Bad weather... nope!

So amazingly another weekend of climbing on my fingers in thier current state (constantly sore and weeping) has somehow improved them. I'm not going to question it, but I am going to be grateful, apparently grit has magical healing powers.

We actually started off on limestone. My first trip to Stoney Middleton with Lou, Andy and a friend of Lou's also called Andy. Lou told us all about the caving at Stoney. I never knew there was so much caving so accessable at Stoney! It's something I must look into. We did a VS called ... . The first pitch was described as "polished like a bar of soap", and it wasn't wrong. Andy tried the lead first and decided to back off it. I took the first pitch, which was just polished to high heaven. The climbing was really fun and enjoyable, made all the more fun by the fact that your feet could slide off any time! The belay was less than I would have liked but it was safe so Andy and Lou joined me up on the ledge.

The seond pitch went for a traverse across some interesting geology. Pretty much a dead straight 4c traverse. It was scary to say the least, but I managed to get some good gear in and then found a tree to belay off. Oddly Andy and Lou didn't question why the tree was shaking as I was out of view (I was jumping on it to test it). Lou declined the traverse pitch so abseilled off and Andy seconded me. We abseiled back to the bags.

At this point Andy made a very important decision. He hates peak limestone, and that pretty much settled us for the rest of the day. We dived into the car and headed to Froggatt! I do love Froggatt, it's got some nice slab routes on it and a couple of climbs I really want to do (Strapiobante and Chequers Crack, namely) but we headed to Tody's wall for Andy to have a crack at. Of course Tody's was busy so I eyed up a slab route next to it, expecting it to be a higher E grade and harder route I was suprised to find it was called motocade and went at E1 5a. Off we went. The start was easy until the first break which got filled with 2 cams. The next move to gain a decent hold was good, but to my dismay it only had a knifeblade thin crack at the back of it. As I was using my "grit rack" (full set of cams, 6 runners, 1-10 nuts) which mean not microwires! I spent a few minutes wokring out the next move and calculating how big a fall I would take...

Until a guy yelled up telling me that was my last piece of gear till the top. My brain kicked into gear and I downclimbed the route and Lou handed me the my green 'biner, which is filled with superlight rocks, RP's and a Peenut. Now the crack was protected by a next of gear (No. 1 & 2 RP and a Peenut) and I was ready for the next move. After figuring out the sequence, then messing it up as I did it I topped out off slopey podlike depressions for my feet. You've got to love friction! I made a small prayer to the Gods of friction and built my belay. Andy seconded me and then Lou and other Andy came up after.

Back at the floor Andy went for Tody's wall, but alas didn't manage it and came down. I had a crack (I've done it before) and decided against it. Also Andy had called up saying he wasn't ready to give up on it. It was a little cheeky I'll admit especially as I wasn't actually going to do the route and was only going to rescue the gear really. He went up, tried, failed and came down, rescuing his gear. Lou asked if I'd lead it, because I think she wanted a go at seconding it, but I declined. It's almost rude to do a route your mate has backed off, in my opinion. I know Andy wanted to climb it so he can save it for another day.

We nipped off to Curbar for a little bit to see some friends we met in Scotland. Saw Charlie take an close to ground fall on Apollo (E2 5c) and he sacked off the attempt a little later.

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Sunday morning I woke up feeling aweful. I blame the half pint of Draught Scrumpy I had in the pub the night before, bloody killed me. And to add it it an hour of my life had been stolen during the night! I cooked breakfast with Andy's bacon and we watched the weather as it rained a little before we set off. The met-office predicted that there would be a little rain in the morning and over lunch, but then a good dry ptchy sunny day to follow. I'm pretty much a devout follower of the metoffice, generally because it means I can blame someone when it's wrong. I still grumbled but we headed off anyway. Becca had joined us for the day, she couldn't climb (under docters orders!) but was move than happy to just be outdoors.

Third cloud was where is was at for us. Andy's got a tick list summer and I noticed Rubberneck and Crabbie Crack where on it which is why we ended up there. I also wanted to have a go at Appaloosa Sunset (E3 5c) and much wanted route by myself. It turned out that I'd jump onto the lead first. I took my grit rack with me, incase I bottled it and had to go up Rubberneck as consolation prize.

With some good gear as high as I could reach in Rubber neck I tried to head out across the slab. I say tried because I was too high and I got a little freaked out. I quickly reversed the moves I'd done and down climbed to the floor. For a little breather and calm down. I knew what I'd done wrong I knew how to fix it, the worrying thing was the route had now become a real possibility. With a hangover headache Andy assured me that there was no better day to do it on. He was right, it was freezing cold and bone dry, conditions couldn't have been better.

Back on the sharp end seemed like the only option. I broke out right lower down this time and made the 5c move to get the good break in the middle of the wall. This is descibed as "hard to gain and even harder to leave". Too bloody right. I looked at how far I'd come across the slab. We'd already worked out that the gear was bomber, and I wouldn't deckout. It would be close though and a big swing if I did come off. I placed a skyhook which looked awesome but had some much rope pull on it it would have fallen out anyway. It made me feel a little better. After a long time arguing with myself, telling Andy I was well and truely buggered and that I couldn't make the next move to the safety of the good flake, I just somehow went for it. My foot actually slipped off, but I was ok. I got the good hollow flake, and more importantly the opptunity for some gear. Phew! There'd been so much running through my head, so much worry that I wouldn't make it, that I just couldn't make the move and I had. I got some gear in, which was a little worrying to say the least. and hope the easier ground would follow (as per guidebook stated). the easier ground was about 5b/5a+ but it didn't really matter. I climbed it a little sketchily but topped out with no worries. I took a moment to comtemplate what I'd just achieved on this overcast sunday morning, with a big self-inflicted headache, and just how lucky I was.

