Limber Hill

Went to check out Steve Phelps Limber Hill boulder discovery on a warm, sunny day. After initially struggling to find the boulder and aimlessly walking around for two hours, i eventually found 'The Cutter' block. This was pretty much the boulder problem I wanted to do, an excellent 7a+ with what looked like a powerful, reachy move to a small crimp.

I arrived, tried to push as many of the pine needles off the holds with a stick from the top, and then set about flashing the line. I had seen Lee's video so knew the beta; so i warmed up and set to work. A short prelude, quick step up and I was soon up top in the pine needles... Felt closer to 6a+ and that was with all the holds having been wetted by soggy pine needles. Who knows? Perhaps it was the infamous 'sticky-damp'... Must have really suited my style, perhaps it was 6c or something?

After spending two hours finding the block and then 1 minute climbing it, I cleaned and climbed the short wall to the left, which if started low in the recess, gives a tricky first move. Could be easier if you start with your finger in the mono, or sat higher up the hill, but I gave it 6c? for the way i did it. A pleasant slopey top out awaits.

EDIT: Betaguides/Steven Phelps have already done the second problem, presumably from sit, at 6b and continued following the feature rather than direct. The crux is the low start, so there must be a 6b way of doing it!

Limber Hill from Dave Warburton on Vimeo.

More Fryup Dale Bouldering

Franco had returned from Manchester psyched as usual and quickly made his way to Danby Crag to his Mono Wall project. While there he checked out the rest of the hillside that splits Little Fryup from Great Fryup, and discovered a collection of bouldering venues. He was quite excited.

It has been good weather over the Easter weekend, however work commitments with the on going drilling program at York Potash, meant i didn't want to be too far from a road, my phone and Doves Nest site! That meant this local bouldering venue was the perfect balance between getting something done on my two days off and also not being uncontactable.

The location is top notch, a further continuation of the oft-eyed Freyr's Nab and together the 3 venues compliment each other well. First reached on the path from Little Fryup is 'Fairy Cross' which is home to two short buttresses with a collection of easy boulder problems and short solos. An unclimbed clean arete is the pick of the lines but requires non-snowy conditions for an ascent.

Gallop 6a+

5+ upper arete - Finkel Arete

From the top of the hill, where the troops of mythical wild moors horses dash about in and out of impressive Scot's Pines, you can either head north east to the Finkelstones or due south to the jutting Freyr's Nab. We wandered down to the Finkelstones, so called due to the proximity of Finkel Farm. This pleasant collection of boulders is in a medium-thick deciduous woodland and offers a view straight onto the hamlets of Great Fryup. Occasional wintry showers would pepper the slopes adding to the atmosphere.

Brainwashed Tory - 6b+

Brainwashed Tory - 6b+

The problems vary from bunched sit starts on small blocks to large, impressive roofs and craglets. We climbed a range of problems from 4+ to 7A+/7B on many of the blocks, with slabs, walls, aretes and jamming cracks, with gaps and new boulders surely still available. The odd project has been noted and will be dutifully returned too at some point.

Labyrinth - 7a+. Excellent compact arete

The highlight for me was the slopey arete, tackled from sit which became 'Labyrinth' 7A+. This looked when I first saw it and thought it might give a gentle 6-grade from sit. However it soon became apparent it had more to offer. Starting from sit with a jam in the roof, several height gaining slaps, toe hooks and high feet unlock the rising and curving arete-line. A direct through the roof also appealed and soon, after initally feeling impossible, turned out to perhaps be around 7C. I'll head back at some point with fresh arms and tips to give that a proper go i think.

Pocket Wall 6a+ / 7a for a right and direct finish, respectively

Some excellent stuff really, top notch location definiately a pleasant place to be in winter/spring but the bracken might cause some problems in summer? Certainly on the approach over the top but the Fairy Cross boulders will be OK and perhaps the Finkelstones will avoid high bracken in the trees?

Stone Wall 5+

Video's bar - a selection of moors videos - plus a few extras

Created a second page to hold links to videos found below the top photo - quick fire video finding for you moor's psyche maybe.......

