And on we go. There seems to be a fairly heavy geographical bias towards the South West and the Lakes, but that's where my psyche is obviously keen to go:
Rock Dancer - E1 5b, Carn Kenidjack
Improbable looking and apparently jug infested.
Sacre Couer - E2 5c, Blackchurch
Crimpy, slabby, mad looking bit of rock.
Astral Stroll - E1 5b, Carn Gloose
I heart sea cliff girdle traverses.
Matchless - E1 5b, Oldwalls Point
More crimpy slabby, mad rock goodness.
Crimtyphon - E2 5c, Compass Point
Apparently rather good.
Doors Of Perception - E1 5b, Baggy Point
Good name, climbs a slabby corner and I like Baggy a lot.
Heart Of The Sun - E2 5c, Baggy Point
Adventure with a capital AAARGH.
Fruitflancase - E1 5a, The Dewerstone
Classic granite crack climbing.
The Ocean - E1 5b, Lundy
American Beauty, only harder and with more vegetation? Sounds great.
Fifth Appendage - E1/2 5b, Lundy
We have previous.
The Promised Land - E3 6a, Lundy
Too hard, but a mega-inspiring line.
Headline - E1 5b, Lundy
Should have done it last year but wimped out. Looks great.
Magical Mystery Tour - E1 5b, Berry Head
See above comment about sea cliff girdles. Not too sure about the swim though.
Coronation Street - E1 5b, Cheddar Gorge
Uber-classic at an awesome venue. Apparently rather committing...
Ricochet Wall - E1 5b, Shooter's Nab
A nice line at a crag I really want to go back to. Sweatyman also looks ace.
Aladdinsane - E1 5a, Trobarrow
Offwidthy.
Night Of The Hot Pies - E1 5b, Cathedral Quarry
For the name alone. As a bonus it's apparently also quite good.
Razor Crack - E1 5a, Neckband Crag
A crack in a slab? Oh yes.
Aphasia - E2 5b, Sergeant Crag Slabs
A slab with gear and holds and maximum goodness.
Phoenix - E1 5b, Scafell East Buttress
The top pitch looks amazing.
The Philistine - E1 5b, High Crag
Great photo in the guide. Allegedly not that bold really. Hmmm.
Raindrop - E1 5b, Black Crag
Aceness.
Troutdale Pinnacle Superdirect - E1 5a, Black Crag
Might only be HVS, but it's a superdirect. Ooh yeah.
Columbia - E1 5b, Stonestar Crag
A little bit out of the way.
Bloodhound - E2 5b, Gouther Crag
A bit bold, but a lovely piece of rock.
Praying Mantis - E1 5b, Goat Crag
Ungainly crack climbing for the win.
Arcturus - E1 5b, Pavey Ark
Apparently the peg isn't that bad...
Capella - E1 5b, Pavey Ark
Low in the grade and free of scary pegs.
Poker Face - E1 5b, Pavey Ark
A challenge to climb this without hearing Lady Gaga in your head the whole way up.
Woolly Jumper - E1 5b, Bowfell Buttress
Exposed!
Monday, 7 March 2011
Sunday, 6 March 2011
The List Of Psyche Part 1 - Wales
After last weekend helped to further demystify the E-grades, I've been mentally cobbling together a little Extreme List of Psyche. Some of it's a little ambitious, but, hell, a boy can dream...
Cemetery Gates - E1 5b, Dinas Cromlech
A soft touch, and I've bottled getting on it before.
Ivy Sepulchre - E1 5b, Dinas Cromlech
A bridging corner, what's not to like?
Grond - E2 5b, Dinas Cromlech
Blatantly far too hard, but it's supposedly the ultimate test of jamming...
Plexus - E1 5b, Dinas Mot
Maybe the best rock in the world?
The Grooves - E1 5b, Cyrn Las
More corners, and a Hard Rock tick too.
Fear Of Infection - E4 6a, Cwm Glas Bach
The offwidthers offwidth.
Vember - E1 5b, Clogwyn Du'r Arddu
There's chimneying, and it would right the shameful wrong of never having climbed on cloggy.
Bella Lugosi Is Dead - E1 5b, Slate Quarries
Well protected slate? Yes please.
German Schoolgirl - E2 5c, Slate Quarries
Mmm, more bridging goodness.
California Arete - E1 4c, Slate Quarries
OK, so I'll never summon up the bottle to solo this, but it looks ace.
Gnat Attack - E1 5b, Bus Stop Quarry
Apparently the bold top section is easy. Eek.
