Bank Holiday Sun

Once every few years the stars align and we get the magical combination of sunny weather and bank holiday and the early May long weekend this year was just such a weekend. Kirsty and I had decided on a couple of days in the peaks, stopping over at North Lees campsite, but before we headed off there was some serious business to attend to, getting our skates on to celebrate Chris’s 30th birthday, ‘80s roller disco style.

The man, the legend

We awoke on Sunday morning a little groggy, with worrying flashbacks of multi-coloured lycra and posing pouches, and made a later than planned start up the M1. We stopped in at the campsite first and got our home for the night set up before heading up to Stanage just after lunchtime. Kirsty wasn’t really feeling the climbing vibe but it takes more than that to deter me so I stuck my rack and rope in the bag and I got some training by lugging it with me. We walked the length of the edge all the way down to Stanage End and back to High Neb where we got a couple of routes in before the evening.

Kirsty heading up High Neb Buttress

First up was High Neb Buttress, one of the classics of the edge and a climb I’d looked forward to for a while. Pat had climbed it recently and thought it disappointing and I’d have to agree. With such a range of climbs to choose from in Eastern Grit I was very surprised this made the top 50 list, I’d personally not even give it three stars. We got a few other easier routes done before Kirsty suggested I had a go at Jeepers Creepers. Feeling a little wiped out and not really up for it I wasn’t surprised to get spat out so I added it to my steadily growing list of roof cracks that I’ve been spanked by and escaped off onto the juggy severe finish instead. We escaped off to the pub in Hope for some dinner and a beer before settling down for the night back in the tent.

Some evening Stanage soloing

The following day I felt refreshed and we decided to head up to Bamford fairly early in an effort to beat the bank holiday crowds. We started up on Wrinkled Wall then moved onto my second ever E1, the Crease. As extreme ticks go, this is one of the easier ones, getting the grade due to the run out top section rather than the climbing difficulties. I arranged a handful of small gear and sprinted for the top then Kirsty made easy work on second to record her first ever E1 climb, a great start to the day.

Beautiful weather on Wrinkled Wall

Next up we move to the lower tier to take a look at Quien Sabe. There was already a route on Brown’s Crack which shares the start so, feeling psyched from the Crease, I opted to have a go at Nemme Pas Harry, a tougher E1 with a long 5b move to a shallow pocket. The climb went smoothly and I had my second E1 tick of the day (and third ever). Kirsty needed a little more help on this one but did an awesome job making short work of some of the tougher moves.

Glad to be alive on the Crease. Spot the long run out.

Once the route had cleared we nipped up Quien Sabe and I soloed some easier routes before heading back towards the car. On the way back I couldn’t help getting one more route in and jumped on Gunpowder Crack a VS with an acrobatic 5b move to get off the ground. Kirsty didn’t  fancy it so I abseiled in to grab the gear and we wandered back down to the road before heading back south. Zooming down the M1 eating ice lollies and nursing a sunny glow, I couldn’t help wishing that all weekends worked out so well.

Roaches Return

Long hours sat behind a desk lead to a lot of back and forth emails about climbing, mainly with Pat, my partner in daydreaming crime. Earlier this year we were chatting about how neither of us had been to the Roaches in a long time so a plan was hatched for a weekend on the western grit in April. By the time our planned weekend came around we had a motley crew assembled and Joe met us in London to take the final place in the pom-mobile alongside Kirsty, Sam and Lorna for the early Saturday drive to the peaks.

We arrived a little late and met Pat hanging around on the boulders beneath the lower tier. The classic climbs on the upper tier were all out of bounds due to the nesting peregrine falcons which meant that the lower tier was already pretty busy so we decided to head along to the skyline buttresses to start our day.

I paired up with Pat and took the first lead, heading up Condor Slab. Protection was pretty sparse and I was soon wishing I’d started on something a bit simpler, a lesson I never seem to learn. Once safely up it was over to Pat to up the ante and he decided to get onto Safety Net, a burly E1 with a tough bouldery start. Pat lead with no problems which left me to second up. It took me several attempts to get established on the juggy hold at the top of the start sequence, I was nowhere near warmed up enough and got flash pumped to hell. Nevertheless I managed to finish up and was very glad I was not on lead, another hard climb made to look very easy by Mr B!

Next up we moved further down the buttress and I lead the direct finish to Perched Block Arete before Pat got stuck into the meaty stuff on Thrug, a classic VS hand jamming fest. The climb looked so good that Pat abseiled the route to clean it so that I could also have a go on lead. Apart from some poor footwork entering the crack meaning I had to reverse a move, it all went smoothly and I got the tick. Sam and Joe looked intrigued so both of them had a bash on second, Sam continuing to refuse to have anything to do with jamming decided to layback the whole thing while Joe broke his jamming virginity along with the skin on his hands making an impressive effort and getting the route cleanly.

Having visited the thuggish side of grit on Thrug we hit the other end of the spectrum and Pat got onto Enigma Variation, a poorly protected E2 with very real ground fall potential. Needless to say he danced up it cleanly and I seconded up wondering how you get your head into the right frame of mind to smear up on tiny footholds with such a large fall below you. After that I soloed a couple of easy routes waiting for Joe and Kirsty to finish up so that I could get on the nice easy classic of Slab and Arete.