Andy didn't want to attempt it on second and stripped it out. I usually don't like doing this as it means I've only done like half the journey, but all the talking Andy did through my ascent I think made up for it.

Andy had a crack at Crabbie's Crack. He couldn't do it and backed off telling me he wasn't leading VS. I felt sad because I've seen Andy do alot of VS's and couldn't understand what was going through his head. I told him that he'd still get his list done this summer and we'd work hard and train together (I want to be climbing E4, a little optimistic but). We'll see how this goes.

The rain came in, annoyingly only for 5 minutes at a time then drying off a little so we walked over to the Lower Tier so Andy and Scott could do Fledglings climb. Scott had joined us after spending about an hour looking around the Roaches for us. Andy lead Fledgling's with no problems and we discussed the grade. It's a good route but not much gear. Personally I'd give it HS due to the gear, but that's my opinion. Still on a high from Appaloosa I went to look at Chalkstorm.

Everyone seems to know Chalkstorm. It's a Roaches slab classic! I know one person who's smashed open thier ankle leading it direct. I've refused to top-rope it or second it, but a direct ascent with gear only in the break, hmmm...? After I'd looked at the top and made sure it was dry and not slimey me and Andy discussed the gear options. Part of my wanted a direct ascent, gear in the break only, but then again this means I'd risk and ankle snapping (or worse fall). In the end I decided that although I've done a few routes with serious groundfall potential, it's only been because there hasn't been any other option. I went for the high side runners in prow cracks. I'm happy with my decision, because climbing shouldn't be about what ethics dictates, it should be about having fun.

So with my high side runners off I set. The first move required me to swap my feet which was hard enough. Then it was down to trusting some serious friction! Thankfully my boots seem to have myrical rubber on them. With a couple of gnarly holds for my hand I pulled them together and trusted my high foot and was away. The holds where awesome after this and the slab as such a good angle that I flew up it. I topped out without realising it. It had not been what I was expecting. I think I'd built the route up in my head to something it wasn't. Andy did want to second me up this one and sent up my jacket and rack to build a belay out of. He seconded it really well once he trusted his shoes to do their thing.

We set off for Left hand Route (HVD 4a) after this as Andy wanted to lead something else. It's only HVD, but it makes you work for it! After an initial layback start Andy soared up quickly and dispatched the rockover crux. Scott seconded him up this and this pretty much ended our day climbing. We'd be marred by the rain but stood it out and got a decent days climbing in. We went to the Rock Inn for a quiet beer and then back to stoke to drop people off before I went home.

I was impressed with my performance this weekend, in fact I've been inpressed with my performance from the start of this year. I've been hitting E2 and E3 each week mostly. I think going bouldering so much during the week, and just looking after myself more is really helping me to push myself that little bit harder.

Weather Rant: March 25th 2010

Well what can I say. I believe in the weather quite abit. After the awesome winter we've just had, which I know I didn't take full advenatge of where has all this rain come from. The metoffice weather reports have gone from being pretty accurate early on in the week to something more akin to a weekend horoscope. Seriously like it's well annoying man! I can't deal with all this crudy weather! I'm hoping so much that it'll call clear up by easter, but you just know it won't. Seems like the only good day this weekend is going to be saturday. Sunday it will rain, horribly.

So please, weather god, if you read my blog can we just have some dry weather, it doesn't even have to be sunny, just dry.

thank you.

A crap post...

You'll understand the joke in a minute.

Theres a subject among climbers and mountaineers that rarely talk about. This isn't something as grand as the costs of mountaineering, brought to light in Marie Coffey's book "Where the mountain casts it's shadow". It's something a little closer to home... going to the toilet.

In recent years (the last 10) more and more people have been heading out into the hills. More and more people are climbing and especially there are more winter climbers. With most crags in Britain being roadside (scottish roadside, under an hours walk) and the increase in personal transport, better provided transport links this has lead to the hills, mountains and crags being reduced to a long drive and a short walk at most.

Going to the toilet in the hills is a subject thats avoided even among groups of close mates it seems. This winter me and Andy have been urinating in the same spot, just to avoid the eyesore that is a mass of yellow snow just off path. After and walk into t-sneachda after a busy weekend you can see urine stains every 30 metres or so. In summer it's different. You do all you can to avoid urinating in a stream or river. Current advice is 30 metre at least from a water source (ML training, 2007).

Urinating is pretty easy, especially for us guys. You can go out of your way to avoid streams etc. What about takin a crap though? The best piece of advice is to go before you go out on the hill. You can try this forever, but you'll get caught enventually and if this happens? Well for this I try to go by the old adage of:

"leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but pictures & waste nothing but time"

In the past I've dug so called "cat holes" as advised by the MLTE. For those who don't know it's pretty simple. You did a hole at least 6 inches deep and save the soil and turf removed. Crap and then burn the paper, completely. Then bury it and wash your hands. But what do you do in winter? Again the go before you go comes into play here, but if thats not the case and you get caught out then there is another option.

Don't just crap in the snow! this is horrible and won't breakdown properly. It'll contaminate snow and then water sources. With so many people going into the hills and snowholing this is becoming a big problem in places like Cairngorm. You can carry it out by this scheme, but what if there's no scheme... well buy some sandwich bags then.



I usually carry this out on the hill regardless and it's saved us on numerous occasions.

Those of you that have just seens whats coming are probably grossed out a little by this. What? seriously? carry my crap out in a sandwich bag? Well it's three bags actually, and it'll really re-inforce the lesson go before you go. There are various method of getting it into the bag which I'll leave people to find out for themselves, but ideally get large sandwich bags, this makes the whole process as damn sight easier ( I really can't stress large sandwich bags enough). You still burn your toilet paper, and wash your hands like normal but crap, seal the bag and wrap up the top, then into the next bag and repeat until your happy it's sealed. It'll probably go without saying that you should protect it in someway for the walk out (I suggest under a helmet in an old hat but you might take umbridge to that).

