One of the hardest – actually very good – cracks in Europe hides under a line of bolts up in N Italy. I tried “Lapoterapia” a few sessions back when I was going to Cadarese a few years back… not an easy one for sure! 8c on crack is rare, but even rarer is one that isn’t that steep and also requires all the tricks. Brilliant ringlock move right at the top right when you’re full gassing 🥵🥵 It was one of the ‘got away’ routes for me, so at least there’s a reason to go back! Even better that Jacopo showed the way with a trad style repeat as well 😎 Photo by the talented @paolosartophoto @rab.equipment @wildcountry_official @mytendon @unparallelup
Photo 1: Crack climbing at its simplest. Just a Wideboy, a roll of tape and a filthy roof crack above 😈 Photo 2: Crack climbing at its most complicated. A mountain of ropes, a beefy rack and no idea how to get to the base of the route 😅 I still wonder if anyone will go and repeat Millenium Arch… is a 100m roof crack pitch that bit too much? Prob should have pitched it out? Photos: both down in the lovely White Rim, where crack dreams are made. Second one by @mike_hutton_images
Photo 1: Crack climbing at its simplest. Just a Wideboy, a roll of tape and a filthy roof crack above 😈 Photo 2: Crack climbing at its most complicated. A mountain of ropes, a beefy rack and no idea how to get to the base of the route 😅 I still wonder if anyone will go and repeat Millenium Arch… is a 100m roof crack pitch that bit too much? Prob should have pitched it out? Photos: both down in the lovely White Rim, where crack dreams are made. Second one by @mike_hutton_images
“There’s always one more waiting round the corner…” This was something I was telling a fairly new climber the other week, chatting about first ascents and how it’s one of those tip-of-the-iceberg situations. You can’t always see the hard work and micro-fails that go into them. For every one new route you see in the guide, that first ascentionist has prob checked out 100, abbed 10, naively cleaned 3 and finally settled on one to do 😅. You have to go at it with a firm belief that there’s “always one more around the corner….” Like indoor route setters, I sometimes think the modern day equippers don’t always get the recognition they deserve. We turn up to these crags with hundreds of shiny bolts, lower offs and cleaned loose rock. When I started climbing it was always a whole section in the back of the mags for first ascents but nowadays, where does that go? Do FAs of non-big-grade routes get the credit? Isn’t it just as cool that a mega 5 star 7a got done on that new crag? Just a few morning ponderings from me! 😄 Agree/disagree? Pics by: @tradprincess Routes: some new stuff on the White Rim by me and @petewhittaker01 shuffling our way through sand, spiders and paddles. We’ve deffo had an easy run over the years with the iceberg factor – areas like this you have a waaaay better ratio of effort put in.
“There’s always one more waiting round the corner…” This was something I was telling a fairly new climber the other week, chatting about first ascents and how it’s one of those tip-of-the-iceberg situations. You can’t always see the hard work and micro-fails that go into them. For every one new route you see in the guide, that first ascentionist has prob checked out 100, abbed 10, naively cleaned 3 and finally settled on one to do 😅. You have to go at it with a firm belief that there’s “always one more around the corner….” Like indoor route setters, I sometimes think the modern day equippers don’t always get the recognition they deserve. We turn up to these crags with hundreds of shiny bolts, lower offs and cleaned loose rock. When I started climbing it was always a whole section in the back of the mags for first ascents but nowadays, where does that go? Do FAs of non-big-grade routes get the credit? Isn’t it just as cool that a mega 5 star 7a got done on that new crag? Just a few morning ponderings from me! 😄 Agree/disagree? Pics by: @tradprincess Routes: some new stuff on the White Rim by me and @petewhittaker01 shuffling our way through sand, spiders and paddles. We’ve deffo had an easy run over the years with the iceberg factor – areas like this you have a waaaay better ratio of effort put in.
