Ellis Butler-Barker on a training link-up at Dartrock Climbing Centre. Grades are: ~Font 7c+/V10, F7c, F6b+ (Reverse), F7c, F6b+ (Re...), F8a, F6a+ (Re...).
This was going to be used in Ellis's South West Film Festival Movie but was a bit too long so decided it upload as a throw-away clip.
**No resting in the groove just before the 8a for training purposes**
An old video I found of my solo of Aerobic Wall (E2 5c) on Hound Tor; just thought I'd upload it due to the cool back-drop on the second camera view (0:29). I did the route on tope-rope onsight shortly after I started climbing and just over a year later I decided to return for the solo. My plan now is to onsight solo it's harder parent route- Limbo Dancer (E4). I am also keen to solo the other Hound Tor routes too, Suspension Flake Direct (E5 6b), Toltec Twostep (and the Direct) (E5 6b(6c)) and Never Trust a Monkey (E6 6c).
After a late night of watching climbing flicks and preparing
for the trip to Fontainebleau
I woke up in Hackney at 6:00 am having had very little sleep. We (Myself,
Martin and Tom Wright) quickly packed the VW and were soon on route
heading for our first trip to Font’.
We arrived at the campsite at around 14:00 and hurried to
set up the tent in order to have some daylight remaining to squeeze a couple of
hours in at L’Elephant. Arriving at the area for around 16:30 we decided to
jump on something easy to warm up on and get our first taster of ‘bleau
sandstone. The main feature at L’Elephant is a huge boulder called Elephant
(aptly named with its elephant-like features). It is a beautiful boulder with
several low grade problems- Tom went first up ‘Trompe Elephant’ 4c; I followed
with a great degree of difficulty almost dropping the top out! We moved around
the corner to ‘Surplomb Elephant’ 6a+, I still haven’t done it… Next to
‘Surplomb…’ is ‘L’Y’ 6a which I fell off around 3 times before I managed to top
it.
Barre Fixe 7b+
Photo by: Tom Wright
We then moved to the Lepreux boulder where I onsighted a
nice 6a and quickly did ‘Le Lepreux Eliminate’ 7a. We then had a quick play on
a 7b roof which revolved around a painful (but crucial) fist jam but swiftly
moved due to the pain. We searched for some classics and found ‘Figure de
Proue’ 7a which is a giant 8 metre highball slab and decided to skip it. I went
to look around and found a really cool overhanging pocketed wall. After about 5
minutes of working I had topped it- I later learnt that it was ‘Barre Fixe
Assis’ 7b+.
We jumped in the van, drove back to the campsite, ate and
slept looking forward to the day ahead.
Day 2
I woke up fairly early feeling psyched to get back in the
forest; I had a walk into the small town of Nemours to get some food, and then got back
to get ready for the climbing which waited.
We got back to L’Elephant where Tom had ‘Barre Fixe Assis’
to finish off and I was eyeing up ‘Barre Fixe Droite’ 8a to the right
which then links into ‘Barre Fixe’. I got on ‘L’Aiglon de Droite’ 6a and once
again fell off another 6… It did go on the 3rd attempt though. Then
up a really nice 4c and then headed up to Barre Fixe. The sequence was fairly
straight forward and simple but quite difficult to pull off. I had an attempt
from standing and fell from just a few moves from the top, and then started to
work the sit start, I fell from the first few moves several times but it soon
went and I had done it. I’m not sure that it deserves 8a, 7c+ would probably be
more appropriate.
Later that day we headed over to Franchard Cuisiniere. We
had lunch in the car-park and headed to the boulders (getting lost along the
way). The aim- ‘Karma’ 8a+ awaited, I quickly got in this desperate classic and
fell from the first hold; back on and I found some better holds for my feet and
gave a big throw up to the lower sloper and got close but not close enough,
after around 20 attempts it became apparent that I was going to be too short to
reach the higher (and better) right hand sloper, so I gave up feeling rather
annoyed and helpless. Tom was trying a powerful 7a arête called ‘Bizarre
bizarre’ to the right of ‘Karma’ so I did this in a few attempts then moved on
and fell off of another 6a.
