Yes, it's a very pretty film

[rydra_wong]

Life On Hold is finally out (download, with the DVD coming soon).

And yes, it lives up to the promise of the trailer.

I think it was niqaeli who described climbing as "ballet meets geology", and this is ballet/geology porn.

Two years of bouldering in the UK, focusing on the Peak district, Yorkshire and Northumberland scenes, and encompassing the new trend of doing short trad routes as super-highballs/solos over mats, often ground up.

And it's really, really gorgeous, shot in luscious high def with a grand eye for the details of rock and setting (and no, I don't think they used an orange filter on some shots -- the Burbage valley honestly does turn to gold like that when the sun hits the right angle). The film doesn't just have cutting-edge ascents, it communicates a sense of place and of the climbing as rooted in the landscape.

There's minimal interviewing; this is not a film that delves into complex individual motivations, it's about the scene and the places. Which is a disappointment if you'd like to know more in depth about some of the people involved, but basically it's a film that does what it says on the tin: climbing and time-lapse shots of the weather. The film does catch a scattering of telling little moments that give a sense of personality, whether it's Michele Caminati's chirp of "Nice!" regarding almost any problem, Chris Webb-Parsons forcing his broken foot into a climbing shoe, or Ned Feehally accidentally wandering into someone else's shot, realizing, flailing, and running for cover. And there's real emotional engagement as people struggle, falter or fall on desperately hard, committing problems.

My one big quibble is that women get under-represented in the film; with the female firepower available (Mina Leslie-Wujastyk, Katy Whittaker, Shauna Coxsey and Alex Puccio all feature in the film), they deserve to get more than one problem each. The cutting-edge of women's bouldering in the UK is being pushed very hard right now, with women doing some uber-powerful problems, and it'd be nice to get more attention being paid to that.

In conclusion: preeeeeeetty.

Comments

[astridv]

I couldn't resist; downloading right now.

I don't really need interviews and such, I'm only there for the climbing. PWP, if you want. :)

[rydra_wong]

Yes, this is total bouldering PWP. Aliens make them climb tall rocks!

Warning: it will make you want to come and climb in the UK.

[astridv]

Warning: it will make you want to come and climb in the UK.

That is actually something I've been thinking about so I can use this movie do do some location scouting, too.

[rydra_wong]

I rec Boulder Britain for that purpose too -- I'm currently using it for location scouting for future trips around the UK.

[rydra_wong]

P.S. I'd love to know what you think of the film. This comm needs Moar Reviews.

[astridv]

Totally worth the money! Fantastic climbing in lovely landscape.
Some of these problems are scary high. Shiiit. How high do you think the highest routes go? It's kind of hard to tell; when filmed from above they are distorted and thus even scarier. It looked like at least seven or eight meters. I noticed that on one or two routes they climbed down a few holds when possible before dropping on the pile of pads.

[rydra_wong]

It looked like at least seven or eight meters.

Definitely, for quite a few of them, and sometimes more -- my guidebook says that Samson is twelve metres. *shudders*

ETA: A different guidebook says it's ten metres. THIS DOES NOT MAKE ME SHUDDER LESS.

A lot of these routes have only been done as trad routes until now, protected by gear (if there are placements) and/or rehearsed on top-rope before the lead (a.k.a. "headpointing"). Doing them ground-up protected by mats is a new thing.

And in some instances, this is crossing over from anything that would normally be considered "highball bouldering" into the realm of "solo-ing above a big pile of mats by people who are very young and have resilient joints".

I should state for the record that we have lots of short, low-to-the-ground boulder problems in the UK too! It's just that this film focuses on some people (notably Ned Feehally and Dan Varian) who've been pushing the highball limits in this particular way.

[rydra_wong]

P.S.

Michele Caminati wrote a charming entry about his time on the grit in 2011 (some of which is in the film):

http://michelecaminati.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/italian-on-grit.html

[astridv]

Interesting, thanks for the link. I notice that even a climber of his caliber finds some of those problems scary.

I assume gritstone is the slopey stuff that seems to offer virtually no holds and ledges? My little experience on real rock bouldering is limited to sandstone, which I loved. Sounds like gritstone is harder on the palms. I gotta try it someday.

Warning for shameless pro-grit bias

[rydra_wong]

I assume gritstone is the slopey stuff that seems to offer virtually no holds and ledges?

Yup, that sounds like the grit. *g*

It's basically a coarse sandstone but saturated with a very high level of quartz and feldspar crystals, so it has incredible friction, which means that you can hold or stand on things you wouldn't even think of as holds on any other rock type, which is good because it's often very lacking in anything you would think of as holds. It also means it tends to grate your skin off, but a lot of people -- me included -- think it's worth it. It feels completely different to regular sandstone. British climbers have been known to refer to it as "God's own rock."

A lot of gritstone is in the Peak District national park, which is incredibly beautiful (and conveniently located just outside Sheffield).

Here are some photos taken on a crappy camera-phone during a couple of my trips there, which also provide evidence that there are plenty of friendly small boulders too:

http://common-nature.dreamwidth.org/20012.html
http://common-nature.dreamwidth.org/30724.html

I fell for the gritstone hard the first time I ever climbed on it; it really is like nothing else, and it does feel like there's something uniquely special and magical about the rock itself.

Re: Warning for shameless pro-grit bias

[astridv]

Oh yes, I remember seeing that first post! The area looks spectacular. Like a gigantic climbing garden.

[wpadmirer]

Cool. I wonder if the download is available for people outside the UK, since we can't play the dvd.

[rydra_wong]

As far as I know, anyone can buy the download (they take payment via PayPal).

And I suspect the DVD will be multi-region -- most climbing DVDs don't seem to be region-limited nowadays. You could e-mail and ask; I had a problem downloading because my browser crashed partway through, and they got back to me incredibly speedily.

[astridv]

I downloaded from Germany and payed via paypal; had no problems. And I think you can do it as a guest if you don't have a paypal account. The download took pretty long though, about 2 hours in spite of my reasonably fast DSL connection.

[wpadmirer]

Good to know! Thanks!