“There’s always one more waiting round the corner…” This was something I was telling a fairly new climber the other week, chatting about first ascents and how it’s one of those tip-of-the-iceberg situations. You can’t always see the hard work and micro-fails that go into them. For every one new route you see in the guide, that first ascentionist has prob checked out 100, abbed 10, naively cleaned 3 and finally settled on one to do 😅. You have to go at it with a firm belief that there’s “always one more around the corner….” Like indoor route setters, I sometimes think the modern day equippers don’t always get the recognition they deserve. We turn up to these crags with hundreds of shiny bolts, lower offs and cleaned loose rock. When I started climbing it was always a whole section in the back of the mags for first ascents but nowadays, where does that go? Do FAs of non-big-grade routes get the credit? Isn’t it just as cool that a mega 5 star 7a got done on that new crag? Just a few morning ponderings from me! 😄 Agree/disagree? Pics by: @tradprincess Routes: some new stuff on the White Rim by me and @petewhittaker01 shuffling our way through sand, spiders and paddles. We’ve deffo had an easy run over the years with the iceberg factor – areas like this you have a waaaay better ratio of effort put in.
“There’s always one more waiting round the corner…” This was something I was telling a fairly new climber the other week, chatting about first ascents and how it’s one of those tip-of-the-iceberg situations. You can’t always see the hard work and micro-fails that go into them. For every one new route you see in the guide, that first ascentionist has prob checked out 100, abbed 10, naively cleaned 3 and finally settled on one to do 😅. You have to go at it with a firm belief that there’s “always one more around the corner….” Like indoor route setters, I sometimes think the modern day equippers don’t always get the recognition they deserve. We turn up to these crags with hundreds of shiny bolts, lower offs and cleaned loose rock. When I started climbing it was always a whole section in the back of the mags for first ascents but nowadays, where does that go? Do FAs of non-big-grade routes get the credit? Isn’t it just as cool that a mega 5 star 7a got done on that new crag? Just a few morning ponderings from me! 😄 Agree/disagree? Pics by: @tradprincess Routes: some new stuff on the White Rim by me and @petewhittaker01 shuffling our way through sand, spiders and paddles. We’ve deffo had an easy run over the years with the iceberg factor – areas like this you have a waaaay better ratio of effort put in.
New move unlocked? 🤔 Saw this one on an Insta account a while back and always wondered if the jam the foot above head pull on it like a jug would work… Simple answer: yes, but the foot jam needs to be amazing Nuanced answer: if the foot jam is that amazing you might as well stay upright and use your hand/s! 😅 Good fun trying these concepts out though. Me and @petewhittaker01 are always hoping something mad like this turns up on a route outside… @adam.ondra Silence feels like it’s the closest to this?? Potentially a VERY modified shoe would change the game on this though. Prob not very good practice for Bohuslän next week?! 😂 @wide_boyz @wildcountry_official @unparallelup @rab.equipment @dark_ventures @rhinoskinsolutions
For all you trad, bigwall and crack lovers… a proper tasty @wide_boyz film! Grab some🍿and enjoy. I’ve put the link in my stories or you can also find on the Wideboyz YouTube channel.