With the evening closing in we moved back down to the lower tier and got onto the uber classic Valkyrie, a climb I had been looking forward to ever since my first weekend lead climbing back in 2011. Sam very kindly offered me the lead on both pitches so I got on with the task in hand and soon enough found myself joined by Sam at the top of the first pitch ready to attack the infamous flake. The second pitch lived up to expectations and I managed to make the airy escape to the relative safety of the main face leaving a fair amount of skin behind on the way there. Due to poor rope work I got incredible amounts of drag and had to haul a huge bunch of slack just to finish the route but I topped out with a huge grin on my face having managed to get such an iconic route done cleanly. Sam followed up with little fuss and we headed back down to the camp site to set up before hitting the pub for a well earned beer and some dinner.

On Sunday we decided to make use of the peregrine falcons having relocated their nest and headed up to Hen Cloud. I partnered up with Kirsty and we opted for Central Climb. I thrutched up the bizarre first pitch offwidth but Kirsty wasn’t having much fun so I lowered her off and abseiled back down. Kirsty was keen to try leading so she teamed up with Wendy who had joined us for the day and got onto The Arete, a great fun Vdiff. I soloed up alongside and helped on a couple of the trickier sections then headed back down and grabbed Joe to have another attempt at Central Climb. This time there were no hiccups and despite the weather turning and a little rain coming in, we topped out quickly and headed back to the tea rooms to grab a coffee and some cake before hitting the road back to London.

Easter Smash

As has become tradition, Easter time means Jesus climbing time and for the last few months I’ve been poring over my Welsh rock guidebooks working out a mental itinerary to make the most of the trip. Big link ups on Idwal Slabs, classic three star routes in the pass and a few lesser know routes dotted around, I couldn’t wait. We even had a cottage to stay in courtesy of Joe’s generosity and navy contacts. Last year we spent Easter basking in the sunshine in the Lake District so you can imagine my reaction as we flew back from Chamonix into a snow covered London to reports that Llanberis pass was under two metres of powder.

Keen to make the best of our time, Sam and I loaded up the car with all the climbing gear we owned, both winter and summer. We joined the bank holiday traffic escaping London for the weekend and arrived in a snowy Ogwen valley late that evening. The plan for Friday was to head over to Tremadog, always a good bet when the weather in the valley is against you, in search of some sun kissed multi-pitch action. Sam and I warmed up on Christmas Curry Micah Finish while Joe and Nat headed up Hail Bebe, Joe putting his new found lead climbing skills into action. The final pitch provided a fantastic situation for such an amenable grade and after topping out we hurried back down and simul-climbed up Hail Bebe to get some practise in for the alps this summer and catch up with the others. After a late lunch we finished up on Merlin Direct, a route I’ve been eyeing up for some time. I lead the tough second pitch and after a bit of a wobble on the layback flake I made it to the top and called Sam up to shouts of “this is awesome!” as he climbed.

Mr T in smash mode on the Micha Finish to Christmas Curry

Saturday we decided to don our spikes and woke early for the quick walk in up to Devil’s Kitchen in Cwm Idwal. The intention was to get onto the Screen, a classic grade IV ice route, but we soon realised that we weren’t the only people with that idea and after watching a pair having a bit of an epic in front of us we opted for the Ramp next door, an easier route with some interesting moves on the second pitch. 

Getting ready for the ramp

After topping out fairly early we dropped back down the normal descent and made our way across to Chicane Gully, another grade III route. We accidentally soloed the first pitch not realising the route had started so Sam took the second pitch which seemed fairly tough at the grade but still manageable. This left me with the lead on the final pitch which turned out to be a bit of a mare. The climbing was straightforward but the ice was completely hollow and there was very little it terms of protection as the screws were so poor. I reached the top belay just as Sam called through “two metres left!” and was relieved to finish and head back down to the lake. On the way back to the car I was shocked to see so many people walking up to the lake in completely inappropriate footwear and clothing, suddenly the number of mountain rescue call outs started to make more sense.

Mr T leading it out on Chicane Gully

Back at the cottage Sam and I got stuck into some serious tea drinking while Nat took Joe on a run. When they arrived back Nat looked like she’d walked a couple of miles and Joe looked like someone had laminated him, clearly tea was the better option.

After the early winter start we decided to have a more leisurely day on Sunday and given the conditions we headed back to Tremadog so I could give Joe a lesson in lead climbing. Joe and I started up on Poor Man’s Peutery and Joe took the first pitch. After starting well he had some trouble with route finding and we decided to play it safe, lower off and switch leads. From there on in Joe did brilliantly and took on the long fourth pitch up the exposed slab to complete his first severe lead, top effort.

Joe leading the way on Poor Man’s Peutery

As we got back to the bottom we saw Sam disappearing up Poor Man’s Peutery with Nat and decided to head along to Scratch, a classic VS two pitch route taking the striking corner crack on the right hand side of Craig Pant Ifan. This was a stiff ask for Joe to lead so I took on both pitches. The second pitch was superb with a long layback that required some faith in friction. Joe did brilliantly seconding cleanly and we abbed back down to meet the others and head to the car. On the way home we stopped off at the RAC boulders and had a play, starting on the easy slabs before doing a couple of short sit-start problems on the traverse boulder.

