Not much to report this week other than some overdue sunshine. We headed for Wharncliffe, where Carmen and I started with a protracted assault on Tower face (HS 4b ***).
It's clearly not possible that I've got worse in the 10 years since I last led it, so some crucial handholds must have gone missing or something. Got there in the end, though need some bridging to the block opposite which is probably cheating.
Not much time for anything else so we finished with Hell Gate Variation (VD **) which follows the normal line to the 2nd ledge, then traverses to the arete for a super-exposed finish. Better than the original, recommended.
Meanwhile Gordon and Dave climbed Puttrell's Progress (S 4a **) and a couple of nearby routes, and finished with one of the Black Slab routes. I don't think anyone else made it, but hard to be sure as it's a big crag!
A large block seems to have fallen off at the start of the classic Himmelswillen (VS 4c) but I don't think it's any harder, it may even be easier. But we can't remember what this bit was like before!
A few photos to follow later.
My Eastern Grit guide warns me that Wharncliffe has "a bit of a reputation as a grim venue" due to its "slightly industrial" location and "awful landings". This is probably the reason I haven't been before. After one visit I am totally enthused by the place. If your idea of grim and industrial is the presence of a line of electricity pylons then fair enough. Otherwise it's a lovely crag set on a pretty wooded hillside above Deepcar -which makes it possible to get to a Peak Gritstone edge and back on a long summer evening – can't be bad, can it.