Rocks not all that bad

I like all forms of climbing but I do tend to enjoy winter climbing a lot more. The winter season is over now, for me anyway, so I have moved onto rock. Rock days out tend to end with me feeling abit disapointed without climbing as hard as I think im capable of which isnt a particularly nice feeling.
Since my exams finished on Friday I have managed to get 3 nice days out on rock, visiting 7 different crags and climbing lots of routes and problems. These, especially sunday, have to rank among any winter day Ive had.
Saturday saw Sinclair Cooper and I going to Northumberland. We met Roberty Taylor, Claire Holland, Anne Peale and Suzy Howat there too. We began the day at Kyloe Crag. It was a lovely day and the crag was very busy as a consequence. I didn't climb anything particulalry spectacular, although I did solo 3 nice HVS's, including Devils Edge. Sinclair and I decided we were having bait of a failure of a day here so we should move to another crag. Neither of us had been to Ravens Crag before, despite it being directly below Bowden Doors. We had abit of an explore around but everything was very sandy and dirty so we walked up the hill to Bowden Doors. We didn't manage to do very much here despite trying quite hard on a problem in the cave area.

Bowden

On Sunday I was to climb with Anne and Sinclair. The plan was to head to Dunkeld for some sport but the weather seemed to be favouring Northumberland again. We went to Hepburn, another crag none of us had been to before. On the way there we drove down a really fun road which I even managed to get a little bit of air on. I didn't mean to ofcourse but the hill was slightly more pointy than I expected. Hepburn feels alot more gritty than other county crags, possibly due to its slightly more southern position. I havent visted enough crags to get a good idea of the stratigraphy yet. We spent a long time trying problems on a steep boulder, but none of us managed to tick them. I would usually be able to climb font6b within the first 5 attempts but not today apparently.

(Photo Credit: Anne Peale)



(Photo Credit: Anne Peale)

 


Little Pixies, Back Bowden (Photo Credit: Anne Peale)



We were all getting a little annoyed with oursleves so we went to Back Bowden. Here Anne managed to climb her first font 7a, Under the Spell. Im not trying to take anything away from here fine effort but its probably very soft for font 7a. We finished off the day bouldering around in our trainers. On the way back to the car we saw some nice lenticular clouds.

Bouldering in trainers (Photo Credit: Anne Peale)

Cool clouds at Back Bowden

 The weather was so nice I thought it would be a shame to just go home so we went to Lindisfarne instead. It was supposed to be high tide a 22:55 so we had about 2 hours to explore the island. We took in the main attraction sof the castle, it was locked though, and the priory before heading back to the car as the tide was starting to get up to the road. This was quite a perfect cragging day for me. Good friends, good climbing, good weather and then something abit different to finish the day. 

Lindisfarne Castle at Dusk (Photo Credit: Anne Peale)



Yesterday I went climbing in the central belt with Philip Curry. We started the day at Rosyth. Philip hasn't climbed much outside before so I led everything. I began with climbing The Waullie, a route I haven't done in a long time, then Sickle and Chemical Warfare, which are new to me. After these we relocated to Aberdour. The crag was quite quiet when we arrived but began to fill up later. We climbed Asinine, Toerag Wall Direct Start, Hallelujah Wall and Slack Alice. It was nice to chat with all the other climbers here as I usually only climb at Aberdour in the rain so just have it to myself. It was nice to climb with Philip too. We managed to do everything very efficiently and quickly.

Slack Alice at Aberdour (Photo Credit: Philip Curry)

Sorry about the essay. This should be 3 seperate posts really.

A productive June

June has proven to be quite productive for me so far. I have climbed a lot, and worked a fair bit and got my results back, which I did quite well in.
I have managed to climb 95 routes, according to my UKC logbook. These have been from Reiff and Skye in the North of Scotland, see my previous blog post, to Heptonstall in Yorkshire. I haven't really done any spectacular on any single trip so these trips haven't merited their own post.
After the road trip I made a trip up to the Salisbury Crags with Joanna, where I repeated the Black Wall traverse and climbed a few easy routes in some of the smaller quarries to the right of the South Quarry. Whilst doing this I re-aggravated my finger injury, which was starting to feel a lot better.
The next day Joanna, Madeleine and I went to Aberdour. The intention was to go to Limekilns but while driving across the Fourth the weather to the west looked much worse than that to the east so we decided Aberdour was a better bet. Here I led Pain Pillar Proper (HVS 5a) and Guismo (VS 4c), while Joanna led Lilly (S). It was a nice day out despite a rain shower as Joanna was starting Lilly.

