The Eiger, one of the most feared mountains on Earth; its reputation goes before it. Many have died on it’s unforgiving North face but the difficulties of climbing the Eiger is not just in the technicalities of the climbing, but in it’s momentous scale, the rock fall and unpredictability of weather.
Sorting out gear in Grindelwald before making the EPIC walk up the hill! (Finalcrux Fims)
The Eiger lies just on the tip of the Swiss Alps making it the sentry point for all bad weather and serious mountain storms to gather. It’s difficult to get the Eiger in good condition, most of the time there is a permanent cloud surrounding it; when it’s a sunny 30 degrees in the neighboring town of Grindelwald, it can be a life threatening thunderstorm on the north face!
There are many climbers in history who have made their names on the Eiger with epic ascents of it’s faces, ridges and slopes. In our generation, it’s guys like Ueli Steck, Robert Jasper and Roger Schali who are pushing the boundaries of what is being done up there.
Roger Schali (Left), Robert Jasper (Right)
The Eiger and Me
We woke up in the stollenloch (an opening to the train tunnel within the mountain). Our legs ached from the endless hours of persistent walking we did the previous day. It was our second night in pitch-black darkness; inside the mountain nothing gets through! The pressure from outside battered the window of the Stollenloch – I’m amazed it’s survived so long!
The Stollenloch - Climbers have died inside and out of this door (Finalcrux Films)
It’s bloody cold in the morning, my muscles were rigid but I was eager to climb. I crawled through the window and the pressure pushed me back – it’s an ice cold burst of air, but once through the wind stops. I looked up and saw the immense walls of the Rote Fluh (the right hand overhanging walls of the North Face). There was dampness all over it; I could see the walls disintegrating like a giant wet sandcastle. How does anybody climb this? The conditions weren’t in our favour; we would have to wait…
It was a constant waking dream, I didn’t sleep that night… excitement had me! I wanted to be on the face but was dreading that it would still be soaked!
We began climbing at 06:30am…
Leading the first two pitches in the wet was harrowing; long slabs of grey limestone, a few bolts and not much for your hands or feet.
7b/7c+ Pitch - Grades don't mean anything on this wall (Finalcrux Films)
Around 80m of climbing on wet slippery limestone, a small waterfall and a choss-filled crack and I was standing at the start of the main overhang. The wall above me was huge! Hundreds of feet of steep blank face lay before me; but at least it was dry…
I continued on the lead… I was slowly gaining height as each pitch was freed and I was confident that this was going to be a successful ascent within the next day. Before long we reached the first ledge and were staring up at the hardest pitch… I was so excited as I knew that when I was through this pitch, we would only have a few more before stopping and setting up camp on the large halfway ledge.
Exposure is what you get on this wall! (Finalcrux Films)
The crux pitch was on a steep orange bulge of beautiful limestone and looked absolutely brilliant to climb on. Moving on this pitch was challenging, the holds were small and sharp and there was some serious exposure, but I managed to get to the belay and rejoiced that it was possible! Above me I heard abseiling and Frank Ketschmann (Photographer) peered his head over…
“Your on the wrong route Robbie… this is Robert (Jasper) and Roger’s (Schaeli) crux pitch of their new route!”
I was devastated… I’d have to abseil down and climb another hard pitch as I was now on the wrong route. My forearms were cramping with every tense of my muscles, the blood in my head was thumping across my temple, this was getting close to my physical maximum for the day.
I began climbing again, this time on the true line of “Paciencia”, but I was too far gone. My fingers were uncurling on every hold, my forearms were involuntarily causing my wrist to curl over and I was blacking out in concentration! I had to get off the wall…
It’s Over…
Another long night in the Stollenloch, I had drifted in and out of a decision to head back up there the next morning, but this was going to be my third night on the North Face and my body was not enjoying it. The weather was due to make a serious change but we didn’t know when… Word amongst the climbers on the face was that we had until tomorrow evening to get to the bivy before a thunderstorm might hit the wall.
I love figuring out the sequences on these blank faces... (Finalcrux Films)
9am the next morning, I feel like a smashed up china vase that someone has glued back together… I’m still in one piece, but definitely broken!
We decide to go for the ascent…
Willis and I make the grueling journey back up the face passing each of the long hard sections of wall we made on the previous day. It feels like ages but it's really only hours ago the previous night that we'd been up here before! Back at the crux belay I feel better than I did the day before but I’m still tired. I sucked it up and began to climb…
Each section rolls by like a dream, my forearms are cramping, my hands are sweating and I can feel the pressure of the unknown weighing in… I have never been this high on the pitch! I see a blank section of rock, reaching for invisible holds I feel something like an edge but it crumbles to dust in my fingertips! Nothing but air and miles of rocky face below me, I dig deeper and reach higher, the forearm cramps up but for some reason it feels stronger… my fingers roll over a solid edge and I pull up – thank god! I mantled over a crumbly shelf, the rock disintegrating as I whaled my body over the top. When I stood up my head hit a roof (ouch) and I notice a bit of old rope hanging between two very comforting bolts!!! I had done it!
Life long friendships are forged in the pursuit of Adventure
I shouted to Willis that I’m safe and he screamed with excitement; we were on a roll now, we’re going to the top! He followed me up by climbing the rope using ascenders and we took a quick look at the next pitch. There was a drip from above, it hit me on the head but I knew it was just from up high on the wall. As I began to climb the drip got kind of worse… Was it just me or did it feel like it was coming from different directions now? I placed a couple of good cams and found an old rusty peg about 5metres in; the drips got even heavier… Willis still at the belay was getting wet now; this was not just seepage anymore, it was rain!
I returned to the belay but by then it wasn’t just rain, the water was cascading down the wall on top of us! We were in the middle of a waterfall and had to escape before it brought down more than just water on our heads!
Then we heard a terrible sound… a crashing thunderous sound that nobody likes to hear when they’re trying to escape a collapsing mountain! The wall to our left was crumbling apart under the tremendous weight of the cascading waterfalls; a piece of rock the size of a car flew down the wall and shattered across the shelf below… Willis and I looked at each other in what I can only describe as a “lets get the hell out of here” kind of way.
I was worried I wasn't skinny enough to squeeze through this... (Finalcrux Films)
Willis trying to squirm through the crack on second with a rucksack on!!! (Finalcrux Films)
Willis abbed down into nothing - Using momentum, he bounced back and forward from the wall to somehow reach a ledge 40m below us. I was soaked to the bone but thankfully my tight mid-layer and base layers were acting like a neoprene scuba suit and holding the water tight against my body allowing it to stay fairly warm. Needless to say, we had to keep moving and we had to escape!
I donned my soggy gloves and zipped down each abseil point as fast as I could. The water from above was easing off slightly but there was still rock fall all around us. The rope was speeding through the belay device, I could hear the hissing from the water evaporating of the soaked rope as it created friction on the metal.
It’s interesting how fear can grasp a hold of you in some odd situations; and yet moments like these when you expect fear to be at its pinnacle… I felt nothing… I was completely at ease, actually enjoying the environment around me, the chaos of the crumbling mountain! I was cold and wet and my life balanced on the edge of Fate’s dagger; but I couldn’t have been happier than if I was sitting on the bivy heading for the top of the wall!
View from the North Face... (Finalcrux Films)
When you love what you do and you try your hardest, it doesn’t really matter that you might fail. Of course it’s always a bit of a disappointment when you do, but at least you are out there doing what you love! Willis and I gave our all to this route; we never gave up until the consequences really were at their most dire and I am proud of what we achieved up there. Maybe there was not an ascent to write about yet, but we pushed harder and further than we ever had before.
The climb is called “Paciencia” which literally translates as “Patience” – this makes a lot of sense to me now… The climbing is not the hard bit, it’s the situation of getting caught out up there in a storm, the possibility of not being able to get off the mountain… that is the real fear!
You need patience to wait for the right conditions and the right moment to make your move.
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The last week and a half has been a bit different to the rest of this Summer’s activities of big wall multipitches and mountains.
Willis and I drove to Grindelwald from the Dolomites after our ascent of “Phantom der Zinne” on the Cima Grande.
We were meeting up with good friend and professional filmmaker, Euan Ryan (Finalcrux Films). Willis and Euan had a previous engagement to film the “Eiger Paraclimb”, a project lead by Scottish climber Mark McGowan in which he was helping lead three disabled climbers up the west flank of the Eiger - I left the lads in Grindelwald and escaped to sunnier climates in Chamonix (France).
Moving to Chamonix
I love Facebook! I had no climbing partner… one status later and I had three!!! I met up with my new friend Vaidotas (Mr V), a 24 year old Lithuanian climber currently based in London. He was climbing with Duncan Botrill, a strong ex-London based climber and now working for EpicTV in Chamonix! And last in the team was the Belgian, Miss Therese-Marie Becker (TB) who is the bubbliest girl I have ever met! She is currently working as a Social-Media strategist for EpicTV (cool job!).
