http://www.keithsharplesphotography.co.uk/

Keith Sharples Photography, Sheffield (2026)

20/05/2026

Gratuitous tick?
Having done Sorceress Sit start last week I figured that adding another few moves onto the beginning for the Angelic Conversation might be a smart choice for another visit last weekend to Forest Rock.
I’m happy to accept that it felt something of a gratuitous tick as the extension only added a few moves at the very start of a problem I already had dialled. Although the new start moves aren’t the hardest moves on the problem they did increase fatigue levels a tad going into the crux of the Sorceress; enough I’d say to move the needle and bump the grade up to 7A+.
For what it’s worth, I’d say adding the starting moves on the Angelic Conversation 7A+, the same moves incidentally as per the Enchantress, adds length rather than quality to Sorceress Sit. It does nevertheless does open up the start for Dark Mojo as well as Enchantress which is something to mull over…

14/05/2026

The Meltdown; Nuda’s Tartan…
Nuda’s Tartan isn’t your typical Peak limestone bouldering venue; not least ‘cos the rock is something of an oddity – sharp broccoli and/or bobbly, savage pockets and full-on jamming slots all with more than a splash of roof-action demanding body tension plus heel/toe competency along with a high pain threshold.
Facing east on a sheltered road-side outcrop, Nuda’s can suffers from condensation making the holds difficult if not impossible to use.
It could be argued it is perhaps something of an acquired taste; that said, plenty have acquired that taste over the years?!
The initial fluffy of activity saw a dozen or so problems added, some of which had some quite inflated grades – especially for the typically hard-for-the-grade grading so prevalent across the Peak. Originally graded 7B, The Meltdown has dropped to 7A. At 20-ish moves in length it’s more a route really. Either way, it’s a quality bit of climbing and it’s now even better given that the tree stump, previously inconveniently positioned beneath the lip of The Meltdown, has given up the ghost and is no more!

07/05/2026

For the Sorceress, the Bell Tolls…
Back at Forest Rock again yesterday; this time for the Sorceress. With temps much cooler than the week before the bank holiday connies were excellent if perhaps a little chilly on the fingers; better that though than baking hot and sliding off everything!
Like the Sourcier, the Sorceress is another bloc which requires some fairly hard leg/back input as well as proficiency with undercuts plus some finger jamming for good measure. I worked the stand start as part of the warm-up and TBH found that pretty burly for the given grade of 6C. My sequence on the sit start added seven hand moves – including a couple of burly undercuts - to pull into the same position as per the stand; for me the sitter felt a notch up from the stand, I’d say 6C+ for the stand and 7A for the sit.
Having had Forest Rock on my radar for a while it’s good to eventually make the effort to have a few visits. The bouldering is defo on the burly side and some of the holds are quite sharp but I’ve gonnen pretty psyched for the new-to-me venue; I’ll be back again ASAP.
Finally, thanks again to local Rob Richmond for the encouragement…

26/04/2026

Forest Rock, Leicester surely good prep for a certain cave in Norway?

In just over a month (jet fuel permitting...) I should be back in the cave at Flatanger for another visit; to say im psyched would be an under statement!.

It seems sensible to max-out on the steep, 3D style climbing before the trip and there can't be many places that fit that criteria within easy drive of Sheffield better than said FR?

Fortunately, my planned project at Flatanger isn't anywhere near as hard as many of the blocs at FR; a bit of overload and adaption though woukd be a-miss though...

in action on Sourier 7A...

06/04/2026

Easter (bunny) board goodies…

Back in the covid days I, like a good few others, built a home board; since then it's become a regular element in my training. However, for reasons entirely unknown to myself, I then went off-piste and, with a few exceptions, I've made my own holds.

Central to this process is re-purposing now un-loved wood into holds; it’s a time-consuming but interesting and satisfying activity. Perhaps un-surprisingly, builders’ skips quite often have some wonderful bits of pre-used wood. Glorious lengths of old hard-wood hand-rail, hard-wood table-tops and chair-arms/backs might be past their useful prime for their original owners but they’re perfect for making climbing holds.

Although not as durable or nice, soft wood off-cuts from building projects such as 6”x2” roof rafters or ‘mop-stick’ from lead-roofing projects can be crafted into some great holds too. I’ve even re-purposed some old ceiling beams from my own refurbish projects; once old paintwork is stripped off the grain on the 1910’s wood (Canadian Pine I think..) not only looks good it has a pretty tough grippy feel too.

Somewhat indulgently, I’ve pimped my latest batch of holds giving further protection and colour away from the edges; finally, they’re all ready to go now - just need to get them on the board...