Aberdour, Gismo (Photo Credit: Joanna Lisowiec)

On the 13th June I decided to head home and on the way stopped off at Bowden where I climbed a number of boulder problems including a flash of Scooped Wall (font 6b) and working The Lightbulb (font 6a).
Since being at home I have managed a few trips to Almscliff and a day out at Heptonstall and Widdop with Sarah Lund. Highlights include everything I did at Heptonstall; Thin Red Line (E1 5b), Bulls Crack (HVS 5a) and Fairy Steps (HS 4b). Fairy Steps felt about right for the grade but Thin Red Line and Bulls Crack felt hard with TRL being a proper E1, and a very good one too. I can't think of a better route of that grade which I have done.
At Alsmcliff I have climbed lots of very nice routes and problems, and also had to quickly learn how to jam whilst soloing. Highlights have been; Crucifix (sit down) (V4 6a), Crucifix arete (V3 6a), Wall of Horrors (start) (V3 6a) (flash) and Central Climb (VS 4c).

Almscliff, Zig Zag (Photo Credit: Katy Rudsdale)

Hopefully the rain will stop and I will be able to make it to over 100 routes this month.

Catch up

I haven't written a post in a while now. This is mainly due to exams but the weather also hasn't been great. In my 2 month absence I have finished my second year of uni, moved flat and also injured myself in a number of ways. I have damaged my little and ring fingers on my left hand (not recovered), hurt my shoulder (recovered), hurt my foot (recovered) and then hurt my foot again (not recovered). There may be more but that is all that springs to mind.
I have been climbing in my absence, but most of this has been indoors so not worth talking about. I did managed a day at the Wainstones in North Yorkshire during April, when I soloed a wet diff called Wall and Ledge, which felt quite hard in trainers. On the 16th, after my exams finished, I had a day trip to the Lake District, with Tom Challands. We climbed Brown Slabs (D) at Shepherds Crag, Borrowdale.

Aberdour (Photo Credit: Joanna Lisowiec)

It wasn't until the 26th May when Fran Coles and I headed to Glen Coe and Glen Nevis for the weekend that I actually started getting productive. We climbed one route on Great Gully Buttress on the Buachaille, Direct Route (HS), and a number of things in Glen Nevis, including Tear (HS), Pine Wall (HS), Razor (VS) and The Gutter (D). On the Tuesday after Joanna and I headed late on to Aberdour, where I lead Guano (VS), just as the tide was coming in. We then decided to move to Rosyth where Joanna climbed Heathy (VS). It rained whilst I was seconding so we decided to call it a day.
On the 1st June Joanna and I returned to Rosyth. I climbed Cathy (VS), which is a sister route to Heathy, all be it harder. We weren't feeling particularly psychey so after a short play around on Philistine we went home.
Joanna and I went to Traprain Law on the 2nd June. It was Joannas first visit, although I had been there a few time. We climbed a good few routes including; Sabre Cut (VS), Wheechs Overhang (VS) and Steptoe (S). 

Loudoun Hill

Today Joanna and I decided to go to Loundoun Hill in Ayrshire. I have never been to Loundoun hill before so was looking forward to seeing what it would offer. We began by climbing The Edge, which is a classic VS arete climb. There are two pitches, although the first isn't very good compared to the second. There is lots of exposure on the knife edged arete. Afterwards I lead Pulpit Crack (HVS), which takes a steep fist sized crack up a pulpit of rock. It has a quite strenous start but relents once the crack has been climbed. Joanna then climed Pulpit Arete (S). We finished the day on The Belk (E1) and Cave Crack (HVS), both of which are worth their 3 stars, and are also very different style of routes.

The Edge

Hopefully the weather will continue and I shall try and update this more often!