A tale of two 7b+

Had a spiffing day at Rubicon today. Me, Dave and Charlie went to take on the sunshine after an exam in the morning, having figured this is our last full totally free day before getting sucked into revision. Anyway, to cut a long story short and I feel knackered, we ended up going to try Brachiation Dance, a classic (Soft) 7b+. I have never climbed 7b+ routes before, it isn't cause I am not capable, I have just never really done much sport climbing. Charlie went first. After attempting to do the slab at the bottom, and not being able to quite do it, I had a burn. Went on it and had to really stretch to reach the first clip after a few failed attempts. I basically ended up bolt to bolting the entire thing so as not to get knackered. Every single hold was a jug. What a gift. However the biggest problem was we weren't quite sure where the route ended. After each of us had more attempts on it trying to climb it in one from the ground, we got to the last moves - trying to grab some jugs round the final lip off a fairly pathetic difficult to see rounded crimp we were forced to give in. It felt like we had done the route (We had reached the last bolt!) but because the route had no real lower off we were lead to believe you have to basically top the route out and then drop onto the previous bolt. Oh well. So I either managed a 7b+ with relative ease, or well, just didn't do a 7b+. Meh.
Later on in the day I was psyched to get on the press after trying it a few weeks ago with Bob Hickish. The press is a 7B+ boulder problem which massive plays to my strengths. Crimping the life out of gastons on gently overhanging limestone. Perfect. I found I could do the press moves very easily and the only obstacle was the last dynamic move off a mining cheese grater crimp. After afew goes (3 according to my video camera) I crushed it. Literally crushed it. Miles Gibson told me about a way he did it, where he could take one hand off on the gaston move and drink from a bottle of water, I had to try it. I couldn't finish the problem but managed the drink. I also had some good attempts on The press low start which goes at 7c+. This should go soon I think.

The Press, Rubicon from Tom Butterworth on Vimeo.

Bouldering in Langdale with a shiny new toy

My dad bought a HD camcorder called a Sony Bloggie. I had already planned to go out climbing, but with the new toy I figured I could make a video of my local haunt - the Langdale boulders. I also planned to check out Rakerigg Crag in Langdale as Greg Chapman has recently put a topo for it on his Lakes bloc website. I have to say I thought it was a very good crag despite afew sharp holds. It is about 20-30 degress overhanging with lots of crimps and generally powerful climbing on mostly good rock, well worth a trip if you are in the langdale area and climbing above font 7a. While I didn't get to play at rakerigg for long i did do a font 7b which I was happy with called "The overlap", I came so excruciatingly close to flashing it though. The video I have included shows how close I came on my flash attempt, my fingers are literally on the finishing jug but slip off cause of how greasy they are. Anyway, the camera ran out of battery power so you don't get to see my successful attempt two goes later. I had a few goes on hyper kinetic (7c), this is a fantastic problem with small holds, big moves and quality rock. Didn't manage it but I will definitely be going back for it.

Bouldering at Langdale and Rakerigg from Tom Butterworth on Vimeo.

A week of contast

Despite being a self proclaimed "Lakes Boulderer" this week I have mostly enjoyed peak limestone trad at Stoney Middleton. Dave and I decided what summery evening that it would be good to just go and do a bit of easy trad climbing. Gritstone was quickly dismissed as a non-option so we headed out to the limestone at Stoney. We headed up to what I think is called the windy wall, we decided to Aurora arete / tiger trot link which is a 2 pitch HVS up the right hand side of the buttress. Dave took the 1st pitch and I took the second. The climbing was never really difficult, although sometimes it was slightly scary. There was a particularly nervous moment when the only gear I could find was a bad thread (Bad cause it looked like it would break) and all the rock in front of me looked extremely loose. I managed to pull off a few holds which was reassuring. Anyway, by the time we finished this route and abbed off it was getting dark. It was definately a fun experience which has given me new trad motivation.

Anyway the next day Dave and I returned and took on two classic E2s: Armageddon and Scoop Wall. Two completely different styles of route. Armageddon with a bouldery start and delicate climbing to finish. Scoop wall being a pumpy route with good holds and a technical finish. I took the lead on Armageddon and Dave did Scoop wall. My lead was pretty uneventful, I set off slightly nervous, but once I had dispatched the bouldery start, I knew the rest would be easy and climbed more confidently and smoothly to the top.
Dave's lead was a bit more interesting. For a bit of background Dave broke his back a couple of years ago on Old Friends at Stanage, a classic E4. He used to be pretty ballsy on the trad, but since then he has unsuprisingly had a hard time getting his confidence back. Considering most people wouldn't get back into climbing after such an accident, makes Dave's tenacity particularly inspirational. Anyway... back to Stoney:
I may have given Dave a bit of gentle encouragement to get on scoop wall. Dave got geared up and set off looking slightly nervous, he climbed up to beneath the first overhang and built a bomb shelter for himself. He climbed up and down back to his rest point afew times to try and work out a good sequence then after a few minutes, pulled round the overhang and quickly plowed up to the next rest point where he built another bomb shelter. After this rest comes the crux sequence, the guidebook describes it as, "only pumpy in the legs - if you get it right". Dave climbed up to the crux and experimented with the holds in order to try and crack the sequence. It all looked like it was going well from my point of view, climbing smoothly up on the available holds with what looked like a good sequence, then Dave just stopped halfway through the crux, looking flustered he shouted down "Take!" Fumbling with the ropes for a minute I eventually took in the rope and Dave slumped on to a rusty old peg. After a good 5 minute rest - and clearly not wanting to be defeated, Dave climbed up to the crux using the same sequence as last time, he paused for a second at the place where he fell, for a moment I thought he was off again, but he perservered and just kept on pulling and got through the crux. Clearly pumped out of his mind and a bit panicked he used his tactic of "Banging a cam in". He took a little rest by wedging himself into the rock and then finished the route off.
I followed him up and dismantled the bomb shelters - I suddenly understood why he built them despite the abundance of pegs, they all looked about 30 years old. When I got to the upper wall where Dave fell, I worked out a less pumpy sequence using some bridging, presumably this is what the book was on about. Dave told me when I finished the route that he almost didn't manage to place the cam, and was very close to falling off. Good fight.

Next Stoney trip I am hoping to Scare myself on an E4 6b called "Our Father" - Looks wicked, very bouldery start, and it looks like has enough protection for me not to completely shit myself.

In other weekly climbing events I had two trips to Cressbrook, both of which were fairly uneventful for me. I just found myself making excuses for my lack of ability. Also went to the Tor and had a little play on Powerband and Wild in me direct start. Feeling quite strong - powerband is definitely going down soon. Also went to Works and went on the motherboard, I came up with a really good problem but it is currently too hard for me, hopefully I will chip away at its defences and be capable of doing it soon. I realised I haven't done enough easy problems on the motherboard in a great enough volume, maybe if I do that I will have the power endurance to do powerband? Also managed to campus 1-4-7 leading with my right arm for the first time on the second largest set of rungs at the works. This is good. Will have to do 1-4-7 with my left next, but it doesn't even feel close.