The Groove - E1 5b, Llech Du
A proper big route on a proper big crag.
The Plum - E1 5b, Craig Bwlch Y Moch
What a line.
Barbarian - E1 5b, Craig Pant Ifan
Looks ace, if a bit surly.
The Exterminating Angel - E3 5c, Craig Cwm Trysgl
So, an E3 on a slab. But it's a slab made of amaze-o-rock. It has to be good, surely?
Atlantis/North West Passage - E1 5b, Castell Helen
P1 of Atlantis and P2 of North West Passage looks like an awesome combination.
Anarchist - E1 5b, Red Wall
Andy keeps trying to persuade me that Red Wall is a fun place. I'm unconvinced, but this looks rather good.
Mousetrap - E2 5b, Mousetrap Zawn
Incredible rock in an incredible place.
Emulator - E1 5b, Gogarth Main Cliff
Yet another ace looking corner.
Cripple Creek - E3 5b, Craig Dorys
Somehow compellingly terrifying.
Sinecure - E1 5b, Carreg-y-Barcud
A cool looking route at a great crag.
Beyond The Azimuth - E1 5b, Carreg-y-Barcud
Awkward crack climbing nonsense.
Lucky Strike - E1 5b, Range East
Been wanting to do this for ages.
Preposterous Tales - E2 5b, Range East
More compelling terror, but this time with added darkness.
Cool For Cats - E1 5b, Range East
Looks totally awesome.
The Strait Gate - E1 5b, Mother Carey's
Might need to get a bit fitter for this one...
The might keep me busy for a while. Next up, England.
Cemetery Gates - E1 5b, Dinas Cromlech
A soft touch, and I've bottled getting on it before.
Ivy Sepulchre - E1 5b, Dinas Cromlech
A bridging corner, what's not to like?
Grond - E2 5b, Dinas Cromlech
Blatantly far too hard, but it's supposedly the ultimate test of jamming...
Plexus - E1 5b, Dinas Mot
Maybe the best rock in the world?
The Grooves - E1 5b, Cyrn Las
More corners, and a Hard Rock tick too.
Fear Of Infection - E4 6a, Cwm Glas Bach
The offwidthers offwidth.
Vember - E1 5b, Clogwyn Du'r Arddu
There's chimneying, and it would right the shameful wrong of never having climbed on cloggy.
Bella Lugosi Is Dead - E1 5b, Slate Quarries
Well protected slate? Yes please.
German Schoolgirl - E2 5c, Slate Quarries
Mmm, more bridging goodness.
California Arete - E1 4c, Slate Quarries
OK, so I'll never summon up the bottle to solo this, but it looks ace.
Gnat Attack - E1 5b, Bus Stop Quarry
Apparently the bold top section is easy. Eek.
The Groove - E1 5b, Llech Du
A proper big route on a proper big crag.
The Plum - E1 5b, Craig Bwlch Y Moch
What a line.
Barbarian - E1 5b, Craig Pant Ifan
Looks ace, if a bit surly.
The Exterminating Angel - E3 5c, Craig Cwm Trysgl
So, an E3 on a slab. But it's a slab made of amaze-o-rock. It has to be good, surely?
Atlantis/North West Passage - E1 5b, Castell Helen
P1 of Atlantis and P2 of North West Passage looks like an awesome combination.
Anarchist - E1 5b, Red Wall
Andy keeps trying to persuade me that Red Wall is a fun place. I'm unconvinced, but this looks rather good.
Mousetrap - E2 5b, Mousetrap Zawn
Incredible rock in an incredible place.
Emulator - E1 5b, Gogarth Main Cliff
Yet another ace looking corner.
Cripple Creek - E3 5b, Craig Dorys
Somehow compellingly terrifying.
Sinecure - E1 5b, Carreg-y-Barcud
A cool looking route at a great crag.
Beyond The Azimuth - E1 5b, Carreg-y-Barcud
Awkward crack climbing nonsense.
Lucky Strike - E1 5b, Range East
Been wanting to do this for ages.
Preposterous Tales - E2 5b, Range East
More compelling terror, but this time with added darkness.
Cool For Cats - E1 5b, Range East
Looks totally awesome.
The Strait Gate - E1 5b, Mother Carey's
Might need to get a bit fitter for this one...
The might keep me busy for a while. Next up, England.
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
Food Glorious Food (And Crushing)
In honour of my 29th Birthday, I organised a minimal logistics weekend away in North Wales last weekend. In spite of a terrible weather forecast, DanDanDan, Simon, J-Rowe, Sarah, Andy and Julie all made the journey over, and we fell asleep on Friday nights to the all too familiar sound of rain on our tents.
