My time away at work proved useful for more than just paying my mortgage.
north face coat,
Without the constant opportunity to climb or train, I found it easier
to switch off my head and forget about the rock. 0n Friday the 20th, I
came off shift and after a few more days of rest, I decided it was time
to test out my finger.
The drive to Devon was long and slow, not to mention incredibly
expensive due to the ridiculous fuel price in England. It is getting to
the point that I need to really justify my climbing trips. As nice as it
is to go sport climbing in Yorkshire, at ~ £15 per trip in fuel, maybe I
should stay in Manchester and train. Unfortunately, the weather was not
looking good but after having come all this way I was determined to get
on the route, even if only to clean the holds in the pouring rain.
Emily didn’t fancy the rain and made the smart decision to stay in the
car and read. I told her I was just going for a quick look and would be
back soon, and set off down the track.
As I set up my ropes, the sky looked ominous so I put on my DIAD jacket
just in case. It turned out to be a good call as after making it just
over half way down the slab, the heavens opened. On my way down I had
placed some gear but since I had no Jumars for ascending, even if I
bailed now I would have to ab the whole slab again to retrieve my gear,
before packing up and running for the car. Basically I was going to get
wet whatever I did, so better to get wet for a reason.
I stayed on the route, making my way slowly downwards towards the rocks,
swinging left and right, cleaning holds and trying out marginal gear
placements. As the rock got wetter, moving around became more of a
mission and before too long I was slipping and sliding all over the
place. I called it a day and abbed the rest of the way to the rocks,
north face coats
, which by now were almost covered by the sea. I unclipped my
Gri-Gri and sprinted up the steps and along the coast path to the top of
the cliff, determined to do what needed to be done as quick as possible
so I could get back to the car.
Idiot, how could I be so stupid. In my haste to leave, I had left my
Gri-Gri clipped to the bottom of the rope. I quickly ran through all the
options in my head:
The next day dawned much brighter and so I headed back with the hope of
actually getting to climb on the route. The rain held off and I had a
good few hours working the various sections. The route is a complex
affair. The whole slab is around 40m high and from a distance it looks
completely smooth and featureless. It starts off up a 20m unclimbed
section, the first 10m being unprotected climbing, with 6c moves on
slightly dubious rock above sea washed boulders. You then get some good
gear and the climbing eases to 6a/b for another 10m to join the original
line. The original line was first climbed in the 90’s and traversed in
off the right arête at about half height. It is incredibly sustained
slab climbing on edges and sidepulls. The higher you get, the harder the
climbing becomes and the more your forearms and calves burn. The route
follows a tiny, parallel sided crack, too thin for your fingers and this
crack provides the only gear. Originaly, there were about 15 pegs
placed in the thin crack (placed at some point in the 90’s, before the
first ascent) and this is how the route received its first and only
ascent, in sport climbing style with pre placed quickdraws.
Before I go into more detail about the actual climbing, I feel I should
give a brief summary of my history on the route, and how I have come to
be at this point
I first looked at the line a few years ago but was off-put by the
rotting pegs. I initially planned to replace the pegs and climb the
route in its original style but after speaking to various people and
educating myself on the issues of in-situ gear I decided if I was to
ever climb this wall, I would do it without the pegs. When I weighed
them all up in my mind, the cons completely outweighed the pros for many
reasons. I will go into these details at a later date or I will be
waffling on for hours. I was left with a difficult choice; forget about
the route and leave it as it is, or remove the rotting pegs and re-climb
the route on traditional gear which would be incredibly difficult and
dangerous, mainly because the crack is too thin and parallel to take
anything other than pegs,
the north face coats
, only occasionally providing placement for a micro-wire or two.