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27th Oct 2011 Hazel Findlay frees climbs El Cap - Golden gate goes down...

Golden Gate - by Hazel Findlay - taken from her Blog at http://hazelfindlay.wordpress.com/

October 23, 2011

I freed El Cap. But I also broke my computer, so this has been written quite hurriedly. Even so, it’s really detailed, so skimming could be advisable! I got a little carried away because it was the little details that made climbing this route such an amazing experience for me.

Freeing El Cap is something most climbers want to do when they get to a certain level. Everything about the wall, it’s beauty, history, height and the hard nature of the climbing make freeing el cap the ultimate goal for a good climber.

Lynn Hill’s groundbreaking first ascent of the nose seems to make freeing El Cap even more special for a women, or at least it did for me, since that feat not only broke female climbing history but climbing history in general.

I knew I wanted to come to Yosemite, and I knew I wanted to climb a free route on El Cap. For a long time I didn’t have a partner or a route in mind. I didn’t really want to try Freerider, the usual first route for most climbers wanting to free El Cap, I had seen pictures of Golden Gate and for some reason I was drawn to that route.

A friend of mine, Hansjorg was also keen to try Golden Gate and so it was in Rodellar that Hans and myself hatched a plan to climb Golden Gate together in October. But I had never climbed a big wall, never hauled, never slept on a portaledge, never known how much water you need for 4 days of climbing. So I knew that completing the route free, on my first attempt at big walling might be too much to ask.

Moreover, the more I learnt about the route, the more it sounded like an unfriendly route for a girl. The 12c down climb is described as very reachy and the ‘Move’ Pitch is a 12a pitch with a 5.13 span from an undercut to a side pull. Every time I told someone that I had Golden Gate in mind, I could see scepticism in their eyes. But with a little persuasion from Hans and some fellow brits, I decided that it would be best to just see for myself and if I failed to free climb the route, so what, I would learn so much in the process.

Hansjorg arrived and before he got the chance to climb anything at all, we had packed for the wall. We hauled to heart ledges on the first day. As I sat on the belay with the protraction turning it this way and that, trying to work out which way up it went, I became increasingly worried that I was too incompetent to be Han’s partner for a route like this. I managed to haul the pitch, but only just; it had taken everything for me to get the bag up one pitch. I looked up the wall, at all 38 pitches of steep granite above me and decided that it was silly to be worried about freeing the route, surely I should only be concentrating on getting to the top in one piece!

We set off on the Freeblast just as light was hitting the wall and we got to our haul bags in not much time at all. The first little bit of confidence was starting to creep in. We climbed and hauled to beneath the ear and put up the portaledge. The day was hot, long and hard, but we had done 19 pitches and although this was good to know, I knew that in the morning Hans and I would have to face what we most feared: the Monster Offwidth.

Hans had said he wanted to lead it, his reasoning being that he would fight harder on lead. Although it would have been nicer to lead, I didn’t really care, I knew I would be fighting either way. So Hans set off and he was doing really well, making a lot of progress, but clearly giving it his all. Then, a few metres from the top, he slipped out. Exhausted he got back on and went to the top. Next it was my turn and I was shocked at how nervous I was. I did the big move into the crack, which was something I was worried I couldn’t do. The first half went well, and I began to feel increasingly cocky about doing the pitch. Then for some reason it became harder and harder. Scraping my feet around to find a good heel toe and jamming my head against my hand in the crack, I found myself doing everything I could to stay in.

I got to the top to find Hans at the belay equally exhausted. I asked if he wanted to go again, and he shook his head. With barely any skin left on his ankles, knees and elbows I knew that he had given everything and didn’t have anything left to go again. But he took this with great acceptance, which looking back on is something I really admire, and with this acceptance we turned our attention to the next pitches.

That day we made it to the down climb, still hot in the evening sun. This pitch had a huge question mark over it in my mind. The word ‘reachy’ seemed to shine out on the page of our topo every time I looked at it. Hans went first and to my disappointment agreed that it was reachy. My first try was in the hot sun and just by looking at how far apart the holds were I decided that Han’s beta would not work for me. But later in the evening when things had cooled off, I tried the move again and surprised myself by how close I got to doing it. This could actually be possible for us and hope started to creep in. Whats more is that after all the ‘easier’ but burlier pitches below, working out these technical slab moves was such fun in comparison. There we were 20 plus pitches up attempting a wild foot hand match to a downwards mantel.

The morning arrived and in the cool shade we felt even more hopeful that we would do it. We both got it really quickly and weirdly enough we had done it almost exactly the same way. Although we cheered at our success, just as quickly my thoughts turned to the dreaded ‘Move’ pitch a couple of hundred feet up. Half of me was full of hope: if the down climb is possible for me, maybe the Move is too. But as we got closer, the inevitability of it dawned on me. Luca, our Slovenian friend was above us trying the move and shouting down that he was too short to do the move. He had freed everything so far and was clearly pissed off about having to jump to a certain two finger pocket instead of simply reaching. Being quite a lot shorter and most probably weaker than Luca, I scolded myself at being so naive as to think that I could do it.

Hans went up and impressively got it second try. But Hansjorg is pretty long, and strong so this did not console me in the slightest. I went up, did the lower 12a section and reached the undercut from which you do the ‘Move’. I looked up at the next hold and knew that the distance between them was longer than my body length. But in the flow of the climbing I saw an unchecked vague sloper in between the two holds. I could only hold it with my right and if I got my left foot really high. This combined with the fact that I could not match the sloper meant that my body was forced to do a huge cross over with my left hand to the side pull, taking it as a gaston instead. Knowing that the next hold was up and left and I was wrong handed, I fell off exasperated and disappointed. I played on the move for a while, trying all sorts of different things. Jumping didn’t work because the hold was side pull. I tried holding all the other features in the rock, willing myself to be able to hold them, but couldn’t.

My brain strained trying to think of how I could do it… there must be a way. After trying everything I could think of, I knew that the closest I had got was on my first attempt; the crazy cross over. So all I had to do was work out how to get my right hand on the hold instead of my left. It sort of dawned on me that I would have to match this horrible gaston and make it a side pull, but with no feet out right I wondered whether I would be strong enough. After a few attempts I had got to the point where, with my left hand crossed over, I could kick my right foot up, just on smears in a back-contorting position that would eventually enable me to match the hold. Once I done the foot movements, it was easy to reach the pocket, but completely stretched in a totally off-balance position the foot movements felt crazy hard. As I swung around with a thousand feet of air beneath me I though to myself that if this were a boulder problem on the ground I would be really pleased to do it. But, I had done the move, so theoretically I could do the pitch. By this time the sun had arrived in full force and my skin was thinning by the second. I came down and asked Hansjorg if he wouldn’t mind waiting for the morning shade.

The next day I woke up, really nervous. I knew I could do it, but I felt tired and achey and my back was stiff from trying the move yesterday. I got to the bottom of the pitch and just before I set off, I heard a succession of congratulatory cheering from around the corner to the left; clearly some people were dispatching the crux pitch of free rider (which turned out to be some of our friends). After 4 cheers, I thought, come on Hazel, they are sending, now you have to too. I felt really shaky on the start with no warm up. I also felt the momentousness of the pitch. I realised that if I didn’t get it this morning, with only a certain amount of food and water, we would be forced to move on, leaving a free ascent impossible. I pulled into the move, crossed over and started the tenuous hopping of my right foot up the smears in to a position that would enable me to match. Trying my best to trust my right foot, I came in to the match and reached across. I was into the pocket! With a few more hard, pumpy moves to go I prayed that I could compose myself enough to do them. With Hans, Luca, Nastia and the french team cheering from above I reached the finishing jugs, really relieved.

Me on the Move Pitch

I know I have described this ‘Move’, (or 4 moves in my case) in a lot of detail, but for me this was the crux of the route and I have never done a move like it, and probably never will again. In all those hundreds of feet of climb, this 10 foot piece of golden pocketed rock, had forced me do a move I would not of thought would be possible for me. Even though grade wise this pitch is way below what I have done before, that move combined with the fact that we were 3 hard days in to a big wall attempt, probably makes Golden Gate the hardest thing I ever climbed. I guess this goes to show, that grades really are arbitrary, with your experience of the climb the thing that really matters. For Hans this pitch was nothing, and the monster offwidth everything, Golden Gate for us, would be a very different route.

I suppose it also shows that having to do things differently to other people is not a bad thing, but instead something to appreciate. Admittedly, had I not done the move, I would have been angry that one move had prevented me from freeing El Cap. But given that I worked out how to do combined with the fact that it was still really hard for me, is kind of the perfect scenario: the ascent would have been boring if it had been easy.

