Neil Mawson - The Cornice

The Cornice in Cheedale in the peak district must be one of the wettest and dirtiest sport climbing cliffs in the country (so probably the world!). In the last few years that I’ve been concentrating on sport climbing it’s never dried out. Apparently the last time the left hand side of the crag was dry was 2006, and even then it wasn’t completely clean and dry!

This year however has been different. With an amazingly dry spring and early summer the cliff has dried out. Almost all the routes have been cleaned and climbed and even a first ascent done. It’s like having a new cliff to climb on for most of Sheffield and its been the crag of the moment, even being busy mid-week.

I’ve been climbing almost no where else this spring and so slowly ticking my way through all the classic’s I’d never thought I’d get to try. The whole time hoping the one route I really wanted to do would dry out, Monumental Armblaster. This is the striking diagonal crack line on the steepest, and wettest, part of the cliff on the left hand side. The route’s not had an ascent in almost 10 years because it stays so wet and dirty for so long.

The line of Monumental Armblaster

Early on I spent a day cleaning up Nemesis, the route starting up Monumental but breaking out left at the 2nd bolt. My aim was to clean Monumental in sections, luckily for me someone else beat me to cleaning the rest of it. Jon Clark, the one man bolting machine that has re-bolted almost the entire cliff, re-bolted it. The route I never thought I’d get a chance to try was finally clean, dry, re-bolted and chalked. All I had to do now was climb it before it got wet again! It took me 2 days but I had redpointed one of the best routes in the peak and in my opinion it’s as good as any of the 3* routes I've done in Yorkshire.

Myself working the very technical wall of love amongst the butterflies

With the cliff still dry, even after all this rain, and Monumental ticked I’ve turned my attentions to some of the harder routes. Hopefully it’ll stay dry long enough for me to get some of these done.

steve mcclure - compromise!

Picture taken by Dr Mike Kent- editor of the Oxford Dictionary of Sports Science and Medicine and Food for Fitness, and co-author of Exploring the Camel Estuary and Cornwall from the Coast Path. I met him on the coast path and we chatted a while before I headed down over the cliff.

Compromise. Not my favourite word, but a poor understanding of the word will lead to a sticky end! I learnt more about this word when I had a kid.
I’m in Cornwall now, a few days by the sea surrounded by beautiful coastline, the landscape criss-crossed with deep cut single lane roads. The sun is even shining. Pentire Head is only 5 miles away, but with the family here there is no chance of a route – or is there? Luckily I came with my good friend Mr Shunt!
It’s not the same, climbing with a shunt. Traditional climbing is all about that ground up experience, placing the gear and assessing the danger, picking your way through the obstacles. As I rapped in I met a couple of lads on a long UK road trip, Mike was leading the E5 ‘Black Magic’ and looking very smooth indeed. I was jealous of their road trip and of the gift of this route. However I was climbing. The last time I was here was 15 years ago and I’d forgotten how amazing this wall is. With danger removed with the shunt I could cruise the E5’s on the wall, a different challenge but a special experience all the same, moving continuously and being absorbed by the technical footwork and tiny finger edges. And the great thing is I could have all that, plus a few miles on the bike through beautiful countryside, and be back on the beach building castles before I’d even been missed. Really, compromising is the way forward!

Lucy- 'Climbing Great Buildings'

The amazing abseil down through St.Paul's.

Another very eventful week on ‘Climbing Great Buildings’ (as it’s now titled) has come to an end. We’ve filmed at St.Paul’s Cathedral and New College, Oxford.

