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James McHaffie Interview
On Monday the 23rd of June 14, James McHaffie made British climbing history by climbing 100 extreme routes in the Lake District in one day! What made this feat even more
spectacular was that they were all climbed solo in 20 hours!
At the time of writing Caff was climbing in Spain, but very kindly took the time to answer the following questions for the AMA.
What inspired you to climb 100 Extreme routes in one day?
Big Rons 100 extremes in the peak and doing a lot of soloing in the lakes in my late teens helped to form the idea. I thought about it in the late 1990s but didn’t do it till last year.
What was the overall distance from start to finish, how long did it take?
I had my car in Langstrath waiting and ran from Scafell into Langdale then back over via Pavey Ark into Borrowdale. After that it was just the distance to the crags, Goat, Reecastle, Castle Rock etc. It was probably 20 miles plus or minus 2 miles. I originally wanted to do it without a car but am glad I didn’t as I wouldn’t have made it I think. It took just under 20 hours.
How would you compare the feat of 100 Extreme climbs in one day with your ascent of Salathe Wall?
The comparison from this and Salathe is tricky to make, both require a lot of experience and general stamina. Doing Salathe ground up was quite hard with some exhausting days and it was uncertain whether we would have the time and food to free it as it hasn’t received many ‘ground up’ repeats anyway, the crux pitch is 50m long and near the top. We reached it in 3 days and spent another 4 just doing this pitch. The Lakes thing was basically harder though, I knew the terrain pretty well. I’ve a very good memory for moves and moving fast over moderate climbing and recovery are some of my fortes. It still felt really hard for the last 3rd. Salathe was just a fitness push, if your sport fit and have a crack climbing background it isn’t too bad.
Which did you find harder to overcome, the physical or mental challenge? How did you overcome it?
I was fit from Yosemite, the climbing and the hauling as well as moving fast over rock. Physically I was exactly where I wanted to be beforehand so it was mainly a mental push of preparing the logistics and contemplating doing it at all. When I set off the mental bit was easy, as soon as I was up CB I felt in a great place to do it, the mental factor disappeared but I hit a wall physically around the 70/80 route mark, partly because I wasn’t leaving any rest time between the routes. Any endurance activity is as much about the mind as it is physically. I used a few tricks along the way, such as when arriving at my car in Langstrath I pretended I stepped into a fresh body. At the 70/80 route mark I realised I was unlikely to complete it so said to myself I just wanted to get to the 90 mark, after a rest to get to Castle Rock though I got a final wind to complete them.
How did you prepare?
I’d revamped soloing a little bit in Wales and the Lakes. I redid some old ones like Vector, Silly Arête and Fingerlicker. I went and did 15 big solos up to E4 at Gogarth and did 20 or so solos in an afternoon in the lakes in March. I did also did a bit of running. The week before the 100 in a day I did a key recce. I parked at Langstrath and ran up to Bowfell and Flat crags then went via Neckband, did 3 solos there, onto Gimme, Pavey, Sergeant crag slabs, Heron and Bleak How Buttress. It was one of the best days out I’d had and at the end of it I felt I had plenty more in the tank. I didn’t want to do any more preparation than this, it wasn’t meant to be some super rehearsed circuit. I wanted to leave much of
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