New Dawn Fades

The difference between clean and dirty on this wall is immense, and should have been expected on an alpine wall of this exposure, parts of which rarely get wet. I spent a long time cleaning the 4th pitch and checking out the moves, thankfully to find that it was not so bad. Sure it is hard, sure it is a little scary, and there are parts where one must be very cautios with large chunks of rock. However, there are holds – positive pieces to grab with hands and feet, success will be more dependent on personal strengths and stamina, than positive relations with the Onyx, god of friction.

The 1st pitch. The end of the crux boulder leads into 30m of delicate and sustained finger layback/slab! (Photo Riky Felderer)

After feeling satisfied with Pitch 4, I returned in the evening shade to try Pitch 1. The difference was noticeable from my earlier tries in the morning sun, nothing incredible, but enough that I could start making small links and better understand the subtleties required. I worked out all the sections from bolt to bolt on the upper crack, and after a lengthy amount of time, solved my problem of the bottom boulder...

Read the rest of this post along with more pictures over at my new site - JPClimbing.com

Since Canada I have been in real adventure mode; exploring, questing, learning, suffering, progressing and resting, usually in the middle of the mountains, with no phone or internet. The reason - Joy Division, a 20 pitch route on the Qualido wall, Val Di Mello. The result – sore muscles, sorer skin, and a fast track course in Big wall bumbling.

A Brief History of the route...

Climbing on Qualido dates back to 1978, and as expected, a whole host of mixed (aid and free) routes appeared over the next few years. 1989 was a very productive year, witnessing the birth of 3 major new lines, TRANSQUALIDIANA, LA SPADA NELLA ROCCIA, and MELLODRAMA.

The challenge then turned to freeing the routes, and by 1996 the wall saw its first 8b in the form of FORSE SI, FORSE NO from the Czech alpinists Igor Koller, Peter Machai and Miro Piala. At three pitches long this may not seem like the most significant contribution, but its importance (and difficulty) should not be underestimated, as it opened the possibility for a free route of the entire wall, through the most obvious and beautiful central dihedral.

The next big advances in free climbing on the Qualido came at the hands of Simone Pedeferri and other members of the Leco Spiders. After freeing LA SPADA NELLA ROCCIA and opening BLACK SNAKE, Simone set to work on JOY DIVISION, a combination of FORSE SI, FORSE NO, 8 new free pitches of MELLODRAMA, and the classic path of Melat. After 20+ days of cleaning, bolting and exploration, Simone was able to free the route over three climbing days, lowering to the valley floor to sleep between attempts.

I first learned about Joy Division after the 2011 Melloblocco. At the time I had ideas of beginning a journey into multipitch, but very little experience, and so I really had no idea of how the difficulty of these things added up. It sounded like fun, and I liked the idea of doing something really big so I made rough plans to return later this year.

Caroline and I in Les Chemins du Katmandou, Pic thanks to Francisco Taranto Jr

After completing a few “training” projects in various different styles, like Les Chemins du Katmandou in France (short and hard), and Lucifer’s Lighthouse in Canada (longer but easy) I figured I was ready to give Joy Division a shot. I wanted to try to repeat the route in as good a style as possible, climbing onsight and ground-up wherever I could, making the whole thing ideally in one push. I guess it is good to have very high hopes and expectations, but there is also a lot to be said for being realistic about your chances and ability. For those with any experience of the wall, this onsight in a day dream would have sounded as crazy as I now feel – a good indicator of just how unprepared for such a challenge I was.

Through my whole life, I have always been one for jumping in at the deep-end, which granted, has caused me a lot of failures, but also taught me to learn fast and think on my feet. I have never been fond of starting at step one, learning the basics and progressing gradually from there, instead I preferred to focus on anything I needed to know to stay alive, then jump in around step 6 or 7, often falling on my ass, but usually getting back up again.