Bouldering fun on the way back from Tremadog

On the final day we were up at 5am to try and get a quick winter route done before heading home, but sticking our heads out the window told us that the wind was having other ideas. Deciding that high winds and exposed ice was a bad combo we took the easy decision and went back to sleep. It was sad not to get one final route in but given how much climbing we had done we all hit the road home very happy.

Chasing Stars

After two brilliant winter trips to Scotland, getting to grips with Highland ice, I was beginning to forget what rock climbing felt like and I think Kirsty was starting to forget what I looked like a little too. So after seeing the perfect weather forecast for this weekend I nervously asked Kirsty if she fancied a day in the Peak District, fully expecting a no and a few choice expletives. Luckily for me I have a very understanding girlfriend and soon enough we were racing up the M1 under bright blue skies, heading towards Birchen Edge.

Birchen is known for a couple of things; firstly the high number of low grade, multi star classics and secondly, almost all of the climbs are sandbags.

sand.bag (noun)

A route whose grade belies its difficulty. This can be either because it is undergraded, or requires a trick move to overcome the crux. Or it’s just more work than it looks. (verb) To point someone at a route that is a sandbag, saying things like “It’s only HVS” (unsaid: but requires the skills of an E3 climber).

We started up on Trafalgar Wall, a classic grit stone slab with a tricky start before moving onto Powder Monkey Parade, a three star classic that features in the infamous Classic Rock. Here the sandbags began, the initial moves were ridiculous and involved squashing yourself into a tight flaring chimney and essentially humping your way up to a chockstone at about three metres. From here things eased and we were soon back down heading along the buttress to Topsail, one of the all time classic grit VS routes and one that had been on my wishlist for some time. The climb really comes down to a couple of moves to get around a roof via the “sail” a large left facing flake above the roof. We dispatched this fairly quickly and were soon back at the base of the crag tucking into tea and soreen, the most British of lunches.

Kirsty, still laughing at my poor chimney climbing technique

After a spot of lunch we got onto our third classic rock tick, Sail Buttress. A fairly simple climb at HS but requiring some thoughtful rope work. Unfortunately in extending one rope to reduce the drag on lead I left it at an awkward angle for Kirsty trying to follow so she decided to lower off and I abbed in to grab the gear. We continued on to Crow’s Nest, a tricky VS with, surprise, surprise, another difficult chimney start and after finishing that came back down to have a look at the direct start, Scrim Net, a short E1 variation. After a couple of attempts and being completely shut down by some tough moves I revisited the guide book to discover it was graded E1 6a. What the fuck? E1 6a? No wonder it was so hard! Grumbling to myself about stupid grading I wandered off, followed by a chuckling Kirsty.

Winter sun on Crow’s Nest, the grim crack of Scrim Net can be seen on the left of the photo

To finish up we headed back towards the car park end of the crag and climbed Nelson’s Nemesis, a soft VS with some fun hand jamming and interesting foot work and finally we did the left hand variation, Horatio’s Horror, before packing up and walking back to the car munching some well deserved twiglets. 

Looking happy at the top of Nelson’s Nemesis

All in all a absolute classic day, 18 stars from 7 routes (thanks for the recommendation Pat) and most of the day climbing in just a tshirt. Who said the weather in the UK was crap?

Scotland Part II - Time to Smash

Having endured some long nights on the sleeper train and some brutal weather in the Cairngorms on our previous trip, the forecasted alpine conditions due to hit Scotland were a welcome prelude to our return match up with the unpredictable world of Scottish winter climbing. After running the gauntlet through the usual strange looks as I left work at 3pm on a Friday carrying a bag the size of a coffin, I met up with Dan and we made our way to Luton airport where we joined Pat for our flight to Aberdeen. On arrival in Scotland we were met by Ali and the logistical challenge of getting four people, eight bags and a week’s worth of shopping into a Skoda Fabia. Packed in like sardines, we made our way west past Aviemore and onto our cottage on the shores of Loch Laggan where we met Ed and David and grabbed a cup of tea before heading to bed.

Wednesday morning Pat, Ed, Ali and I made an early start and hit the well trodden road to the north face car park of the Ben. We made quick progress up the seemingly endless walk in and, after gearing up outside the CIC, headed on towards number two buttress and our route for the day, Comb Gully. Pat and Ed headed off and Ali and I followed up, me leading the initial two ice pitches and Ali finishing up. The route was pretty well trodden and felt pretty soft at the grade but was a great intro for the week and fairly soon we found ourselves surmounting the cornice and heading across the summit plateau towards number 4 gully. It was still fairly early but with plenty of climbing ahead we decided one route was enough for the day and we made our way down and back to the cottage.

Happy Ali seconding on Comb Gully

Back in the warm we met up with Dan and David who had been up on Creag Meagaidh climbing Staghorn Gully and Cinderella and set about getting some dinner on to refuel for the following day. Despite a lot of cloud the guys had seen some great looking ice on The Pumpkin which according to Dan was “well doable” so we made plans to head up the following day to have a look.

The next day dawned to glorious blue skies and an icy chill in the air. My new boots had torn up my heels  so I opted for a big pack and comfy shoes for the walk in to Meagaidh and in a little over an hour from the car park we stood looking up at the pumpkin. “Fuck me, that looks steep Dan”. It turns out that in the cloud Dan and Dave had been looking at Glass Slipper, an easier ice route off to the right. We could already see Pat and Ed half way up and another team queuing so we decided to give it a miss and climb Glass Slipper instead. I ran the first two pitches together, using every inch of our 60m ropes, then Ali finished up the route, making the most of some excellent bucket seat and buried axe belays that some kind soul had already dug out on the way up. With such nice conditions it seemed a waste to head back down so we continued on to the summit of Creag Meagaidh for some lunch and my first winter Munro before heading back down via the window to the car park.

