Wales Trip! 24th-27th June 2013

For most of the year I’d been keen to get down to North Wales for a few days, and I was even more keen when Jack kindly volunteered his house, just over the Welsh border, as a base. This was seriously helpful as it made day trips feasible and made the trip super cheap! As soon as the weather looked remotely good me and Jack started planning. The plan was to head down and do a half day on Clywdd Limestone, a day on the slate (wahoo!), a day on Dinas Cromlech and then to hit the Roaches on the way back. Having recruited Chris and Tanner, finally free of the dissertation and exams that had hampered his climbing the last few months, we were off.

The drive down went off largely without incident, if we ignore some pretty dreadful driving from Jack at the roundabouts and relentless Amy-themed jokes aimed at Chris. We decided to head straight to the crag to make the most of the light and pulled up at the Trevor Area of the Clywdd Limestone guide at about half 5. I have absolutely no idea where we were in relation to anywhere else though! The entire crag appeared to have been scouted, cleaned and bolted by Gary Gibson, which was hardly surprising given his reputation for new routing. The original plan was to do some of the trad lines, and I was in the process of racking up to do a VS when Jack’s head appeared at the top of the crag. He had wisely decided to check if the belay stakes promised in the guide were actually present on the top, and had found they weren’t. As a result, since belaying off bare grass, sheep or chossy lime top outs were not viable options, we bailed and headed off to do some sport climbing instead. This was a shame as I’d been eyeing up the classic E2 of the area and Chris was being bullied into getting on an E3 appropriately named Amy. Needless to say copious innuendo followed. We got stuck into a 6a and a 6a+ as a warmup. These were bloody thin to say the least and took a few minutes for my limestone head to come back. Everyone ticked these fairly quickly before Jack’s dad arrived to have a crack at this climbing lark. Me and Tanner headed off to try an overhanging 6b, while Chris set up a top rope for Jack’s Dad to steam up in his boots. The 6b went off without a hitch and I pulled through the roof with pain in cold fingers but otherwise fine. Tanner though got flash pump badly after several months without climbing and was unable to even yard through the roof on the draws! Chris went up it to retrieve my gear and made it look easy. Meanwhile Jack’s dad dispatched the 5 in big boots with ease, making it look much easier than Chris, before Jack led it. At this point we were all freezing and the weather was closing in. After half an hour spent messing around on some nearby boulders we headed to Jack’s house, where a dinner of sausage and mash was provided to some very hungry climbers. We were seriously spoiled by Teresa throughout the trip! We made plans to head to the slate the next day before turning in, ready for an early start…

The alarm at 7 was not appreciated but everyone was up fairly promptly. Jack made a mess of cooking the bacon and eggs before I exacerbated the problem. This was seriously embarrassing and made us all look completely incompetent in front of Jack’s dad, who made himself a bacon sandwich under the grill rather than trust it to us. We were on the road at 8 and despite getting stuck behind several VERY slow cars we were at Bus Stop Quarry just past 10. Jack and Chris got their slate heads back on a 5+ and 6a which I had already done the year before, so I decided to tackle the trad route in the corner instead. This was more than a bit loose but good fun anyway. After belaying Tanner up the 6a we headed along to have a look at a classic VS and HVS I wanted to do, Solstice and Equinox. However plans were changed when the classic E1 5c Fool’s Gold reared up in front of me and I immediately got psyched. I nearly blew it on the low crux, which was unhelpfully polished to hell, before placing quite a lot of bombproof gear (for me) on the easier crack above. Tanner seconded this awesome route and after a slightly dodgy descent we all decided to move into the quarry proper- Chris and Jack had done the loose corner in the interim.

We headed to the Looning the Tube slab first at my insistence so I could finally get on this mega slate classic. After tying Tanner to the pipe I began the necky traverse. I was very glad to reach the bolt at the base of the crack and got through the hard move to finally send a route I’d been after for ages. Tanner seconded before Chris got psyched and got on it. He did a dumb and brought the wrong size cams, necessitating a pretty hench runout up to the second bolt- a whipper would’ve been awesome! Nevertheless he did the route and Jack seconded up after growing some testicles and getting over his unnatural slab fear! After this we headed up extremely steep territory to the very top of the Australia section of the quarry- Skyline Buttress. However, the walk in was worth it to get on some 40m 6a’s! Yes, that’s right- 40m. Tanner started up Clash of the Titans while Jack led Plastic Soldiers. Both made it look easy and me and Chris seconded up- lowering off was definitely not an option with 40m routes! We descended and switched routes- I led Plastic Soldiers and Chris Clash of the Titans. The climbing on both was great and really well protected- Titans had 16 bolts!- and the position right at the top of the quarry was incredible.