On to the next pitch Han’s had to reface his nemisis: another offwidth named the Chicken Wing chimney, which he bravely lay backed. A few more pitches took us to the Tower of the People where Luca, Nastia and some french teams were resting in their ledges. Pleased to have done the the move pitch and to see some friendly faces, I enjoyed hanging out with them under their tarpaulin, sharing our experiences of the route so far.

We watched a few French guys try the next pitch the 5.13a Golden Desert and it looked amazing. A boulder problem led into a perfect thin lay back, traversing through some roofs at the top. Hans tried and with some initial difficulty working out the boulder problem he continued to cruz to the top. I managed to flash this pitch and as I lowered down I marvelled at how beautiful the climbing was; on the ground this pitch would be a 5 star classic.

We slept in our ledge that night and depending on whether we could do the A5 traverse, the last hard pitch, this would be our last night on the wall.

The next morning Hans impressively onsighted the 5.31a A5 traverse with no warm up. Although he proclaimed it easy I was feeling pretty doubtful, 4 days on the wall had caught up with me and a pumpy traverse on slopers with no feet was not my style. I gave it a bash and fell pretty early on. Panic was creeping in. I knew Hans wanted to finish the route today and I knew that I had only an hour or so before the sun came on to the wall. I had a hurried rest and tried again. The next time I gave it my all but my foot popped off a heel hook a metre from the belay. A little heartbroken I almost lost my composure. I had been so excited to do the Move pitch and now it seemed like a free ascent was slipping away. Hansjorg remained super chilled and this helped me to realise that this was just a short traverse, just rest and try it again.

On my last go, knowing the moves better I climbed quickly to make up for my fatigue and arrived at the belay very relieved. With only 4 more easier pitches to go, I knew I would free climb El Cap.

Tommy on the A5 traverse

Some amazing, steep razor thin 5.11 flakes lead to the last pitch. These were the glory finishing pitches I was looking forward to. Unfortunately the very last pitch is a run-out, circuitous  5.11 that left me puzzled as to where to go. Exhausted both physically and mentally, with the most horrific rope drag, I ungracefully clawed my way up the final slabs in a style that was far from the glorious top out I had imagined. When Hans arrived at the top, we had a brief celebration, but the work was not over. After getting the haul bag stuck and ropes knotted, I realised that I would not really be celebrating until we reached camp 4.

We got to the hire car and at around 5pm, almost 5 days after we saw it last. I thought back to my mind frame on that morning; groggy, apprehensive but psyched, it seemed like such a long time ago. We chatted about how weird it was to be down and how nice it would be to have a shower. Hansjorg was a great partner for the wall and I really appreciatehim going up there with me, despite my lack of big walling experience. Freeing El Cap was once of my most enjoyable climbing experiences and also the most challenging. Although, for now I’m psyched to go bouldering and single pitch climbing I know I’ll be back on El Cap at some point.

And this is what Hansjorg has to say if you are interested – a little briefer and more to the point! http://hansjoerg-auer.at/golden-gate/

 

26th Oct 2011 Ned Fehally ticks one of the County's big lines...

The Northumbrian Gazette ~ report nicked from Beastmaker site written by Dan Varian...(the best fingerboards in the world) www.beastmaker.co.uk

Northumberland has been rudely awakened from its slumbering state in the past week. A big team of miscreants headed up over the weekend to bring their raucous bouldering to to bear upon the county sandstone. Prior to this i’d been nursing a crimping niggle on my right middle finger. Luckily there is a hard project at redheugh which doesn’t require too much from bent fingers. there is a picture here:

 

It has proved frustrating as it would’ve been a lovely 8B but for a hold breaking on the last move before entering into springer’s superb highball 7b Launch Sequence. Now it feels a full notch harder as after 3 sessions i still haven’t quite figured out the last move which is a 1-2 jobby to 2 sidepulls. Any how this was whilst the Quiet County was actually quiet!

Over the weekend the Alan Shearer of the county – Micky Peeeeej – played host to a few Sheffield/yorkshire dwellers and more worked their way upto Belford. Saturday and Sunday both proved to be gorgeous and both days saw some good action. Saturday had The Young (sandbag E8 at callaly) as the target and whilst the route intimidated Micky and Ned enough to make them think twice it still lost the dignity of all its really hard climbing getting walloped and a new variation out left at the end of the crux getting climbed. I’ll try and get more on this from rig firing field reporter Feehally as i wasnt there.

