Blog Archive: 2016 and 2017

BLOG ENTRY: SPRING 2017

DWS season is here.

Above: Sam Mir on Lactic Ocean 5.12a.

Below: Leeroy Beeby making a successful ascent of Xavier 5.12c.

BLOG ENTRY; AUTUMN 2016

Jazmyne Watson has been featured on the front cover of the WoC Calendar 2017. Photo Andrew Burr.
http://www.royalgazette.com/news/article/20161029/bermudian-stars-in-climbing-calendar

BLOG ENTRY; SUMMER 2016

Well summer has come and gone in a flash of sunshine, sweat and hurricanes. There was lots of DWS action whilst the water was above 80 degrees.
Climb de Rock 3 was shot this summer and shows some of the activity.

Two views of Leeroy Beeby vs Alien, 5.11c. A superb traverse through a roof/tunnel at Spanish Point.

Seagull Crag, another venue near Alien, this one is Gull Power 5.11a.

This summer saw the return of Fabian Gysi who wasted no time in finding a worthy project at Clarence Cove. Here he is giving Leeroy the beta.

Sam’s Kraken is graded 5.12a but looks hard with lots of footless campus moves through a horizontal ceiling.

Meanwhile, I had a look at the direct start to White Guilt. This is a line that I had half-heartedly tried before but never really taken a serious look at. The first section is a baffling sequence through a small roof that succumbed to a kind of flying heel-hock rock-over to gain the sloping crimps in the middle of the White Guilt traverse. I then spent a few frustrating sessions trying to make the move from these into Xavier before I figured out the correct body position, after which of course, it felt easy. A couple of holds have come off here. There used to be two good flat holds immediately above each other where you could shake out and swap hands, now all that is left is a crappy one pad crimp that you have to swap hands on. The next section is the crux of White Guilt which is a tricky match on a crimp involving lots of foot moves to cross through and gain the handrail of Lara Croft, which is where I got to on my second go of this particular day. I then fumbled the crux of Lara Croft and fell off. This was an example of dropping concentration and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. I flashed Lara Croft when I made the first ascent in 2006. Since then I have done it hundreds of times and this was the first time that I had fallen off the crux. Next go, I almost fumbled the same move but just managed to keep my tips on the hold. White Privilege (5.12a) is the precursor to White Guilt.

This new venue on Long Island gave a number of new lines.
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Grant Farquhar on the first ascent of The Tin Man. Photo Chris Burville.

BLOG ENTRY; SPRING 2016 by Grant Farquhar. Uncredited photos by Grant Farquhar.

This Spring I have been on a mission to remove in-situ steel bolts and replace them with titanium. The Fixe marine grade stainless steel bolts actually fared better than I expected and most were still OK. However the Titan titanium bolts coupled with the Hilti 500 resin is defintely the best combo for the Bermuda environment. Expensive yes, but should last for a very long time. Meanwhile, with summer coming and the water 73 degrees, DWS season has started………..

Hogfish Bay scenes.

Timothy Claude recently made the third ascent of Fifty Shades of Pink and now runs laps on it.

Timothy Claude cruising Fifty Shades of Pink.

Timothy Claude topping out Fifty Shades of Pink.

Emilia Giordano on Trouble and Strife.

Leeroy Beeby on Narcosis.

Leeroy Beeby on Narcosis.

Leeroy Beeby on Narcosis.