5th November -
Here in the Lakes the weather has taken a turn for the worse (windy and rainy err!) but not before it had chance to endow us with a decent autumnal week of fresh(er) weather, interlaced with light cloud and a sprinkling of sunny spells.
 
After a tip-off from Lakeland climbing maharishi, Trev Suddaby, Tom Dixon and Mike Robinson checked out a small quarry just off the A591 north of Grasmere (G.R. 336091). Word had it that Keswick defecting strongman, Adam Hocking, had checked the area out but not climbed, so it seemed the guys had virgin turf on their hands…
 
Tom climbed the standout line, an obvious highball arête (5/6m), after cleaning it on abseil, to give Apocalypse Font6c+. The team also climbed a handful of other easier bit's and pieces and said that there may be room for a few more additions, including a relatively amenable, but good looking wall project.

Over in the Duddon Valley Greg Chapman went prospecting in the vicinity of Seathwaite reservoir - an area that has already given up a few tasty morsels. He cleaned up and climbed, from sitting, an impeccable wall/prow on Horse How (marked as project 3 on this topo) to give, Once Upon a Time in the West (Font7c), a line of instantly classic (if esoteric) status.

Finally, up at Thorn Crag Chapman saw two session's worth of effort bare fruit in the shape of a dynamic new problem below the Upper Tier of the main crag. Vector (Font8a) is essentially a wild two move expulsion of controlled thrust, setting forth from a frown like set-up of in-cut crimps to a slopey rail 1.5m's away. The distance might not sound particularly far, but the foot holds are POOR and the angle of the rock is such that miscalculations can result in a messy landing. There are some action shots of Vector here. In between sending Vector and starting work on another project, Greg found time to clean up and climb a really smart new Font6c, on the large block in front of the classic E4, Kissing the Pink. Situated on the right side of the south face of the block is a pleasant, easy jug pull on flakes; to the left of this is a pit. From a sit start in the pit climb the flawless left side of the face via stretched moves on side-pulls to a glorious high finish on jugs, magic!

23rd October -
The recent cooler autumnal weather invoked die-hard Thorn Crag fan Greg Chapman to take a stroll up to his favorite haunt. After swooping round the usual circuit Greg went for a stroll round the crag and found a rather worthwhile new line below the upper tier. Fizzix (Fnt7a+) is located on the clean face of the triangular block located below Return of the Fly. Starting from sitting use a mono and tilted edge to make a hard move (poor footholds!) to the lip, traverse up this to finish at the apex of the block.
 
8th October -
The ever keen Jordan Buys has climbed a decent new problem at Little Font, Kentmere. The line takes the wall left of Little Women. Starting halfway up the wall on two obvious little crimps, rock out right to a pinch, slapping up the left arete to eventually gain the top. Jordan has entitled his new creation Kylie (Fnt7c) because "she's a little woman".

17th September -
Nick Clement has made the first re-ascent of the Woodwell stamina fest, Cloning Technology. This is the first send since the demise of the foot block at the base of Whats this for...!. The line is still thought to be Fnt8a+ but is definitely a bit harder/sustained than previously. Nice one Nick!
 
10th September -
Well a cracking week of weather has seen the creation of new lines in both the south and central Lakes. First up we have a rare (none link) addition to the Woodwell portfolio. The new problem resides at the left side of the Central Sector, and climbs the narrow but impeccable vertical wall left of the classic highball crack, Rosie (Fnt5). The problem was previously obscured from the limelight by a large rock/pinnacle, which made a fall from the crux uncomfortable to say the least. This has been removed giving a near perfect landing. The line itself has an obvious rule, that of, the cracks to either side are out of bounds. The climbing involves a cheeky set-up on side-pulls before making a well timed dead-point lunge to a small crimp on the headwall, before finishing direct. The line has been dubbed Weston's Wall and clocks in at around Fnt7a+.
 
Next we have a fine new problem at the altitude venue of Sampson's Stones in Eskdale. This inclusion to the original complement has been added to the Asteroid and starts up Pulsar (the right arête/prow), before traversing the face leftward via some audacious heel hooks to eventually finish up Quasar. The line weighs in at Fnt7b+ and has been titled MACHO Man, which is ironic as the first ascensionist (as with the Woodwell problem) was the worlds puniest man, Greg Chapman. One thing's for sure the line is a true Heelball ™.

14th August -
Jordan Buys has made possibly the first repeat of the superb Giant Stone test piece Tourniquet at Little Font, Kentmere. The line (originally graded 7c+) saw a couple of repeats shortly after it was originally sent but since then the line lost a decent foothold and is thought unrepeated up until now. Baring in mind a number of recent ascents Jordan felt the line now warrants Fnt8a+. There is currently a picture of Jordan on the line on the home page.
 
