Jim Pope has made the first ascent of a new hard boulder on Ashop Edge, on the Kinder Northern Edges.

The boulder, a steep and powerful roof requiring both strength and endurance at the top end, is likely one of the hardest boulders on gritstone.  

We got in touch with Jim to find out more:

Congratulations on making the first ascent! Does the boulder have a name yet? Whereabouts is it?

Cheers, I've not settled on a name yet, that's becoming the hardest part! The roof is about halfway along Ashop Edge which is on the Kinder Northern Edges. You park by the Snake Inn and head up Fairbrook until you reach the top, then follow the top path to the right until you can see the roof.

Can you describe the climbing for us?

The Climbing is pretty atypical for grit. It's really steep, but there are two ramps which break up the roof that have crimp rails and slopers on them. There's nothing in-between so the climbing is big powerful moves between what's there.

It clocks in at around twenty-five moves, none of which are desperate, but they definitely add up. It's powerful but also really technical roof climbing, so requires a pretty broad skillset.

What is the hardest thing to get right on the boulder?

Personally I think the hardest thing is having the fitness/strength to do it. I found a sequence pretty quickly and did various versions of the climb before I did the longest/hardest one. The ground rises with the roof so there are several logical start points. This helped me to work it in sections, and luckily I felt in good shape of the back of the OQS so had the minerals to get it done. There are no stand out stopper moves, but piecing it together is hard.

How did you first come across it?

A few months ago I had a real urge to be out climbing on the grit, but it was obviously pretty hot, so I started going up to the higher crags. Me and Pat Hill were up doing the first ascent of 'Dynamic Duo (E5 6b)' and we spotted this huge roof, we decided to go over for a look and it was obvious that it would go.

From then I was pretty hooked and went up regularly even if it was wet just to get some walking training in for Kyrgyzstan and to go and give it a clean.

How many sessions have you had on it?

My first two sessions I didn't have any pads so just did the high/easier starts, then I slowly shuttled pads up there and had four sessions on it in total. But a lot of that was getting the climb in a climbable state, or having a quick session after trad climbing.

What was your process when working the boulder? Did you have anyone else working it alongside you?

I had a few plays the first time I found it with Pat and did the high start which is around 7A. Then my next visit I started from a few moves lower with Sam Lawson, on this session I broke a hold which cut it short. The following session I went up to do some repairing, and managed to do three new versions of the climb, with just the hardest to go.

My last two sessions were with Rob Smith, Ben Bransby, Dave Parry and Sam Lawson, and it was great to work the climb out with others and get opinions on it. It was also great to have someone to chat to on the walk!

How does it rate compared to your other first ascents, in terms of both difficulty and quality?

For me it has a perfect blend of being in a really amazing setting with a bit of a walk in, which makes it a proper day out to go and try it. That, coupled with it having some really unique rock features and being pretty hard (maybe 8B or 8B+?), probably puts it up there as the best new boulder I've done.

The only thing I'd say that detracts from it slightly is that the start holds for the sit are pretty dank and I don't think they'll ever really dry out, so the start may change over time.

Personally it's one of the hardest pieces of climbing I've done on the grit. Although it's quite unique, I found it quite a bit harder than The Boss (f8B+) and Supersize Pea (f8A+) which are the two most comparable things I can think off. But I did do it in July, so maybe it will feel much easier in the winter, if it's dry! Although you do get good summer conditions up there, I had a couple sessions where it was below five degrees with wind chill, so it could be a good summer climb.

How did it feel to get to the end of it and pull through the final moves?

Like I said earlier it's twenty five moves long, and I think I was on the climb for over two minutes, so I was pretty spent! The last few moves aren't too bad in isolation, but they are on really slopey holds and I felt like I could drop it on any of them, it was a real battle! I was really chuffed to get it done as it had been quite a spread out process.

Any other projects on the go or trips coming up?

I'm about to head to Kyrgyzstan for a month big wall climbing, so I was really glad to get this done as I reckon I'll have lost most of my strength by the end of that!