Eliot Stephens

From Dirt Grows The Flowers (8C/V15) • Feels good to make an ascent of this classic @dave_graham_ testpiece. A big one off the All Time list. I ended up going to war with the final 8A mantle, which was fine in isolation, but horrible from the floor. Something would always be off. Skin, body position, too tired, foot not on right, hand position wrong. A move with no margin for error. No powering through. Do it perfectly. Or fall. Fortunately on the last day I made it happen. Raw Vid 🎥 to come. • To ride out the last day momentum we gunned it over to Brione, and I got to enjoy some problems I’d been eying up on rest days:- • Forever More (8A) Forever More Sit (8A+) Darkness (8A+) The Fulcrum Direct (8A) - Flash • Finishing the trip climbing 5x 8’s in a day was the cherry on top. Cheers Swiss, dealt us a good one this time ☀️ • @craigducko with the slick 📸 @organicclimbing @scarpa_uk @frictionlabs #bouldering

Zircon (8C/V15) • First Ascent • Managed to finish off this new one at Oxwich last week. The line is a slightly overhanging wall up some unique quartz gastons and micro edges. I spotted this thing in 2022, 3 years after the cliff collapse that brought it into being. I climbed from a stand pretty quickly, and instantly looked at the lower moves, conceiving of a sit start but not making much headway with the moves. In 2023, a handful of sessions brought me a bit closer to a sequence, but left me 1 move short; a basic move isolating maybe the worst crimp I’ve held on a problem (🎥 3). That single move makes up the bulk of the difficulty on the bottom part, which is likely a 4 move 8B. Then it’s a hard foot transition into the stand, and trying not to fumble the 2 move 8A finish. • In January this year I decided it was time to try again, and after 3 sessions I was able to stick the crux, but fell off going into the stand. Suddenly it was possible. A week later and my skin had barely recovered enough for another session. Luckily next session I was able to climb it in a few goes, avoiding another two ruined tips and a week of climbing in tape. A result and a nice way to close another local chapter, of which there are plenty more waiting… • Cheers @simonrawlinson for the mega shots and the sessions out on this thing. • @moonclimbing @scarpa_uk @southwalesbouldering

Dreamtime (8C) • This one ends a chapter in Ticino for me. It was the first boulder I ever saw in Switzerland back in 2013. Over a decade of trips would follow, with Dreamtime always there in my mind as one to do. I came close to doing it in 2022, and it’s occupied a space in my mind since then. Feels good to free up that space, and to look forward. • When I was getting into climbing, this was about as good as it got. Hard, beautiful and the world’s first boulder to be given 8C/V15. A big chapter in climbing history that I’m really pleased to have had a personal connection with. • 📸 @domrowee @scarpa_uk @moonclimbing

🎧 Watch or listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube or your favourite podcast place 🎧. This month deep in the heart of Sheffield, Eliot sits down with none other than Jerry Moffatt. Jerry was the best in the world back in the 80s climbing hard routes, boulders and winning many competitions throughout his career. He chats extensively about his mindset and approach and that of other climbers of the highest calibre that he spoke to while researching his book Mastermind. Much has changed since Jerry’s time at the top but there are many more things we could be bringing forward to now. As always with Jerry, the conversation is open and honest.

Lazurite (8A) • First Ascent • Still only scratching the surface of the potential of Pembrokeshire for bouldering. Even a short day trip is like a shot in the arm showing you what’s out there. • @arthur.rees told me about this boulder last year after he climbed the obvious left arête. Lazurite adds in a sequence from sat in the middle of the boulder, with a weird cross to a big edge (pic 2) with a flick to the lip to finish. Lovely sequence on bitey ryolite. • 📸 @mid_nowhere @moonclimbing @scarpa_uk

Bugeleisen (8B+) • Uncut • A month has flown by since finishing up this one. As usual with a bit of a peak, there’s a dip the other side. Cost of business… Time to keep grinding through another finger tweak, and look forward to the next ➡️🇿🇦 • @scarpa_uk @moonclimbing @stonelineclimbing #climbing #bouldering