We continued our magical mystery tour of the quarries by heading to the California area, to look at the infamous Californian Arete, E1 4c. This is 42m of easy climbing but without a single bit of gear- any sort of fall is more than likely a death fall. I got psyched briefly looking at it, but after a long sitdown and thinking about how much I enjoyed life I decided against it, and was very glad I did so when I emerged out of the tunnels into the sunlight! We moved on to Seamstress Slab in Serengeti, where Jack got on the classic Seamstress VS and I on Seams the Same E1 5b. Both of the routes were awesome, with loads of bomber gear. Having descended the route, I became aware that I had left my flip flops with the bottle opener on the bottom somewhere. After rapidly seconding Tanner up Seamstress and watching Chris on Seams the Same, I resigned myself to running back up to Skyline to get them- I must have left them there right? Wrong. To say I was pissed off to arrive at Skyline after the knackering run up and not find them would be putting it lightly. I ran all the way back down, and walked back to the car in a pretty severe strop- I loved those flip flops! We drove him to the soundtrack of occasional outbreak of swearing and made plans to go the Cromlech the next day. However, hope springs eternal- apparently a UKC user picked them up and will post them to me! Climbers are very nice people is the moral of the story, alongside the obvious one, namely that I am a dumb shit.

The next day began with aching bodies. The drive was spent anxiously gazing at the sky, and sure enough as we reached the Pass it started raining. We minced for an hour in Llanberis, ogling gear in V12 and drinking coffee in Pete’s Eats, before the weather improved and we headed back to the Cromlech. Words cannot describe the walk in- it was intimidating, loose, and bloody steep. It took a good half hour to power up the scree slope! Tanner and I decided to warm up on Spiral Stairs VDiff, while Jack and Chris got on Flying Buttress VDiff. Spiral Stairs was meant to have 4 pitches, but Tanner and I blew it hard on the route finding and only did 1- Tanner led up a steep VS fist crack instead! As a result we were done much earlier than Chris and Jack and minced for a while at the bottom. Eventually I bullied Tanner into getting on the classic E1 Cemetery Gates, and Chris and Jack arrived when he was halfway up. Despite nearly pumping out halfway up, he made it- serious effort- and generously abbed down the route to save the onsight for me for another day. However, disaster struck when his retrievable ab turned out to not actually be retrievable, leaving the ropes stuck. Its not just you that does this clearly Brad! Still, no problems, as I had always planned to give the famous Left Wall E2 5c a go. Unfortunately, there was a problem, as I blew it hard on this mega classic, pumping out halfway up at the first crux due to placing way too much gear and screaming obscenities. Needless to say Chris captured the whole thing on his camera- why are there only ever videos of me blowing it! I had to get to the top to retrieve gear and Tanner’s ropes so dogged, aided and gurned my way to the top- 40m is such a long way! However, it swiftly became clear during the dodgiest scramble ever that I could not reach Tanner’s ropes without putting myself in serious danger. Chris resigned himself to ascending the ropes and I fixed my abseil down. Chris and I checked with each other which rope to pull when setting up the new retrievable abs, and I was therefore incredulous when Chris reached the bottom and was unable to move his rope. Fortunately, he was simply being thick and pulling on the wrong rope- tool! We packed up and left the Cromlech having not done that much climbing (Tanner excepted) but pleased we had had a climb on the most famous crag in the country, as well as looking at the world famous Joe Brown E1 Cenotaph Corner (sadly wet after the rain). I will be back for Left Wall as well- next time I will place far less gear!