We awoke on Saturday to dampness, but no actual rain, so after what felt like an eternity trying to goad Dan into action, we made a move for Caban, apparently the new pretender to Pete's Eats' throne of lardiness. It turned out to be rather more genteel, with posh tea and organic bacon. The breakfast portions weren't over-generous, but everything tasted marvellous, especially the mushrooms, mmmm. Suitably galvanised, and with things looking like they were drying off, we headed up to the slate quarries.
On arrival, Bus Stop Quarry looked damp, which spared me the terror of an attempt on Gnat Attack, so we took Simon (who had unaccountably never been to the quarries before) on a mini-tour. We visited Dali's Hole, then into California, where I ignored Andy's best efforts to persuade me into a swift death falling off California Arete (although it did look ace) and we threw slate at each other instead (well, mostly at Dan). Next we huffed and puffed up the levels to Australia, where Looning The Tube looked a) dry and b) quite good, so I decided to stop pansying around, and get on it.
The initial traverse on Looning The Tube (Photo generously donated by Sarah Clough)
I wisely ignored everybody's advice about only taking 3 quickdraws, a cam and a sling, and augmented this with a full rack of totally superfluous nuts before tying Simon down to a big spike to stop him catapulting into space were I to fall off, and stepping up off the pipe. The initial traverse felt steady, although I lost cool points for trying lamely to lassoo the chain at the earliest opportunity (and missing of course) rather than just manning up and stepping across to it. Eventually I did man up, and then tootled up the crack, with a tricky move past the bolt, to the top. Not a bad route really, but a lot more like an easy HVS than E1, and also a lot more like sport climbing than the guide would have you believe.
Next came a team rescue of Dan, who had managed to strand himself on a small ledge whilst trying to solo a HS, before James and I pottered about on some bolted VSs (!?) and then slogged up some more levels in search of Mad Dog Of The West. The guidebook boldly draws comparison between this route and Yosemite, which led to me being somewhat underwhelmed when I first saw it, being only around 15m long and rising from a scrappy gully. Luckily the climbing was really nice, very reminiscent of Lost Horizons at Baggy Point.
Getting stuck into Mad Dog Of The West (Photo generously donated by Sarah Clough)
After stumbling back down the levels in the dark, we visited our next culinary highlight, the Gallt y Glyn Hotel in Llanberis. Make your own pizza was the order of the day here, and all manner of horrific concoctions were conjured up, including Dan's 'Veg-o-phobia' and my 'Pizza del Crush' featuring Ham, Peppers, Chilli, Goats Cheese and Artichokes. A whole plateful of win.
Sunday morning continued in similarly gluttonous style, with a large breakfast and a pint of tea in Pete's Eats, just like the old days. This warmed us up nicely for the drive out to Holyhead Mountain, where the sun was shining and everything seemed rosy. Until we opened the car door and were promptly flattened by the wind. But we persuaded ourselves that the crag would be sheltered and set out into the gale. Our optimism was well rewarded with an afternoon climbing in glorious sunshine, with only the odd gust of wind to contend with.
I began by leading Black And Tan, a VS I had a recollection of as having a stiff reputation, but which wasn't too bad once you'd committed to the exposed monkeying around on jugs at the top - good fun. While I was on this Andy was slowly working his way up the adjacent slab of Breaking The Barrier, an E1 which was on my list of psyche, so I was keen to hear his report. Apparently it had fiddly gear, small footholds and lots of sidepulls, but was very good. Hmmm. Julie decided she fancied a crack at it next, so that delayed my vascillating and James and I soloed a couple of routes and then ambled up a fun, and very 3-dimensional Severe nearby. Meanwhile Julie had been forced to retreat by fiddly gear, sideways handholds, and a lack of the height required to lank past the first hard move. Hoping I might be adequately lanky I decided to give it a whirl, and set off with some trepidation and a lot of tiny nuts. The gear protecting the move which had stopped Julie was finicky and small, but eventually I fiddled in enough size 1/4 nuts, no. 1 peanuts, and brass offsets to persuade myself that I was safe, and stretched for the elusive hold.
