Top 10 First Ascents
When I first moved to Sheffield back in 2017, I headed out bouldering with Ned Feehally one day and remember him saying he’d just totalled 100 new boulder problems in the Peak. I was mindblown, and until this point, I’d never really considered developing areas or putting up new climbs, but it soon became something I looked for on days out. I’ve always held local developers in high regard, as ultimately the climbs and places the climbs take us dictate our days out, and it’s their initial vision and subsequent sharing of it that gets us out there and provides a big part of our climbing experience. All behind-the-scenes cleaning, landing work, and other niche necessities to improve the experiences of others often go missed when we rock up to a boulder, but hours of work go into it, so thanks to everyone who has contributed!
Shortly after this day out with Ned, I found myself at Froggatt Edge, suddenly looking at things with a new eye and looking for gaps rather than the existing lines. That day, I put up my first FA on the Renegade Buttress, ‘Papal Concave’, a direct line through the roof into the end of ‘Renegade Master’. The climbing was difficult, but as far as first ascents go, it was relatively faff free. Being in a roof, the rock was well protected from the weather and didn’t take much cleaning, and it finished up a well-trodden classic. All I had to do was climb it. 8 years later, it still hasn’t had a second ascent. It didn’t become a classic, but the seed for developing was planted and has given me some of my most enjoyable times out climbing over the years.
Nowadays, it’s my favourite kind of day out, and provides a bit more creative expression and exploration. I think you can get to know someone through their climbs in a way, it requires a certain vision for what’s possible, and a creativity that others haven’t seen, or where to look/go in the first place. Your climbs demonstrate your character and become little scatterings of yourself all over the place. That being said, I’ve put up a lot of choss, so hopefully they go a miss.
Recently, I reached my 100th first ascent milestone and wanted to share my favourite 10. Hopefully it musters up some psyche to go and check them out, get you to a new area, or start ferreting about yourself!
In no particular order…
Applied Imagination - Doll Tor
For me, this boulder encompasses everything I look for when climbing. It has a great set of moves, really good quality rock and holds, and a beautiful setting. It could be mistaken for font!
Cloud Gate - Cratcliffe
Number 100! This boulder was a labour of love. After first discovering it in 2019, I visited each year to attempt to bring some life into it. It’s brilliantly holdless and requires a lot of strength and technique to get up it. The whole thing is just one big hold. As a project, I called it the Bean, and named it after the bean-shaped sculpture in Chicago.
Frowned Upon - Curbar
The front face of the Smiling Buttress. Ty is a great friend of mine, so it was nice to put up a climb next to his iconic testpiece. It has some lovely slopers and a pop for a break at a good height. Watch the video here.
Kindred - Ashop Edge
Normally, boulders shrink in size as you walk towards them, and the big slog up a hill isn’t very fruitful, but this was a rare case where it seemed to grow and grow and, as we got closer, it had holds all over it! It took me several sessions of lugging up pads, sussing out the moves and getting the specific fitness required to climb this line, and as a result, it’s one of my proudest first ascents. Most people will be put off by the hour+ walk in, but it’s great to be away from the crowds and is a beautiful spot to keep bouldering on the grit when it warms up.
Polar Front - Ashop Edge
An old project written up in the Over The Moors guidebook, taking the steep crack line below ‘Highball That You Bastards’. Pretty atypical to your usual hard grit trad, it’s quite sporty and physical with okay gear, but it’s pumpy and sustained. You navigate under a big hollow flake, which makes the slopers on the lip sound like a gong when you thud up them!
Lupin - Stanton in the woods
This is a very simple climb, one hold, one move. It packs a real punch and has lots of subtleties to it, which was a treat to work out.
Islands in the stream - Black Cloughs
Recently, I had the pleasure of Sam Cattell showing me a cluster of boulders he had found. This one immediately stood out to me, and we spent an hour or so in the stream building a patio under the boulder to keep the pads dry. It’s pretty rare to climb on water-worn grit in a riverbed, and the holds are beautiful. You can fall, but don’t bounce. This day was what it’s all about, heading to a new place, not knowing what you’ll find and just enjoying being out getting scrittly.
Close Comfort - Wyming Brook
Hidden in plain sight, this boulder has a Sheffield postcode and is practically on a road. It’s a great spot for after-work hits or if you don’t have much time and has become part of a good circuit in the woods.
Blankety Blank - Afon Lloer
First and only non-gritstone boulder in the top 10, you can see I have a bias. It was cool to put something up in N.Wales, especially something of such good quality. It is a sit start to an existing boulder, but adds a lot of new climbing of good quality and difficulty.
Gorillas in the Mist - Stanage Plantation
Stanage has always been a focal point and somewhere you’d consider to be pretty climbed-out. GITM does climb out of a hole, and is a bit low and dabby, but it's at Stanage Plantation…
Seeing people working and sending climbs I’ve put up brings me just as much joy as it did climbing them myself, so Cheers to you guys! Big thanks to Jon Fulwood, Ben Bransby, Sam Lawson, Ned Feehally, and countless others for all your contributions and advice!
Thanks for the read. Cant wait for more, always love when you talk about climbing on Wedge’s films.
That was a great read. And a hell of a collection of FAs! I've done one of them and very much enjoyed it. Easy to guess which one 😂 😂