David leading it out on Glass Slipper

By this point in the week both Ali, Dan and I were having some serious feet issues. Compeed had become the most valuable commodity in the cottage and Ed, our supplier, was fast becoming the object of much bribery and affection. Dan decided to ignore this and made the eye-wateringly early start to get on Tower Ridge with David. Stiff and sore we decided a short walk-in was in order for the following day and Coire an t-Sneachda fitted the bill. After a leisurely start, listening to Ed’s questionable music collection and breaking into some acapella Annie Lennox, we made the quick trot from the car park and arrived at the bottom of the coire. Ali and I headed off to our first objective, Aladdin’s Mirror Direct, which looked in great condition with a perfect line of blue ice running down its middle. Pat and Ed headed off in the opposite direction towards Invernookie on Fiacaill Butress. We soloed up the easy start to the bottom of the ice fall where I got roped in for the crux ice pitch. Feeling fresh from our recent trip to La Grave the 10-15m pitch flew by pretty quickly and I was soon at the in-situ belay at the top calling Ali through. He duly cruised up the pitch in style and lead on. Once Ali ran out of rope I unclipped from the belay and we simul-climbed the remaining easy ground up to the top of the route.

Running it out on the crux of Aladdin’s Mirror Direct

With our first route in the bag we headed round to the goat track where we descended on the right hand side below fluted buttress and traversed across to the bottom of Spiral Gully, a classic grade II. At this point we had a call from Pat. Invernookie was looking busy so they had climbed The Seam instead, an imposing looking mixed route and an absolute classic of the coire. Massive tick! We set off again and Ali was keen to get on the lead so he headed off and made light work of the first pitch, only placing a couple of bits of gear despite some fairly loose sugary snow. Ali lead on again through pitch two and the ground eased so we moved together again for the rest of the climb topping out about 3pm. Through some miscommunication we spent the next hour and a half waiting for Ed and Pat at the top of Aladdin’s Mirror Direct, when they were actually climbing Hidden Chimney Direct. Annoying as we could have got another route in had we known! Never mind it was a great day and we headed back to the car with ear to ear smiles.

Ali smashing out the classics on Spiral Gully

With the weekend approaching Ed left to meet his wife in Torridon, Hannah came up to meet Ali and David fancied a walking day leaving Dan, Pat and I to make up a triple threat for the return for Creag Meagaidh. We decided to have another leisurely start and after prying my lazy arse off the sofa we plodded up the walk in to the base of our objective, South Pipe Direct. There was already a pair on the first pitch as we geared up at the bottom of the approach slope but given that we were climbing as a three we figured they would soon move away ahead of us. When we arrived at the belay the second of the pair was still there but as he moved off we got ourselves secure and started flaking ropes. I lead up the first long pitch and at the belay was surprised to find the lead of the previous pair was still only half way through the next pitch. There was minimal belay gear so I had to stand on the snow ledge waiting for about 20 minutes before I could clip in and bring the others up. Pat arrived first looking pretty peeved and I explained what had taken so long and Dan soon joined him looking pretty cold. Pat lead off up the next pitch and pretty much the same thing happened again. Somehow the pair infront were only just setting off and as Dan and I arrived the second was still belaying.

At this point we started to get concerned, from here on the climbing only got harder and we were due in Fort William for the film festival at 18:30 so we decided to cut our losses and finish up the easier (but infinitely more disappointing) north pipe, the ordinary finish to Staghorn Gully. Dan lead off and got held up again by another pair having some epic rope faff, by the time we joined him we were so keen to get going I pushed straight through grabbing a single ice screw to protect the steeper ice at the top. I climbed through and arriving at the belay realised I only had a single nut to make a belay with, whoops. I managed to find a slot for it and found a turfy crack for my ace so, praying that Dan and Pat wouldn’t fall I brought the guys up and we simul-soloed on to the summit.

Not the recommended way to make a winter belay!

From here the mad dash began and we raced down through the window, de-cramponed lower down and then half ran-half walked back to the car park where we were picked up by Ali and David and headed straight on to Fort William. The film festival was great and we had some chat from Dave MacLeod, some great short films, a hilarious talk from Andy Cave and some amusing Q & A with Andy and Mertyl Simpson (“if you can ski in Glen Coe, you can ski anywhere!” - the motto of the evening).

Five bags in, four to go

Sunday was another cracking day but with time short we cleaned up the cottage and faced the new puzzle of five people and nine bags in a Skoda Fabia. Somehow we made it in and made our way to Aviemore for lunch. After a leisurely afternoon we headed on towards Aberdeen, took a wrong turn, ended up in Inverness and following a mad dash just made it in time for our flights. It was an epic ending to an epic week and I can’t wait to get back out. Room for one more trip this season, surely boys?

A Quick Hit of Scottish

Last year a pact was made, next year we will make the most of the winter season and make as many trips as possible, no excuses. With this positive attitude as our guiding principle Dan, Sam and I found ourselves boarding the Caledonian Sleeper on Friday night, full of Nandos and ready for ten hours of uncomfortable snoozing curled up in a “luxury” reclining chair.