Day 3
We had decided that we would go back to Cusiniere and
possibly check out the infamous ‘Duel’, a remarkable 8a slab which for most
people involves finger-nail crimping. We made the trek through the woods and
finally found it and decided to warm-up on some easy slabs in the other area;
we rapidly rushed up several easier problems; ‘Dans la Patisserie’, ‘Sans
Sucre’, ‘Cerise’, ‘Gateau de Noel’ and a very fine 6b+ lay backing arête-
‘Tranche de Lard’.
'Sans Sucre'
Photo by: Martin Wright
After this we headed over to search for ‘Beatle Juice’ 7a+
and ‘Excalibur’ 7a. Beatle Juice is a lovely boulder which a juggy roof to
start and finishes with some crimpy side-pulls, pinches and a then to a sloping
top out; to add to this, it is slightly pumpy too. There were several people
working the problem so I watched and they later talked me through the beta
which was my call to go for the flash attempt, I climbed through the first crux
and felt okay then suddenly got very pumped and dropped it just before setting
up for the final moves. I had a few more attempts on this but felt exhausted
and extremely tired so moved on to try ‘Excalibur’, which I had a few attempts
on but was feeling too tired to even get close.
I walked back up to ‘Duel’ with Tom (a friend from London
whom I met at Anstey’s several weeks back) and we quickly found the beta which
lead us 2/3’s of the way up the wall and just about to set up for the final
move out to the top of the lip. Soon after; it started to get dark so we headed
back to the campsite to rest for Franchard Istatis the next day.
Day 4
Another early morning and I followed the usual morning
routine then headed over to Istatis where I wanted an easy days climbing
because I felt very very tired and a little ill. So I did loads of easy slabs
and a nice 7b+ roof called ‘Divine Decheance’ which many people were trying. I
went looking around for some easy problems to do- Meanwhile Tom Wright was
trying ‘Rataplat’ 7b which he later topped and claimed his first font 7b!
I continued to rush round topping tonnes of 5 and 6 slabs. I
went to bed quite early that evening hoping to feel a little better for the
final day of the trip.
Scoping the top-out...
Photo by: Tom Wright
Day 5
I woke up feeling really psyched and incredibly motivated to
leave Font with some classics ticked and having thoroughly enjoyed my first
climbing trip abroad- This day did everything to ensure that that happened…
We arrived at Bas Cuvier for around 11:30 and headed
straight over to ‘La Marie-Rose’- The first 6a in the world. Sadly I didn’t get
the on sight or the second attempt but did manage to send it on my third try.
I decided to check out a 7c classic named ‘L’Aerodynamite’,
the problem started with a jump to the starting hold which is quite an awful
sloper, then you have to campus to another (and slightly worse) sloper. After a
few tough moves you come to the most horrendous top-out I have ever
experienced! I had quite a few attempts on this but decided not to waste all my
energy on it. I decided to have a go at a 7b+ just to the right called
‘Aerosol’, I set up at the base of the problem and soon had onsighted the problem-
This was my first 7b+ onsight!
Feeling very psyched from the onsight I moved on to the
famous ‘L’Carnage’ 7b+, this was the most painful problem with the awful
condition that my skin was in, the holds on ‘Carnage’ are very polished and
quite difficult to hold, they’re also really difficult to keep your feet on.
After quite a few attempts, I had topped it and now it was time for the sit-
‘L’Carnage Assis’ 7c. This went fairly quickly after the stand start and was a
very enjoyable problem to tick despite the pain of my rapidly diminishing skin.
We then headed over to a slab which I had liked the look of
earlier that day, the slab has three difficult and technical problems on graded
7c+, 8a+ and 7c+. We cleaned up the left hand 7c+ and quickly got onto working
it, after around 20 minutes of working Tom had topped the problem and sent his
first ever 7c+, my attempt after Toms successful ascent saw me repeat the
problem too. I was quite pleased to claim a 7c+ SLAB (probably my weakness) on
my first visit to ‘Bleau.
After this we had a play around on some other problems and
then as daylight slowly faded I felt this huge urge of motivation to do
‘L’Aerodynamite’ and make it my last tick of the trip. The sun started to
quickly disappear and rain started to fall… Everything was against me to do
this problem; I fell from the final move three times within around 10 minutes.
