It’s a wrap! Or a jam-wrap? @wide_boyz Crack Fest 2023 is over… and we have our Crack King and Crack Queen crowned (Ryan & Lucy) for another year 🙌🙌🙌 Big thanks to all the mad cracksters who came to the event to make it a day of fun and try hard… I still think the squeeze box was the hardest challenge! Couldn’t have done the event without the support of sponsors and also @depotsheffield in who went above and beyond to make it far slicker than me and Pete could have ever managed. @petewhittaker01 – don’t worry, we’ll find a overhanging Perspex pleasure box on one of the projects one day…. 😅😅
It’s a wrap! Or a jam-wrap? @wide_boyz Crack Fest 2023 is over… and we have our Crack King and Crack Queen crowned (Ryan & Lucy) for another year 🙌🙌🙌 Big thanks to all the mad cracksters who came to the event to make it a day of fun and try hard… I still think the squeeze box was the hardest challenge! Couldn’t have done the event without the support of sponsors and also @depotsheffield in who went above and beyond to make it far slicker than me and Pete could have ever managed. @petewhittaker01 – don’t worry, we’ll find a overhanging Perspex pleasure box on one of the projects one day…. 😅😅
It’s a wrap! Or a jam-wrap? @wide_boyz Crack Fest 2023 is over… and we have our Crack King and Crack Queen crowned (Ryan & Lucy) for another year 🙌🙌🙌 Big thanks to all the mad cracksters who came to the event to make it a day of fun and try hard… I still think the squeeze box was the hardest challenge! Couldn’t have done the event without the support of sponsors and also @depotsheffield in who went above and beyond to make it far slicker than me and Pete could have ever managed. @petewhittaker01 – don’t worry, we’ll find a overhanging Perspex pleasure box on one of the projects one day…. 😅😅
It’s a wrap! Or a jam-wrap? @wide_boyz Crack Fest 2023 is over… and we have our Crack King and Crack Queen crowned (Ryan & Lucy) for another year 🙌🙌🙌 Big thanks to all the mad cracksters who came to the event to make it a day of fun and try hard… I still think the squeeze box was the hardest challenge! Couldn’t have done the event without the support of sponsors and also @depotsheffield in who went above and beyond to make it far slicker than me and Pete could have ever managed. @petewhittaker01 – don’t worry, we’ll find a overhanging Perspex pleasure box on one of the projects one day…. 😅😅
It’s a wrap! Or a jam-wrap? @wide_boyz Crack Fest 2023 is over… and we have our Crack King and Crack Queen crowned (Ryan & Lucy) for another year 🙌🙌🙌 Big thanks to all the mad cracksters who came to the event to make it a day of fun and try hard… I still think the squeeze box was the hardest challenge! Couldn’t have done the event without the support of sponsors and also @depotsheffield in who went above and beyond to make it far slicker than me and Pete could have ever managed. @petewhittaker01 – don’t worry, we’ll find a overhanging Perspex pleasure box on one of the projects one day…. 😅😅
It’s a wrap! Or a jam-wrap? @wide_boyz Crack Fest 2023 is over… and we have our Crack King and Crack Queen crowned (Ryan & Lucy) for another year 🙌🙌🙌 Big thanks to all the mad cracksters who came to the event to make it a day of fun and try hard… I still think the squeeze box was the hardest challenge! Couldn’t have done the event without the support of sponsors and also @depotsheffield in who went above and beyond to make it far slicker than me and Pete could have ever managed. @petewhittaker01 – don’t worry, we’ll find a overhanging Perspex pleasure box on one of the projects one day…. 😅😅
It’s a wrap! Or a jam-wrap? @wide_boyz Crack Fest 2023 is over… and we have our Crack King and Crack Queen crowned (Ryan & Lucy) for another year 🙌🙌🙌 Big thanks to all the mad cracksters who came to the event to make it a day of fun and try hard… I still think the squeeze box was the hardest challenge! Couldn’t have done the event without the support of sponsors and also @depotsheffield in who went above and beyond to make it far slicker than me and Pete could have ever managed. @petewhittaker01 – don’t worry, we’ll find a overhanging Perspex pleasure box on one of the projects one day…. 😅😅
Always good to have a GoPro in cases like these 😅😅. This piece snapped, the next one ripped out (whoops 🙈) and finally a nice micro Friend provided the end to the flying journey. Not had many near full crag length falls in my career, but this one was one of the better ones thanks to the buttery catch by @annahazelnutt – haha, sorry for the scare 😄. It went on a while so she thought the rope had snapped (which to be fair, did cross my mind for a micro second mid fall). All in a good day’s trad climbing… @rab.equipment @wildcountry_official @mytendon @unparallelup @rhinoskinsolutions @wide_boyz
Whaaaat??! Why haven’t we heard about this before?! I’ve been climbing on roof cracks with @petewhittaker01 for well over 10yrs and never come across this clipping technique! Having watched @gantzerseb use this yesterday on Project Enorm I was amazed at how quick this is… as in TOTAL game changer. For proper hard roof cracks where taking a single hand off for more than 1-2 secs is desperate, it makes a massive difference. I’d say it’s not far off the difference in trying to place a Friend vs a nut (ie one is pretty fast and the other is pretty fiddly) Anyway. For all you roof crack climbers – all 7 of us 🤣🤣 – get on it!!! Thanks Seb for changing the game….
