Kershaw Crushathon

Written by LakesBloc Friday, 21 July 2006 00:00

Phew! Its hot! And when the going gets hot, all the action moves to the shady nooks and crannies that the local limestone has to offer. In between siestas, the cooler areas of Woodwell have been getting a hammering from weather beaten teams countrywide, and have even precipitated a brace of new problems from keen local Neil Kershaw.

The sylvian charm and leafy tree canopy parasol of the newly in vogue Far Right sector has seen lots of activity on the previously underrated classics of Not Bad Dave SDS 7c/V9, Griddle Groove SDS 7c/V9, Rigpa 7b/V8, and H2O 7b+/V8, all the equal of anything else at Woodwell. These are now joined by Neil's Whistler 7a/V6. Taking a natural eliminate line over the bulge of bomber limestone between Cannon Crack and Long Crack (see topo), i.e. not using the edges of either crack, this fantastic problem makes an obvious standing start from a jug, into a couple of blind moves to a beautiful right hand pinch and good left hand edge. Now get your feet really high and make a HUUUGE lunge with your left to a large edge. "Pretty unusual climbing for Woodwell; its vertical, but its not old school, very dynamic. The move is reminiscent of Ben's Wall at Curbar - if you get it just so its easy, but if you over/under power it you won't hold it! An old Dave Bates project, so its obviously going to be good."

Woodwell's Crag X, out of the sun 'til mid-afternoon then screened by trees for the rest of the day, has also been popular. Here Neil found another obvious natural eliminate - Butternut Squash 7c/V9. This takes the roof between Turbulence and Angel Deelite by spanning the cracks which run down each problem, from a sitting start, and finishing as for Turbulence. "Very slappy compression climbing, and the crux move to the lip is one of the best moves at Woodwell. Not that eliminate really; everything is in for feet and you can't use any other holds for your hands once you've started". Another excellent problem of this grade for O'ert road hopefuls to aim for!

Also here Neil did an extension to Hybrid Extension (!). Where the original goes up to the break to finish, Hybrid Loft Conversion continues leftwards on holds beneath the break, all the way to the end of the crag. Says Neil "Only actually four extra moves which are tricky, then you can get stood up and take the weight off your arms. You could finish here, above the end of Danny's Lip, but I had this concept of traversing the whole crag without using the top break, so I dropped into the arching overlap above Danny's Lip and finished along the lip of the little cave, topping out at the end. Not much harder than the original, probably normal 8a/V11 instead of soft 8a/V11, and not an improvement in quality, just a bit more pump. Just did it for training really."

Interestingly, and also "just for training", Neil has produced some new super links for stamina junkies who don't get bored easily! Flying in Circles 8a/V11 follows Hybrid Moments as far as Turbulence, to finish along Turbulent Flight. As such it finishes in the same place it starts, hence the name. He also linked Turbulent Flight (now considered 7c/+) into Hybrid Extension, which is probably worth an exceptionally pumpy 8a+/V12. Beware; this is not a boulder problem!