The forecast for the next day was abysmal after 2 so we headed off early to hit the Roaches and get as much out of the day as we could. Chris and Jack warmed up on Crack and Corner S while I did Bachelor’s Buttress VS. Tanner got on Saul’s Crack HVS, scene of a major dog from Jack the week before, and made it look far too easy than was decent- you haven’t been climbing nearly enough mate! Both Tanner and I reclined on a rock for lunch to watch Chris conquering his demons on the Sloth after his previous bailout, before I racked up for an attempt on the roof of Wombat, E2 5b. However, I couldn’t even reach the break and grew increasingly frustrated at the starting moves- I know I was pumped but they were never 5b! After taking several falls from about 2m onto quite hard ground I cut my losses and bailed. In any case rain was falling and we weren’t getting anymore climbing done! We drove back in the pouring rain completely knackered- I slept for 13 straight hours the next night! Great trip with some good sends from everyone- first slate trad leads for everyone, a classic VS for Jack, classic E1/ E1’s for Chris and myself and the mega classic E1 Cemetery Gates for Tanner. Thanks for driving Jack and say thanks to your dad and Teresa for the loan of your house- see you in a few months Wales!

Roaches Trip 21/06/13

Making the most of having absolutely nothing to do, me and Jack had long planned a day trip to the Roaches after the epic fail of the snow-affected meet there last term, which yielded in one grotty VDiff solo…and that was it. We both had cars and opened attendance up to the wider ULMC public- James and Peate were quickly on board along with the super keen Dafyyd, alongside the more surprising respondents of Ollie, still with a brand new trad rack to gnarr up, and Beth. After settling on an 8am leaving time, I wasn’t hugely surprised to receive a text from Beth at 8.05am that told us she was bailing. Suspiciously this text was sent from Matthew Lally’s phone, which explained everything we needed to know to us- make of that what you will…

The rest of us quickly got on the road. Despite Ollie’s ‘Shat-Nav’ sending us through the middle of Leek, where dreadful driving seemed to be the norm, we eventually made it to the crag. After practically sprinting up the hill the imposing buttress of Valkyrie appeared in front of us. Jack and I tossed a coin for choice of pitch and I was delighted to win, choosing the legendary second pitch unsurprisingly! Everyone else split into teams- Ollie and Daff, James and Peate. While Jack got started up the first pitch of Valkyrie the other two teams headed off to Prow Area under Commander Energy, where I think Prow Cracks VDiff and Corner Cracks HVD were lead as a warmup with little difficulty.- let me know who by!

Meanwhile Jack had got past the hard start and reached the amazing block belay. He brought me up and I started off on my pitch, climbing then downclimbing the flake in what felt like a very sketchy manner. I found the famous hidden footledge with immense relief- the exposure was incredible and I felt like I was hitting the floor if I fell despite the bomber sling on the flake. I was now in the same position as Brad when he was rescued two years ago, and very aware of it! After a quick psych up I committed and the move was done- bloody scary though and I can completely see how Brad needed a rescue! After faffing with rope management I topped out and belayed Jack up. A loud scream of ‘Fuck!’ convinced me Jack had fallen off descending the flake, but somehow he was still on and the loud gasp of relief told me he’d completed the move. This was probably even more scary for the second as the bomber sling had already been removed! We celebrated at the top completely psyched- what a route!

 Grinning widely we headed down to Commander Energy area where Daffyd was pissing up Prow Corner VD (I think!) and I started psyching up for Commander Energy E2 5c. In compliance with Chris’ request Daffyd videoed my initial attempt. All went well until I reached the crux but I stuffed the sequence and was off, taking a fairly sizeable whipper onto my poor red cam L. No doubt this video will make it onto the FB page! The fall was well fun though and I immediately had another crack, getting through the crux this time. After nutting the flake and taking a deep breath I rocked onto it and slung it dodgily with my foot before laybacking up the arête to victory. Lost the onsight but after getting such good beta from Frosty some would say I’d already lost it- what do you reckon Chris?! I’m happy with just doing it- cheers Frosty!

James and Peate went off to try Valkyrie Corner, HS 4b, which looked bloody intimidating from the ground. James made the hard move at the start which both me and Jack struggled on look like a piece of piss and romped up to halfway, even running it out a bit! After a couple of minor wobbles he topped out- this was a serious effort from James for an early trad lead!

James looking heroic on Valkyrie Corner

James on Valkyrie Corner HS 4b

 Having snapped some good photos of James trying hard on the route, to the backdrop of two male climbers having a hilarious husband and wife style argument on Valkyrie, we decided to head up to the Upper Tier, where me and Jack did the classic Severe Black and Tans. Jack chose the second (and better) pitch so in retaliation I ran it out horrendously to the stance, placing one piece of gear the whole way and leaving Jack facing a massive swing if he fell! There were no dramas though as Jack reached the stance without incident, before trying to retrieve several long-stuck cams. He finished the route with ease- another serious effort when it was put up in 1922- how did they do it?! Peate decided to do the interesting looking Kelly’s Shelf S 4a, which included either an ‘elegant step’ or ‘graceless flop’ as appropriate. Peate made it look pretty elegant before swearing his way with relief to further gear, which he clipped with what James and I agreed was an almost orgasmic sigh- everyone knows that feeling (of clipping good gear after a runout)!

