Polish Ace takes Joker under wing

There are many ways to climb the Joker. Some of them carry more kudos than others. All of them are difficult, and none of them I have done (yet). Yesterday evening, in rubbish conditions and near darkness I witnessed Polish Dave (my new hero) dispatch the Joker with ease on his second go of the day. Granted, he has done it before, but the holds were wet and I wouldnt have bothered at all save for his enthusiasm. I am absolutely beside myself with excitement about getting back on this problem - now i have seen it done, and I have seen it done as the end of the Ace.

 

The two main schools of thought seem to me to involve which leg you dangle under the roof as a counterweight. The so called easier way involves leaving your left foot behind, swinging your right leg under the roof, and then on the backswing campussing up with the right hand to a jug at the top. This is what I have been trying. The original way the problem was climbed, and the way the Ace follows the holds, is with your left foot on the starting jug, right foot swings under and then left hand to the top followed in the same movement by the right to the aforementioned jug.

 

I've always wanted to try it the end of the Ace way, as if I did the Joker then it would make sense to start trying to link those two moves in to do the Ace. But I couldnt see how to get in before yesterday, and now I have been shown, I have seen the light and that is the way I want to do the problem. The move is a four stage compound move - swing in, back out, left hand up, right hand and kill the swing. Very futuristic, and to merit the grade - bloody tricky. Like my previous attempts on the Joker, last night went from swinging on holding the holds, patting the wall and then off to getting my left over the top. In fact I honestly thought I could do it last night, but it didnt happen. I'm away now until Sunday night, and to be honest - my skin could use the rest, so its no bad thing.

 

My Jerry book has. Very exciting - in the front page there is a wonderful dedication from the big man, it says "Ben, you are the wind beneath my wings, an inspiration - I couldn't have done it without you. Jerry". Oddly, it had been delivered to Ben Moon's house, but I collected it from the postman whilst sat outside.