Steve MccClure

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From One Extreme to another.

Not an extreme route, not one E1 and on to the next. No, just a few days in my life that were funny. I was at the Castle climbing wall’s party at the weekend. It was pretty awesome. The wall turned into a nightclub with beer flowing freely and tunes of the trance variety, just as I like it. We made some sketchy shapes till after two then bailed to Audrey Seguy’s pad for a doss on the floor. Earlier in the night I’d given a talk which seemed to go well, I gave away a bunch of posters afterwards, and dumping them on the desk was pretty amazed to see a queue of about 70 people all wanting the poster ruined by me writing my name on it. I’m not the signature type really but did my best and wondered what it must be like to be a proper star.

Anyway I had to be asleep by three really, as I had to be up to continue route setting back at The Reeboc Gym where I’d been the day before. I had to be there early as there was lots to do. Today’s main job was hold cleaning, scrubbing each of the 400 holds individually under a cold tap. My hangover helped, I was glad of it for once, something to think about other than the boredom of being a scrubber. I worked till 10pm then slept in a cupboard so I could be up at 5am to start again. The staff there thought I was mad. One extreme to another maybe? Hardly, it’s just what we do, as climbers, its just stuff, and I wouldn’t have it any other way! 36 hours of work in 3 days meant I was out sledging in the snow this morning while everbody else was at work!

December 18, 2009 12:24 PM

Tenerife

Above – Walter on one of the many excellent problems at Arico

For a few years I’ve managed to squeeze in a week right at the end of the year to somewhere nice with amazing climbing. This year it was not to be. A two and a half week coaching trip with Kath Schirrmacher to Turkey fell far too late in the year for me to even suggest to my family that another 10 days away in Spain would be a fair request! But I still wanted to go away, what better way to spend the money I had just earned? It had to be hot, I wasn’t looking for climbing conditions; Spain wouldn’t do and Asia was too far. Tenerife fitted the bill!

I’d seen an article years ago in OTE about the climbing in Tenerife. It looked awesome, but everyone seemed to forget about it. However, I sneaked my boots and harness in the bag along with the bucket and spade in the hope of some volcanic action (the climbing type, as opposed to an eruption). Aiming straight for the climbers ‘tourist information’ i.e. the climbing shop I met up with Walter, man of much information. I was granted a morning pass from the family and before I knew it I was tied on below an amazing red wall dotted with tiny chalk marks showing the way.

The routes are awesome, and the bouldering is world class too. It isn’t Santa Linya and it isn’t Fontainbleau, but it’s good for sure. What is doesn’t have in volume it does make up for in many other areas. You might not want to come here for a hardcore two weeks of climbing if you are cranking 8a, but if you are after the whole package then this is it! The beaches are all over and pretty good, the cycling is world class, road or off, the walking is mind blowing (the volcano has a summit of 3718m!), the surf is excellent and in winter the temperature is what you’d pray for in summer in Britain. For a winter trip with loads of action I’m struggling to think of a better place. For climbing the temperatures are fine too, cool and fresh in the morning with enough bite in the rock to keep any gritmaster smiling! Overall I was very impressed. I reckon I will be back. Check out the next CLIMB magazine for a more detailed article.

December 04, 2009 11:16 PM

Antalya

Above - Bernedette climbs her first F5c+. Before this trip she’d never led anything at all!

Antalya, Turkey’s answer to Kalymnos but different. No seaside maybe, but a zero stress world; walk out of the airport and your taxi awaits. It’s 45mins up to Jo-Si-To’s, the hub of the best climbing; a friendly face and a nice meal welcomes you and then a comfy bed in the wooden chalets, or your own sleeping bag in a tent if you really must. There’s nothing to worry about, no car, no cooking; all you have to do is climb. Cliffs face the sun or the shade, and stay dry in the rain, if you are unlucky enough to have any.
This year I was there again, working with Kath Schirrmacher on our coaching holidays. I was there last year too. I’ve been doing coaching trips for the last 7 or eight years, two weeks or more per year to Kalymnos, Sardinia, Spain and now Antalya. This trip was the best I think. It’s all down to the groups, 2 x 10 people, some faces from previous years, some new, but all really sound; all keen to learn. It makes our job seem easy, we want to give as much as we can, and seeing improvement makes it all so worth it. Footwork and confidence are the key for most. When they drop into place the smiles come easy; Andy on his first 6b, Misha on 7b+ and Steph on 7b, way up from 7a. It sometimes feels like really hard work, then sometimes it feels like a holiday. In between shouting abuse I managed about 5 8b’s, 3 on-sight and one of them a new route, and a bundle of other routes. All were awesome. Work it may be – but I’m sure glad I gave up my office job…

Check out lovetoclimb.co.uk

pics at
http://www.lovetoclimb.co.uk/rock_climbing_galleries/18/Turkey+coaching+holiday+09

November 19, 2009 09:08 AM

Cry Freedom

‘Cry Freedom’. An appropriate name, probably screamed by all that have succeeded. freedom from the clutches of this mighty route. The second 8b+ in Britain, or maybe even the first 8c in the world? Probably not, but it feels it, especially for the short. The last bouldery move being a huge span from jug to slopping crimp. Pinned against the wall at full stretch it’s a major effort to even hang on, never mind move the feet into all the right places. The lower wall is 8b, a tough one, and the key to freedom is in getting through it and up to the crux without being tired, and the shorter you are the fresher you’ll need to be. For those less than 160 cm you’ll probably need to feel like you have just climbed a VS.

One of the best routes at Malham and rarely repeated. This year Drew Hague and Neil Mawson also climbed it. Unfortunately all three of us didn’t top out. The last section is easy but utterly covered in moss. It’s a drainage route. I don’t think many people have topped it properly, opting instead to drop off after all the hard climbing. So we didn’t really get freedom, or even the full tick.

Sometimes topping isn’t what it’s all about. The same day I onsighted ‘Idefix’, an amazing 8b, bouldery and intense. It ends in the middle of nowhere just before a world of slime. Another top route at the best sport cliff in Britain.

October 20, 2009 06:39 PM

BBC tv

Funny game climbing, sometimes its like buses, you wait for ages, getting more and more frustrated, and then, just when you’ve given up, two come along at once!

I’d been trying a route at Malham cove, a link between Bat Route, Rainshadow and Overshadow, but with quite a lot of new climbing. The BBC got wind and were keen to film it for some reason. However, and somewhat harder than the redpoint, was pretending to be a suitable ‘personality’, hiding my lack of TV looks and complete absence of on-camera ability until the last minute when they met me and it was all too late.
There was to be only one day of filming and I’d been holding off, hoping to get the moment of success on camera. First go I gave it everything, the camera spurring me on to glory. I got to within three moves, half a metre. Close but absolutely no cigar. The BBC were happy, it was all a bit more than they’d expected anyway. Second go was even closer, better conditions now but tired from the first effort. The last move! Close enough to be satisfied I’d do it another day, though when that day would come was anyone’s guess.

That day came just after climbing Hubble, just after a large party with lots more beer. A totally unplanned trip to the cliff on a hot and sunny day. I climbed the route first go, one of the longest and most sustained pump fests on the crag. A total body drainer with an assortment of desperate bat hang and kneebar rests along the way. There could not be a bigger contrast to Hubble! Within three days I’d done one of the hardest bouldery routes of my life, to one of the longest and most sustained. How does that work?

The programme called ‘Inside Out’ is due to be shown on BBC 1 sometime early October around 7.30pm.

August 31, 2009 12:21 PM

HUBBLE

Hubble was first climbed by Ben Moon at the cliff of Raventor in the Peak. The world’s first F8c+, one small set of moves for man, but one giant leap for mankind. The route is pure power, it’s a boulder problem. It would be a font 8B boulder problem if it had a flat grassy landing. Seven hand moves, nine if you’re short. Ben’s ascent was in 1990, it coincided with the peak in my youthful interest in the scene; I observed from a distance and marveled at the near impossibility of the task.

I tried it once or twice per year, and every time made zero impression. To be fair I wasn’t giving myself the best chance. The odd day on the route each year was never going to be enough with the specific nature of the moves and holds. I was nowhere; an amateur, hoping to trick it into submission. This year it was time to become involved. I didn’t need to prove anything to anyone, but I wanted it for myself. It would complete my graduation and be the culmination of everything I ever wanted or even imagined I could achieve.

On a warm humid day I found myself on the way to Ravenstor again. The in-car thermometer said 19.5 degrees at 10.40am, hardly the ‘Gaskins’ start! I was on redpoint, but not really, I set off on an attempt, but wasn’t really trying. It was too hot and too sweaty. But in that moment everything was right, everything worked perfectly. Don’t get me wrong it was a fight to the death, but snagging the first of the good holds after the hard climbing I had the slightest feeling that the route had given up, it had been just that bit too easy. It was my time for success, Hubble knew it and at last it had admitted defeat, lied down and died! Then it was over, the final exam!