Film Review: Odyssey

After the huge success of The Long Hope, there has been a great deal of hype about the latest film from Hot Aches Productions. Thankfully, Odyssey - A Climbing Road Movie, more than lives up to the attention.

The film documents a group climbers at the top of their game, as they make their way around England and Wales, ticking off some of the UK's hardest trad routes. The group includes Hansjorg Auer, Hazel Findlay, Caroline Ciavaldini and James Pearson. We begin in Northumberland with some very impressive on sights of a number of E6s and E7s. James, a personal hero of mine, talks a bit about how he has progressed in his climbing career over the years and how important the history and the style of British trad climbing to him. Hazel speaks about how it is important to get over the fear of falling in order to push your grade on trad - there is plenty of footage that features her taking some particularly large falls!

As the trip heads to Llanberis, the group set their sights on some impressive goals. The highlight surely has to be their attempts to on sight Strawberries E7 6b**. So many great climbers have come unstuck by this amazing crack-line and over the years it has seen only a handful of successful on sights. Hansjorg, however, makes it look rather smooth and effortless - very impressive stuff.
James then comes into his own as he has a very successful day at Nesscliffe - E8 flash, E8 onsight and E9 headpoint... not a bad day's work!
The film is beautifully shot throughout and has a very polished feel to the final edit. All of the characters are extremely down-to-earth and very inspiring as well as being rather modest and humble. If you are looking for inspiration to visit amazing crags and attempt hard trad routes, then this is definitely it. It's a close-run thing to decide which is the best climbing film I have seen this year - The Long Hope or this masterpiece. Overall, I think I prefer this film, but only slightly. I think the main reason for this is that I can relate more to the climbers and the routes in this film, and there is not much stopping anyone from getting out there and heading to these crags if they are motivated enough to do so. A very inspiring and excellent film - hats off to Paul Diffley once more.

Simonside

Emily heading through the woods on the approach to Simonside North Face, Northumberland

As this is the Edinburgh September long weekend, Emily and I have taken the opportunity to come down to Yorkshire to visit the family in Northallerton. It just so happens that Richard and David are running in the Great North Run 2012 on Sunday so we felt compelled to cheer them on and show our support. It didn't make sense to drive all the way down to Yorkshire and then drive North again to South Shields for the GNR so we decided to stay two nights in Northumberland; with a view to get some climbing in. We opted for two nights in Rothbury, as I quite liked the look of Simonside in the Northern England: Rock Climbing Guide (Rockfax Climbing Guide).

Boulders in the woods on the approach to Simonside North Face, Northumberland

We woke to a cracking morning and after a good cooked breakfast, we were soon gearing up in the Simonside picnic area car park. After a bit of a faff, we were making our way through the woods along the forestry track. After around ten minutes of steady climbing, we left the track and took the path that led around to the clearing below the main Simonside North Face. It was a very pleasant walk through the trees with the sun coming through and the temperature was mild.

Simonside North Face, Northumberland

As we left the woods, we were suddenly out onto the open moor and we got our first view of the crag in all of it's glory. The other thing that struck us was the strong, cold wind. As we made our way past a couple of the large boulders to the face, I realised that the wind was going to be a bit of an issue for the day.

Emily sheltering from the wind, Simonside North Face, Northumberland

By the time we were at the crag, we had experienced the full scale of the relentless gusts that were going to be with us for the rest of the day. I had read in the guidebook that the crag can be quite exposed but I had gambled on it not being an issue; a bit of a shame. Undeterred, we managed to find a fair amount of the crag that was slightly out of the wind and had great fun ticking off the many easy classics. It was all about quickly ticking off the many easy classics, as we didn't want to be stationary for too long and freeze! The highlights were most certainly Great Chimney D*** and Innominate Crack VD**. We had a great fun and Emily thought the climbing was great. I ticked off the very enjoyable and well-protected Flake Corner VS 4c* before we packed up our gear - a tricky move to stand on the top of the flake!

Gearing up at a chilly Simonside North Face, Northumberland

We were going to head back but Emily suggested that we circle back to the car via some of the bouldering venues that were further along the summit track - a great idea! Another reason for picking Simonside was that I quite fancied trying Dulcinea font 7a+***. I knew that there was no chance of sending it today, given the conditions, but we were keen to find it and at least check it out. After a bit of a tramp, we found Old Stell Crag and then Dulcinea. It actually looked ok - but was rather damp. I spent a few minutes on the start but the friction and conditions just weren't great; one for another day and a great excuse to come back! I was still keen to get on something so I quickly dispatched the 4 very easy problems on the Warm Up Wall - see video for anyone who is interested.

Flake Corner VS 4c*, Simonside North Face, Northumberland

Simonside Lookout, Simonside North Face, Northumberland

Feeling the cold, Simonside North Face, Northumberland

The light was now fading so we took the main path down and around Dove Crag before heading back to the car via Joe's Wood (following the Coe Burn). A fantastic day and I can't wait to go back to Simonside on a calmer day to try some of the harder routes.

Simonside Climbing from Chris McMorris on Vimeo.