Me climbing in Mallorca back in May 2009, the shot was taken for the updated Rockfax guidebook to the area. This route was about 7a, only the bolts were all pretty well rusted which made it feel more like an E5!
Photo by Mark Glaister.
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October 26th, 2010 It has been pointed out to me that reading this blog makes it look like I spend all my time going on climbing trips and generally living it up. In fact I spend a lot of time sat behind this computer, but this is neither photographically aesthetic nor is there much of a compelling narrative, so I'll once again paint a rose tinted picture of the last few months and forget the boring bits. Later on in July, I returned to Gower to take the remaining photos for the Climber article and the Rockfax MiniGuide. One of the places I went was Pwll Du Quarry. It used to be just down the road from where I was living at the time, but now a fair drive from London. I wanted to rebolt an old route of mine 'Fin' - a super micro-route that I originally clmbed with just two bolts and you'd probably hit the ground from the very top. Anyway, I managed to drill around the 10mm self-drill bolts I'd placed years ago and remove them intact - amazingly they were in excellent condition. After applying plenty of glue to the now enormous hole, I placed some stainless resin 'twizzles' - adding another two to the route and a proper belay. I then hiked a little way to another crag that had caught my eye, but couldn't get a rope fixed on account of all the brambles at the top. I wasn't at Pwll Du alone - I was joined by Simon Rawlinson, Mark Pretty, Chris Sherpherd, and later on Chris Savage showed up, it was bizzare to see so many people at the crag. I had hoped to get down to Paviland the next day and bolt another big line, but it was all wet and so I just took some photos.
August was a busy month for coaching, and not the best time to head off on a trip, but Audrey and I had been invited to join the Royal Navy/ Royal Marines/ Entreprises Mountaineering Club for a week on Lundy. I'd visited Lundy twice previously, and had many fond memories of the island. My memories of the crossings were less fond - the first time I went was with Swansea University MC - and we went from Swansea in a small boat with a big sea running. I don't recommend it. Anway, this time the crossing was fine and we got a few days good climbing, then it rained and rained and rained. I had been psyching up to reclimb the direct start to Olympica - but there was no way that was happening - so it was two and a half days of jigsaw puzzles then back home. Anyway, here are some photos:
Above: the RNRMEPMC. I am on the far left - I may have take one too many travel pills.
By mid-September I'd dried out from Lundy, and headed off down to the South of France. I had ludicrous ideas about finishing my second France guidebook, and about five weeks in which to do it. My first port of call was the Ardeche. Inveterate organiser, Matt Heason had arranged for a few climbing types with kids to go to the Ardeche for a week or two, share the childcare and get some climbing done. The group included Miles Gibson, Steve McClure, Ian Parnell, and the Benson brothers - I was pretty busy checking routes for the guidebook and taking some photos. Interestingly the best photos was of Jan Hadfield who had never lead a route before the trip and chose to make her first lead of a 4+ at Chaulet - I was in a great position and got a shot that's sure to make it into the book. After the Ardeche I hit the road and went to the Gorge du Tarn. I had a lot of checking to do, and so spent a week there. The Audrey came out, I picked her up at the TGV station in Avignon, and we decided to stay in the area for a while. We spend a few days at Orgon, I was taking photos of the crags, and checking the routes out. It was a good place to be as there were plenty of places to park up the van for the night, and a good source d'eau. From Orgon we made our way towards the Tarn via Mouries - which was a lot better than I'd expected, and Hortus which we spent a rather adventurous day picking our way to the top of. Below: A night shot of Hortus
In the Tarn we went to the Les Peupliers campsite in Le Rozier - one of the last campsites to close and we stayed there for a week - climbing in the Tarn mostly, but we got two days in the Jonte - one to climb the incredible detatached pillar La Licorne(5) via the eponymous trad route, and also the wild and surprisingly hard bolted three pitch Totem (7a). The last full day was spent climbing a route I'd always wanted to have a go at: l'Inachevée (7a) - a four pitch corner that looks like France's answer to the enduro pitch of Astronman - and it's all trad - apart from at the belays there's only a couple of bolts in its 150m length. The first pitch was a stern and powerful 'warm-up' at 6c+ then its was straight into a 50m 7a pitch, which was incredibly tiring. The next pitch was also 7a though very exposed and quite technical. After this pitch I was pretty mentally tired, there was a 7a+ pitch to finish, and we had about and hour of light left. Fortunately the route was crossed by another and there was the option to climb a 7a bolted pitch to the top. Not wanting to get caught out, I opted to try this instead, though about half way up the pitch I completely ran out of energy. Fortunately, Audrey, who'd seconded the three pitches so far, had something in reserve, and she lead the pitch in fine style. Below: Climber just visible towards the top of 'Inachevée - Gorge de la Jonte, France.
