From “Wideboyz” to “Slender Gentlemen”

A few people that are unlucky enough to have to see myself and Pete regularly will know that we’ve spent the past winter improving on our crack climbing skills and taking things down a size or two. In fact it’s gone right down in size. We’ve by-passed hand jams and fists (aren’t they just belays anyway?) and decided to spend some time crushing our nerves in cracks of less than 1 inch.

There is method in this madness, but for the meantime bare with us! The whole experience of the “wide world” has taught us a few handy tricks and at the moment, we need to broaden the skills (and strengths) a little to take on the next little (big?!) challenge.

Front 2 locks – avoid the screws though!

After this winter’s training I traveled to Italy where I got rained on for 2 weeks but I did a couple of 8a+/5.13+ finger cracks in amongst working on wet projects – a bit of a mixed trip of frustration about the weather but satisfaction in seeing improvements. Pete is currently in Sweden showing them his smorgasbord of tricks and no doubt mashing his fingers in gnarly finger cracks as well. Once we’re both back in the UK though, it’s time to really knuckle down and start working for later in the year: the difficulties have got to go up towards 8c really, or we’re not pulling our weight.

As a result of the above, we are going to revive our Wideboyz blog. Yes I know, it’s an abomination to enjoyment in climbing…. but what can you do?! As a little taster for this stuff to come this year (we’re making some more films with the Hotaches guys) I’ve filmed some training footage from my cellar.
For anyone who’s interested in the whole training link details (just the individual sections shown in this clip) it’s a 100ft offwidth (8a+ ish) to V8 finger crack crux into an 80ft 8a+ roof hand crack. Guaranteed to get a sweaty brow!



And if you haven’t seen the award winning Wideboyz Film yet…. why the hell not?! Download it here and make me happy

Wideboyz Film Available For Download

We now have (through the medium of ultra-hi-tech internet wizardry) available the Wideboyz Film on download! I'd like to claim that I've put it up here because I'm so much more technically advanced than Pete... but no, it's because Pete now lives in a house full of Chinchillas and no internet connection. Sad, but true.

If you'd like to download the film in all it's glory - get the know the nasty world that revolves round wide cracks, macho posturing, Stevie Haston and wondergirl US wad Pamela Pack - then please click here!








If you're having problems with that link then try the raw link at:

http://www.digitalgoodsstore.com/c/udeRKd/7ZeILf

Enjoy!

What a Week! Newspapers and The Golden Piton Award

This last week has been a very strange one indeed. It’s been hectic, frantic and surreal – I’m not really sure if any of it has happened to be honest….

Dreaming of wide again?

Since coming back from the USA last year, there’s been loads of great feedback from mine and Pete Whittaker’s trip and it’s amazing to see (and hear) of some people that are now inspired to climbing some offwidths. God help your souls! Mostly, it’s been reassuring to be back in the climbing community talking the same old banter and getting grief off everyone for how bad my grading on routes is.

This week though, things took a turn for the more weird as an interview that I did with a journalist a few weeks back seemed to slowly seep from the woodwork. The London Metro said “Jammed in a Crevice” the Daily Mail said “They’ve Cracked It” [ha, ha, ha] and the Star stated “It’s Tough at the Top”. What made the popular media interested in this obscure niche of climbing, I really don’t know. Within just a few hours I was asked to do an interview with BBC Radio Sheffield and one for BBC News 24 – crikey, I thought – do they actually know what an offwidth is??!!

Daily Mail antics http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2098610/Theyve-cracked-Two-British-climbers-conquer-160ft-fissure-Utah-national-park.html

All in all, it was pretty good fun and I had an interesting insight into some TV and radio studios. I also found out that the Daily Mail comments pages are much funnier than UKC and that climbing forums are proper friendly bunch really. The fun hasn’t quite ended though, as both Pete and I have been asked to do something with Channel Five TV and I have a slot on BBC Sheffield this coming week at 10.35-10.55am (22nd Feb) if you’d like to hear about decisions that changed my life. Makes me sound old and past it?