Digital Crack
First on the list was to go up the Aguillde du Midi on the Mont Blanc massif and attempt the famous 8a, “Digital Crack”. This is an absolutely incredible granite spire jutting out the line of the Cosmic Arete. The wall is almost completely blank with the exception of the occasional tiny blade-like edge. These are accompanied by a lot of flat smooth granite for smearing your feet on. Luckily the wall isn’t entirely flat; it turns into a groove that you can bridge up making the climbing “not impossible”!
8a isn’t that hard in the great scheme of things, but what isn’t shown by the grade is the pure technicality of granite not to mention the fact that you are 3840m high. Although it’s not “that” high, it should be enough to start feeling some of the effects of altitude.
I managed to climb the route on my 2nd try with V-man on second – Really happy with this as one of my first pure granite climbs in the mountains!
Sport Climbing in the Valley
Unfortunately “Digital Crack” was my last mountain adventure during my time in Chamonix. I couldn’t find anyone keen during my stay for mountains, so I was “forced” to go Sport climbing… Woe is me! Hahaha
The climbing in the valley was actually really good, much better than I had expected. In the week I was there I mamaged to onsight some routes in the 7c-8a range and made several 8b’s on my 2nd try amongst a few 8a+’s as well.
The best part of my time in the valley though was hanging out with the crew. We had so much fun chilling out in the evenings, having sushi nights, eating out, and swimming in the lake; it was far removed from the idea of a dirtbag climbing bum! Maybe I am getting old, but living rough just doesn’t appeal… I’ve gone soft!
Back to Grindelwald
I travelled back to Grindelwald to pick Euan and Willis up for the main goal of this trip, “Paciencia” on the Eiger.
We have just spent a couple of days together, chilling out in the van, having a days climbing and now we are in the final preparations of getting gear sorted for an attempt when the weather clears. It also turned out that Sasha Digulian arrived on the same day as me with the same goal in mind… this was unexpected and has forced us all to consider more logistics than we expected. However I am sure it will all work out in the end… “Paciencia” might be the hardest rock climb on the Eiger right now, but it’s going to be the most popular over the coming weeks with both of us trying it.
There is only one thing to do now and that is to climb….
Wish us luck everyone!
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The Dolomites is without a doubt one of the most beautiful mountain landscapes I have ever visited. The whole of the Tyrol and more specifically, South Tyrol region will always have a place in my heart… I love it here so much! The mountains, culture and climbing combined make for one of the most enthralling locations I have had the pleasure to visit during my time as a climber.
Blast from the past - last year on "Bellavista"
Visiting the Dolomites last year was a huge eye opener for me, it challenged my view of climbing and what I really love about the sport. Since climbing here last year, my directions have changed so much and I am having more fun than ever as a result!
Last year I was lucky enough to be here when Dave Macleod first started work on “Project Fear”. On my first day at the Tre Cime, I walked around and saw him dangling up high in the roof, working his way through the immense overhangs, scoping out the direction to which his variation on the wall would take. The weather was terrible that year but despite this both Dave and I managed our respective projects, “Bellavista” for me and “Project Fear” for him.
The Mountains at Work
Project Fear
This year I planned to make a return to the Tre Cime, inspired by the walls and the area and of course “Project Fear”. I must admit, I knew very little about the climb… I am very bad at studying and about the only preparation I did before going to try the route was to check how hard each pitch was on Dave’s blog during the walk in! Willis couldn’t even believe I had never seen the video for “Project Fear” either… I still haven’t!
On our approach we knew that the route started up the “Baur Aid route”, but I had no idea where this was… I took a guess at a random line of pegs on the wall that seemed like it worked it’s way towards the roof and went for that… We were lucky on this occasion and picked the right line.
Willis after he took a whipper on the 8a+ pitch
When we reached the roofs, Dave’s new route branched out right from the “Baur” taking in two new pitches of climbing before joining with Alex Huber’s 8c pitch on “Panorama”. I was a little nervous approaching the 8a+ pitch as I had just come from the Ratikon where 8a+ is desperate, but actually the style really suited me well. There were lots of options for feet and hands (if they didn’t break off) and I was actually at the last piece of protection on the onsight when a handhold broke as I was shaking out. I was very surprised at how steady the climbing actually was on this pitch – probably because I’d just come from the Ratikon where 8a+ feels more like 8c+ on your first attempt!
Getting bomber gear like this is real motivation NOT to fall off!
Willis and I then reached the famous 8c pitch from “Panorama”, the Alex Huber classic. I had one go to work out the moves and was blown away that it didn’t feel too hard. 8c usually feels a lot harder… but this was really steady. We came back for a work session the next day and on my first go, I redpointed the pitch! I was in a state of excitement from the knowledge that I could potentially free the whole route, but also in awe from the position I was in, hanging in a roof hundreds of feet above the ground and the incredible exposure that you only get from walls like this.
Willis and I were excited beyond belief about doing this now, so we opted for a rest day to give us recovery from our first 2 days in the Dolomites…
Looking scared is a common occurrence on these walls...
The Ascent
The night before our first redpoint attempt, a freak thunderstorm hit. I heard the rain battering down hard as I cowered in my van, it sounded awful from inside! Then the thunder and lightning came… all I could think about was how I wish I could have gone for an attempt on the second day!
We awoke at 5am; the rain had ceased but there was dampness in the air and on the walls. Willis wasn’t sure about an attempt that day but I had my heart set already… I had dealt with this last year on my “Bellavista” redpoint and I would do it again on “Project Fear”.
...but then so is looking AWESOME!!! :P
We started climbing at 6am, the first 100m of relatively easy wall climbing up to 7b+ went down fast! Then the 8a+ pitch came… I was a little interested in how it would feel in damper conditons, but I needn’t have worried; I climbed the 30m pitch in about 10 minutes and before long, Willis was at the belay of the 8c pitch with me.
I wasn’t nervous at all… I have been climbing 10 years now and in that time have been put under pressure enough already to know that when it comes down to the crunch, there’s only one thing you need to do, and that’s climb! Climb for you and you alone, give it your all, and if that’s not enough, then bloody try harder next time!
Representing the motherland on the 8c pitchI set off into the roof; the holds were greasy and damp, but that was to be expected. The first big move into the crux section I grabbed a positive jug and it was completely soaking wet, a dribble of water ran down my arm… I shook out on the jug knowing full well that it wasn’t doing anything to dry my hands, but it would at least give me a percentage back for the oncoming crux.
I powered through the following moves, one of those awkward sections of climbing when your pulling over the lip of a roof and there is no grace in it whatsoever, but you know that groveling is the only way through it! Through one roof and still another to go, I found a knee-bar and recovered for the final crux, a pocket that was right now full of water! I reached for it and felt it pop as the pressure created by my middle and index finger caused the water inside to explode over my hand… I retreated back into my awkward little shelter under the roof, chalking up again and building courage to just deal with the conditions no matter what! Once again I reached for the pocket, dug deep and pulled the lip of the roof throwing over for a secondary pocket and then finally a thank god jug! 
Feet off is an important photo to get for any big ascent!
I scrambled up to the ledge where the belay was, made myself safe and screamed so that all the Dolomites could hear me! Much like last year, an echo from the valley returned my call of excitement and relief – a mixture of climbers and on-looking tourists.
Willis followed, jumaring his way to meet me and celebrate. We still had a long way to go but not even another freak thunderstorm could stop me from getting to the summit this time! The climbs that followed were a breeze in comparison to the first half of the route but far less equipped; in a lot of circumstances falls just aren’t optional!
We summited Cima Ovest relatively early at 6pm and were down on the ground by 9pm, both of us exhausted yet still on a high after what we had just done.
Happy to be at the top... we won't be in 5 minutes when we realise how difficult it is to get back down!
Experiences in the Mountains
To climb a wall like this in the mountains is a privilege few on this earth get to experience… I love challenge and adventure; so doing these big walls and multi-pitches is the perfect way for me to be at one with myself. I never feel better than when I am up on the wall, leading a hard pitch, feeling the exposure and dealing with the technicalities of the climb… it is my ecstasy in life and I am addicted!
“Project Fear” was a wonderful direct link into one of the most classic alpine rock climbs on earth, “Panorama”. Although it is not a “new” route as it includes only two new pitches; it is a completely obvious direction to take and I am surprised nobody thought of it sooner! Respect to Dave Macleod for seeing the link and for opening the line – I am inspired by this wall and the self exploration climbing it can give you; I am now inspired to seek my own adventures in the mountains as well as following in others footsteps…
Everyone has dreams, yet few of us ever get to realise them... Some might say it's sad when you have a dream you will never see realised; the aspirations to realise mine is what ends up taking me to places I never would have gone to without them in the first place! So what if I never realise the dream? Well at least I experienced the journey!
This story is a happy ending though; I didn't just go on the journey... I realised the dream!
