A busy day on one of Yorkshire's premier grit edges with a new route and some audacious repeats from two of Wild Country 2010 climbing team...

Watch video of Pete Whittaker on French Duke E9...

New Route at Earl Crag by Jordan Buys

“Peter Whittaker snatched the much coveted second ascent of my super route (if I may say so myself) French Duke, E9 7a, between inconvenient showers on Friday 11th March 2010, while I snagged the first ascent of ‘The Baron of Boing’ at E7 6C. Pete had been trying the route for a few days during a period of fantastic conditions and had managed to suss out the sequence along with some potential gear. The day dawned, we were set for success but the rain threatened to stop play.

Whilst Pete tried to keep French Duke clean and dry, I had a go at the new line to the left. This route climbs to the Mindbomb ledge and then attacks the problematic left arete/wall via a distant edge on the left wall. I had previously attempted a lead one week earlier but aborted after the gear unexpectedly ripped and I decked out onto my back. I kind of bounced but it did hurt. This time I returned armed with more pads, spotters and some Superlight Rocks, backing up the Zero cams. This time the gear managed to hold, and it was a good job too as I fell off the crux repeatedly!! The gear is well below your feet for this move and only just takes as you hit the pads below on rope stretch.

Things were turning epic, the rain was back and I managed to scrape my shin down to the bone on the tricky start sequence, so I passed the baton to Pete and his battle with French Duke.

He had managed to rig a very interesting looking sling wrapped around the small ledge feature (without any side runners) and was hoping that this would slow him down a bit if he were to come off the crux. He chose to try the sling because he had tested the gear I used on the first ascent (out right, where I originally started FD) and it had exploded spectacularly when he rested on it. Uh-oh! Anyhow, he climbed up and placed his sling and some VERY low cams, down climbed, and then had to sit out a rain shower.

Fortunately, the wind was also out to play and within minutes the route was dry again. He set off confidently and was pretty quickly into the crux sequence. This went very smoothly but then Pete suddenly started to flounder - he was desperately slapping and grasping at the slopers above, with a strangled cry of "watch me". We could hardly bear to look as he clawed his way up the final few moves, facing a certain ground fall from 10 metres. But then he was on the top, breathing heavily and shaking like a leaf! Well, it was the hardest belaying I've ever done, I was prepared to sprint down the hill like Usain Bolt in my wellies.....

When Peter reached the ground, he decided to give his sling a tug to see how well it would have worked - one pull from underneath and it came straight off with him rolling down the hill! Good job he didn't take the fall! Also, when he took his cams out he could almost reach them from the floor - they really are only just above head height!

Team psyche - it was my turn again. After two more falls off the crux of the new route I was feeling despondent, with a split tip to show for my troubles. Last week's fall was playing on my mind. After utilising a bit of tape and superglue, I knew I only had one go left. Jump to the break, undercut to the ledge, mantel. Breathe. Chalk. Ignore the drizzle. Fondle the holds, place toe on the pebble and...leap! This time my fingers closed over the edge and I knew I was in, happy to make the pleasurable moves to the top. Hurray! "The Baron of Boing" was born.

Still fuelled by adrenaline, Pete was keen for a quick repeat (he had previously worked the moves on ab) and did the deed in fine style. As for the grade, it is a big move, but definitely will be easier for the tall, who may not even have to 'boing'! It is a serious proposition without lots of mats and the gear is too low for comfort so... maybe E7 6c for the climber of average stature, but possibly E6 6b for the very tall. It was great fun and there were some lovely rainbows."

Read more about Jordan Buys here....

Read more about Pete Whittaker here...

Read more about Zero Friends here...

Read more about Superlight Rocks here...

See more about Wild Country climbers here..

Our monthly competition has just come to an end at the website and 6 lucky winners have Rock Lite helmets winging their way to them. But if you enterered and didn't win or missed the boat on that one you have another couple of chances to win by clicking through to the websites of two of the UK's climbing mags and entering Rock Lite comps there.

Our online comp gave away 6 of these awesome new helmets and the lucky winners were:
Ben Riley, Mark Harrington, Andrew Benham, Mark Edmonds, Debbie Barrat, Ben Hughes.

So for more chances to win a Rock Lite helmet - and at Climb mag there's 6 up for grabs!!!!

At Climber Magazine: http://www.climber.co.uk/competition/

At Climb Magazine: http://www.climbmagazine.com/competition.aspx

It's spring. Red Chili's new shoes are here and we're psyched to give you the opportunity to put them to the test on your favourite problem or route, at your favourite wall. So the Wild Country reps will be travelling the country and holding a series of Red Chili Rock Shoe Demos & Boulder Competitions for you to do just that - and all in association with CORE Climbing.

At every event you'll get to try Red Chili's latest rock shoes for 2010, including a selection of some of these cool new shoes: new Corona VCRs, New Spirit VCRs, new Urban Climber, as well as Durangos and even the super hot Matador.

It's all free and the bonus is that everyone who tries the shoes will get to enter a prize draw at each demo to win the pair of Red Chili's of our choice!

And as a bonus at each event there will be an opportunity to test your strength and skill on 5 boulder problems set with CORE's latest holds - and each competition entrant will also stand the chance of winning one of CORE's new finger boards!

Other prizes up for grabs at these events will include Wild Country and Red Chili T-shirts, chalk bags and Wild Country Pure Chalk.

So get in training as the first event's soon....9th March at the Manchester Climbing Centre..

See here for full details and all the dates of these events...

See all Red Chili's new shoes here

You can see more about CORE holds here

It's preview time and as the seasons are changing so is Wild Country's range and to get a first glance you can download our new product flyer.

Featuring all our 2010 gear as well as the best of the rest this full colour poster also features Wild Country and Red Chili sponsored climber James MacHaffie -

So you can see our awesome new Rock Lite helmets, the fantastic new Elite and Vision harness ranges as well as the awesome new range of keylock screwgates set to hit the shelves in spring 2010....

Download our 2009/10 Workbook with all the facts and figures here...

See more about James MacHaffies recent amazing 3rd ascent of the Vioe Petit in the Alps here...

Download the Red Chili 2010 flyer here...

Download our 2009/10 Product Flyer by clicking on the Press Release button below....

The results are in and 10 lucky readers have won their share of Red Chili goodies with 5 pairs of new Corona VCR and 5 pairs of new Spirit VCR from Red Chili's awesome 2010 range.

Thanks to Climb Magazine's generous hosting of this competition the following guys and gals will be enjoying a Spring shoe bonanza...

Corona VCR - Winners

Josh Edwards, Tiffany Littler, Alice Manwaring, David Barrat

Spirit VCR - Winners

Clare Price, Liz Waterhouse, Mark Butterfield, James Bobbet, Neil Day

You can read all about Red Chili's awesome new shoe range on their website....