As I suspected, St.Paul’s was an amazing privilege and involved one of the most spectacular abseils I’ve ever done. Even though on Pabbay, there had been a 90metre free hanging ab which was very cool, there was something extra special about this one. Dr.J-Fo, myself and Ian Burton abseiled down from the inside of the iconic dome through to the body of the cathedral and it was incredible. It was about 270 feet, which in itself is a mighty drop and setting off from the top was awe inspiring. For Jonathan I think it was quite a feat of mental fortitude. It definitely took some inner strength and he handled it very well. I really tried to enjoy every second as we slowly made our way down. There were various pieces to camera that needed to be done on the way and Jonathan managed to keep it together to do these in a coherent manner. It really was a very special thing to do on such a famous building, to see all the artwork close up and have the unique view that we did; it’s something I won’t forget for a long time.

New College was quite a contrast in a way, as it’s a lot smaller. I didn’t have so much involvement on this building but it was fun. It’s nestled amongst Oxford’s history and as it’s a place I’m not familiar with, it was great to get a birds eye view on it. The architecture wasn’t particularly my cup of tea on New College and there was some long days as usual, so it was nice to get home back to Sheff.

Jonathan and I enjoying the awesome views from St.Paul's Cathedral

Climbing seems to be taking a back seat at the mo, the venues are placed mainly in the flatlands, so it’s not that easy to escape and touch rock. But hey, there’s a time and a place for everything.

The next few are Layer Marney, Burghley House and Blenheim Palace then up to Glasgow! So a good dose of the South East (admittedly not my favourite part of the country but it does get good weather), then a trek up to Scotland. I’m looking forward to a change of scene though and it’ll be nice to see the School of Art and Design building up there, it looks like an interesting structure to clamber about on.

I’m missing my pooch Kodo; she’s staying at my Mum’s for a bit, as Tim and I are both working away etc. As the shoots go on, it almost seems like it would be possible for her to be with me, as I have quite a bit of downtime and would be able to have her in the van then fetch her for a walk around the grounds etc. Maybe I’ll look into it, also Tim might be working on the rigging at Burghley, so it would be nice to have her there- we’ll see.

Not much more to report, I hope you’re all enjoying the great weather, it seems like we are actually having a proper summer for once. Although the schools have just broken up, so it’ll probably rain for the next five weeks as everybody tries to get away camping!!

Steve Mcclure - A boulder Problem.

But 140 moves long! That’s pretty long! But never more than about a meter off the ground, with a perfect landing for the majority of the way, flat and grassy. It’s the ultimate boulder traverse, if you like your routes, with the crux coming after about 100 moves and each attempt taking over 25 minutes!

Paul Smitton first did the huge traverse across ‘Dog’s Dinner Buttress’ just opposite the Peak’s Cheedale Cornice about a month ago calling it ‘Pedigree Chum’, 8c+. A boulder grade makes no sense. It’s a route of distinct sections climbed left to right. The first half makes up an amazing section in its own rite with flawless rock and an obvious good ledge to finish on, maybe 8c to here. The next quarter is about 8a+, very sustained and very fingery. A few people have been aiming to end after this section at an obvious flake line. It’s a clear place to end, but avoids the challenge of the entire wall. To link the whole thing Paul went up, a little scary but amazing vision and determination. There was no way three quarters would have done for him! The high version drops back down again to crimp its way along the final vertical wall to step off as far as you can climb. But the high version is just slightly out of character. A low version looked impossible, but a few useless holds were just enough. This 17 move section at somewhere between V9 and V11 was the hardest section of climbing, but the crux was resting enough before launching into it, a leg destroying back and foot in the flake line being the only way I could get shot of enough lactic to even consider the moves.

This low version, the ‘Finest Pedigree version’, took me another five days of effort after the initial three to do the original. Keeping low is the only rule and its much harder than the original. A boulder problem that is really a route that’s all about recovery!

Gav Pike - Chamonix Granite

After a hectic spring spent frantically trying to fulfill the remaining requirements for my Guides scheme application (and which thankfully paid off!), I've spent the past few weeks getting baked in the tropical temperatures we've been enjoying (?) in Chamonix.