The Moors

Work is going well at York Potash and recently I (finally) managed to get myself a copy of Climb Magazine to check out our article. Written by Franco and photos by Dan Lane, I was transport during a two week Moors hit-up in perfect weather.

Dan, of Dan Lane Photography which can be found here: http://www.danlanephotography.com/ managed to get some quality shots through out the two weeks but only a few made it into ink within the magazine. Kindly though, he passed a load of photos of me on, which are found below.

Central Crack E2 5c ** - Stoupe Brow

Central Crack HVS 5a ** - Whitestonecliffe

Eve RH E2 5c * - Scugdale

Farndale Fayre E5 6b ** - Round Crag

Fire Dance E6 6a / F6c+ ** - Stoupe Brow

Hara Kiri HVS 5a * - Park Nab

The Prow E1 5a * - Scugdale

Top Gun HVS 5a *** - Ingleby Incline

Stonemaster HVS/E1 5a * - Ingleby Incline

Frenesi VS 4c *** - Peak Scar

If you think it's really self indulgent to post a load of photos of one's self on one's own blog, you'd be right. It is. I've currently got a warm and fuzzy feeling going on, but you should probably check out Dan's website too...

Working Man, but what about the climbing?

I'm now an employee at the York Potash Project (Sirius Minerals) and thoroughly looking forward to my working development. The climbing will take a big hit, especially over the winter, meaning headtorch ascents are an option; something I did occasionally at Leeds and It wasn't really very good. I preferred the wall after training my mind to accept plastic holds and now feel it's a shame I don't have a wall within walking distance... That said, i'm in the process of making a home wall; which should help me retain some sort of fitness. I fear I may never climb any harder than I managed in my peak years, which is disappointing, but i'll keep plugging away.

Pretty stoked by the idea of Moors bouldering at the moment and i'll probably get a few more sport holidays too over the next couple of years? Also, I suppose with a good income now, I may begin to climb in easier areas like the Lakes, Peak and Northumberland...

Anyway, it's all very exciting and here's to the successful development of the York Potash Project over the coming years.  

Round Crag - Repeats and more...

Round Crag appears to be my 'go to' crag for a psyche shot in the arm. I've not been for a while and only really fancy Scut de Scun ai (E7), mainly as I dislike the landing of Pippi (E6) which can be attempted highball style (lower section anyway). Anyhow, recently Sam and Matthew plugged a couple of gaps with some good looking solos.

Vampiric Recession, E3 5c*, climbs the wall right of Vampiric Obsession (E5). It always looked worth doing, but I had not bothered with it and was pipped to the post by the lads. They also established a quick solo up the left arete of the unclimbed northside area of the pinnacle; this arete is Idle Ignorance, E2 5c.

Arriving at the crag I warmed up, then soloed Idle Ignorance. It's a short solo above a hole-ridden landing. I climbed up to some crimps then rocked rightwards around the arete onto a smear. I was pretty stuck in this position and sat here on my toe for some time above the much lower ground away from the ledge. Bricking one's pants, I stood up and finished the climb off. It felt E4 5c! I knew I must have climbed the route differently to the lads as they'd not mentioned it being quite so necky... I quickly set a rope up and re-shunted the line, this time staying left of the arete. This made more sense actually and I was a bit miffed I didn't climb it 'properly' first time. A dodgy landing and probs E2 5b/c, however a pad would make this a good little highball so worth a punt I reckon.

Now fully happy the lads were not infact sandbagging, I quickly abseiled down to check the top of Vampiric Recession. Matthew had a comment on this blog saying something about "pulled on loose heather which came out but another solid part held!". I decided to see if I could clean the top, but unearthed a decent bush root and also a couple of blocks which are solid. Good! I cleaned the holds, including a few smaller very dirty holds which obviously weren't used on the FA. Starting from the ledge, the route is instantly serious in feel. Some nice holds lead to a standing position on the initial hand holds and then, a rather cool crux at height leads into the root and rock top out. E3 5b I thought for this, as a couple of the little footholds made the top easier than doing it without I reckon? I'm not sure though, I suppose 5c is pretty easy (overall) but if this was 5c I think it was E4? Nice route, I'm glad it climbs well and that the lads got it done and dusted.

