Visiting junior Toru Nakajima is safely back in Japan (phew!) after his three week blitz of Peak gritstone.
The 15 year old climber racked up an astonishing list of ascents given the warm and wet conditions he found in our typical British summer.
Black Out E9 (first ascent) Childs Play/Nocturnal Emission (Direct on Parthian Shot) E9 Meshuga E9 (climbed the same day as Parthian Shot!) Gaia E8 Simba's Pride E8 Elm Street E8 Life Assurance E6 (onsight)
Yeh - when I first saw this story (years ago) I thought "tiger mum/dad" syndrome. The blog corrected that unfair (and borderline racist) first unfair opinion of mine.
This was my favorite quote posted after the article...
One fine day we shall hear of his demise, as we have of all the other free climbers. Spread over the ground like a pound of strawberry jam. A short life and maybe a sweet one, unless he learns to give up while still young and agile. Still, the young have never been known for common sense. When in the army, the very few times I did abseiling I didn't blinking well like it. Good for him though, if that is what he enjoys.
- George, Stansted, 04/4/2012
On 29/08/2012 stugang wrote:
>Yeh - when I first saw this story (years ago) I thought "tiger mum/dad"
>syndrome. The blog corrected that unfair (and borderline racist) first
>unfair opinion of mine.
Yes, I found the fact that he was a 15 year old kid, who couldn't speak much English, alone and camped in some boggy moor, just out of Wimberry-On-Scrotum, cranking like a demon , living on Ramen and it took a while for anyone to notice.
I can't remember what I did when I was 15 and I had school holidays but it wasn't that.
On 29/08/2012 wallwombat wrote:
>On 29/08/2012 stugang wrote:
>>Yeh - when I first saw this story (years ago) I thought "tiger mum/dad"
>>syndrome. The blog corrected that unfair (and borderline racist) first
>>unfair opinion of mine.
>
>Yes, I found the fact that he was a 15 year old kid, who couldn't speak
>much English, alone and camped in some boggy moor, just out of Wimberry-On-Scrotum,
>cranking like a demon , living on Ramen and it took a while for anyone
>to notice.
>
>I can't remember what I did when I was 15 and I had school holidays but
>it wasn't that.
>
>Takes balls.
Aiyee.
~> Interesting reading for the likes of myself who do not consider myself a boulderer.
Some excerpts from that link...
Toru abseils and chalks the holds and then I belay him, as he try’s the moves.
Toru pulls down the top rope and then he disappears for nearly an hour. I have no idea where he goes, but he suddenly returns to the bottom of the route, quickly ties in and says “Ok I go.”
I have no problem with the fact that the lad climbs hard and well, but I wonder if some time in the future someone comes along and does those same climbs without using those tactics if they will be considered better climbers, or if the collective memory will say 'Oh, Toru did those back in 2012', ... as if to say ie 'equal ascents'...
When I watched that vid, prior to reading the link above, I thought to myself that the climbing seemed pretty sussed, and if not, then the obvious tick marks give the game away!
Nah. You boulderers (& sport climbers) can keep those tactics.
~> I really believe that I get more from my low grade adventure onsights, and for that matter my high grade aid onsights...
;-)
On 30/08/2012 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:
...
>When I watched that vid, prior to reading the link above, I thought to
>myself that the climbing seemed pretty sussed, and if not, then the obvious
>tick marks give the game away!
>
>Nah. You boulderers (& sport climbers) can keep those tactics.
>~> I really believe that I get more from my low grade adventure onsights,
>and for that matter my high grade aid onsights...
>;-)
I think it's kinda wank on the whole but what if you saw a line, felt inspired to do it but it was out of your onsight league and wanted to do it anyway?
Would you:
a) give up and go onsight something you can.
b) toprope it and then decide that that's enough.
c) headpoint it like in the vid so that you can get the experience of leading it.
d) attempt the onsight and live (or not) with the consequences.
If it was me, and I was truly inspired by the line, I would probably do (c). I can't really see it coming about though because I would much prefer it to be something that wasn't death on a stick and I could go for the onsight and fall off without fearing injury or death.
Just because there is a bouldering mat below some of the problems, none are really boulders problems. Rather typically short grit routes where such pre-inspection exists on the harder routes.
Ground up onsights of the harder E graded routes are still relatively rare as far as I am aware...
On 30/08/2012 Olbert wrote:
>On 30/08/2012 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:
>...
>>When I watched that vid, prior to reading the link above, I thought to
>>myself that the climbing seemed pretty sussed, and if not, then the obvious
>>tick marks give the game away!
>>
>>Nah. You boulderers (& sport climbers) can keep those tactics.
>>~> I really believe that I get more from my low grade adventure onsights,
>>and for that matter my high grade aid onsights...
>>;-)
>
>I think it's kinda wank on the whole but what if you saw a line, felt
>inspired to do it but it was out of your onsight league and wanted to do
>it anyway?
>
>Would you:
>a) give up and go onsight something you can.
>b) toprope it and then decide that that's enough.
>c) headpoint it like in the vid so that you can get the experience of
>leading it.
>d) attempt the onsight and live (or not) with the consequences.
>
>If it was me, and I was truly inspired by the line, I would probably do
>(c). I can't really see it coming about though because I would much prefer
>it to be something that wasn't death on a stick and I could go for the
>onsight and fall off without fearing injury or death.
Hmm. An interesting question you ask young grasshopper Olbert!
I would choose;
>d) attempt the onsight and live (or not) with the consequences.
... however with the caveat on that choice being (regarding);
>saw a line, felt inspired to do it but it was out of your onsight league and wanted to do it anyway?
I pretty much know my onsight limit and am reasonably proficient at assessing that in regards to any prospective onsight from the ground. Consequently, if I truly believed it well beyond my onsight limit and I wanted to do it anyway, then I would aid it!
What I find equally interesting, is that my onsight aiding limit is way higher than my onsight free-climbing limit as a consequence!
~> ... and here I am not talking aiding a grade (say) 25 crack, as that is often a simple M1(!), but instead, onsighting inspiring lines that normally exceed free climbing grade 30+, and consequently end up in the Gd M6/7 (or higher) category.
;-)