Bear in mind that people do pretty much the same Big walling all over the world, for several days. And you know it's horrible going to a crag and finding toilet roll and crap stuffed away in a crack. So in future just suck it up, go before you go and carry it out it you do.

happy crapping.

SUMC club trip: Yorkshire! PART 3

I awoke to an alarm and the sun streaming in through the open window. I felt beaten, which wasn't far from the truth (playfighting!). There was no-one else up but I figured I'd start breakfast off, so after moving the all important Ipod to the kitchen I got started. I managed to make 6 cups of tea, and have 20 sausages, 3 frying pans of bacon and a sauce pan of egg and beans (seperate) with a hangover before I realised it was all getting a little out of hand. Soon Susie, Toaf and Jono came in and we got it all sorted. Everyone pulled together to get the hut cleaned up and we where off to Attermire Scar, the crag for the day.

Attermire Scar is a limestone crag situated up above the town of Settle, about 10 minutes drive out. We all set off and arrived at the crag apart from Jono and Helen who'd met some friends and would join us in a bit. Jono had assured me he knew or could work out where they would be going. After a short walk of 15 minutes to the crag, which as it happened was nestled in the middle of nowhere as all the hills blocked out any towns, cities and noise, it was a reallt tranquile place to be, Jono rang. The short version of the story is that they took a wrong turn and kept going. Jono said he really needed a hand, so I dumped my sack and started running. In about 20 minutes I guess I'd made it to them. Bloody hell, they'd gone up a steep track barely wider than the car. Helen was a little shook up so I reversed it down hill till a little three point turn was accomplished and we could move the car. Phew! Jono promised me a beer, but I honestly didn't mind.

Back at the crag everyone was just milling around. There was no drive, which I wasn't expecting after how tired everyone was in the morning. Andy had stolen my frenchy (seriously I was gone for like 5 minutes!) so I set about a VS with Matt. This turned out real hard real fast. Limestone could be this hard?! I down climbed, not wanting to wieght my gear and had a good and thorough check of the guidebook. Ha! I knew it, I'd wandered straight up a HVS 5b called Mellow Yellow, the crag classic. I decided to skyhook off it and save my gear so asked Tim to do belay duty. Off I climbed armed with not 1 but 2 skyhooks. As I got to my last piece of gear I set about finding a suitable ledge to skyhook my way down but but couldn't. With Tim belaying too I felt a little more confident and, with skyhooks still in my mouth I carried on up. This was first with the intention of finding a ledge but I just carried up placing gear. I got a few cheers and encouragement from the people below which was good and I topped out onto the seperating ledge. Phew! Knackerec and hungover I'd just done a HVS 5b, I was happy. Toaf was called across to second me, which he did with much better style than I'd originally climbed it (like always).

I spent my time wandering round to shoot some photo's of people (Prescott leading a VS) and fling dry rabbit poo at everyone else! I was happy. The sun was out, a light breeze and soft grass to lie on, what more could you ask for? Well for one my frenchy (Sid) back, which I got! After a lazy period of eating, relaxing, hiding from the rain we set off up Banter which was actually VS 4c this time. I took it slow again and concentrated on enjoying every move. I'd planned to do a climb called determination (MVS 4b) after as the guide book description said:

"Due to the intrusive elderberry tree, this climb is more akin to jungle warfare"

What a route description! As I looked at it there was no leaves on the tree but I've vowed to go back and do it in full greenery!!!. Sid really enjoyed Banter. He thought limestone was fun! Laura then came up too as she wanted to do another VS. I happily obliged. We felt a little rain as we walked off back to the bags so moved everyones stuff under the overhang unless it did rain. I got in my sleeping bag and tried to catch up on some sleep. Eventually everyone was gathered back at the bags and we got the order to move out. Thus ending an awesome weekend.

I think I should probably thank a few people for this weekend as it was really that good (if your not on the list it's not that you didn't make it good, but this post is so long already!):
The weather man; for blessing us with clear dry skies all weekend
Tim; for allowing me go, even though I'm black OPs
Becki; for getting all the food and doing such a good job of it (and Killian for the Curry) and for having a good ipod.
Scott; for inflating my tires and adding an extra miles to fuel consumption
Matt and Sid; who I climbed with all weekend and made my weekend so much fun.

SUMC club trip: Yorkshire! PART 2

...6 am rolled around and I was awake and couldn't sleep. I'd dozed till 7am until the movement of the breakfast crew spurred me on to do my task: make the tea. Breakfast was a pretty good affair with everyone pulling together. Infact the whole morning was good and we got away by 1000 am. We must have arrived at Ilkley for 11ish and all piled out and headed to the Quarry area. I'll be honest and say I didn't know where I was going. There was one route I'd planned to do that day (Tufted Crack) but the rest of the day I was going to take Sid up some routes. Sid is one of the freshers and new to climbing. The poor guy has been the butt of my french jokes for a while, but he now gives as good as good as he gets, it's never anything serious though. He thinks I'm mad, just plain mad when it comes to climbing. I think he's great as he loves climbing, I don't think I've seen anyone so happy whenever they finish a route. The other person I was going to try and get climb was another fresher named Matt. He's a big southerner from down London and had never climber outdoors.

The club milled around for a bit before smaller groups broke off and went to different areas and routes. Laura set off up a HS near us in the quarry and Me and Sid geared up for Waleska (VS 4c). This route had been recommended by Prescott to me. This would have been Sid's second time climbing outside, he first being trying to second me up Bond Street at Millstone and having the learn to jam pretty quick. He got 3/4 of the way up while it was damp so I thought a nice dry VS would be right up his street. A brief discussion on double routes and off I went. The weather was now picking up and the sun poking through, but it was still bitterly cold in the quarry.

