Crack SS at St Bees - Finger ok - I can climb again! Woo!

Glorious evenings have been had out in the Llanberis Pass, here I am failing on The Big Smile V9/10 - feeling pretty weak coming back from injury - but loving it still - what a view!

Tom Leppart, master of Ogwen, beneath Cobalt Dream. Caff is belaying me, big Tim took the photo - what a roof crack!! Awful! Amazing to see Tom up there, who made the first ascent of loads of hard routes in the valley, most of which have had large upgrades...

Me getting stuck in to Cobalt Dream, a route that induces fits of swearing!

Big Tim shows us what is needed for Cobalt Dream - huge nuts!

Jimmy Big Guns crushed Lord! Go Jim!

Right – that’s it – loads of stuff going on, but not enough time to write about it all! I’ll hopefully get to post some picks of the finished slate route soon.

I was actually looking to see how well we have covered ‘Setting up a belay’ – as this is pretty vital for many climbers in the UK and is something that I think should be fairly prominent on that part of the website.

I found we had this article from Libby Peter, but I also think we should perhaps have a more in depth piece on this belay set up.

Anyway, I also stumbled across this article from 2003 by Charles Arthur: 100 things you learn from experience.

And whilst I didn’t learn anything from the article, the title got me thinking; ‘actually, I know a hell of a lot more about climbing now than I did when I first started’. But can I point out exactly what these things are?

I have tried to think of a few, but it isn’t easy. So here are some things that I have learnt over time.

Trad climbing:

• Some hard ‘trad’ routes are easier than some ‘easy’ trad routes. Some routes are just way more ‘climbable’ than others and this often has nothing to do with grade.
• Well travelled, clean, chalked trad routes can feel much easier than seldom climbed routes of the same grade.
• Seating in your wires with a stiff tug can save your life. Especially if you use short, stiff quickdraws that can lead to your wires being lifted out by the rope.
• Long, floppy quickdraws are usually best (see previous point).
• Double ropes are basically twice as good as single ropes – in almost every circumstance. Use doubles. If you can’t belay with double ropes, then learn. If you can’t learn – trad climbing isn’t for you.
• E3 climbers can usually climb E7 if they try.
• Crack climbing seems to get easier the older you get.
• There is a massive difference between routes on which you can die and routes on which you just get a bit scared. This becomes more apparent when you reach 25.

Sport climbing:

• Short, stiff quickdraws are best.
• But take a few long ones so you can extend key bolts to avoid rope drag.
• It’s harder than trad climbing.
• It becomes ever more appealing as you approach 30 years old.
• 4 days on a route isn’t very long.
• Falling off can still feel scary, but you can also ‘redpoint’ falls. The more times you fall from a route the less scary it becomes.
• I don’t really see much difference between steep trad climbing on reasonable gear and sport climbing.

General climbing:

• Footholds don’t have to look like they are going to work to actually work.
• Sometimes you need to pull harder/squeeze harder/push harder then it feels like you need to, to be able to do a move. This is hard to explain, but for example, don’t just stand on the hold, shove down on it hard with your leg muscles.
• Climbing well is often about your mindset. This can be massively affected by the people you climb with. Choose them carefully.
• Conditions really do make a huge difference, adding several grades if they are bad.
• Finger skin makes a huge difference – just like conditions.

Big wall / Alpine climbing:

• Yes it might be 5 grades below your hardest send on <insert name of local 12m high crag here>, but after 12 hours in the boiling sun with skinned fingers and feet that are on fire, it might feel quite tricky. See note in general climbing about conditions.
• ‘Leading in blocks’ doesn’t really do anything.
• Climbing fast is all about mindset. “Just climb faster”. Maintain that feeling (like the one when you are trying to drive to work but know you are late) whilst you are climbing, and keep that feeling going until the belay is set up and your second is climbing. Then relax, because in 10mins you will have to do it all again.
• If you want to free climb hard on big walls, then look after your feet. It has taken me many trips to get a shoes system that works for me, but I have cracked it:

Firstly I take a pair of approach shoes I can climb in, and I use them for approaches, any scrambling, easy pitches and some wide cracks. I also take 3 pairs of fairly stiff shoes on the trip.