Sunday found us all at kyloe seemingly amongst a pretty full roster of the who’s who of English bouldering with Ned, Micky, Martin, Gangle, Sam and Lu, Hull’s finest, Nicholas Brown! and some boyo called Peegus (who’s Welsh but we let hang around with us anyway as he is stronger than everyone but kindly drops off 8B+s after tickling the last holds). Representing for the rest of the world, Kyloe was also lucky to have Chris Webb-Parsons and Alex Puccio gracing its sharp features.

Mickys new found vocational love for accessing things via rope lead him to suggest trying THE Prow, madness which was soon confirmed by Ned. Luckily i’d also quietly thought this was a great day to try it, as Kyloe never sees many pads by chance so it was a great time to try and seize them. Unfortunately its not like padding out End of the Affair or Gaia or something where by if you look at them on a rope the pads will be there incase you fall off but you aren’t likely too. With Andy’s routes/problems the pads are there because you know you’re going to fall off. He didn’t win and come consistently in the top 5 in world cups for nowt and 8As aren’t something which bothered him in 2003 when he did the prow (and Monk life). Infact when it was done he gave it 7c+ as a boulder grade. Old UKC news article below.

On April 2, Andy Earl completed his long standing project at Klyloe in the woods, Northumberland. “The Prow” (which Andy has refused to grade!) takes the impressive blank arete of the Crucifix buttress at the right end of the crag

This line was first looked at by Ritchie Patterson; however given Andy´s record in the Woods, he was fittingly the man to take up the challenge. The route is a solo and features Font 7c/7c+ moves far too far above the ground for comfort. Despite Andy´s reservation on grading the route, it is perhaps the hardest and most commiting route in Northumberland when compared with routes like Malcolm Smiths Transcendence which features easier moves and adequate protection!

Except the 7c+ part is piffle (as is the part of comparing it to transcendence as that is a route which has 7c+ bouldering moves, but it wont be soloed witout some serious stunt bags or unfeasibly big balls), Adam “Big Foot” Watson snapped a few chicken heads off The Prow on a foray a while back, both Me Ned and Micky crumbled holds on sunday. Nothing crucial but increments that lead us to feel more like it was 8A if abbed and 8A+ to ground up (which none of us were super keen for, as getting it done in the small window of paddage was the main aim). Granted if it was totally safe and you chopped the bottom 3m off then maybe it’d feel like 7C+ but if things like misericorde are supposed to be the same grade or even hitchhikers sit then it definitely feels a bit harder and it is similar with most of the hard holds being 2 finger crimps in pockets. We all took turns to ab it and pry out its secrets. Micky was looking super solid on the rope and me and Ned decidedly more shaky after giving the rope a good coring we got rid of it and thanks to a huge amount of help off our mates we whacked about 8pads underneath it and set off. Micky had forgotten to work a lower move and needed to be home at 6 which was obviously bug bearing him as a cobbed-ankle would disrupt those plans somewhat. Neds first go was superb, wobbling his way upto the last hard move where a broken foothold lead to him peeling off the hold at the end of the crux and just catching the edge of a 3ft high pad stack. My first go was poor, with slightly messed feet i unwittingly decided to test the lower fall. Next go i decided to give it beans and promptly woke up on the last move with beta i’d only looked at once and wet jugs (it had been covered in pine needles and moss) for company, after a bit of a kerfuffle i sorted myself out and topped out for the 2nd ascent. Ned faffed on a bit more and tested a few different falls from a fumbleable stab to a tiny pocket. After a little break due to Micky and Dave’s departure and things seemed to cool down a bit and Ned silently came up with the 3rd ascent. To me it still felt like i was bouldering and both Ned and Mick felt it was less serious than their young variation but harder. So maybe nouveau-highball 8A (or 8A+ if it gets ground upped ever) will be a better reflection of the likely challenge, Its more than happy alongside things like Superbloc. Lanny, The Magician, High Fidelity etc as a proud highball challenge.

Nick Brown got it all on film for “Life on Hold” along with the antics at The Young the day before. As no day out is complete nowadays without a wise cracking lens wielder in tow.

Pic from Nick:

 

 

25th Oct 2011 Ben Heason update....Deep Water Solo festival and a 50 footer!!

Ben Heason sends us an update from a pretty exciting summer of action...!!