So the grade of Walk of Life…. 🧐 Going to have to put this out there as grades are a consensus and I don’t keep an online logbook or post on forums etc. My view, having climbed both WOL and Once Upon is that James’s effort was most definitely E10 and the E9 downgrade was one of those things that was not quite right… maybe James had got too big for his boots, maybe Scottish Dave’s grades are (way) too harsh… maybe it’s just men being men and throwing egos around!? Not that’s some kind of evil that we should be terrified of… it’s somewhat the nature of the game at the top. What I do think (and obvs it’s just my opinion) is that Once Upon has to be E8 if WOL E9 or we accept that maybe things got too compressed. I’d gladly lead one of the lines any day of the week, the other, deffo not 😅😅. My view after quite a bit of time on that wall is top end E8 for OUATITSW and bottom end E10 for WOL. But…… it gets more complicated 😅. The WOL has gained & lost holds since James did it (easy to spot from the old video footage) and I’d say in current state it IS a solid E9. So I guess that’s the ever changing state of chossy sea cliffs? No ascent is quite the same? Anyway, just wanted to put that out there as I think the FA and debacle with downgrade deserves a rethink. Also….. let’s see if we can have a grade debate/discussion without people totally insane. It’s really not that big of an issue! < Runs to log out of Instagram for 5 days > 😄 Photos by: @mike_hutton_images
So the grade of Walk of Life…. 🧐 Going to have to put this out there as grades are a consensus and I don’t keep an online logbook or post on forums etc. My view, having climbed both WOL and Once Upon is that James’s effort was most definitely E10 and the E9 downgrade was one of those things that was not quite right… maybe James had got too big for his boots, maybe Scottish Dave’s grades are (way) too harsh… maybe it’s just men being men and throwing egos around!? Not that’s some kind of evil that we should be terrified of… it’s somewhat the nature of the game at the top. What I do think (and obvs it’s just my opinion) is that Once Upon has to be E8 if WOL E9 or we accept that maybe things got too compressed. I’d gladly lead one of the lines any day of the week, the other, deffo not 😅😅. My view after quite a bit of time on that wall is top end E8 for OUATITSW and bottom end E10 for WOL. But…… it gets more complicated 😅. The WOL has gained & lost holds since James did it (easy to spot from the old video footage) and I’d say in current state it IS a solid E9. So I guess that’s the ever changing state of chossy sea cliffs? No ascent is quite the same? Anyway, just wanted to put that out there as I think the FA and debacle with downgrade deserves a rethink. Also….. let’s see if we can have a grade debate/discussion without people totally insane. It’s really not that big of an issue! < Runs to log out of Instagram for 5 days > 😄 Photos by: @mike_hutton_images
The one that got away…. for the moment! Just finished up a trip in Austria trying Prinzip Hoffnung with @annahazelnutt and it was one of those “nearly, but not quite situations” that do happen! 😅 I used to get a bit frustrated about these as it always felt like the success of the trip was determined by the outcome of ‘productivity’ but that doesn’t really work for me any more. It just leads to too much focus on a goal and not the fun of the experience. Definitely not easy to get it right as being a ‘pro’ is somewhat correlated with success (however you define that) and I’m still prone to getting it wrong. However, this time it felt right as at the end of the trip in the last couple of days I realised I was getting increasingly detached from the send and that the more I tried to force myself to be psyched it wasn’t quite right. So… what to do? I set zero expectations on each remaining days, I went with whatever felt fun (lead, TR, random jumping off) and it went back to being just perfect again! If anything I left more psyched that it’s still there for a return trip and I’ve got a bit of improving to do. Big shout to Anna for getting this route done. It’s not really her forté being quite cracky and it’s deffo not an easy route despite the number of repetitions… don’t let that fool you! She also climbed the crux with a duff method (well done) and did the bold climbing with zero fuss really (again, good effort). Looking forward to some Welsh trad this coming month now! 💪💪 Photos by: @philippklein 📸 @rab.equipment @wildcountry_official @unparallelup