10th August -
Following up from his impressive send of Woodwell test piece, Anesthesia, Nick Clement recently made what is the 3rd ascent of John Gaskins' limestone link-up Aeons (Fnt8a+) at Fairy Steps.
 
30th July -
After weeks of poor weather it seems an age since we had anything much to report, but, as proved time and again, the British are a resolute bunch. So with the arrival of a decent weekend, and in somewhat of a defiant riposte to the weather, we have some news!
 
Our first report comes from the west coast seaside spot of St. Bees Head, where Dan Varian has added a cool new highball to the Apiary Wall area. The line was an obvious challenge and has been listed on the LakesBloc projects database for a couple of years. By the Power of RAAA ("proper" Fnt7c) is located on the crag itself and climbs the wall and seam to the rear of the classic run-up problem Chipper's Wall, and immediately left of the sport route Honey Pot. At 6m high it's not one for the faint of heart although it does have a decent landing and finishes at a vague ledge, Dan recommended clipping a sling to the 3rd bolt of Honey Pot to make things a bit safer on the top-out.

Next up we have another highball/longball problem, this time at the little known south lakes venue of Cringlesport in Yealand. Greg Chapman has added a big(ish) link to the crag which starts at the end of Curtain Call (Fnt8a), and reverses this to the start of the 2 bolt micro route Discohesion (F7a) at the left end of the crag before finishing up this. The line has been called Brane Damage, tally's up at roughly Fnt7c+ and apparently offers a real mix of thuggy, technical and sustained climbing.

Finally we have a snippet of news from Trowbarrow Quarry which was reported during a brief weather window a couple of weeks back. Ned Feehally climbed a filler-in line on the Shelter Stone which starts matched on the big sidepull/jug (the start of the Fnt6c/V4 groove) and go leftwards (reversing the central section of Wheelbarrow) into the positive edge on the Pit Problem, before toping out as for this, the grade is Fnt7b or thereabouts.

27th June -
Greg Chapman has climbed a new problem at the Shuck's Lair buttress, Fairy Steps. Eye of the Storm (Fnt8a) is a sustained affair which starts up Brane World but on reaching the lip traverses leftward (keeping to the lip or holds just above) all the way to the crack on the far left (Doodah Day) before finishing up this. Despite the poor weather conditions – primarily rain! – the air temperatures have been cooler of late. This, coupled with the fact that the newly discovered Shuck's Lair seems to remain dryer then most other south lakes limestone venues after wet weather, has allowed for some reasonable conditions and the opportunity to complete longer links.
Greg also climbed a shorter variation of this main event. This starts as for Bogle Realm then finishing as for Eye of the Storm, this variant weighs in at around Fnt7c and is called The Doom Gaze. There are a few images here.

23rd May -
Seasoned campaigner Nick Clement has seen the fruit of some fine siege tactics to claim what is the 6th ascent of Woodwell's crimpy test piece Anesthesia (Fnt8b). Nick employed the slightly purer "stick-to-the-lip" sequence (how the line was originally described) favored by both first ascentionist John Gaskins and fourth ascentionist Greg Chapman. Nice one Nick!
 
22nd May -
Greg Chapman has made some further additions to the newly developed Shuck's Liar at Fairy Steps. The crack in the center of the buttress has been cleaned up and climbed to give Brane World, a meaty Fnt7c+ climbed from sitting and started from a matched position on a side-cut hold in the roof. A dead branch has been removed from the tree on the right side of the crag allowing an extended start in to Alkaline Jazz. This short extension starts from an uneven edge (LH) and a slot (RH) and bumps the grade up from Fnt7a+ to Fnt7b. On the left side of the crag a funky (obvious) eliminate was included, Doodah Day Fnt6b: From a pointy flat hold climb the bulge and crack direct to a decent if slightly mucky hold without the use of any of the holds on problem 1.
 
A few more quality additions have been made at the Shuck's Lair since the last news report (14th May) these new lines have been included on this topo.

14th May -
A couple of weeks back Tom Dixon was wandering map and topo-less through the woods around Fairy Steps in what turned out to be a vain attempt to find the main crag. During his trek he inadvertently came across a previously unrecorded buttress on the western edge of Underlaid Wood. Over the previous weekend this small but perfectly formed buttress had some of its more obvious lines cleaned and climbed, the best of the lines include - The Cappel Fnt7b+, The Bogle Realm Fnt7a+ and Casimir Effect Fnt7b (F.A.'s Greg Chapman). The buttress is named in reference to the demon dogs (base of the linked page) which legend tells roam the hillside during dusk and dawn.
There is short topo here.
 
