How to not climb..

Went to Saddle Tor yesterday evening with Chris - didn't manage to climb anything though, everything there seems to be a little bit hard for me - did manage to get most of the moves on the Hidden Traverse (V4***), although losing some skin in the process... After warming up on the Hidden Traverse, we then moved on to the main boulder, where we tried Bjorn Again (E2 6a*) as well and problem:12 (javu) (V2 5c). Unfortunately, as I tried a slightly renegade way of starting up Bjorn Again, a piece of loose rock crumbled and brought me back down again, along with a small chunk of rock - fortunately it doesn't seem as though the climb was at all impaired by this, as the large sloper is still there with only a fragment of the edge missing. Sadly although I took photos, they were taken on my camera instead of on the camera memory card, so I need to figure out how to transfer them now... However, there's no rush, as my fingertips are pretty sore from the moor's granite touch!

Summer bouldering

Harry on Tom's Traverse (V4 6a) 26.06.2011



Mike on Problem 69 (javu) (V0 5b)
26.06.2011



Yesterday went to Bonehill for a spot of bouldering. I'm not that big on bouldering, but it was a lovely sunny day and was just nice to get outside. Most of the time was spent with us coweing away in the shade, but we spent a generous amount of time in the sun, all of us getting a little burnt by it. Ross and Harry tried to climb The Wave (V6 6c), but the rock was just too slippery to be able to get hold of the starting holds! Chris and I meanwhile tried Rippled Wall (V4 6b***), but could only just make it off the ground, which, for a first attempt at it wasn't too bad, I feel. I was also convinced to try the slightly burly problem, Tom's Traverse (V4 6a), but although I found I could do each individual move, stringing them together seemed a little bit harder. Eventually, Harry, Ross and Chris decided to head back off, whereas I decided to stick around and keep climbing with Mike and his friend when they arrived. We climbed the problems at the Warm Up Slab and Baby Slab, but otherwise we were quite content just to chill out and wander around for a while before packing up and heading back to Exeter. Mike finally stuck the dyno at Greg's Dyno (V3 6a), but decided that topping out on it didn't seem particularly nice, and so just jumped back down.

A pleasing drive around Dartmoor

After a lazy start to the day we started driving towards the Dewerstone to teach Chris how to lead trad properly. However, took a detour to Haytor to see if we could find Luke's 'South Devon and Dartmoor ' guidebook, which had, unfortunately, disappeared. We decided it was a bit windy and there were too many people around so we continued on our way to the Dewerstone. After a cautious walk-in, we found that this, too, was wet, and, after some deliberation, decided to try Sheeps Tor. Arriving there, we found that we could hardly see the tor as a result of the thick cloud which had settled over it. Nonetheless, we walked up, found that the rock was wet, but possibly climeable. Luke started soloing Sheltered Crack (D), but backed off it , feeling it was somewhat precarious. I soloed up Play Crack (D), but we then decided that it wasn't worth trying to climb there and left. Shame, really, as I had my eye on Wind Wall (HVS 5a*) and Mushroom Wall (VS 5a*). Oh well, maybe next time... Instead we drove to the Barn, where we tried out all their new routes for an hour and got quite worn out on these. It was good fun, and probably good for strength (not my strong point in any case), but still, indoors comes far beneath outdoors in my estimations...

Barbecue at Hound Tor

Gemma on Problem:6 (javu) (V2 5c*)
23.06.2011

So, to take brief break from revision, I accepted an offer from Nick, Gem and Dave to go for a barbecue out on the moor. We initially thought we'd go to Bovey Woods, but eventually changed our minds in favour of the slightly more open and accesible Hound Tor. I repeated a number of problems from our previous trip there, but also managed to get Aerobic Traverse (V2 5c**) and a few more easy-ish problems. I was sorely tempted by Aerobic Wall (E2 5c), but it looked fairly high and I didn't particularly fancy falling from the top, especially without a pad beneath me for protection. I'd like to think I could do it, but probably couldn't. Maybe just as well I didn't try. Also had a go at a couple of climbs on the Skin Graft Boulder, Skin Graft (V2 5c*) and Cosmetix (V5 6b*), although I managed neither, I was fairly interested in them and will doubtless return to try them out again at some point...

