Saturday 24th:
The morning was taken up by visiting my cousin Craig and his wife Liz, the plan was to go to the school where he works and to help him on a few things with his new climbing wall.
After spending four hours solid climbing, grading and setting some new routes for him the rain had finally stopped so we headed over to Borrowdale to Shepherds Crag. Only thing i had ever done here before was Little Chamonix the VD multi-pitch. Things were still pretty damp but we got on with it and got some ticking done. Craig lead C.M.D (VS 4c) which is a pleasent steep crack. then I lead Chamonix (HS 4b) which has quite a committing little move in it. Then decided i wanted something a little bit harder so opted for Kransit Crack Direct (HVS 5a) setting off and realising it's a crack that requires jamming...... but i didn't jam so it was all good ;)
Sunday 25th:
Craig wasn't climbing today so i had planned to meet up with Roger and Kris who were in the Langdale valley, i set off but the weather wasn't looking too promising so i was a little bit pesimistic about the day. Turned out to be a brilliant day, heading up to Raven Crag, although asking Roger what he wanted to do sounded like he had pretty much ticked everything on the crag up to E1. So i got on the classic Revelation (HS) which was brilliant, the climb is supposed to be multipitch but it is possible to link it into one big pitch. Moved across then on to East Raven as it was getting busy! Turned out everyone had the same idea as us. This is a fairly small single pitch crag with some really nice climbing on compact solid rock, Roger got on Jingo (VS 4b) and Baskerville (VS 4c) and lived up to his name by Crusing them. Kris lead Mamba (S 4b) which had some realy nice moves on it and i finished the day by doing The Chopper (HVS 5a) the climbing felt pretty steady to me and the gear was all bomber, but a slightly run out section in the middle kept me on my toes. I came home to later find out that the majority of people find this hard for HVS and hard for 5a! So i was psyched.
Good weekend ticking 8 routes in two days and also being sociable with my cousin.
Thursday 29th:
Just an easy day, with the the weather forecast being so good for so late in the year it would have been rude not to make another trip up to the lakes to try to get one last shot in at some mountain routes. We left Liverpool pretty late in the day but still managed to get some climbing in after setting up our tent at the National Trust site. We wanted somewhere close with a good selection of easy routes so that Helen could get into the swing of things an ideal choice was Raven Crag Walthwaite, i had heard good reviews about this crag with the walk in being short and the single pithc routes being of superb quality with solid rock and addequit gear. This description was spot on, i thought i would give Helen the first lead and throw her in at the deep end on Enterprize VS 4c, i knew that this was a little bit soft for the grade but would be good to build her confidence and as i presumed she cruised up it in a smooth style. Followed then by seconding me up Tritus a nice steep HVS, to then lead a small HS multi pitch Route 2, this was good practice as we had plans to head up to Gimmer and with her not doing much multi pitch before she could do with practicing setting up belays and getting slick on the rope work. The day was finished off by a nice E1 called Swing to the Right and a pint in Wainwrights.
Friday 30th:
The weather was still fantastic, because the campsite is in a valley and the time of the year it was there was a lot of dew on the floor in the morning but with clear blue skies and the sun rising we knew we were in for a beautiful day. The plan today was to head over to a multipitch crag called Wallowbarrow, from reading the guidebook and the recomendation of others it was clear there were some superb multipitch routes here ranging from VD up to HVS. Arriving at the base of the crag i thought i would give Helen the choice of the route, as i suspected she picked a nice 3 pithc Severe called Thomas, after leading the first pitch she arrived at what was the belay to find that the tree described in the guidebook was no longer there! To which she felt slightly uneasy and then realised she had to make do, this is a perfect example of taking what the guidebook says with 'a pinch of salt'. All three pitches were fantastic climbing, nice and easy but a brilliant route. Next on the list after some water and a bite to eat was Digitation this HS started off with a 40m pitch up a solid looking slab, in the guidebook it says it has a tricky overlap and this time the guidebook was right, having minimal feet but a slopey ledge for my hands a found myself mid mantleshelf thinking "hmm this is certainly interesting for the grade?" as i thought Helen managed to find a foot hold and do it a lot smoother than me. Well that must be the boulderer within! I wanted to finish the day off with something a little harder and two nice guys there recommended a VS called Malediction Direct, with a scramble for the first pitch at the belay it splits off and goes into three different routes, and i definatley think we had been pointed to the best of them! With some fantastic positions and bomber gear the steep climbing had me in my element and made a pleasant finish to the day.
Saturday 1st:
This was the big one! Although i had doubts that it was going to happen after waking in the night to hear that all too often sound of rain on the top of the tent. When we woke in the morning the rain had stopped but the valley was sat in some low lying cloud, with the forecast not as clear there was a little uncertainty within me. But i was being optimistic so suggested we go for it and if its wet we would at least get a nice day out walking. Turns out the optimism paid off after a brutal one hours slog up hill we finally reached a relatively flat piece of hillside from where you can see the outstanding barrel shaped face of Gimmer Crag. Having never been here before i knew any route i did would be a good one, but i always have the slight bit of selfishness if i am walking that far i really want to do another route that will count towards my MIA training. Arriving at the base of the South East face we were greeted by two old guys who have spent more time in the mountains than Rich has hanging out in the cave ;) only for them to say "good afternoon (it was still monring though) what time do you call this?" you have got to love the sense of humor of the climbing community.
We headed round to what we thought would be relatively straight forward to get to which was Ash Tree Ledge only to realise it was a pretty exposed scramble to get to it, still with our packs on our backs i think this managed to push Helen out of her comfort zone and freak her out slightly, upon reaching the ledge we met another party just about to set off up Springbank the E2, i asked Helen how she felt and not suprisingly she was pretty nervous, after looking at the first pitch of Kipling Groove she decided she didn't really want to lead it. This left me in a dilemma "do i lead both pitches" or "do a different route"?? I was so psyched to do Kipling Groove because it had been on my list for ages i decided i would lead both pitches and we would swap over on the first belay. This turned out to be the best decision i managed to get two fanastic pitches both with absolutley bomber gear and a pretty sustained 5a second pitch. I felt really good as i didn't feel uneasy at any point on the climb and it felt like i was going really well. Helen seconded up it and came over the top with a huge grin on her face. After abseiling back down it was only 3 o'clock so another route was needed after that walk in, again the lead was down to me so i chose North West Arete a 3 star VS 4b, 42m of solid climbing on really nice holds some super moves with enought exposure to make you keep concentrating, this route was a brilliant finish to the few days. And who would of thought climbing on Gimmer in October in a t-shirt!!!!
Back to the Old Dungeon Ghyll for a well earned pint!
Picture by Gordon Stainforth UKC