I had my last opportunity to do it- It was now or never. I hit the penultimate
hold and kept slipping from this hold, I fought with everything I had left and
topped the problem! This was the best feeling I’ve had through climbing… It
wasn’t the hardest problem which I’ve done but the chances of success were so
little that when it went I was so pleased. Absolutely amazing!
'L'Aerodynamite' 7c
Photo by: Martin Wright
This was the last problem I did in Fontainebleau, the trip was now over and I
was left feeling really happy and excited to return next Easter. I learnt a lot
from my first trip to the forest and was very sad to now be leaving.
Thanks to Martin and Tom Wright for everything and making
the trip happen.
After a good evening out with a friend on Wednesday 3rd,
I got home to another sponsorship deal… ‘BaseCubic’, a new bouldering company
whom are soon to release their new boulder mat/pad. The pad has been designed
over two years of hard work and a huge amount of dedication from David Cross.
BaseCubic currently have a fantastic range of chalk bags and buckets, which
also followed the same long and fierce testing process as the new bouldering
pad which should be available for purchase within the next month. I am extremely
pleased to be supported by BaseCubic and I look forward to building a
relationship with them and using their high quality products.
BaseCubic Logo
At around 6:30 on Friday 5th October I was awake
and getting ready for my 9 hours of travelling to Edinburgh via train. I used the time on the
train to watch ‘On the Circuit’ several times, catch up with college work,
start editing a video of a friend of mine getting the fourth ascent of Paciencia plus some second ascents on
some easier problems and I manages to get a small amount of sleep too. I got off in
Edinburgh Station almost without fellow southern friends (Alex and Phil
Waterhouse), whom almost missed the stop, we then travelled to the hotel where we
were staying, had some food and got an early night for the following morning-
BLCC’s (British Lead Climbing Championships).
College Work on the train...
Another early start on Oct’ 6th in time for
British Championships at EICA (Edinburgh International Climbing Arena), saw us
arriving at the competition venue at around 8:30 for registration. After
registering I collected my comp vest and warmed up on the freestanding boulder
which started off feeling like I was holding on to blocks of ice, I was
absolutely freezing! Eventually the wall warmed up and I managed to on sight a
V10 (more like V6 though), then did a few V6’s and V7’s which left me warm and
feeling recruited for the hard routes which were about to follow.
Ready for my attempt on the first route I was a little
anxious to whether I would get anywhere near the top or whether I’d drop the
first couple of movements. As I started up the wall, I realised I was slowly
getting higher than I first expected. Near the top and approaching the upper
crux I heard somebody shout “speed it up”, which I then stupidly lost focus and
rushed the next few moves. After a couple of hours of waiting for the next
route I jumped on and did the sequence wrong in several places which lead me to
reversing moves and wasting a lot of energy and time. I was soon off when going
for a powerful move to a side-pull. I learnt a lot from my experience at the
BLCC’s and have realised that my greatest weakness is probably the mental
aspect to the sport and will be working on this a lot in order to get stronger
in lead climbing competitions. I need to retain focus after a blunder on route
and learn to efficiently deal with errors. Overall I came 15th which
I wasn’t too happy about but wasn’t expecting a great result as I’ve been
training bouldering a lot recently in order to be on form in Fontainebleau.
After the competition I had a good evening with everybody and was left feeling psyched
to improve my lead climbing competition ability and overall aptitude in
competitions.
EICA Competition Walls
Photo Credit: Phil Waterhouse
The next day I spent another day of climbing, watching
senior British Championships, Junior BSCC’s (British Speed Climbing
Championships) and struggling up some routes with awfully sore skin. I managed
to do some cool boulder problems and some really nice routes too, abit of finger
boarding on the Beastmaker 2000 and ruin some more skin.
Now I am on the long train journey home feeling very happy
after a brilliant weekend and looking forward to travelling to Birmingham next Friday to meet the BaseCubic
owner, do some bouldering and compete in my first leading ladder round with
Orrin Coley (British Speed Climbing Champion ’12). Then the following weekend I
will be heading out to France
for a week in Fontainebleau
with Tom Wright.
I've had a fantastic few weeks of outdoor climbing and have done loads of training in preperation for the BLCC's early in October. My training has consisted of mainly endurance and lots of core training ready for the overhanging EICA competition wall.
