Jerry Moffat’s Revelations
My christmas reading list has been dominated by climbing books, and the first to fall is Revelations, Jerry Moffat’s autobiography, ghost-written by Niall Grimes.
Jerry Moffat can rightly claim to be Britain’s first rock-climbing superstar. He was an integral part of the massive boom in sport-climbing in the late eighties, and together with Ben Moon was the public face of this new, rather controversial aspect of the sport in Britain. Moffatt was arguably at the peak of his abilities just as I started climbing around 1990, and as late as 1998 was still putting up cutting edge bouldering problems such as The Ace at Stanage (which he regards as his last significant first ascent).
Jerry Moffatt had a reputation for being a loud, brash, rather arrogant man, who just about got away with it by virtue of the fact that for the best part of decade he probably really was the very best in the world. I was interested to see whether this brashness would come over in the book, or whether Niall Grimes (who has a light comedy touch to many of his articles and short stories) would be able to soften the ego.
Although the ego is obviously still there in the text, again Moffatt just about gets away with it. He acknowledges that he had a competive streak but I believe him when he says it was never malicious – he never wanted to see anybody else fail – he just wanted to ensure that he succeeded before them!
The book is a straightforward autobiography, in that it essentially chronicles Moffatt’s climbing career, sometimes in minute detail. In that sense it is very much not a book for non-climbers. The list of places, crags and routes gets bewildering even for those who know a bit of the history already, and certainly during the middle third of the book it begins to feel like you’re reading a glorified ticklist. The book is at its most interesting in the first and last thirds, where it focuses a bit more on Jerry’s lifestyle and motivation, and rather less on recounting anecdote after anecdote. As a result the book has a slight ‘episodic’ feel about it, and I wonder whether that is due to Niall Grimes’s experience being mostly restricted to magasine articles and short stories, rather than whole books.
Yet I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the book. Moffatt’s story is a pretty interesting by any standards, but more than anything it is wholly inspirational. What you realise is that one of the reasons he was the best was because he tried bloody hard. As a result, the book is undoubtedly a must read for all climbers who want to be inspired to climb harder – and that’s a moral-of-the-story that I reckon Jerry Moffatt would be proud of.
Fail fail fail!
Yesterday we had excellent winter sun climbing conditions in Catalunya. The air temperature was a few degrees above zero, but the sky was crystal clear and sun nice and warm. It makes for interesting conditions at the crag, as you climb in a t-shirt in the sunshine, but at the crag base in the shade of the trees you have to wrap up in a down jacket, hat and gloves. Keeping warm between routes is tricky, particularly for the fingers, but once you’re up there climbing in sunshine it feels beautiful.
Unfortunately, neither PJ or I could take advantage of the conditions. PJ was tired and not climbing very well, and I failed repeatedly on Calma Tensa. Last week I thought I’d come back and tick it first try, but after falling off the upper crux for the fourth time yesterday, it was time to call it a day. It’s so frustrating. The first go I was feeling strong, blasted through the first crux, but messed up my feet on the second crux. The second time I reached the same point but messed up my hands. The third attempt I hadn’t rested long enough, so before the fourth go I had a good long rest and a bite to eat. The sun was jsut beginning to set so it was to be the last go. I was feeling tired and not too confident, but as soon as I was on the rock I blasted through the lower crux again and my confidence started to rise. After the mid-height rest, I did the upper-crux perfectly, put my feet perfect, latched the crux crimp perfectly…and stopped. I couldn’t move. All I had to do was pull up on these two crappy crimps, stick a high foot-hold, and I would be home and dry. But I couldn’t move. I tried as hard as I could but with no strength left, my fingers uncurled and I was off. Bugger.
So now PJ is away for 10 days and I have to wait til the new year for my tick. Today the weather has turned bad, which actually may not be a bad thing as it gives me a reason to get the fingerboard out, which I haven’t done for a while. Hopefully a fortnight of hanging will give me that extra blast of strength I need to hang the crucial crimp.
Anyway if you’re interested here is a homemade topo (originally found here) of the section of Gelida with all the interesting stuff. (The rockfax topo for this section, btw, is useless). Calma Tensa is route 2, the 7c+ to the right of it is Calma Intensa. PJ’s long term project is the classic 8a of the crag, and indeed the whole Barcelona region, Amb la boca plena de sika (”With a mouth full of resin”!) which is number 5 (curiously to the right of number 6 in the diagram). A possible future project for me is Bongo Bongo, number 9, but I’d like to get another 7b+ done first (there’s another good one, apparenly excellent) on a different sector at Gelida. mind you I’ve got tick Calma-bloody-Tensa first!