Waleska was awesome. A great little route that wiggled across the face following a good crack line/system. I sent it pretty quick and made sure my rope protected the traverse in the middle for Sid. I yelled some instructions to Sid about tying in, realising that I should have spent more time explained the whole system of how leading and seconding a route works instead of being so impatient. As I brought up Sid I reminded him to take the gear out as he passed it too! I felt such a idiot as I'd assumed he'd just know it all. As I was belaying Matt wondered across the top to see what I was doing and comment on the fact that he couldn't believe I just trusted my gear to the point I'd just hang off it. I just told him you get used to it over time.

Sid was panting and making alot of noises as he climbed, prompting me to pay a little more attention to him. He was actually doing fine and just had the final section of crack to complete. I was willing him on as he grabbed the final hold and pulled himself over. He was grinning from ear to ear and just plain loving it. I wish I could have captured it all on film or something because I was just what climbing should be about. We walked back into the quarry, pausing briefly as Ronnie asked me to check his anchors. At the base I found Laura having a bit of a bad time of it on her HS. I think maybe just coldness, hangover and a steep quarried grit route had got the better of her. In the end I nipped up with a top-rope to give her a hand.

As the quarry was a little busy and cold we all headed out into the sunshine to find the rest of the club. We found them mass ascending a VD which maggie stood on my shoulders for. Seemed like everyone was enjoying themselves loads. We then moved to the massive boulder to play on some problems. Now I'm becoming more and more of a fan of bouldering. After a strong opposition of this "lesser" form of climbing, I actually love it. So me, Tim, Toaf and Turner focused of a couple of problems. I stuck an awesome little dyno, with a nasty landing which I was chuffed with. Then a little crack line started to defeat us. We'd all got the same point and ended up sitting around frustrated! grrrr!

Ilkley is a crag Uncle Rob would like. There is a 5 minute walk in and a cafe at the base. We took adventage of this and Tea & Ice cream later (my teeth didn't explode) I had another go. This time a foot out right to bridge meant it sent it! So with heavily grit rashed arms I stood up happily only to enquire " so how do I get off this thing?". Both Toaf & Tim went on the send the problem, Tim vis stuffed his head into a crack and climbing upside down and Toaf in braces and a flat cap. It left us wondering why we'd found it so had in the first place?

I then go rescued off a stupid solo attempt. I was done over by some birdcrap on a ledge and asked quietly for a rope. Andy the yelled at the top of his voice in his most urgent tone and Toaf appeared with a bouldering mat not a moment too soon. By now I was panicing but managed to down climb most of the way and fell of the last 10ft. A little shaken I walked thanked them.

More climbing was in order as the day was passing us by. Most of the club headed over to do a quick severe as we where loosing the daylight round this side. Me, Sid and Matt headed back into quarry figuring that the sun might be catching the wall. It was so I headed up S climb (VS 4c). After my fialed solo attempt I was a little shakey to say the least, so I took my time. Before I left the ground this time I made sure I explained everything I was doing. I really took my time, intending to enjoy all the moves and climb it with as little exersion as possible. I managed it quite well and I think this was my favourite route of the weekend.

Both Sid and Matt seconded this. Sid came up first complaining that his finger's were too fat for the final crack (they weren't). He topped out grinning. Matt then came up, struggling a bit more than Sid but he topped out yelling "yeah, yeah, woo, take that frenchy!". When I quizzed him on this he said "well he'd beaten me before on the other climbing, I couldn't let him win this!" We laugh and explained to Sid, who also laughed about it. Running down we figured we got time for another climb so pick the route next to it, , VS 4b. This kick started with an offwidth handjam crack which nearly had me beat. Then some decent gear before a groove with a massive chock in it. Jamming hand and fist on the one side and fingers on the other I pushed up for the top hold. Booyah! I salmoned my way over the top to finish.

Matt was first up and tackled the offwidth with gusty. He came off which dragged my belay around a bit but he got up it. The final section taugh him how to jam well. I wish I could have taken a picture of his face in the pain as he pulled up in his jams! Sid climbed the start of, as Toaf arrived to give him some advice. Sid topped out and we walked off happily.

The quarry was a tip so Me, Sid and Matt just tidied it up. We filled a big bag full of rubbish just from the quarry and the walk back to the others. Now was home time, but we needed to wait for Prescott to join us from the other crag. As we waited thus ensused a game of "Stuck in the Mud". If you know how competitive people get in the club you can imagine how this game went, let just say I went back covered in mud.

Back at the Hut we had a massive curry, before the evenings activities started. Andy had forgotten the paper plate awards, so did the "bits of stick I found by the fire instead" awards. I got not so wise old sage, from being the most experience member there in climbing, but pretty much nothing else. I then did a quiz which went down alright, though I probably pitched the questions a little hard. Then came the evenings drinking, which went pretty well. Amazingly there was no obscenity, but everyone get pretty drunk. There was some games, some chilling out and some serious playfighting, I crawled into a new bed by the fire at sometime close to 5am.

SUMC club trip: Yorkshire! PART 1

Wow! What a weekend. Seeing as we've only been gone for 2 days it feels like 3 weeks. This is probably something to do with the fact I managed a grade total of 4 hours sleep over the whole weekend! As you can imagine there was a little alcohol! I don't know to start (at the beginning) which is probably Thursday night. I'm technically not a member of SUMC (Staffordshire University Mountaineering Club). I used to be, but I got every week to Stoke and go away on club trips with them. I probably hold the mantle of somewhere between "we don't ask him to leave because he's occasionally useful and he won't leave the club, but we're too polite to ask him to leave". I end up on the "black OPs" list for club trips. This means we turn up in the dead of night and arn't covered under uni insurance!

