New Mills Torrs

With a ambiguous metoffice weather forcast (and yes this does mean I've finally worked out how to use the new metoffice website format) I took this opportunity to get out somewhere in the Peak that I've always wanted to go, but have been saving for a rainy day, New Mills Torr. I have to say that I wasn't unimpressed. This is a great crag in what I can only describe as a romantic setting (however that could have just been the light!) and to think, I only picked it because it has a roof!


New Mills Torrs is just over 20 metres in height and extend along the valley floor. It is also quarried grit, in the finest sense of the world and therefore it's steep, crimpy and has varying degrees of looseness. The rock quality extends from excellent grit to slightly crumbly and loose. There is some very exciting trad there (which I sampled) and some excellent reachy & powerful bouldering (of which there was much sampling) and several sport routes (of which there was no sampling). Sport routes I might hear you cry? on a gritstone crag? Well the sport routes themselves actually run up the bridge legs (?) and have been well bolted. They also have names that hint that the bolting of a gritstone man-made bridge is the small end of the wedge etc, which I thought was fantastic! 

The river is also home to Britain's first Local Hydroelectric scheme, which has been built into the side of the river near the ruins of the old mill that was once there. It has been tastefully built out of the similar materials to the old ruins, runs almost silently and seems to pump out 54 Kilowatts of energy (which Toaf, being a sparky, tells me will power about 10 houses) most of the time. It just got me thinking that why aren't more schemes like this set up? I know in the area around where I work a lot of the council houses are being retrofitted with solar panels, but should it stop here? It wouldn't cost much to start small scale community projects that bring down the local cost of energy production. Sometimes I wonder about things.


Back to the climbing. We'd (Toaf, Ronnie and I) come armed with a couple of pads and some trad gear knowing what the climbing would be like. In retrospect taking a single rope for the sport climbing would have been a better idea, but I think I left it behind so I would have the "lack of single rope" as an excuse to avoid the sport. As it happened we climbed no sport at all and instead spent the day working several traverses and boulder problems, a few highball problems/short solos and a single trad route. 


We started off with the Grim Reaper traverse, which although only got font 6a+ completely shut us down for ages. Looking back we should have probably avoided a traverse under a heavily dripping wall but that actual problem was dry at least. From here we just worked our way right along the wall and gradually upping the grade, a little. We ticked off Viaduct Wall and Viaduct Wall variations before spending ages trying Honcho (Font 6b+?) This is basically the start to the trad route by the same name, which gets E4 6b. 


I'm not being funny but it took us ages. We'd managed both the left and right hand versions of the problem, but the start up direct just seemed to have us completely stumped. It wasn't until I accidentally move my bottom foot (you'd understand if you did the problem) and unlocked the key to the start of the route. From now a second pad was added to our little pile and we could have  real look at the rest of the route. I'll admit that by trying the route ground up made a real difference. In my head it wasn't a trad route anymore, but a highball boulder problem, with a crux at the start. In the end I got well established at the final moves but didn't have the minerals to actually make the final move. It was a little off balance and looking down the pads, which normally seem so big and awkward to carry, seems minuscule and unhelpful.


It's an interesting thing when you think about how you approach different routes. For me a trad route and a boulder problem are two different things, within the world of climbing. I would never spend ages working a trad route, either on top-rope or pre-practising different sections till I'd got it nailed. This could stem from a number of things; like it juts being more awkward to work a route (either on top-rope with a partner or shunting it on your own, and I don't own a shunt), or that for me it crosses a line and then takes away from the experience of onsighting. The interesting thing is, is that if I've failed on a route I'll then go through the effort of pulling the ropes and doing it ground up if I can. Why I do this, rather than just dogging on the lead and then carrying on (and in some situations I would do this, Gogarth, multipitching, if time didn't allow etc) is a bit of a mystery to me. 


