Winter took a while to get here this year but it
seems it finally remembered we were sat indoors waiting for the heat
to go on holiday for another year. And so it did. And we did climb.
And we have achieved several goals.
The first day of note
was a trip to Hepburn with a view to try and get Preparation H done.
As sometimes happens, I was distracted by some other hot of the first
ascent press problem, which looked rather good. Dan Varian was on
hand to provide beta (as it was indeed his very own problem) and
after a scuffle here and a tussle there I was stood on top a happy
man. It's called Trivial Pursuits, 7c. Previous to this I'd done the
arete “Titanic” on both it's sides. Better on the right, should
you care. I didn't even get round to trying Prepers, as we shifted on
to Back Bowden. I felt pretty tired by this time but had a few goes
on The Bitch, but struggled to hang the two hard moves, it didn't feel
totally out of reach though. Dan popped over muttering something
about showing the Count of Essex his arse or something? Strange boy.
He did however inform me that there was now an improved foothold for
the crux move on The Bitch. It looked natural but he tried the move
and said it was a bit easier than when he'd done it in the summer.
Here are some photo's of Trivial Pursuits by Mark Savage:
Here are some photo's of Trivial Pursuits by Mark Savage:
Next day out was with
Nick to Hangman's, where I'd never been before. This was the day of
wind. There are really only two problems here so I was keen to get em
done and not have to do the walk in again. The wind made it bitterly
cold, jokes aside it was to the level where we were nearly getting
whipped off the rock and down the hill. Strangely, both the problems
are given 7c despite one being twice as hard as the other. Despite
the efforts the grades made to confuse me, I managed them both.
Paranoia is really good climbing. Shame there's not much more there
really. Such is life.
As it's round the corner and in the trees we scuttled off to Hepburn again. I was keen to show Nick Trivial and thought it might be the time for prepers. Sadly the battering the wind had given us had seemingly drawn all our energy out. I was also about 6th day on at this point and nothing happened worthy of a mention.
As it's round the corner and in the trees we scuttled off to Hepburn again. I was keen to show Nick Trivial and thought it might be the time for prepers. Sadly the battering the wind had given us had seemingly drawn all our energy out. I was also about 6th day on at this point and nothing happened worthy of a mention.
Next day was Caley.
Unlike the previous two times it was neither wet or warm so there
were no excuses. To keep a short story short, I warmed up on a couple
of the moves and the top out of Zoo York, then did it second go from
the sit, which I was pretty happy with. In a bit more detail; I kept
my heel beta (no toe hooks) and it worked really well. [as an update
to the toe hooking issues described last time, I did borrow a
sportiva solution and it turns out its just dragons that don't toe
hook so I don't feel quite so bad] The top out was a little sketchy
as I wasn't fully warm and had precisely 0% feeling in my fingers,
causing all but my back to to slip off the final crimp as I watched
in horror. I thought, fuck it and went for it anyway and moved slowly
towards the more slopey finishing holds. As I grabbed the more rounded top
holds a little bit of feeling came back into my hands and the top out
felt fine. I read somewhere on the internet that one of my mates, a
horse dressed in black, then made an ascent of something
“significant” at the crag. Better watch
to find out more about that.
The closing chapter of
this short story is set back in Northumberland. We went to Callaly to
try The Young. It's been said a thousand times before but this really
is amazing. Cool to climb too. There was a bit in the middle that
felt a bit stretched out and the final moves are nails and you're in
a very dangerous position. It didn't get climbed that day, but I'm
sure it will some day soon. The whole day was bitterly cold due to
the orientation and lack of sun, so the next day we went to Bowden
Doors for some sun. There are still a lot of things I haven't done
and was in the mood to just try what took my fancy. We warmed up at
the roof and I did V crimps 3rd go, which isn't bad as far
as I'm concerned. I then proceeded not to do Born Lippy, Pulp
Friction and Honeycomb wall. I'm very keen to go back on Honeycomb,
hopefully get it soon! Some very strong young lads
climbed rather well that day too. All the above received ascents and
additionally so did Working Class sit, maybe there'll the a UKC
article about it?
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