So Thursday then, well normal night of climb down the uni's indoor wall. A good evening by all accounts. Me and Chris Prescott practised aid climbing on some bat holes drilling into the wall (on top rope) with skyhooks. Speedy steep aid climbing in actually quite hard work, especially if your trying to top step each time. Then a little climb, tomfoolery and planning the cars, drivers and kit for the weekend. Then the pub. I normally have just the 1 (or two) and retreat to bed early as I have work in the morning in B'ham. Tonight however was an awesome night as everyone was psyched for the club trip. I ended up definatly having more than one and suffering for it at work the next day.

Friday I left work and drove to the florist for mother's day floweres. Getting home I promptly passed out and was thankfully woken up by my brother. After a hurried stint of packing involving basically sweeping the contents of my floor into a couple of IKEA bags I was off back on the road, dog tired but smiling. I only had 3 hours driving ahead of me! Into Stoke to see my friend and drink way to much tea while I waited for Andy's train to get in. It was late of course so me, Laura, Toaf and Andy and all our kit piled into my little car and set off for 2200. Yorkshire here we come!

The drive was pretty quick, probably due to the fact we sang most of the way there and I was buzzing on tiredness and redbull. I'd texted ahead to let them know we'd be quite late and they kindly saved some food for us. On arrival I thought we'd be joining the party but entered a quiet room of trivia pursuit and book reading. This didn't stay like this for long as we'd arrived with a car full of beer and speakers for the ipod. We managed to plan a day at Ilkley for the Saturday somewhere along the line and I crawled into a bed at sometime close to 5am...

A single route at Tremadog...

I woke up at about 0500 to rainfall. I remember looking upwards and seeing the roof of our boulder, then tuning my ears into the rain. My heart sank, but I leaned forward and checked that my stuff sack wasn't getting wet. Laura stirred next to me as I moved and I mumbled something about it raining. My stuff sack wasn't getting wet and it was 5am, I pulled up my sleeping bag and snuggled down.

I woke up again at 0615. I didn't know the time when I woke up but I scrambled to find my phone and cancel the alarm only to find out I was an hour early. I cancelled it anyway and lay still, gently fighting for some room between Andy and Laura and watch the sky get clearer as the sun rose. It was going to be a nice day I though, only not here, here it'll be damp. We'll need to climb somewhere else, and already at the back of my mind an idea was eating away at me.

Up early enough to miss Old Rosie demanding her pound. I do take umbridge to the fact that you get charged, but it does encourage a speedy wake up and early start. We started off with a little early morning bouldering, but with weak cold morning muscles and new boots I wasn't used too I got nowhere. I though I'd nail the problem this time, shows how wrong you can be I guess. An early start meant some shopping in Llanberis. Andy's got paid recently and need some more gear so V12 was where we headed. I looked at a bewildering array of skyhooks as I was supposed to be picking one up for a friend. After looking at 4 different hooks, I gave up. Pete's provided breakfast and then we set off again heading for an old favourite in times of odd weather, Tremadog.

I'd at some point got it into my head to lead Vector (E2 5c). Vector was the first route put up on Vector Buttress and snakes through taking a wandering line but sampling the delights of the cliff, namely the infamous hanging "Ochre Slab". To be fair its a much easier offering than some of the other routes on there (Cream, Strawberries etc) but it's a classic. Being a classic meant that climbing it first try would mean so much more, I have a habit of falling off classics. Added to this Toaf has seen said hanging slab and marvelled at it. It had bitten him as well so I asked if we'd team up for it. At the same time Laura and Andy teamed up for another crag classic, Christmas Curry, with the Micah eliminate (HS 4b). We pulled up at Eric's paid for parking, skipped on a brew, and set off. Fear was already building in me.

I pointed out where the line of Christmas curry went to Laura and Andy and Toaf described the walk up to them. They had a guide book and a single rope so we said they could walk round and rappel off our ropes if they beat us to the top. We carried on walking towards Vector.

Toaf had already looked at the topo and said he'd take the first pitch (5a) and the fourth & last pitch at (4b). This left me with the 5c and 5b pitches in between, including the slab to deal with. I'm going to the say I mind because I always like taking the harder pitches in a route, but I was really happy Toaf was taking the first pitch. Climbing is always about honesty, so I'll be honest about Toaf and he won't mind me saying it. He's not confident leading. This seems to silly as he climber harder than me. He'll knock off 6a moves easily, but isn't happy leading so him taking the 5a pitch was good.

Gearing up at the base was scary. I had the weight of a hard lead already bearing down on me. I felt it heavy on my shoulders as I settled down to belay. Toaf headed off confidently and climbed his pitch well, after deciding on the appropriate line. At the belay we laughed and joked about the next lead and how I could just back off if I didn't like it. With my new boots on I stepped out... and then quickly stepped back. It was a hard move off the belay! This wasn't cool. I'd ran this through in my mind all week. It was supposed to be easy and I'd cruise up it, not start of with some 5b move to the next good hand hold. I did just carry on across anyway, as Toaf added encouragement, until I was below the slab. What!!!

So this was the crux then? actually gaining the slab off either some bouldery moves up the thin rib, or some thin face climb just to the left. I opted for some face climbing and backed up my gear. Sorry, that sounds like I confidently headed up this next section. That is not the case. I sat on ledge for about 20 minutes trying to not back off. After trying it over and over and talking it through with Toaf I ended up just going for it. My mind crawled inside my own head as soon as I realised I was above my gear and couldn't reverse the last move. I could hear Toaf yelling encouragement like a lunatic at me, like someone shouting down a tunnel. I'd focused on my next placement the horrible old ring peg. I could hear him yelling "clip the peg man, clip it" as I did.

"It's really sh*t, mate!"
"better than nothing, it'll slow you down anyway"

I wasn't trusting myself that that peg, so I plugged a cam in the crack next to it. This was also my hand hold, but it was worth it.

"I got a cam in, woooooo"... And I crawled out of my mind.

