A good turn out at Peak Scar last night saw ascents of several routes in varying styles.
Peter E made short work of Odds On Variant (HS 4b), a route he'd long had his eye on, though managed to make the crux out of the part shared with the VDiff next door – he's not the first one to do this and won't be the last!
Will finally ticked off Wings (Severe), which had also been on his tick list for some time – steady for the grade but with some nicely exposed climbing and plenty of scope (duly realised) for horrendous rope drag.
At the other end of the spectrum, Peri made a complete fist of Birdland Direct (MVS 4b), slumping onto gear at the crux due to faffing around trying to place too much protection.
But that was nothing compared with my performance on Womble (VS 4b). This was my second attempt (last time, a few years back, I down-climbed and traversed onto the horrible Diff next door). This time, I led smoothly to the crux overhang, placed some gear, started to move through, moved the gear, climbed back down, climbed back up, moved the gear again, repeat ad infinitum, rested on gear, ran out of energy, lowered off, and sent Carmen up to throw me down a top rope. Hmph. A nice route though, should get a star, and probably VS 4c.
Other more successful ascents included Solitude (S), Walkin (S), Downbeat (VD), and the underrated Evasion (S).
Next week – Ilkley (unless it rains).
Simon may not have thought much of my ascent of Birdland Direct, but I can tell you it was much admired by the local spider population, whose own web making attempts paled into insignificance compared to the web of runners I created at the crux