Hi Guys, sorry I’ve not been in touch with any updates for a while, but here’s a bit of a climbing update from my summer. I've mainly been concentrating on red pointing, down at the Cheedale Cornice. Did “Bricktop” (8b) a few weeks ago and “32” (8b+) a few days ago. (Mike Hutton got a few photos of me on it about a month ago, though I've not seen the photos yet)

Had a weekend in the awesome trad climbing area, Bohuslän (where the video Crackaholic is filmed) in Sweden in July. It was very hot, so not ideal conditions for granite but was great to check the place out.

Took a 50 footer off the classic E8 “Minaret”. I managed to successfully negotiate the very dangerous and technical lower arête but fell off the last move, but there’s gear in by then. Was disappointing to fail but it was one of my favourite climbing experiences in years, going for it (after top rope practice) despite shockingly bad conditions…

In August I wet out to Norway for an international Deep Water Soloing competition, managing to avoid humiliation by finishing 11th (and second in the speed comp I think).

I had 5 days on Lundy in August and surprised myself by on-sighting my first E7 since Venezuela (2005). A very dangerous slab called Matt Blanc (E7 6b). Got pretty scared, as did Miles who was belaying… It was nice to know that I can still do it, but I think I may be getting too old for this stuff...

Also managed my remaining Lundy Extreme Rock tick, the Pat Littlejohn classic “Promised Land” which was a memorable outing. As were the three Extreme Rock ticks in Bosigran’s Great Zawn, and Littlejohn’s other masterpiece “America” at Carn Gowla. Some fun mid-grade sea cliff classics.

I also went to Sicily for a long weekend last week, and gave a slideshow at the San Vito Climbing Festival which seemed to go down really well – some info here,

http://www.sanvitoclimbingfestival.it/eng/?p=865

I’m off to Mali with Miles in 4 weeks. I guess you may well have an order backlog, but any chance of a rack of Helium cams, by 16th November?  Used some of Miles’s on Lundy, bloody awesome! We’ll be taking a double rack of cams to Mali, hence Miles’s not being enough on their own.

 

Read more about Ben here...

Read more about Helium Friends here...

24th Oct 2011 More WideBoyz action - and a grade for Century Crack...!!!

Tom Randall:

After completing the big project of our trip - Century Crack - rather prematurely, we decided to have a quick reality check on the grading front by throwing ourselves at the hardest desert offwidths in the US in just a short space of a week or so. After all, how can you know if something really is quite hard, if you haven't totally destroyed yourself on back-to-back 5.13 offwidths?

Over a week we aimed for:

Gabriel, 5.13b (Zion)

Belly Full of Bad Berries, 5.13a (Indian Creek)

Price of Evil 5.13b (Indian Creek)

Each route was established by a different legend of American offwidth climbing; Pamela Pack, Brad Jackson and Mason Earle respectively. With this smorgasbord of wide delights on offer, we knew there could only be one outcome – a grade for Century Crack finally!

 

+Tom Randall being filmed on Gabriel, 149 kb
Tom Randall being filmed on Gabriel
UKC News, 20 Oct 2011
© Tom Randall/Pete Whittaker

First off we made the long drive down to Zion where we both ticked off Gabriel in a fairly short time. Pete picked up the goodies on the first day and I huffed and puffed my way to the chains on the second day at lunchtime. This route, first freed by Pamela Pack, received the Golden Piton award for its qualities and has often been touted as the hardest offwidth in the US. Surely enough, the crux was pretty tough and both Pete and I employed the "Private Pirate" shuffle to the utmost and thrutched our way onwards. We thought overall, the route would rate at around soft 5.13c in comparison to other routes we have done. A great effort by Pamela to climbing this!

With this objective completed, we quickly set sail for the land of Indian Creek – home of 2 very big lines for us; the iconic Belly Full of Bad Berries, 5.13a and the Creek's hardest wide crack The Price of Evil, 5.13b.

 

+Pete Whittaker plus the Tom Randall on Belly Full of Bad Berries Plate, 109 kb
Pete Whittaker plus the Tom Randall on Belly Full of Bad Berries Plate
UKC News, 20 Oct 2011
© Tom Randall/Pete Whittaker

Belly Full of Bad Berries

It wouldn't surprise me if most people who come to Indian Creek for the first time eye up classics such as Super Crack or Generic Crack as their warm-ups. Sadly we were both lacking in any level of sanity, so we thought we'd have a bash at BFoBB for our first route.