11th May -
The flurry of activity has continued up on Farleton Knott with a sitter being added to the recently re-sent New Rose. As with the original line the sitter doesn't add to much more difficulty but a couple more fiddly moves to give a more complete Fnt7c/+.
 
Also on the Knott Greg Chapman added a cool line up the appealing line of crozzle immediately right of The Coil. The Wrath of Khan (Fnt7a+) is a logical but slightly focussed line which eliminates the holds on The Coil climbing the crozzly steak direct on small crimps to the break before finishing direct.

6th May -
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 Fnt7c.
 
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 (Fnt8a+).

23rd April -
One of the original old gnarlers of British bouldering, Tim Carruthers, reports the semi development of an area in the locality of Haweswater in the Eastern Lakes. Tim gives us the low down...
 
" The Boulder: The Hollow Stone, Haweswater
OS Explorer Map OL5; Grid Ref: 481 117
Location: East Side of Haweswater, perched above Rowantree Beck/ Hopgill Beck
Park: Layby at the start of the Old Corpse Road to Swindale
Approach: Walk south down the road for 300 metres to the small bridge over the beck. Through the gate on the left and steeply uphill to the Hollow Stone, which can be clearly seen from the road.
 
There are now about six old school highball problems on the main face of this boulder, all very good, and all my own work. The two on the right hand side have very nasty landings but are straightforward. The traverse is superb. All of the chalked holds have been pulled on in various combinations and detailed descriptions are not necessary. Just go seek! The situation is stunning.
Further up the hillside lie more secrets, which will be revealed in full soon.
Enjoy!"
 
3rd April -
Another great weekend of unusually sunny spring time Lake District weather lead to more development at the back in vogue Langstrath boulders and a new esoteric circuit in the Duddon valley.
 
In Langstrath, and following up on his recent addition of Eastern Empire, Greg Chapman added a number of new problems. On the Austria boulder a fine new lip traverse was incorporated, The Fury (Fnt7b+/c) starts from sitting at the boulders lowest point and trends rightward along the lip to eventually finish up the right hand prow/arête. There is a short (low quality!) video clip of this problem here. Greg also climbed the left arête (just left of No Pain No Gain) from sitting with two variation finishes, straight up the arête to the finish is Fnt7b and sneaking off out right at two thirds height is Fnt7a/+, if this hasn't been climbed before Greg offered the name Tune a Fish. Finally Mr. C added a neat Fnt7a up the short wall between Eastern Empire and Tune a Fish , which links into the highball arête. The new lines are depicted here.
 
Over on the west side of Cumbria a pair of daring individuals broke new ground in their search for more esoteric brilliance with the working out of the "Seathwaite Bouldering Circuit". Full details of all the problems can be found in this rough topo guide. Despite the esoteric nature of this circuit the blocks are set in beautiful situations and many are only 15 minutes walk from the parking, so possibly worth a visit if you're staying in the valley for a few days and get bored with Wallowbarrow?
 

26th March -
After a glorious weekend of Lakeland sunshine you'd expect there to be some news on the development front... and if thats the case you'd have been correct. Greg Chapman has added a groovy addition to the Langstrath circuit. Eastern Empire (Ft7c) climbs the steep vague groove on the east face of the Austria boulder from sitting and involves some truly excellent moves.
 
With a beautiful location, flat walk-in, swimming hole and fine problems such as Eat Yourself Whole, No Pain No Gain, Bonsai Your Cat and now Eastern Empire Langstrath is definitely worth at least one visit for any climber operating in the Ft7a to 7c range.

21st March -
Gaz Parry has been back in action and this time to even greater affect! Gaz has repeated the awesome Trowbarrow test piece Isla De Encanta and the classic Woodwell traverse Anesthesia, both John Gaskins Ft8b problems. This quote came from Gaz's blog…
 
Yesterday I had a load of stuff to catch up on and then trained at BUK. Felt pretty strong and did the new 7b circuit about 30 moves into a hard V8+. Followed it by doing all the hard probs upstairs like this, good fun.
As you can imagine I woke this morning a bit sore but after three coffees i was ready for more. Trowbarrow was first up to settle a score. After a long warm up as it was pretty cold I managed to link Isla De Encanta 8b on my third attempt. Now it was time to pick a new project so it was over to Woodwell to start work on Anesthesia 8b a problem i have wanted to do for many years. After chalking the grips and getting a sequence off Ian Vickers I had a go at the flash, to my disbelief and Ian's shock I managed to get through all the hard climbing and fell getting the jug with very numb fingers. 5 minutes working the end I managed to link it on my 1st attempt. A great day with two very different hard problems. Source: http://gazparryclimbing.blogspot.com/
 
Below Mark Katz get to grips with the heinous pinch on Isla De Encanta.