Julie just before the heightism set in on Breaking The Barrier
Mercifully I just tickled my way onto it, which set up a delightful series of delicate moves on just adequate holds. There were a few bits of good gear to calm my inner wuss, but soon I found myself stopped by a sudden paucity of footholds. There appeared to be a jug about a foot above my hands, so I gave myself a talking to (and tried to focus on the bomber nut below my feet and not the shonky number 2 RP by my waist) and ended up launching myself inelegantly towards it. Success was mine, so I celebrated by somehow cutting one of my fingers and bleeding my way up the finishing crack, which maintained the interest well without ever being too tricky. I sat at the top belaying with the sun low in the sky feeling very satisfied with life, the weather, my climbing, and a great weekend with excellent company. And Dan.
Of course it would have been rude not to finish a weekend in North Wales without a Sunday evening visit to Conwy Kebab House. I treated myself to an eponymous kebab, and lo, it was awesome. So, what have I learnt? Eating a lot is clearly good training for climbing hard, blind optimism in the face of bad weather forecasts is sometimes rewarded, and I can still climb E1s without dying. In fact, in spite of the ungainly lunge, I didn't actually have to lay one on at any point on Breaking The Barrier, so perhaps I need to find an E2 in a similar vein to crush. Any suggestions on a postcard to the usual address please.
Just to prove that I'm not lying about the sunshine (Photo courtesy of Sarah again)
We awoke on Saturday to dampness, but no actual rain, so after what felt like an eternity trying to goad Dan into action, we made a move for Caban, apparently the new pretender to Pete's Eats' throne of lardiness. It turned out to be rather more genteel, with posh tea and organic bacon. The breakfast portions weren't over-generous, but everything tasted marvellous, especially the mushrooms, mmmm. Suitably galvanised, and with things looking like they were drying off, we headed up to the slate quarries.
On arrival, Bus Stop Quarry looked damp, which spared me the terror of an attempt on Gnat Attack, so we took Simon (who had unaccountably never been to the quarries before) on a mini-tour. We visited Dali's Hole, then into California, where I ignored Andy's best efforts to persuade me into a swift death falling off California Arete (although it did look ace) and we threw slate at each other instead (well, mostly at Dan). Next we huffed and puffed up the levels to Australia, where Looning The Tube looked a) dry and b) quite good, so I decided to stop pansying around, and get on it.
The initial traverse on Looning The Tube (Photo generously donated by Sarah Clough)
I wisely ignored everybody's advice about only taking 3 quickdraws, a cam and a sling, and augmented this with a full rack of totally superfluous nuts before tying Simon down to a big spike to stop him catapulting into space were I to fall off, and stepping up off the pipe. The initial traverse felt steady, although I lost cool points for trying lamely to lassoo the chain at the earliest opportunity (and missing of course) rather than just manning up and stepping across to it. Eventually I did man up, and then tootled up the crack, with a tricky move past the bolt, to the top. Not a bad route really, but a lot more like an easy HVS than E1, and also a lot more like sport climbing than the guide would have you believe.
Next came a team rescue of Dan, who had managed to strand himself on a small ledge whilst trying to solo a HS, before James and I pottered about on some bolted VSs (!?) and then slogged up some more levels in search of Mad Dog Of The West. The guidebook boldly draws comparison between this route and Yosemite, which led to me being somewhat underwhelmed when I first saw it, being only around 15m long and rising from a scrappy gully. Luckily the climbing was really nice, very reminiscent of Lost Horizons at Baggy Point.
Getting stuck into Mad Dog Of The West (Photo generously donated by Sarah Clough)
After stumbling back down the levels in the dark, we visited our next culinary highlight, the Gallt y Glyn Hotel in Llanberis. Make your own pizza was the order of the day here, and all manner of horrific concoctions were conjured up, including Dan's 'Veg-o-phobia' and my 'Pizza del Crush' featuring Ham, Peppers, Chilli, Goats Cheese and Artichokes. A whole plateful of win.
Sunday morning continued in similarly gluttonous style, with a large breakfast and a pint of tea in Pete's Eats, just like the old days. This warmed us up nicely for the drive out to Holyhead Mountain, where the sun was shining and everything seemed rosy. Until we opened the car door and were promptly flattened by the wind. But we persuaded ourselves that the crag would be sheltered and set out into the gale. Our optimism was well rewarded with an afternoon climbing in glorious sunshine, with only the odd gust of wind to contend with.
I began by leading Black And Tan, a VS I had a recollection of as having a stiff reputation, but which wasn't too bad once you'd committed to the exposed monkeying around on jugs at the top - good fun. While I was on this Andy was slowly working his way up the adjacent slab of Breaking The Barrier, an E1 which was on my list of psyche, so I was keen to hear his report. Apparently it had fiddly gear, small footholds and lots of sidepulls, but was very good. Hmmm. Julie decided she fancied a crack at it next, so that delayed my vascillating and James and I soloed a couple of routes and then ambled up a fun, and very 3-dimensional Severe nearby. Meanwhile Julie had been forced to retreat by fiddly gear, sideways handholds, and a lack of the height required to lank past the first hard move. Hoping I might be adequately lanky I decided to give it a whirl, and set off with some trepidation and a lot of tiny nuts. The gear protecting the move which had stopped Julie was finicky and small, but eventually I fiddled in enough size 1/4 nuts, no. 1 peanuts, and brass offsets to persuade myself that I was safe, and stretched for the elusive hold.
Julie just before the heightism set in on Breaking The Barrier
Mercifully I just tickled my way onto it, which set up a delightful series of delicate moves on just adequate holds. There were a few bits of good gear to calm my inner wuss, but soon I found myself stopped by a sudden paucity of footholds. There appeared to be a jug about a foot above my hands, so I gave myself a talking to (and tried to focus on the bomber nut below my feet and not the shonky number 2 RP by my waist) and ended up launching myself inelegantly towards it. Success was mine, so I celebrated by somehow cutting one of my fingers and bleeding my way up the finishing crack, which maintained the interest well without ever being too tricky. I sat at the top belaying with the sun low in the sky feeling very satisfied with life, the weather, my climbing, and a great weekend with excellent company. And Dan.
Of course it would have been rude not to finish a weekend in North Wales without a Sunday evening visit to Conwy Kebab House. I treated myself to an eponymous kebab, and lo, it was awesome. So, what have I learnt? Eating a lot is clearly good training for climbing hard, blind optimism in the face of bad weather forecasts is sometimes rewarded, and I can still climb E1s without dying. In fact, in spite of the ungainly lunge, I didn't actually have to lay one on at any point on Breaking The Barrier, so perhaps I need to find an E2 in a similar vein to crush. Any suggestions on a postcard to the usual address please.
Just to prove that I'm not lying about the sunshine (Photo courtesy of Sarah again)
Monday, 14 February 2011
Yorkshire Fun And Games (And Cake)
After near-terminal midweek carfail ruled out the planned trip to Scotland to finally give my shiny new axes and crampons a whirl, I headed up to Leeds instead on a promise of dry rock and cake. On arrival I was treated to some of Andy's mighty carrot cake, which didn't disappoint, and spent most of the evening trying to disabuse Andy of the notion that we should go to Malham the next day.
Fnar fnar fnar
Eventually, after having a lie in to let the sky rain itself out, Andy and I jumped in the car and headed for Bridestones (the West Yorkshire one), whilst Julie ventured off for a bike adventure. After driving through plenty of places with ridiculous names, including a minor detour to take in the joys of Slack Bottom, we parked in the car park of a pub straight out of Royston Vasey, and wandered off across the moors. The wind was uninspiringly biting, there was an unreasonable amount of cloud in the sky and it even started spitting for a few minutes. This was not a promising start.
Luckily for us, Jaime soon arrived, and brought some psyche and better weather with her. We spent a while on Small And Smart and Smarter, the latter of which I eventually got with a bit of leftwards finishing, but I'm having the V4 tick (my first), before a swift team crush of The Villain, an ace V2 nearby. Before we got carried away with ourselves we spent a few minutes falling off desperate slopers on a V5 that was clearly beyond us all, then retreated to The Castle, a high but impressive buttress with some cool problems. Andy and I flashed Initial Wall, then managed to bully Jaime into committing to the rather highball top out for another team crush. We all failed to commit to the equally highball, and less holdful top out to the adjacent V3, Chink In The Armour, which was a bit of a kick in the teeth, as just reaching that point was pretty tricky in itself, but never mind. One to return to when I'm braver and/or better at dealing with heinous slopey nonsense. We finished the day off watching Andy scare himself on Face Ache, and then fail totally to get off the ground on Cleopatra, although that was far better than I managed. We retired to Leeds and awarded ourselves enormous pizzas from Mr Khan's and some more cake for being totally ace.
Initial Wall
True to form in Leeds (at least in my limited experience), it was raining on Sunday, so we went to Harrogate wall where I confirmed that I do really have as little stamina as I suspected. I was, however, fairly successful in making myself clip the quickdraws at waist level instead of desperately clawing for them the second they came into reach. I also managed to toprope a F6c cleanly, which I've only managed once before, so clearly I can still climb routes to some extent. In spite of not actually achieving that much, it was good to spend a session working on a weakness but still having fun. Now if only I could find a way to make falling off roofs at the Works fun I'd be laughing...