Torbryan - first F6b+!!

Nick on Little White Lie (F7b+)
25.09.2010

Went to Torbryan Quarry with Nick and Gemma on Sunday evening / afternoon, and were lucky to find that we were the only people who had had this idea, as there was nobody else there. Gemma was feeling a bit poorly, and wasn't feeling very up for climbing, but Nick led (albeit with a few falls), Boogie on Down (6c+*) and Little White Lie (F7b**). I seconded Boogie on Down with only a couple of falls (better than previous attempts), and had a go on Little White Lie, but decided not to soldier on once I'd fallen off a couple of times, in order to save my energy to lead Peggy Potato (F6b+), my first 6b graded climb! I attempted it once, but had to stop and rest, as I'd forgotten how to move uo from the first clip, but once I'd sorted my feet out I managed to climb it. Once I'd come down and shaken out, I attempted it again and this time got it clean, although I was fairly nervous at the low crux... Now that's ticked, I feel tempted to work Boogie on Down, although i have yet to second a 6c clean...

Brean Down and Cornwall

Nick on Brean Dream (F7b+)
08.06.2011

Just got back two days ago from a couple of excursions over the past couple of weeks. Went to Brean Down for the first time on the eighth, and really enjoyed that. Lovely location, by the sea, although parking was limited and somewhat hard to find. Nick led all three climbs, although he had to rest on Brean Dream (F6b) and used a clip-stick on Tide Rising (F7b+), also climbed Bikini Atoll (F6c+). The latter two were quite tricky, and I had to rest on both, although I clung on and climbed Brean Dream clean. It had a horrible start though, which was quite hard and boulder-y... Gemma only seconded Brean Dream and Bikini Atoll, and although she did neither of them clean, she came very close to doing so on Bikini Atoll. We ran out of time for her to have a go at Tide Rising. The start is relatively easy, but Nick had trouble on the third clip and was unable to clip it, would have been a nasty fall if he had fallen there... All the climbing was quite finger-y... to some extent my type of climbing, but it was sharp and tricky too. It was, however, a nice crag which I would be keen to visit again. However, considering that the easiest problem there was Brean Dream at F6b, I reckon it'll be a while before I'm capable of leading anything myself - maybe Torbryan would be a bit easier and more accesible...

Jen on Banana Flake (VD**)
10.06.2011

From the 10th to the 13th, I went down to Cornwall with the club. Upon arriving we went to Sennen, where Mike asked me to climb with Amy and Gemma. I know that Gemma is capable of climbing quite hard, but wasn't sure how Amy would handle it. My first climb was Corner Climb (VD*), which was fairly pleasant and easy. However, Amy had trouble climbing it, resting on the rope unexpectedly at one point, which hurt me as it pulled me into an awkward position and placed a lot of strain on my waist and also on my back, which hurt the whole weekend, probably as a long-term effect of the car crash on 27.03.2011... After that initial setback though, Amy forged on and eventually got to the top. Gemma swam up it very quickly, and once she got up we had a chat and Amy decided she was done for the day. We also bumped into the guys from the DUMC, including a chap whom we met on the 31.05.2011 at the Cuttings... Gemma and I then abbed down again and, having been the last two to ab down we decided to stick to an easy climb, and climbed Staircase (D*).

Harry on Doorpost (HS 4b)
11.06.2011

On Saturday we went to Bosigran, where I once again proved that I am incapable of leading multi-pitch routes without having an epic on them. Climbed Doorway (S 4a*), but had issues at the top of the final pitch, where there was so much rope drag that I was incapable of setting up a belay to bring up my seconds, Emma and Sam. Eventually, as I was about to climb down and retrieve my gear so as to stop all the rope drag, Mark and Harry topped out, allowing me to downclimb the route on their rope, strip the annoying gear and then bring up my seconds... All in all, it took us 5 hours to get one climb done. I doubt that my seconds were too impressed, but then, they were climbing trad with me, which takes forever. I am, after all, far more interested in sport routes than in multi-pitch trad.

