Cold Fusion Blog

Saturday 25th - Sunday 26th August. I headed back down to Kilnsey again this weekend with Iain Moody. On Saturday I was disappointed to find that several key holds were still wet on Full Tilt, too many to justify redpointing. I did manage to workout a knee bar that was good enough to rest the arms a little. Sitting on the lower off I finally gave into the urge to continue clipping up True North to see what the moves were like. I managed to do most of the moves into the hanging corner where technically the hard climbing is over. The moves right of the Full Tilt chain were tough on small finger edges to reach a pocket. A long cross through then allows the undercut horn to be gained. A final span on poor feet to a good hold blocks access to the groove. It would seem there are around 40-50 moves from the ground to the corner or 20-25 from the knee bar. All feasible for the F8c tick. The hardest part however, seems to be getting the whole route dry! In all an inspiring route that I’d love to climb, for now I’ll have to keep dreaming.

Later that evening I tried Subculture F8a again, another route that seepage has denied me for several years. Dogging up I found the crux pocket was still wet. I dried it and stuck a towel in, intending to pull it out from below. Going for the redpoint I quickly cranked out the first two pulls to the resting jugs. I gathered psyche and pulled left into the crux only to look up at the towel still in the hold. Angrily I dropped off cursing, only then to be hit in the face by the towel a few seconds later. Timing is everything. Annoyed, I stripped the route in the fading light.

Exposed crux of the Ashes F7c+ at Kilnsey.

On Sunday the seepage situation had surprisingly improved after a good blast of warm morning sunshine. The hold on Subculture looked dry, but I still felt burned. Instead I decided to try The Ashes F7c+, an impressive route that arches up to the roof on the right of Kilnsey’s south buttress. I’d been told the route had a bouldery crux near the top after the relatively easy bottom section. Dogging up I started to feel the exposure getting to me. The crux moves didn’t feel too bad. I was more worried about how to do the crux clip and the final moves to the break (which I wasn’t brave enough to lead). Deciding that the crux looked to sketchy in the warmth I stripped it and left it for another day.
Lost for something to try I decided to go back on Subculture. The wet hold from the previous evening surprisingly looked a lot better so I decided to go for it. I felt shaky on redpoint from the tension, but soon smoothed out through the crux. Catching the crux undercut with a slight wobble I kept on going to the top for the easy 8a tick, five years on.

Mid crux on Subculture a couple years ago, Kilnsey.

Over on south buttress Iain made quick progress on Metal Guru, even coming away relatively un-phased by the loose run out to the belay. After three redpoints he was very unlucky not to do it. On each redpoint he seemed to be denied by small errors. I’ve been in this position myself a hundred times. It occurred to me that we need to either practice routes to the point where every single move has been practiced several times, or we need to practice error recovery when a sequence goes wrong.

Before heading home I had a few more tries on Full Tilt but couldn’t do the crux I had done first go on Wednesday. I just couldn’t use the pinch in the greasy heat. I think I might have to go back to using the small pocket after all. Frustrated at my lack of progress I gave it a final go, dropping onto the rope the sheath failed quite catastrophically prompting a very tentative retreat.

My rope after sheath failure, luckily not from a high fall.

Wednesday 22nd August. After another terrible forecast for the weekend I was glad I had a mid week holiday booked from work to get back to Yorkshire. On Saturday I made do with a Ratho session and got surprisingly pumped trying a F7c that took three goes. Also sadly, due to the poor weather the ambitious great climb broadcast was cancelled, which was a real disappointment to all involved. On Wednesday I aimed my new found stamina at Kilnsey. Driving down from Newcastle with Owen the weather looked perfect, sunny with a cool brisk wind. Sadly, arriving at the crag I found out that after the weekends rain Full Tilt had five very wet holds so redpointing was off for the day. I did briefly try the crux again and concluded I’d have to use the sidepull on the crux rather than one of two tiny pockets. I also tried out the knee bar, but couldn’t get it to stick without a knee pad. Hanging on the chain again the line of crimps up to the lip looked inviting for the F8c tick. I’ll have to try the moves soon.

With the hard redpoint off I decided to try a couple of easier routes. After some bouldering to warm up I decided to try and onsight Metal Guru F7c. I made it to the second bolt by the time the tunnel vision and pump set in. After a bit of working it went first redpoint. Strangely I felt pumped at the second bolt again, but just kept pulling through the crux. The final run out up the loose rib at the top was exciting when I messed up my feet and slapped for the wobbly hold. In between tries on Man With a Gun Owen also made light work of Metal Guru. Next I tried Pantomime F7b+, a route I had failed on last year because of lack of fitness. In the closing light I clipped the LO after another good pumpy fight. Through sheer determination I fought the bat fink wings of steel to make the final move onto the slab. It might seem that my power endurance training is finally paying out at the cost of lost stamina. It was great to tick some routes for a change. Hopefully Full Tilt will dry out for the weekend.

Thursday 9th, Saturday 11th, Sunday 12th. On Thursday evening I finally managed to get back to Glen Ogle to try Ceasefire with Mike Tweedley. However, the closing light of late summer only gave us a couple of hours. Having nearly done Ceasefire some 10 years ago falling on the top crux, I hoped for a quick redpoint. Putting the clips up things didn’t go to plan when I couldn’t do the middle section. Friction was limited in the evening humidity making it difficult to link more than a couple of moves. Mike didn’t have much more luck. On my final go it clicked and I linked the section: “Match on L jug. RH good slope, LH good sidepull, feet low jug and high L jug. RH dynamically push out to lower press. Move LF toe to jug. Pull through to match R slope with LH. Pull in, lift RF to ? then up to small edge with LH. Adjust RH to ?. Adjust LF. LH slap good edge, RH through to good edge. Clip, then onto the next crux.” I even managed the next section. Progress but not the elusive tick.

