Mr Atkinson is back doing what he does best, namely, jumping a very long way between very bad holds. On Saturday he repeated Chris Graham’s test piece dyno at Kyloe in the woods , Catapult, which weighs in at 8a+.

 

It’s thought that this is it’s first repeat having stood up to attempts from some very strong climbers, although there does seem to be a repeat logged on UKC from a hidden user but no-one seems to know or can confirm anything about this.

 

Will managed to send the problem on his 3rd go, second session and under 20 attempts in total which is pretty quick making his own dyno at Dumby, Mr Tickle, 8a, seem pretty stiff for the grade as it took him a good few weeks to get done!

 

Here’s a video of the send, although you really need to have seen the holds and distance between them to appreciate how impressive this really is!

And here is Will’s very own unrepeated extended start to his dyno Mr Tickle, which also goes at 8a+.

Here’s a few photos myself and Mike Lee took yesterday sport climbing at Dumbarton. Click the images to enlarge.

Pretty much a whole month in fact but I’ve always been an advocate of the saying ‘If you have nothing good to say, say nothing at all’, that said, I feel I should say something.

 

Due to the damp nature of Scottish summers there’s not been much going on at Dumbarton in the last month. Even on the dry days its been pretty humid and low on friction with a dose of the Scottish midge thrown in for good measure which is far from ideal conditions but there are a couple of things to report.

 

I got an email a few weeks ago from Donald Macrae saying he’s done a few new link-ups. I say new, but he did say, and I agree, that they will have more than likely be done before but it’s good to give these things names and grades so other people will go and and try them too. So here you go:

 

Treasure 7b *
Zig Zag SS to the break, traverse left and finish up Bust My Chops Left-hand.

 

Treasure Hunt 7b *
Zig Zag SS to the break, traverse left into Bust My Chops Left-hand, finishing left into Kev’s Problem from the large right-facing sloper.

 

Fool’s Gold 7a+ *
Zig Zag SS to the break, traverse left and finish up Bust My Chops Right-hand.

 

The names are a reference to the large TREASURE graffiti on Bust My Chops, which no-one seems to notice despite the size of the lettering! I’ve not added these to the site or the topos yet but will in good time.

I had a chance yesterday to check out the site of the new Climbing Academy bouldering wall and have a chat with Paul Twomey, one of the men behind the project. First impressions…. it’s absolutely massive!!!! This can only mean one thing, an obscene amount of bouldering from training boards, slabs, verticals and overhangs up to 50 degrees. On top of all that, there will be a cafe that I’ve been assured will sell good coffee. What more could you ask for?

 

Work has started on the wall now and should be ready for another Scottish winter, although no date has be set for opening. I’ll have more photos and updates as the build progresses.

 

Rest assured, in a few months time Glasgow will have one of the best bouldering walls in the UK, if not Europe and its only 5 minutes drive from my work. Sweet!

Here’s a new topo I’ve made to try and explain the new link-ups problems (5 and counting) that seem to be appearing faster than the returning midges. Click on the topo to enlarge it or open the image here.

 

I’m not sure if will clear up anything for most of you but for the few people who can make some sense of it, it should at least shed some light on the new additions.

 

For years the Home Rule boulder been home to some of the Dumbarton’s classic lines: Mugsy, Mestizo, Physical Graffiti, Home Rule but on the whole new problems on this boulder have been few and far between in the last decade with the main additions have coming from Dave Mac Leod 3 years ago in the shape of Hokku, Soshu and Set in Motion.

 

So why in the last month have 5 new problems been put up? There’s a couple of reasons for this really. One, Malky and Headbutt have both recently been cleaned which has opened up another couple of possible ways to finish problems on the boulder and two, the local faithful are down at Dumby far to often and finding new problems to throw themselves at is an obvious way to whittle away the long summer evenings.

 

With the adddition of all of these new problems there has been some chat about these link-ups are becoming a bit stupid or pointless but I’m all for it. Are some of the best bouldering venues in the country not also covered in eliminates and link-ups??? Why should this boulder be any different, especially when it lends itself so well to it with multiple starting and finishing points and, in nearly all of these problems, really good bouldering.

 

Thoughts anyone? Enough rambling for now. Here’s a video on one of these new link-ups, Nice and Sleazier.

 

Here’s a few photos I took the other night of Will Atkinson on Requiem. Click the images to enlarge.

Lots of people have been down at Dumby lately and quite a lot of stuff going down despite the surprisingly un-Scottish rise in temperature of late.

 

A couple of weeks ago Ross Henighen made the second ascent of Endurance, 8a which was only very recently established by Will Atkinson.

 

The latest addition to the bouldering at Dumbarton, Glasgow Kiss, 7c+, has seen a couple of quick repeats from Andy Shanks and Mike Lee. Malky, and its new variations have now become problems of choice recently with repeats approaching double figures on a problem that, until being cleaned up, had possibly only seen two or three ascents ever.

 

A quick update wouldn’t be complete without a few more ascents of Sabotage, with Stuart Lyle and Dave Redpath both getting their way to the top.

 

Will Atkinson has started his ground-up ascent of Requiem this evening and going on tonights performance in awful conditions (really hot) it shouldn’t be too long before he’s topping out. Here’s a photo I took of him on it. Click the photo to view it full size.

 

On his first visit to the Anvil Will sent Fire Power, F8b for only its fourth ascent. The Anvil is a massive free-standing boulder on the east side of Loch Goil with collection of very hard steep sport routes up to 8c+. Here’s a video of the ascent which Will made look very, very easy. Definitely time to get on the big crack now Will!

Yet another new problem from Will Atkinson, this time linking Spam in Malky. Hard 7c+ is the verdict. Here’s the video.

Mr Atkinson has been up to his old tricks again putting up a another new problem at Dumby. Graded at 7c+ the new problem links the start of Mestizo SS into the Mugsy rail and continues left to finish up the very rarely travelled Malky. Here’s a video of his new problem.