So, I'll probably be wrapping up the France book in the spring of next year - and will be putting together a trip rather like the one I did earlier this year where anyone can come along and join in. This winter I'm hoping to get back out on the ice for a week or so. But largely I'll be say behind the computer putting together the France guidebook - it's not all trips you know? July 9th, 2010 The last two months have been spent juggling coaching in the Peak District, working on the Languedoc guidebook, working on a Peak bouldering guidebook, and getting a spot of climbing done. The Langedoc guide is looking very polished now - I just need one more trip down to France to finish off a few areas and it will be out of my hands. I've only spent a few days on the Peak bouldering guide, but a number of the best areas are done, so I'm hoping to finish both books this year. The best thing I've done this summer is start developing a new sports venue in my old local area: Gower. The crag is Paviland Far West. I'd been there years ago on two occasions. At the time I'd not been thinking in terms of bolts and had approached the crag from a trad perspective. I'd placed a few pegs and reasoned that the line I was interested in was mostly not too hard, but with a really hard section in the middle. I couldn't work out a way of protecting it, so left it. In the meanwhile, after I'd left the area I heard that it had been agreed that this wall could be developed as a sport crag. The only problem was it was always wet. Fast forward to this May when I heard that everything in the UK was as dry as it could be, and I knew I would have to check it out one last time. This time armed with a drill, glue, and some nice stainless 'twizzlers' traded with Roy Thomas. Simon Rawlinson and I went to the wall. We spent a long day getting bolts in place (it was really steep and as we were using glue-ins we couldn't weight the bolts to help us get in), but at the end of it we got two lines well bolted - we would have bolted more except we had no more battery power. We each had a go on our respective projects and both far too knackered! However I got back down there a few days later with Audrey and got my line first redpoint - I called it Zulu Wall - following on from a name of a route given by Andy Sharp - and reckon it's a soft-touch 8a. Simon got back there not long after and redpointed his route: Ultimatum - 7c. He got some great photos of the routes too, though I really want to get back there and get some more. A lot of development has been going on on Gower. There are now about thirteen sport crags on Gower, and all worth a visit. I thought it would be good to help get the word out - so I'm going to write an article for Climber, and do a MiniGuide for Rockfax. I need to get one more visit to Gower before I can finish these two little projects, but the photos I've take so far are looking pretty good.
Above: Chris Shepheard on Ultimatum (7c), Paviland Far West, Gower. Below: Rob Lamey on Zulu Wall. Photos by Simon Rawlinson.
May 4th, 2010 It's the first day back from a two month book research trip to France. The French guidebook that I'm currently working on covers the area west of my previous guide to Haute Provence. In fact, I'd already started on some of the crags, and I'd take some photos of Seynes, Claret, and Russan with a view to including them in the previous book - but alas it was just too much for one book!
Claret I posted an invitiation to the French trip onto the UKClimbing forum, and got an excellent response from a large number of climbers keen to come out to France from anything from a few days to month. This made working on the book a lot easier, as there were always people to photograph. It also meant that we could club together and rent a series of gites, which way far more comfortable - and besides, the campsites weren't even open in March so there wasn't much choice. In fact it worked out only slightly more expensive to get a lavish gite than it would have cost to camp (around €10 per person per night). We started off with two weeks spent visiting Seyens, Claret and Russan. All three crags were well received by all. I was a bit concerned to start with that the average grade of the the group (around 6a+) would be too low to make the best of the areas, but I couldn't have been more wrong, and there was stacks to do. Claret was perhaps the hardest of the bunch. Sunny Seynes had a lot more than I knew about, especially in the 5s and low 6s, but it was Russan that was a real eye-opener, I'd only seen the hard, steep routes there - I was amazed at how much fantastic climbing there was below 7a, and even below 6a.