The one that got away…. for the moment! Just finished up a trip in Austria trying Prinzip Hoffnung with @annahazelnutt and it was one of those “nearly, but not quite situations” that do happen! 😅 I used to get a bit frustrated about these as it always felt like the success of the trip was determined by the outcome of ‘productivity’ but that doesn’t really work for me any more. It just leads to too much focus on a goal and not the fun of the experience. Definitely not easy to get it right as being a ‘pro’ is somewhat correlated with success (however you define that) and I’m still prone to getting it wrong. However, this time it felt right as at the end of the trip in the last couple of days I realised I was getting increasingly detached from the send and that the more I tried to force myself to be psyched it wasn’t quite right. So… what to do? I set zero expectations on each remaining days, I went with whatever felt fun (lead, TR, random jumping off) and it went back to being just perfect again! If anything I left more psyched that it’s still there for a return trip and I’ve got a bit of improving to do. Big shout to Anna for getting this route done. It’s not really her forté being quite cracky and it’s deffo not an easy route despite the number of repetitions… don’t let that fool you! She also climbed the crux with a duff method (well done) and did the bold climbing with zero fuss really (again, good effort). Looking forward to some Welsh trad this coming month now! 💪💪 Photos by: @philippklein 📸 @rab.equipment @wildcountry_official @unparallelup
Gotta love zee monos 😍😍 I always remember the first trip I had to the Frankenjura, when someone told me that maybe the best mono finger is actually the ring finger. They’re not wrong! It is a little freaky initially, but it’s very trainable and also feels almost restful from standard jams. I won’t deny it does come with a bit pain though 😄 Sunny days over in Austria 🌞🌞 Video: @annahazelnutt
Never thought I’d find quite so many good things on a very random Germany trip 😅. Feels like I’ve been here a month! Project Enorm (thanks @gantzerseb for piquing my interest… I owe you one) was an absolute beast. We managed to free all of it in a single day (rough guess of maybe 15 pitches of up to 7c /5.13a?) but the true perfect style challenge remains of 5 x 30m monster pitches pillar-to-pillar with what I reckon is 8b as the middle pitch. Hardest urban crack in the world for sure, right now. Some of the most consistent, bad size climbing I’ve ever had the misery of experiencing 🤣 Berlin was just mental. @silveira.bells & @viktorsloth you know the deal. I’m in. Also cheers to @tintaalpina for the cool artwork tee & @skalo.climbing for the cool charitable work. Appreciated 🙏🙏😊 Best walls in Berlin… can deffo recommend… @bouldergarten & @boulderklub_kreuzberg – flipping amazing setting. Photo credit: @pino.1789 📸
Never thought I’d find quite so many good things on a very random Germany trip 😅. Feels like I’ve been here a month! Project Enorm (thanks @gantzerseb for piquing my interest… I owe you one) was an absolute beast. We managed to free all of it in a single day (rough guess of maybe 15 pitches of up to 7c /5.13a?) but the true perfect style challenge remains of 5 x 30m monster pitches pillar-to-pillar with what I reckon is 8b as the middle pitch. Hardest urban crack in the world for sure, right now. Some of the most consistent, bad size climbing I’ve ever had the misery of experiencing 🤣 Berlin was just mental. @silveira.bells & @viktorsloth you know the deal. I’m in. Also cheers to @tintaalpina for the cool artwork tee & @skalo.climbing for the cool charitable work. Appreciated 🙏🙏😊 Best walls in Berlin… can deffo recommend… @bouldergarten & @boulderklub_kreuzberg – flipping amazing setting. Photo credit: @pino.1789 📸
Never thought I’d find quite so many good things on a very random Germany trip 😅. Feels like I’ve been here a month! Project Enorm (thanks @gantzerseb for piquing my interest… I owe you one) was an absolute beast. We managed to free all of it in a single day (rough guess of maybe 15 pitches of up to 7c /5.13a?) but the true perfect style challenge remains of 5 x 30m monster pitches pillar-to-pillar with what I reckon is 8b as the middle pitch. Hardest urban crack in the world for sure, right now. Some of the most consistent, bad size climbing I’ve ever had the misery of experiencing 🤣 Berlin was just mental. @silveira.bells & @viktorsloth you know the deal. I’m in. Also cheers to @tintaalpina for the cool artwork tee & @skalo.climbing for the cool charitable work. Appreciated 🙏🙏😊 Best walls in Berlin… can deffo recommend… @bouldergarten & @boulderklub_kreuzberg – flipping amazing setting. Photo credit: @pino.1789 📸