Rained off Calma Tensa
Those who know me well will be aware that I have a tendency to under/over exaggerate time scales. So if I’m trying to convince you to the come to the pub and say “it’s only a 5 minute walk”, you can be sure to be trudging for a full 20 minutes before ordering the first beer. In a similar (yet kind of opposite) sort of fashion, despite writing yesterday morning that “I’ll have to wait at least a week to get back on the rock”, barely 24 hours later I was tying on the sharp end at Gelida. The finger wound is still ugly but is not too painful and climbing with it is perfectly possible. Such melodrama!
Winter has arrived here in Catalunya at last. The weather has turned cold and damp with plenty of rain around, and while the means good news for the ski resorts, it’s not so good for us climbers. Gelida this morning was very very cold (like, 3 or 4 degrees C), and spitting rain. Still, like the good northern europeans that we are, PJ and pushed on through. I had my first real try on Calma Tensa, the 7b+ that I’ve mentioned a fair bit recently. It has two distinct cruxes – one low down on steep rock and generally good holds, and a second about halfway up, on vertical rock but really balancy on crimps. In between the cruxes is a juggy section with a good rest.
I worked the route to get the clips in, and to my great satisfaction I did all the moves either first or second go, finding nothing particularly taxing. Then, just as I was clipping the chains and feeling confident of the first-redpoint tick, the heavens opened. D’OH!! With the rain setting in it was game over, because although the bottom crux stays dry the top crux was getting wet even as I lowered. I’ll have to wait for the next day. Ah well, I guess it gives more time for the wound to heal. Hope next weekend’s sunny!
Completely gutted
So here I am at 7.15am, bag packed with rope and gear, all ready to go climbing. Today was the day I was going to make a real go on Calma Tensa, the 7b+ at Gelida. It is perfect timing, I should be as strong as ever after four days in Siurana, and nicely rested. I’ve been watching climbing videos all week to get motivated.
But I’m not going anywhere this morning.
Last night I was cutting some cheese when the knife slipped and sliced into the tip of the index finger of my left hand. Stupid, stupid bloody idiot. It is not serious enough to go to hospital, but it is pretty deep and quite painful. I wrapped it up well last night in the vain hope that it might be okay to climb today, as it is on the side of the finger, not the pad. But this morning I took a look it is still bleeding freely and throbbing painfully. Climbing on it now, even on easy stuff, would just be adding to my stupidity.
So now I am waiting for PJ to wake up to tell him that I can’t go climbing (thus ruining his plans) and I’m totally gutted that I’ll have to wait at least a week before getting back on the rock. Sigh.
Three climbing film reviews
My recent psyche for climbing has meant that I’ve been watching a few of the new climbing films that have come out recently.
Progression
BigUp Productions have been making climbing films for ages and their success over the years means that they can afford to throw money around like few other production companies involved in outdoor sports. Their latest film, Progression, is no exception. It can be described very basically as 90 minutes of the world’s best climbers doing their thing, whether on sport or trad, big wall or bouldering.
In my opinion it is undoubtedly one of the best climbing films to come out in the last decade, equally as good as King Lines (which was the previous high water mark). From watching Chris Sharma and Adam Ondra rip up the Catalan limestone, to seeing line after classic line falling to team of yanks visiting the British gritstone, it is just brilliant. My one criticism is that, if anything, it is too long to watch in a single sitting, but that is splitting hairs. Definately the only must-buy climbing film I’ve seen in a long while.
Between the Trees
From one end of the climbing-film budget to the other, Between the Trees is the second film from Uncle Somebody (aka Keith Bradbury). It basically is a documentary of top British/Yank boulderer Tyler Landman on an extended stay in Fontainebleau. While a few other boulderers feature (including a none-too-shabby Uncle Somebody himself) the film is basically all about Tyler, the forest and the boulders.
Occasionally with this sort of film, low-budget and one person’s dream, the result gets damned-with-faint-praise, as people say that it’s “beautifully shot” and “artful”. The UKC fanboy review goes even further and says “In other words what is interesting about Between the Trees is what is left out, what is left unsaid”. This kind of praise is usually read by simpletons like myself as “slow, boring, but pretty”.
Fortunately, Between the Trees seems to work on several levels, because more than anything I found it a thoroughly enjoyable climbing film, despite the beautiful artful shooting. Perhaps it could have benefited from a slightly stronger narrative, but it is never slow, never dull and, despite my sarcasm, does look spectacular. While Tyler Landman is the lead actor, the real star of the show is the forest itself, as the film really does manage to capture the essence of the place, something that is rather intangible. Whatever, it’s highly recommended.
