York Alpine Club Blog

As the evenings start to draw in (!) we thought we'd try to take advantage of the daylight before the first snows arrive, and headed for Eastby, near Skipton. Not that far away, but due to Harrogate, it takes ages to get there.

As is now traditional with any long-distance evening crag, the person who suggested it didn't turn up, so it was just Donal, Carmen and me. A cool cloudy evening with a gentle breeze to keep the midges away, climbing conditions were perfect. Donal started with a lead of the fine Pillar Rib, a nice VS 4c, but spoiled rather by the ease with which you can go off-route! Stick to the rib throughout and it's a solid VS 4c, wander too far right and you end up in VDiff territory – Donal was mostly rigorous and got his VS tick 🙂

Next I had a look at Heather Flake (MVS 4c *). A tricky boulder-problem start (much harder for Carmen who had to resort to technique to make up for her lack of reach), followed by a nice, easier-but-very-run-out slabby section, and finally an exciting hand traverse up a flaky crack. Better than it looks, and improves steadily with height.

Donal then led the 3-star Severe of Nose Climb, a long traverse, a bold slab, and a short hand jamming crack. Could be quite traumatic for someone pushing their grade! Meanwhile I soloed Early Doors (MS), the crux is right at the top which made it a bit scary.

Donal then left for an early night, but there was still some daylight to be had, so I finished with a lead of Eastby Buttress (VDiff ***). Described as one of the best VDiffs in Yorkshire, and I wouldn't argue with that!

A few more photos here.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 9th, 2009 at 10:17 am and is filed under Climbing, Crags. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.