After some interesting navigation in the rental car through seas of sand we arrived at the base of the route. Tossing a tape roll to see who went first, Pete was landed with the initial flash attempt. We'd both seen videos of this route – Honnold failing to flash in particular – so hopes were high, but so was the tension. After doing a couple of pull-ups and leg stretches Pete launched his way up the route .... crikey, I was nervous belaying!

At about the halfway point, he paused a little longer than normal to make the crux inversion into dodgy foot-locks, but with a couple of grunts he'd made another 6ft of progress. The grunts slowly got louder, but so did my shouts and he'd soon made it to within 4ft of the belay. Success was so close, but he'd sandbagged himself by only taking one Friend 5! In his usual youthful style he ignored the monster fall and after 16 minutes of effort he's made the first flash of the route. It was a real privilege to watch.

Having seen one of the most impressive bits of climbing of the trip, I collected together the rack (yup, I added an extra friend 5 or two!) and started up the initial hand and fist crack. At the point where Pete had flipped upside down I started to struggle .... I pushed my feet highe r.... hand-stack in pod .... push higher again .... teacup-fists .... start to slip a little ......... ah bollocks! I was off and out of there. With a bit of refined beta however, I topped out an hour later on my second go, with an extremely sore right ankle as my main reward.

photo
Tom Randall on Belly Full of Bad Berries
UKC News, 20 Oct 2011
© Tom Randall/Pete Whittaker

The Price of Evil – Pete takes up the story....

The Price of Evil, 5.13b was done at the end of last year by desert local, Mason Earl. It had previously been a well known project between all offwidth aficionados and when it was finally done, it was reputed to being the hardest offwidth in the Creek. As we'd decided not to hang about in the Creek, we found ourselves up there as our second route for the area. We'd warmed up so thought we'd continue!!

The route is short but packs in a number of good (looking?) offwidth techniques. A good dose of 'Flying Pirate' was used on my behalf, whereas Tom opted for the controversial method of the semi invert torpedo into knee lock, to surmount the first lip. After the lip the crack kicks back to a flared 45 degree squeezy little number with stacks and fists deep at the back of the crack. Obviously Tom complained at me because apparently my fists are too big, so I could fist jam the whole of this section. Unfortunately, what he didn't see (which would have put things more into perspective) was me puntering around cutting loose on chicken wings right at the top as I rounded the final bulge. Note to self – don't cut loose on a chicken wing ever again.

Tom seemed to have the same experience as me on the final bulge section and I saw his feet cutting loose and his forearm bridged across the crack in the form of a chicken wing. Arhhh I was glad to see someone else having a classic offwidth top out - a sketchy grovel.

Anyway it ended up being a good second day out in The Creek. I thought it was the second hardest repeat of wideness that we've done out here and so it was cool that Mason Earl gave us another wide one to get stuck in to.

+Tom Randall on Price of Evil, 108 kb
+Tom Randall on Price of Evil, 135 kb

So....... the Century Grade?

If you really want to get in depth with it all, we've had a bit of a rant on our blog in a pretty geeky way, but to cut to the point: 5.14b or 8c. It might be wrong, it might be right.... time will tell I guess!

What's next?

Today we just met up with crack legend J.P.Ouelett (aka Peewee) who's crack tick list is probably longer than most on the planet. With him and local hardman Rob Pizem, we're heading down to the White Rim in search of projects.... big projects....

 


+Pete Whittaker and Tom Randall, unleashed and unhinged in Vedauwoo, 162 kb
Pete Whittaker and Tom Randall, unleashed and unhinged in Vedauwoo
UKC News, 30 Sep 2011
© Pete Whittaker / Tom Randall

Travelling with the duo is photographer Alex Ekins. Thanks go to Alex for two of the above images. You can see loads more on his website: www.alexekins.com. Alex is sponsored by Wild Country.

13th Oct 2011 WideBoyz again...Gabriel get sent...Pack's 13d masterpiece..

Wide boyz climb Gabriel - report and photos Alex Ekins www.alexekins.com

October 12th, 2011

The ramage continues. Our next stop was Zion and after a late start we found our selves under Pamela Shanti Pack’s offwidth ‘Gabriel’. This was until a week ago, and Tom and Pete’s ascent of ‘Century Crack’, considered America’s hardest offwidth.

Pete Whittaker climbing 'Gabriel'

Pete spent a little while practising the moves before quickly sending the route on his first red-point attempt. Tom was not quite able to get the route that afternoon but has successfully returned today.

 

All rights reserved Alex Ekins no copying or reproduction of these photos without permission...www.alexekins.com