The slab was sketchy to say the least. I got a little more gear in but the climbing was easier and I made my way up it. As I left the top of the slab I thought it would be easier climbing, but I was wrong, so with rope drag I pulled around into the crag belay, happily shaking as adrenaline coursed through me. I clipped pegs and nuts together and hung back, yelling I was safe to Toaf. What at pitch. It had just put me in the place where I just thought I was going to fall off and I'd pulled through and made it. The weight of this classic route had started to lift.

"You coming up?"
"Yeah, just having a fag"
"haha, you'll need one after this pitch too"
"sh*t!"
"What?!!"
"I've just dropped my lighter, it's exploded"

Despite not having a fag, Toaf arrived at the belay smiling from ear to ear. "You should have seconded that man, you should, I mean take the fear out of it and its fantastic climbing!" I knew it was fantastic climbing, but I loved being out on the lead. Toaf took the bouldery line to get the ochre slab. He raved about it. Maybe I'll go back and second it.

We re-racked all the ropes, sorted the gear enjoyed a few m'n'ms and I set off after we'd ascertained the right line. I daunting looking overhang stood before me, but it went easily after I found a couple jugs, that meant the 5b section was still to come. As I nipped across a slab I saw a guy leading up my final section. It seemed that he'd done The Weaver which joins Vector at this point. I did at the time think it was rather rude, as they'd seen us on the route already but had started up anyway. Either was I didn't get in his way and let him lead it while I stood around getting cold. His second apologise profusely for keeping me waiting on lead, but it didn't matter. He mentioned that this was a right sting in the tail he remembered when he'd done Vector.

A quick yell to Toaf and I was off. Bridging was the order of the day apparently, and I mean serious bridging. I had a micro and an RP in below me and I was at full bridge with my calves cramping up, not where I want to be. I fought for a cam placement which took up my hand hold. I manged to get 2 in making me feel a little better and then came the move. Trying to convert my bridge into a layback off holds I couldn't reach. I tried and missed the first time, but regained my bridge and then made it the second time. I snuck in my lucky number 7 nut and powers up on good hand holds to the next belay.

Toaf joined me puffing, panting and complaining that that was the hardest move on the climb. From here we soloed up the last pitch on a high. We'd just completed Vector, one of the classic routes. We ran round to the top of Shadrach and abseiled down to start the hunt for the quickdraw. Only when I'd given up hope did Toaf managed to spot the tiniest bit of metal in the undergrowth, we got it.

We sauntered back to Eric's to try and find Laura & Andy and get a well earned brew and cake. As we lay in the car park several different people came up and asked me if I was the guy they'd seen on Vector. We I said I was they asked me how it was, and congratulated me on my climb. One really old guy came and shook my hand telling me it was years since he'd lead it. His smile was almost as big as mine as he remember it...

A boulder problem in the sky?

Our day at Tremadog ended and after a large amount of faffing and undirectional movement we ended up at the Vaynol and I decided what we'd be doing the next day. I don't actually like deciding what we are doing every day, but I've noticed that if I take a back seat then no-body else steps up and decides anything and we become a bit aimless. We where climbing at Dinas Mot on Sunday. It was right across from where we where sleeping and has some great climbing there.

Andy and Toaf stayed in the Pub till close, leaving me and Laura to head back earlier. I was tired anyway so wanted to curl up under our boulder and try and get some rest. I was pretty hungry and was actually looking forward to trying out some dehydrated food I'd brought from decathlon (psyched by dehydrated food, you know it's bad!). There'll be more about the food in another post. As we drove back up the pass there was a guy thumbing for a lift, and I finally stopped (after Laura yelled too). I've hitched around snowdonia before but I feel bad driving past climbers who only need a lift up the pass etc. Climbing is about having a good time, so I think we should all try and pass this on.

We pulled up and asked where he needed to get to. In a heavy South African accent he asked not for a lift, but for a push as their battery had died in the car park. We instantly offered to help. I've flattening my battery before (on the motorway, another story) but know what a pain it could be. They asked for a jump but I told them that my little car wouldn't have enough to jump a large engine like theirs. I should point out that they had a minibus! So we started pushing, with Laura steering as she was lightest just so we could get it on the road. Once on the road we swapped drivers and we tried to start it while rolling but to no avail. All seemed lost but I told them if we got it to the pub then I knew someone who'd be able to jump it. Pushing it all the way to the pub wasn't really an option, so Jess was pulled up in front. Some 30mm tape produced from the back of their bus and the towing started. It took a push to get going but Jess handled it fine. I couldn't believe it, my little 1 litre polo towing a minibus. It was enough to get their engine turning over as well so we didn't even need to go all the way to the pub! Very gratefully they thanked us and offered us something to say thanks. There was nothing we wanted as me and Laura were just happy to help. They headed off, and we head to the boulder.

We cooked up and settled down for what would be a colder night. Not that I was cold in my two sleeping bags but outside it was definitely colder. There was no clouds in the sky but also a sharp breeze in the air. I hunkered down in my sleeping bags behind my makeshift windbreak (my large stuff sack) and waited for sleep to take hold. I woke up during the night a few times and constantly checked the weather, there was no change. In the morning we woke up early, but didn't get up early enough to avoid old Rosie, so another £1 was surrendered.

A quick check down the pass told me what I already knew, that Dinas Mot would make for a cold, more solitary days climbing. We couldn't exactly get enthused to walk up to Cromlech, apart from Laura. Laura wanted to climb in the sunshine. Me, Toaf and Andy weren't bothered. I'll point out that I was in a foul mood after such and excellent nights sleep because Toaf & Andy had potentially lost my guide books in the pub. More than likely they where in the pub, but Toaf had been and checked and they weren't there. I don't think anyone wanted to argue about what crag to go to.