Just as we were getting comfortable we were joined by our neighbours for the evening. I’m not sure what the collective term is for the extremely posh but let’s call them a hooray of gentry. Clementine and chums were off for a shindig up north and it seemed terribly ironic to get smashed on prosecco surrounded by peasants. It was going to be a long night.

Around 3am I was awoken by the early onset of frostbite as I realised the heating was broken and the chilly winter air being blown directly onto my extremities. I emptied my bag of warm clothes and returned to my seat looking like something out of an outdoor catalogue photo shoot that had gone badly wrong. I fell back to sleep feeling smug and warm until two hours later when the heating came back on and I woke up producing enough sweat to refill the empty prosecco bottles now rolling around the floor.

Arriving bleary eyed at Aviemore station we quickly made tracks to the nearest cafe, which was closed. The only establishment open was Tesco so we went and got some food for the hill and wasted some time until the nearest coffee shop opened and we could get our caffeine hit and sort our bags for the day. Feeling a little more perky, Sam and Dan wondered up to Mountain Cafe to find porridge while I picked up the hire car and drove down to meet them. Fueled up on oats we headed up to the Cairngorm ski centre car park, loaded up and started the walk in to our destination for the day, Coire t-Sneachda.

On the walk in to Coire t-Sneachda

When we arrived at the crag it was clear from the shouts ringing around that it was going to be a busy day. With the clouds sitting low on the mountains we couldn’t see any of the buttresses so we made our way towards the noise in the general direction of our objective, Hidden Chimney. As we made our way past a group gearing up we thought we’d heard Dan’s name called and sure enough Stu that we’d met in Wales last June was standing there smiling as per usual, how random! At this point the clouds cleared and we realised that Hidden Chimney was also everyone else’s objective so we changed our plan and soloed up the easy ground to the base of the ice pitch on Aladdin’s Mirror Direct to have  look.

Count the climbers! A busy day on Hidden Chimney with the Haston line getting a similar treatment

As we approached the bottom of Aladdin’s Mirror Direct it was clear that this was also a popular objective, so we nipped back around the corned onto another line we has seen, Patey’s Route. This was our first grade IV and a little tougher than we had planned to start with, but with so many parties on the popular lines we thought it was worth a go. I lead up to the first bulge and brought Sam and Dan up before continuing on to the bottom of the icy chimney leading to the route’s crux.

Sam seconding over the first bulge on Patey’s Route

Sam lead on from here, up and left to the crux of the route; a tough rocky slab with limited protection and not much for your axes. After a few minutes digging around he decided he didn’t like the look of it and brought me and Dan up and I got on the sharp end and pulled through the final bulge. Above this was easier ground so we carried on as a three soloing up to the top of the route. Having spent a long time finding a route that didn’t have a queue and the inevitable faff of climbing as a three we ended up topping out in the dark to finish an epic day.

Smiles all round at the top of Patey’s Route

When we finally got back to the car, knackered and ready for a pint, we found to our dismay that the completed pointless electronic parking brake (what’s wrong with a handle?!) had frozen on and we were stuck. After several phone calls and about an hour of trying we finally managed to do something right and we were on the move back to civilisation.

Day two we had arranged to meet up with Stu and climb in two pairs. We decided to take a look at Aladdin’s Mirror Direct again but the wind had spun round to a south-easterly and we didn’t like the look of the approach slope. Digging a quick pit it became clear that the slope was fairly borderline so we changed tack and headed across the Coire to Fiacaill Buttress. By this point the wind was absolutely howling and visibility was almost zero, it was proper Scottish winter conditions. We were looking for Invernookie but couldn’t see anything and in the end traversed too far round and joined up with Fiacaill Ridge. Keen to get something done we headed up the ridge and back before bailing back down to the car park.

Grim conditions on Fiacaill Ridge

Dan was heading back that night so we settled into the pub, got some food and watched the second half of the rugby before dropping him at the station and heading back to our guest house for some well earned rest.

Day three dawned bright but the news from the ski centre was not good. It appeared that conditions on the hills had only got worse since the previous day. The avalanche conditions were deteriorating, the car park was closed, winds were up to gale force and the visibility was next to zero. To add to our concern the mountain rescue were out in force looking for a group that had gone missing the previous day. In the end we decided to bail and headed into town in search of some alternative entertainment. One of the local climbers mentioned a disused quarry over the road that might provide a bit of drytooling fun so we swung round in the car and scouted it out.

First glance didn’t look too appealing but we managed to find a wet chossy line that we thought might go and I headed up to set up a toprope. We both had a couple of goes up the line, scrabbling on poor axe placements and pulling loose stones onto our helmets and the belayer below, before we decided to call it a day and head for a walk around Loch Eileen.

After winding down with our leisurely stroll we dropped the car off and settled in the pub for a few pints and some trivial pursuit before boarding the sleeper back to London. It was a pity we couldn’t have got a few more routes in but it was still a fantastic weekend and it left me psyched for my trip next week.

Avon Gorging

With sunny skies and low winds forecast on Saturday, Kirsty and I decided to ditch our plans for a lazy day watching the rugby and head out for some warm winter rock. Usually we’d head to the peaks, but having got the West Country Climbing guide for Christmas we decided to do something a little different and headed to the Avon Gorge in Bristol for some multi-pitch limestone fun.