Although not great for the mountains in general, the hot weather has been perfect for enjoying some of the world class granite on offer in the Mont Blanc massif. Listening to the roar of avalanches and rockfall has been a common theme up high recently, and many routes of a mixed nature seem suicidal propositions at the moment. But most of the big granite buttresses accessed from the Aiguille du Midi remain relatively safe.

Nabot Leon on the Red Pillar of the Blaitiere proved an excellent re-acclimatisation to the granite at the start of the summer after nine months spent climbing with ice tools. I headed up with Jon Griffith, and despite both of us feeling rusty, had a great outing. At this point, in mid-June, the steep ice lines such as Beyond Good and Evil on the adjacent north face of the Pelerins were plastered, whiter than I'd ever seen them. The too-warm temperatures directed thoughts away from such routes however, and they have probably been reduced to waterfalls by now.

Setting off up the 3rd pitch of Nabot Leon, with the soaring west face of the Blaitiere behind.

© Jon Griffith

Belaying Dave Searle on D'entree de Jeu on Pyramide du Tacul. © Jon Griffith

Two outings on the superb south face of Pointe Lachenal , Harold et Maud and A l'oree du Bois, gave some brilliant climbing. The crux pitches are side-by-side in adjacent crack systems high on the wall. On Harold et Maud, this is a burly wide crack followed by an unlikely squeeze chimney; for A l'oree, a pumpy finger crack.

Dave Searle rapping in to south face of Pointe Lachenal for Harold et Maud

On the cracks of A l'oree du Bois on the golden granite of Pointe Lachenal. © Dave Searle

Making the moves back into the cracks on the fourth pitch of A l'oree du Bois. © Dave Searle

John Horscroft - Austrian Mountain Biking

The lure of a free mountain bike press trip to Austria was just too hard to resist recently but I learned a valuable lesson - read the small print every time. I love a bit British singletrack, plenty of rocks and roots and drop-offs, but I should have had a close look at the new 1000km Bike Trail Tirol because it doesn’t include much of that kind of riding. I guess I should have been pleased we weren’t doing the whole thing, just 100km in two days with a mere 2400m of height gain.



Most of the other bloggers and website journos were all in their twenties and thirties leaving me the granddad of the peloton. At least the hire bikes were good, Specialized Enduros, Epics and Stumpjumpers. I couldn’t resist the Enduro even if it wasn’t the obvious choice for climbing.



Day one was tough, tough in a way I’m not used to. 60km and nearly 1400 metres of ascent. Thankfully, the banter and the scenery took my mind off the sheer effort involved. The weather was kind to us, we took every opportunity available to scope out any jumps and drops we came across and the two hour lunch was great. Great until I hit the big climb of the day when it began to lie a bit heavy. An hour later, as I approached the mountain hut where we were spending the night, I’d burned it all off and all I could think of was food.



Next day was good in parts. The weather let us down in a big way. The heavens opened and I had to suffer the usual comments from the others, “You are English, you must be used to this!” I quickly pointed out that we hadn’t seen rain for two months. Two excellent sections of singletrack passed in a blur and were over far too quickly. Back to climbing on good gravel trails and a very damp party finally arrived at the mountain hut that effectively meant the end of all effort. I was soaked to my pants, but in a fit of optimism that morning, I’d emptied out almost all my spare clothing.



Thankfully, I still had my Power Stretch – a real life saver.

The final madcap dash down to the hotel was a steep rocky, gravelly trail with the drop of certain death on one side, fantastic fun and the scene of many a hairy moment and laughter aplenty.





If you fancy pushing yourself in a big way physically with lots of demanding climbs, a kind of Tour de Austria for mountain bikes, the Bike Trail Tirol will be right up your street.




A big thanks goes out to all the photographers who allowed us to use their images. Check out additonal great images from these photographers by visiting their websites below:

www.jonadekker.nl

adrenalinesports.net

www.aos-communication.de

maas.flappie.nl

www.bike.tirol.at/xxl/en/1263422/index.html