We walked in on frozen ground, which meant we avoided the bog hopping I normally have to do to get to the Mot. Andy & Laura had teamed up for "The Cracks" HS 5a. Me and Toaf decided on "The Direct Route" VS 5b. I've done all of this route to the last pitch and then had to abseil off on my first attempt, and I've backed off the last pitch of the Superdirect and done the final pitch of this instead. I've never actually done the whole route in one go, so that was the aim for today.

"Let's go fast and light?" asked Toaf
"well we normally do" I replied
"yeah, I meant you lead, your quicker and it's cold" Toaf had countered.

I knew he'd lead the day before and that was probably him done leading for the weekend. It's not that he's not good at it (he is) he just doesn't like it. I set off and soon remembered how seemingly gearless Dinas Mot feels. I crossed the first pitch of slabby terrain with good friction to a good nut belay. I looked up at the second pitch and yelled "Toaf, pitch 2 is wet! I think you can lead it!". I snuggled down into my belay jacket and brought him up on the guideplate. At the belay we re-stacked the ropes, swapped the gear and I was off. It's was quickest changeover I've ever had. P2 wasn't wet, but my feet did skitter off at one point. I placed alot of gear almost running out of runners but arrived at the next stance quickly. I looked at it and remembered Dan sitting there fast asleep when me, him and Rob had come climbing one warm day in the summer. Now it was a cold March Sunday as I brought Toaf up. We waited for a bit at the ledge, rewarming our cold feet before the last pitch. Andy & Laura were still o the first pitch at this point and needed out ropes to abseil off.

I took the final pitch and what a great pitch it was! I know I've done it before but it really is a little boulder problem in the sky! I'd joked we should have hauled a bouldering mat up there just for the photo (might actually do that one day). The rest of the pitch isn't easy either. It goes from being a delicate boulder problem to a burly climb. It's got loads of protection on it, and I even got a knee jam in for a hands free rest! Toaf swore his way up the route and we abseiled off to join Andy on his second pitch. At Andy we nicked the guide book off him and decided to pull our rope and climb quicker to meet them at the top.

We'd decided on Diagonal (HVS 5a) which goes in 4 pitches, all at 5a. We spent no time messing around at the bottom and just racked, ditched taking the sack this time with our shoes and off I went as Toaf lit up. The route is described as having sparse gear and I found his out at a couple of points on P1. It traverses in a diagonal line to the first belay and have a pretty interesting 5a section, with little protection. I had a pretty tiny spike slung that I thought would come off, amazingly it didn't! The friction was awesome as well, which meant I could take full advantage of the rough rhyolite of the Mot. The belay took a while to put together, as I could only find 1 decent anchor, but hunting around produced another, phew! On went the belay jacket and the guideplate and up Toaf came.

Arriving at the belay we where on fire. There was no messing around, the ropes where racked, gear swapped and the guidebook checked and boom, I was off. I ended up running P2 and P3 together as P2 is only 12 metre long. It took a hanging chimney/groove which was really fun to climb up. I placed too many runners on this bit meaning I had 4 left for the 30 metre P3. It traverses and then you have a little mantle to do, all above some spaced gear. The difficulties soon pass and it eventually turns into a scramble for the final stance.

The final pitch was keeping within character of the rest of the route's I've done on Dinas Mot, a hard won finale. I fought to get any upward ground on what seems like bad holds, placed an awful nut and must have been making more than enough struggling noises as Andy popped his head over the top. "Bloody hell" I exclaimed as I got hold of a half decent hold, good enough to pull up on. Then a jug and that was it, it was topped out. What a fun pitch! yeah it was the hardest bit, but it so much fun. A great pitch to end on.

Toaf again swore his way up the pitch, proclaiming that it was crap but I could see him smiling really. We all rappelled off down the gully, and walked round. Laura and Toaf too cold to do another route, Andy was happy with what he'd done. I still wanted to climb but group consensus said other wise. we stopped in at the Vaynol and as luck would have it, they still had my guidebooks in there. We drove home in the setting sun.

Scotland, a photo essay

I've toyed with the idea of doing a photo-essay before. Anyway I've set myself a limit of 12 photographs to try and catch the essence of our trip away to scotland. Here goes...

(Our first walk in in decent weather)

(Stewie relishing a short icefall, you've got to love that grin)(The final difficulty on glover's chimeny from our day on the Ben)(Excellent conditions in Coire na Ciste and afreak rainbow)
(Another icefall for me to tackle)
(Exhausted after a day on the hill, though more likely staying up the night before)
(Snow, and lots of it)
(Finally a reason for Andy to wear is belay jacket, I think he was here for a while)
(Our first cornice breaking experience yeilded a Toaf blinded by snow in his eyes)
(The expression Toaf wore for much of the weak, you can tell me what it means)(Our last walk off, in perfect conditions, after a great day out)

A quick word on climbing...

I was reading someone elses blog today and came across this quote which I think totally sums up my attitde towards climbing. It's actually been written about bouldering at the new wall in Stoke.

"Working on problems while getting support off your mates, supporting your mates, climbing isn’t just a sport, it’s a culture, one that sets you aside from normal life, everyone is in slight competition but no one wants to see you fail."

Climbing can be a sport or done for recreation, but for those who really care about it it slowly becomes a feature of thier life (It's been described as my other woman more than once, and a couple of times as my only woman). Its a lifestyle and a culture and something really hard to break free from.

(Dan shattered after out first alpine peak and the journey it took to get there...)

Climbing Photography...

Recently I've been brought a new camera as a christmas present off my parent. I think my parent like seeing what I've been up to on my weekends away and occasionally I do get some good shots which might be worth printing off, but at the end of the day climbing photography is hard.

I keep reading articals on UKC, Ian Parnell and Andy Kirkpatrick on how to take good climbing pictures. All these articals are great but I think I might have hit on the single most important point made by all of them (esp the UKC one).

