I met Crispin, Mat and Nat at the Stanage Plantation car park yesterday and had a successful day on a number of superb routes. We started with a viscous warm-up by climbing Right Unconquerable (HVS 5b FA Joe Brown 1949) followed by ascents of Paradise Arete and Namenlos as well as a great top rope of Comet by Crispin. The grit was a bit greasy in places from recent rain and the midges where a nuisance once the breeze eased off but we stayed dry and aren’t too far off the grit season.
Archive for the ‘Rock Climbing’ Category
Stanage
Thursday, August 26th, 2010North Wales, Lundy and Baggy Point
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010I’ve been trying to do a lot of climbing over the last few weeks but its been a challenge with the weather. We seem to have been dominated with a stream of Atlantic lows which has made finding consistently dry rock a challenge. First there was a trip to North Wales with Charlie to tick off some classics where we climbed at Tremadog (damp), Clogwyn y Grochan (drying) and Dinas Cromlech (until it started to rain). Regardless, we managed to climb Ivy Sepuchre and the 1st pitch of Cemetry Gates on the Cromlech before finally being washed home.
Then there was the much anticipated trip to Lundy with Crispin and Mat. This small Island in the Bristol Channel has an awesome reputation for adventurous granite climbing on its sea cliffs. Unfortunately the weather had other plans. The gales started as soon as we arrived and for the duration of our stay, torrential rain was only interspersed by light showers. After 3 days, all attempts at climbing had been twarted and with only one reasonable day forecast in the next 5 we escaped to the mainland.
The following day was that 1 reasonable day and so we spent the day climbing at Baggy Point before heading North. The headland between Croyde bay and Putsborough Sands is a great venue with slabby routes from VDiff upwards on grippy sandstone. We climbed a couple of the harder classics on ‘The Promontory’ before heading a bit further along to ‘The Long Rock’.
Peak District Climbing
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010
Michael and Steven have joined me this week for five days of outdoor climbing around the Peak District. The guys already have a fair bit of experience climbing indoors and I am working on giving them the skills to operate safely outdoors as well as having some great days on the crags! We’ve had two successful days so far climbing at Stanage on Monday and Froggatt yesterday. This morning’s rain has provided a welcome break for the arms to recover whilst we wait for the crags to dry. We’ll be out again this afternoon when it clears…
Rock Improver Course
Sunday, July 11th, 2010
I’ve spent the week with Ian running a Rock Improver Course for Glenmore Lodge. Ian is a well travelled and experienced mountaineer who was looking for an enjoyable week of climbing and coaching on technique and rope work. We had a great week climbing lots of routes at a number of different venues (Cummingston, Coire an t-Sneachda, Logie Head, Huntely’s Cave and Kingussie Crag) whilst working on efficient movement over the rock and safe protection systems. Despite a showery and blustery week across Scotland, Ian and I stayed dry and sheltered until the final morning when we were rained off the crags which give a welcome opportunity to head back to base and look at a range of important self rescue skills (ascending ropes, assisted hoists, unassisted hoists, escaping the system, abseiling past a knot).
Horseshoe Quarry
Saturday, July 3rd, 2010
Crispin and I have had a great day of bolt clipping at Horseshoe Quarry today. This great venue on the Eastern Edge of the Peak District offers range of quality sports climbing (if you ignore the lose chossy bits). We spent most of the day on the upper tier climbing a number of routes up to 6c. Its been another warm day here in the Peak but I’m heading back up to Scotland tomorrow where it sounds like things have been a bit damper.
Polldubh Cragging
Sunday, June 20th, 2010
I had a day off from work on Thursday so headed into Glen Nevis with Adam to spend the day on the extensive Polldubh crags. We headed up to the Styx Buttress warming up on a number of routes before Adam made a great attempt fighting to the top of Black Friday (E4/E5 depending on who you believe). We finished the day with a quick ascent of Storm; the 4* uber-classic on Cavalry Crack Buttress. A slight breeze and brilliant sunshine kept the midges away.
Creag Ghlas
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010James and I visited Creag Ghlas in Strathconan yesterday and climbed Chameleon (E2, 5c), Toad Hall (E2, 5b) and Spoils of War (E1,5b).
The crag is often used as a nesting site for Golden Eagles but we were led to believe that the nest is not being used this year. However, I can confirm that there is an occupied nest and so the crag is best avoided for the time being. More info on the MCofS site here and here.
Ross of Mull New Routes
Friday, April 30th, 2010
On Wednesday I had a day productive day exploring some unclimbed crags on the Ross of Mull. Despite a damp start to the day the gamble paid of and we found dry rock. The pink granite is superb to climb on with excellent friction and crack lines. The south-west corner of Mull is a great spot with big sandy beaches, blue seas and loads of quality unclimbed rock to go at.
We climbed 7 routes between VDiff and HVS 5b,6 of those being new. Not a bad effort for 2 1/2 hours climbing.
Northwest Rock Climbing
Sunday, April 11th, 2010
With the soaring temperatures over the last few days, Charlie and I made the sensible choice to swap ice tools for sun cream and embarked on a couple of days rock climbing in the Northwest. We visited Diabeg and Applecross climbing a number of classic lines on perfect rock. There looks to be only a trace of snow on the highest peaks and the crags are dry! Time to wake the arms up after a long winter.
Moray Coast Climbing
Thursday, October 29th, 2009
Blue skies in Inverness this morning inspired Danny and I to head along the coast to find some dry rock. Unfortunately our quest failed! First stop was Covesea with its Sandstone cliffs. Unfortunately, sandstone is porous and the recent rain has soaked the rock completely. The photo shows Danny inspecting the start of a 1 star route!
We managed a quick couple of routes at Cummingston on the way back but the rock wasn’t much better. Great time year for navigation training and scrambling but not for climbing – until the snow starts falling that is.