Talking of good crack routes (see last post) this one – La Cadenza di Amore – is also amazing! A project that was kindly tipped off to me by @onceuponaclimb which made for a really nice technical 8a addition to the Cadarese crack circuit. If you’re into granite cracks this place should be on your list for sure. The route was originally opened by Fabrizio Fratagnoli and given the name “Changing Corner” so this may be given the name going forwards. A couple of trips planned for Italy later this year has got me searching through previous trip pics finding unfinished lines and things to get psyched on. If you’re in the Orco Valley region in late Sept do not miss @valle_orco_climbing_festival which I’ll be over doing some stuff with @wildcountry_official @rab.equipment @rhinoskinsolutions @mytendon
In this carousel Slide 2 shows a couple of graphs we looked at whilst working on eGrader that really help to explain our main goal. We tried to include all of the danger spectrum from Blue = the equivalent E grade of a bolted sport route (remember UK sport routes were originally graded with E Grades) to Red = extremely dangerous. As you can see, the two graphs line up almost perfectly from E1 to E7, from where the current average E grade (as things stand) begins to drop off. This is the ‘compression’ we’re discussing and why it’s so contentious to propose new E Grades, seemingly irrespective of the sheer difficulty involved. Looking at the top graph, there are a couple of interesting examples to take note of. These are Equilibrium and Rhapsody. Both of them were “first of the grade, and have become considered benchmarks for E10 and E11 respectively. They also happen to be much more consistently aligned with the lower E Grades than other routes of E7 and above. eGrader helps us to align the upper end E grades with these benchmarks and the rest of the E Grade spectrum, creating a more consistent progression from grade to grade. Climbing images: 1. Dave Simmonite 3. @philippklein #tradclimbing #climbing #rockclimbing #rockclimber #climber
In this carousel Slide 2 shows a couple of graphs we looked at whilst working on eGrader that really help to explain our main goal. We tried to include all of the danger spectrum from Blue = the equivalent E grade of a bolted sport route (remember UK sport routes were originally graded with E Grades) to Red = extremely dangerous. As you can see, the two graphs line up almost perfectly from E1 to E7, from where the current average E grade (as things stand) begins to drop off. This is the ‘compression’ we’re discussing and why it’s so contentious to propose new E Grades, seemingly irrespective of the sheer difficulty involved. Looking at the top graph, there are a couple of interesting examples to take note of. These are Equilibrium and Rhapsody. Both of them were “first of the grade, and have become considered benchmarks for E10 and E11 respectively. They also happen to be much more consistently aligned with the lower E Grades than other routes of E7 and above. eGrader helps us to align the upper end E grades with these benchmarks and the rest of the E Grade spectrum, creating a more consistent progression from grade to grade. Climbing images: 1. Dave Simmonite 3. @philippklein #tradclimbing #climbing #rockclimbing #rockclimber #climber
In this carousel Slide 2 shows a couple of graphs we looked at whilst working on eGrader that really help to explain our main goal. We tried to include all of the danger spectrum from Blue = the equivalent E grade of a bolted sport route (remember UK sport routes were originally graded with E Grades) to Red = extremely dangerous. As you can see, the two graphs line up almost perfectly from E1 to E7, from where the current average E grade (as things stand) begins to drop off. This is the ‘compression’ we’re discussing and why it’s so contentious to propose new E Grades, seemingly irrespective of the sheer difficulty involved. Looking at the top graph, there are a couple of interesting examples to take note of. These are Equilibrium and Rhapsody. Both of them were “first of the grade, and have become considered benchmarks for E10 and E11 respectively. They also happen to be much more consistently aligned with the lower E Grades than other routes of E7 and above. eGrader helps us to align the upper end E grades with these benchmarks and the rest of the E Grade spectrum, creating a more consistent progression from grade to grade. Climbing images: 1. Dave Simmonite 3. @philippklein #tradclimbing #climbing #rockclimbing #rockclimber #climber
In this carousel Slide 2 shows a couple of graphs we looked at whilst working on eGrader that really help to explain our main goal. We tried to include all of the danger spectrum from Blue = the equivalent E grade of a bolted sport route (remember UK sport routes were originally graded with E Grades) to Red = extremely dangerous. As you can see, the two graphs line up almost perfectly from E1 to E7, from where the current average E grade (as things stand) begins to drop off. This is the ‘compression’ we’re discussing and why it’s so contentious to propose new E Grades, seemingly irrespective of the sheer difficulty involved. Looking at the top graph, there are a couple of interesting examples to take note of. These are Equilibrium and Rhapsody. Both of them were “first of the grade, and have become considered benchmarks for E10 and E11 respectively. They also happen to be much more consistently aligned with the lower E Grades than other routes of E7 and above. eGrader helps us to align the upper end E grades with these benchmarks and the rest of the E Grade spectrum, creating a more consistent progression from grade to grade. Climbing images: 1. Dave Simmonite 3. @philippklein #tradclimbing #climbing #rockclimbing #rockclimber #climber
Photo dump last couple of weeks…. Absolute mega weather in the UK ☀️ with Lakes tradding and topping up the sunburn. Mega pump with Rubicon traversing sessions on the most desperate 5 (or whatever it’s supposed to be 😅) to get some summer fitness in. Mega walls over in Denmark – mahooosive thanks to BouldersDK for all the hosting and workshop organisation.