Crossing the river at Russan to take the crag shots - never again! (Photo by Piers Cunliffe) I already had a lot of crag shots of Seynes and Claret, but I'd not taken good enough shots for Russan as the river at the base had stopped me getting into position. This time around I was prepared with an inflatable kayak, the hike down to the water's edge was a mission with the boat and camera gear hanging off me, but it was well worth the effort as the crag shots were great. Getting back was a work-out again, but you only have to take the right shot once! After two weeks we moved on to the Ardeche, and picked another three crags. The weather wasn't that great in the Ardeche, and so I didn't manage to get it all done in two weeks, so I'll need to be back there. The climbing was very good though, with plenty to do for everyone. We did find a fair bit of polish around, but that was mostly on the warm-up grades that were closest to the road.
A crag shot of part of Russan from the other side of the river After the Ardeche, I went off up to the Gorge du Tarn on my own, and met up with my better half, Audrey. We climbed at the Gorge du Tarm, Le Boffi, and The Jonte. All three areas are utterly brilliant, and it was hard to find a route that didn't deserve three stars! We soon bumped into a team from Swansea. I already knew Simon, as he's helped with the rebolting of Rams Tor a while ago. Audrey was out for only a week. Whe she returned, I was joined by another team, consisting of Neil, Sol, Chris, and Alex. They stuck to the Jonte for a week, and quickly we learned how tough some of the 'traditional' 6as can be. I think that the Jonte is due to get popular with visitors - at least it will be when this guide comes out. A week later and I had a week on my own to get down to some serious work. The crag shots of this area were the hardest shots I've had to take, requiring some long walks, rough driving and so very hairy climbing and scrambling to get into position.
Audrey on the last hanging belay of Le 7'eme Leffe (7a+), The Jonte. After the Tarn, it was a long drive back east to meet up with Alan James and Team Rockfax in a lavish gite near Aix-en-Provence. Chris Craggs is producing a guidebook to that region, so we visited some of the crags and helped with getting some of the photos. Many of the crags were a bit hot in the sun, but it didn't stop Alan and myself doing the longest route at Sainte Victoire - the 450m Le Grand Parcours - it was about F5, but much of it was climbing unroped or moving together - and we got up it even after getting rather lost at times - in about 3hrs. The best crag in the area has to be Chateauvert - somewhere Audrey and I had been before. I had two good days there before getting back in the van and returning to London. This summer I'm going to be focussed on running my coaching days in the Peak District and Portland, and doing some work on another book project that's a bit closert to home. February 28th, 2010 Most of this month has been spent either planning a book research trip down to France for March and April or getting away on ice climbing trips. The trip down to France next month is rather a new concept in climbing trips - new to me at least. I posted onto the UKC forums an invitation to anyone who may wish to join me while in France. I was expecting to have a few replied from people who have already decided to head down to France. I wasn't expecting a deluge of replies from people who fancied coming along. As more an more people got in touch, the logistics became a bit of an issue, so I created some google docs where those interested can log-on and share plans. The result was an organic, self-organising climbing trip where most of the people have not even met each other. It's all a bit bizarre. Email me if you want to be invited onto the docs...
Above: Audrey on Cascade Lilaz (4) Cogne, Italy The ice started up with a long week in the Italian Val de Cogne. Audrey and I drove down to Lilaz where we had booked a room and thougt we'd start off with a nice grade 4 - E Tutto Relativo - only the third pitch hadn't properly formed, so we let discretion be the better part of valour and moved on. The next route we found was Stella Artice - which we did two pitches of, including the grade 5 crux, before it started getting dark. The next day we did the classic Lilaz Cascade which went easily enough apart from the second pitch where we took an alternative line which turned out to be quite heavily fractured and made enough scary groaning noises for me to tell Audrey to get out of the way in case it came down. Fortunately it didn't. The next day we did Lilaz Gulley - the first interest was to be found before we got to the start, when a guide asked if I could help him find a tool that his client (presumable) had dropped into the powder gulley - amazingly I managed to find it after spotting a tiny fleck of metal dark against the snow. I soon realised that a lot of people took a range of trad gear on the climb - we hadn't brought any despite the fact that it was M4+ towards the top - the guide mentioned pegs, and it turned out to be very well protected and easier to climb with my tools clipped to my harness than it would have been them in my hands. Lilaz Gulley was a long climb and coming down we were pretty tired - but not so tired that we could resist a quick tick of the particularly fat-looking Loie (3) - Audrey went up first, but soon got psyched out by it. Surprised, it was my turn, and what followed was one of the most gripping leads I've experienced, with ice shattering in great big plates, it was a big relief to get to the belay.
