Highlights from a recent trip to Wales recently include a visit to Waterfall Crag where i managed a few pretty cool routes:

The Hole truth, French 8b. Managed the second ascent of this short burly route. More like a font 7C+ bloc. The setting is great by a lovely river frequented by al sorts of birds including dippers.

The climbing leaves you battered, foot locks and full body inversion to turn the lip. Make sure you have nothing hard planned the next day!!

Naomi on Strawberries Man 7c

Madness Reigns, French 8a. A very tough route with a complicated crux sequence, well at least the way I did it. This really needs more attention, its got it all!

Meatsville Arizona, French 7c. This is such a bouldery route up and into the hanging groove. Awesome cutloose moves and campusing is the name of the game here. Hard!

Check out the little birds nest in the groove, please don't scare the chicks but just say hi on your way past. They seem well happy up there in that hole. What a place to live!!

Strawberries man, French 7c. Naomi was working this one so provided awesome beta for me to flash it. A classic power endurance fest. This route is well popular for a good reason..

Ty Newydd

Three degrees of levitation, French 7C. Wow, this is such a different sort of sport route. Quite steady when you know how. I managed to blow the flash freestyling some sort of method for a shorty but in the end I had a proper Bo way to do it. I wont tell but just try kneebarring the pocket. Sorry for blowing your onsight....

Thanks goes to Chris Doyle for all the hard work cleaning and bolting these routes..

Jordan on 'The Hole Truth' 8b

Well I'm finally over the 4 weeks of various illness, tummy bug, cold and then an infected ear drum....Not long ago we went on a trip down south, our trip was damped by fog and mist but we still got to some nice places like Brean Down, Ansteys cove, Dartmoor, Portland and the Churnet. One big highlight was cycling round London with my cousin, man is that E10 or what!!

Jordan on The Crack 8A, Bowden Doors. Photo. Ben Dawson

For the last few weeks I've been mostly climbing high boulder problems. These tend to offer that added bit of spice to keep the trad climber in me interested. Ed Brown and myself headed down into the Froggatt Woods to do battle with Renegade Master, this is now a high 7C+ and not an E8 anymore. Ed had been on it very briefly before but apparently the session ended quickly on the start moves when he peeled off backwards and was dumped back first onto the protruding boulders below.. ouch.

We got stuck in good and proper and, once the defences of the knacky start were knocked down, we were getting up high to the tough crossover move. After a long rest, I managed to get rocked round with one foot on the ledge and the other on the crimps out left. The reason I mention this is that I know some say its a cop-out to go right but I feel I could not do the Bentley lock to the top from the crimps and was keen to top it out. In the end it seemed the logical way for me to finish. I only had one day to do it. Ed cruised it next go too, very inspiring.

Next was Thumbelina at Ina's rock, again Ed Brown was psyched for the visit. I managed to flash Thumbelina the E6/7 or Font 7A/+ with minimum fuss. Well, I say minimum fuss, but I did have to give that last move to the top some welly. Later Naomi my wife went on to do this in fine style looking super solid whilst the rain came down..I had a go at Cornelius to the left but I never got higher than my flash go, the big lock off move to the slopey break. I blame my 6 hour training session the day before at Redpoint wall in Birmingham... I was not expecting to be climbing the next day... This font 7C was Ed's main goal and he did it with ease, finally sealing the deal on last years efforts!

I then got chance to go to the home of hard Lake district bouldering, the Bowderstone. Boy, what a boulder. I caught it in such fantastic conditions. My mate Jonny and I got stuck into the ladder face, the only place I know where your thumbs get as much of a work out as your fingers. I did things like Hot Air and then Phantom of the Opera caught my eye. Quite a good line really, climbing between Picnic Sarcastic and Grand Opera on the weakness that is a line of tiny sharp crimps. It gets slightly high at the top but the landing is mint. I had a gaggle of American tourist chicks waiting to see the send so the pressure was on. I did it for them. I think it made it onto their holiday snaps and no doubt made their holiday!

