After a successful day at Stanage me and Cef headed for Froggatt (Alan having deserted us for his beloved limestone). We got there quite late due to a need to spend money at Outside …mmm, shiny new double ropes….[Cef Comment Peri even had some money left over to splash out on some fresh croissants and butter as she was passing the Outside cafe, recommended place to go for tea and cakes]
Our blind optimism in the weather was justified – the day got better and better as it went on and we had sunshine for most of the day. Cef started off strongly on North Climb (HVD) [Cef Comment how many #5 cams can you put in a climb?] and Sunset Crack (HS 4c), I started the day climbing like a wazzock, wallowing around at the start of Sunset Crack while Cef struggled to keep a straight face.
When my turn to lead came I decided to start on the easier stuff, Allen's Slab sounded like a good bet. However when we arrived a uni group was on the route – or should I say gathered round it for a social meeting while someone sat up top minding the belay. OK – plenty of other good routes, that one over to the right looked enticing – one hard move on it. Trapeze Direct, HS 4c.
Now maybe the fact that most of it looked like a ladder but it still got 4C , and also that the guide said "place lots of runners at the crux" should have been a hint – but it wasn't one I noticed. Up I pottered to the bulging crux, placed a couple of runners, teetered up to the chock and reached over for the jug – which wasn't a jug, oh dear. come down. Try another method. come down. Eventually I decided to discard guile and technique in favour of brute force and ignorance, which worked pretty well and up I went. Was pleased to see the next leader perform a similar little shimmy. [Cef Comment in the old guides it was graded VS 4c, it is a stiff pullover the bulge and I did get a little bit of help from the rope…..]
Next route was Cef's – Allen's Slab Severe 4A, a very cool lead on the exposed traverse, the last steep move on smears was quite Out There for severe I thought. [Cef Comment it has some really nice moves and generally good gear but you do need to keep a cool head]
My lead again – Slab Recess Direct, another HS 4c. The guide said the lower hold were 'unhelpul and slippery', but the finger jams were out of this world, and the gear was so good I was giving little coos of delight. Very nice route. Cef then took another trip on the Trapeze (VD) just to complete the set.
Well, my early jitters seemed to have settled so I looked for a VS to finish off. Against Cef's advice I decided on a route called something like Hawk Crack – supposedly awkward, but a three star route. So off we headed, passing Tody's Wall HVS 5A. Or almost passing….I couldn't help loitering, it really didn't look so bad, and I'd seconded it before. The devil on my shoulder whispered 'do it..you know you want to'. So we decided to give it a crack. Up to the block went fine, then the wibbles set in. That 'positive' layback suddenly looked horribly rounded, and the lip very high.
Realised the size cam i needed to protect the crux had already been used lower down, I sent the traditional loop for Cef to supply another. Put two cams in. decided my cams were now blocking a vital handhold. moved the cams. Sat back on the block for a rest (I got to like that block). Took another peek, faffed some more, parked my ass on the block again then smeared and hauled like a basta'rd and went for the heelhook. And after much grunting and heaving I was over, and if I could have grinned any wider the top of my head would have fallen off. 
Cef was most impressed by my grasp of ancient anglo-saxon, which I shouted to the four winds. [Cef Comment It was not the ancient english/celtic blaspheming I was worried about, it was the little jig of joy that Peri was dancing up on the ledge. I thought she might trip over the edge and test the gear!!!! ] Okay, I've seconded the route before so it was far from being an onsight, but it was still my first HVS lead ever.
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Final gear and the beautiful new ropes on Tody's wall HVS 5A
[ Cef comment Of course after Peri had led it I had to follow it !!! well I eventually worked out a way to get onto the block/pedestal. This involved some thin smearing, a toe scum under the crack at the back of the top of the pedestal and a LOOOOOONG reach for the upper break. I fell off once doing this and it hurt my foot. Anyway by the time I was standing on the pedestal I was cream crackered. So I removed the gear and Peri lowered me back to the ground. I walked around to the right and traversed into the upper slab to recover all the gear. Very nice finish and lovely jamming crack. So I can now say that I have climbed 7/8ths of the route. Peri says she is willing to let people know the beta on the size and number of pieces required for the route on payment of a large quantity of beer tokens.]
Job done, we headed home as the first drops of rain finally started.
Tags: Froggatt, Peak district
Hawk's Nest Crack – super route – vaguely reminiscent of Traditional Climb at Almscliff, except once you've done the crux you're only 1/4 of the way up…
I made the right route choice then! The Traditional Climb whups my ass every time
congratulations, think how much easier it'd be without the knackering faffing about going backwards and forwards, up and down – not that I'd do that at Caley – oh no 🙂