Monday, June 9, 2008

Enough gnu jokes, already!

I had avoided Wilderness for years...almost decades. The reasons weren't hard to fathom, and were in large part down to a misleading description in the old guide. Although this was no Wimberry, it was a good day out. Several routes gained stars, or had their current quota confirmed. The three E7s from Tom de Gay were stared at in awe: they are breathtaking and represent the state of the art for hard moorland grit climbing, along with those amazing routes at Wimberry (e.g. MaDMAn, Berlin Wall, Wristcutter's Lullaby and Appointment With Fear/Death)
The picture to your right shows some Staffordshire Punters queuing on Camel's Arete, prior to a three man rope comprising Sharratt, Turner & Grimes ascending another little known gritstone gem: One Off, All Off!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

No Gnus is Good Gnus

Well, you can hardly say that you're not coming 'cos you gone dun all them routes. The only person I know to have done a route here is Mr Tom de Gay, because I once watched him solo "Let's Get Killed". He made it look like it should come in at HVS 5b...it was inspirational (it's E7 7a)
The only thing you need to really concern yourself with is wearing bright colours and having a sense of proportion. I would also suggest bringing a wire brush to clean all the crud off the holds. If anyone has any "ethical" objections to this approach, please see me after class. I will wrestle naked with you in Wilderness Slime and then you'll change your tune. Wire brushes, like bolts and stainless steel pegs are the height of common sense. See you at the Dovestones car park at 10am, then. (You'll understand the "Gnu" thing when you get to the crag)