Welsh Connections
Welsh Connections is film that attempts to document the current climbing scene in Wales, and features several high profile climbers and characters, such as Tim Emmett and Johnny Dawes, the latter acting as somewhat of a narrator to the film, linking several different sections.
Of all the climbing films released recently, this was the one I was looking forward to the most. I’m Welsh, have climbed loads in Wales, and have had the pleasure of briefly meeting a few of the people in the film, so it should be right up my street. Unfortunately, from almost the very first minute I found it to be quite disappointing.
Let’s deal with the positive bits first – at least half the film is actually very good. Tim Emmett’s first section in Pembroke was superb, as was Pete Whittaker on the slate. The complete sequence of Pete Robins on Silk Cut at Parisella’s Cave was also a highlight, and the film finished strongly with Nick Bullock and James McHaffie at Gogarth. But the rest of the film was, for me, dull and uninspiring. The start doesn’t help – Wales is reknowned internationally for its abundance of adventurous climbing on interesting and different rock types, so why start with a section on limestone bolt-clipping? LPT is a nice crag but it hardly is representative of why the climbing in Wales is so different to elsewhere.
Anyway, in summary, I can highly recommend anybody to buy a copy of Progression and and Between the Trees, especially as you can download them in high definition at a lower price. Welsh Connections, I’m sad to say, is only something I’d recommend for those who are really interested.
No success at Siurana
Me (in the blue shirt) on El Prado del Rey, Siurana
This weekend was a puente weekend, (bank holiday on the tuesday) and so I spent four days down in Siurana with Lau and PJ, and also with Gert (another Belgian friend in Barcelona) and his mate Jof (also from Belgium). The weather was spectacular, cold air but warm sunshine, perfect winter sun climbing conditions.
Siurana is undoubtedly one of the world’s very best sport climbing destinations. The latest guidebook, out just a few weeks ago, lists over 600 routes, and in the intro states that only about 15% of the crags have been developed. Amazing. It is very inspiring but can also be intimidating; almost all the routes are 30m+ and make you work for your tick. The climbing is mostly power-endurance on super-sharp crimps, which leaves you fingertips trashed after a few days.
Anyway, I had a great time on the trip but unfortunately didn’t really tick anything harder than the warm-up routes. My goal was to try to redpoint a 7b+, which would be the hardest grade I’ve ever climbed. So on Sunday I worked a route called El Prado del Rey (”The Kings Garden”) at sector El Patí (see the photo above). It is great route with the difficulty escalating along with the height – it starts off around 6c-ish, then goes through a 7a-ish section, then a 7b-ish mini-crux, then a half-rest before the main crux at about 25 metres. On tuesday I got pretty close to ticking it, making it through to the half-rest, but I wasn’t able to recover well-enough and so didn’t have the strength to latch the crucial crimp on the crux. Close, but no cigar.
So I’m disappointed but also pleased; 7b+ with one fall is not bad going especially as its the first one I’ve really tried. And the trip was great fun. Lau was climbing well and PJ had a particularly good trip, with 7b onsight and almost 7b+ flash (same route I was working), unfortunately he fell from the crux (he is human after all!).
Anyway now it’s time to rest and watch climbing films before getting back to Gelida and see if I can tick 7b+ before Christmas!
Edit: Here’s a nice picture PJ took of me high on Haber Pedido Muerte, a very long 6c-ish route at Arbolí.
Resting up for Siurana
At the moment I’m sat in a hotel room in Graz, Austria, after a couple of days of European project meetings and conference presentations. In a way this is good as it gives me enforced rest from climbing. Eric Horst recommends a full week’s rest before a climbing trip, as it lets your body recover completely and gives a bit more time for any niggling injuries to heal. I trust Horst’s advice as it was reading his book that gave me the initial motivation to try to push my grade, and eventually led to me climbing E4 and, eventually E5. (And hopefully 8a! Or at least 7c).
Last Sunday I went up to the Fuixarda and swung around the tunnel for a couple of hours and was feeling pretty strong, but afterwards my muscles were really aching, which is probably a good thing. Now I’m recovered and relaxing with free food and drink (yum) although I feel bad that I broke my beer moratorium and had several weissbiers a couple of nights ago. Well I am in Austria!
So tomorrow I head home, Lau arrives on Friday, and then Saturday morning we head down to Siurana. The latest edition of Escalar has an article on a newish sector called Siuranella, which is chock full of 6s and 7s. Sounds perfect, I can’t wait!
Escalar issue 65 cover