The Legendary photo of the no-hands rest on the 7c+ pitch of "Silbergeier"
The Dream
I have just spent 7 full days on a 250m high limestone wall attempting to climb one of the world's most famous Alpine multipitch climbs, "Silbergeier".
This climb has been a 10 year dream of mine... Since I first saw the pictures of it, heard the tale of Beat Kammerlander's amazing triumph over this immaculate bullet hard and almost featureless limestone wall and grew up hearing about the even greater challenge of climbing the Alpine Trilogy of which this climb is one third of - it has been in my mind as a climb to aspire to do one day!
A part of me thought that to climb this route would always be a dream... a beautiful one at that, but a dream none-the-less. There is always a leap of faith when you dare to capture a dream like this. What if you fail? What if it all turns to ash in your hands, slipping between your fingers like so many before...
But you can't let the thought of failure stop you, otherwise the dream will never come true. I have been through the process of "dream seeking" before and know through personal failure and triumph that both doubt and fear never help.
"Silbergeier" takes the really obvious looking barrel feature of this wall
It was born...
I decided last year that I wanted to try "Silbergeier" in 2015. It has always been a part of a larger goal to do the "Alpine Trilogy", but "Silbergeier" was always the ultimate of the three!
I needed a partner for the journey but was unsure of any who would be up for the challenge. Whilst in Oz last year, I spoke to my friend Monique Forestier (one of Australia's Top Climbers) about the prospect of such a trip - she was "over the moon" excited!
We kept in touch over the year until finally meeting in Switzerland for the adventure of a lifetime!
Unfortunately we were greeted with very bad weather for the first big chunk of the trip. This meant we had to abandon the Ratikon for drier climates and return when conditions were more suitable. Thankfully the weather got a lot better in the following week and we managed to get a good 5 days on the wall together before Monique had to leave for Australia.
Monique arriving to a wet Ratikon :(
Monique and I made good progress on every pitch as each day progressed; however it became apparent very quicky to both of us just how difficult this route really was! It isn't a case of just slapping a grade next to a pitch and saying "yeah, that's how hard that is" - the climbing is extremely technical, really run-out and super exposed! From my 80 odd 8b-c ascents collected from 10 years of sport climbing... I ain't ever climbed anything like these before!
Sadly Monique had to leave, but I wasn't alone! Thankfully my friend from back home, Willis Morris had decided to join me on the trip and felt satisfied enough just being away from the dreary dreak skies of the motherland to belay me for a few days on a big blue limestone wall!
Feeling like a mountaineer... in the sunshine... clipping bolts...
The Ascent
Willis spent 2 days on the wall with me before we decided to go for a redpoint. I had had 7 days on the climb and was confident that I could get through the first 4 pitches to the crux 5th pitch, but was unsure of my chances here...
On the day, we got up bright and early, power walked into the crag and jumarred the 200m of static to the base of the climb. Today we would be running of ClifBar products - thank god for them!
I wanted to beat the sun which was coming around fast, so without much rest I ran up the first pitch, a meaty 8b/+ warm up! 
When this guy arrived... things got a bit more crazy!
By the second pitch the sun was closing in on us but it was still quite cool. I managed to clean the 7c+ pitch also despite it feeling about 8a+ and insanely technical and balancy - probably the most intense 7c+ I have ever climbed!
The third pitch was in the sun now but I was desperate to get through this before being burnt alive on the wall! At 8a+ this pitch was no pushover and for me was one of the most intense pitches of the climb. The climbing like all the previous is really technical and very run-out!
There is one more pitch before a resting bivy ledge - this is 7a, but rest assured if I was to grade it at an indoor wall, the locals would be begging the wall manager for my head and demanding an upgrade! Hahaha!
Willis and I sat up camp on the bivy ledge, fortifying our position on the wall with a collection of our layers and shells to sheild us from the 30 degree sun! It only shaded us partly - my ankles were swollen and burnt by the end of that! We stuck it out for 4 hours, baking in the sun before finally the sun passed around the mountain.
When I was a kid I used to love building forts... Now that I am 25, I still love building forts!
It was finally my time to put the skills to the test... the dreaded 5th pitch! Grades are so subjective so you can't expect anything from the number on these big walls, but for me this pitch was absolutely terrifying! The climbing is extremely technical, the wall is dead vertical to slightly overhung, the holds are visciously small, always sharp and often gnarly razor crimps or shallow serated pockets! Maybe it's just me... I'm 70kg of "muscle + organs" and about 10kg of "flabby bits" give or take a kilo depending on whose feeding me... that's a lot of guy to be hauling up on those small holds!
In not much time at all, I found myself "somehow" working my way through the cruxy bottom half and into the demanding headwall! A nightmare thought appeared in my mind - my friend Manu, a 9a strong German crusher relayed to me his experiences of falling on this section of the climb on three separate occassions from which he had made the full ascent from the bottom completely free... What if I fall here too? Will I have what it takes to come back? Am I good enough to do this?
I blocked out the negativity and focussed on what I was doing - the climbing is all that mattered. One move flowed into the next and I found myself pulling through the crux, not easily, but with intent! I had made it through and was looking into the final daunting traverse of apprehension, insecurity and complete and utter terror! A 7m run-out on smeary feet and upside down hand-holds does that to a person, but somehow the desperation to not have to re-climb that pitch got me through it.
Much like in the Titanic, I felt on top of the world - very happy that I am making progress on each pitch on the send!
Willis jumared up on second and we were celebrating making it through the hardest pitch. All I had left was a 7c+... this pitch is famously known for being the most scary, having a dangerous fall on the crux moves before a final 20m run-out on what I can only describe as "choss chimney direct" - with climbing more akin to caving.
Somehow I sketched my way up this pitch, not gracefully but with intent on not wanting to re-live the stress that pitch 5 causes me but more importantly, not wanting to be helicoptered off the cliff.
The End of a Dream?
Topping out on "Silbergeier" was the best day of my life... It's hard to put into words when I speak let alone on paper (or a computer screen), but I will try.
"Silbergeier" was a lifetime ambition of a life dedicated to climbing. A 15 year old boy grew up with this goal as one of the fundamental driving forces behind a life dedicated to climbing. And at 25 years old, the boy has seen it through!
Is this the end of a dream? Not quite... the other two of the "Alpine Trilogy" have yet to be climbed!
“Unfinished Symphany”
There’s something special about making an ascent of a climb that's only had a few ascents… I guess it’s like being one of a select group; it makes you feel like “The Big Man”! Sounds like such a ridiculous reason to do anything; but saying that, I think grades are really silly too and a lot of people climb routes for "grades" more than any other reason!
One of the main factors that attracted me to try “Unfinished Symphany” was that I could get a 2nd ascent. I just like the sound of that… it’s not a first ascent, but it still means a hell of a lot for both the 2nd ascensionist and more importantly the 1st ascenisionist! You’re the guy who confirms the difficulty, which is always a point of deep intrigue amongst climbers.
After climbing “Unfinished Symphany”, I was flurried with questions regarding the grade, which only goes to prove how much grades seem to matter to climbers nowadays.
Another main factor to try “Unfinished” was that it was Alan Cassidy’s own addition to Scottish climbing. For as long as I’ve been climbing, Alan has stood out as being one of the top Scottish climbers on the scene, so it’s only natural that I’d be eager to redpoint a “Cassidy Classic”.
My thoughts on the build up to trying “Unfinished” were more along the lines of:
I do tend to have pre-conceived ideas about climbs... For example, I tend to be very wary of Scottish Sport Climbs, thinking they must be more difficult than Spanish or French sport climbs at the same grade. Also, I am much more accustomed to limestone, so I was a bit wary that the basalt could cause more problems.
We as humans do tend to create pre-conceived ideas fairly early on when we challenge ourselves. Often this is unnecessary, but sometimes it's good as it prepares us for any eventuality. However it's not great to be to blasé about things, but equally so I think it's important to be confident in your approach.
Alan on the lovely sloper rest :D Photo by Adam Lincoln (Stolen for now but I'm sure he won't mind) ;)
Over many years climbing, I feel I have developed quite a confident approach to climbing. When I was younger, I went through a long period of high anxiety around challenging climbing situations. I built up way too much pressure and backed myself into impossible situations in which I felt the only way out was success! I have learned my lessons and now I feel I have a much more secure and healthier grasp on the reality of "challenge" i.e. sometimes you win, sometimes you lose; the times you fall are also the times you learn... so learn to live with it!
Back to "Unfinished Symphany" - it was certainly very bouldery, there was next to no footholds throughout the crux and it was all slippy basalt edges and pinches (standard Dumby really).
For me the climb could be broken down like this:
The route took me 2 days in total (about 5 times on the wall, 2 redpoint burns from the ground). The first time I tried to go straight through from the ground I fell off the 2nd last boulder leaving the crack. Unfortunately throughout my experience of the route, the crack was always sodden wet. The 2nd day was better as I brought some cams to place in the crack so I could dry it easier.