Next up was a trip to the mighty county of Northumberland. I had a fab day and a half at Back Bowden and half a day at Front Bowden. The first day it was hotter than the sun, had a good play with friends bouldering around up to 7B+ and had a quick couple of tries at the highball called County Ethics which used to be E7 7a but is now just considered font7C+. Boy, them black crimps were hot and just getting warmer!! So I ran back up to the car and grabbed a rope and a trad rack. This might have been the first trad I had done since November last year, crazy really seeing as I love doing it. I guess the weather has just not lent itself to ledge shuffling...I did a cool E2 called Witch's something (Brew. Ed), a burly E3 called Hard Reign on which I found two knee bars. This sort of stuff makes me happy!

Next up was a super cool line called Merlin on the big back wall. I set off up this E5 6a with a couple of cams and quick draws for the beacon of safety that was the pink in situ sling threaded through a hole in the black sandstone. The route involves a lot of shuffling on the lower ledge for your hands and then it really kicks in once the cams and sling is reached. I can't recommend it enough if this is the level you aspire too. Back to the hotel for a tapas meal out and time for the sun burn to calm down, signalling the end to a good day!

The next day dawned about 10 degrees cooler and a bit cloudier too. As Nao had been working at the Newcastle climbing centre on day one I thought we should make a return visit to Back Bowden as I knew she would like it there and I had unfinished business to take care of now the temps had dropped. Again the team headed down to do battle, Naomi had a good boulder and I just soloed a few E1's to try and get the blood moving. Dave Mason turned up with his entourage and got me psyched to retry County Ethics. When his umpteen mats lined the floor beneath I could not resist another go even though I was pretty tired from all the crimping the day before. Dave had a pretty good flash go and did it next try in fine style. I had one quick go whilst all the pads were down but fell off below my previous high point. They went, we stayed. Later on the team convinced me to have another blast above what mats we had. The temps were so much better than the previous day when blacks mats in the sun were too warm to walk on bare footed!!

As it happens I got up it no problem and really enjoyed the experience. What made it special too is that Paul captured it on video....

We then decided to wander over to Bowden Doors to have a bash at The Crack. It gets font 8A but who knows hey, it feels easy when you do it and frustrating when you don't.

Paul and myself had a try but it was still in the full sun so we went along the crag to let others try stuff on their list. I should have been resting, waiting for the good conditions to come as the sun set, but I just got carried away trying everything that looked good. I did none of them and just stumbled about panting like a dog in need of water. Paul had sneaked back to the Crack after resting like a pro. He then went on to do it two more times for different camera angles, legend.

He convinced me to have a go and what do you know, I went and did it. Bueno, a great day was had and I really learned to feed off the psyche of others.

Jordan on Renegade Master 7c+, Frogatt. PH. Mike Hutton. See more of Mike's great photos at http://www.mikehuttonphotography.com/ . And Mike also has a gallery on our site here....view Mike Hutton's gallery.

Wild Country are proud to unveil their 2012 UK climbing team - a group of reckless and hardy individuals who help us test and promote our gear whatever the danger and cost to themselves...! Well, it’s not exactly like that, but, led by James Pearson, the Wild Country climbing team is peopled with climbers that we feel help represent the values and ideals of Wild Country across the spectrum of the sport.

So, leading the way with a slew of hard ascents in 2011, from almost flashing E10 to multi-pitch monstrosities like Joy Division and flashing 8b+ is James Pearson, now living in France but originally a Buxton lad and working with Wild Country since 2004. There’s a superb video of James in action on his E10 flash attempt here - http://vimeo.com/25140891.

