A good night out...

I guess when I was like 12 a good night out was the cinema, then maybe pizza and staying up late. When I was 16 then maybe actually getting served at a bar and staying out a little later, struggling to eat chips intoxicated. At 18 it was pretty much the same, but staying out longer, drinking more and probably stealing a cone (or a sign, flashing light thing etc) before getting more food.

At 22 a good night was biving out on the side of Snowdon with 6 of my friends, praying that it will not rain and my bivi bag will be as breathable as it claims to be (that's not to say I don't still go out on the lash).

As it happened it did rain, but only a little. Its not like we all woke up with hypothermia in soaking bags. Nobody escaped with a completely dry sleeping bag however. This was ok as I was double bagging and had two!. We kicked off the weekend with a night out in stoke which necessitate a later start on Saturday morning. We nipped into Pete's for breakfast (at 2pm) and went and did a little slate climbing for the afternoon. Dan was meeting us later anyway.

We nipped up to Serengeti so Andy could lead Seamstress VS 4c and I could do Seams-a-same (E1 5b). I was tying with the idea of getting on something on Never Never Land (some 6a) but there was something that looked that inspiring and it was a little damp. I have not climbed on slate in a long time but climbing on the small edges came back straight away. After we'd done these two routes I sat around looking for something else to climb. After looking at the groove line to the left of seamstress I checked the guide book. Two routes went up here going at E4 6a. I chose to attempt "the stack of nude books meets the stickman". Primarily because the name is so good.

It mentions in the guide that a couple of side runners in Seamstress reduce the grade and that the difficulties are low down. I tried it direct on my first attempt (thats right, there was more that one attempt). I'd spied a couple of cracks that would take some protection (small) and a ledge for a skyhook. On arriving at this point, the crack wouldn't take anything (bar maybe some copperheads, but thats cheating). So skyhooks it was. I say hooks because I brought up 2 and they where all I had for the crux.

The crux was just above them, which after realising I couldn't do it I backed off quickly and lwer off the top skyhook. I couldn't down climb, it was too hard. As I lowered down, the bloody hook cut the hold off the wall, sending me rather quickly too the floor. My second hook annoying caught me at the floor, as did Prescott who was belaying me. I never did find the hold that came off.

So say I was pretty shaken would be an understatement. I could have had a serious accident but instead I'd been lucky and had a good belayer. I should have walked away and just gave up on this. I couldn't climb it, it was too hard. Instead I put some high side runners in the route to the right, It meant I would take a big swing, but then I wouldn't deck out, in theory.

I went back up, much to the amazement of my friends, and off I came a couple more times before I found out how to do the crux and managed to sling the pipe (the first piece of gear on route worth a damn). The climb was sketchy and on very small edges. It was my feet that kept coming off in the end, and not my hands. I eventually sent it and breathed a sigh of relief. Toaf seconded me and he agreed that the crux had been sodding hard. All in all this was our last climb as Dan had arrived, we headed for a Beer in the vaynol before concocting another scheme.

As the weather seemed alright (it had been brightening up all day) we had our beer, packed up small light sacks with bivi bags the like and headed off up Snowdon for a night out. The plan was for the summit and then we'd find somewhere out of the wind and wake up to watch the sunrise. As we walked in we managed to avoid most of the rain. I stayed close to the group and aquired the dog on account of being scared of the dark. I was surprised at how much the dog helped with this, and he practically dragged all the way up.

As for staying out of the wind and rain, this didn't exactly happen. About an hour in we could see the summit was covered in cloud and we kept having a few showers. Instead we found a flat area just off the path in full view of LLiwedd. The night was really clear so we hardly had to use out head tourches. As all cracked out our bivi bags and snuggled down, me and Andy enjoyed some whiskey, soodley-noop and some brie. Eating just before bed meant that I had many crazy dreams, but also meant that sleep was light enough I woke up when It rained and could zip up my bivi bag and avoid it. I was impressed with how my bivi bag and two sleeping bags managed. In the morning I'd faired pretty well and only the foot section was a little damp (and that was the outer synthetic bag).

I think everyone got a good nights sleep, after we'd managed to ignore Nat's snoring. Prescott was the only one who woke up for sunrise (and asures us that Nat was still snoring then). And it made for a very different yet fun stay in Wales. We headed down to Pete's for break before major deliberation about where to climb. Eventually the weather decided for us and we went back to the slate quarries... and this time it was Dan's lead.Up into Australia we travelled heading for a classic, Looning the Tube (E1 5b). Dan's never climbed on slate before and I think one of the few experiences he's had is watching me fall of Dervish (which could have been quite off putting). I offered to lead something so he could get s feel for it and I headed up Goose Creature (E3 6a). With three bolts and a the crux excellently protected it seemed like a great climb. On top of that it was way better protected than "stack of nudebooks..." and it was pretty much a sport climb, so I could fall off as much as I like and not feel bad (sport climbing isn't real climbing). As it happened my foot did slip off the 6a moved and a I was off. We went back later so I could get a ground up send of this. Dan decided not to second me as I lowered off and so headed up up "looning...". There was a good moment after he clipped the first bolt where he exclaimed "So where the hell do my feet go now?". Needless to say he was fine and climbed it well. He also felt the top bolt wasn't nessessary (a point of contention for me). Wasn't bad for his first slate lead.

After watching another couple I got on "Gadaffy Duck" after Toaf had lead it. Fro a complete clip up it was still a good route and I enjoyed the moves. Sport climbing doesn't seem that bad, I'd just like it to be kept to area of blank slate (and overhanging limestone) and not become the norm. At this point I was knackered and my brain had started reeling from falling off the other day. I pushed it too far, too dangerous... I'll probably go and do the same thing again next week though.