Here’s the programme’s interviewer http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p001d7gs

Finally……………

Pete and I are very honoured to have been awarded a Golden Piton Award for crack climbing. I’m not totally sure what it all means, but with any luck I might be able to melt down the piton to make some ultra-soft RPs???

http://www.climbing.com/exclusive/features/2012_golden_piton_awards/index2.html

More Embarrassment? Wide Boyz Lectures

Yup, can it get any more embarrassing than standing up on a stage and talking about how I kept Pete warm at night with Alex's onions or how I got lost in Newcastle for an hour with two Satnavs?

How about this video of myself screaming for starters?

Rumours about Pete's underwear, what Stevie really thinks, unseen video footage, tales of Onion Power and more.

Lecture 1: Cambridge - 21st Jan + Masterclass on cracks
Lecture 2: Lutterworth (south of Nottingham) 31st Jan
Lecture 3: Shaff expert night - 23rd Feb
Lecture 4: Outside Hathersage - 31st March
Crack School in The Peak - 1st April. Surely a joke??! 


If anyone wants tickets for the 21st Jan date, email me and I can pass on details. All other tickets are to be sorted soon.... 

The Final Count and What's Next?

Now that we've finally settled back into the dampness of England and unpacked 42kg of size 6 Friends, it's time for some deep reflection, pondering and musing.........

Right, who needs a big friend? Going cheap.....

IS IT 'ECK!

Let's get the tick list out (for the geeks amongst us) and then work out what's next?

63 Days in the Wide Wilderness


Below is a list of what Pete and I climbed during our trip to the States, which includes some boulder problems (some of which were actually longer than other routes at Vedauwoo!). I've written it down in grade order, as making it chronological would require some level of organisation. I've left the original grades of the routes on, rather than the new suggested grades, for the sake of diplomacy.

(B) Denotes boulder problem - long or short and whether I felt like I would pass out or not...
(Sb) Denotes major sandbag - Scarpelli Style.

Oh God, not another list...

Century Crack                                                                    5.14b
Army of Darkness                                                               5.13d
Gabriel                                                                                5.13b
The Price of Evil                                                                  5.13b
Eight Ounces to Freedom (B)                                              5.13b
Simiantics (B)                                                                      5.13b
Angry Pirate Finish                                                              5.13a
Monsters Inc (B)                                                                 5.13a
Belly Full of Bad Berries                                                      5.13a
Lucille                                                                                 5.13a
Spatial Relations                                                                  5.13a
The Vag                                                                              5.13a
The Warden (B)                                                                  5.13a
Trench Warfare Extension                                                   5.13a
Witness The Wideness                                                        5.12d/5.13a
The Brad                                                                            5.12d/5.13a
Trench Warfare                                                                   5.12d
What the Big Boys Eat                                                        5.12c
On a Wing and a Prayer                                                      5.12c
New World Order (B)                                                         5.12c
World's Hardest (B)                                                            5.12b
Trip Master Monkey (Sb)                                                    5.12b
Squat                                                                                   5.12b
Brother from Another Planet                                                 5.12a/b
Big Baby                                                                              5.11b/c
Worm Drive (Sb)                                                                 5.11b
Big Pink (Sb)                                                                       5.11b
Torpedo Right (Sb)                                                              5.11a

There's probably a few I've forgotten there - and I'll have got a few of the grades wrong. It's all good though, because if anyone out there gets really psyched, all you need to do is print off this list, buy your self 7 pairs of shoes and 37metres of athletic tape!

What's Next?

That's the question that we asked ourselves many times over during the last 2 weeks of the trip. Mostly so far, it's been a mixture of doing interviews, magazine articles and preparing some lectures - which is all very normal and "back to reality." So..........................

It's time for some challenges again I think. Climbing Challenges. Nothing normal, nothing particularly sensible. Details coming up in the next blog post.

Wide Boyz Lecture? Roll up if you think you have problems.