From: brendan@buck.ac.uk (Brendan Murphy)
Subject: Re: Is there anybody...OUT THERE?
Organization: University of Buckingham
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 18:55:38 GMT

In article <1992Nov4.205804.60401@cc.usu.edu> sinclair@cc.usu.edu (Bob Sinclair)
writes:

>My 0/- and 2d worth regarding the international flavor -
>
>I wish more Brits, Aussies, Kiwis and other species of exotic
>fruits and nuts would post more. Those of us who have moved from
>the Empire to the colonies would like to hear from home.

I'm feeling pretty chuffed with myself for getting a decaying Orion on the air,
so I thought I'd take the time to give you one outsider's impression of "the 
scene" in the UK...

The weather here this summer has been pretty poor which has made it a 
relatively quiet cragging season for a lot of people.  Having said this, a
young British guy (whose name escapes me) has just repeated Ben Moon's "Hubble"
which I think is given French 8c+ and is reckoned to be one of the hardest 
routes in the world.  Apparently, he's been funded by a sponsor to go to
Germany and try a repeat of Wolfgang Gullich's route "Action Direct" (I think
it's called) which has been given a tentative grade of French 9a.

[By the way, on the basis of only a brief encounter with Wolfgang Gullich in
Pakistan, I can echo sentiments that his death is a sad loss to the climbing
world; I will always remember his charm, enthusiasm, and sincerety.  Very few 
people have managed to match his ability on the rock as well as in the 
mountains.]

Rachel Farmer has just become the first British woman to crank a route graded
French 8a (at Malham).  This is big news in the UK because there are so few
top grade British women climbers (but things are improving).

The long overdue guidebook to Yorkshire limestone (including such places as
Malham and Kilnsey) has just been published.  This covers one of the premier
forcing grounds for sports climbing in the UK.  The guide has continued the
growing convention of using French grades for bolted sports climbs and UK
grades for traditional "adventure" routes.  There's also an excellent new
guidebook for Avon and Cheddar.

The Ministry of Defence has recently granted limited access to the Range West
section of the Pembrokeshire coastline.  There's much new route action to be had
here; there's very little potential for this elsewhere in England in Wales...

The bolting debate continues (of course).  A fair number of limestone crags
in the Peak District and Yorkshire are generally accepted to be fair game now.
Bolts on more traditional mountain crags (in Wales, Lake District and Scotland),
gritstone, and most coastal cliffs are considered by the vast majority of UK
climbers to be out of order.  However, the people who now own Lands End (can 
you believe it?) are under pressure from a local climber to bolt up the granite
sea cliffs there to stem cliff erosion...

>So, how was harrisons? Has the concrete shielding at the top
>got any easier recently? Is there still a hex stuck at the back
>of long lieback, and most importantly, did it rain?

In my experience, Harrisons Rocks is pretty unpleasant this time of year
(but it's the nearest cragging to London); it's a sandstone outcrop that gives
excellent sport in dry weather but tends to get a bit greasy in winter.

Many climbers here start to hang out on indoor climbing walls about now.  These
continue to open up around the country at a fair rate.  The Foundry in Sheffield
and the Berghaus wall in Newcastle are veritable indoor crags which are the
UK's answer to our fickle weather.  These are the venues for informal indoor 
bouldering competitions which have taken off in recent years.  Another 
increasingly popular palliative to our weather is a winter's holiday 
"Euro-cragging" in Spain; a cheap charter flight brings you to a country with 
more rock than it knows what to do with.  This attraction has been known to 
tempt even the most ardent Scottish winter enthusiast...

For those armchair mountaineers amongst us, there are a number of less strenuous
options to help us while away the winter.  Kurt Deimberger has been giving
his "K2 Endless Knot" lecture around the country; my girlfriend saw it in
Leeds and said it was "very moving".  The Alpine Club annual symposium, on the
Alps, happens next weekend at Plas-y-Brenin; mail me if you want a ticket.
There's also a Karrimor "Adventure" symposium at the Brenin on the 28th of
this month with some good speakers; there was a *free* bar there last year
for well over an hour courtesy of Karrimor ... can you afford to miss it? 

I'm off up the M1 to see Kate in Bradford, crank a few curries and hopefully
wobble up the odd route.  I'm riding up on Kate's new bike (GPZ550) that I've 
just bought on her behalf; a friend is travelling pillion for the first time...

Does this help counter the US bias?

Brendan

-- 
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Brendan Murphy					brendan%buck.ac.uk@uknet.ac.uk
Department of Computer Science			Tel: 0280 814080
University of Buckingham, MK18 1EG, UK		Fax: 0280 822245
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