The morning brought bitter cold, and we crawled out of our sleeping bags reluctantly. Jack announced that the 'trad season was over' it being far too cold - he himself having forgotten all warm clothing is Wales.
We soon got going however and arrived at Burbage North car park in good time, splitting off into groups to explore the various outcrops of rock that make up this crag.
Charlie and I took our groups on a march to the far end while Callum and Marie stayed to nearby to witness Remy as he swiftly got going on his epic day of falling off! More on this later. Meanwhile Jack and James Squire sessioned (if you could call it that..) some of the brilliant bouldering routes Burbage has to offer. Jack was pretty psyched to send Remergence f6b, but quickly found he could not keep James occupied, who after flashing Remergence and getting it's harder sit-start after about four attempts, went off in search of harder challenges across the valley.
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| Burbage North looking lovely in the early morning. |
The far end was very crowded with Southampton students everywhere! Charlie, with Ali and Emma got on the excellent Lieback HS 4c. Chris, after showing me up seconding clean a VS 5c that I'd bailed on in disgust (definitely because he is taller than me!), got on his first trad lead, Still Orange S 4a which he completed with no difficulty at all.
So back to Remy's antics. First up: Pulcherine VS 4b. Total falls: 3 including 1 deck-out. Second in line: Mutiny Crack HS 4b. Total falls: 5, 3 before the overhang, and 1 off the ledge after it. The second one saw him sprawled flat on his back groaning. Our concern turned to amusement at his disgusted moans of 'whyyy!?' The pad was then employed to minimise further damage to his person as he then proceeded to fall off a further 4 times in quick succession. (Note to Remy: throw old shoes away!) Callum too decided to join the deck-out train, hitting the ground from the start section of Knight's Move HVS 5a after claiming to find 'no gear' behind the flake. Precarious balancing not being for him that day, he instead opted to get inside the rock on Hollybush Crack, a VS 4b semi-offwidth crack which Ben and Maddy successfully seconded.
Charlie and I thought we'd better set things straight with a successful lead(yeah right.. the route required a determined fist jam and a long reach!) and set off to do battle with Wednesday Climb HVS 5b. A battle it was. And not an elegant one. Or a sucessful one. We retired battered and broken.
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| A pitifuly bad jam. |
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| Maybe getting inside will work?! |
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| Maybe it wont... |
Instead we mangaged to both do Banana Finger V3 after a few attempts- some dignity restored...maybe, those pictures!
By now James had come back from his sending Zaff Skoczylas 7C; it was time to get him on a trad lead and start ingraning the ethics of the ULMC into him early! The Grogan HVS 5c was picked as a suitable first lead and after a tutorial in cam and nut placements from myself, we sourced a harness, taught him how to rack up, 'Oh but that's so much extra weight!,' and he was ready to go. Locking off through and past the hardest moves to place gear he complained he was getting pumped - these boulderers!
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| James on The Grogan HVS 5b |
Chris, after having whinged at me all day that nothing was hard enough, was invited to second it, but decided to jump off near the top, definitly intentional - I hear it's more fun that way!
The success route of the day was Mutiny Crack which I think almost everyone either lead or seconded. Jack even got sworn at by a girl from another group for cutting loose on it and dicking about, after she had had a hard time leading it, much to the gathered audience's hilarity. Then, after collecting everything and everyone together, we drove to the pub where we basked in the warmth and after a few beers soon started dropping off to sleep (Marie).
Sunday dawned cloudy, and Emma, Marie and I emerged from our tent to find that luckely the rain in the night hadn't caused the occupants of the dubious tent too much discomfort! After wide varity of breakfasts were consumed - Adam - pork pies, Chris - mini sausages and apple juice, and Ben - cold soup (!), we speedily packed up and set off to 'the finest of all gritstone edges,' Stanage. It was a beautiful morning, with swathes of mist pooling in the valley beneath us, and cold and early enough that we could take our pick of the routes before the hordes arrived.
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| Pooling mist in the valley below Stanage early Sunday morning. |
First off we sent Jack away with Ben to get on some harder climbs, but after a few hours they returned because Jack had broken, quite literally, his belayer, who had thus far seconded everything that Callu, the day before, and Jack today, had thrown at him with admirable success. Now he had unfortunatly hurt his knee on a particularly high step, which was also a shame as I'd hoped to get him on a lead that day.