One pair I take is my usual UK ‘hard routes’ pair – tight and for general hard climbing ( I have an even smaller pair for slate etc – but would never consider them for big walls!). I never wear these ‘hard routes’ shoes all day on big walls, but they come in for bouldering/sport days or very occasional crux stuff on big walls.

Next is my ‘big trad’ size, which is half a size bigger than my UK ‘sport routes’ size. These usually turn in to my ‘hard big free routes’ shoes and can be paired up with the approach shoes pretty well. It is important that they are stiff and not too old. As they are a bit bigger than I usually climb hard in, I really appreciate the extra stiffness and support. If I’m on a really hard route, with pitches that perhaps I think I might need to redpoint, then I carry my smaller ‘hard routes’ shoes on my harness.

I then take another pair that is half a size bigger again. I always stick with exactly the same model of shoe, but just in different sizes. These largest sized shoes feel too big for anything in the UK, but are great for really long routes with easier climbing. Or I just climb in approach shoes.

Right now I use Evolv Pontas Lace-Ups in a UK 9, 9.5 and 10

• Carry a headtorch. No, I don’t care what you have just said. Carry a headtorch.

Here’s a few photos. I’m on the classic 7+ of Photoface and Sarah is on a classic 7- crack at Nonnenfels which I have forgotten the name of, but it is a must.

Anyway – it’s a great spot and the restaurant, farm shop, campsite  Barenbrunnerhof is an ideal base.

There are a few that get paid to attend tradeshows or events, but this is obviously different. I get paid to attend tradeshows and events by UKClimbing.com. But I’m not ‘sponsored’ by them!

There are a lot of climbers in the UK who receive equipment support – ie. free gear.

What am I getting at?

Harking back to Adam Long’s Local Hero piece on UKC (see my earlier blog and the original article), I find it strange that some climbers differentiate so strongly between climbers who are ‘sponsored’ and climbers who are not.

Such as this:

“You know, the climber who quietly onsights E6s every time they go out, but isn’t bothered about lowering their ethics to headpoint the big numbers and court the media and the sponsors.”

From Adam’s article.

Or this:

by – kevin stephens on – 07:32 Fri

In reply to UKC News: I and many others haven’t bought Climber for year. It’s content has been limited to articles for beginners and sychophantic articles about sponsered heroes with nothing of interest for vast majority of dedicated climbers leading real lives

Now I respect everyone’s right to slag off the climbing media – of course – and I can see how an overdose of ‘sponsored hero’ might be too much, but is there any difference between a climber who gets three pairs of free shoes per year and a climber who does not?

I spoke to Nick Bullock, a sponsored hero,  someone who “struggles with being sponsored” ethically, but he doesn’t  know why, “it’s just a British thing isn’t it”. I guess he doesn’t want his very pure climbing tinted by commercialism? Unless he gets a free camera of course!

However Nick also said that if a company gave him three free pairs of shoes per year, then he wouldn’t say he was sponsored by them.

Pete Robins is sponsored by 5.10. He receives, I believe, 3 free pairs of shoes per year. He has been on the front of two major DVD’s in the last couple of years, playing a starring role. He has graced the cover of several guidebooks and magazines, and top of the pile, he’s been on UKC of course. So he’s a top climber and he’s ‘in the media’. He’d buy 5.10 shoes anyway, so I’d guess he’s quite pleased with his saving of about £220 a year and more than happy to say he is sponsored by 5.10 if they want some extra coverage. (See this UKC news item)

But it only costs 5.10 probably about £60 in reality to give him those shoes. Great value for them.

I personally have no problem with any of this, and I have a similar deal with Evolv’s distributor Beyond Hope. It is great for me, and I should think it works out for them too. It’s a business deal between the climber and their sponsor.

So where do expedition grants come in?

Recently I have seen that the MCof S have been awarding ‘grant money’ to young rock climbers (see the base of this UKC News). THIS IS GREAT! Traditionally these type of grants have gone to people walking up snowslopes in Greenland, or something… and always to the same people every year…

Anyway, it just struck me that if a climber gets a grant of £1000, which is a pretty usual amount (I have applied for a few of these, but never succeeded in getting one), then that equals 5 years of shoe sponsorship deals (if you count shop price) or 10 years if you count cost price!

