Am I fat? The results are in. And they were kind of what I expected. A full body analysis at Sheffield Hallam University gave me the honest truth.
Christmas is a time for getting together. And so a few long journeys thrown in. Plenty of time to ponder over the last year, and all the amazing climbs. Someone had asked me what was the best route I'd done this year and off the cuff I struggled to come up with an answer...
It wasn’t the question while I was trying Rainman. The grade was unimportant, it was about just trying to do it. But after success, suddenly it was the question. Though the answer was simply assumed; surely it was 9b.
It’s been a while now since the New Blanco’s were released. Brought back by popular demand, when these were dropped from the range there was an outcry. Was it a good move to bring them back, and are they as good or even better?
More amazing places appear on the radar faster than I can visit them. But Leonidio stood out as perhaps the top of the list of venues in recent years. But is it worth the hype?
Success - The accomplishment of an aim or purpose.
Failure - The condition or fact of not achieving the desired end or ends.
127 days on one route. You must be joking right? I kept a diary of the progress. I keep a diary of all my climbing. Sometimes it’s good to look back.
How many of us have heard tales of perfect rock in a beautiful surrounding. How many of us have promised we’d go? It must have been 10 years since Sweden appeared on my ‘must visit’ list, but somehow I never made it, or never tried...
The UK’s three best sport routes, on the UK’s three best sport cliffs. All 8a+. Quite a challenge. I guess I earned my crown a while back, but when I heard Andy Mitchel had climbed all three in a day, moving between them under his own steam (he ran!), I began to think this was the ‘real’ triple crown.
My ultimate route. Not sure it gets any better, or any harder! The very first time I visited Malham Cove I stood at the base of the cliff and stared up into the future. An unclimbed line of immeasurable difficulty, right in the centre of the Cove, soared directly towards the finishing ledge 40 meters above. It crossed the most difficult terrain and the blankest of rock; impossible for me to comprehend.
When the wheel was invented, it changed everything. When the GRIGRI came along climbing completely changed. A revelation. Safety increased, belayer comfort massively increased, even standards increased as the climber/belayer teamwork was enhanced. For the sport climber, a GRIGRI was simply an essential and expected part of the kit along with the rope and the harness.
