Raw Edge Days: Umph

Some of us live it, breathe it, eat it and dream about it. Others think dangling about off ancient geological formations is a bizarre way to spend the weekend. Bouldering maybe a minority sport but surely it's less disappointing than following a football team, more inspiring than going to the gym and definitely better than watching soaps or some kind of reality TV.

The best part is that all problems are relative to how hard you can climb. So someones warm up is another's project. You can get the same feeling no matter were you are on the grade scale.

This weekend saw a rare and and very social exception to this, with an old historical problem at Anston that Mike had found details of, called Umph and originally climbed by John Marsden. This involved climbing out of a small cave, back and footing before squirming out of a short hole, Described as ungradeable, the reason for the name and the grade soon became apparent, grunts and arms and legs everywhere, puzzling even the better climbers, brilliant, I guess some problems no matter how bizarre should never be forgotten.

Also at the same time we got the rest of the inset area sorted out for the Anston guide, so should be out in print by February, conditions are so good there at this time of year.