Lifting winter's gloom - the FFA (First Fruit Ascent) of Master's Edge

A banana has stunned the fruit & veg world by making the coveted FFA (First Fruit Ascent) of Master’s Edge.

The ascent came after an intensive 2 week period of ripening up nicely in a Sheffield cellar.

Master’s Edge was discovered and climbed using aid in 1999 by Kumquat Bartlett.

The route later defeated Fairtrade attempts by Kiwi Haston, who pronounced it impossible;

 “You’d have to carry 160 kilos of camming devices... fall off and you’re purée!”

Last Saturday I ventured out into the Peak, to Millstone Edge with my camera to join a group engaged in annual collective silliness. (Click here for more pics.)
Pete Whittaker and Tom Randall, (click here for their blog) climbers of renown were attempting a birthday ascent of the intimidating and difficult Master's Edge - E7 6c... in fancy dress!
In sub zero temperatures and with snow starting to fall their fingers would become numb on the icy gritstone after only a few metres of climbing. Pete fell on his first few attempts, complicated by the fact that his banana costume obscured his view to the holds in any direction other than straight in front. How Tom didn't instantly freeze in his skimpy, armless magenta dress I have no idea - maybe the blonde wig helped.

Cycling above Ladybower

I've not been out on my bike for a long time but this week I changed from road tyres to the rough knobbly ones and, today, I got out into the blustery Peak District to give it (and myself) an outing. I've a favourite short ride which starts at Fairholmes and climbs up to pass by Lockerbrook. I usually go clockwise on this, down the east side of Ladybower to the A57 Viaduct, up to Crook Hill, past Lockerbrook and back down to the Derwent Reservoir. This gives you an ascent which is honest hard work and a downhill to Derwent Reservoir which is rough and steep.
This morning however, things looked different. With strong westerly winds I didn't fancy the battle uphill against the wind in the open. Reversing it would give me the wind behind me on the open high ground. The downside to this plan was the first, vicious uphill away from Derwent Reservoir, which saw me pushing my bike for a few hundred metres.

After that however, plain sailing - almost literally as the wind inflated my windproof top and blew me nicely along to the top of the lovely, broad, grassy ridge and rapidly back to the valley.
(BTW: the strained expression on my face is that of an old bloke who's rushed back to get on his bike before the 10 second camera timer runs out!)

2012 already?

I've had a month without posting and missed the turning of the year. For any readers I've missed with cards I wish you all the best in 2012. It'll be a year of changes for me as the economic climate continues to prove difficult for me. I'll need to increase the amount of paid work I'm doing - that's for sure!
This post my news is of a painting exhibition. I've made use of the blank wall space created by a re-organisation at The Edge Climbing Centre by hanging an exhibition of my large, mountain and crag landscape paintings. If you're in the area pop in and visit. It's the largest solo show I've had for a few years.

The 4 mile long, silver, gritstone Stanage Edge is one of my favourite places and my best subject in recent times. The feedback I've had from the exhibition is that this painting of Black Slab and the Trinity Buttress has been one of the climbers's favourites.

 I'm exploring to find ways of being a bit more commercially minded with the painting and have, for the first time sourced a Giclee printmaker who has made an excellent smaller sized print of this painting. This will be an interesting experiment to see if prints, which are smaller and cheaper that the original painting are more likely to be sold.

I'm not expecting to make my fortune with my painting, but I am thinking long term over the next 10 years. 

November Grit

Mild, foggy and still; this November's had its damp days but the eastern rim of the Peak District emerged from the cloud on Sunday around lunchtime while I was out with Tim on Baslow Edge. Sarah and Catia had headed off for a walk in the fog an hour previously and we'd found the silver Baslow Grit to have good friction underfoot.
Neither of us had done much climbing at Baslow. It's a low edge with short routes so we carried bouldering mats, intending to climb without the restriction of rope and harness. Once the sun burned through the mist we climbed on in the bright autumn warmth for a couple of hours until the arrival of the women and, just as importantly, the picnic. You can find more pictures by clicking here.

Castle Naze

I've not been keeping up with the blog but I don't think it's down to a lack of things to report. Economically times remain difficult but I've been working hard to generate possibilities and painting a great deal.
The turning back of the clocks each year means the end to evenings out on the gritstone crags and I've not been very dedicated in recent times to finding opportunities to climb during the shortened daylight hours. I also find motivation harder when the rock is greener and more moist though, I know - the winter is supposed to be the best time for grit climbing.
Anyway, I'm determined to climb outdoors throughout this winter taking advantage of the best of Peak District weather at weekends. I may even sneak away for the occasional midweek foray if Fidel can free his hectic daily diary!
To that end I've had a couple of Sunday cragging trips to Castle Naze in the last month with Jill, Paul and Fidel. I like Castle Naze despite it's diminutive size. The rock is mostly good (if you ignore the 'top-outs') and clean. There's protection on most routes and there's plenty in the medium grades, though I've found some of the HVSs well up to their grades. Here's Jill on 'The Fifth Horseman' and Paul on 'Nozag'. Click here for more pictures at Castle Naze.

More Drawing

The new term has started for the Eccleshall Library Life Drawing Class. I've managed to get to a couple of afternoon sessions and have made a few drawings that I'm pleased with. My greatest challenge is to not overwork by drawing for too long. The shorter poses of up to 20 minutes have more life and energy in them. the marks are more powerful and sweep across the form, simplifying it into forms. If I draw for longer the drawing often becomes fussy and cramped - I can't seem to help getting into the superficial detail.

Autumn approaching

I've been away from this blog for a few weeks now, focused on other things and probably just a bit lazy! I've just finished working for Endeavour (www.endeavour.org.uk). I've worked part time for this young person's charity for some years now, charged mostly with organising their annual Canoe Challenge fundraising event. Whilst I like to think the event is better than it ever was, we've always struggled to raise money from doing it so we've decided to give it a miss for 2011 and I've moved on to new things.
So, I think the current double-speak is that, 'it's a new opportunity for me!' I'm looking for something to add to my 'portfolio' of work. I'll take a few weeks to make some decisions whilst keeping busy trying to raise my game and being proactive on my training & development freelance work, my painting and my walks leading. I've been planning next year's walking holiday for my Suffolk based group and painting hard in my garret. Some pictures of painting to come in the next few days but here's a taken during the 2010 Canoe Challenge.