Pete is the most recent Ormesman. It is only in recent years that he's got properly stuck into the place and spent some significant time there. Pete has been climbing since he was quite young and up until a few years ago trad was the main event in his climbing. After climbing thousands of routes all over the place and onsighting many hard trad routes Pete fancied a different challenge and set about getting strong. I remember him failing on my problem Ain't No Party (7a+)in 2006. I also remember him absolutely taking ages to do Trigger Cut! In one of the greatest transformations ever he shed a load of weight, started training and climbed more overhangs. In a few years Pete went from finding Trigger Cut the living end to completing the 2nd ascent of Silk Cut! Talk about rags to riches. hollywood ain't got nothing on this. I guess the modern Ormesman needs to have cut his teeth in the Cave and Pete certainly has. He already has some impressive FAs to his name including In Heaven, The Wire and the seriously impressive Incredible Bulk. Petes trademark is his speed, don't blink as he sets off up Lou Ferrino as this takes about 0.4 seconds. With his new found beastliness Pete also went to work on LPT and soon got ticking through the 8's. The 8a's, Melancholie and Walking Mussel soon succombed and in 2009 he embarked on what would become an epic mission on the very classic Liquid Ambar. Pete spent over 20 sessions down there trying it relentlessly. I remember him going down one minging humid afternoon as the sea clag made everything minging. I thought he was mad going down in that weather but he'd driven over from the hills and was psyched. He got it done in September and you can see the ascent in the Welsh Connections film. In 2010 the LPT campaign continued and Pete added a new link - Wild Youth. The next obvious one was Infanticide which went down without too much of a fight. After a look at Big Bang, Pete channelled his energies into Sea of Tranquility and after another seige topped out on the 2nd ascent becoming the first person to tick the 3 big 8's of LPT, quite an achievement. Pete does his training at the crag and usually leaves absolutely spent. He finishes off his day lapping tough problems in the cave or by lapping 8as down LPT! Pete has an unwavering psyche which is probably one of his greatest strengths. It will be good to see what he gets up to this year, i know he's got a few things lined up, lets hope he doesn't dust off his rack just yet!
Melon Beach 2nd ascent:
1 comment:
my climbing hero!
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