Above: Audrey sets off up Loie (3/4/5) Below: me on Lilaz Gulley
The next climbing day we hiked into Valnontey, and got Patri Right Hand done - a brilliant 4+ with interesting ice, though the gear was a bit thinner than I like. We wanted to get the Left Hand done as well, but ran out of light. The last day before driving back up north we got on Candelabro del Coyote (4+/5). Audrey set off up the steep ice when an Italian guide showed up and lost no time in gearing up, after asking if it was OK for him to climb the line to the right, he set off, but after passing Audrey's highpoint, drifted left until almost abover her - now knocking off lumps of ice that missed her only narrowly. Unsurprisingly she retreated. I was furious, so though rather than catch up with this guy again we'd go climb something else. The next route along was Tuborg (4+/5), there were a lot of others all with the same idea, but soon we were climbing, and got a another classic cascade ticked. The following day we hiked in for a rematch on Candelabro - Audrey styled the first pitch, and it was my turn to follow when our Italian friend from the previous day turned up with another couple of clients. Making for the exact same line as the previous day I couldn't hold back a torrent of darkly coloured threats and he was good enough to stay out of my way. I did have to step over him at the belay to lead the next pitch and accidentally spiked him with a crampon - oops. Then it was back in the van to drive back north. We did stop off in Font, but it was completely snowed up and pretty much nothing was climbable.
Above: Me on Patri Right (4+) Rjukan, Norway The trip to Norway had been planned long before the trip to Cogne. The group I joined was put together through UKC after a number of the members of the original group pulled out. The trip started at the Ryanair check-in desk where we were treated with the usual contempt. At one point one of us was required to lighten our check-in bag by 900grams. Our despatch was hindered by the fact the our group had in it's collective hand luggage a bottle of cognac, a collection of toiletries, and a pair of crampons. Just before boarding there was a second weigh-in for hand luggage which required wearing all our cold weather clothing onto the plan. I shan't be flying with Ryanain EVER AGAIN. After three hours of driving along roads that the gritters had long given up on. We arrived at Rjukan.The first thing we noticed was how cold it was - getting down to -25 at night, and not much warmer in the day - staying warm by always taking a substantial belay jacket was the order of the week. I was to team up with Mike Bate for the week as we were fairly evenly matched on ice.
Above: Mike leading up Vemorkbrufoss Vest (5) We started with a day on the closest ice to our accommodation, by climbing Vemorkbrufoss Ost (4) and Vest (5) at Vemork Bridge. Both routes felt quite soft for their grades compared to the routes at Cogne, something that was evident all week. We finished the day on Tungtvann (4) after soloing the first pitch. The following day we moved up the gorge to the Upper Gorge and started off on Blindtarmen (4) which felt hard as there was some very brittle ice, and some odd thin ice that had formed on top of powder snow. We then did Sabotorfossen, a brilliant 5 and one of the best routes we did all week. With a 5 done, there was no going back to slabby routes - the next day, after an all-too-leisurely start, we got to Rjukan Centre and marched up to do For Alle Menn (5) - we did the left and right line, both good 5s, though things got a bit cold when the sun went down before I got to start seconding the second pitch of the left line. Hanging belays on ice screws on a big icy cliff in the dark when the temperature is probably below -20 is not a jolly place to be.
