Louis Hamer

The Hamer bros were back on the Orme on Friday after a couple of year absence. The boy's used to be regulars as Sam was at Bangor uni. Ed did most things up to Font 8a+ on the Orme and Sam did lots of the routes including the tough 8b Melanchollie. Anyway Ed busted out Louis Armstrong, the 'short' 8b of Parisellas. This is obviously impressive but the time he did it in is the big news. This has been managed in a couple of days before by world class monsters Ty Landman, Micky Page and Nacho Sanchez (can't remember how long it took Malc, think slightly longer). I know Ty got in in 2 when he was beasting everything. I think it might have been 3 days for Micky?? Anyway bearing in mind that Ed had only been on it for 20 minutes 2 years ago this could be the quickest ascent and shows he can mingle with the top dogs. Consolodation seems to be Ed's approach to progression. He's been knocking on 8a+ boulder problems and 8b+ routes for years but if you've witnessed his beastliness you will know that this is only the begining. Sam ticked off the classic Masterclass 8a. Caff did Masterplan last week utilising a very very dirty hold to overcome the reachy crux. He got it 2nd RP. I've had 2 more days on Walking Mussel,on Tuesday i finally got my head round the crack. It's actually ok when you figure out the feet and after cursing it on the previous session i now think it's a pretty cool finish to the route. The key for me was to stand on a smear instead of the obvious jug. I almost linked from the crux to the lower off but i made a mistake after the hard bit on the crack. I wasn't too pumped and it gave me the confidence to start redpoints. On Saturday the crack was wet but i had two goes from the ground anyway. The 2nd go i tickled the undercut, hopefully i'll get the hold soon and then who knows how high i'll get. I'm struggling with having decent rests between goes becuase its still pretty cold and my fingers just cool down. This is bad news, i shouldn't be pulling on the crux pinch with cold fingers, it's dangerous. Hopefully it'll warm up soon. My form feels a bit confusing at the moment. I'm climbing pretty well in the Cave and on WM but i wouldn't say i feel anything special. I haven't had that light springy feeling for ages, i guess it suggest's theres more to come. Not a bad place to be i'd say. Pete checking out The Big Crunch: