Benightment And Other Misdemeanours

Having got midged off Stanage this evening (grrr), it seems opportune to bring things up to date with my recent mini-adventures.

Bimbling At Birchen:

In spite of a mildly ominous forecast I managed to persuade Adam to chance our arms one evening and pay Birchen a visit. I managed to make amends for an oversight on my last visit and did Nelson's Slab with the correct finish, and Monument Gully Buttress, which looked hard, but was made easier by successive lying down, sitting, kneeling and knee bar rests. Dan, Jen and Rich turned up, and we kept them amused with Adam's, and then my travails on Saltheart Foamfollowed, a short but rather brutal (and terrifying) HVS. Dan then returned the entertainment favour by managing to fall off the route before he'd even left the ground. After soloing a few things it got dark, although not before Dan had almost got himself stuck inside the crag. He's like some kind of dangerous genius, that boy.


Dan making it all look very easy...

Solofest:

After a rather excellent barbecue/party down in Lichfield I woke up with a bit of a hangover, and an ankle that was still feeling a bit sprained from a footballing mishap the previous Wednesday. In spite of this I thought I'd just stop by at Harborough on the way home to get some fresh air. About 90 minutes after parking up I was back at my car having soloed 30 routes in glorious sunshine. My ankle didn't feel particularly sore, so I thought I'd pay a visit to Windgather and see if I could make it up to 50 for the day. I got a little bit carried away and somehow managed 45 more routes to leave me on 75 for the day (as well as one rubbish non-route where I misread the guidebook). I still felt pretty fresh, and could certainly have managed another 25 to push me over into the magical century, but it was late and I was hungry, so I went home and ate cake instead. Oddly, in spite of feeling fine that evening I spent the next 3 days aching like an old man. Oh well. If it doesn't kill you it can only make you stronger...

Gritstone Benightment:

Feeling a bit sluggish after an appointment with Godspeed You! Black Emperor's wall of sexy noise the night before, I needed something unusually silly to persuade me to go out climbing instead of having an early night. After a little deliberation I struck upon the idea of trying to repeat Herford's Girdle Traverse at Castle Naze. Allegedly the original girdle after which all others are but pale imitations I'd always stayed away for fear that it was a bit anti-social, but how many people would there be on a muggy Wednesday evening?

We rocked up at the crag to discover a few other climbers there (as well as all of the midges), but Dan and I didn't let this put us off and duly set off. The guide is somewhat vague about the exact line to take, so we explored a few blind alleys, and had more than a few issues with rope drag. After 3 pitches I could see the end of the crag, but this was getting harder in the gathering gloom. Dan set off towards the reputed crux, and, after trying to force his own route across an overhanging wall, he followed the guidebook and teetered around onto Keep Arete and tiptoed across the eponymous scoop of Scoop Face. There was little in the way of gear (in spite of have some friends on the ground throw some extra small wires at him, I think they quite enjoyed that) so I suspect we were both fairly relieved when Dan found some gear and a belay, with apparently easy ground remaining. I had my headtorch passed up to me, discovered that the batteries needed changing, but thankfully managed to recruit some nearby spotlights holders to point out the holds. Eventually I managed not to fall off, and scrambled across to the finish line. I then spent a few minutes stumbling aimlessly around the top of the crag trying to find a belay before I almost fell over a suitable stake. I brought Dan over and we retreated back to the car feeling a mixture of elation, relief and amusement at having managed to get benighted on a crag less than 15m high.

Almost Teutonic Efficiency

Jaime and I rocked up to High Neb last Tuesday evening at around 6ish with the sky looking rather ominous. There were even a few drops falling out the sky, but thankfully it never got any worse than that. There were some midges though. It's amazing how you easily you forget the horror. I had brought a midge net, so judicious use of that, tucking my trousers into my socks, and generally looking super-cool managed to keep things just the right side of bearable. The blustery wind at the top of the crag helped too.


Jaime in all her finery

I led Inaccessible Crack Direct, Straight Crack, Cent, High Neb Buttress and Sneezy, seconded Jaime up a couple of routes (actually, cunning use of traversing meant I managed to second two entirely different routes to the ones that she'd led), and soloed 3 others (including Inaccessible Slab, which is hard!), for a grand total of 11 routes. We left the crag around 9:30, and I was home before dark. I've no idea how we were so efficient, but it was pretty impressive. More of that please.

A Wide Range Of Ethical Compromises

After nearly a month of attempting to rest my elbows, which seems to have had a negligible effect, I gave up and decided to just avoid steep things. With this in mind, after a late-night weather forecast consultation on Thursday night, I headed down to Oli and Anna's palace of unearthly delights in Keynsham, near Bristol. The forecast was good for Saturday, so we were a little annoyed when we woke up to pouring rain. We were even more annoyed when we checked the met office rain radar to discover that it was raining on every crag within 2 hours drive, and NOWHERE ELSE. Stupid bloody weather.

