Archive for August, 2008

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Stanage 3rd August

Monday, August 4th, 2008

Me and my nut keyCef, Debbie and friend Liz, on her first ever outdoor trip set off for Stanage, followed by Alan and Peri. Weather looked somewhat iffy but managed to hold off raining for the day.

Cef lead Black Hawk Traverse Left – VDiff/Severe ***. I went second and found this a bit unnerving with the wind which got stronger the nearer to the top. I had a nut key on sale or return from Rob which I had chance to use, and must say, it is a smashing key because I managed to get gear out on all of the climbs without getting annoyed with stuck stuff! Liz took a bit of a swing on this route when her foot slipped off but it turned out she swung to the exact spot she needed to be to complete the climb, so that was ok and not cheating at all.

Then we did Physiology VDiff 1* which was nice. We then moved further on to do Right Hand Trinity Severe 4a ** which was also a great climb, with a couple of unexpected tricky moves. At this point Liz downclimbed the descent, then went off in the wrong direction unbeknown to me and Cef. After a short while I thought I'd better go and look for her, and eventually found her wandering around looking puzzled at the far end of the crag. Yes to the untrained eye one area of crag does look much like another!

We then did Leaning buttress crack VDiff ** and were going to call it a day when Peri and Alan met up with us and said they would do one more climb. Peri and Cef went off to do Via Media VS * and Alan led Leaning Buttress Direct HVS 5b *. I then went up second but cheated at the beginning and went round the side, which wasn't good and I was cross with myself that I didn't even give the proper beginning much of a try. Alan told me off further up the route for trying to get my leg up too high which was justifiably right as when I took smaller steps I managed to do the bit I was stuck on ok.

Then we all left, except Alan who stayed to camp over.

Thank you all for a great day.

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Millstone Monopoly

Monday, August 4th, 2008

Great SlabHaving spent most of Saturday stuffing our faces at a series of barbecues, we thought we ought to get out for a bit of exercise.  As we'd been sociable all day (hard work for the likes of me) we didn't have too many qualms about snubbing Peri, Cef, and Alan's planned trip to Froggatt (I've done almost all the easy routes there), and instead made for Millstone.

A less than promising start on Great Slab (HS), on which I faffed for ages within 3 feet of leaving the ground, luckily didn't set the standard for the rest of the day.  Carmen made short work of the one route on her tick-list, Eartha, a lovely HS flake crack.  Embankment 2This was followed by Embankment 2 (VS 4c,4b) – I hadn't planned on trying it, as it looks (and is) very steep and strenuous, pitch 1 being a pair of steep jamming cracks with little opportunity for resting.  But there was nobody else around, which is quite unusual, so I gave it a go, and got to the top with relatively little dithering (one advantage of its steepness, there wasn't a handy faff-ledge!).  Great fun, and highly recommended if you like hand and foot jamming – which I didn't, but do now 🙂

Covent GardenContinually expecting the promised rain to arrive (it never did), we just kept climbing with barely a pause for lunch (and an occasional stop to watch people climbing some rather hard routes).  Next was Covent Garden (VS 4b,4b), an interesting first pitch leading to a hugely run-out second pitch, with 1 nut placement in 12m.  Followed by Lambeth Chimney (HS 4b), low in the grade (would be low in the grade at Severe) but superbly exposed at the top. 

I was then thinking about The Mall, a nice-looking corner crack, apparently high in the grade at VS. But it was occupied by a top-rope.  On examination, the top rope was anchored using 3 cams in friable rock, and I really should have said something to them.  But I didn't, and they didn't die, so all was well.  But next time I'll speak up…

The Scoop. Scoop Crack starts up the broken corner on the left, and finishes up the steep cracks at the top left)Scoop Crack, a nondescript first pitch, which I misguidedly joined on to the steep awkward cracks of the second pitch – even 60m ropes weren't long enough to reach the belay, which was well back from the top.  Luckily, we had double ropes, so I could belay with one and bring Carmen up with the other.

Finally, a quick solo up The Scoop (Diff) carrying the kit up to the top of the crag where the path to the car started – Carmen had more sense and walked up – brought the day to a close.

 

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Pillaried

Monday, August 4th, 2008

Pillar from Robinson\'s CairnGood job it is light till about 10pm at the moment. Setting off at the crack of 2pm from Gatesgarth (Buttermere / Honister) Jules and I headed of for Slab and Notch a Grade 3S(***) scramble on Pillar Rock – and I can tell you that's a bloody long way away (5 miles ish). Over Scarth Gap, you get a great view of the distance to go, down to the Youth Hostel without much Scarth Gap - Buttermere in view incident before the reasonable climb to Black Sail Pass and a fair bit of wind. The high Level traverse is easy to find, but splits into a higher and lower, doesn't matter which you take as they both end at the Robinson Cairn with a grandstand view of our objective in the swirling mist. All that moisture added to the unnerving feel of the place, making some of the rocks on the Shamrock Traverse greasy.

