The Lizard King

I finally succeeded in leading my project at Ilkley!

I first tried it 4 months ago, a few days after doing the New Statesman. Basically I got on it because I'm not strong enough to do the crux of Gerty Berwick and wanted to find another way up the wall!

You do the crux of the New Statesman to a shake, then swing left and do a crazy rock-over move to reach a pod in the wall halfway up Gerty Berwick. You follow this route for a couple of moves before going left again with a cool cross over sequence on pockets, this part is a bit easier than the start but the gear isn't great and you're really high at this point.

Red: The project
Blue: New Statesman
Green: Gerty Berwick

By far the crux for me was the rock-over in the middle. It took me around 8 sessions to figure out, and even once I could do it consistently it still felt absolutely terrifying. The move involves getting fully rocked over on a heel and then just falling sideways and grabbing the next hold on the way past. I'm pretty sure this is the kind of move Dave Graham describes as a "drive-by"... Also you don't have any gear at this point and it's getting close to the limit of what could be called "highball".

The actual lead felt incredible. I don't think I've ever been so focused. It felt as though I was watching myself climb it, and climb it perfectly.

Yes it's a link-up and maybe not the most obvious line on the wall but once you've been on there it's actually the easiest way up that bit of wall. Anyway, I had a great time climbing it.

It's for sure the hardest thing I've done on trad and I think it comes in at about f8a+ but it's always hard to tell with these things. I've given it E9 7a and it's called the Lizard King. Partly as a Jim Morrison tribute and partly to draw attention to the fact that many of the current world leaders are actually Lizards. (Although the name "State Pension" was a clear front runner for a while.)

Abstract Normality Media caught the ascent on film, here's a few screengrabs from that:

Scary Weekend

My scary weekend consisted of headpointing two grit E7s. Paralogism at the Roaches and Snap Decision at Ilkley. The idea was to mentally prepare myself for the headpoint of my project by doing some easier routes.


Two grit E7s, Paralogism and Snap Decision from Jacob Cook on Vimeo.

I was thinking about going for the flash on Paralogism, but after my two beta monkeys failed to get past the initial moves I thought better of it! Thank god because I proceeded to fall off on my first go on top rope! It's not a case of if but where you would hit the floor on this one...

Arriving at Ilkley to find driving sideways hail did not bode well for the day. The route, Snap Decision, had several wet holds and was generally quite green. I chucked a rope down it anyway and somehow as the sun was setting I found myself tieing into the sharp end. I decided to put a single biner on the solitary peg runner to reduce the fall distance and took a rag to dry some key footholds whilst on lead. Topping out to a clear winter sunset and a familiar kick of adrenalin reminded why I do this stuff. (Euphoric pigeons!)