Pixs 1&2: Collection of pinches, crimps and a disk
Pix 3: Glorious hardwood (Mahogany?) hand-rail re-purposed as big, wide pinches
Pix 4: Soft-wood ‘mop-stick’ pinches
Pix 5: Soft-wood (Canadian Pine?) from 1910’s cut/shaped into slightly in-cut flat pinches
Pix 6: Hard-wood (Sepele?) ‘arm-chair’ re-purposed into ratty crimps

28/03/2026

Back to the Future - El Bovedon…
So, back to the Spanish trip earlier in the month...
After two solid days of rain in Chulilla we figured we'd run to the coast and search for dry rock at El Bovedon, Gandia. I’d last climbed there 23 years previously back in February 2003 so it felt a bit like going back to the future heading there again. Talking to a friendly German climber in the car park it turned out that climbing at El Bovedon has expanded quite a bit over the intervening years and two further sectors had been developed – El Bovedin and El Bovedos. A couple for routes caught our eye at El Bovedos so we continued past El Bovedon underneath the soggy looking slabby walls of El Bovedis and round the corner into the cave of El Bovedos.
EL Bovedos is a fair bit smaller than El Bovedon but no less steep. Although several of the routes were wet the right-hand of the cave had three routes on which were substantial dry; all were festooned with in-situ quickdraws too so it wasn’t a hard decision spend some time on them and keep ourselves entertained for the day.
For our final day we opted to return to El Bovedon. Sadly, we were sort on time, skin and, it has to be said, beans! It being a weekend there were plenty of locals were getting stuck-in on a selection of good looking routes and it seemed reasonable to snap a few pixs. It’s good to know that there’s a decent chance of climbing if there’s been wet weather in the area; I don’t think it’d take much to tempt me back for another visit either.
Pix 1: An American climber engrossed with the intricacies of Chikara 8c
Pix 2: Chris Sowden on Abradacabra 7c+ back in my pre-digital days in 2003. This taken from a scan from a print
Pix 3-6: A selection of shots showing a couple of locals enjoying the steepness that is an 8a link-up of Abradacabra 7c+ and Armando 8a+
Pix 7: Another local in action on Larga, dura y caliente 7b+/8a+
Pix 8-10: More shots of the demanding overhanging wall that is Chikara 8c

26/03/2026

CWIF 2026: The final curtain…
The “open” format of the CWIF where all-comers can compete against international stars has proved very popular over the years undoubtedly underscoring the popularity of the CWIF. Sadly however, works have called time on their signature competition having run it no less that 18 times over the last 20 years. As usual, Saturday’s qualification round once again comprised 30 blocs; Sunday’s semi’s and final’s, the business end of the comp, saw the competitors tackle four blocs per round.
Shauna Coxsey and Rei Kawamata lead the standings after the semi-finals; both had topped all four blocs in the least number of attempts. However, the chasing pack was very close behind. Just trailing Shauna Coxsey were Chloe Caulier and Jenya Kazekova. Likewise, Dayan Akhtar and Jack MacDougall were hot on Rei Kawamata’s heels.
The blocs for the final’s, having received a final polishing from the setters, were considerably tougher and tops way more limited than in the semi’s. The women’s semi-final standing were maintained after a very close-fought final; Shauna Coxsey producing a stellar performance to take her sixth CWIF title. (See earlier post for more on Shauna’s win).
Rei Kawamata and Dayan Akhtar also maintained their first and second placings after the final; Sam Hammond joining them on the men’s podium with a very well deserved third place finish a fraction ahead of the in-form Max Milne.
Pixs 1&2: Max Milne demonstrating a beta-break on M1 whilst Jack MacDougall stays on-piste using all the holds!
Pix 3: Jenja Kazekova getting to grips with the steepness on W1
Pix 4: Sam Hammond taking-down M3 on snazzy new paint-job wall
Pixs 5&6: Dayan Akhtar and Rei Kawamata demoing the outrageous moves on M4
Pixs 7&8: Chloe Caulier and Shauna Coxsey showing the move to the bonus on W4
Pixs 9&10: The podiums with Rab Carrington himself presenting the awards