Eventually we decided that the Wye Valley might be slightly less damp than anywhere else, so we drove over the Severn Bridge to Wintour's Leap. It had stopped raining by the time we got there, and the crag even looked dryish, so we took a stab at Central Rib Route I, a 4 pitch Severe. Other than a couple of small patches of seepage the route was dry, and rather pleasant. There was even some weird flowstone stuff on the second pitch. Oli ran the last 2 pitches together in a bid to get to lunch quicker, but miscalculated slightly and ended up finishing up the final 4c pitch of the adjacent VS. Never mind.


Wintour's Leap in the sunshine.

After some crucial quiche sandwiches we scrambled back down to the bottom of the crag. Nibelheim, our intended route, was covered in other people, so we nipped up Joe's Route, another ticklist VS round the corner. I led the first pitch, which was fairly scrappy, but the second pitch was very pleasant if a little bold. Oli did manage to kick off a house brick sized hold at one point, but this was a mere trifle, and we were soon back at the bottom of the crag again. By this time Nibelheim was clear, so we bambered up it, with a brief exciting moment when I tried to take the crux overlap a little too directly. By the time we got back to the car it was time to retire to the pub for victory ginger beer, so we did just that.

We slightly miscalculated how much red wine it was sensible to drink that evening, so Sunday morning was a fairly sedate affair until we eventually got going with the addition of some bacon and eggs. The forecast predicted mid-afternoon showers, but the Mendips looked less showery than elsewhere, so we decided to go end explore the banned Holcombe Quarries before somebody gets round to filling them in. After a bit of aimless wandering around a very pleasant forest, we found ourselves in the middle of Holcombe 2, which was pretty massive and had a fair bit of climbing in it, but it wasn't what we were after. We crossed over the road, through a hole in a fence, past a large number of signs warning us to keep out, and through another hole in another fence into the biggest quarry I think I've ever seen. The walls never reach more than about 30m high, but the base of the quarry must be about 750m x 200m. Unfortunately most of the rock is bobbins, but some of it is actually solid.


The Unbridled Majesty of Holcombe 1.

We started with the principal reason for our visit, an anomalously graded Severe which was actually just a sports climb (with the might grade of F3+), that somebody had given 2 stars to. This meant it qualified for the ticklist in spite of actually being a sports route, so it had to be done. Unsurprisingly it wasn't terribly inspiring, but it was pleasant enough. As we'd made the effort to visit the crag we felt we should do something else, so we both led Fit For The Future a bolted VS which was actually quite fun, but a bit harder than VS would suggest.

This was enough immorality for one morning, so we headed back to Stoke St. Michael for a drink and to take in the splendour of the village duck race. Then we drove a mile or so to Fairy Cave Quarry for some more traditional climbing. The promised showers were threatening to soak us, but I started up the crag's classic VS, Rob's Crack all the same. It was brilliant, engaging, well-protected slabby crack climbing, and by the time I'd got to the top the threatening clouds had wandered off elsewhere. Aceness.


Duck Race! Feel The Excitement.

We tried to up the ante by laying siege to a 2 pitch HVS, but it turned out to be one of the famous Fairy Cave soft touches, and was actually easier than Rob's Crack. In trying to descend back to our bags we found ourselves at the bottom of the crag's other ticklist route, Real Men Do East Quiche (and, as we know, they certainly do), so I nipped up it quickly while we were there. As you lower off from a fixed anchor at the top of the route, before we pulled the rope down, we decided to have a brief play on an E2 5c which took a line directly up to the anchor. The crux was a short, holdless groove near the start, from which a fall on lead would see you coming dangerously close to the ground, so neither of us really fancied trying to lead it. Besides which, we'd already compromised our souls in the morning, so a little more moral turpitude hardly seemed like a big deal. It was quite a fun little problem, which we both flashed. It felt easy enough that I might almost be tempted to lead it if I go back (so perhaps the top-roping can be justified as preparation for a headpoint ascent...).

Boldnessss

Nursing a slightly worryingly dodgy elbow (I blame seconding Sophie up too much overhanging nonsense), and with a slightly ropey, but improving, forecast, I hitched a lift with Jaime and Dan to North Wales this weekend. I didn't have too many high hopes for much climbing, but was just keen to get a bit of mileage in, and perhaps tick off a few routes from the grand ticklist.

After a drink or several on Friday night, Saturday morning was hardly a faff-free or early affair, but eventually Jaime and I hatched a plan to nip to Rhoscolyn, climb Symphony Crack (the classic Diff of the crag!) and then head to Holyhead Mountain. This was a sort of compromise, as I didn't want to lead King Bee Crack, and had done everything else at Holyhead I wanted to. Or so I thought.

Anyway, eventually we reached Rhoscolyn at lunchtime, and strolled into the crag in the sunshine. The tide was in, and the sea was wavey, so I was relieved to discover that the crag wasn't underwater, and the traverse in to the route appeared to be above the waves. Jaime, it turns out, fears the sea, so we got the ropes out, and I tied her down to a rock, before leading the route. It was very pleasant, a fun little adventure. I got to experience this for a second time when soloing the route a second time to retrieve a stuck nut.


Symphony Crack and the hungry sea

Next up we moved to Holyhead Mountain, where Jaime led Cursing, and I led the essentially unprotected top pitch of Little Women (4c and a big ledge at the bottom to arrest your fall before the gear came into the equation). Pleasingly I managed not to gibber at any point, although I don't claim there was any style in my bellyflop top-out. I then soloed a couple of easier routes, before Jaime led the corned of Teaser, and I decided to maintain the bold theme by leading Step On The Wild Side, a largely unprotected HVS 4c up the arete to the right of Little Women. Again, there was not wibbling, and I even resisted the urge near the top, to place a runner in a crack I could easily have reached (try explaining the logic of that to a non-climber).


Soloing a Holyhead Mountain

Whilst pondering what to do next, Jaime mentioned a need to lead an HVS, so I suggested a nearby one which was really about HS 4b (hurrah for baffling overgrading). I soloed it to prove that it really was easy, so then after Jaime had led it, I did a bit of chicanery with the ropework and managed to second an unprotected E1 4c slab instead. I had entertained the idea of soloing this earlier, but was put off by the apparent lack of holds. As it was, the holds were good, if small, so i soloed it for the easiest E-point I've yet managed. We finished the day with Jaime leading Tension, still one of my favourite routes at the crag. A really good day.

A night of drinking, cake-eating, play-doh modelling and charades ensued, and didn't contribute to an early start on Sunday. Eventually we made it to Carreg Wasted in the pass shortly before lunchtime, and I set off up Ribstone Crack. The guide claimed it was high in the grade, but it felt fine, and had a particularly fine bridged position high on the headwall. Marvellous. After lunch I got stuck into the promisingly named Overhanging Chimney, which had a rather scary first pitch. Pulling on juggy, but dubious holds, with nothing but a couple of rattly and uninspiring nuts between me and 10 metres of plummet, wasn't particularly fun, but it was character building. Which is more than can be said of the second pitch, the eponymous chimney. Bridging led to more bridging, and then a pull on jugs, and suddenly I was free without having to do a single move of chimneying, overhanging or otherwise. I led to the top in a single 50m pitch with only 5 runners, perhaps some kind of record (for me at least).


Emerging from the Overhanging Chimney

After this we both sat around at the bottom of the crag feeling like we should climb something else, but not particularly inspired by anything. Eventually I decided to lead First Test, a two pitch VS 4c with "good but spaced gear", that old chestnut. The first pitch was bold, but with adequate gear until the crux, by which stage only a sling draped over a dubious spike lay between me and a near groundfall from 15 metres or so, and things only got worse on the second pitch. Direct entry to the corner as suggested (the guide at least said that it was hard) was clearly harder than 4c, and protected only by a poor nut behind a loose looking flake, which also provided the only holds. Feeling this was unreasonable, I engineered a traverse in from the right at a sketchy, and still unprotected 4c ish, to be rewarded with plenty more tricky climbing and rattly holds, but little in the way of gear. Finally after 35m the route bafflingly avoided the obvious direct finish, for a bold (of course), tricky and wholly un-fun, traverse onto a briefly lived arete. And I ran out of rope setting up the belay. All in all, not my favourite ever route, and definitely an HVS kind of experience, but it did seem like a fitting end to a weekend which had involved rather a lot of bold 4c climbing. At no point had I cried like a girl, or thought I might die. So perhaps I'm making some kind of progress after all.

More Good Stuff

Another beautifully sunny evening (albeit a very windy one), another evening trip to Stanage with Mr Dan. We mixed things up a bit by going to the popular end this week. I led Rubber Band, which was ace - kind of like an easier, but longer version of Ellis' Eliminate. I did manage to place one of Dan's cams in a foolish position which it was very reluctant to relinquish, so he had to abseil for it whilst I soloed a very easy VS.


Dan seconding Rubber Band

Next I managed to gently coax (or mercilessly bully depending on your reading of events) Dan into doing Retroversion. He had a slight hand-puddle interface scenario mid-crux, and ended up sitting on the rope to dry out, but pressed on through on his second attempt. A very nice route, and probably just about worth HVS.


