Skyline and the Roaches

Decent weather but I'm stuck in stoke with limited time to climb before meeting friends at redpoint in B'ham. So up to the Roaches, well skyline actually. We only really did a few routes (I actually napped at the base of the crag for a while) and I lobbed off Wombat before giving up, but while we where at skyline we did get a awesome route in...

Prelude to Space takes the right hand edge of a beautifel little slab, tucked away along the skyline. This route hasn't been on my todo list really, but once Andy mentioned Skyline I knew we'd be heading straigh for it. I do love slab climbing, especially on grit and as a lower grade slab route that still maintains a serious side, Prelude is it. At HVS 4c it's still not a push over. The 4c moves arn't really hard 4c if your as tall as me, but for someone of Ceara's height they certainly looked a little tougher. The gear is bomber, for those of you that carry a metolius 00 and WC 3.5 to every crag, but if you mess up the top move you've got to have a very good belayer to stop you hitting the floor.

However it's one of the best slab routes I've ever done! I'd recomend it to anyone who's climbing well at HVS.

I guess the final point to note is the belay. It's not very good. Short of taking a stake up with you it's a bit of a mish-mash. There a couple of good nuts at like 120 degree apart... and I had Andy lying on the floor behind me as a final anchor.