Above: A Climber on Klappfoss (4) Rjukan Centre Below: Mike leading up the right-hand line of For Alle Menn (5) Rjukan Centre
After the late finish at Rjukan Centre, I took a rest day, and a good job too, the following day we headed out to have a crack at Jovsoyla (6) a superb big cascade that the word on the street suggested was formed in a particularly amenable condition. We got the the start before anyone else, but were soon overtaken by a strong Italian who took a short-cut up mixed ground. The second pitch was my lead, Mike was belaying off a poor spike and the second pitch lead off towards the start of the cascade proper, following a snowy rocky traverse. Not too impressed with the belay I was cautious and slow - at one point clipping a tool as a runner. The pitch turned out to not be as bad as it looked, though still the crux of the route in many ways. Following the 60m vertical cascade was great fun - it was covered in steps and required only hooking with the tools. On the way back we got a quick ascent of Tanja (5) which is usually M5, though this time formed all the way down.
Above: Me seconding the first pitch up the pillar of Jovsoyla Below: looking down from midway up the final pitch of Jobsoyla
The last day could have been a bit of an anti-climax, we headed to Krokan for some technical fun. The first route we did was a genuinely overhanging cigar that is normally the end of Lucky Lisa - it was bullet-hard and Mike's lead was impressive - even if he did grab a tree at the lip. Next we found a mixed line right of De Kaller Meg Fjard - which was probably another 5 - though tenuous with the gear as most of the ice was too thin for screws and I had to get protection by threading behind the icicles - most no thicker than a leg. Next, Mike wanted to get a proper 'M' route done - and so had a go on Two Assholes and Five Nice Bolts (M6) - he came off the very last move after a pick blew - he was shared on a tool at that point and he other tool was still in the rock when I got the flash. As we were climbing the M6, we noticed a guy casually soloing a very impressive cigar of ice, both up and down. That was the last thing we climbed, it was another 'M' route where the ice had reached the ground to make a good grade 5 (Bored to the Exteme). And that was the end of the ice for another year. I'm looking at driving down to France in two days - but at the moment the van has no engine. Though even that is preferablet to Ryanair. January 10th, 2010 The big news for me is seeing my Provence guidebook out in print finally! Feedback so far is that it was two years well spent. I'm keen to get cracking on the next one - which will cover the adjacent area, and in fact I've already made a fair bit of progress on some of the crags. I'll be back out there in March. I've been waiting for some errors to come to light - and so far there is only one that I've had reported (by Karin Magog) - page 30 says of Cascade sector at Ceuse "Cascade gets sun until late morning" - that should read "Cascade gets shade until mid-moring" - the following line confirms this, but thought it worth pointing out. Thanks to Karin for pointing that out. I ended 2009 with a repeat of the sailing trip around the BVI that I took right at the start of the year. The trip involved three flights to get to boat - the last one in a Cesna so full I had to take to co-pilots seat. I offered to take over should the pilot need a break but quickly found myself at the other end of a complete sense-of-humour failure. So after going through all the security (ramped up by the fact that someone tried to blow up a plane with his pants the day before) all I needed to do to take control of a plane was reach out to the controls...
We took a couple of kayaks with us this time, and they were well used and partly made up for an almost total lack of wind.
Last weekend Audrey and I headed down to South Wales to check out the ice climbing - which was reportedly getting quite good, and having never climbing any winter routes in the UK, I was keen to get something done - even just for novelty value! We drove over from London on Friday night and parked at what we thought was the lay-by for 'RAC Falls'. On Saturday morning, only after getting fully kitted-up did realised that we were in the wrong place - so got back in the van and drove 1km down the road to the proper parking area. It was obvious where the route was, and just one other party was on it. Another party turned up as we were gearing up at the base, they took the left side of the falls, and we took the right side which was a bit of a wake-up call - quite steep. We walked-off after about 50m as the remainder didn't look so good.
Audrey finishing up Weeping Wall WI4, Craig-Y-Llyn Having got down by 10am, we drove over to Craig-y-Llyn. We got a bit lost trying to find the right descent, after stepping over the fence (and not following the directions) we walked for about twenty minutes to the end of the crag, where a party were descending, we followed them down, then walked for at least twenty minutes back the other way - past routes that looked great, but had lots of people on them or waiting for them. Eventually we got tired of trudging though the snow and resolved that we'd climb whatever ice fall we came across next. This turned out to be Weeping Wall (WI4) and a party, led by Gary Lewis, was in place as we arrived. The route was good - though a bit sporty as the ice ran out some way before the cliff did - and I'd already watched one of Gary's seconds take a fall - so it obviously wasn't going to be a picnic. In the end all went smoothly - though I was glad to find an old peg in place to protect the top as I'd never done any mixed climbing before - though the mix in this case involved grass rather than rock.