Near the top of Retroversion

Finally, in the somewhat fading light I boldly flaked the ropes out beneath Cave Arete before I'd had too much time to consider what I was doing. I had really wanted to do the VS round to the left with Harding's Super Direct Finish, but that was covered in bawdy student losers, so I manned up a bit instead. I'd seconded Sophie up the route a few years ago and remembered thinking it was hard then. Oh well. As it happened, other than a couple of tactical downclimbs (Dan seemed to think this equated to cowardice, I thought it was strategic genius) things went well, although the crux felt very arm-y, and I could really feel the previous day's exertions at Citybloc. I managed to power on through, however, which was pretty pleasing. A new high-water mark in the Stanage graded list. Get in.

Yet More Limestone

Sadly the beautiful British summer weather put paid to my plans to go to the Lakes festival of climbing in the Duddon valley, which was a shame, as I was pretty keen for some proper lakeland routes. Still, determined to salvage something from the weekend, I headed to Leeds Wall on Friday night for some steep bouldering with Julie and Andy before fattening ourselves up with some of Mr Khan's awesome pizza goodness.

The forecast for Saturday was indecisive, but we went with the most optimistic and headed up to Pot Scar, just past Settle. I have a vague recollection of some friends telling me it was rubbish, and the guidebook warns of extreme polish, but there were ticklist routes to be done. When we arrived the sun was out, and we warmed up by soloing a bunch of routes on the smaller left-hand wing of the crag. These were entirely polish free, although whether this was because they were rarely climbed, or because all of the polished holds had fallen off was unclear. There were certainly a few worrying moments pulling on questionable flakes and standing on wobbly footholds, but there were no fatalities, so we celebrated with lunch, although not before Julie and I had soloed one of the proper routes, Equity, a Severe with two whole stars. It was great, relatively long, solid and with lots of lovely holds. Altogether a little bit more promising.


Pot Scar in the evening sun

After lunch I geared up and led up Overdose, a VS which reminded me one of the main reasons I don't like limestone - all the gear cracks staunchly refused to accept any inspiring gear, although they'd admit any number of wobbly or half-in nuts. Luckily the climbing was pretty easy, so it wasn't too pressing a concern. Andy led the adjacent E1, LSD, next, which proved to be pretty easy, with only one hard move, and that was a high-step and rockover. The gear was similarly mediocre though.

Next up was The Long Black Veil, a weird little eliminate with a rather hard start (probably 5a and quite committing) and a slightly wandering line, but which somehow managed to feel independent and good, in spite of the top arete being within a few inches of the next route. Andy then led Sunspot, the classic of the crag, although he did have a slight wobble and almost called for a top-rope at one point. The climbing was lovely, but the holds were small and the gear uselessly distant for the crux. A good reminder why I'm so utterly terrified of limestone E1s.


Andy showboating on The Long Black Veil

My last lead of the day was Addiction, a steep looking VS which had repelled efforts from both of the other parties at the crag. I was a bit wary, but after much fnoogling from a rather strenuous position I managed to place enough shoddy nuts that I was happy one of them would stick, and I committed to the steep moves. They turned out to be relatively straightforwards, but a positive approach was required to keep going rather than stop, try and fiddle in more gear, get pumped and fall off. I was quite pleased that I managed to do this in spite of my natural longing for gear. Andy finished things off by nipping up Potholer's Proddle Direct, the crag's other good E1, which had better gear than the others, and was very enjoyable.


Julie at the start of the interesting bit on Mort's Crack

All in all a pretty positive day, with some good routes, and some pleasing commitment above ropey gear without any gibbering. The E1s all felt ok, and not too tricky (although it'd have been a rather different matter had I been leading them I'm sure), I even managed to stand on a few small holds without crying. Good stuff.

Sadly Sunday was full of rain, so Andy and I went to Citybloc and bouldered until we could boulder no more. It's been a while since I went to a wall, so it was good to confirm that I can still pull on small holds and make overhanging problems look like epic feats of difficulty. Plus ca change...

Evening Sunshine

Having settled down a little in both new house and new job, I managed to take advantage of the glorious weather on Monday, and headed out to the Plantation with Dan. I informed him that it was his lead, and he looked a bit nonplussed about having to decide what bit of the crag to head to, but as it felt a bit warm for trying anything particularly challenging I was happy to explore wherever we ended up.



Eventually our meandering led us to a slabby wall cut by an overlap at half height, somewhere up and right of Tower Face. Here we pottered up a couple of routes each, Dan leading a VS 5a and an HVS 5a, and me two VS 4cs. All four routes were very cruxy, with both of mine feeling like stiff 5a, Dan's HVS was the hardest to work out but the easiest to actually do, and his VS was desperate.

All in all it was a very pleasant evening, although marred slightly by the wonky grading and the fact that I managed to pull a muscle in my neck whilst very committed to a stupidly long reach. On the plus side, I managed to properly commit to the move beforehand, and I didn't fall off. Oh, and it was lovely and sunny too, even if there were a couple of wee midgey buggers lurking around. Boo.


Dan overwhelmed with psyche before leading his HVS