Me on the Sloth

Meanwhile, Daff and Ollie were on the classic HVD Pedestal Route. They both paused at the mid height belay to get a front row seat of me trying the infamous Sloth HVS 5a, scene of many a bailout. After dropping a screwgate when slinging the famous ‘Cheeseblock’ and almost killing Jack, I committed with no small amount of fear to the roof. I got scared on the creaky flakes and plugged a cam into the roof, before trying several times to get a bomber fist jam to pull over the lip on. This would probably have gone in the end, but I was nevertheless delighted to spot another juggy flake which I gladly used instead! After grovelling through the wide crack and getting another ‘thank-god’ cam in I belayed James up with a big grin. I was unable to see him, but apparently he cut loose first on both hands, then on just the one before finally falling. Cutting loose is becoming a habit for James! After a few abortive attempts at ascending the rope I lowered James off when he started to crush me and instead lowered Jack off from the top to retrieve our cams! Next door, Ollie defeated the run out second pitch of Pedestal Route after having a word with himself and belayed Daff up- yet another classic tick!

Ollie on the second pitch of Pedestal Route VD ***

James demonstrating how not to do The Sloth HVS 5a

 Given Jack had been a bit of a belay bitch for me so far it was definitely his turn for a lead. For some reason unknown to me he selected the notorious Saul’s Crack HVS 5a, Joe Brown’s first route at the Roaches, put up in ’47! As with all Joe Brown routes it looked completely nails for the grade. Entertainment was provided while racking up by two blokes, one casually/deliberately topless, who were loudly talking about soloing the Sloth. Both of them went up to have a quick look, one of them nearly blowing it on the easy slab, to be told by his mate ‘If you’re going to die, at least do it in style.’ Questionable logic- but perhaps it had an effect as both bailed and did easier routes instead! Jack started off well and pulled some weird shapes in passing the first crux but ran out of a puff in the short jamming corner to take his first proper trad lead fall. After a quick rest he was off again, plugging in another cam before missing the massive chalky jug at the roof and coming off again. After a few more efforts and rests, including the use of several points of aid, Jack passed the roof and continued to the top with few difficulties. I downright refused to second it after watching Jack get schooled and instead went to the top to be lowered off! Whilst at the top the wind really picked up and extremely threatening clouds passed left and right of us, but somehow no rain fell and we were free to continue climbing. Whilst this massive dog had been going on, Ollie and Daff were on Right Route VD (I think!), another classic lower grade climb, and James and Peate had gone round the corner to do Left Hand Route HVD 4a, James’ lead this time. By this time both had the top set up pretty wired- good work guys! 

Daff and Ollie basking in success

Having retrieved Jack’s gear we were at the bottom of the crag with the sun going down and time running out. Jack was completely boxed after his exertions on Saul’s Crack and was done for the day, as was everyone else. I decided to take advantage of the longest day of the year and started up yet another classic, Hawkwing E1 5b at about 9.15pm! The guidebook said protection ‘required some care,’ which I took to mean that there was some. This unfortunately was not the case, as I began an incredibly necky slopey traverse protected by a couple of dodgy nuts. I was properly scared at this point of either a) a massive swing into a big boulder (best case scenario) or b) swinging, ripping the nuts out and decking out (worst case). For the first time ever on a trad route I seriously considered asking someone to throw me a top rope! I nearly fell off halfway through the traverse trying to place some crap gear, but carried on, shitting bricks, and finally finished it, cramming my tiny blue cam into a pocket and thanking god that I’d bought it- its saved my arse many times already! I finished the route with no small amount of relief, but having watched me tiptoe through it no one fancied seconding me. In the gathering gloom I fixed the dodgiest abseil ever and retrieved my gear, before packing up and heading back to the cars.