Photo dump last couple of weeks…. Absolute mega weather in the UK ☀️ with Lakes tradding and topping up the sunburn. Mega pump with Rubicon traversing sessions on the most desperate 5 (or whatever it’s supposed to be 😅) to get some summer fitness in. Mega walls over in Denmark – mahooosive thanks to BouldersDK for all the hosting and workshop organisation.
Photo dump last couple of weeks…. Absolute mega weather in the UK ☀️ with Lakes tradding and topping up the sunburn. Mega pump with Rubicon traversing sessions on the most desperate 5 (or whatever it’s supposed to be 😅) to get some summer fitness in. Mega walls over in Denmark – mahooosive thanks to BouldersDK for all the hosting and workshop organisation.
Photo dump last couple of weeks…. Absolute mega weather in the UK ☀️ with Lakes tradding and topping up the sunburn. Mega pump with Rubicon traversing sessions on the most desperate 5 (or whatever it’s supposed to be 😅) to get some summer fitness in. Mega walls over in Denmark – mahooosive thanks to BouldersDK for all the hosting and workshop organisation.
Photo dump last couple of weeks…. Absolute mega weather in the UK ☀️ with Lakes tradding and topping up the sunburn. Mega pump with Rubicon traversing sessions on the most desperate 5 (or whatever it’s supposed to be 😅) to get some summer fitness in. Mega walls over in Denmark – mahooosive thanks to BouldersDK for all the hosting and workshop organisation.
Photo dump last couple of weeks…. Absolute mega weather in the UK ☀️ with Lakes tradding and topping up the sunburn. Mega pump with Rubicon traversing sessions on the most desperate 5 (or whatever it’s supposed to be 😅) to get some summer fitness in. Mega walls over in Denmark – mahooosive thanks to BouldersDK for all the hosting and workshop organisation.
Photo dump last couple of weeks…. Absolute mega weather in the UK ☀️ with Lakes tradding and topping up the sunburn. Mega pump with Rubicon traversing sessions on the most desperate 5 (or whatever it’s supposed to be 😅) to get some summer fitness in. Mega walls over in Denmark – mahooosive thanks to BouldersDK for all the hosting and workshop organisation.
Photo dump last couple of weeks…. Absolute mega weather in the UK ☀️ with Lakes tradding and topping up the sunburn. Mega pump with Rubicon traversing sessions on the most desperate 5 (or whatever it’s supposed to be 😅) to get some summer fitness in. Mega walls over in Denmark – mahooosive thanks to BouldersDK for all the hosting and workshop organisation.
Photo dump last couple of weeks…. Absolute mega weather in the UK ☀️ with Lakes tradding and topping up the sunburn. Mega pump with Rubicon traversing sessions on the most desperate 5 (or whatever it’s supposed to be 😅) to get some summer fitness in. Mega walls over in Denmark – mahooosive thanks to BouldersDK for all the hosting and workshop organisation.
New ep: Coach Chat with Tom Randall! . Usually exclusive to Patrons, this Coach Chat with @tompaulrandall is available to everyone so y’all can get a sense for some of the Patron Perks, and also because Tom shared some great stuff in this convo that will no doubt be of value to many of you. We covered topics from how to test and self-assess your training progress, to timing energy system work, to managing life stressors (allostatic load), to what we can all learn from the GOAT @chris_sharma … plus listener questions! We had a great time with this one. . Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you pod! . Get access to prior Coach Chats, Pro Clinics, and other bonus content by subscribing on Apple or joining as a Patron at patreon.com/thestruggleclimbingshow 🙏🏼