19th March -
John Kettle has documented a handful of problems at the small esoteric venue of Far Rocks at Scratchmere Scar in the Eden Valley, a pair of clean, hard sandstone buttresses with soft flat landings. The venue features one outstanding 7 meter high three star problem; The Aspirant Ft6c+/7a.
 
For how to find Far Rocks see the Eden Valley guide to Scratchmere Scar on the FRCC website. This description should get you up the problem once you're there: The Aspirant a great natural line, baffling start and gripping finish make this a fine proposition. Climb the shallow groove direct to the roof, step left and continue up the groove above. John has climbed a selection of five other problems at the venue between Ft4 and Ft6a+.
 
On the south lakes limestone front Gaz Parry (who seems to have been everywhere of late!) has been busy at Hyning Wood, Woodwell and Trowbarrow. First up Gaz sent the superb and ubber classic Transgenic without the dubiously attached foot block just right of the central tree (Ft8a) . With the foot block this problem got Ft7c+/8a but Gaz reports that the footblock had become so wobbly that he removed it, the result of which is that only the harder and purer line now exists. At Woodwell Gaz repeated Ryan Pasquil's low left variation to Not Bad Dave commenting that it felt about Ft7c+ish. Finally he popped over to Trowbarrow to claim a quick repeat of Neil Kershaw's excellent new problem Texas Hold Em'.
 
At Woodwell Greg Chapman climbed a new problem on the Anesthesia buttress. The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse (Ft7a+) starts from sitting on the right side of the buttress on a very low good edge. From here slap up and left to the lip and traverse left to the obvious hold in the middle of the buttress, now climb straight up via tenuous moves to the break.

13th March -
Pete Gunn reports climbing a number of new problems at a small new venue below Cam Crag in the Langstrath area. Pete has even worked out an excellent little topo for the area which is situated on a pleasant grassy platform which itself is a 45 minute walk from Stonethwaite campsite.
 
The "piềce de resistance" and also one of the hardest lines is a new problem forged by Pete. Goldfinger tackles the center of the overhanging east face of the rear most block on crimps from sitting and looks well worth the walk! Pete graded the problem a tentative V9 so it's going to be around the Ft7b+/c mark.

5th March -
After an intense trip to Hueco Tanks where he amounted an impressive list of sends, including a repeat of a new(ish) Chris Sharma V12, Neil Kershaw was back on home turf and showing no signs of a letup. After eying up a couple of neat projects on Trowbarrow quarry's Shelter Stone he set to work. Neil gives us the lowdown…
 
1. Texas Hold 'Em Fnt7b+.
This takes the independent line just left of Isla de Encanta. Start standing with a left hand undercut and right hand sidepull. Climb up and right to the big slopey ledge and from here lock to the slopey top. Uses some pretty wacky skills, with a crucial kneebar and toehook which are very far from obvious. Very Hueco-esque - without these it would be nails! The crux is cutting loose on the slopey ledge and swinging your heel up so good conditions are necessary too. Pretty solid 7b+, maybe a 7c? Quality wise it is probably the best problem on the boulder even if I do say so myself!
 
2. Vitruvian Man Fnt7c/+
Starts standing on holds just right of Problem 1 on the LakesBloc Trowbarrow topo. Pull on, move right to a large slopey hold, then blast straight up to the lip. As for the grade, probably 7c/+, I can't decide which one. Good conditions a must again.
 
Greg Chapman made a quick repeat of Vitruvian Man agreeing with Neil that the grade was around the 7c/+ mark, with conditions and reach making the difference between success and failure. Greg also noted that this was as good as anything he'd done in the quarry.

19th February -
During the previous delightful weekend of blue skies and cool(er) conditions Thorn Crag regular Greg Chapman added a neat new problem to the Loaf Boulder. Budmunk (Ft7a+) climbs the very vague rib line on the front face of the block starting sitting just left of center then up via a hard pull on and slap to an extremely slopey hold, now trend slightly right to a mantle finish. Nice!

29th January -
At Carrock Fell Greg Chapman has added a neat little addition to the roadside circuit. Carcinogenic (Ft7a) is located on the Lean-to boulder and starts from sitting on the short prow on the right side of the front face, from here pull up and traverse the front face right to left finishing up the prow.

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