The Qualido Wall, with the arrow showing the first belay. (Pic - Riky Felderer)

Joy Division has so far been one of these experiences. I set off onsight, and by the third bolt was sat on the rope, with no Idea of how to climb the featureless rock above. The thought the rock might be dirty had never entered my mind (testament again to my inexperience), so after hours of cleaning the smears and crystals on the first pitch I started again, to find it just as perplexing as before. A 45m 8b granite slab! I hadn’t climbed anything this side of vertical for way too long. I could not manage the individual moves – linking the pitch seemed further away than the moon.

20 pitches to the top, and I’m stuck in the 1^st – great start. The onsight dream is dead, I accept this will be ground up at the very best and so continue through pitch 2 and 3. At 7b and 7b+ these should be a relative stroll, but I only manage to onsight the 2^nd by the skin of my teeth, and fall once in the crux of the third – booooooooo hooooooooo.

Simone Pedeferri on the beautiful "corner in-a corner" on the 2nd pitch. (Pic - Riky Felderer)

The 4^th pitch is supposed to be the monster! Simone spent the morning telling me to be cautious for the climbing is hard through big loose blocks. He warns me that the ropes pass through the line of any falling rock, and that the chance of cutting a cord is a real possibility. 8b (possibly + or even c according to Simone) with a chance to fall to the floor from 100m fills me with dread, I get Caroline to move the belay to the shelter of the corner, and I set off with 3 ropes (2 lead lines and a tied off static) for an extra bit of safety. Again, the rock is dirty, and there are certainly some big hollow blocks that don’t inspire confidence, but a cautious mix of free climbing and A3 hooking leads me to the sanctuary of the 4^th Belay. From here we rappelled, fixing lines to the floor to allow for easier cleaning and working the following day.

Newfoundland Expedition Reports

And we begin...

Wow!!! One month since my last post! So what have I been up to? Keep reading and find out...

Blow Me Down is 1,300 feet of granite rising directly out of the Atlantic. Situated in Devils Bay, a wet and windy place indeed on the South coast of Newfoundland, Blow Me Down is several hours from the nearest road and civilisation, accessible only by boat.

Like my Chad Expedition from 2010, Blow Me Down was the brain-child of Mark Synnott, a very experienced American climber and alpinist. Mark has climbed in more crazy places around the globe than I know exist and has a reputation for guaranteed memorable times, be it from epic or adventure. I was psyched to travel again with him, and placed all my faith in his knowledge and experience, neglecting my own research figuring he would likely have everything covered...

Supplies...

I said before leaving that my main aim for the trip was to learn. To learn from two of the most experienced big wall climbers in the world how to be fast, efficient, but above all else safe. Mark and Alex are obviously wildly different climbers, with different focus’s, objectives and strengths. I had climbed with them both in the past, but never in a big wall environment, and was excited by the prospect of watching them work and picking up some secrets.

One of many unexplored cliffs in the area...

The next few weeks would turn out to be possibly the least productive of my climbing life. Raging winds, torrential rain and perpetual fog would allow for only 2 full climbing days in 10. The rest of the time was spent in base-camp, sat on our ass, staring at the sky and praying for it to clear. Good weather was the one thing Mark couldn’t secure, but thankfully, as expected he nailed everything else. The soggy grimness was much better than it could have been thanks to a TNF 2 Meter Dome and a plentiful supply of food.

Base camp scene... soggy :(

There are really not so many new stories to tell from the trip, instead I will re-post some of the expedition dispatches in case anyone missed them over at The North Face blog.

Caro's Katmandou

She did it!!!

Hard work, determination, and a little helping of pride really do work wonders. After the first session on Les Chemins de Katmandou, where she barely managed the crux move 1 in 5 tries, Caroline topped out on her ascent of the entire route early last week, 4^th ascent and 1^st female ascent (as far as I know), a fine effort indeed.

We headed back to La Jonte to meet up with Facancisco Taranto Jr for a photo shoot after the Millau Natural Games. Caro had just finished a 3 day team training session in the French Pyrenees, meaning firstly we couldn’t arrive in the Cliff until 4pm, and secondly she was exhausted. With little chance of a full ascent, we settled with fixing lines up the whole route for Francisco, and shooting on the top pitch with the evening light. I surprised myself by climbing the top pitch again on my 1^st try of the day – its really quite amazing at how much more energy you have without climbing hard pitches to get there.