Fnar fnar fnar
Eventually, after having a lie in to let the sky rain itself out, Andy and I jumped in the car and headed for Bridestones (the West Yorkshire one), whilst Julie ventured off for a bike adventure. After driving through plenty of places with ridiculous names, including a minor detour to take in the joys of Slack Bottom, we parked in the car park of a pub straight out of Royston Vasey, and wandered off across the moors. The wind was uninspiringly biting, there was an unreasonable amount of cloud in the sky and it even started spitting for a few minutes. This was not a promising start.
Luckily for us, Jaime soon arrived, and brought some psyche and better weather with her. We spent a while on Small And Smart and Smarter, the latter of which I eventually got with a bit of leftwards finishing, but I'm having the V4 tick (my first), before a swift team crush of The Villain, an ace V2 nearby. Before we got carried away with ourselves we spent a few minutes falling off desperate slopers on a V5 that was clearly beyond us all, then retreated to The Castle, a high but impressive buttress with some cool problems. Andy and I flashed Initial Wall, then managed to bully Jaime into committing to the rather highball top out for another team crush. We all failed to commit to the equally highball, and less holdful top out to the adjacent V3, Chink In The Armour, which was a bit of a kick in the teeth, as just reaching that point was pretty tricky in itself, but never mind. One to return to when I'm braver and/or better at dealing with heinous slopey nonsense. We finished the day off watching Andy scare himself on Face Ache, and then fail totally to get off the ground on Cleopatra, although that was far better than I managed. We retired to Leeds and awarded ourselves enormous pizzas from Mr Khan's and some more cake for being totally ace.
Initial Wall
True to form in Leeds (at least in my limited experience), it was raining on Sunday, so we went to Harrogate wall where I confirmed that I do really have as little stamina as I suspected. I was, however, fairly successful in making myself clip the quickdraws at waist level instead of desperately clawing for them the second they came into reach. I also managed to toprope a F6c cleanly, which I've only managed once before, so clearly I can still climb routes to some extent. In spite of not actually achieving that much, it was good to spend a session working on a weakness but still having fun. Now if only I could find a way to make falling off roofs at the Works fun I'd be laughing...
Monday, 24 January 2011
Normal Service Is Resumed
After all climbing efforts last weekend were thwarted by terrible weather, I found myself in Bristol this weekend enjoying the hospitality of the Doctors Gray and hatching silly trad climbing plans. Accordingly, Oli and I set off on Saturday morning for Three Cliffs on the Gower, which it turns out, is quite far away from Bristol. When we eventually got there the walk to the crag featured a worrying about of ice and frozen mud, but on walking through the natural arch to the crag we found rather balmy conditions. It was my lead, so after spending a few minutes reminding myself how my harness and all this jangly metal was supposed to work, I started up a pleasant little HS slab. I got to the top without any near-death incidents, and followed Oli up the adjacent route, before soloing another HS which looked entertaining.
Scavenger (thanks to Yorkshire Dave for the photo)
Suitably warmed up I cast my eye over to Scavenger, reputedly one of the best VSs in the area, and certainly an eye catching line up a slabby corner arcing over the natural arch. The climbing turned out to be excellent and well protected. The top crack was a little wet, but that didn't detract from things. Not a bad route for my 800th on the ticklist.
Next on the agenda was the nearby Pobbles East, a shy and retiring cove with an appealing little wall containing a two-star VS called Smalt. After wrestling with the unreasonably barnacley start, Oli made short work of the upper crack, and, after soloing the adjacent VS, we retreated from the rapidly approaching tide towards Pobbles West. We spent a pleasant half-hour or so here soloing everything in sight, before finishing off the day with a fun mountaineering traverse of the crag's eponymous three cliffs, which is definitely to be recommended.
Pobbles East
The evening was spent playing poker badly into the wee small hours, so an early start was off the cards on Sunday. Eventually we ventured Southwards to Fairy Cave Quarry, which turned out to be impressively large and possessing of some inspiring lines for a limestone quarry, but sadly was rather damp. So we drove over to Goblin Combe, which was also damp, and thence the Avon Gorge, which was seeping badly. Having run out of worthwhile crags to wander around the bottom of looking sulky, we snuck off to the local bouldering wall (I did need a bouldering fix after all this trad action...).
Oli and a whole lot of limestone in Fairy Cave Quarry
So, trad psyche has been restored. I'm still keen for bouldering, but I'm at least as keen for it to stop being wet, and start being sunny.
