South Lakes Limestone News

Written by LakesBloc Sunday, 06 May 2007 00:00

Over the winter months it was reported that the ubber classic Farleton limestone wall problem - New Rose - had lost its crucial (for the original sequence) fingertip undercut. Whilst it is is possible the hold broke naturally it seems hard to comprehend when you've seen the quality of the fused rock on this face, therefore the only other possibility is that the hold was damaged via human intervention, whether it was a climber or not I guess we'll never know?

The good news is that this most awesome of walls (hope that's not a copyright infringement?) has now been resent, and is fortunately no less brilliant. The deed was done by South Lakes aficionado Greg Chapman who commented, "The problem is possibly even better than before and definitely one of the best wall problems in the UK!" The new sequence involves some really fingery moves to a small, previously unused, crimp and a slap to a slopey break. After re-sending the line in better conditions Greg has opted for the grade of 7b+/V8.

At Fairy Steps Greg also saw the fruits of seven sessions worth of effort with possibly the second ascent of John Gaskins' cool limestone link-up
Aeons (8a+/V12).

Image right: Aeons (8a+/V12).