James Pearson seen here on his flash attempt on Muy Caliente E10

Hot on his heels are the incredibly talented ‘Wideboyz’ team of Tom Randall and Pete Whittaker, who as well as tackling the worlds hardest offwidths – and the first ascent of Century Crack E9 (as you may just have heard about) have produced a load of awesome grit routes in the past few years filling some very cool gaps on the Peak District edges – you can see some Century Crack footage here - http://vimeo.com/35270800.  Sheffield based there’s also Ben Heason who’s been working with Wild Country for years and is still sending 8b+ and E8, and the enigmatic Miles Gibson – the quiet man of the legendary super-desperates ‘Superstition’ and Superbloc’ on the gritstone. Also Peak based the youthful Hamer brothers have both been performing superbly in 2011: Ed probably outdoing his brother Sam with his fantastic results in the youth world cup climbing comps with a  couple of 2^nd places – but Sam showing he’s no slouch winding his neck out with few E8’s on the grit to even the scales – see the Hamers’ in action here - http://vimeo.com/26593785.
Last, but not least, long term teamer, Katherine Schirrmacher is hoping to build on her hard trad and grit E7 ascents after a year out to have a baby and build a very successful guiding business and will be starring in and sharing her technical knowledge in Wild Country’s ‘how to’ video series later this year.

Then up in Lancs the super psyched Jordan Buys is joined this year by his wife and partner Naomi to make an all action team. Both are multi discipline masters, mixing bouldering, trad climbing and sports climbing to a very high standard Jordan to 8c and E9 and Naomi to 8a+ and E7.  See Jordan in action here: http://vimeo.com/34862987

Over in Yorkshire, Jenny Woodward, has an incredible resume and after a bit of a stop start year last year after having a baby and suffering a few injuries and only sending up to 8A+(!!!) has some even harder projects on the go...watch this space!

Further north, in the Lake District, Dave Birkett and Adam Hocking are both climbing at the highest level and still doing stunning new trad lines and bouldering at the highest level – there’s a great video of Adam on a new E8 here – http://vimeo.com/25808567

New team member Naomi Buys in action on Snap Decision E7 6C Ilkley...

Meanwhile in Scotland the evergreen Malcolm Smith of has been relentless on rock with a recent new 8c+ Blood Diamond, while the fearless Kev Shields simply sets new standards for his bold soloing and some great winter ascents. And across the ‘pond’ in Ireland Andy Marshall has been representing Wild Country and has also sent some pretty rad lines including E8 2^nd ascents and plenty more.

Our boulder team (thought that terms a bit restrictive as they’re more than that) is headed up by the amazing Ned Fehally who seems to be taking bouldering up a notch as well as blurring the lines between highball and routes making some very hard ascents in 2011 including Samson E8 7a, and the Prow E9 7a both solo. See Ned in action here: http://vimeo.com/33103583. Nigel Callender also manages to continually impress, sending 8b+ - http://vimeo.com/20435941 - while studying to be a doctor in Newcastle and taking advantage of the awesome sandstone of Northumberland. Then in the south east the strong Ben Read is helping  establish a new wave of sandstone desperates as well as writing guidebooks and promoting the excellent climbing around there. Joining these guys this year is year is Stewart Watson, a very strong climber who’s been competing internationally in boulder comps for a number of years and is adding 8c ascents to his pretty awesome bouldering CV.

We also have some young climbers doing well and with Tara Hayes we have one the most up and coming of the UK junior competition climbers who in her first year managed to grab an overall 6^th place in the European Youth B standings.

So a big thanks to all those I’ve mentioned and anyone else who’s been flying the Wild Country flag - and you can see more about all Wild Country’s UK team at our website here:

And to get any news from the team first and fastest you can follow Wild Country on:
Twitter - @wildcountryuk
On our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wild-Country/97486098594
Or to watch all our videos our Vimeo page is here: http://vimeo.com/wildcountry/videos

Here's young gun Ed Hamer doing what he does best - climbing very very well on something that's very very steep!!!!!!

After trying careless torque one day, the team headed over to Burbage West, there we did Western Eyes, font 7c+. Can't believe I've never done this before, it is great! Had a nice day out at Curbar, though the day did have a bad start involving a snapping finger board whilst warming up at Stanage, then isolated rain that just seemed to not want to let me do careless torque!! I did a quick scan of the 'rain radar' on my mobile internet and it showed that Curbar could be dry... Well that's what I was hoping after travelling all that way.