On my final redpoint attempt, I was terrified coming out of the crack with wet hands! I knew the upper crux was powerful and core intensive with very bad slippy feet. I really had to dig deep for this one!
I battled through the traverse section and got a quick shake on the uncomfortably positioned sloping rail... here I could collect a few thoughts before questing upwards towards the belay. A few stray thoughts of negativity flew in... things like "your feet might be wet" and "you have to get these holds perfect or you won't hang them"... But luckily I stamped them out quickly enough!
I took one final shake and went all out for the final crux! Each move passed and I was thanking my lucky stars that my core was working well and my feet weren't sliding off the slick basalt smears... and then BOOM! I clipped the chains :D That was a good feeling!
The Grade
As much as I don’t really understand climbing grades on the whole, I’d say that for me I would confirm Alan’s estimation of 8b+ to be fair. Certainly the difficulty increases the shorter you get so it might end up being even a little bit on the high end if your particularly short of stature. This just goes to prove how utterly nonsensical numbers in climbing are :P
Well done Alan on a fab new addition to Scottish sport climbing, I am honoured to have made the 2nd ascent of such a great climb and like you, I’m now looking forward to the 3rd ascent! :D
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The grit was made famous worldwide after the movie “Hard Grit” was released in the late 90’s. Whenever I travel abroad, the moment it becomes obvious that I’m British (which is generally instant), I am queried about grit… Almost as if this island we live on is just one massive gritstone blob bobbing in and out of the sea :P Well I have a confession to make folks, I’ve not really spent much time on the grit… In fact my time on the grit can be narrowed down to half a day at Stanage bouldering and another spent top roping “Flying Buttress”. Saying that I’ve spent a bit of time recently on the sandstone of Northumberland (my local) and although it is finer grain, there are certainly similar characteristics style and rock formation.
What with the history embedded in gritstone, I kind of feel a little bit intimidated by it. You’d think that a bunch of sandy boulders barely 15m high on average surely wouldn’t be that scary? But I think because as I grew up, the reputation of the grit has been so prevalent in the media, it was always this looming rock that would forever feel scary and formidable to me.
John Dunne on the FA
Because I have been getting well into my in trad recently, it made sense to take a trip down to the gritstone and get on a couple of the classics. But being me, I always love a challenge and I wanted to jump straight into the deep end! I contacted a friend of mine, Jacob Cook. We had been discussing gritstone plans for a while and on the cards, “Gaia” and “End of the Affair” had been climbs most often mentioned. I had even almost done a trip down for “Gaia” shortly before my Spain (Chulilla) trip, but weather got the better of us.
Jacob recommended “New Statesman” as a good route for me to try… arguably a very big step into gritstone and not what you would call a standard entry level climb, but it’s an amazing line and there is no harm in trying. Jacob had already climbed it and has even added his own harder variation on the same wall.
I really laid on the pressure with “New Statesman”. Committing myself to trying this with basically no gritstone experience and also brought along Euan Ryan (Finalcrux Films) to film the ascent for an upcoming series documenting my climbing adventures. The plan wasn’t to lead it this trip, simply to work it and figure out what I needed to do in order to make a successful ascent. I had more or less said to myself that this would probably take a good few trips to nail and I didn’t want to rush anything!
Working “New Statesman” was certainly an experience of intense learning and adaptation. I discovered many possible ways to climb the route; but what I wanted was a method that delivered success with the least likeliness of pre-sending failures, any of which might have involved broken bones and a swift end to the climbing season for me! So you can understand why I didn’t want to fall off!
Working "New Statesman" sporting my Urban Uprising Tee :D
I played about with the sequences a bit, but by the end of my first day working the route I found my beta after a successful clean top rope from the ground. When this happens, it’s a flurry of emotions… you’ve done the route; all that’s left is to get on the sharp end and climb it “for real”! Not as simple as it might first appear…
I needed a nights rest to ponder my situation. The option to lead it was on the table and I was ebbing strongly in favour for this. The rest of that night I relaxed and had some good fun on my longboard with the guys :D
The next day, it took me the best part of 2 hours to get in the zone; which involved quite a number of false starts. I phoned a friend (Neil McGeachy) for some advice and discussed tactics with Charlie (my belayer). Neil’s advice was simple yet effective… the route would still be here next week. There was no pressure today and to drive home without it would in some ways be a more rememberable experience than to have ticked it off in a weekend. This calmed me down, relieving all pressure and strangely enough I felt hyped up to lead it now!
I had a stare down session with the route; I listened to music and stared at the climb… like an opponent in a duel I approached the climb with deadly seriousness and ambition, I didn’t want to let this beat me, I didn’t want to go away with my tail between my legs. The song “Sleep Forever” by “Portugal. The Man” rung through my headphones…
I stood below the climb reminding myself as I often do of the pointlessness of it all… I am spending hours, days, and years of my life obsessing over rocks, puzzling them out and getting emotional about climbing them; what a silly fool!
On the redpoint I was eerily calm inside… confident in every hand hold, every foot placemen; I knew I could do it! There was no doubt, not even a slither; I had this! As I came to the top of the highball crux section I gave a small power scream to shut out negativity; but that had been killed off long ago!
I rested a bit, then pressed on gaining higher and higher on the climb. It was now feeling quite airy for a boulder, but luckily here comes the comforting gear that famously ripped on Michale Caminati when he fell at the final crux. Staring ahead at the oncoming sequence of smeary unbalanceness above the fated gear that may or may not hold was a curious position to be in; but I was calm… there was nothing that could go wrong! I executed everything precisely and had nothing to fear… and then it was over!
On the lead...
Questions cropped up as to why I decided to lead that day. One honest reason is ego… Perhaps it got the better of me? I wanted success and didn’t want to experience a drive back to Edinburgh knowing failure! But that wasn’t the real reason… I think it’s only a feeling you get when you’ve been in this situation but I knew I could do it! In the morning I wasn’t capable of climbing 3m up this thing; and yet after lunch I was impervious to any negative thoughts!
Climbing “New Statesman” for me was a huge step forward in my climbing career. Ego aside (as that’s where I often like to put it), climbing this particular bit of rock was a challenge for me in numerous ways and I learned much from the experience. You can’t put a price on experience and you certainly can’t grade it!
“E” is for “Experience” in this case; not “Extreme” :D
Ethics
One final note goes out in response to some of those who questioned the ethics climbing “New Statesman”.
First of all, my current stance on trad climbing is this:
- Make the leader as safe as possible
- Leave no gear behind
- Respect the rock
I think those are some pretty widely accepted notions of what trad climbing is about. I don’t pretend that others won't think differently, but from talking to experienced trad climbers they mostly agree with these points.
I used pads because I figured it would be safer. I’d say that’s reason enough. I am aware that John Dunne didn’t use mats during the FA, but there have been many ascents of this climb since then that have all involved them. I don't conclude that my ascent was better or even on par with John Dunne’s… first of all he did it as a FA, so that’s pretty much as good as it gets! And I’m not too fussed if anybody wants to go repeat it with a bed of nails under them, it’s not a competition about who is bolder (but maybe it is for someone?); it’s climbing a rock at the end of the day… anybody who gets off on being the “big man” by climbing a rock in a particular way should probably reassess life goals; but I’m not going to judge too harshly as I have been that same guy many times before.
Ethics are really funny because what was ethically disdained upon 10 years ago; today is common practice. Some of the folk who have been against the use of mats are the same folk who practiced head-pointing when ground up and onsight style was considered standard and head-pointing was considered “cheating”. My take on this is, as time goes on ethics change… it’s really quite simple and a natural progression to the world and not just our meager little past time of clambering about on rocks.
Grades are a big part of climbing in the 21st century, but I like to remember that they are man-made and not essential to life!
If I could get across one thing in this blog post it would be this:
“Last week I climbed a rock. I got to the top. I was happy. Some people liked my facebook pictures. Some did not. The End.”
Spotting Charlie on the E1 solo/highball
A lot of people have been confronting me recently on my apparent change of focus to trad climbing. For those of you who don’t know, I would probably be regarded as a “sport climber” if you were to file me into a category… and I definitely wouldn’t disagree here as sport climbing is what I have primarily done up until recently.
The real answer to the question, “why the sudden change?” is actually not that difficult to comprehend. In fact the route to this question stems from the reasons why I started climbing in the first place… Challenge!