Wrestling with an Alligator (8B) 🐊 • A Maltatal classic, and the first boulder of the trip. After trying Bugeleisen I figured ‘Wrestling’ would be a nice little side quest. Totally different in style, and a bit more resistance based. After working out the moves and having a few ropey goes first session, second session I finished it off amongst the snow melt. A few days later it was fun to nip back and climb the direct finish, ‘Petting with an Alligator’ 8A+, and a short punchy roof called ‘Goa’ 8A. • Cheers davidmason for the 📸’s. @moonclimbing @scarpa_uk

Universum in Der Nussschale (8A+) • When @davidmason85 dug this one up online on perhaps the wettest day of the trip, my psyche was on the floor. I barely looked at the video he found, and I’m sure he could tell my heart wasn’t in it. I’m the first one to make the best of some guff cons, but this time I was happy to rest. My disinterested demeanour continued right up until I saw the boulder, then my tune swiftly changed. • This thing was classic. Some of the best holds and rock in Maltatal, and such a fun sequence of squeezing through the roof to a dicey cut at the lip, and a rockover to get stood on the slab (which Dom’s phone missed). After working out the moves, and waiting for the sun to depart, I was able to scrap my way to the top. • Goes to show, a day is never a write off until it’s a write off. There’s a gem in every corner, you just have to let your mate do the hard work and find it. • @moonclimbing @scarpa_uk @domrowee on the 🎥 #climbing #bouldering

Marmelade auf der Schulter (8B) • Whilst waiting for big bad Bugel to dry, it was fun to sample a few other classics in the valley. This one quickly went from feeling not very possible, to suddenly finding myself at the top first go from the start. Sometimes it only takes doing a move once to repeat it, and other times you can do a move but adding climbing into it is a different story. Luckily this was the former. • @davidmason85 on the 📸’s @scarpa_uk @moonclimbing #climbing #bouldering

Bügeleisen (8B+) • The big iron. Put up by Klem Loskot in 2001, Bugel has become an iconic boulder and for sure it’s one of the best I’ve climbed. The wall is near 60 degrees overhanging, with a powerful and fingery style, and a sting-in-the-tail last move to the lip. It was ahead of its time in 2001, no doubt about that. Klem was a special kind of cat. • I first came to Maltatal in 2022, purely to try the boulder. I arrived to find only its start holds dry. Over the next 2 weeks, Bugel would dry a little each day, finally becoming fully dry on my final day. I was close, but couldn’t put it together. I knew it was possible, and so it has occupied a space in my mind, and stayed near the top of my list since. • Arriving back in Maltatal this February, the boulder was fully dry and in perfect condition… for an hour. Then a snow storm blasted us, and within days that snow began to melt. Back to square one. A pisswrapped proj. Over the next 10 days, it was deja vu. Watch the boulder get progressively drier each day, and sigh as departure day gets closer and closer. • On the penultimate day of our trip, finally it was dry. Unable to finish it off, I was forced to make a choice. Go home and risk rolling the weather dice on a future trip, or stay a week with a perma-dry forecast, and try to satch it. Luckily I work with some great people, and was given a pass. I decided to stay, and luckily managed to wrap it up on the last day of my extension. • Another bit of brain space freed up, and room for another life lister to take its place. • @moonclimbing @scarpa_uk #climbing #bouldering

Feels like an age ago now, but here’s a few uncuts from Hueco, each with their own little subtleties. • 🎥1 - Chablanke (V11) - The slickest pinch I’ve ever grabbed. It took having my IQ topped up to spot the left heel beta, then suddenly it went from feeling 8B to 7C. Lovely afternoon light peeping through into the cave. 🎥2 - Diaphanous Sea (V11) - A classic punchy one mover. Stick the jump to the right and then don’t fumble the finish. Great effort by Moon flashing this back in 06’. 🎥3 - Swiss Crisp Mix (V10) flash. - If you can hold em, you can do it. Was definitely a good way to get into the Hueco style day 2 of the trip. • @scarpa_uk @moonclimbing #climbing #bouldering

In one of our now regular Dom and Eliot catch up episodes the guys catch up and debrief Dom’s trip to Ticino, Switzerland and Eliot’s trip to Hueco Tanks, Texas. There is talk about structure and plans for future trips and what they have learned from those they have been on in the past. Watch or listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube or your favourite podcast place 🎧