So, that’s my point really. A few free pairs of shoes, or a grant cheque. Which is more tainted by commercialism? The MCofS/BMC/whoever want members. A shoe company wants to sell shoes. Climbing would be in a poor state of affairs without the BMC/MCofS you say. Well, it would be without rock shoes too!!

Right – better go photograph some crags!

(By the way – loads of Ondra stuff coming up at UKC – watch this space).

It’s a Trad vs Sport style debate and actually has a bit of substance. One particular post that struck a chord was this one:

Posted by – RupertD  on – 18:50 Wed:

“The point is, surely, that in the E grade system difficulty is traded off against boldness. E7 can be 8a and safe, or 7a+ and bold. The question is whether that trade off actually works in practice, does the boldness of a 7a+ E7 make it as hard as an 8a E7 to onsight? Some people feel that boldness is over-rewarded grade-wise, especially at the top end. Rhapsody is a case in point. If well protected 8c/+ is E9 then Rhapsody goes from E9 to E11 simply by virtue of falling onto 2 small wires (that have held numerous falls), rather than onto a bolt. The fall length is irrelevant as you don’t hit the deck and sport routes can have falls just as big if you skip clips.

Looking at it another way if we assume the “E9 = bolted 8c+” and “E11= bolted 9a+” equivalences are correct, if you can climb 8c+/E9, which is the easier way to get to E11/9a+? a) train like a bastard for 5 years so you can climb a 9a+, or b) simply climb an a 8c/+ above a small wire (that in reality is very unlikely to snap) and get E11?”

I have to say that I think I agree with this post entirely and it is right on the money.

BUT: I personally believe that real ‘Death Routes’ are worthy of their high E Grades (Indian Face – the clichéd example) when climbed onsight.

And also really safe but really hard routes are worthy of their high E grades, obviously, because they’re really bloody hard.

Onsighting F7b+ on really blind, green rock with technical smeary moves that are all sloping the wrong way in a death position is HARD.

Onsighting F8b+ in a really safe position is HARD.

Onsighting F8a with some long falls but actually in a safe but scary position is MUCH EASIER.

The three are virtually incomparable, yet could all merit E9. Plus of course Hubble was originally graded E9 7b (remember E grades were used for bolt routes) and that is F8c+.

What’s my point?

My point is that I think it is the ‘inbetweeners’ that are soft touches. They’re a bit run out so you get extra E points, but in reality they are “totally safe” to quote James McHaffie and therefore confuse Jens Larsen.

Routes like Rhapsody, which are really hard, but very sporty in style, climbed on redpoint and have a steep fall out zone, are really like a run-out version of sport climbing, but on trad gear. They offer a tough psychological challenge for sure, and are super hard and impressive routes, but are very difficult to compare with a ‘full rack, total onsight shuffle’ of a big multipitch E6 somewhere like Strone Ulladale. They are however more easily compared in terms of difficulty to a steep sport route.

That doesn’t mean they are under graded or over graded or wrongly graded, it just re-enforces the fact that the E grade is a broad grade and doesn’t just cover one style of climbing.

It’s worth noting here that “Totally Safe” means different things to different climbers, and certain climbers in Britain are remarkably bold (as are climbers from elsewhere).

For instance I recently went to the Pfalz to climb Magnet Finger, and was told by a climber the night before to be careful because it is ‘really dangerous’. It was in fact a normal sport route, but you could theoretically deck out if you screwed up the third clip and pulled through loads of rope and fell and had a slow belayer.

She said it was “really dangerous”, and she was giving her honest opinion. I would have described it, quite honestly if someone had asked me as “totally safe”.

That isn’t to say I’m tough and she’s not, which is clearly not the case, I am just trying to highlight the fact that two people’s honest opinion of danger can vary considerably.

A Side Note:

Also, a few older routes that have become standard at a certain grade, but really need down grading, are throwing the system off a bit too.

Isn’t it time Gaia and End of the Affair went down to E7??!

And someone was looking for a list of E8′s that are F8b. Well, there are quite a few! Here’s some guesses:

Loaded. Marble Wall. Captain Invincible. Ogwen Crack…

.

Also quite exciting is the prospect of the next projects I may be working on – a road-trip style book to Europe being one of many ideas…

Having just been on a photoshoot with the Rockfax team for a forthcoming book to France, much of the talk was of course based around guidebooks and the joy of ticking.