Me climbing "On The Rocks" E7 6c (Photo by Russell Lovett)I have learned more about myself from climbing than anything else I have done. Climbing has brought me so much in life… travel, experiences, friendships and a pathway. And climbing has brought me to one ultimate understanding… I need challenges or I get bored :P
After climbing “Bellavista” in the Dolomites last summer with Logan Barber, I found myself back in my usual routine at home… training, coaching, setting and looking forward to the next sport-climbing trip abroad. Something was different though and I wasn’t totally happy with my situation. I found myself thinking back to the experiences I had climbing “Bellavista”; being up there in the mountains, the exposure whilst climbing hard, the fear, the thrill and everything that goes along with being pretty out there on a climb whilst trying to push your limit! It really was the ultimate experience and everything else felt so dull in comparison…
I went on a jaunt to Rodellar with a hope that I could rekindle that burning flame J It was a fun trip of course, I was with good friends and I was climbing well… but still it felt a little off, not quite what I was accustomed to. Everything was so easy out there… You get up, make your lunch, go to the crag, clip some bolts, come home, have dinner, watch a movie, go to bed, sleep, repeat… The formulaic approach to the comfortable sport climbing lifestyle just didn’t exhilarate me as much as it had done before. I still absolutely loved the experience of climbing hard sport routes, but I did know that what “Bellavista” gave me was more than just a tick in the guidebook and another grade to add to the list; it was an experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life, it shaped me and made me grow more than any experience I have had in a long long time.
When I came home I did some soul searching… I asked myself deep questions. The truth is that none of the questions can really be answered, but they can be pondered. I think it’s good to ponder about life and choices from time to time as it provides some form of clarity or “feeling of direction”. One of the many questions I asked myself was “Why I climb”? This is an easy one at first glance; because I enjoy it! Simples! However, when I dug deeper I found the answer was a little more complicated as I wanted to understand what I derive my pleasure in climbing from.
Deil's Head
In the past I have taken great enjoyment in the experiences I have had when training for a project, sending a project, travelling, meeting new people, making friendships and more recently undertaking a monumental goal to accomplish something really BIG! The social experiences I have in climbing are incredible and to be honest don’t really change so much between what activities you partake in whether its at a wall or at a crag. However the challenges of the climbs I do was an obvious element to look into and what became very apparent was that I gained most enjoyment from overcoming incredible obstacles! Many of these obstacles took the guise of mental barriers such as “Fear” (in one form or another).
“Bellavista” scared me… but I overcame it! I made decisions on that wall to fight rather than give in, to go rather than stop and basically to end a battle with my mind one way or another!
I realized that I needed new stimulation, a new arena to fight in and something else that offered more than just a wall to figure out the sequence and fight my way through it. I still have much to learn and improve upon in the arena of hard sport climbing, but I decided to look into testing myself at trad climbing with a view to preparing myself for some bigger more adventurous stuff at a later date.
Neil working the moves on "Deil Or No Deil" (E8 6b)So that’s it, I have started my trad apprenticeship officially in 2015 :D It’s been a good January of getting into it. I have made a few trips down to Northumberland where with friends I have made some fun head-point ascents of known classics such as “On the Rocks” E7 6c, “Off the Rocks” E8 6c and even took a belter of a fall from “Peak Technique” E6 6b. The other amazing experience I had recently was my first ever trad first ascent alongside one of the key inspirations in my climbing life, Neil McGeachy. Together we climbed the “Deil’s Head” on the Arbroath sea cliffs on trad gear, a line that hasn’t been freed before and we head-pointed it giving it E8 6b naming it “Deil Or No Deil”.
So far the challenges of keeping a cool head and climbing under pressure have been intriguing to say the least. I am interested to see how I respond to more scary trad routes, how my strength of character on the wall holds up against varying styles of climbs. So far the routes I have done have been less technically challenging and more mentally so, but I am keen to explore what the harder more technical trad climbs offer (albeit being safer). Of course I don’t want to limit my scope and I really do want to diversify and experience all styles, so I am hoping to travel around and make the most of the British trad crags and not to only seek out hard head-points but to challenge my skills as an on-sighter as well. I respect that both styles offer advantages and disadvantages and are equally as impressive in their own way, so I would like to do both.
Of course the ultimate goal is to seek out newer challenges hopefully culminating in some first ascent action in Scotland and beyond :D Looking forward to everything that this year holds with a new step in my climbing development!
Neil happy to have topped out on "Deil Or No Deil" FA!!!
The reason I say “apparently” is because relaxing was not the best way to put our time in Zillertal… It was always raining when we were there, the camping situation wasn’t the best and Logan was having a bit of a hard time on the tough granite (Schist) style. We just felt dirty the whole time, something I have gotten quite used to on climbing holidays, but it does get a bit old after a while… it is nice to be in a proper campsite that caters for your basic needs such as warm showers, toilets, wifi… (not sure if that last one qualifies?).
The rain was starting to depress us slightly. We would have a decent one day window before the heavens opened sometime in the afternoon and we’d get washed out. Then of course the next day was generally completely wet or the crags would be really humid. It didn’t really stop us climbing too much, but it would have been nice to have some better conditions to climb in.
We had a couple of days at an excellent crag called “Ewige Jugrunde”, a place where I am going back as soon as I get a chance. I tried an 8c+ there called “Love 2.1”. Although I only had two goes on it, I felt it coming together quickly and despite the bad conditions, I could link large sections of it together and felt that within another day or so, I would be able to do it from the ground and be aiming for the send! Unfortunately, Logan was having less of a good time here… We discovered that Zillertal tends to favour those with superior climbing abilities and technique… hahaha no only joking… we discovered that Zillertal favours those who are a little taller than 156cm (Logan’s height). Despite that, Logan never once doubted the quality of the climbing in question… only how God obviously hates him and designed this place to torment him…
At Ewige Jugrunde, we also did a few other awesome climbs, one of which was a 7a+ on the right, which we warmed up on. “Warm Up” is a choice phrase for this; I would have said it felt more like “Taking to Boiling Point”! I was almost off in one section and then again felt really unsteady at the second crux… First time I have felt this on a 7a+ in a long time! Logan began his “attempt” which swiftly ended at the first crux . This was followed shortly after with flying curses and swear words at the route (always a funny reaction climbers have to an inanimate blank face of rock). We’ve all been there :P
I then tried an 8a to the left very briefly after Logan had left his quickdraws from the previous day. I tried to flash it, but was quickly denied about mid-way through the crux. It took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to get through it semi-gracefully. Apart from being a classic, this route was bloody desperate and I am eager to return to send it next trip!
We then tried a 7c on the left that I think might be the hardest 7c on earth! I did it on my 2nd go, but holy crap its hard to read! Logan had about 5 or 6 goes in total. He has done 8b quicker than that!
We then both sent a 7c+ on the right, Logan managed it 2nd go and I onsighted it. This felt about two grades easier than the 7c (but it was longer and more endurance based) and with no moves anywhere near as hard as the 7a+ I was relieved to find out.
That was when we left Ewige Jugrunde. I am really keen to return as soon as possible for “Love 2.1” :D Anyone keen for any Austrian adventures?
Learning to Crack Climb… on 8a!
My experience of trad crack climbing is limited to the hand jam at the end of ‘Ethiopia” (8a+) in Arapiles, Australia. That is about as much crack as I have done… and none of the drug sort either!
Logan and I spied that there was a sick looking finger crack hidden within the valley somewhere called “Ganja” (8a). When we found it, we were in awe of how pure the crack was… It was a single line up an almost blank, dark face of Granite. There was literally one face hold in 8m of crack, the rest was just the fissure line before topping out.
We were both pretty excited about the prospect of trying something so wildly different and as soon as we had a break in the weather, we “cracked” out the trad gear and threw a top rope down it to inspect the gear placements and try the moves. As this was my first ever crack climbing experience, I was really eager to learn the techniques. I discovered early on that crack climbing is vastly different to face climbing (what I am used to). It was really bloody hard for me! It took me ages to figure out a good sequence and for what was graded 8a, it felt a lot harder initially!
After about an hour or two of trying the moves with copious amounts of tape wrapped around my fingers, I was starting to feel how possible it was to climb such a seemingly thin crack. The only unfortunate business was that my fingers were getting torn up in the crack and my hands needed a rest to regrow some skin. So Logan and I opted for a rest day before we would hit “Ganja” again for one last attack!
We decided that as the conditions were so bad in the alps and the Eiger was looking increasingly unlikely for a decent attempt within our time frame, we would move base to a different climbing area away from the mountains. Frankenjura was somewhere Logan and I had never been before and was high on the tick list of places to visit, so it made sense seeing as it was only a few hours drive away. We went climbing at the Bergstation crag in Zillertal in the morning and headed to “Ganja” in the evening. I felt strong on the day, I climbed an 8b+ called “Elements of Addiction” on my second try, only working it as a warm up. I actually think I could have flashed this with the beta! Logan tried an 8a+ but the conditions at the crag where not great, as it had rained all night, a lot of the crag was wet and there was high humidity in the air… The rock was very soapy and the holds on the 8a+ were not working for Logan, so he stripped it and we left for “Ganja”.