Caro had a play on the pitch and managed to figure out a new method for the crux; normally taking a 2-finger pocket as a mono would make things trickier, but in this particular case, the inverse seemed to apply for Caro. Content with making one of her crux slaps static, we all headed down to the car and campsite, grabbed some of the local speciality “Aligot”, and went to bed, ready for yet another early start and an 8b for breakfast.

6am feels especially early after a shitty night’s sleep, but at least in France you are rewarded for such an unhealthy hour with warm, soft, freshly baked bread! Conditions on the rock felt horrible and I struggled to second the first pitch. Caroline had just dispatched it on her 1^st try of the day, complete with screams, wild slaps, and falls without falling. Having now experienced the conditions for myself, I really understood why!

I joined her at the belay and climbed through to the top of the 7c+, not without a big fight I might add on the awkward final moves around the arête. Caroline arrived perhaps 10 minutes later and seemed to be feeling good. We arranged the belay, exchanged a few words, and she set off for round one.

Move after move, I was constantly amazed at how well she was dealing with the incredibly reachy and powerful climbing. This pitch is her anti style, but she compensated for the long reaches by working her feet up very high, and on the few occasions where even this failed to provide enough, solved the problem with an all out jump!

She arrived at the mid-way rest before the crux and prepared for the upcoming intensity. After a few moments she signalled to be ready and set off, fumbled her feet, missed the next hold and was off. I joked with her not to worry as this move was one in every two, she tried her best to smile and joined me back in the belay.

One in two was right, as next try she cruised this move to arrive at the end of the crux section. A long move with high feet from a one pad under-cling mono brought her to the intermediate edge. After a small adjustment of the feet, all that remained was a 5cm bump (although at full stretch) to a good 3 finger pocket, and probable victory. She paused a little too long, and fell with her fingers in the hold – merde!!!

One of my personal little tricks I have discovered over the last year is to imagine that a route continues after the top hold, or that there are harder moves still to come after the actual crux. This helps me to deal with the “summit fever” – that sudden panicky pump that takes you by surprise when you excitedly realise the end is “right there”. I told this idea again to Caro in the hope it might help in even the smallest way. She was so close to finishing the route, but the sun was coming fast, she was getting tired, and all her hard work was close to becoming nothing. Multi-pitch brings so many more elements to climbing – these extra elements make the final result all the more worth, but can cause quite a lot of heart ache along the way!

Caro set off, and from my perspective looked to cruise the route, moving fluidly, really flowing through the hard moves. From her perspective, things were a little different... She admitted feeling tired and weak, the worst of her 3 tries of the day. However, she knew this was to be her last try, her one and only chance to finish this journey and she needed to make it count. She told herself the route was the final of just another comp, and whilst ultimately not important in the wider scheme of the world, it was of the highest importance in the “there and now” and she needed to find a way to make it work, to dig deep into the reserve tank and find a little magic. The huge smile across her face as I joined her at the top told me just how happy she was with the result.

A magic day.

Big, Scary, Monsters

The 4th pitch roof of La Cardaire

The next project is underway, and has already begun gathering speed. I have started to become more and more intrigued by the world of hard multi-pitch and big walls and over the last few months have started to make my first visits to this world.

The eventual idea is to create something very long, very hard, and very scary, but this final phase is still quite a long way off in the future. Now is the time to begin developing the necessary skills, by attempting and repeating certain existing routes, some classic, some obscure, in the style of the separate components of the master plan.

The first of the training routes fell a few months ago, in the form of La Cardaire, a semi-traditional, 4 pitch wall in St Guilhem. The 160m route is capped by a big roof at the very top, and was first climbed as an route at A2, 6b, using only pitons for protection. The route has aged a little, and in doing so the pitons are perhaps not as proud as they once were, but standards have also improved, and the route now goes free at 7a,7b,7c,8a.