25/03/2026

Last CWIF, best CWIF??
Living in Sheffield I’ve been very fortunate having the opportunity to photograph numerous climbing comps that have been held in the city over the years; F-BO’s (Foundry Bouldering Open), CWIF’s (Climbing Works International Festival), BBC’s (British Bouldering Championship), BLCC’s (British Lead Climbing Championship) and latterly Crackfest (WideBoyz Crack Climbing Competition) amongst them.
All have had seen some stellar competitors produce some astonishing performances and last weekend’s final ever CWIF at The Climbing Works was no exception.
After 18 events over a 20 year period The Climbing Works have decided that the Rab CWIF 2026 was to be the final ever such comp. That was sufficient inducement to tease Shauna Coxsey, five times CWIF winner and Olympian, out of retirement for her first competition since the Tokyo Olympic Games in August 2021. At the end of Saturday’s qualification round, she placed 8th; more than enough to go through to Sunday’s semi-finals. The semi-finals saw Shauna top all the blocs and finish the round in top spot further amping-up the spectator’s anticipation of a monumental win.
The final set of pretty brutal boulders saw limited tops; attempts to tops and zones therefore becoming crucial. Four blocs later Shauna ended the evening in the top position taking her sixth CWIF victory. It’s fair to say Shauna’s was a masterclass performance, a study in professional competition climbing. The competitive edge that took Shauna to numerous wins and titles over her formative comp years emerged once again; her route reading, restraint and ex*****on was top drawer and made all the more remarkable for her five years away from competitions.

Chapeau and what a way for to end 20 years of the CWIF…

Here’s a selection of shots of Shauna on W1 and W2.

15/03/2026

Season-opener @ Chulilla…
A decade ago Chulilla was the go-to destination for early season trips; cheap flights and accommodation, generally reliable and favourable weather, virtually endless number of routes , wide variety of sectors all proved irresistible. This year it seemed like to obvious place to revisit; not least, to escape the lousy UK weather.
I told myself I was going with no agenda; maybe some on-sighting or maybe some quick redpoint projects. Somewhere, the script flipped and I zeroed in on Tequila Sunrise on El Balconito.
What could possible go wrong? First outdoor climbing for 3 months? Forty metre route? Polished footholds? Others on the route? Bad connies? Four climbing days later, the initially favourable - if slightly warm - weather was heading south; it was going wet and stormy for several days. I stripped the draws and transferred Tequila onto the work-in-progress/project list.
It had only been a few days but it felt a great way to kick-start the season and to have tried-hard; another visit will be planned/needed to finish though.

Here’s a few shots of Tequila and the adjoining classic routes on El Balconito…

Pix 1: Approaching the kneebar at the end of initial tufa section on Tequila Sunrise (8a); a member of a Polish group on redpoint
Pixs 2-5: More shots showing the starting tufa of Tequila and then the crucial groove and mid-height boulder wall before the good rest. Another c.18m of quality wall climbing and a very droppable final move is above
Pixs 6&7: El Bufa (8a). Another Polish climber (Adam Kowal) on-sighting the adjoining El Bufa.
Pixs 8, 9 & 10: La Montana Magica (8a+) and La Bella Protegida (8b) two of the classic harder route farther left

10/02/2026

Down on your Vitamin D; me too!!
Complaining about the UK weather is one of our national pass-time but the last month has been undeniably next level grim; here’s some ski imagery that might just hit scratch an itch…
Jointly, Les Arcs and La Plagne make Paradiski; one of the bigger ski domains in France. I rolled into Bourg St Maurice between Xmas and New Year and was massively fortunate to have nine consecutive day’s utterly stunning skiing.
Once the typically busy Xmas-New Year week had slipped bye, the resort was predictably significantly quieter. Whilst the forecasted snow kept slipping farther and farther back the Paradiski operational team continued to deliver some amazing pistes thanks to the snow making cannons and some clever snow farming/management. It hadn’t snowed for over a month so the runs were pretty hard packed and icy and over-night temps down in the valley were regularity approached -15degs. Despite the sunny blue-bird, day-time conditions, the temps were pretty savage; without them though, it would have been a mud-bath!
Driving home the day before the snow storm finally hit was probably a blessing in disguise; nine day for “off-the-couch” legs was too much – bloody good fun though!
Pix 1 &2: New Year’s Day – the joy of empty slopes! Riding the Derby 69 lift to do “one more burn” down Belette – one of the best reds above Vallandry if not in Les Arcs.
Pix 3&4: Kms of cruising… wot’s not to like?
Pix 5: The Col des Frettes (2384m)
Pix6: Les Arcs, together with Peisey and Vallandry is very good, linked via the Vanoise Express to La Plagne creates Paradiski – one of the most extensive and varied ski domains anywhere. Riding the new lift up to Live 3000 high above Plagne Bellecote
Pix 7&8: Endless pistes…
Pix 9: The Vanoise Express which links Les Arcs and La Plagne; a double-decker with a c.200 capacity and spectacular views above the gorge
Pix 10: Catching the funicular back down to Bourg St Maurice for one last time
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Keith Sharples Photography

20/05/2026

14/05/2026

07/05/2026

26/04/2026

06/04/2026

28/03/2026

26/03/2026

25/03/2026

15/03/2026

10/02/2026

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