Paul Steinig on "Witchcraft" (8a+)When we arrived at “Ganja”, we found the route in perfect condition, apart from a really wet part of the crack right at the start. We chalked it up loads and tried our best to dry it, but it never worked that well. Logan went for an attempt and did really well, breaking through the first crux and falling right at the very top after the point he felt he would not fall off after. It was really unlucky, but a good attempt nonetheless. I then went for an attempt, similarly to Logan, I did really well and even got further than Logan again making the jug crack at the top! I was only a move off topping out when my foot slipped on one of the smeary footholds and I came flying off! This was frustrating, especially as I had used up a lot of skin jamming my hands and fingers in the crack all the way up the wall. I knew I could repeat this effort again, so I chilled out for a bit and belayed Logan on his next attempt. Unfortunately, Logan never faired as well as he had on his first attempt. Now he was struggling getting past the first few moves… The crack he was using was damp and he kept slipping out of it. He was getting more and more frustrated and I could tell it wasn’t good for him. Eventually he decided to sack it off and not bother trying… I figured he just needed to have a rest overnight and try again the next day, but it was also due to rain and we had planned to move to Frankenjura the next morning.
I felt a lot more rested now and decided to give it a 2nd go for that session. The crack felt even harder now, but I was absolutely determined to do it! I stuffed one finger into small pod at the third move, locking off deep, this allowed me to place a high nut into the crack (my first piece of gear). I found this first boulder crux the hardest physically. The mono ring finger jam was painful and a deep lock took me to a high sidepull jam that I couldn’t quite get to work properly, it always felt like it was slipping out.
Thanks Jacopo Larcher for this awesome photo :)
This was scary for me as my ring finger jam was solid and even quite difficult to get out once I was stood up. The smeary feet felt insecure and I was worried that if I slipped, my ring finger would remain where I left it i.e. inside the crack! Luckily, I never slipped and I managed to lock off into a crimp on the side of the crack. The rest of the climbing was really insecure for me; the jamming was never perfect, largely due to the lack of experience more than the holds, but nevertheless I pressed on and somehow managed to get to my previous high point. This time I was determined not to let it slip away, and soon enough I had latched the final jug hold and mantled out on top of the large boulder. I was so relieved to have sent the route on this try but more so satisfied with just having climbed the crack in the first place! It was such a wild style of climb and for me, and introduction to new potential climbs and adventures in this style J
Frankenjura – Land of Pockets, Beer and Cakes
The Action Directe!Frankenura is a fabled land in climbing… It was here that some of the worlds hardest routes have been put up in the past. By legendary climbers such as Wolfgang Gullich, Kurt Albert, Jerry Moffatt and others… It is in Frankenjura that the world’s first 9a, “Action Directe” resides, and visiting this amazing route was more for me a history lesson than a climbing experience.
On our first day, we visited two crags. One of them was to try an 8c I had heard was really good called “Raubritter” and the other was to an easier crag where we climbed an 8a+ called “Witchcraft”. I did “Witchcraft” on my 2nd go. I had a flash attempt but didn’t feel warmed up and when I arrived at the final moves, I didn’t really want to pull hard on the pockets and gave a half-hearted attempt at making it to a two finger pocket. Logan was really strong in this style and was close to doing “Witchcraft” on his first day, but needed in the end a second day and a few more attempts to lock in the send.
On our second day, I did the famous 8a+ called “Slimline” next door to “Action Directe”, the world’s first 9a! Being at this crag was pretty special; to look up at “Action Directe” and to realize how much effort had gone into doing this piece of rock by Wolfgang Gullich was pretty inspiring. There were walkers in the woods watching us climb and I felt a little bit of hilarity thinking that these people didn’t realize that what they were looking at was actually one of the world’s hardest routes and a piece of climbing history.
Paul and Logan Duelling for the next go on "Slimline"“Slimline” was an awesome route and pretty hard for me. It took me 3 tries in total but I had to work hard on my 3rd attempt. It’s funny because usually 8a+ doesn’t feel this hard… in fact 8b+ doesn’t usually feel this hard hahaha but that just goes to show you how style has such a big impact in climbing. Climbers are too obsessed with being the best in every style and it is just impossible! On this trip I have climbed 8c multipitch in the alpine, 8b+ on granite in a day, crack climbed granite 8a, runout scary trad pitches on dodgy rock and climbed 8a+ pocketed limestone (so far). Every one of those is vastly different from the next and requires a huge range of skills, few of which I would say I am good at. It’s just impossible to always be on top form in every discipline, but I do have problems telling myself this… I want to be doing the best in all disciplines and styles at the same time and it’s just not possible.
I knew full well that I would struggle with the style in Frankenjura. Bouldering on pockets is probably my weakest style and that is essentially what Frankenjura is all about. Most of the routes are very short and the difficulty of climbing resides largely in being able to pull hard on shallow three, two and one finger pockets with bad feet. Of course weaknesses are meant to be trained and it’s only by visiting these crags that we learn how really weak we are, this is what gives us motivation to train and improve. Also to learn how strong climbers such as Alex Megos, Wolfgang Gullich, Jerry Moffat and my friend Felix Neumarker actually are. What they have achieved in Frankenjura blows my mind and inspires me to push harder and train harder than ever to achieve my goals!
The Magic of the ForestI am psyched now to get stuck into some serious training when I am home and hope that it will prepare me well for my upcoming projects and for maybe a trip back to Frankenura in 2015 :D
Post Blog Update: In my remaining days in the Frankenjura I climbed a few more classic routes in the 7c-8a+ region including a classic boulder-esque 8a+/b “Masterblaster”. This was interesting as it has the slash grade and for me was easier than most of the other 8a+’s that were considered low in the grade! “Masterblaster” is short, powerful and the only pockets are a split two finger that’s juggy enough to clip and shake from… Looks like I’m gonna be training the pocket strength a lot more from now on!
Leaving Frankenjura... for now :)
Well… Long story short… Logan and I were successful in our attempt to free one of Europes toughest multi-pitch challenges and indeed one of the world’s most famous, hard, alpine style rock climbs. But the short story long is a far better tale to tell, so that is what I will tell now…
View from our tent ;)We travelled back to the Dolomites after a break in the bad weather would allow us to have a bit more time working the crux pitch. We had only had 2 days on the route so far and it had already seemed very possible to free climb, however the prospect of doing the whole route including all the separate pitches in one single push still felt like it would be a real challenge, and would require us to be on top form, climbing everything exceptionally well and especially to have the crux pitch dialed.
Chilling out making dinner night before the send...Logan had already decided that for him, it was more about the experience of doing the whole climb as a team and had reserved to take the second on the more difficult pitches to allow me to get the free ascent of those. For me, I wouldn’t really be satisfied with anything other than to free the crux pitches ground up… Alpine climbing is approached very differently than other forms of climbing I feel. It’s not about doing the climb free solely; it’s about getting to the top and experiencing the adventure that the climb takes you on. You can approach alpine climbing with a multitude of varying styles i.e. free, aid, team, individual or mixed ascent. Each has its own merits and are impressive in their own way depending on the route. Also, it varies a lot with the conditions you get on your ascent as sometimes it is impossible to complete free or indeed becomes very dangerous and stupid to attempt if the bad weather hits as is often the case in the alpine environment. You have to learn to take what you get sometimes and if your preferred style of ascent is not possible, then you just have to go with what is the most sensible option…
Being in the mountains is where we feel home... My desire was to free the route, climbing the most difficult and personally challenging pitches that I felt made the difference to the overall experience of making the free ascent and of course, to top out on the summit of Cima Ouest.
We spent our third and fourth day simply working the crux pitch, a really tough traverse that was already 6 pitches up on the face, hundreds of feet from the ground, on the most exposed face of the Dolomites and probably one of the steepest sections of multi-pitch climbing in the world! This pitch is famous for being the toughest in terms of technical difficulty of the whole route and has proven to be a stand out test of pure climbing ability compared with the rest of the climb which is relatively easy in technical terms. But saying that… the mental aspect of other pitches is far more demanding… I will go into this later…
So, the idea for day 3 and 4 was for me to become immersed in the crux pitch. To learn it’s secrets and to become comfortable climbing it so that when we went for a full free ascent (which we had scheduled for the Monday, after a rest day from day 4) I would be able to just hit it on command without too much hassle.
Leading one of the 7a pitches... As you can see in the background, we are in a cloud!!!What actually happened was that I struggled with the conditions of the rock during those two days. I could link large sections of the crux pitch together, but nearly always I would hold back and not try as hard as I could simply because I was uneasy with the slippy nature of the rock. Unfortunately, the rock up there is very susceptible to humidity and sucks in the moisture becoming almost permanently damp and slimy. It’s the kind of conditions that if you were at a sport crag, you just wouldn’t bother climbing it and you would pass it off for another, better day… However, Alpine climbing is very different and you have to learn to just take what you get.