On Saturday with wet weather forecast for Scotland I headed south. On hearing that Kilnsey was dry I decided to join Owen and Mike for the afternoon. Owen managed to redpoint Subculture his first 8a which went very smoothly. Not bad after nearly a weeks training beforehand. Mike tried a 7c which he finally tried to redpoint later in the day after watching Dalvinda Sodhi try it while eight months pregnant. I tried Full Tilt again after trying another way of doing the crux using a small pocket. On redpoint I couldn’t make the same high point as early June. It seemed I’d lost a lot of finger strength. Conditions weren’t ideal in the still humidity. Even a chap trying Northern Exposure F8b+ packed his bags after a few sweaty redpoints. I’m sure he’d get the F8c tick if he’d done it, wiping and chalking sweaty fingers mid move the whole way. I soldiered on, but felt tired from the effort by the third redpoint. I’m still not happy with the sequence. I just don’t think the small pocket will work on redpoint. Next visit I think I’ll try using the small pinch again with different feet or the higher two finger pocket. Any which way it has to work every time on the link to get the redpoint. On the up side I did manage nearly three links on the route. Surprisingly, the jug wasn’t that good a rest for the 6c move blocking access to the belay. I’m going to have to get stronger and fitter if I’m going to finish this one.

Paul on the V10 crux of Northern Exposure F8b+, Kilnsey.

On Sunday I headed to Dunkeld with Iain Moody. I had intended to try Burley, but for the ninth visit this year it was again wet and unclimbable. Arriving at Upper Cave, the crag was only just climbable through the wet streaks. After putting the clips up Iain made an effortless ascent of Hamish Teddies F7b+ which he was hyped about. I put a rope on Silk Teddies F7c and got to work. The moves weren’t as bad as I had remembered and I got redpointing quickly. On first redpoint I made a mistake on the crux. On second redpoint things went better and I arrived at the crack feeling very pumped. I fought onwards but slipped just before the rest on the arete. It was a very good fight, so much so it wasn’t spoiled by eventual failure. However, it would have been nice to tick my first route in months! I’m sure I’ll get it next go, then I can start working on the proper finish.

Good news this week is that Malcolm, Alan and Dave have been busy repeating routes at the Anvil. Malcolm and Dave managed to repeat my routes Bloodfire and Fire Power thinking stiff F8a+ and F8b respectively. Alan and Malcolm then managed Body Blow thinking stiff F8b+. I think I’m going to have to get focused on a single project now. Over the past couple of months I’d like to think I’ve been agile with my objectives. I’ve been happy to move between different cliffs in Scotland and Yorkshire, giving a larger geographical area for good conditions. The downside of this I’ve now finding is that I’m not getting enough consecutive visits to complete routes. With summer reaching and end and wetter weather on the way I think I’m going to have to select just a couple of my projects to complete. Finishing any of the Burley Challenge routes is looking unlikely, let alone an F8b/+ down south. I guess I’m going to have to play it by ear and keep my fingers crossed. Failing that I’ll be back at the Anvil and Dumbuck for the Autumn come late September

Richie Betts going for the onsight of Mactalla F7b.

Saturday-Sunday 4th August. I had planned another trip to the North West with Iain Moody after our last visit in March to finish of some routes. Finally better weather and clear calenders landed on the same day and we made our way back to try some routes on Creag Nan Luch and Goat Crag. On the Saturday we arrived at Creag Nan Luch just as the sunny weather crapped out to blustery showers. Luckily (depending on which way you look at it) the crags were sheltered and remained dry despite being very midge. Iain warmed up on a couple of routes then tried Superblue. He seemed to improve on my sequence on a couple of sections which I noted for my next attempt. Upstairs I was back trying one of the projects. After four previous visits I was finally ready to redpoint. After a quick dog I pulled the rope and got going. The first psychological barrier to cross was the fall from the technical crux. Checking knot and belayer a dozen times I finally committed and pulled into the bulge. Missing the crux hold I down elevatored a couple of bolts. The fall wasn’t so bad. Falling on hard routes is almost like a negative move in the sequence that needs to be practiced to be eliminated. On reaching a maximum on redpoint concentration must be focused 100% on psyche and aggression, there is no room for fear and doubt as downward motion becomes more probable. After another three goes I finally made the link from the bulge to the spike on lead. The next section still held a redpoint crux somewhere. After a bit of work I squeezed the last out of my sequence finding a good leg bar in the groove. Another two redpoints didn’t improve on my high point so it was off to the pub.

Iain Moody starting up Mactalla F7b.

On Sunday morning we returned to Creag Nan Luch. However the weather was again hellishly still. The upper tier caught enough breeze for me to have another three redpoints. My second redpoint went fairly well and I found myself at the spike. Gathering psyche I gave it everything I had but was spat off four moves below the easier climbing.
Pulling on again I managed to link to the top from the spike managing overlapping halves. Through the morning various people turned up making it a busy crag. Murdo (whom I’d met before in Siurana) and Megan, Richie Betts, then a bunch of Canadians in midgie suites. Past noon we were engulfed in swarms of midges so retreated to Goat Crag hopping for a breeze. Here Iain and Richie tried Mactalla. Iain pulled himself together for the easy tick. Meanwhile an unfit Richie (so he says) nearly made the flash falling at the last bolt when his foot slipped. I finished the day with a fight to the chain myself. In all a great weekend minus the midges. It was great to have two days to try a hard route without the pressure of having to squeezing out every drop of energy in a day. I think this helps so much to make quick progress on a route if you can be disciplined to stop and rest for the second day. I hope I can grab a few more weekends this year to send some hard routes