After a couple of hours of easy driving we parked up at the foot of the Sea Walls area (nice to have a 1 minute walk-in) had a look round and decided to have a go at Sleepwalk, a four pitch Severe heading diagonally rightward up the face. Apart from the final pitch that took a striking 45 degree flake crack, the climbing was very straightforward (scrambling in many places) and we ended up completing the route in three pitches. The one noticeable difference from our usual climbing was the limited amount of protection that quarried limestone seemed to provide and the large number of flat polished holds.

Blinded by the winter sun on Sleepwalk

Once back in the bottom of the gorge we stopped for some lunch before heading to have a look at Gronk, a five pitch VS with a steep start and some exposed traverses further on. By this time it had got very warm as the crag was south facing so I set off in just a t-shirt to minimize the bad combination of sweaty hands and polished rock.

Heading up pitch two of Gronk

Having worked out the interesting mantling crux of the first pitch Kirsty seconded up cleanly. It looked like all the bouldering had paid off as she made light work of the tough 4c moves. The real interest came on pitch three which took a spicy rightwards traverse with very little gear. This wasn’t a huge problem on lead as the moves were fairly straightforward but it left the second in an exposed position when following, with a nasty pendulum should they fall. Kirsty was less than happy about this and after a long time stressing with the commitment and a few tears I tied her off to the belay and soloed up to the break above to add some protection, essentially putting her on top rope. This solved the issue and Kirsty has soon committed and made it over to the third belay.

With that issue solved we were faced with a new problem. Having taken so long to complete the first three pitches the sun was dipping behind the opposite side of the gorge. Darkness aside, this meant that it was rapidly becoming freezing cold and my decision to wear just a tshirt was looking rather foolhardy. The only solution was for me to squeeze into Kirsty’s spare top, a rather snazzy purple Patagonia number in ladies’ small. Fetchingly clad, I got stuck into the last serious pitch, the long leftward traverse back across the face. I got in as much gear as it was possible to find to prevent a repeat of the previous epic and set myself up hanging well below the next belay so that I could watch Kirsty’s progress. I needn’t have worried as with ample gear she easily followed me across and we quickly dispatched the last short pitch to top out.

Topping out as the sun sets (me sporting a fine skin-tight purple number)

At the top we were greeted with beautiful views of the sun set across the docks before we made our way back down to the car for a well deserved cup of tea. Although the West Country limestone wasn’t exactly the quality of Peak grit, it was a real adventure and nice to get out on some multi-pitch routes. That, coupled with the short two hour drive, means that Avon is sure to be somewhere we return to in the near future.

Ice, Ice, Baby

Ever since booking the flights back in November I’ve been counting down the days to our trip to La Grave. Axes sharpened and passports packed, Dan, Sam and I flew into Lyon late on Thursday evening where we picked up our car and (after 2 hours of trying to find a supermarket using only Sam’s natural charm and pigeon French) hit the road into the Ecrins fully stocked for the week and rushed along by the noxious gases emanating from Sam’s backside.

On the train to Gatwick, a long way to go!

We arrived in La Grave after a nervy journey through the icy streets to a toasty -15 degrees and quickly bundled our gear into the room. We were in a small dorm with two bunk beds and once we’d started to unpack our gear we soon lost sight of the floor. No problem, floors are overrated anyway. We hit the hay with plans for an early morning start.

Which way’s the ice?

The plan for day one was to head to Caturgeas and climb the first few pitches to get our skills honed on some easier ice. The conditions were a little thin but there was plenty to go at so Ed lead off with Sam and I lead the first pitch with Dan seconding. Ed’s other mates (Matt, Mark and Ben) were pretty quick and zoomed up the right hand side of the first pitches moving together.

Leading off on pitch one of Caturgeas

While we waited for Ed to clear the second pitch the first incident of the holiday occurred. Dan, in no uncertain terms, informed me that he was going to shit, right here, right now. He didn’t say “Tom, I need a shit”, he said “Tom, I have to shit, right now”. Thus ensued what has become known as the belay slomp. That is all I wish to say about that.

Dan leading quickly on second pitch for some reason

While Dan was heading up pitch two (his first pitch ever on lead) I looked up to see what is best described as a fairly sizeable spindrift avalanche coming down the top pitches. As if his first lead wasn’t a stressful enough experience he had the additional fun on not being able to see the avalanche coming down, instead he was alerted by my voice shouting “Avalanche” about two octaves higher than usual. Fortunately it fairly rapidly petered out, we finished the second pitch and as quickly as possible abseiled back to the foot of the climb. If this was ice climbing, maybe I’d stick to the peak district.

Let’s get out of here!

With conditions on the south side looking fairly avalanche prone we decided to head over to the north side and take a look at the classic WI3/4 Le Pylone in the afternoon. After the snow slog up to the base of the climb it became fairly clear that the conditions were as thin as feared. The climb looked very steep and there was water pouring out of the right hand side. Keen not to risk an epic we turned tail and reversed the 45 minutes approach in 5 minutes with some epic bum sliding action.

On the approach to Le Pylone

Since there was plenty of daylight left we walked just down the valley from Le Pylone and had a play on an easy climb in the small gorge below the telepherique. The climbing was straightforward but it gave us an opportunity to practise placing screws and rigging abseils which we were glad for. Knackered from the long journey and the climbing we headed back to the gite and cooked up some pasta, washed down with a bottle of red, before hitting the sack, ready for an early start the next morning.