Never thought I’d find quite so many good things on a very random Germany trip 😅. Feels like I’ve been here a month! Project Enorm (thanks @gantzerseb for piquing my interest… I owe you one) was an absolute beast. We managed to free all of it in a single day (rough guess of maybe 15 pitches of up to 7c /5.13a?) but the true perfect style challenge remains of 5 x 30m monster pitches pillar-to-pillar with what I reckon is 8b as the middle pitch. Hardest urban crack in the world for sure, right now. Some of the most consistent, bad size climbing I’ve ever had the misery of experiencing 🤣 Berlin was just mental. @silveira.bells & @viktorsloth you know the deal. I’m in. Also cheers to @tintaalpina for the cool artwork tee & @skalo.climbing for the cool charitable work. Appreciated 🙏🙏😊 Best walls in Berlin… can deffo recommend… @bouldergarten & @boulderklub_kreuzberg – flipping amazing setting. Photo credit: @pino.1789 📸
With all the things Berlin has to offer, dangling out of cracks isn’t ✨necessarily✨ one of them… Here we have @tompaulrandall on holiday and having a good time in our gym on two of the boulders from our recent community setting event. Thanks to @nora.caterin.born and @kim_de_wolff for setting the fun problems in the video! 🫶 🎥 @duststudios_ 🎞Big thanks to @james_barry for coming along to help out with the footage🎞 @axisclimbingholds @squadraholds @wide_boyz @tompaulrandall @cheetaholds @artlineholds @bloczclimbing #boulderklub #boulderklubkreuzberg #wideboyz #tomrandall #crackisback #boulderingvideo #boulderingedits #videoedit #climbingvideo #climbingedit #boulderingberlin #climbingberlin #bouldering #climbing
Tom Randall: Expert on Training . Tom joins The Struggle to look back at this season’s interviews with 10 of the biggest names in climbing, and helps us all to learn from where the pros have struggled and excelled (featuring highlights from @tommycaldwell, @maizalimarock, @jonathansiegrist, @tradprincess, @mo.in.mountains and more) . 📈 How to begin training if you’re totally new to it 😴 Proper rest protocols 💪 The magic trick of post activation potentiation ❓When to train weaknesses vs doubling down on strengths ⚔️ How to use systems boards (and when NOT to) for project training 😁 Finding joy in climbing and training . This season is supported by @petzl_official, the official gear sponsor of The Struggle. Try their Hirundos harness with fuse-frame technology. It’s light, it’s fast, and it’s comfy enough to dog on your proj. This season is supported by @physivantage, the official climbing-nutrition sponsor of The Struggle. Try their amazing new Greens powder to level up your daily nutrition! Visit www.physivantage.com/discount/STRUGGLE15 to receive 15% off your full priced nutrition order. . Check it out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen! . The Struggle is carbon neutral in partnership with @honnoldfoundation . Support the show and the climbers who make it: Patreon.com/thestruggleclimbingshow . The struggle makes us stronger. Let’s climb hard and do good things in the world.
Tom Randall: Expert on Training . Tom joins The Struggle to look back at this season’s interviews with 10 of the biggest names in climbing, and helps us all to learn from where the pros have struggled and excelled (featuring highlights from @tommycaldwell, @maizalimarock, @jonathansiegrist, @tradprincess, @mo.in.mountains and more) . 📈 How to begin training if you’re totally new to it 😴 Proper rest protocols 💪 The magic trick of post activation potentiation ❓When to train weaknesses vs doubling down on strengths ⚔️ How to use systems boards (and when NOT to) for project training 😁 Finding joy in climbing and training . This season is supported by @petzl_official, the official gear sponsor of The Struggle. Try their Hirundos harness with fuse-frame technology. It’s light, it’s fast, and it’s comfy enough to dog on your proj. This season is supported by @physivantage, the official climbing-nutrition sponsor of The Struggle. Try their amazing new Greens powder to level up your daily nutrition! Visit www.physivantage.com/discount/STRUGGLE15 to receive 15% off your full priced nutrition order. . Check it out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen! . The Struggle is carbon neutral in partnership with @honnoldfoundation . Support the show and the climbers who make it: Patreon.com/thestruggleclimbingshow . The struggle makes us stronger. Let’s climb hard and do good things in the world.