So, this afternoon I pulled out my copy of North Wales Classics and started ticking – what a joy! Lets just say that this is one book I have a particularly high ‘tick rate’ for!!!

More info on the book is here: Rockfax.com

The report has gone down well, and as I suspected lots of people have asked for more reports like this. A few people have mentioned that it would be a great weekly feature – a low key, unsponsored climber quietly operating at a very high standard.

I agree it would be a fantastic feature. But is it feasible? No. For two reasons:

Is there loads of people out there, doing their thing at this level? No.

Is it possible to obtain several professional quality, timely photographs of each of these non-existent local heroes on a weekly basis? No, of course not.

We are extremely lucky that A) we have awesome climbers like Nige and B) we have awesome photographers like Adam, and the simple fact that they are mates is what made this report happen.

Also, when someone is operating at Nige’s level, we do tend to hear about them for quite some time. If you follow the climbing news closely, his name is not unfamiliar: Check this UKC News Report. And this UKC News Report.

ADVERT: Go buy a photo of Adam’s right now – he once took a photo of a mushroom in Font that I thought was particularly cool, I would say that one wouldn’t be a bad choice.

What would be more feasible, but on a monthly or bi-monthly basis, would be a ‘local hero’ style feature that was more a short bio of a person instead of a up to the minute news report, with a portrait and perhaps a historical photo – which is a feature that Alpinist used to have in their magazine. I suspect they ran out of local heroes!

Check my UKC Article on Petrohrad.

The Pfalz is a really cool sandstone place in the west of Germany, close to the border of France. I had my eye on a classic UIAA 9+ called Magnet Finger. It used to be a F7c, but the holds have deteriorated and it is now considered to be F7c+.

After a couple of warm ups on some easier stuff, it was my turn to put the draws in Magnet Finger and give it a go. The draws went in fine, (I’d been told it was dangerous – erm – there’s bolts every 1.5 metres!) and I thought I’d have it first redpoint.

Went for it, got to the crux and heard a loud crack as my finger pulley snapped. BUMMER!

The route is a really stunning steep arete and actually climbs like an arete too – very gritstone-esque. It’s pretty bouldery, with only really 5 hard moves in the middle. It was first climbed as an aid line, mainly on the ring bolts, before big Wolfgang came and freed it in the 1980′s.

It is a total classic and would suit any British visitors, being short and technical.

Check this video of James Pearson and Gaz Parry doing it on their trip round Europe:

So it is another season of injury recovery for me.

I’m off to France next week for a photographic trip in the south, to take pictures for a forth coming guidebook. I won’t be doing any climbing as the finger hurts too much.

I am following Dave MacLeod’s excellent advice at the moment:

Finger Injury Treatment Videocast

And after this I think I’ll be sticking to the running and easy trad routes for a while – just like last year.

Last year I managed to improve both my mental climbing and my crack technique due to having a finger injury.

This year I will concentrate on my flexibility and cardio fitness. There is always something to train!

During the week I managed to squeeze in a big party with lots of drinking and several people being sick, and Sarah and I also went out and bolted half a new route on the Slate, before getting rained on.

So here’s a few photos from the week. My favourite is Betty sleeping in the van in the car park at the NEC – it’s a rock and roll lifestyle…

Guiding at Plas y Brenin - on the way down from Poor man's Peutery

A quick bouldering trip down to Porth Ysgo - trying Tide of Dreams

Sarah cleaning the new route on the slate

Me adding a belay to the top of the new route!

BETTY!!

Sarah getting ready for the party!!

Me in the SkyMasters (thanks to Jordan Buys for taking the pic)

Betty livin' the dream in a carpark near the NEC!

]]> http://jackgeldard.com/2010/03/29/photos-two-contrasting-weekends/feed/ 0 jackgeldard Guiding at Plas y Brenin A quick bouldering trip down to Porth Ysgo - trying Tide of Dreams Sarah cleaning the new route on the slate Me adding a belay to the top of the new route! BETTY!! Sarah getting ready for the party!! Me in the SkyMasters (thanks to Jordan Buys for taking the pic) Betty livin' the dream in a carpark near the NEC!