On the 4th day working the route, we bumped into none other than Dave Macleod who was there scoping out a potential new line and trying the crux pitch of “Panorama”. It was good to chat to Dave briefly about “Bellavista” as he had done the crux pitch with Alan Cassidy on a previous trip, however I was a little dismayed when he told me that the conditions they got where “Very windy and freezing cold”… So far all we had got was “zero to light wind and quite warm humid conditions”. We weren’t going to get freezing temps and so far the wind had been minimal. It’s been the wettest summer in the Dolomites for 30 years and despite a number of professional climbers stating they would be out trying “Bellavista” now, they hadn’t shown up on account of the weather… I basically decided that the best I would get was what I had already been experiencing, and although it wasn’t completely terrible (i.e. the route wasn’t soaking wet), it wasn’t ideal. On Day 4, I made some good links and realized that if I broke through the first 15m of climbing of the 55m pitch, then in reality, if I tried hard enough and pushed on through it, I could climb the remaining 40m even in bad conditions… I would just have to try BLOODY HARD!!!
At the belay of the crux pitch... CHECK OUT THAT ROOF!!!We had a day to rest; I said to Logan that I felt it might just be worth having an attempt to free from the ground on the assumption that all I needed to do this thing was the pressure to send! I already felt that I was holding Logan back slightly with this route as he wasn’t trying the crux anymore, just belaying me… Both of our ambitions to climb the route relied on my ability to climb the pitch, and I knew it was possible; the only thing holding me back was myself… I needed to be put on the spot, I needed to have to do the pitch, not just to prove I can do it, but to actually be in the situation where when I do it, we keep busting through the upper pitches to the top of the wall!
We spoke about what the best approach would be for us to climb the route… I wanted to have the full tick, i.e. to free every pitch, but on the actual send to swing leads and for me to climb the pitches that we both felt made the difference to claiming the individual free ascent of “Bellavista”. In my eyes, that was by leading pitch 1 (7b), Pitch 6 (8c) and Pitch 7 (8a). I had already lead the other pitches free onsight anyway and I didn’t feel they had as much to offer as those three in particular. So it was decided that I would lead those on the day and Logan would lead the rest. I ended up linking pitch 1 (7b) and 2 (6c) together and Logan linked pitch 3 (6a), 4 (7a) and 5 (7a+) together.
Logan getting excited at the belay...For me, there really was only two pitches that I was worried about (the 8c and the 7b). Pitch 7 (8a) was actually very easy, I thought it felt like a low-end 7b+. There was one tricky move after a huge rest and then it was good holds the rest of the way. Pitch 1 (7b) I was really nervous about... The 7b pitch was scary; it had a 10m run-out to the first piece of gear (a rusty peg) then more run-outs between more rusty pegs (all suspect and one of which I know already wouldn’t hold a fall). Not to mention the rock quality here is terrible… foothold and handholds crumble off practically every couple of moves, you basically just can’t trust anything completely. Finally, the crux is a bit of a lunge around a small roof which you get to via a run-out from a very bad peg that pops out if you so much as look at it the wrong way… the rock quality in the roof is the worst on the route and I must have sent a good few kilos of choss down on Logan when I was on my lead here. Climbing this pitch for me was probably the toughest mental battle I faced on the whole climb… I knew in some places that if I fell… it wasn’t going to be a learning curve… Falling at the roof would be a bad fall if that peg snaps. But I think I learned more about myself climbing that pitch than any other climb I have ever done… I discovered what I can handle and what the potential for me to do in that style is.
After leading that very scary 7b and the following 6c, I was amped up for the crux pitch but still had to wait for Logan to follow me up and for him to lead the remaining few pitches, then I would follow him on second. Logan breezed through these alright but the conditions weren’t the best and both the 7a and 7a+ pitches were pretty wet… I followed him with a rucksack on with all our gear and was finding it a really intense warm up for before the crux pitch. I managed to get through but took a fall on the 7a+ when my hand slipped out a massive wet jug just before the chains! So I lowered down and repeated that pitch again just so I could claim the whole route free…
We were now at the belay of the 8c pitch… I wasn’t really nervous, I was psyched for giving this thing my all! I went up once just to pad out the holds with a fresh layer of chalk as the conditions on the first section were pretty bad. It definitely wasn’t what I was expecting for a sending try, but I knew it wouldn’t get any better, so I just had to try bloody hard! I attempted to replace a broken pin that I had fallen on after the crux from a previous day but unfortunately the sky hook failed and I took a big fall onto another suspect pin… Nervous enough as it was, I decided not to risk that again and came back to the belay.
At the belay, I took a 5 minute break, joked with Logan a bit and got myself prepared for the attempt… I was going through the sequences in my head, I had it all dialed… I knew if I got through the first crux, then I could get through all the next section as well.
And so… I went for it!
That is a LONG way down...I climbed through the initial traverse section easily, it wasn’t hard, just damp. I wasn’t going to fall off here anyway, but the dampness of the holds doesn’t help for the upcoming crux sequence on smaller sloppier holds. I rested up on a couple of 3 finger pockets before committing fully on for the first part of the crux! I managed to break through and before I knew it, I was resting on a jug pocket and positive crimp. I shook here a few times… the next section was the boulder. Only a couple of hard moves, but the holds are quite small and very damp. I had fallen here a few times before when my hand would just slip of them without warning. I was slightly nervous about doing this sequence because I didn’t really want to have to go back to the beginning to repeat this all again, but I knew in my heart that if I committed fully, I would be able to break through this as well! I committed… I was quick, I took the pinch hard, through my feet out right, pressed the small gaston and screamed as I went for the jug! BOOM! I had it and I was pulling up to rest at the next big jug.
This was my moment… I knew it! I had one opportunity here to take this to the end and to successfully free this pitch. I shook out here for about 5 minutes, just trying to get as much back as I could. The jugs were damp, but on each chalk up and shake, the jug would feel slightly better to hold onto. I got everything back in that time and I just had to hold it together for the next section.
Hi... from the Dolomites :) Postcard Perfect!I pressed on into the headwall of crimps pockets… I was moving confidently despite the insecurity of wet feet and damp handholds. I knew I wasn’t going to be getting anything back if I started to over grip or distrust my feet, so I just focused on giving them all my weight where needed and hoping that my body tension would hold them in the right place.
I broke through the next crux! This was a relief because it was the once place after the main crux here I felt I really could fall… I continued the progression and made it further and further along the wall. Occasionally I would do a committing move and scream for it just for that added confidence to my movement, every time I was successful! I soon came to a mega rest where I did a heel toe lock and could hang of backwards, hands free hundreds of feet in the air… The liberating feeling of hanging upside down from one of the most exposed pieces of rock I have ever been on, hundreds of feet from the ground was amazing! You feel like you are flying up there… I felt all my energy come back to me after a few minutes. I was fresh again and ready for the upcoming technical cruxes. I was about 15m from the chains now, it was almost over and I had never fallen off this section before on link.
I ran through the next sequence of moves in my head, then committed! The moves flowed and I was flowing with them… everything felt easy and I was making sure I was continuing to trust my feet. There was one move to a jug where I moved dynamically for it and accidentally punched it, but latched on as I fell back… close! I rested up again… 5m to go!
Freezing cold at the Bivvy... COLDEST NIGHT EVERRRRRR!!!!!I felt good and went for one last burn… the last 4m… 3m… 2m… I saw the chains… I pressed a gaston crimp, the index finger broke of a small chunk… SHIT! I matched it with my right hand… the pinky broke of something else… SHIT!!! I shifted my weight out left on some small crossly feet… I had run it out here skipping the last 2 pegs and was looking at at least a 10m run-out since the last rusty peg… I reached out and grabbed a slot in the wall, turned the right hand into an undercut and clipped the chains! I grabbed the rope chains, through my arm around them for added security and clipped hard into the bolts! YASSSSSSSSSS!!!! I screamed! I was howling with happiness! I heard Logan screaming back and even a few dots from the ground screaming stuff up at us hahaha! I couldn’t believe I had done the pitch…
Logan followed up on second, we were celebrating at the belay shortly before I decided to lead the next 8a pitch. I tied in and went for it straight away and managed to dispatch quickly without much effort (it’s probably only 7b+ anyway).
This was where the EPIC started… We accidentally went the wrong way and after an 8m run-out on terrible rock and no sign of gear, we realized something was wrong. We spent an hour trying to find the way before I decided to try traversing onto the Swiss route out right. The Swiss route was 10m off and we couldn’t see any gear apart from that of the Swiss route, but I decided that that was better than climbing into the unknown… However, about 5m into the traverse, I found a peg and felt happier knowing that somebody had done this traverse before hahaha I realized soon after that this was the way we were supposed to go and was confidently moving upwards on 7a-ish climbing.
We reached the bivy ledge shortly before a huge thunderstorm hit us… The rain was heavy and the thunder and lightning was terrifying! Logan and I huddled together for warmth and survivial from 7pm to 5am the next morning… It was the coldest night of my life! I couldn’t feel my legs the whole time and at one point I was seriously wondering how likely it would be to ever feel my toes again…
In the morning, the rain had stopped, but the wind was strong and the waterfall coming over the top of the Cima Ouest had grown over night and become a torrent over our route. We had not much option but to try and escape the route… We traversed under the waterfall getting quite wet, Logan especially as he had to belay under the freezing waterfall as I traversed the chossiest rock I have ever seen. I was searching for a way to abseil off the tower, a good belay point and an obvious line below where another route might be coming up. After traversing about 90m rightwards along a loose, chossy and scary runout ledge system, we eventually reached a decent belay and made three double rope abseils off the tower. When I finally touched the ground, I felt like kissing it!