But things were going well overall. Remy put things right and didn't fall off once! He and Maddy climbed the classic Vdiff of the crag Flying Buttress. Here Remy even got to practice his pully skills, having haul Maddy up over a tricky step. He then (wearing his good shoes!) proceeded to have a great day, he and Maddy ticking off a long list of routes including at the end, his sucessful lead of a run out VS 4c called Malarete.
Ali made the most of the day re-consolidating his leading skills after having had a break from climbing. He also lead Flying Buttess, with Emma and Marie seconding him, followed later in the day by Sociology S 4a, and Black Hawk Hell Crack S 4a - a good effort, and not a route I'd have attempted when trying to consolidate Severe - the name says it all! Emma seconded all these routes, becoming over the weekend a competant belayer and second, maybe time for a lead next meet..? In fact, quite a few of the new members are probaby ready for a first lead next time.
Charlie and Chris had a good day ticking too, and after a sucesstion of HS's and a VS 4c finger crack Via Media, Charlie got on Via Dexter Right Hand HVS 5b and lead her first grit HVS, which was also her first proper onsight of a HVS as a pretty psyched Charlie told us :) That should definitly inspire confidence to get on some more!
Marie started off on a Vdiff and then Garden Wall S, and then after seconding Charlie clean on the HVS (another first, and a pretty happy Marie), decided to get on her first HS, Castle Crack. She'd been caught out by time contraints and had had to bail on one at Burbage so it was high time to tick this goal! Chris got his best intructor voice out to coax her through the hard bits. 'I'm a real bitch when I lead' she informed him with serious forthrightness beforehand; he knew what he was in for.
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| Marie looking stylish on Castle Crack HS 4b |
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| And pretty... |
After enjoying Christmas Crack, Sophie and I got to experiecne the glorious top-out of Straight and Narrow HVS 5a, a truly brilliant overhanging mantle with a jug! Sophie, having come on this meet not having climbed very much at all, had learnt how to belay with Chris and I yesterday and was now a trusted belayer and was able to second both climbs with skill, picking up laybacking in particular with ease. This was followed but another prehaps more than slightly run-out HVS, which actually turned out to be an E1 5b on UKC, explaining the serious deck-out potential! Then I racked and roped up but ad-hoc decided to solo Heaven Crack, the best V Diff I've ever climbed. I'm not a fan of soloing but doing it with a rope and the possibilty to place gear if I so desired, was a really nice way to do a first real solo climb.
At this juncture James returned with the widest grin on his face and noncholantly told us he'd done The Ace. 'Cool, must be hard' I thought flicking through my guide. Hard... at V13, it is the hardest problem at Stanage, and to date James' hardest problem. No wonder he looked so delighted!
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| James sending The Ace V13 |
Then I got Jack to come and belay me on The Left Unconqurable, E1 5b, as I had yet to do a grit E1. It remained true to it's name - still unconqured after two attempts and two fairly beefy whippers with the rope burn to prove it! So we traipsed back along the crag to bully, ahem, ecnourage with gentle prodding, Callum to get on Flying Buttress Direct E1 5b. And what a spectacular show it was! Leaving the ground with the bold statement 'you don't need skin, just biceps', he built a bomb-shelter under the overhang and after a few ups and downs to psych himself up, he let loose a power scream and launched himself toward the lip, grabbing it and swinging outwards in spectacular style! He finished it up with a heel-hook and a couple more pull-up moves as everyone on the ground watched and bathed in the afternoon sunshine.
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| 'You don't need skin, just biceps!' |
So to get on the send-train, Jack, Chris, Sophie and I went back to my hitherto unconquerable route, Charlie coming along to take photo's. On this third attempt the moves all flowed and felt easy and I and jug-hauled up the final holds on slowly melting arms, so psyched to have done it! The best routes are the ones you have to try hardest for and, and I'd found it hard, being pumpy and needing speed and confidence.
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| The Left Unconquerable E1 5b |
So many hardest-ever leads happened that day, first grit routes at the grade, and just generally solid leading all round. The new members, if they weren't already, were all competent belayers by the end, and although many were less experienced, there was really very good standard of climbing going on all round. Some people are now well on their way to first trad leads.
I think it's fair to say everyone tried hard, and had a great weekend with suprising good weather. Let's keep it up!
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| Sunset at Stanage |
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