Mr T, cranking in the gorge

The next morning, once we’d finally managed to get Mr T out of bed and some breakfast down our necks we headed back down to Les Freaux and headed up to Le Colere du Ciel. The route was getting busy so we moved quickly up the initial easy pitches to the belay at the base of the steeper final two pitches. I lead off on the first pitch which, although supposedly the crux of the route, was actually fairly easy as the ice was stepped out and I was able to hook my way up the majority of the time.

Dan, through the steepest part of the second to last pitch of Le Colere du Ciel

Dan had a quick look at the last pitch and decided it wasn’t for him so I set off on the lead. In theory this was the easier of the two steep pitches but with conditions thin it was very steep and by the time I hit the top I was totally pumped and ready to be sick, a perfect mixture of terror and excitement. Dan seconded up easily and we abbed back down and took the short path through the trees to Diabolobite where Sam and Ed had set up a top rope. Feeling pretty pumped still from our effort, Dan and I took a spectator seat while Ed and Sam played around on Diabolobite, then quickly made the descent back down to the car and returned to the gite for some carbo loading.

Sam showing off some suspect ropework on the final pitch of La Colere du Ciele

With the promise of a big dump of snow on the way overnight, we had a good chat about our options before getting our heads down. With the increased avalanche risk after snow we decided that skiing might be a good option and sure enough we woke up to a blanket of white the following morning. We headed into town and rented some gear, then after a journey best forgotten involving numb hands, badly fitted snow chains and a lot of pushing, we finally made it up to Le Chazelet. Through some mixed up communication Dan and I were separated initially but got back into the groove of skiing after long absences by heading down a great red piste.

Still (just about) able to ski after a 12 year break

As we headed back up on the chairlift we were on the lookout for the others and a black blob lying on the slope caught our eye. Sure enough, having never skiied before, Sam was finding out the hard way that a red run was potentially not the best place to learn. Under the careful tuition of Matt he eventually made his way to the bottom of the run onto a more amenable green slope where, by the end of the day, he had easily mastered the craft. While not quite the same buzz as ice climbing we all had a great day.

The ski masters on lunch stop

With the final day of our trip looming we grabbed some food in the gite then headed into town for some drinks. The northern contingent of the group were heading off early to fly back from Geneva but Dan, Sam and I had the morning to try and sneak in one final climb. After another night of snow we weren’t hopeful that there would be anything safe to climb but we optimistically headed to the guide’s office to ask about conditions. The answer was a pretty straightforward, “Non”. The other guys in the group had previously put a toprope down a chossy pitch under the car park so with no other options we geared up and had a final play on some suspect ice before packing up and heading back to Lyon to catch our flight.

Back in the UK I was buzzing. Despite some less than ideal conditions we had managed some really fun and sometimes terrifying climbing. With two trips to Scotland planned in February this is shaping up to be a great winter.

Happy with Failure

The biblical floods of December have left all recent climbing activity confined to plastic pulling around the walls of London. As depressing as this is, the consistent training is starting to pay off and I’m feeling stronger and ready to get onto some more powerful routes rather than the delicate slabs I usually stick to when pushing my grade.

With some clear weather forecast at the weekend, Pat and I decided on a day trip to Rivelin (or as Sam calls it Rivendale - we didn’t see any elves) and I managed to convince Sam and Lorna to come with. After an early start on Saturday morning we met Pat near Luton and had a clear run up through Sheffield. This was my first trad trip with Pat and I was looking forward to getting onto some harder routes courtesy of Pat’s impressive grit skills.

We warmed up on a couple of slabby VS routes. Pat lead Jonad Rib (placing about two runners - that’s what I call confidence!) after which I got onto Left Edge while Sam and Lorna headed up some easier routes to get Lorna “back on the rock” and used to climbing trad.

Running it out on Left Edge

Feeling happy that the rock felt OK despite being a bit green, Pat flew up Left Edge’s neighbouring Better Late Than Never, a run out E1 with some great delicate moves. Following that I decided to complete my set of Top 50 Rivelin HVSs and headed onto Blizzard Ridge. I don’t think it quite has the quality of Croton Oil but it was definitely a three star route and had a great finish up the blunt arete.

Onto the blunt arete of Blizzard Ridge

One of the main reasons for choosing Rivelin was that both Pat and I had been eyeing up Roof Route for a while. From the bottom of the route it looks truly horrendous, a perfect splitter hand crack through a horizontal roof making what looks like a giant pair of gritstone buttocks. A mean proposition at HVS, so mean in fact that despite being two grades harder Pat decided to lead The Original Route at E2 on the Pinnacle so that I would have to have first pop at Roof Route instead.

The imposing gritstone buttocks of Roof Route

Original Route heads up the left hand side of the Rivelin Pinnacle making a tricky move around onto the main face where it joins the top half of Croton Oil. Pat got some gear in the initial crack than headed back down for a break. Once fully depumped he jumped back on and flew quickly through the crux running it out through to the infamous “rickety flake” on Croton Oil. I followed up but struggled to get my right foot high enough for the crux first time and came off. Next time round I didn’t make the same mistake and soon joined Pat at the top of the pinnacle. It was great to get onto a route that was right at the limit of my ability and it gave me the psych to take the bull by the horns and get onto Roof Route on lead.