Jordan on 'The Dark Room' Odins Cave - Ph Mike Hutton see more Mike Hutton shots here...

Anyway, the Bad Landings boulder seemed climbable. Curbar highlights included: Huffy's problem Font 7c+, couple of goes Detox font 8a, second ascent, Le musee imaginaire Font 7b+, flash

Then the snow came, so we headed underground. Checking out Odins Cave under Mam Tor was a winner. Totally bone dry whilst the rest of the north of England became snow bound. Deep in the cave is a really different sort of boulder problem, actually it is just like climbing a Climbing Works cash problem. Which is never like real climbing anyway... The main problem goes at Font 8a and involves knee bars and a lot of cunning. It was so good I did it three times for training. Ah, and it's aptly named The Dark Room.

I had caught the limestone bug so next decided to check out Anston Stones near Worksop, loved it and had two trips there with Naomi, Adam, Gav the chav, James and Mike. Highlights were:Black Hoe Font 8a, Dark Art Font 8a, Soul Crusher Font 7c+, Black Crow Font 7c+, Bullet Font 7c, The Phoenix Font 7c, Ebola Font 7c, Alpha Font 7b+, Reservation Font 7b, Apprentice Prow Font 7b, Berretta Font 7a+, Beta Blocker Font 7a

In the latest issue of Climber mag there is a picture of Dave Sutcliffe getting the first ascent of a super steep problem up at Crookrise. I got the chance to go up with him and have a bash at the second ascent. After an hour or so of messing around with my own beta I gave in and followed his method and sent it. It overhangs by 45 degrees, has flared jams, slopey slopers, scary heel hooks and a proper highball top out.

It also broke an ankle a few years back. It's called Sole Fusion, given Font 8a and may be one best problems I have ever climbed. Maybe...

Read more about Jordan Buys here

Read about Naomi Buys here

Jordan on Sole Fusion 8A

Jordan Buys has just sent in another report about his activities which as ever include some stunning ascents:

"A few highlights of the last few months: First Ascent of the Midas touch at Angleszarke without the siderunner. E7 6cish. Used to be E6. Flashing End of the Affair at Curbar. E8 6c. I've wanted this for a very long time but have been thwarted by bad weather on many visits. Harder than I thought it was going to be. 2^nd ascent of Visions in Tan at Hawkcliffe, gave this a good flash go but broke off the tiny hold I chose to use and got bored, so quickly headpointed it. Very safe, probably E6 6c not E7. Falling off the Promise E8 7a and ripping the gear, missing the mat and ripping my pants!! I will be back.

So after that mini-epic I decided to boulder for a bit........and the highlights included.

Flashing Tetris, a stunning font 7c at the Roaches. Ticking Mushin the classic font 7c+ very quickly, in a few goes and then going down and doing Columns, another font 7c+. Quick ascent of the soft font 8a at Hepburn called PreparationH, this was a day trip which piled on the pressure. The pressure worked and I sent it pretty quick, despite being tired from driving. Class problem though.

2^nd ascent of the Dark Angel sit start at Stoupe Brow on the North Yorkshire's east coast sandstone. This is one is a cool font 7c+. 3^rd ascent of Requiem for a Dream, font 8a. This is again at Stoupe Brow. I cant believe climbs like this exist and so little is heard about them. A king line.

2^nd ascent of Dave Sutcliffe's new problems at Eavestones. More to be revealed in a forthcoming Climber mag. I had the tour off Dave and repeated his two hard future classics there, Sky Diamond which is font 7c and Digital Delirium which is about font 7c+/8a maybe.

Finally Naomi and I also had a trip to Spain, climbing in the southern part of Costa Blanca. Had a great time, mostly visiting crags that are not in the rockfax guide. Pretty pleased to have onsighted many routes in the French 7c/8a range. It was great seeing Naomi redpoint one of the 8as I onsighted just in time to catch the plane home!!"

And here's Jordan on one of his many hard bouder ascents 'Requiem For A Dream' Fb 8A Stoupe Brow, North Yorkshire...