Page 25 - 20145 AMA Spring

it to how I felt on the day, but having the knowledge of that key distance from Flat crags to Borrowdale was the key link in my mind to knowing that it was totally achievable.
Prior to this, had you attempted anything remotely like this before?
When I was 20 I soloed 35 or so extremes in the Borrowdale region in an afternoon but no I’d not attempted anything like it before. It was always going to be interesting to see how my body would deal with it when I got to 50+ routes. This was an unknown to me.
What’s next on the agenda?
I haven’t got a specific agenda for the year yet, but am keen for revamping bouldering and sport climbing which have been set aside the last 2 years really. I nearly did Megalopa on LPT before the Yosemite trip in May so I’d like to do that and Rainshadow. I want to narrow down the Extreme Rock ticks this year as I want to complete all the routes in the book sometime next year. I’ve got a 100 list for Wales I was going to do the week after the lakes thing as well but I’ll see how I’m feeling. There are some 9As in Spain I’m keen on doing next winter. The key thing for them is time and resting as after a hard day I need 2 rest days for skin and forearm recovery which makes doing hard routes a matter of having time on your hands. I look forward to making the goal lists as much as doing some of them.
What was the carrot that kept you going to the end?
The carrot was that it was the best days climbing I’ve had out of a shitload of great days. The opportunity of the lakes crags being dry, of being very fit and of having the longest day of the year nearby were there. It’s not easy to say “Hey, I’ve come this far but I’ll just stop and try again next week”. I was contented for weeks afterwards, a rarity! I was also very tired for a while.
How long did it take to plan the event? What difficulties did you have to overcome?
I can’t put a time frame to the planning as I’d had the idea for 15+ years. When I was planning to do it in my early 20s I’d included a lot of harder routes, Bitter Oasis, Grand Alliance, Dry Grasp, at one point I was even going to finish it on Esk Buttress on the Cumbrian. The plan I’d made last year changed week by week. I’d think through the distances, which crags to take in? Which routes? Then on the day it changed again. I missed out Black Crag, Borrowdale and lower Falcon. These are crags that I know
well and love but had to disregard because of the extra distance and time and I worried that it would jeopardise the finish. I did at least want to reach Castle Rock. Some routes I wanted to do were too dirty, some were too loose, I soloed The Go Between in March, there is a block on it which is waiting to go, fine if your leading, not for a soloist! It was pointless chatting to people about it other than Hock as most thought it a ludicrous idea. So being ignorant of other people’s opinions was in this case an asset to its success!
At any point did you think you were going to fall or fail in your challenge?
From around the 60 mark on Shepherds I felt tired and it was dawning on me it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. By route 80 on Reecastle I didn’t think I’d complete the challenge. I knew I needed to rest a bit more, I re-aimed for 90 or so. Process based goals are much more likely to succeed than outcome based ones. I’d told myself if I felt too screwed I’d stop. Around route 90 I had one near miss on a short E4 which made me more cautious. After a rest on the drive round to Castle Rock I got a 2nd wind and knew I might be able to finish it. I climbed fast for an hour.
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