Pat working through the crux of Original Route

Standing at the bottom of the route the roof crack looked more imposing than ever but I was still keen to have a go. I soloed up the easy initial climb to the roof and got some gear in. After checking out the quality of the jams I committed and soon found myself at the lip of the roof where I managed to get my left heel up for a solid heel hook. I pulled through but just above the lip the crack widened and I couldn’t get a good enough jam to get my weight over onto my heel. Keen to keep the onsite a backed off and down climbed back to the niche to rest and rethink. Second attempt I struggled to get my heel up and realised the first attempt had taken too much out of me as the crack spat me out onto my gear. I gave it a token third go but to the same end and finally lowered down. This was the first time I’d attempted a lead on grit and had to back off but rather than feeling annoyed I actually felt happy that I had got onto something that pushed me well beyond my limits.

Established at the lip of Roof Route ready to swing the legs up

Pat lead up next on my gear and had a similar first attempt, establishing his feet but struggling to pull through and down climbing back to the niche (I was secretly happy he struggled!) but second go up he nailed it and with some hairy looking moves soon got himself established on the face and raced up to the top. With my arms feeling the strain and the sun dipping behind the hills we decided it was a good time to call it a day and head to the pub. 

Next up is ice climbing in La Grave in a couple of weeks. Bring it on!

A Quick Fix

“Rain will hit the Peak District on Sunday afternoon”.

Perfect, we can get almost two full days climbing in.

“Rain will hit the Peak District early on Sunday”.

OK, never mind. We can still get a whole day in on Saturday.

“Rain will hit the Peak District at 6pm on Saturday”.

That’s fine, it gets dark before then anyway.

“Rain will hit the Peak District at 3pm on Saturday”.

Fuck you rain.

Obsessive is probably a fair word. If I spent as much time working as I did checking the weather forecast I’d probably be a millionaire hate myself. Throughout the week Pat, Dan and I had been excitedly exchanging emails, getting ourselves psyched up for a weekend at Stanage in perfect grit conditions. Unfortunately as the week progressed, those perfect conditions seems to be disappearing before our eyes. 

Fuck you rain.

With the prospect of an early Saturday morning drive over from Cambridge only to find wet rock, Pat’s resolve finally gave way leaving Dan and I to go it alone. We snuck out of work as early as possible on Friday, picked up the car and hit the road heading for Dronsfield where we would be bunking at Dan’s Dad’s house. Two hours in, still on the M25, we started to wonder if the weather heading up from the south was more biblical than predicted and we were part of a stampede heading for high ground up north. We crawled through the traffic up the M1 and finally started to make some good progress, arriving after four and a half hours on the road.

Next morning we were up early and greeted by a clear sky, with a frost on the ground and some lingering mist. We taped up in the warmth of the house, packed the car up and left the suburbs for the rolling roads of the Peaks. The mist seemed to be congregating in the valleys but as we wound our way up from Hathersage towards Stanage we broke through to a beautiful view out over the hills. 

Dan checking out the view 

With the looming threat of inclement weather we decided not to warm up on anything too easy so we started up with Ellis’s Eliminate, a climb of two halves starting with a hand jam traverse and ending with a comfy scramble up a blunt arête. After a bit of a false start, mainly due to losing all feeling in my hands and backing off the traverse back to the rest, I committed again and soon found myself romping up to the top out which was thankfully sheltered from the cold breeze. Dan seconded up without too much trouble and we were soon back at the foot of the climb browsing through Eastern Grit for our next goal.

The imposing face of Ellis’s Eliminate

Dan decided to get straight on the VS routes too and chose the classic Mississippi Buttress Direct for his first lead. Dan cruised the route with great style and was quickly calling me through to “climb when ready”. I seconded up without too much fuss and we recoiled the ropes and ran back to the foot of the crag, it was freezing up on top! Feeling good from the first couple of routes I decided to up the ante and chose Congo Corner for my next lead, according to Eastern Grit one of the best HVS routes in the Peak. The crux of the route was getting through the awkward finger crack at the start, but once through this some solid hand jams lead to a great rest and easier climbing traversing left under a roof. A quick traverse back right and some classic rounded grit breaks lead to the top and a lowering of my heart rate. I’d have to agree with Eastern Grit it is definitely a three star classic.

Next up was Central Trinity, Dan took the lead and made short work of the first of the twin cracks, traversing across to the base of the second. He made the tough move to get established in the second crack then all of a sudden he was off! We had both taken very short falls before but this was first proper trad fall I’d held and it was a pretty exhilarating experience, though comforting to see that the protection does its job. Second time of asking Dan didn’t make the same mistake and he was soon done leaving me to second up and clean the route. By this time the storm clouds were starting to build so we got back down quickly in the hope of fitting in one final climb.

Dan after his fall, looking very happy with his secure nuts

As the sky darkened we stood looking up at Flying Buttress Direct, an imposing roof which I’d been hoping to do for some time. I racked up, but just as I was tying in to the rope the first drops of rain fell. In many respects this was lucky as getting stuck trying to surmount the roof in the rain could have been an interesting predicament. We stuffed the ropes into our packs and ran, jangling with the gear still on our harnesses, back to the car. It may have been a short day but it was great to have taken the window of opportunity we were presented with and exploited it fully. Fingers crossed we get a few more dry days before the end of the year.