Wound up?

Wind up?
Nah. I've unfinished business and the answer is simple really - I'm writing this blog for both me and you. I hope it can give some push, some drive to work toward, and achieve climbing goals. That's what climbing is predominantly about. Sure, the goals differ enormously according to person and their present situations - grade, location, friendships, history, quality, adventure... I could go on, yet it's obvious now to me why I'm enjoying my present middle-aged renaissance, why I'm enjoying this challenge, 18 years on from my first great climbing adventures...

I went on a blind date yesterday, to Raven tor in Millers dale - The behemouth of Peak District sport climbing. I was going to meet Ian at the cornice in Cheedale yet the rain had changed our outlook. He wanted to try Out of my boots and Toadside. I was happy to open an account with Revelations, a 15 minute familiarisation with an historical tick worthy within anyones logbook.
August 1992 also featured visits to the tor - I'll go through the old August diary entries from 1992 in a future post. Suffice to say it's not got any easier there since my earliest probings.

I've only got Statement, Soft option and Zoolook to open accounts on now, I'm still after a partner for Statement if anyone is keen to join me down by the sea this summer?

Wind up?

I'm thinking of winding the blog up and reverting to my personal diaries.
I was never sure who I was aiming these posts at anyway, me or you?
July brought another tick from the dirty dozen - Raindogs at Malham.
Every man and his dog has climbed this infamous 8a, now I have too, and I'm really pleased I did. It's a milestone (albeit 20years late) and a style of climbing I don't excel at. This leaves 7 routes left to climb in 5 months. They are:

Statement of Youth 8a Lower Pen Trwyn
Soft option 8a Kilnsey
Zoolook 8a Malham
Grooved arete 8a+ Kilnsey
Revelations 8b Raven tor
Magnetic fields 8b Malham
A very hard project in Yorkshire

There you are then, cards are on the table.

Too old to be told.

Yesterday Mark McGowan completed his goal of climbing 8a again in 180 days - the appropriately named Sufferance at Dumbarton. Congratulations to Mark, who I've never met, yet who gives fellow 'mature' climbers an incentive to set goals and work towards them.
The crags seem alive with the old skool this year, far out-weighing the next generation in my eyes. Maybe the new-youth prefer the walls, indoor training and the comps, or maybe my vision is skewed as well-weathered yet familiar faces from the 90's stand out more than the amorphousness of todays.

Seb Grieve on K3 (8a+) Cheedale. From High mountain sports, Nov 1994.

I drove out of Hathersage away from Outside and towards Wormhill and the route down to the Cornice. Ron was running along the road towards the town, bare-topped in the sun, with shorts looking a size too small. I hoped this would prove a good sign for my climbing today. I was meeting Jon at the crag, the second meeting this year and probably only the third in 5. We climbed together loads as old-youth, and those memories will always be precious, and fresh, since my climbing diaries won't let me forget those days dossing, hitching and climbing despite my age.
I'd climbed K3 with Jon on the Thursday, and had worked R'n'P too - todays goal for a redpoint. I walked past Adam and Nige on the Ogre across the river, and turned the corner to a busy Cornice. Seb was there, underneath K3, belaying Simon - 16 years on, the same route, and similar banter. I chatted with other old friends, long time no-see since my move to Leeds. Nik Kidd, Si Jones, Robin Barker. This is great, I'm going to have a good day I thought as I waited for Jon to arrive. The conditions were poor though. Martial music didn't feel easy as a warm-up and the crux sloper on R'n'P is oozing black. Nontheless by 4 o'clock I've ticked R'n'P, my 2nd 8a+, and both in a week. I'm contented in feeling I've moved up a level, and still have more to give.
I know it's only sport climbing, yet I'm doing some stunning climbs and I'm really enjoying the physical and mental challenges - These are routes I'd have gawped in awe at in the early 90's - maybe a long break was needed. 4 down 8 to go, with only 6 months remaining!

I joined a club.

It's called UKB POWER CLUB, and it's a sub-forum on UKB where members can post goals, training shizzle, progress and the like. The trouble is I don't train, I just climb, yet for the first year ever I've set myself some lofty climbing goals, and I fear this microcosmic subculture may help motivate me towards them. Only 6 months of 2010 left, so I better start trying a bit harder...

mixing it up.

A steep wall, a shunt and high humidity consolidate a fresh goal for Autumn. There are some benefits in struggling to find folk to climb with mid-week.