Then again if it's a boulder problem it suddenly all seems fair game. I don't mind working it over and over if it's hard. I'll take a good look at all the hold and plan the moves out in my head, refining it after each attempt till I can actually do the problem. Suddenly the whole thing is less serious, idea's are thrown around between all the people there which makes paying attention when it's someone else's go (obviously you'll be wide awake spotting) all the more important, should they suddenly unlock the key to a route. There is less competition between each other. 


Treating Honcho as an extended boulder problem, rather than an E4 6b trad route was really fun. As wasn't much chance of me onsighting the route anyway and therefore applying a ground-up ethic to it and treating it as a problem to be solved worked. With the pads we could fall off and I could keep getting to my high point, and bottling out without the added pressure of "the onsight". I intend to go back and do this problem/route (whatever...). There is a peg onroute that's been cemented in, but someone has, and I'm in no doubt that they were being helpful, left a thin maillion attached to it. You can't get a 'biner through it but the maillion is rusty and old. I figure that it would be much better to do it with several pad beneath me anyway, it'll just be more fun that way. At the end fo the day that what it's about, having fun,  isn't it?


I did manage to scare myself on a couple of occasions though. One of soloing Viaduct Wall variation (E1 5c) which has an easy mantle that I very nearly completely messed up and The Arete (E3 5b), the only trad route I did that day. It was defiantly type 2 fun.

The Arete was pretty much the first clear line that I looked at the crag. It's one of the few routes that's actually been included in On Peak Rock, for this crag. I'd purposefully left it to the end of the end to have a go at a trad route here, simply because I wanted to get used to the rock. I'm glad I did because as I've already stated the rock differs and changes subtly along the cliff. I started off pretty well, considering it was also pretty easy to being with. This ease suddenly stopped with a short section of hard climbing to gain the good ledge to rest on at 9 metres. With no gear in I placed a small nut blind and then carried on up... before a rapid retreat. The nut looked fine, but I'd let it get to me and had my doubts. It was a good few minutes and more attempts later before I actually made the move and gained the ledge. I spent along time, hangin' around on the arete, backing up my single piece of gear with a cam (and inadvertently taking up my hand hold should I have needed to retreat). I think I've got to stop doing this and have more faith in my ability, rather than planning ahead for when I fall off.


Mantling onto the ledge was not done in style but it did lighten the mood between me and Toaf which had come pretty tense. I sat on the ledge and noticed for the first time that it overhung by about a metre, so I stayed there for a while to relax. Before long I'd clipped the old pegs and had to carry on. At least on this route I didn't have to worry about hanging around to place gear as there really wasn't that much of it. The gear that was there was spaced, to say the least. I just had to make sure that I go to it before I pumped out.


The ledge that had provided a nice rest showed it's true colours as soon as I left it. It stuck out enough from the face that I'd have probably hit it on the way down, if I slipped off. With this is mind it took me a good few attempts to actually get off the ledge and commit to the next set of moves. I'm not going to lie but it took a while to get moving again, and I felt physically sick with fear (this included retching) which is was a completely new experience for me. I found myself clipping the two pegs (also the last gear on route) before struggling to find a rest and fighting the pump that was building in my arms. In a slightly detached part of my mind a idea sparked up that I should probably train on more pumpy routes, so I can deal with it better out on the lead. 


My screaming arms and sweating with fear I grabbed the loose looking blocks at the top of the route. As I clambered over the top, my "trees don't count as handholds" rule went straight out the window and I grabbed for the routes and clipped the piece of tat above me. I was ok, I was safe and I'd not fallen off. Toaf joined me on the lead with the small amount of gear for the route. I watched him fighting with the same pump as I had while he stubbornly hung around trying to remove my gear. I told him to leave it as we have to abseil the line anyway, but he wasn't having any of it. Being the best second in the world in a sense of pride for him.


And thus ended our journey up and along the walls of New Mills Torrs. I've not doubt I'll be back, and having seen the state of the weather over the coming weekend I can virtually guarantee it. Exploring new crags really is worth it.


[I'll be adding some more photos, when I can get them of my friends camera]