Went on a solo mission to the moors today. I was keen to try a wall at kepwick I looked at in the rain last year which has been top of my to try list really since opening a different kind of blue. I thought I'd be trying to shunt it since nobody from Hull was keen to head up but fortunately a quick facebook chat last night confirmed with Franco the Infamous that he'd be back there today. I was slightly disappointed he wasn't sporting ron hills like I'd imagined but we had a really good session all the same. The moors youth did very well - getting the whole thing clean on top rope. Myself and Franco's mate Pete developed different sequences from Franco for more or less the entire route - interesting contrast in styles. Both ways are equally hard I reckon and will/would be Bold.
I was a little disappointed with the quality of the route. Saying that, it is decent and definitely compelling. I was just expecting and hoping for a little more. My main beef with it is that despite been unclimbed, the route's obviously seen a fair amount of attention and as such, the holds are quite battered, brushed and well used. So the rock often feels sandy and delicate - potentially not all that fun to be on without a top rope....
Anyway, I made good progress over the course of my top rope sieges, eventually getting all the moves sorted and making decent links. I'm sure with some more work I could get to the stage of reliably climbing the route in a oner but I'm not convinced I'd ever get it to an acceptably solid stage to risk soloing/leading it. And would it be worth that risk anyway? The route's not bad but it ain't great either.....
Not sure at the moment, I'll just see how it pans out and see if I end up back there. It is good climbing but had some un-nerving moments including a wierd finger slide out of one of the pockets and breaking a bit of the lip of another of the pockets when I was standing in it. hmmm.
Ah well, all in all I'm really glad I went there today - did some good hard moves, was a nice day and was really good to meet Franco and Pete.
Those guys had to get off reasonably early so I busted over to Billsdale solo to find/do some boulders. First stop clay bank and a run up the cleveland way eastward to some boulders which looked accessable and potentially decent. Not true - waste of time. So back south to Tranmire - main objective; finish 42 off properly from the pure sitter. I struggled with the first move for a while (couldn't do it last time) but delivered more grunt, and got through it only to drop the problem a couple of moves later. Maintaining tension and accuracy with feet is the crux with this problem I reckon. Sent next go and in decent style too - was really chuffed, even shouted at the deserted moor topping out which was a bit strange/not like me. Anyway, awesome problem, certainly up there with the best of them on the moors. Grade, probably font7a+ though it might squeeze in at 7b. Unfortunately my sister's nicked my vid camera so no footage (or witnesses!) but I climbed it the same sequence as Lee in the stitched vid from before:
Yeah, pleased with that one - good to get a tick for the day too.
Anyway, back up to the moors tomorrow with Tom, Liz and Guy. Staying over too so plenty of time to get some good stuff cleaned up and done hopefully. out.
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Hi Steve,
ReplyDeleteThought you'd be interested to know that I repeated your route 'A Different Kind of Blue' on Wed night (16 June) - I climbed the whole arete in one push, starting up 'Ch Ching' rather than Satchmo (if you're going to climb the last great arete at Ravenscar then I reasoned you might as well climb the whole thing!). Last looked at this route at least 12 years ago, but never entered my head to step down and right from the arete jug ... was always focussed on going direct. Was a great day for me as I've wanted to climb this bit of rock ever since I started climbing on the Moors getting on for 20 years ago. So in short thanks for showing me the way on this route (picked up on your blog via Franco and Dave) - think that it was an outstanding effort on your part to come up with such a technically brilliant solution to this long-standing problem. I guess there's still scope to find a way to climb directly from the arete jug to the top, but I think this must be at least Font 8a?? I thought the grade of the climb the way I did it was either easy E8 or hard E7. Found rope drag on the right rope (clipped into the siderunner in Strategem, first peg)around the arete was a problem when ascending the first hanging ramp to gain the handrail. Right running out of time at work now! Richard Waterton 18/6/10. PS. I just live in Guisborough (637622) so if you find that you're short of belayers in Hull might be worth contacting me if you're wanting to get on routes at Highcliffe, Kepwick, etc. Would also be interested in getting some photos taken on the Ravenscar arete as I'd really like to have a personal record of the route. All the best, R.
Hi Richard,
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting - great to hear you did and enjoyed the route. Good effort starting it up Ch-Ching as well!
Yeah, direct up to jug and jug to top must be possible I think - there are holds, just! Jug to top bit totally direct might be a little contrived as it may be possible to reach out right to the sidepulls (as per ADKOB) and get back left onto the arete proper again with left foot on the jug heel/toe the whole time...? or maybe not, haven't tried it yet!
Good to hear the grade I guessed at seemed about right to you too. The way I got around the annoying rope drag on right hand rope was to pull a couple of meters of slack through whilst sat on the ledge and hang it off, over the left hand side ledge, relying on the friction/weight of the slack to hold it in place while I climbed up the ramp and out to the jug (protected on left rope alone). Then on arrival at the jug on the arete, gave right rope a flick or two back round the arete while my belayer took it in fast (and paid out on left rope!) before pressing on to glory. hmmm i'm a bit too tired to describe that effectively but I'm sure you get the gist...
Anyway, nice one on the route again and thanks, will get in touch if heading back to Highcliffe, etc. - Haven't got around to trying it yet but the beta on Esmerelda could be useful! Out of interest, how does Esmerelda compare to ADKOB?
Cheers,
Steve
PS. You may not remember but I chatted to you and a mate a bit about moors stuff under subculture @ kilnsey last summer!
Hi Steve,
ReplyDeleteThe nature of the climbing on Esmerelda and ADKOB is very different (Esmerelda being face climbing on the old bolt holes, and then the crux pulling the roof using slopers and another old bolt hole), but I think overall the grades of the routes are similar i.e. Moors E7(!) or E8. The route at Kepwick is also in the same grade bracket I think, but I guess you'd have to give it E8 due to the sandy nature of the rock and dodgy gear (it's a shame there isn't one decent bit of gear, then it'd be a worthwhile proposition at E7). Note comment about the line of the Kepwick route though which I left on Franco's blog.
Again on the Kepwick route I'm a bit concerned about over-brushing: when I TR'd the route about 12? years ago now I only needed to lightly brush the holds with a toothbrush and a towel to flick some of the sand off, but when I walked by last year you could see the brush marks a couple of hundred yards away. Interested to go back and see if any of the holds have changed since I was on it. Steve McLure's boulder 'The Finger' at the Wainstones has also taken some hammer recently (whatever was done has put a sheen on the main foothold and some small flakes of rock have come off some of the sidepulls; looks a mess to my eye).
Oh well, small rant aside, like I said before happy to belay/ provide beta on routes at Highcliffe etc. Looks like it's going to be too hot for a while now...(and midges are going to get bad). Sept/Oct normally good though. Cheers, Richard.