The SlabThe route is quite straightforward and marked by worn holds, but is serious, in the sense of slipping off would be terminal! scary ....We justified breaking out the rope by 'ML training' and a healthy dose of concern. Most for the route was dry and straightforward and passed without incident using spikes to set up quick direct belays. The top presents wonderful panoramas of Ennerdale – but in cloud it aint so impressive. Now comes the the fun part; you have to reverse the whole route to get off! Again we made use of the rope – it's surprising how much it boosts your confidence in poor conditions but also slows you down.

Pulling onto the summit plateau of Pillar (having ticked Pisgah – grade 1 easy v. short jaunt) in thick cloud, the next trick was to find the trig point. 'Hmm wish I'd brought the 1:25,000' , the BMC 1:40,000 lacks the detail to locate us accurately by the features only (orientation of the edge of cliff and the spur we had come up). Jules used the tried and trusted method of randomly wandering of into the mist until she could see it 25m away during a break in the cloud. 7:10 pm – hmm back at the car for 10 maybe? We made good time (not stopping at the YHA despite or maybe because Didgerdoo man had arrived) and briefly chatting to two lost souls at Scarth Gap) and arrived back at 9:15 , drove to the pub just in time to miss the last of the food!

campsite - bit tight!Camping beside Crummock Water rainbow over Crummock Water(sounded like in the water) gave us great views with a car park just across the road. After breakfast the heavens open and the car park turned into a convention for rubber and gas fetishist. Rain dominated the rest of the day and we had a mooch about the shops and pootled back.



Great walk and great scramble, maybe set off a tad early next time !

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Peak Scar

Friday, August 1st, 2008

Carmen leading CosmonautPeak Scar was the venue on Tuesday and it was pretty busy with 8 club members there and another four people wandering around with full racks on, looking confused and not climbing anything. The tree felling has continued apace and completely changed the character of the crag. The middle section now gets quite a lot of sun and the whole place feels a lot more inviting. Also, more rock has been revealed opposite the crag. Might be some new routes there if you fancied clearing two feet thick vegetation from it…

I had to nip into town before driving over, so to avoid holding up Peri and Rob I drove on my own. Bizzarrely, I still managed to arrive an hour before them to find Simon fighting his way through dense ivy at the top of a rarely climbed HVD (Jonas), a different finish to the one he'd done the previous week. I believe having climbed almost everything at the crag, Simon is now also climbing every possible variation of every climb as well.

Rob leading Cosmonaut DirectMe and Peter headed over to Jam with Sam (VS 4b *) which Simon had suggested would be a good first Peak Scar VS. I'd definitely agree with that advice. After negotiating the nettle forest at the bottom, it's a great route and can be laced with gear. I placed pretty much my whole rack (and some of Peter's) and took a while plucking up the courage to do the final exposed moves. After finally committing to them, I was horrified to find the topout was steep loose grass with seemingly no solid rock. Luckily, a bridging/belly flop manouver got me onto safe ground. Simon later showed how the route could be done, cruising up with about four bits of gear in under 10 minutes!

After taking out all of my stuck gear, Peter said he was too knackered to do anything hard and suggested we do some easy VDiffs for the rest of the evening. He therefore chose to lead Birdland Direct (MVS 4b **) with minimal gear. This is another good route with a tricky and strenuous crux in the middle and another good finish.

Alan leading FrenesiMeanwhile, Dave and Gordon were getting through a few routes including Wings (S 4a **) and Gone (HS 4b *) and Cef, Rob and Peri had arrived. Rob warmed up with an impressive onsight lead of Cosmonaut Direct (HVS 5a *) before following Alan up the 3* classic Frenesi (VS 4c ***). After battling nettles on Solitude (S 4a *), Peri and Cefyn headed for Jam with Sam just as the sun was setting. To add to the this-is-definitely-going-to-be-an-epic feeling, Cefyn took a hanging belay above the nettles as Peri set off into the dark. The rest of us gathered at the bottom hoping for some good entertainment (though Rob was a bit concerned about his lift home) but were disappointed when Peri saw sense and decided to down climb (this in itself looked fairly exciting with some fall potential).

Simon and Carmen had somehow squeezed in another two routes with Carmen leading Cosmonaut (VS 4c *) and Jordu (S 4a **).

So overall a productive evening at the new look Peak Scar and we even had some nice warm weather.

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