After waiting for yonks to actually go to the Roaches, it didn’t disappoint- what a day! Pretty much every route everyone climbed was a classic, with Jack and I ticking Valkyrie and Black and Tans, me doing Commander Energy which I’d been eyeing for months, Ollie and Daff getting back into the leading game, James consolidating at HS with the nails-looking Valkyrie Corner and Peate leading a necky Severe. Bodes well for hard climbing next year- apologies to routes that I’ve missed from Ollie/Daff and James/Peate- I lost track! You missed out Beth…..

(Photos pinched from Jack Peate's FB- cheers mate!)

Me shitting myself on Hawkwing E1 5b

The view from the Upper Tier

 

Advance Mountain First Aid

Following our rather eventful year and a number of people getting near to being ready to be examined for mountain training examinations we decided to book a first aid course. We wanted one that was more tailored to remote care and following mine and James' positive experiences with Wilderness Medical Education (described below) we booked a course with them.

I arrived for 9 to find our instructor, Chris, along with ex president and president Chris and Jim. We were joined by the rest of the group (in various states of alertness looking at no one in particular Matthew Lally).

We started with lectures introducing trauma and shock followed by how to approach a patient. DRS cABCDE became the first of many acronyms of the course. I won't go into the details of the course content in too greater detail but will link to my notes when I have eventually typed them up for those who are interested.

We proceeded onto learning how to control arterial bleeding. Chris demonstrates how to apply pressure onto an artery - who better to use than Lally (who incidentally is a massive Harliquins fan) and I managed to get my first compromising photo of the weekend.

After dealing with blood we moved onto controlling someone's c-spine (or neck). This generated a strange sense of of déjà vu for me (left vs right) - I can conclusively say I preferred it this time! We also have our two Jacks showing modelling the collars!

Onto CPR which is wonderfully demonstrated in the photos below by Jack and Chris (left and right respectively).

Management of spinal patients - learning how to log roll

The troll stretcher 

Following these practical sessions we had a few theory sessions which included a discussion of some of the legal and ethical points relating to wilderness first aid and how to take a history. I was dropped into a scenario where Chris came to me with some personal issues downstairs and I had to get the relevant information out of him. We also had an introduction to radio communications, we jetted off to the north face of allainhorn where there had been an avalanche and we had to call in help.

To round off the day we headed off for some scenario based training in the wilderness (Victoria Park) complete with having to carry Brad back to the class room!

Day 2 had a more prompt start than the day before (with only Yas letting the side down!) we had an introduction to orthopedics (broken bones), sprains and strains and more importantly how to deal with them. We looked at conditions that we might be likely to face on expeditions and appropriate ways of dealing with them and things we would need to think about if we were planning an expedition (see Ben Tanner having a think below - photo courtesy of Wilderness Medical Education).

We moved onto talk about how to monitor a casualty and how best to record this information so we could pass it onto the rescue services.

We concluded the taught part of the course with a lecture on wound management and geared up for our practical scenarios. Back out to the wilderness of Victoria park and we had our assessed scenarios, I broke my leg and had an arterial bleed from it which was dealt with well by team Jim. To get me back for this Jim Hulbert (from Azerbaijan) managed to get caught in an avalanche and got himself well and truly stuck in the trees (see below) - we obviously cared a lot about him as tensions started to rise as to the best way to get Jim out. Next Brad managed to get himself in a pickle and need resuscitating while his friends weren't being too helpful and finally Ollie and Yasmin Harris (Yasmin really got into this one) learnt better than to solo at Stannage, sadly Ollie died :-( but I managed to wrap up Yas' arm.

We then had a written exam and a discussion about what we should be carrying in our packs before heading off to the Old Horse for a well deserved pint (and some lamb!).

You will be reassured to know that we all passed with Jack Knight leading the way and getting a merit!

Froggatt 18/06/13

After one day sitting in front of my computer screen and seeing good weather outside, enough was enough and I decided to drive to the Peak the next day. James, Jack Peate (referred to as Peate from now on to avoid confusion!) and Ali were early responders and despite initially bailing due to being whipped Jack Knight also joined. This made my car extremely full but it did me proud and didn’t even crunch into reverse like other times! Much anyway…

 We headed for Froggatt early doors and arrived about 10. Jack (K) immediately got on Sunset Slab HVS, apparently under the impression it was HS. For the record, it is HS climbing but with no worthwhile gear at all, hence the HVS! After forgetting his chalkbag and rediscovering his ‘love’ of running it out Jack pissed up the route. Meanwhile, I bullied James into getting on Sunset Crack HS for his first trad lead. After a rudimentary lesson in nut placement for him and Peate he was away. James took to it like a duck to water- every bit of his gear was completely bomber and quite frankly better than a lot of stuff I place now. After topping out and celebrating loudly James had his top set up explained by Jack and was seconded by Ali, who also led the route after seconding it, increasing his highest lead grade in the process. Psyched by the effort I got on Sundowner E2 5a, which had relatively straightforward climbing but needless to say no gear apart from a (very) low cam. Despite a bit of a wobble right at the top in the slopey pockets I got there in the end for my first E2 lead.

