New Jim Pope E9 and Grit Repeats
- Tuesday 18th June 2024
Jim Pope has recently ventured up to the high moorland gritstone edges of Kinder Scout and Wimberry to add a new E9 in addition to repeating an E7 and iconic E8.
First up at the end of May, Jim ventured to the Kinder Northern Edges to look at Highball That You Bastards, Ben Tetler’s impressive but dangerous line from 2004. Given E7 6c, Ben first top-roped then remarkably soloed the line. Inspired by a photo in the Over the Moors guidebook and in search of something different, Jim made the walk commenting, ‘Yesterday I had a real urge to be outside, somewhere remote. My original plan was to head up to the Kinder Northern Edges and camp, but the idea of carrying all my kit up the hill put me off, and I opted for the obviously much lighter rope and trad rack instead, to visit ‘Highball That You Bastards!’
‘The route isn’t the kind where you’re checking guidebook photos to see if you’re at the right place, it’s proud and guards over the hillside. The dark red lower wall is steep and ominous, with big moves on creaky flakes leading you to the delicate top slab. The image of Ben Tetler ‘Treading very carefully’ on the first ascent kept popping up in my mind. It reminds me of the photo of Dave Pegg on MaDMAn where the position looks so outrageous and out there, that no human should be in it!’
Having repeated the line, a potential new route moving left along a break and up the headwall, to the right of Highball That… caught Jim’s eye. Polar Front (E9 6c) starts as for Highball That You Bastards before heading immediately left and along the steep break below the loose flake that the guidebook describes as ‘a huge, improbably connected flake.’ Towards the end of the break, it makes a big move up to the lip and finishes up the rather lonely headwall.
After a successful lead, Jim said, ‘Spotted this line a few weeks ago when climbing HTYB, and was keen to return asap! June isn’t your usual grit climbing month, but the polar front brought some arctic air this week and a couple of sub 5°C evenings up there. It's a really proud line, taking the steep break before a nervy headwall. Be careful of the flake! I think it weighs in around E9 6c but could do with another opinion if anyone fancies the walk!’
Check out the video of the first ascent of Jim's Instagram here
In between these two ascents, Jim headed over to Wimberry in the Chew Valley to make a repeat of Dave Pegg’s terrifying MaDMAn (E8 6b). This super bold line was first done by Dave in 1994 and climbs a big bald arete by a combination of small pebbles and friction moves to a very insecure move from a pebble to gain and stand on a sloping ledge. Falling off from here isn’t an option. The photo in this report of Dave on the first ascent says it all…
It was obviously an experience for Jim, ‘There is so much I could say about it, but the lack of information and only the single photo of Dave creates a certain reputation and unknown mystery, which gives the route its character. I wouldn’t want to change that with a load of chat so I’ll just leave it here, but it was for sure a special day to climb this one!’