Saturday 15th; it was an early start for a full day at Anstey's Cove in Torquay, the main aim... 'The Cider Soak' (F8a). Getting there just after 9:00, I thought the conditions were fairly good so decided to do a quick warm up and get on the route but soon realised that it was way too warm to have much of a chance, so decided to get on some easier routes and slabs and wait until around 17:00 for the route to become shaded. I happily belayed my friend on some routes on Ferocity Wall ('Rawhide' (F7a) and 'The Lynch' (F7b+)), then we headed down to Cocytus area where lies some beautiful slabs and some very spaced bolts. I decided to give 'Cocytus' (E2 6a/F7a?) a try and managed onsight the amazing, polished, technical, scary groove in very hot conditions- In my opinion it is the best slab that I have done so far!
After this I went to rest with some strong climbers from London working on 'Just Revenge' (F7c+) on Empire Wall. They also managed to retro flash the crag classic 'Empire of the Sun (Direct)' (F7b+), which looked like a fantastic line; this encouraged me to give the route a try and I look forward to having a flash attempt on the route in the weeks to come. I'm also very keen to try many more routes on this wall which I have always overlooked in previous visits to the crag.
As the time got closer to 17:00, I started to warm up again and was soon back on the route where I fell of around mid way. After 15 minutes rest I was told a new way to do the middle move which was always 50/50 to whether I'd manage to do when attempting the route. This change made a huge difference and I hit the pocket better than ever, I was then approaching the final section of the route and climbed through the part that I'd found most difficult and was ready to take on the final couple of movements which are possibly the easiest 2 moves on the entire route... As I went for the good edge I felt myself fly further away from the hold and realised that I was no longer fighting to top the route. I'd fell 1 move from finishing 'The Cider Soak'! As reality hit me, I realised how close I came to success and how easy it is to blow the last moves on a hard route when your head isn't completly in the right focus zone.
Lots of rest and darkness fell upon us, the day was over and my goal of ticking 'The Cider Soak' was over, only for the remainder of that day.
Sunday 16th; Deep Water Soloing at Berry Head. I'd arranged to meet the people whom I had met at Anstey's for a long day of soling at the DWS mecca; Berry Head. We'd decided to do many routes along the Rainbow Bridge wall and spent 6/7 hours climbing along, up and down the quality rock. After coming very close to falling on several occasions due to no chalk in the chalk bag and I'd managed the 3 star 'Rainbow Bridge' (F7a+), then up another F7a+, down a really scary F6b+ and into another S2/3 F7a along the lip of a roof with a potentially nasty fall with just a slip of the foot or any little mistake would be extremely hazardous.
Then into the spectacular climbing of 'The Cauldron' (F7a+) around the back of the cave onto a scary technical slab and onto the rope bridge. This then led us onto 'The Wave' (F6c) which was definatly the coolest F6 traverse I've ever set eyes on, with amazing jugs and heal hooking sequence all along with a really nice move off of slopers to a jug which forced me to cut loose, it was a really nice line which I'd really love to do again. Then after nearly 6 hours of climbing we went onto 'Gluteas Maximus' (F7a) which is supposed to be done at low tide for very obvious reasons, the water was at knee height and then I took my first DWS fall which was actually quite enjoyable. All but one of us fell of this pitch and this bought the day to a close as daylight diminished.
I would love to give some the tougher of the routes a try now, maybe 'Cutlass' (F8a+) or 'The Barrel Traverse' (F7c). After going in once, I am alot more confident about taking the plunge.
I've had a very enjoyable weekends climbing with nearly 20 hours spent at the crags, thanks to all the people involved: Adam, Stan and everybody from London for the great tour of Berry Head.
An early start with a lack of sleep was the morning of 2nd June, when I had planned a trip up to Bristol's elimination cave- Gollums Cave in Avon Gorge. I met Tom at Totnes to catch a train to Temple Meads where we would meet James Squire.
After a pleasent train journey we arrived in Bristol feeling pshyced to get on James's problems, with the goal of the day trip being the second ascent of 'No Pain, No Gain' Font7c+...
The day was coming to an end after around nine attempts and my chances of getting it on my last attempt were looking very slim. Just before my final attempt, I felt this huge rush of determination to get the send.
On my final chance, I gave it everything and pulled it off!
