Chris on the crux move of Johnny Dublin 7A+ Photos: Si Panton
The final section of Lord of the Manor 7B
After years of ignoring Manor Crag (a bouldering venue, it should be noted, situated only minutes from his house) Chris Doyle has blitzed the place with a collection of excellent new grade 7 problems.
Most significant is Tusken Raiders 7B+, which hangs a left out of the popular 7A Jawa traversing the lip via a lovely little finger ramp feature and finishing up left from the crack/flake.
Over at the right side of the crag he climbed The Lengthy Scholar 7B. This cruxy number breaks out left from The Academic Workload slapping to a good ledge up left. The grade assumes the use of a rubber knee pad; bareback riders may feel 7B+ is more appropriate.
Farther left at the right end of the Andromeda traverse Chris climbed Johnny Dublin 7A+. This starts right hand on a low undercut and left on an obvious sidepull. Reach out left to sidepull/pistol grip in the large crack feature before gaining the lip and climbing up the wall to jugs.
Next up he climbed Lord of the Manor 7B – this starts up the central 7A (sometimes mistakenly referred to as Unbreakable) and then reverses the Andromeda traverse.
Lastly, Chris climbed Miming Man 7A+ - this powers up from a pair of obvious undercuts into the finish of Lord of the Manor. After chatting to Sam Cattell it became apparent that this line was first climbed by him back in the early noughties and was named Unbreakable.
Chris also repeated Benno Wagner’s 7C, Pints and Pills, confirming both its difficulty (7C) and pumpy nature.
