Superluminal

Written by Greg Chapman Monday, 21 November 2011 20:23

Thanks to a reasonably dry and clement November, there are a number of noteworthy pieces of news to report. First up, after recently making the second ascent of Hypernova, at Sampson’s Stones in Eskdale, Ben Freeman set to work on the obvious extension to the problem. This carries on past Stargazer (the point at which Hypernova tops out) through into Tachyon to finish, taking in the whole main face of the Asteroid, and making for a superb line which tackles much of the best climbing on the boulder. Ben has named his new line Superluminal and notes that whilst it is a slightly meatier proposition than Hypernova it’s still 8a/V11, but solid at the grade. Whilst working the line, Ben also climbed the obvious shortened version of the problem (i.e. starting as per The Drake Equation) and felt this was worthy of a mention in its own right – this is Light Speed (7c+/V10).

Right: Ben Freeman powering into the final hard moves of Superluminal (8a/V11).

Fleswick Bay Mix
At Fleswick Bay, I climbed a couple of decent probable new additions; the first being on a previously undocumented block at the Fleswick Bay Boulders, on the southern end of the beach. English Mustard (7b/V8) climbs the north end of the block starting sitting down to the left and is, in my view, one of the best problems of its grade on the Head [video link below]. Over on the beach side crag, I also climbed what is described as “Project 31” in the Lakes Bouldering Rockfax (page 162). This is Beach Brawl (7b+/V8), and climbs the appealing blunt prow via some stern barrel hugging and beefy slaps to slopers on the lip, before a grovelling top out on to the ledge. Incidentally, I have updated the Fleswick Bay Boulders guide to include photo-topos and some of the more recent additions. This is available to download on the Fleswick Bay crag page or directly via this link.

Broken Holds at Carrock
Finally, Pete Gunn reports that a couple of holds have broken off Mexican Rumble at the Mosedale Circuit of Carrock Fell, most notably the large RH starting foothold. It is now a considerably harder proposition, although Pete reckoned it was still climbable.

VIDEO: English Mustard (7b/V8)