Ali starting up Sunset Crack

 We then moved along to Tody’s Wall so Peate could get leading, choosing the top 50 HVD Heather Wall. Much like James, despite no experience he looked like he’d been doing it years, placing tons of bomber gear as well. Ali seconded up this rapidly, in the zone after his HS lead, before James also led it later in the day. Meanwhile, James was belaying Jack up Tody’s Wall HVS. Hilarity ensued when Jack blew the opening moves and lost the onsight before grovelling onto the block and doing the weird layback/rockover move with no problems whatsoever. He pissed up the rest of the route, making the loss of the onsight even more annoying for him. Needless to say, no one showed him any sympathy whatsoever! James, still laughing at Jack, started seconding but was completely stuffed by the rockover move. After a few goes he got it, but unfortunately lost any 1-up he might have gained on Jack! Ali also seconded before I commandeered Jack to belay me up the E1 Motorcade. Much like Sundowner, this had lots of slopey, pocket climbing with no gear apart from low cams. Definitely a better route than Sundowner though. I belayed Ali and Jack up, before me and Jack decided to give Valkyrie a crack, an odd but classic two pitch HVS put up by Joe Brown, while the other headed along to Downhill Racer area.

Ali doing 'the move' on Tody's Wall HVS 5a

Needless to say I was extremely pleased to avoid the jamming crack pitch. Jack took this and despite a few scary moments reached the cave relatively intact- a seriously good lead. He arranged a bomber belay while I tried to avoid cacking myself at the thought of jamming again. My attempt at seconding started off ok, but the crux destroyed me and I was off. I really need to get better at jamming! I gurned and grunted my way to the cave before dodgily stepping over Jack and continuing onto my pitch. After swiftly arranging some gear to avoid a factor 2 fall onto the belay, I reached the crux but pumped out after my exertions on the crack pitch below, and rested on some gear. Eventually I grew some balls and finished the pitch, before Jack completed a cracking effort by seconding my pitch clean- that is hardcore HVS for sure. We abbed off and headed to Downhill Racer where Ali and James led Slab Recess Direct, more good effort being shown on a Joe Brown HS.

Jack and I on Valkyrie. I'm on the second pitch here after finally manning up...

James on Slab Recess Direct HS 4b

While Ali and Peate (who may have done another lead while I wasn’t there- let me know if this is the case!) started up another HS, Trapeze Direct, while I started getting increasingly psyched after spotting (Joe) Brown’s Eliminate, a top 50 E2 round the corner. Spotting some flat crimps rather than the slopey monstrosities of the other slabs sealed the deal despite the lack of gear, and I rapidly got on it before I lost my nerve. Entertainment while racking up was provided by a very northern climber on an offwidth E1 nearby, who swore his way through the crux in hilarious fashion. His climbing partner later revealed to James and I that ‘he hasn’t had his E tab today; he’s a much better climber when he’s on E.‘ I struggle to see how you can climb on E but each to their own I suppose! I nearly barndoored off on the traverse, before arranging a bombproof nest of 3 medium cams on the arête in case I blew it on the high moves. Trying to turn my brain off, I went for it and it all went smoothly. The holds got better the higher I went and I topped out on what was for sure the best route I’ve ever climbed. Completely buzzing I belayed James up and we packed up and left rapidly in order to escape the swarms of midges that had begun making our lives hell- Jack in particular was ready to hurt someone!

 The main thing to take from the day was the immortal ballsiness of Joe Brown, considering he put most of his routes at Froggatt up in the 50’s in nailed boots! Serious efforts from everyone- James and Jack’s first leads of HS and HVD respectively, Ali increasing his lead grade, a first few E2’s for me and Jack’s HVS consolidation and masterclass on Valkyrie. Bring on the Roaches…weather permitting! (Photos nicked from Jack Peate's FB- thanks a lot!)