My shunt of Idle Ignorance had reminded me of the small crimps and holds on the wall to the right. I've cleaned this wall on a couple of occasions, but never really got around to sorting holds/sequences/figuring out where to start! I usually thought about starting from the gully below and in the centre before trending left. Another option was to trend leftwards across the slab from 'Heel...'.

However, on this day, I realised there was a series of moves to be made starting from the grassy ledge of Idle Ignorance. Stepping off the block, you teeter into a hanging corner before making some powerful moves utilising a couple of crimps, one positive and one slopey. A quick foot step through, left to right, then a re-step through right-to-left on an inclined hold, makes up what is the crux move onto a smear. Cool! From here a final insecure move leads to the nicely angled slab to the top. I was surprised by this little chop route, as I had tried to pull through the roof direct, further to the right and was annoyed that nothing climbed this wall. Admittedly, nothing does climb the centre of the wall, so i'll see if anything can be done to rectify that. I don't think it will be that good, but it's a local crag... The new route is probably E6 6a. It feels similar to 'Battle For Tripoli' and also probably my most quoted route 'Ginny Greenteeth'. The move is tricky but it isn't 6b, I don't think. Even so i'm fairly sure the route is 'only' E6, even if it is 6b...? The route might be able to start from below, I didn't try the other day as I enjoyed the sequence across from the ledge... Feel free to go and do it from the ground! :-)

So, a couple more lower grade Extremes at Round Crag, which although not *** are well worth attention for Moors aficionados. My new route is just another chopper, if it gets flashed I apologise for shunting the FA... Not decided on a name yet but as I'm currently looking for a job, it might be one of my last new routes as a jobseeker... (HOPEFULLY OF COURSE!) but we'll see.

Black - Octopet (E4/5), Green - Honey Arete (E5), Small Red - Vampiric Obsession (E5). Blue - Idle Ignorance (E2) and Right-Most Red - New Route (E6)

Clemmitt's additions and Psycho Syndicate

Sam and Matthew have been busy, finally climbing the once-pegged crack at Clemmitt's found just to the right of 'Yellow Brick Road'. Franco, Twig and I had jokingly claimed the line and called it 'Welcomed Back to the Beaver Pack', after looking at the route in the pouring rain. We estimated a grade of E4 6b for the crack in full.
Sam and Matthew climbed the crack flash, climbing from a tree up the crack to the rocking-but-solid block and making an excellent move to the arete at E3 6a. A brilliant addition and better for ignoring the overhanging start by stepping in from the ledge. The upper crack remains though, so I gave it a quick shunt and it indeed does climb at about E4 6b. A shame that its eliminate to go direct, as you can move left at 6a, as otherwise it would be excellent. Still worth doing I might do them both on lead in the future.

Sam and Matthew also quickly dispatched a slab to the right of the crack. I gave it a top rope and agreed it was worthwhile climbing, which starts with an unprotected 6b move, before decent but tricky to place gear and an exciting 6a safe finish. E5 6b for this route I think they gave it and I agree.


Yesterday, alone, I wandered up to the Wainstones to see if my recent board training and mental thinking about Psycho Syndicate had made a difference. I have elected to shunt this line as I was a bit scared of jumping off higher up as the ground is uneven and is probably about as hard, technically as i can climb. Anyway, I quickly found I was much stronger than last time I tried and found I could indeed make the moves which I was delighted about.

The start is a tad reachy but you soon find yourself on a foot ledge with hands in slots. From here Franco made a move up using a mono pocket and high step. I found my finger was unable to fit in the slot so I decided to try it another way. Martin Parker had posted beta on Franco's blog so i decided to try that. It felt like it would work on my last visit. Martins method is to gain a poor left hand sidepull/undercut, which you can get 3 fingers on, but you end up pulling on just one (which is currently wrapped in tape! Ouch). From here I found I had to get very 'straight on', rather than sideways as i'd have expected, in order to get my right foot to step through on to an edge. I had failed before on this not trusting my shoes but here with a newer set i found the move much friendlier. A powerful stand up to a mono/ or two finger razor edge if you crimp the outer part of the hole before and technical foot move and heel use. Scary. A powerful and bold feeling cross through leads to the top. Wild!