The 3rd pitch and questionable 2nd belay!!!

I took a mini trad rack with me during my on-sight of the route with good friend Nico, but It was not really necessary. There is enough fixed gear in the wall to climb in relative comfort, granted some of it very old and far apart, but still enough. Take a few slings for belay on the trees, and get ready for some exposure through the final roof!!!

The next part of the project was something a little harder, a 3 pitch route in La Jonte called Les Chemins De Katmandou. Bolted by Laurent Triay and climbed by Sharma in 2002, the route packs quite a punch in its relatively short height of 100m. A 50m 8b leads to a 20m 7c+ and finally a 30m 8b+ up the bulging headwall. The climbing on the 1st pitch is great and is worth doing in its own right, but the climbing on the 3^rd pitch is simply exquisite – a contender for the best route I have climbed on limestone!

Caroline following the 3rd pitch

The 3^rd pitch is very dynamic; long move after long move on perfectly sculpted pockets. After the first day on the route, I was not so hopeful about my chances of climbing it quickly. I was struggling to do some of the moves on the headwall and didn’t quite see how I would be able to link it all together, especially after the addition of the first 2 hard pitches.

Caro and I returned a few days later, and thing could hardly have been more different. After warming up, I climbed the 8b pitch on my 1st try, and the 8b+ pitch on my 2^nd, after a slight refinement of the method for the crux. Caroline also made great progress on the route, despite several very long moves on the 3^rd pitch. We will head back soon for her to make a try from the floor and probably shoot some pictures in the process.

Looking up the 1st pitch of Katmandou towards the 3rd pitch headwall!

It’s strange how your performance can change so drastically from day to day, something I must try to remember in the future when routes feel too hard for me. I am happy to have got it done so quickly, and excited to begin the next part of the project... Newfoundland

I thought I would have them for Chad, I was certain I would have them for Pembroke, but for one reason or another the Helium Friends just kept me waiting. Everything was frustratingly close, all the components were ready in boxes in Llanberis just waiting to be put together, but this is the really slow and complicated part and with orders for 10’s of thousands, the guys and girls in the factory certainally had their work cut out.

Finally, this morning I collected a box from the local post office and got my hands on a set. They look pretty, and feel light, so a great start... Next month I will be on expedition and will have my first chance to try them out for real.

One final thing – also in the box was a set of Astro Quickdraws, and praise the Lord, they are finally coming paired in Silver and Red, rather than the usual single colour. It is such a small detail but one I feel makes a big difference – no longer will I be grabbing the wrong end whilst clipping from a pumped panic. Burs from bolts and skinny ropes do not play well together!

Sun, sea, speed boats and secret beaches – my last weekend in Sardinia.

2am was not a happy hour for waking up, and was even less happy when I walked out of my door to pouring rain and a flat battery in my car. With my brain still cloudy from sleep, I struggled to think how I would fix this problem and still catch my soon to depart flight, from Munich, two hours drive away.

The garage was closed, I had no jump leads, and the airport shuttle had already left... things were not looking good. The €300 taxi fare seemed like the only option as OAMTC would likely take too long, but then just as I was about to bite the bullet, around the corner came a bright yellow car and all my problems were solved.

The man clipped on the jumper box, my car sprang to life, and I set off to Munich with the rain still falling hard, focusing on not stalling the car and repeating the same epic all over again. I arrived in time, caught my plane, and was stood in glorious Sardinian sunshine by 8am. Next stop Maddalena

Friday was spent driving around Maddalena and Caprera with my host from Villa Olivia, Davide. Davide was born and raised on the tiny island, and after an early career as a mountain guide, he returned to run a beautiful B&B overlooking a tranquil secluded beach. Davides love for the island and its climbing is evident in his enthusiastic approach to his work. In a few hours he had shown me several incredible looking projects that almost tempted me to break my rest day, but my sore skin sent an obvious reminder every time it touched rock, and so I made do with planning the next few days over a cold beer on the beach.