You'll never use your camera if it's stuffed away in your bag or in a hard to reach/open case or if its deep in your pocket. All winter I've carried my camera on a piece of 3mm cord holding the case. The case is a very simple design which zips open and closes. Added to this I lark's foot the camera lanyard to the 3mm cord. Simple now I carried the camera same way I'd carry a sling. I can swing it out the way if I'm leading and it hard to drop it because its attached around my shoulders. Even when I'm shooting photos I can drop it and it's still attached to the cord.

So this system seems to work for me, it may make me look a little like a tourist but I don't care because it means I can keep shooting while I'm climbing!

Onsighting and grounding up...

After reading a few posts this morning about "is this an onsight?... what is an onsight... etc etc blah blah blah" I decided to rant about it a little so...

I may as well put a story into this, so it starts at 6am one sunday morning with driving up to Stoke to meet Toaf. Warm day, but cool rock so we went to Ramshaw and did a classic to start, The Crank (VS 4c for anyone who can jam, 5a for anyone who can't). Then we found ourselves below Traveller in time (E4 6a). This was a route a couple of friends of mine had headpointed (practised the moves on top-rope and tested the gear placements before hand) and subsequnetly lead. I'd actually watch my mate climb the start on video, but turned it off as I didn't want to see anymore. E4 6a was a pretty high grade for me (it still is) but we thought we give at go anyway.

bah? Onsight? Ground up? You know even my Dad knows what these terms mean, and he doesn't touch rock at all (though he has argeed to come out climbing with me one day). I think the film "Onsight" managed to explain a lot of climbing terms really well. So what is an onsight? As far as I'm concerned its climbing a route without any prior knowledge of the moves or gear placements (having prior knowledge of gear or moves is termed beta). So you pretty much turn up at the crag, find a line that inspires you, check the guidebook description you make sure it's within your grade and then have a crack at it. But what happens if you fall off or downclimb, this is where people get all kinds of messed up.

If you downclimb from your high point without weighting the rope (crucial point to note) then you get back on the route I figure you can still claim the onsight. Downclimbing is sometimes flippin harder than that actual climbing, so if you do it without wieghting the rope ot your gear then you can claim the onsight.

We sat at the bottom of the route for ages, listening to "hold your colour" and deciding what gear to take. I took small wires and small cams. Then placed all the gear on the floor ready for Toaf to chuck up anything I needed. I bouldered the start as well to get a feel for the route. Then I walked around it and looked at it from all angles, without actaully abseiling down it. You really couldn't see much, and there wasn't much to see.

So what if I weight the rope then? Well if you fall off or lower off then thats it you've blown the onsight. According to Leo Holding (in Onsight) this is the best place to be. You've blown it, there's no pressure on you to complete the route first go, you can forget about your own ego and you can climb it at will now, but where do you go from here.

Well you either leave your rope in place and then re-climb up to your high point and carry on again. This is called Yo-yoing as you can go up and down like a yo-yo. It used to be acceptable style in the 80's or such. Sometimes the faff of recovering your ropes and gear is too much effort, and you just climb it again like that. On multipitch routes, if a damn sight easier to just yo-yo it. There is another choice, a "purer" ethic. It's called ground up. The climb a route ground up you start at the ground and climb up in one push, without falling off or weighting the rope. Climbing a route such as this (no falls etc) so also termed flashing a route. There is starting to get way too many terms to keep up with, no?

Ropes coiled, up I climbed and through me head ran everything that Alex and Turner had said about the route. I knew there was a gnarly mantleshelf coming up at some point and I just hoped I could do it. I started to wonder if all this information, the 5 seconds of film, the fact that I'd walked around and looked at the route, did this all count as an acceptable level of Beta? could I still claim the onsight? I placed my final pieces from a hard stretch then downclimbing to a half decent rest. Then it was time, up I went and reached out...

So you try for an onsight, if you know nothing about a route. If you fall off your next best option is a ground up ascent, then a yoyo if you really can't be bothered with pulling through your ropes and removing your gear. If you practise a route then lead it it's a headpoint (or redpoint), if you just climb it but you know the moves or gear then this is called beta. It's terms a Beta flash if you managed to climb it without falls.

Smear with the feet, match my hand on the hold and get my foot up and match that as well, then mantle like I've never mantled before. Pushing with my feet and screaming as I pull some muscles in my ribs, Toaf's worried I'll fall off not sure what to do. Tears stream as the pain in my chest subsides and I stand up on my foot, balancing with my hands and trying to get as much friction and possible. I breath a sigh of relief and oddly enough my mind is clear. No thought of the onsight, ground up, beta flash or headpoint. The rest of the climb goes easy after that final hard move. I sat on the top enjoying a quiet moment of contemptation. I couldn't work out how I'd managed to pull off the move.

So was Traveller in Time and onsight for me? I don't think it was. I mean I can bend it in my mind and kid myself that Alex and Turner didn't let on anything crucial, that that 5 seconds of film of Turner on the start, that looking at the route from all angels didn't mean anything, but it did. Even the fact that Alex and Turner had lead it added to my beta. I climbed it ground up in the end, but my lasting memory isn't that it's my hardest ground up route to date, but that all this nonsense about onsighting etc is just all nonsense. Alex Lowe said that "the best climber is the one having the most fun" and that really should be why you climb because its why I climb. My ego does get in the way of my climbing alot, but at the end of the day some of the best route's I've climbed, haven't been the hardest or highest grades, they've been the ones that made me laugh.

Lying down watching the cloud pass over head after completing a VS on Malham's Right hand wall, the only trad we could find. Me and Dan have been lay there for about an hour, just enjoying the sunshine warm soft grass, watching the clouds and scratching our nuts with a variety of different nutkeys , trying to decided which is best. One of my best days climbing ever, and all we did was two VS's.