Scavenger (thanks to Yorkshire Dave for the photo)
Suitably warmed up I cast my eye over to Scavenger, reputedly one of the best VSs in the area, and certainly an eye catching line up a slabby corner arcing over the natural arch. The climbing turned out to be excellent and well protected. The top crack was a little wet, but that didn't detract from things. Not a bad route for my 800th on the ticklist.
Next on the agenda was the nearby Pobbles East, a shy and retiring cove with an appealing little wall containing a two-star VS called Smalt. After wrestling with the unreasonably barnacley start, Oli made short work of the upper crack, and, after soloing the adjacent VS, we retreated from the rapidly approaching tide towards Pobbles West. We spent a pleasant half-hour or so here soloing everything in sight, before finishing off the day with a fun mountaineering traverse of the crag's eponymous three cliffs, which is definitely to be recommended.
Pobbles East
The evening was spent playing poker badly into the wee small hours, so an early start was off the cards on Sunday. Eventually we ventured Southwards to Fairy Cave Quarry, which turned out to be impressively large and possessing of some inspiring lines for a limestone quarry, but sadly was rather damp. So we drove over to Goblin Combe, which was also damp, and thence the Avon Gorge, which was seeping badly. Having run out of worthwhile crags to wander around the bottom of looking sulky, we snuck off to the local bouldering wall (I did need a bouldering fix after all this trad action...).
Oli and a whole lot of limestone in Fairy Cave Quarry
So, trad psyche has been restored. I'm still keen for bouldering, but I'm at least as keen for it to stop being wet, and start being sunny.
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Boulderers Anonymous
I've always been a pretty rabid anti-boulderer. Why would you spend all day falling off a small rock, when you can do worthwhile trad routes instead? With that in mind I have a confession to make:
I've been bouldering. And really enjoyed it.
After Carrock Fell and then a slothful December, I brought in the new year with a Bank Holiday visit to Crookrise with Sophie, young Dan and friends. It was baltic (there were icicles hanging off the crag) and I found myself smugly looking at the sole pair of trad climbers who had dared to venture out and who clearly weren't having any fun at all. After managing to somehow persuade my atrophied arms that they could propel me along a grossly overhanging, but very juggy traverse, I had a crack at Crease Direct, a classic V3 6a (I still don't really get these font grades). After quite a lot of falling off, and some crucial sneaky palming beta I reached the finishing hold (and then stylelessly gibbered my way along the easy traverse off). It was a great problem, and I really enjoyed the challenge of puzzling out how to get up it. I felt a bit dirty for having enjoyed a boulder problem so much, but mostly just pleased and psyched for more challenges.
This weekend after a huge amount of venue related indecision, I headed to Gardoms with Jaime and Dan. The boulders were a bit green and the rock a little scrittly, but we found a couple of nice easy problems to warm up on, before I went to investigate another V3 6a which looked suspiciously easy. I managed it second go, and it was really rather too easy, so tried a sit start. This also went on the second attempt, athough felt like it might actually have been 6a.
Sophie on G-Thang
Next we wandered up to the main area, where team Sophie arrived to join in the fun. As we approached some people were working on G-Thang, yet another V3 6a, and I commented that there didn't appear to be any real holds on the problem. A few minutes later I was clinging to the non-holds for grim death, and only a shortage of gumption at the top stopped me from flashing it. I was still really pleased to nail it on the second attempt, although I then totally failed to get myself up anything else worthwhile for the rest of the day. I did, however, have lots of fun watching others falling off the terrifying overhanging arete of Suavito from ever increasing heights. Eventually young Dan, Graham, Dan A and Tony all earned the very impressive tick.
Plummeting off Suavito
I now find myself in the somewhat conflicted position of being really psyched for more bouldering. Perhaps it's just a temporary madness caused by a lack of proper climbing, but while it's this cold it seems a lot more fun than getting hot aches half way up a VDiff. I might even have to adapt my spreadsheet to understand bouldering grades!
I've been bouldering. And really enjoyed it.
After Carrock Fell and then a slothful December, I brought in the new year with a Bank Holiday visit to Crookrise with Sophie, young Dan and friends. It was baltic (there were icicles hanging off the crag) and I found myself smugly looking at the sole pair of trad climbers who had dared to venture out and who clearly weren't having any fun at all. After managing to somehow persuade my atrophied arms that they could propel me along a grossly overhanging, but very juggy traverse, I had a crack at Crease Direct, a classic V3 6a (I still don't really get these font grades). After quite a lot of falling off, and some crucial sneaky palming beta I reached the finishing hold (and then stylelessly gibbered my way along the easy traverse off). It was a great problem, and I really enjoyed the challenge of puzzling out how to get up it. I felt a bit dirty for having enjoyed a boulder problem so much, but mostly just pleased and psyched for more challenges.