Tom Randall: Expert on Training . Tom joins The Struggle to look back at this season’s interviews with 10 of the biggest names in climbing, and helps us all to learn from where the pros have struggled and excelled (featuring highlights from @tommycaldwell, @maizalimarock, @jonathansiegrist, @tradprincess, @mo.in.mountains and more) . 📈 How to begin training if you’re totally new to it 😴 Proper rest protocols 💪 The magic trick of post activation potentiation ❓When to train weaknesses vs doubling down on strengths ⚔️ How to use systems boards (and when NOT to) for project training 😁 Finding joy in climbing and training . This season is supported by @petzl_official, the official gear sponsor of The Struggle. Try their Hirundos harness with fuse-frame technology. It’s light, it’s fast, and it’s comfy enough to dog on your proj. This season is supported by @physivantage, the official climbing-nutrition sponsor of The Struggle. Try their amazing new Greens powder to level up your daily nutrition! Visit www.physivantage.com/discount/STRUGGLE15 to receive 15% off your full priced nutrition order. . Check it out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen! . The Struggle is carbon neutral in partnership with @honnoldfoundation . Support the show and the climbers who make it: Patreon.com/thestruggleclimbingshow . The struggle makes us stronger. Let’s climb hard and do good things in the world.
Tom Randall: Expert on Training . Tom joins The Struggle to look back at this season’s interviews with 10 of the biggest names in climbing, and helps us all to learn from where the pros have struggled and excelled (featuring highlights from @tommycaldwell, @maizalimarock, @jonathansiegrist, @tradprincess, @mo.in.mountains and more) . 📈 How to begin training if you’re totally new to it 😴 Proper rest protocols 💪 The magic trick of post activation potentiation ❓When to train weaknesses vs doubling down on strengths ⚔️ How to use systems boards (and when NOT to) for project training 😁 Finding joy in climbing and training . This season is supported by @petzl_official, the official gear sponsor of The Struggle. Try their Hirundos harness with fuse-frame technology. It’s light, it’s fast, and it’s comfy enough to dog on your proj. This season is supported by @physivantage, the official climbing-nutrition sponsor of The Struggle. Try their amazing new Greens powder to level up your daily nutrition! Visit www.physivantage.com/discount/STRUGGLE15 to receive 15% off your full priced nutrition order. . Check it out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen! . The Struggle is carbon neutral in partnership with @honnoldfoundation . Support the show and the climbers who make it: Patreon.com/thestruggleclimbingshow . The struggle makes us stronger. Let’s climb hard and do good things in the world.
Tom Randall: Expert on Training . Tom joins The Struggle to look back at this season’s interviews with 10 of the biggest names in climbing, and helps us all to learn from where the pros have struggled and excelled (featuring highlights from @tommycaldwell, @maizalimarock, @jonathansiegrist, @tradprincess, @mo.in.mountains and more) . 📈 How to begin training if you’re totally new to it 😴 Proper rest protocols 💪 The magic trick of post activation potentiation ❓When to train weaknesses vs doubling down on strengths ⚔️ How to use systems boards (and when NOT to) for project training 😁 Finding joy in climbing and training . This season is supported by @petzl_official, the official gear sponsor of The Struggle. Try their Hirundos harness with fuse-frame technology. It’s light, it’s fast, and it’s comfy enough to dog on your proj. This season is supported by @physivantage, the official climbing-nutrition sponsor of The Struggle. Try their amazing new Greens powder to level up your daily nutrition! Visit www.physivantage.com/discount/STRUGGLE15 to receive 15% off your full priced nutrition order. . Check it out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen! . The Struggle is carbon neutral in partnership with @honnoldfoundation . Support the show and the climbers who make it: Patreon.com/thestruggleclimbingshow . The struggle makes us stronger. Let’s climb hard and do good things in the world.
