A day at Wharncliffe, then another at Cratcliffe

2 days in the peak in one week. I feel special. So it started on sunday with a trip to Wharncliffe with Wiil and Lidiya. We left my house at about 8.30 and were on the M1 before 10. A 60 mile trip on the M1 soon found us at Wharncliffe, our crag for the day. Starting at a pinnacle we 'warmed' up on some Diff solo's before I was persuaded/persuaded myself to lead a VS up the pinnacle. We deliberated about the way to get down and eventually decided that I would lower Wiil down to the ground before jumping from the top. We did put up a safety rope for me to grab and wiil stood on the top to catch me if necessary. As it turns out these precautions were unnecessary and I cleared the gap with plenty to spare. No photos were taken unfortunately due to bad timing with Lidiya on the ground and Wiil on the top being unsure I could make it. We left for a new part of the crag after we got our boots on. A HS slab solo followed with some attempts on an E1 5c. We continued our journey down the crag soloing as we went. Several severes including a scary beta crack fell before another HS and we got to the route Wiil had wanted to do since the start; Putrells Progress. As it traversed over a cave he decided to lead rather than solo, and in hindsight that was probably the right choice. An unprotected start led to a pod and a cam placement on the slab to his left. The steps across to a steep finish were large and exposed. When seconding I was glad of the rope attached to me despite the moves being rather simple. This route was the last we did but we didn't leave the crag until we had seen the through hole in a pinnacle at the end of the crag. We attempted to get a photo with all of us in it. Wiil put the camera on a 10 second timer and tried to make it into the hole before the photo. After a few failed attempts I offered to try it myself a different method and somehow managed to do it. I did kick Lidiya in the process though, sorry :(. Photo down we started the long walk though the descending fog back to the car. An iffy KFC finished the good day.

Wednesday dawned very cold and clear. A bit windy too. Despite this however we (Myself, Wicks and Howett) headed to the peak around 10 ish. Cratcliffe being the destination after some advice from Birdo. We went to the clifftop boulders with the intention of trying Boing Boy a font 7a problem with a dyno move that looked awesome. We warmed up on some font 5's and started to hit the harder problems. While I was still trying the 5's Wicks and Howett started sending the harder problems on the more overhanging face. After 2 problems around font 6a+/b Wicks started trying Boing Boy. After a few goes he temporarily gave up and we all started trying a font 6b mantleshelf problem. Starting from a He-uge jug under a lip you make a big move to a really bad sloper. Described as grippy in the guidebook, not sure it was though, and we were climbing in pretty good conditions. Working out the beta took a while primarily because it took a while to work out the move from the sloper. An hour or so later the problem had been sent by Wicks, Howett and a cool dude that joined us. He climbed pretty hard so he meshed well with Wicks. While the new dude and Wicks started to work out Boing Boy I continued to try the 6b. Eventually I managed to stick the sloper and started to try and get to the mantleshelf. I tried the top section and found even the mantleshelf easy. The crux was getting to the mantleshelf. A few tries later and I had done my first font 6b. After I got down I started working with Howett to send the 6a+. Several tries down the line I was consistently hitting the same wall of bad body position transitioning to a jug. 1 piece of beta change from wicks and I got the jug. The overhanging 2 move arête after was awesome; however I couldn't quite do the final move. I decided to throw for it and a second later I was rather shocked to find myself solid in a one arm hang from the top. Apparently I had nearly kicked Wicks and Howett so I must have lost my feet in the move. Sadly this was all I managed but I was quite happy with sending a font 6a+ and a font 6b. It's taking time but I am beginning to realise my technical skill.

This 'week' saw two HS onsight solos, a VS lead with a heel hook that I conquered fear on, and two boulder problems harder than I have ever done outside. All in all pretty good.