This weekend after a huge amount of venue related indecision, I headed to Gardoms with Jaime and Dan. The boulders were a bit green and the rock a little scrittly, but we found a couple of nice easy problems to warm up on, before I went to investigate another V3 6a which looked suspiciously easy. I managed it second go, and it was really rather too easy, so tried a sit start. This also went on the second attempt, athough felt like it might actually have been 6a.
Sophie on G-Thang
Next we wandered up to the main area, where team Sophie arrived to join in the fun. As we approached some people were working on G-Thang, yet another V3 6a, and I commented that there didn't appear to be any real holds on the problem. A few minutes later I was clinging to the non-holds for grim death, and only a shortage of gumption at the top stopped me from flashing it. I was still really pleased to nail it on the second attempt, although I then totally failed to get myself up anything else worthwhile for the rest of the day. I did, however, have lots of fun watching others falling off the terrifying overhanging arete of Suavito from ever increasing heights. Eventually young Dan, Graham, Dan A and Tony all earned the very impressive tick.
Plummeting off Suavito
I now find myself in the somewhat conflicted position of being really psyched for more bouldering. Perhaps it's just a temporary madness caused by a lack of proper climbing, but while it's this cold it seems a lot more fun than getting hot aches half way up a VDiff. I might even have to adapt my spreadsheet to understand bouldering grades!
Sunday, 9 January 2011
Hurrah! Another Year, Surely This One Will Be Better Than The Last. The Inexorable March Of Progress Will Lead Us All To Happiness
The last few months of 2010 were pretty uneventful, climbing-wise. In fact, December was the first month in which I climbed absolutely nothing since 2006! This wasn't a conscious decision to take a break, or even an injury-enforced lay off, just a combination of various factors. There was one abortive attempt to take advantage of the excellent winter conditions in the Lake District which failed thanks to an epic logistical clusterfuck (although i did get a nice walk in the snow), but it was strange that I didn't get frustrated as i have in the past when I've not been able to climb. Perhaps I just needed a rest.
Anyway, 2011 is here and I've got back on the climbing wagon, but more of that later. In the meantime, how about some statistics:
In 2010 I climbed 279 trad routes, 395 pitches, 7290 metres, 41 boulder problems, 5 winter routes and 4 new munros. I led my first E1s, led 38 HVSs (more than every previous year added together), seconded less routes (44) than any of the previous 7 years and soloed more routes than I led (142 to 134).
I also visited some amazing places for the first time (Donegal, Fairhead, Wen and Mousetrap Zawn at Gogarth, the Lleyn and Mother Carey's in particular), finally overcame a few old nemeses (Pingers and Wednesday Climb), ticked off a few things I'd been hankering after for years (Eagle Front, Dreamboat Annie, Croton Oil, Scratch Arete, Fireball and Formula One) and found a few new nemeses (Nowanda and Moonraker), as well as seen loads of new inspiring routes.
It's fair to say that my psyche is back and I'm super-excited about what the New Year might bring. The list of things I'm hoping to do is far too long to write down (or indeed actually do in a year), but it features getting stronger and climbing harder. E2 by the end of the year? Only time wil tell!
Anyway, 2011 is here and I've got back on the climbing wagon, but more of that later. In the meantime, how about some statistics:
In 2010 I climbed 279 trad routes, 395 pitches, 7290 metres, 41 boulder problems, 5 winter routes and 4 new munros. I led my first E1s, led 38 HVSs (more than every previous year added together), seconded less routes (44) than any of the previous 7 years and soloed more routes than I led (142 to 134).
I also visited some amazing places for the first time (Donegal, Fairhead, Wen and Mousetrap Zawn at Gogarth, the Lleyn and Mother Carey's in particular), finally overcame a few old nemeses (Pingers and Wednesday Climb), ticked off a few things I'd been hankering after for years (Eagle Front, Dreamboat Annie, Croton Oil, Scratch Arete, Fireball and Formula One) and found a few new nemeses (Nowanda and Moonraker), as well as seen loads of new inspiring routes.
It's fair to say that my psyche is back and I'm super-excited about what the New Year might bring. The list of things I'm hoping to do is far too long to write down (or indeed actually do in a year), but it features getting stronger and climbing harder. E2 by the end of the year? Only time wil tell!
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