Audrey finishing up Ogmore Valley Falls WI4, South Wales I've got a couple of ice trips planned for this year - Audrey and I are off to Cogne in early February, then later in that month I'm off to Rjukan in Norway. By then I'll probably be quite keen to get back onto the rock...
October 19th, 2009 Having just got back to a chilly London from two weeks in Kalymnos, it seemed like a good time to update this page. I’ve been busier than ever coaching in the Peak District right through the summer, and so most of this summer I’ve been too busy working to do much to write about. Coaching is currently seemingly all the rage with the BMC and MLT folks who are on a mission to bring it into the world of badges and courses. And course fees. And assessment fees. And membership fees. And no doubt there is some hope of getting the government to stump up some money to rebrand the army of climbing instructors as climbing coaches, and just maybe introduce the idea that there is more to teaching climbing than passing on esoteric knots and terror. I’d feel a little more encouraged if stringent minimum ability levels were being discussed, but I understand that the idea is not popular with those holding the highest qualification in climbing teaching in the UK (MIC ) where the minimum ability is to be able to climb VS 4c. Contrast this with the French equivalent which requires the candidate to onsight 7a (E4) under competition conditions. Is it any wonder that the French are so... good? There is of course an argument that you don’t need to be a good climber to be able to teach climbing. I think that a person wishing to dedicate themselves to career teaching climbing to climbers who wish to improve, the inability to climb at the sort of levels demanded by the French reveals either a lack of ability, or a serious lack of motivation. I rather think that ability, preferably ability that has been hard-learned over the years, and motivation are both utterly essential . In other words, I think it helps for the teacher to know more than the student.
Photo> Audrey's mum and me on the final big ladder climb on the via ferrat we did in August.My trip to Kalymnos was something I’d been looking forward to for a while. I had several coaching days booked up, and so it was a part-work-part-play for me. I decided to take my bolting kit out there, and had a tip-off from Aris (the Greek guidebook author) that a crag called ‘Local Cave’ was being developed and there were lines to go at. This worked out well as I was out there on my own for the first week, and spend a few days at Local Cave bolting three lines. For the second week I was joined by Dan Dyson, someone I’d started climbing with in Swansea back when I was sixteen and he was fourteen! Dan had recently quit being a solicitor and become a barrister so he would have more flexibility to go climbing. On the second week, with some very patient belaying from Dan, I got the first ascents of two on my projects – both on the same day, which was brilliant! I returned on the last day of the trip to try the third but the conditions weren’t so go and the crux was totally desperate, so I’ll get back on that one again. Please buy one! July 17th, 2009 I’ve been back from France for a week now. It was an exceedingly productive trip in that I finished my research for Ceuse, Volx, Sisteron, and Orpierre. I got a few action shots to finish off some pages too. The flip-side of the trip was hardly doing any climbing! Walking up to Ceuse day after day is pretty rough, but when you’re not going to be climbing when you get there is pretty hard. I did get some routes done, and they were all incredible, but it would have been nice to have tried a lot more! I was joined for the first couple of days by Belgian super star in the making Robin Poelmans. He’d onsighted 8b but couldn’t seem to get psyched for the 6cs and 7as I was doing, falling off them more that I might have expected. However a couple of days later he onsighted 8b+, which I was impressed by – a lot of people would have probably not have even got on an 8b+ after falling off 6c, which just goes to show that yesterday’s defeats are not today’s limitations.
Nicolas Le Baut climbing at SisteronThe greatest frustration of the trip was not walking up to Ceuse and not climbing, though that came close, no the biggest pain was trying to work out the lines at Sisteron. The guidebook to the area is so bad that I really struggled to make sense of it. Only when cross-referencing the lines with Bill Birkett’s French Rock did it start to reveal itself. Orpierre took about a week to re-photograph (I’d mistakenly taken the first photos in medium res – oops) and sort out the lines. I didn’t climb at all at Orpierre, which was a shame, but I wouldn’t have made a very good climbing partner as most of the time I was sorting out where various routes go. Fortunately Ian Fenton, who lives out in Orpierre much of the year is going to lend a hand to this section.