 

Mike on Bosigran Ridge (Commando Ridge)
13.06.2011



Although we were meant to go to Sennen the following day, we instead went to the Barn. Although I must say that the Barn is an incredible indoors wall, I was not impressed by the fact that we had to go back into Devon to climb, and would much rather have gone out for a walk, or to visit some other scenic location in Cornwall... As it is, we went, and I had a relatively good session there. Our final day in Cornwall we once more went to Bosigran. Sam, Amy and I were paired up, and along with Tom, Emma and Gemma, we went to climb at Bosigran. The other nine went off to climb Bosigran ridge together. Liz and Andy turned up and must've climbed something a bit harder, although I didn't see them for most of the day. We started off the day with a quick and nice climb, Alison Rib (D*), which I led last year, but then, its a classic, and I wanted to climb the second pitch too. Amy managed to get up it, although she struggled on the final section, and Sam whizzed up it. Determined to crank on, we decided to climb Clob (VD). Unfortunately, this proved to be a mistake on my part, as we had to share a belay ledge with some other climbers who were climbing Clob before us and then with some guys who had changed from climbing Doorway to doing Ledge Climb. I stopped and had a chat with the guys from UNUMC, which was quite nice - they were probably committee members, as they seemed to know a fair bit about the club... Once I managed to secure the belay point, I started by belaying Amy up. However, she got stuck at the end of the first pitch, so she had to be lowered down. I then belayed Sam up and attempted the second pitch, but unfortunately strayed onto a much harder climb, possibly E1 or E4, so I had to downclimb that, retrieving the gear and get down onto the dubious belay ledge before finishing up the correct route.

Wales and Portland





Andy at Idswell slabs
30.05.2011





Had a few fun days in Wales, although it was fairly wet and cold at times. Arrived on Saturday afternoon and climbed at Little Tryffan. The following day, rain meant we decided to go for a walk instead, but it cleared up and dried about three pm and so we decided to go and try our luck at Milestone Buttress, where we managed to climb one route (Direct Route, VD***). I led the first pitch and Tom led the second. As the fourth pitch was wet we all just scrambled out from there. We did, however, have a bad time getting back down, as we were expected to be back relatively early and it was already getting quite dark. Instead of taking time to look for the descent which we weren't sure existed, we decided it would be best to ab-off the fixed rope next to The Pulpit, which was, unfortunately very much like a waterfall at that point. Despite only having one prussik loop between the three of us, we all managed to get down with barely a scratch, and made it back to Gwersylla campsite for 23:00... Monday was to be our final day of climbing, but no climbing really happened - it rained quite a bit and we weren't sure how much it would clear up by the time we left, so instead we decided to go for a little walk followed by a stroll and lunch through Betws-y Coed. It was a shame that we didn't get to climb, but was nice to have a rest day, although the drive back became quite long and tiring!



Chris starting up Tipping the Scales (F7a)
31.05.2011

Today, after a relatively late start, about 9am, Chris and I decided to head off to Portland, where Chris wanted to work a couple of routes at the New Cuttings. It being an odd occurence that people should want to climb sport routes with me, I clearly seized this opportunity to go climbing, despite the New Cuttings being low on my list of favourite climbing locations... The climbs there are all fairly short, which therefore supposedly accounts for the difficulty of the low-grade climbs. We climbed Elephant on Rollerskates, F4, then received a blow to our confidence by having to rest on the second clip of Limbo Dancer, F5. I then realised that it was just a question of pulling through, and felt slightly ridiculous... I then led Tipping the Scales, F7a, but used a clip-stick, so didn't really count, even though I managed all the moves after bouldering half-way several times first - an interesting climb, but the flowstone section and then the top seemed rather sketchy, and the third bolt had been ripped out, which would have made the climb very scary to lead normally...