Caption:

PoTM 2011 Feb: Stretch and Mantle, Lower Tier, Roaches

Commentary:

It always seemed to rain whenever I went to The Roaches area when I was starting out as a climber – so much so, that it’s never been an area that I naturally gravitate too. That, I guess, and the fact that’s there’s so much grit on my doorstep on the Eastern Edges.

However, I’ve had a few days over there in recent times and it been absolutely cracking. After all, what else could be better than vast swathes of grit waiting to be ticked? Winter’s the season for bouldering and keeping going and what better place than the Lower Tier at The Roaches. Photographically, it really interesting; lots of stand alone boulders within a mini forest of evergreens. On a busy day there’s stuff going off everywhere and it’s a case of what’s the best to capture rather than where’s the action. I’ve a confession to make straight out, the shot below wasn’t a result of a careful set-up – I was actually round the corner getting involved with a juggy roof when I spotted Tom bearing down on the mantle bit of Stretch and Mantle (Font 6c). I grabbed my camera a legged it over and rattled off a bunch of shots. This one captures something of the essence of bouldering – a climber on a tricky top-out with a bunch of his mates ready with the spot.

The 18-200mm DX zoom was hyped up to the max when it was released a few years back. The younger and shorter 16-80mm version version has plenty of followers too, but the extra reach on the 18–200mm comes in handy sometimes. It’s a great ‘one lens fits all’ (nearly) lens; it’s the lens I keep on the camera as a default. The D300 just about got the exposure spot on in this shot; Lightroom easily pulled back the highlights and with a bit of selective dodging it was a relatively easy processing job in the end.

I learnt long ago that dappled, sunlight rock wasn’t the best conditions to shoot in; but I reckon I just about got away with it on this occasion though. And yes, Tom did top out without testing the spotters…

Capture Notes:

Nikon D300, 18-200 mm AFS VR f3.5-5.6G @ 42mm, 1/160 secs @ f5.6, ISO 200, matrix metering in aperture priority.

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