We, that would be about 12 of us at last count, have been waiting for the WideBoyz film to come out, and finally it is here and available for DVD purchase or Download from HotAches Productions. (ordering info at the bottom of the review)
My excitement would have to wait a bit as the download is rather larger at about 2.5 Gigs and my connection to the internet is rather slow. But time prevailed and at last the download was finished and the film was ready for viewing. I settled in with a small whisky, a snack tray of cream crackers, some assorted meats and a pickled onion. Roll film…
The WideBoyz film is following two lovely young lads Tom an Pete as they train for and them hope to wipe the bum of all American offwidth climbers at what is supposedly their own game, climbing offwidth In the style of Jerry Moffatt before them who famously said,"I love burning off me mates" or something similar in another old film, these guys are serious about their mission.
I really liked the training footage in the cellar as it almost had a Rocky-esque feel to it. I've built contraptions myself and was very interested to see just what these guys were up to down there. The main piece of apparatus was dedication. I love that. It was not some fancy device or egg head dream machine that got them in shape. It was hard work. The distinct thread throughout the film was that these lads try harder and train harder than just about anyone, and it shows.
As the film moves on toward America, I would have like to have seen, or maybe I just missed it, some of the names of the climbs they were on in Britain. A little more background filler of perhaps what they normally climb and all that would have been nice too. Except for the 500+ route day they did together, I did not know if they were punters or 5.14 V13 rock stars.
Anyway, in America, the vastness of USA offwidth was sort of glossed over. I was hoping for more footage of the stuff they did leading up to Century crack. Their ticklist is one for the ages, and it would have been great so see some of those climbs, either in video or stills from the talented photog Alex Ekins.
Hold on, I'm heading for some more whisky and another onion…..
Back….
Another really cool thing was the interviews with various wide guys along with Stevie and Crusher. I'm a sucker for a good look inside the head of fringe dwellers and these snippets did not disappoint. I thought the Scarpelli section with his analogy of OW to boxing was quite good and looking at the 1000yd stare of Brad Jackson as he spoke was intense and telling. Good stuff.
Onto the main event, Century Crack. Good Lord that thing is awesome and the footage was great. Of particular note was how easy, in a relative sense, they made it look. Their ascents were very workman-like and efficient. It was obvious they were on top of the game and what a capper to hands down the best season of wide ever accomplished. But then the drama. No film is complete without drama and an internet fueled one at that. Their redpoint of Century Crack was no good without placing all the gear on lead. Even I was crushed after hearing this news and I'm was just sitting here watching, and thinking about all my now nullified top rope ascents…
So the lads now have to lead the thing in "good style". Of course they do, sort of begrudgingly, but crack the thing off again placing all the gear on lead. What an effort!
The trip is over, they have in effect done them all as far as US OW's go, and they head back to whatever they do back home. We don't really know, as there was no background filler, but let's just say Pete resumed his position with an exotic dance outfit in Bristol, and Tom returned to work at the HP Sauce factory.
The quick and dirty:
Buy this film if you have any interest in the Wide, are WideCurious, or actually fancy yourself as a bit of a wide climber.
Do not buy this film if you are a lowly bolt clipper or sit down start V3 guy. There is nothing in there for you. Nobody even yells, except for a couple of small grunts at the lip of the maw and I think it is techno free. You will be bored to tears.
I give it 4.238 stars out of 5
Click here to order:
http://hotaches.com/shop/wide-boyz/But... here is the cool part... Any WideFetish people that want to get a copy can get a discount, graciously offered by the Hot Aches team. Email me for details and I'll send you the code to get 10% off any of their products! Sweet action!
Also check out Alex Ekins blog for more pics and info:
http://alexekins.co.uk/category/blog/
