Category: General

We had a made drive over from Cockermouth (managed it in 1:15, not bad going) via a many winding road and then up the Wrynoss Pass. Parked at the top but forgot to look for the Three Shire Stones.

A short walk-in (easiest of the week) leads straight to Long Scar. However we had been there for not long when up turns a group of 20 school kids from Redcar. It was mildly funny at times (especially the one who spent about 20 minutes telling everyone she was stuck, couldn’t make it, wanted to come down etc. SHe made it in the end though).

We managed to squeeze in two routes before they got started, Platt Gang Groove (Diff) and Sam’s Saunter (VDiff) (had to really with a name like that). They where both very enjoyable, and apparently some people think they are graded to low (i.e. they should be VDiff and Severe respectively) but I couldn’t see it myself.

Next I just had to do Katie’s Dilemma (Severe) as my sister is called Katie. This was a lovely route, the best of the day and a joy to behold. It got a couple of stars too if I remember correctly.

After this we abandoned the noisy kids to their fun and headed over the top to Black Crag. We did a very nice VDiff on the right of the needle called Skye Ridge. Then things went downhill for the last route of the day when we decided to do The Needle (VDiff). It was a nightmare. Tricky start with little protection and lots of ackward balancing before finally getting up into a horrible chimney (behind the needle) where you have to stradle between the back of the needle and the wall and slowly edge yourself upwards. I found the start of the chimney quite hard, feeling fairly squashed, but Caroline hated the top, where her shorter legs meant the increased distance between the needle and the wall was much trickier.

All in all a lovely crag, and I think there is still more we didn’t get round to doing (Glass Slipper buttress has some good routes on apparently, and there was a Mod on Long Scar that got tons of stars and would make an ideal easy lead for Caroline.)

We made a quick trip to Summerhills to check out their bouldering park. It is a manufactured bouldering park in much the same vain as Whickham Thorns in Dunston, Gateshead but with some very big differences.

Firstly it is much larger – with the bouldering spread over about 6 (I think) boulders of varying sizes. Also there is a perceptual thing where the boulders are sunken down a bit and are slightly higher than the surrounding grass, giving you the feeling your not quite as high as you really are (which actually helps!).

The first boulder is the biggest and has some fun problems on, Managed a couple on the west side (the one with all the 2 foot holes on) and another round the right of that (a easy roof pullover problem). There are plenty of good holds and the smearing feel firm. It was perhaps a little too hot for any good slopers as after a few seconds my hands would start to slip.

So all in all a very enjoyable experience, and only 10 minutes from my parents house so I suspect I shall be back again.

Finally a days proper climbing outside, with photos!

We went to Brimham Rocks, in yorkshire. An early 8:45 start, followed by an 1 1/2 drive got us there about 10:30. We picked up Ian, our friendly ‘mentor’ who has kindly taken us under his wing.

The place itself is amazing, some really bizarre rock formations (see above photo).

We started the day off on Cubic Rock, we seconded Great Slab and then I lead Heather Wall in the middle. My first Severe lead.

Moving on over to Lover’s Leap we seconded Birch Tree Wall, a lovely VS 4c.

Then we went and did some silly slabby VDiff thing (Lichen Slab) while Ian did Enigma.

We then tried to do Gnome Arete, and failed miserably. The start was the hardest part, some damn small crimps and some very delicate feet smear/balance work required.

Finally, and perhaps best of the day was leading Fag Slab (S) and then seconding Fab Slab Variant (VS). I’ve got my eye on Fag End for next time as well. (Fag Slab is the central corner in this photo while Fag Slab Variant can be seen on the right.)

Overall, simply the best!

Went to Scugdale on sunday. The weather was meant to be lovely and sunny (at least according to the mid-week forcast) but it turned out to be misty and windy, and a little bit cold.

Did a bit of bouldering to start with, some easy Diff problems on the east end (Beginners Wall Area) and then met up with Ian, a VERY nice guy we met at Sunderland Wall who is being very kind by showing us the ropes (pun intended) a bit more to help us gain in confidence.

He apologised for the weather (it wasn’t his fault!) and then helped set up a top rope and Caroline and I both did Pet’s Corner (VS 4b) and Wailing Wall (VS 4c) – very impressed with ourselves we where.

In general though I think it needs a rematch – the rock was very dirty (due to lots of snow in previous weeks) and sandy, and still quite damp (it wasn’t a warm wind!).

Took my camera but completely forgot to take any photos. Annoyed.