The official reason for my trip was to guide the winners of a recent TNF competition. They arrived on Friday evening after a little delay with flights, and we headed to a typical Sardinian restaurant for a feast of pizza, pasta and seafood. By the time we had finished eating and caught the ferry back to Maddalena, it was the wrong side of midnight, and I was not looking forward to my 7am alarm, which would be followed by a very, very busy day.

The next 24 hours went something like this. Amazing Sardinian breakfast and coffee, drive to the harbour, pack and board the cute little rubber boat, then sail to a nearby island for the first bouldering, getting the shock of your life when the cute little thing took off like a rocket. After discovering the first amazing boulders of the day and climbing a few great new problems, we departed for the next island, not happy to hear the warning of rough seas.

Davide warned me that things were going to be exciting. The seas were two levels above what they would normally take clients out in, but because I was a “strong man” he felt things would work out. The little boat can only sail through swell this big if it keeps moving fast, this way the boat can bounce over the tops of the waves, rather than the waves pouring over the top of the boat. We were lucky to have a fantastic capitan who seemed to possess a sixth sense for the movement of the ocean, but even with Mario’s expertise, things got a little hairy!

With Mario at the wheel, my two clients took the back which left me and Davide to balance on the front. With the help of a rope from the nose of the boat we tried to brace ourselves against the speed and changes in direction, yet stay bouncy in or legs to compensate for the sudden rise and fall as we crossed waves of various size and shape. This was terrifying at first, but became quite fun once the initial shock had passed, later turning into a pure endurance exercise as the minutes passed by. It was imperative to keep focus, as every time you thought of taking a sneaky break and relaxing, a rouge wave would rock the boat nearly sending you overboard.

The first crossing took around 35 min and brought us to the main island for the day, a truly beautiful place. We spent a few hours climbing on the boulders by the beach before later moving inland to explore a little deeper. Wow, just WOW, this place is really jaw dropping, and during my brief exploration of a few 100m of coast line, I saw some of the best, hardest projects I have ever seen. Think or formations like castle hill, but made of granite, and you are on the right track. I will certainly be back in the future...

Our bodies were exhausted, minds were tired and skin was sore. If my bed had been there, I would have happily fallen into it, but we still had a long way to go. Another channel crossing took us the wrong way to Corsica, which meant visiting another new place, eating great food, but an even longer journey home, in the dark!

The difference in the dark was like night and day (Boom boom)! No longer could you see the waves coming towards you, it became an effort of anticipation. The minutes ticked slowly by as we raced across the black water, occasionally becoming fully airbourne from a bigger than average swell. After 10 minutes I felt finished and struggled to see how I could keep this up for much longer, but time continued to pass, and I continued to stand. 20 minutes and things were still the same, I began to think how similar this was to climbing long endurance routes. You feel like death and can’t imagine how to continue upwards, but as long as you don’t give up and keep battling slowly forwards, it’s amazing how far you can go. Until at some magical moment, you arrive in the port, battered and broken but finished... until the next time.

The following day took us to explore some of the projects I found on the first day in the relaxed and tranquil forests on Caprera Warming up was hard after the activities of the day before, but my body eventually began to feel like it was supposed to, and I got on with the main events. Two top class boulders were climbed, beginning in glorious juggy huecos under a roof, and climbing out two steep arêtes on slopers. The second line in particular was three stars of anyone’s money, and was one of the rare boulders that actually requires a knee-bar.

After succeeding on the standard start, I set about making an extension into it, beginning in my first problem and climbing tiring moves through the hueco filled roof to reach the beginning of problem two. Four tries falling off the same move finally brought success on my fifth attempt, making for one of the best boulders I have done and possibly the hardest on the island.

For my last few hours on the island, David took me to see his “monsters”, an amazing project on amazing rock, that actually turned out to be three lines in one. I cleaned and tried the lines for a short while, but despite managing to climb the various starting sections, couldn’t figure out a way to breach the top slopey section shared by all 3 problems. 25degrees is certainly not ideal conditions for bad granite slopers, so I guess it will have to wait a while for my return later this year...