Whilst Carmen and Simon were enjoying the delights of Gimmer other members of YAC were climbing closer to home. On Saturday Jamie and myself headed off to Hebden Gill, buoyed on by promises of a hidden gem similar to Almscliffe we arrived and headed toward the crag. Easier said than done given the boulder field at the base.
To start the day we climbed Nose and Wall, a lovely route which can be finished in a number of ways. The most exciting of which is to traverse out onto the mildly exposed nose. For the next route we decided on Right of Way, the original route at the crag and definitely worth visiting the crag even if that is the only route you do. The start of Right of Way is definitely more strenuous than it looks from the ground but once past this there is an easy traverse followed by a gentle shimmy up a quite hefty flake. The crag doesn't see much traffic so the rock is a little dirty, right of way looked very green but this turned out to be rock solid and perfectly climbable. The added benefit of this is the rock is still very rough – not a sign of polish anywhere – a testament to this roughness are the blood smears that now adorn Right of Way and Jamie's gear!On Sunday myself, Karl, Léni, John, and Will headed out to Brimham, after the recent wet weather the rock was a bit damp in places but there is still plenty of routes to climb. We started on Cubic Block, with Léni and Karl climbing Old Corner and Great Slab (hey Karl – one of these has been upgraded on UKC!). In the meantime with John leading, Will, John and myself climbed Heather Wall and Square Root (it should be called Square Route!). Then we headed over to the Lovers leap / Cracked buttress area where Karl and Léni played on Lichen Slab and the other three went to parallel cracks to see if we could find the hidden hold – yes as it turns out but it was easier for some than others! We finished off the day with some routes in the Duggies dilemma, with Will soloing to the ledge on Duggies Dilemma before deciding a rope would be nice, Gully Arete, and Grit Corner. All lovely climbs, finally back to the car via a quick blast on Maloja.