A rainbow at Ceuse - the only day I carried my camera up to the cragVolx was a relatively easy day, just sitting in the scorching sun and working out where the lines all go – binoculars are my number one purchase of the year. From there I headed out to Buoux to take a shot of someone on TCF but no-one was there – unsurprisingly as it was about 37 degrees in the shade. I then went to St.Leger and photographed the North Face, I had not been to the area in the summer before, so not appreciated how important the north-facing crags are. I got there at about 9am to get perfect morning light on the rock.
The North Face of St.Leger in summer morning lightThen it was straight into the van and driving back to London. Leaving St.Leger at about 9.30am I got back to London at 3am after changin my ferry ticket from the following morning. A good tip I discovered for driving long distances is to play movies on my laptop and try and imagine the image – it helps if there’s lots of dialogue and I know the film quite well. Being John Malcovitch was a hoot. June 8th, 2009 I can’t believe it’s been nearly four months since I last posted an update here. My last trip to France researching the Rockfax guidebook I’m producing and writing is close to 90% complete now. I met up with most of the Rockfax team in Mallorca in April, so it was good to show everyone the progress, and to see progress on others’ project such as Mark Glaister’s South West and South Wales books in progress - both of which look pretty fabulous. Much of the summer has been spent so far coaching up in the Peak District, I’ve has some brilliant days out on the rock with clients, many of whom have put in some big efforts to move up a grade or two then been gracious enough to offer me some of the credit! When I’ve not been coaching in the Peak, I’ve been working though some quite arduous DIY jobs – such as replacing a floor. These jobs have given me back muscles upon back muscles but I think I may find my finger strength rather lacking next time I go sport climbing! On the subject of sport climbing, I’m going to be heading down to France in a week to finish off this guidebook. I’ll be there for a few weeks, so if you’re about then do drop me a note! Before the summer ends I’m hoping to finish off a couple of new routes on Rams Tor – I cleaned a couple of lines, but have yet to bolt them. The last time I was there I was all kitted up on my ropes at the top of the line, ready to go over the edge, when I realised that I’d forgotten my drill bit. As it happened I had to spend hours cleaning loose rock from it anyway, so bolts can wait. At least it wasn’t as bad as walking for three hours to get to the top of Afternoon sector in Kalymnos with 120m of rope, drill, bolts, etc. only to realise I’d forgotten my harness. I can testify that 100m abseils in a 10mm dyneema sling harness is not much fun. On the subject of Kalymnos, I’m planning on being back out there in October, where I’ll be offering 1:1 coaching and maybe bolting a few last great lines – I’m hoping there will be a few still left! February 26th, 2009 I was recently in the South of France working on a selective guidebooks to the sport climbing in the area. There has been a lot debate taking place on the rights and wrongs of guidebooks that are not produced by local climbers. Debate is always healthy, but many of the arguments against books such as the one I am working on are ill-informed, and fail to take in the wider picture. Unlike Alan James and Mick Ryan, I’ve not bravely engaged in the forum discussions. Instead, I’m going to try and answer the criticism one by one and you can make up your own mind. Argument 1: Outsider guidebooks damage access.Obviously an important issue, so I’m happy to look at this first. Knowing where you can and cannot climb requires information that is up-to-date. It really doesn’t matter where that information comes from, so long as it makes it way to the heads of those intending to visit. While it is possible that a more popular guidebook may exclude access information, that is not the policy of Rockfax books. Who in their right mind would spend the time producing a guidebook to an area that was likely to be banned? There are a number of crags where climbing happens, but is not allowed, I’m not putting them in this book despite them being suggested to me. A guide that is better produced, more widely available and in a language that almost all visitors are likely to understand will be updated more often than a locally produced topo, as such it will be a more effective way of communicating access issues than will local topos. Of course, a sign at the parking area of the crag would also work. Argument 2: Rockfax guidebooks take money away from local topo sales that fund bolting.Firstly, I am a keen bolter myself. I’ve bolted sectors in Kalymnos and in Wales with bolts paid for with my own cash. I don’t expect to get proceeds from the sales of the Kalymnos guide to pay for my efforts! I climb because I love it. I bolt because I like to produce something that others will enjoy. If I were to take contributions from climbers via guidebooks