disobey_gravity | Yes, it's a very pretty film

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.

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

Yes, it's a very pretty film

Warning for shameless pro-grit bias

Re: Warning for shameless pro-grit bias