A cloudy and overcast day, threatening rain, and with no improvement forecast – what to do? Housework? No thanks. Shopping? Double no with knobs on.
So off we go to Peak Scar for an attempt on the High Level Traverse (the latest chapter in my continuing project to climb everything there at VS and below, regardless of quality). Originally starting up Moanin' and finishing up Evasion (first climbed by members of the York MC), the route was extended in the 70s to cover pretty much the entire crag.
We duly gear up at the far left end, even farther left than the leftmost of the normal 'straight up' routes, surrounded by ivy, trees, mud, more ivy, and even more mud. The first pitch starts at ground level, and traverses across a filthy looking wall, with every hold covered in slime. A cursory 10 minute attempt to leave the ground is followed by a muddy retreat to below the end of pitch 1, and we start here instead, at the foot of Easy Corner.
So off I go, round the corner, scrambling along the ledge of Sidewinder and Webar, ignoring the next (semi-hanging) belay and opting instead to continue to gain a promising looking ledge on the nose of Womble. Easier said than done – as the line goes up and rightwards the route changes from brown to green, so I take a deep breath and head into the shrubbery. Surprisingly there is actually some rock hidden beneath the vegetation, and a 5 minute pause to rip down as much ivy as possible even reveals some dry(ish) holds. A final crawl through a welcome tree sees me on the tiny ledge. From here I (unfortunately) have a good view of the next pitch, which makes the previous section look like <insert name of perfectly clean and dry crag here>.
Having brought Carmen across, smiling and happy, she kindly offers to let me lead the next bit too. My plan was to walk across the ledge of Trundle and ab ingloriously off a convenient tree. But when I get there, the continuation actually looks slightly less deeply unpleasant than had first appeared, so I carry on. To save Carmen an unprotected down-climb, I climb through another tree and belay just below the finishing wall of Twilight.
From here Carmen leads off, on real rock at last, descending Twilight for a couple of metres before picking up the original start of the route (why oh why didn't we begin here?), and making a fine exposed traverse round the nose to a belay in Jordu. The next pitch too is on good rock, an easy but exposed line along the top of the wall above the Ornithology tree, to a belay on Odds On. From here, it is a long grassy stroll along and down to a belay on Birdland Direct, and it is time for pitch 8, the first '4c' pitch.
"Traverse round the exposed nose and make a difficult move into an overhung shelf" says the book. Well the exposed nose is obvious. But at what level should I traverse? I try low, get to the nose and look round the corner. Well that might be an overhung shelf, but it looks like a lot of overhang and not very much shelf, so back I go.
Attempt 2. Up about a metre before traversing. Eureka – big ledge below an overhang, one difficult move later and I am up. Hmm, where next, the book implies by omission that the next bit is easy. But it doesn't look easy, just a lot of fresh air. Descend a bit, pick up a good traverse line, sling round a big block, all I need now is to hang off the block, boldly swing my feet round, and I'll be there. Er, wait a second, what's holding the block in place? Remove sling quickly and run away…
Attempt 3. Back on the big ledge for another look at the fresh air option. It's one of those hanging aretes, which looks like it may have a good foothold on the corner. So, a loooong stride over empty space (don't look down), feel up blindly and hopefully for some hand holds. Nope. Retreat to ledge. Repeat 2 or 3 times. No other option, so here goes nothing, pull onto the arete, feel up again – jugs, hurrah! A final delicate traverse, right at the top of the crag, leads to a reverse of the finishing moves of Wings and onto a big ledge. An excellent, thrilling pitch. From here I get a good view of where I should have gone – the line I first tried, now about 4 metres below me, oops.
The next pitch will therefore start with a 4m descent of the crux of Wings, to rejoin the true line. It's turned into a lovely sunny evening, there are 6 pitches to go so a quick check of the time…
8pm. Turn round, up the last bit of Wings, and home.
To be continued … ?