Although we hadn’t summited the tower, we had accomplished something amazing for us and we were overjoyed to be able to revel in our experience back at the refugio with a nice warm cooked lunch!
This experience has left me with no doubt in my mind that this style of climbing leaves something with you unlike that of any single pitch climb. Its a true battle with your body and mind. You have to be strong enough to do the route, mentally strong enough to deal with the fear, but more than anything, you have to have the undying will power to keep going despite what happens. When the shit hits the fan and things get dangerous, you have to be clever and decide what its worth. It’s not like giving up is even an easy option in any case, because escaping the route in bad conditions can be as hard as summiting. We were lucky when we traversed the right way and found the belays… but we might also have been unlucky… if we hadn’t had found them, we would be in a much worse scenario… If we had decided to press on the night before in an attempt to summit, we would probably be climbing in the dark in a thunderstorm and even if we reached the top, we would be wet, freezing, and spending the night up there with no way of getting down before 5am!
I was strong enough to do the route which is a product of my training over the years, but equally, I am not an experienced alpine climber and I need to do more of this before I can really make a mark in this field (something I am really psyched about). I am very happy that Logan was with me on this route, I don’t think I could have done it without him and I am really psyched that we did this as a team… Hopefully the first of many future adventures in the alpine…
What’s next? Well we are in Zillertal now sport climbing and trad climbing. We want to do the trad finger crack line “Ganja” 8a+ which will be my hardest trad route and my first ever finger crack haha I also tried “Love 2.1” (8c+) which I was really keen to work. I felt like it was a good route for me to do here and that it would go down quick after a couple more sessions on it, but unfortunately there was not as lot for Logan at that crag, so I have left it for another trip. We are now planning a few more days here in Zillertal to finish of the crack project and visit a couple more crags before heading to Grindelwald in an attempt to summit the Eiger and to climb one of the mega routes up the North Face. If we are lucky then the weather will be on our side… So far it has not…
Wish us luck everyone :D
“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” ― Phil Jackson
"Landerhammer" (8b+), Zillertal
The whole idea of the trip was to attempt the famous Alex Huber 8c multipitch “Bellavista” on the Cima Ouest. This is a route that is steeped in fame and infamy becaue of both the legend who freed it and also because when it was put up in 2002, it was the hardest multipitch climb in the world and still remains to this day one of the greatest challenges of the European Alps.
Unfortuntely, upon arrival the weather was not on our side and we had to quickly abandon our post in the most expensive town in Italy (Cortina D’Ampezzo) and head off for another (hopefully drier) alternative climbing destination, at least for the time being.
We drove to Innsbruck and spent the day there where we decided that Zillertal would be a suitable option. This was where we spent most of the last week climbing…
Zillertal has proved to be a totally outstanding destination for us. It offers a completely awesome climbing experience (albeit a little on the spoogy side in current conditions) and there is a multitude of hard granite sport and bouldering crags to go at that are dry all the time! 
"Total Brutal" (8b+), Zillertal
The first day after a recommendation by both Gaz Parry and Jacopo Larcher, we headed to a crag known as Bachexe (meaning “Witch of the River”) and attempted a classic 8a called “Electriv Avenue”. I was surprised at how hard it was climbing on the granite and it did actually take me 3 goes to do the 8a! Logan got on it and struggled a bit with the powerful moves as he is quite a bit shorter than me and unfortunately didn’t climb it clean. I then tried a beastly powerful 8b+ called “Landerhammer”. On my first attempt it felt really tough… huge shoulder moves to holds that are difficult to see, however on my second attempt it felt much easier and I actually made a really high first link. Hoping to go back for this one as it for sure will go in the next couple of attempts.
The next day I tried a route that I have literally been waiting 9 years to try :P After seeing a poster at Avertical World in Dundee of “Total Brutal” (8b+), this climb has been etched in my brain as a classic to climb one day… And so I was given the opportunity to go try it after I convinced Logan it would be an awesome little project for us J
Abseiling from the crux pitch of Bellavista... EXPOSURE!!!I was really happy on my initial attempt at the route. I found the first crux quite tricky but the rest was actually not that hard. Felt like a tricky V7 crux start into a f8a to top out. On my 3rd go, I made an awesome link from the start right to the second last clip but fell when my foot popped on a small smeary foothold. This was really frustrating as I had done all the hard climbing and was pretty much going to send it, but that’s what happens I guess…
Logan attempting Zillertal's first F8A!
I came back for it yesterday and sent the route after a couple of goes. Jacopo and his girlfriend Barbera (Zangerl) were at the crag as well. Barbera is trying “Total Brutal” too and she is getting mega close. Was awesome watching her attempt at it as she has flawless technique and immense skill in climbing… I also got to talk to her a little on the Alpine Trilogy, a feat of climbing that has only been achieved by very few (including her) and something that I am keen to try next year.
Bellavista (8c)
So we have had 2 days on “Bellavista” so far… I can’t begin to express how insane this route actually is… It’s really difficult to put into writing the experience of being hundreds of feet from the ground on some of the most difficult rock climbing in the alps whilst your protection on the wall is limited to rusty pegs hammered into fissures and cracks in the wall that you have no idea how long they have been there or how much weight they can actually take… The only real comfort is that the belays are bolted (with one bolt 10m into the crux pitch) and you are so high up and the wall is so steep that hitting anything during a fall is pretty much impossible… you’re just gonna take a massive fall into nothing!
Monkeying about on choss :PHaving that much air below you certainly gives new perspective whilst you climb and it is sometimes quite difficult to forget the almost limitless nothing that awaits you if you fall, but its just something you’ve got to get used to…
On the first day we had OK weather, with some light rain that only splashed us a little on some of the belays, but apart from that, all was good. Logan lead the first 7b pitch and one of the 6a’s and I lead the 6c+, 7a and 7a+ pitches leading to the 8c crux pitch. The 7b pitch was quite scary and involved a 10m solo to get to the first bit of protection! The others I didn’t feel were nearly as bad, but the 7a and 7a+ pitch had some really bad humidity issues, the holds were soapy and damp and quite a few times I almost fell purely because my hand or foot would slip… this is also not to forget to mention the fact that the rock quality is about as comforting as climbing a giant bowl of Apple Crumble… That is to say it’s crumbly… oh so very crumbly!
LOOK AT ME!!!The sensation of feeling your footholds crumbling into dust when you put so much as a toe on them is something I can’t compare to anything else… that and the sensation of holding a very flexy piece of rock that your trusting to hold you onto the wall… hmmmm not a very nice feeling at all. But at the end of all that, you feel like you have really accomplished something incredible and outright scary! The position on the wall is stunning and totally out there… like nothing I have ever experienced before…
The first day we got to try the first section of the 8c pitch. We didn’t really put any more time to try the rest of it as we were tired and satisfied with having figured out the first pitches of the climb and at least having a glimpse of the 8c pitch. I managed to do all the moves on the first crux and was happy with that for a start.
Onsighting the 7a pitch!!! HARDCORE!!! It was actually sodden wet and I broke half the route off...On the second day, the goal was to try the full 8c pitch and to start working it in an attempt to get it dialed for a lead free attempt pretty soon when the weather is on our side. I was super psyched to find that actually, the rest of the route wasn’t that hard for me… I lead the full thing going from peg to peg, just figuring out the moves and trying to be tactical about the whole operation. I know that attempts on this are limited, so I really do need to know what I am doing up there. Rock quality isn’t the best so I need to be confident where I am putting my feet in order to be as efficient as possible on my redpoint attempt. I attempted the crux two times that day… the first crux pulling the bulge I did several times in a row and have good beta for it now and the last section I did in sections and figured out all the best rests, even a kneebar in the middle of one of the cruxier sections which aided me in not only making one move a lot easier but also gave me an extra little shakeout position. I don’t think anybody else has used this before as there was no rubber on the foothold I was using.
Chilling out on the side of Mt Doom, Mordor... (Avoiding Orcs AKA Logan)So all in all, me and Logan are really excited about this! I know I can do this pitch so it all comes down to just getting the conditions, getting a bit lucky and making sure I am in the right zone! I am going to try and lead the 8c pitch free with the limited time we have, so it’s all on me for this pitch and Logan is going to try and free the 8a pitch above. I am also going to aim to free this one so that when we go for the full ascent, I will have freed every pitch (if all goes to plan...)
AMUERTE!!!
Logan giving me a good belay from a nice comfortable hanging belay with our best friend, Mr Edelrid Bowsons Chair :P