sales, then I would be under a moral obligation to bolt routes that they will be able to climb - and I want to bolt whatever takes my fancy. Argument 3: Local topos are perfectly fine.No, they are not. They are, in general, hard to find, over-priced, restricted to small areas, amateurish, and often plain lazy. Take a look at the Céüse guide, the best crag in the world some say, not one route has more said of it than a grade and a dotted line on a vague graphical representation of the crag, an over-priced lazy piece of work that owes its existence to the fact that there is no other guide, it’s an insult to the crag and those who love it. And you can’t even buy it on Amazon.fr. I’m not singling out the guide to Céüse, it is one of the better ones. The free market has winners and losers, the reason it is the dominant economic model for the world is that we are all far more winners in the free market than we are losers. Argument 4: Rockfax guidebooks plagiarise local topos.That would be flattery. The only information reproduced from (numerous) local sources are the route names and grades, which are originally provided by the first ascentionists. Lists of routes are not protected by copyright law any more than the places on a map, or entries in a phone book. Copyright law affords protection to ‘original’ works as a means to protecting creative products. While there are no legal precedents for cases specifically regarding climbing guidebook information, a very similar situation of a telephone directory consisting of names and numbers in a natural order has been found not to be protected by copyright law by the US Supreme Court in 1991 in the case of Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone Service, in the words of the court: “It is not enough for copyright purposes that an author collects and assembles facts”. All copyright law is based on international convention and so the decisions on one country are very likely to be followed in others. Anyone attempting to sue for copyright infringement due to the act of reproducing route names and grades is sure to lose a lot of money on an utterly hopeless case. Argument 5: Rockfax guidebooks bring too many people in to areas.The problem is that there are so few good guidebooks to European sport climbing areas, it’s no wonder that certain places are packed with people, where other areas are under-utilised. I was at Buoux last year and found a large group of climbers operating in the 5s and low 6s. There wasn’t a huge amount for them to go at, while an hour away were empty crags filled with routes in that grade range. Having good quality guidebooks to all the crags will serve to distribute people more evenly, taking the strain off over-used areas. Argument 6: Rockfax guidebooks should contribute to local bolting efforts.Firstly, the proceeds of a guidebook are not that great. Those of us who do it, don’t do it because we want to get rich, I’ve produced three books in four years, and I doubt that the proceeds I’ve received to date have even paid for my camera. There simply isn’t the money in guidebook proceeds to make a meaningful contribution to the bolt funds unless the guide is very cheaply produced, and covers a very small area (meaning you needs to buy lots of them). To get topo guidebooks to all the best areas in the South of France would cost literally hundreds of Euros, would you buy a selective guidebook if it cost more than your rack? Furthermore, who would administer this fund and on what grounds is money allocated? It would be completely impossible to check that money was being wisely spent, and would those placing the bolts want to be paid for their time? If such a fund existed then we would be one step closer to being able to make a charitable contribution to re-bolting areas, but would other manufacturers whose businesses also depend on access to crags similarly contribute? Older Diary Updates are now here. |
My plans to get down the South West this year had to be cancelled when Audrey hurt her knee in the British Bouldering Championships. Instead we got the train (we’re terribly CO2 aware these days) down to the South of France where Audrey's folks were on holiday. I didn’t see much of the rock other than one day in the Gorge du Loup where I had a PDF from Chris Craggs’ forthcoming guidebook to the area. I got a couple of routes done before it was time to head back – we used the local guide to find the crag and it wasn’t terribly helpful and we spent most of the day looking for the crag. It was also nice to go paddling around the coast, and I had my first taste of Via Ferrata - which was quite fun and sociable in a way that climbing can never be. I did get to have a day at L’Éléphant at Fontainebleu on the way back. Audrey had visited her ninety-nine year old grandfather in a nearby retirement home and later in the day they turned up and we wheeled him in so he could watch some climbing. I took a photo of us there which I think is being used in Climber to accompany a little Q&A I was asked to do for them.
>> Photo:Me on Flashdance (7a+) Lou Passo, Buis-les-Baronnies, France. Photo by Phil Vickers.