I've now done two climbs from the dirty dozen. Powerplant has always inspired me, and this year the Cornice in Cheedale is nicely dry quite early. Trouble is I can't find many sport-climbing partners, and keeness and motivation can ebb as quickly as it's awakened. Days of good weather and free time drift past, but at least the new lawn is now down. Fortunately Nik manages a full day pass, and a jaunt down the Dale bears fruit. A look at Dogs dinner buttress, over 10 years since a try on the traverse, and Steve McClure is floating through his extension section, a warm-down on Powerplant and he's off home, coming back for a 'proper go' on Saturday. It's the first time I've met Steve in over 25 years of scrabbling about. He's a nice fella to chat to and it's a joy to watch him climb, highly motivating. I've always really enjoyed climbing down here in the Dale, plenty of buttresses with a different character to each. From the carriageway climbing on the Cornice we head toward ripples and the sound of leaping trout at the Nook. I've been down here before, and I'll come here again. 1992 for Orange sunshine, 1993 for Unleashing the wild physique, 1997 for Entree (and a new labour government.) Over a decade on and miraculously I'm fitter as Powerplant goes 1st redpoint. I drop the crux of Unleashing thinking it'd be nice to have another look after 17 years, and immediately claw my boots off as I sink on the bolt. I need better boots for that, run-outs in '93, but my velcros aren't up to the task this time. Plenty remains - Nemesis, Roof warrior, K3, R'n'P, Kali Yuga to name just a few, but I'll need to infiltrate some good teams in order to succeed. Anyone out there?

So, to get good at sport you need to boulder too, right? Traversing last winter maintained some fitness, yet the fun comes in summer - A breezy Burbage South and a grinning Iain Farrar. Little gem, Electrical storm, More cheese Gromit and The rib, yet best of all good banter, in a short session en route to collect Archie from a trip to his Aunt's. Why We'd always walked past these blocs was easily explained by the Youngster as he showed me some of his new things - "we always looked for routes, even the short ones weren't boulder problems back then, until we got mats and patios". It was a different mindset. I'm enjoying the transition.

I'm off to France for a weeks Family holiday now, let's hope the 2010 progress continues on my return along with the lucky 'new 888'. Mrs UT has noted that it really does take two to efficiently do roped climbs, and she thought weekend passes might help if my whims are to be realised. Do let me know if anyone can help in this cause.

If you go down to the woods today.....

Here are the first, second and third ascents of the eso-classic 'a little sparkle' at Guisecliff, North Yorkshire. It's like a 7a deliverance, though not as popular due to the location, which has always been part of the appeal to me. The moss has grown back over the starting footholds, and the heather fights its way over towards the juggy top, yet with a soft brush and a couple of pads you too can soak in an ambience that time forgot.
I treated the holds on 'BC' yesterday, this problem means a great deal to me and I'd like to see it remain. It too was mossed up, which is incredible seeing as I first climbed it just two years ago. That block is more than just climbing, it has an intimate sense of place to me, where thoughts and fears were confronted. Where, along with the Cliffs Jumping Bean and Brincador, dark clouds could disperse, yet precious memories remain. I'm going to try to get a video of it next time I'm there - I know you'll all love the campus finish, but will anyone other than the talented Mr Peckitt ever find it?

One down

Massala martyr was originally bolted by Dave Sarkar, but first ascended by Nick Sellars in 1992. It incorporated the infamous 'English 7a' start to Mistaken identity, first climbed by Rob Gawthorpe in 1980! It's lost various holds on the top wall at the hands of Ian Vickers, Will Atkinson and myself, and despite easier sequences for the start,(although we can only guess at the original method) has now settled at 8b - a peg above the original 8a+. Stu Littlefair appears to have been the first person to ascend it in the new solid state, albeit with more than a little beta from Nik, after I'd ripped the 'dice' hold off it a few days previously. Ironically I'd found the new lefthand undercut sequence before seeing the dice method anyway, hidden in the cobwebs and dust - it'd been a neglected route since the original Vickers breakage, excepting repeats from Jordan and after our cleaning, Tanman.
Since originally trying Massala late last year I'd puzzled with the convoluted start, realising a direct solution could improve the line. This was to become a 'Joint enterprise' for Nik and myself as we cleaned, stabilised and added a bolt to what is a very fine font 7c/+ boulder problem.
We returned this year to try the direct solution as a route, and following the final metamorphosis of the headwall, I succeeded yesterday: A smarter martyr, French 8b.
Both Nik and myself put quite a bit of effort into this project (cleaning, drilling, glueing), and so I'm pleased someone else didn't 'accidentally' get the first ascent - I think credit should be where credit is due.
This all helps to show that the Peak doesn't have a monopoly on quality 'boulderers' routes. Come on Nik, breathe deeply!