Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

FREIGHT FREE
in Australia

Black Diamond: Super Chute Rope Bag. Volume 25 litres. Single adjustable shoulder strap. Rope tarp dimensions: 146 X 126cm. 400d nylon. Assorted colours. (Holds up to 80M Rope) $40.00
20% Off

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - Climbing Videos

Post links and comments about your favourite climbing flicks

Author

Classic Almscliff

dalai

28/06/2012
10:51:53 PM

Soloing crag classics with some of the history behind the routes...

Classic Almscliff from Image Impossible on Vimeo.

Robb

29/06/2012
12:43:59 AM

brings back good memories. :-) Spent a day doing all those routes in the video a few years back. With a rope though

Karl Bromelow

29/06/2012
4:47:51 PM

Thanks for posting this Dalai. I tried to briefly yesterday but screwed up the embedding somehow. Almscliff was one of those places I could ride my bike to from my old home. Not so grotty and worthless as some on here like to pretend to believe. Good video, I think. Just about the climbing and no soundtrack distractions. It's a good place.

Cheers, Karl

Duncan

29/06/2012
6:33:03 PM

That video actually makes me want to climb on gritstone. Witchcraft.

Olbert

29/06/2012
6:45:55 PM

On 29/06/2012 Duncan wrote:
>That video actually makes me want to climb on gritstone. Witchcraft.

Really? It looks ok. Its short and has a handful of reasonable looking climbs which could pretty much be climbed in half a day (half an hour if you like soloing). If I had the video skills I could probably make an equally appealing video of Mt Kiera.

Duncan

29/06/2012
7:41:02 PM

I went to Keira once. I doubt it.

Karl Bromelow

29/06/2012
9:04:51 PM

On 29/06/2012 Olbert wrote:

>Really? It looks ok. Its short and has a handful of reasonable looking
>climbs which could pretty much be climbed in half a day (half an hour if
>you like soloing).

130 routes, 1620m of almost entirely independent climbing, 67 starred routes, and a mighty load of world class bouldering after that. You move fast if you can polish that off in half an hour without ropes. I find it best to judge a place by going there.

Cheers, Karl

Karl Bromelow

29/06/2012
9:11:39 PM

On 29/06/2012 Duncan wrote:
>That video actually makes me want to climb on gritstone. Witchcraft.

I hope one day you get the opportunity, Duncan. Any honest climber would enjoy the experience of climbing on grit. It isn't the only kind of rock that deserves adoration, of course, and the hype it gets is the root of it's denigration amongst climbers from areas outside of Northern England (including other parts of the UK) but it does have a special place in the history of our sport and it is a pleasure to climb on.

Cheers, Karl

dalai

29/06/2012
9:42:43 PM

Was much impressed by some of those routes first climbed in the 40's. Steep and committing and due to the gear of the day was basically soloing with a rope, but without the benefit of sticky rubber and chalk!

kieranl

29/06/2012
9:57:04 PM

Really good. Loved the gritstone though never got to Almscliff.

Karl Bromelow

29/06/2012
10:24:23 PM

On 29/06/2012 dalai wrote:
>Was much impressed by some of those routes first climbed in the 40's. Steep
>and committing and due to the gear of the day was basically soloing with
>a rope, but without the benefit of sticky rubber and chalk!

I spent a summer's day soloing around on Woodhouse Scar in Halifax, Yorkshire about 15 years ago and towards the end got chatting to an old gentleman who was self belaying on a few HVS classics. We sat at the top of the crag in the late sunshine and shot the breeze. He turned out to be (the late now) Peter Harding, British climbing pioneer and guidebook author of the 1940's, then in his mid 70's. He told me of his first meeting with Arthur Dolphin, the chap who first climbed many of Almscliff's classics and others all over Northern England. Harding was climbing at Black Rocks in the Derbyshire Peak when a chap in a Great coat and brogues with a briefcase rolled up at the crag. He opened the case and pulled out a pair of plimsolls and proceeded to solo some fairly out there for the time hand cracks. He introduced himself to Peter who was suitably impressed by the man's demeanor and obvious ability. Tragically Arthur Dolphin was killed in the Alps when he was only 28 years old. Peter Harding was a gent, by the way, and himself architect of some brilliant climbs in the 40's, in England and Wales, that would be around grade 19 on the Ewbank scale. Great stuff.

Cheers, Karl

ARidgley

29/06/2012
11:03:10 PM

That was awsome dalai. Thanks for that.
It looks like my type of climbing (the stuff with gear that is). I doubt I'll ever get that chance now, but that's OK.

Forgive my ignorance but what is E3? Is that around 22?

Karl Bromelow

30/06/2012
8:40:16 AM

On 29/06/2012 ARidgley wrote:
>
>Forgive my ignorance but what is E3? Is that around 22?

E3 could be up to 22 but could be as much as couple of grades easier. That would depend on the technical difficulty of the hardest move or moves. Having said that both the E3's on the video are E3 6a which would put them at the top end or 22 as you suggest. The HVS's are both probably 17's.

There's a good example at Almscliff of a route that doesn't fit any of the grade comparison tables and the grade of which makes sense to someone brought up on the British system. China Syndrome is graded E5 7a. It is well protected with a very hard move. You might expect to find moves of the difficulty of the crux on E8's or E9's that's 33's or 34's but E5's are usually technically 6b and closer to 25's. So you can't expect to make a direct comparison between the adjectival E grade and the Ewbank grade without considering the British technical grade too. It's easy when you know how. Such grade anomalies can happen at any level particularly on routes where the hardest move is getting off the deck or immediately by bomber pro.

Cheers, Karl

There are 13 messages in this topic.