Rock Crawler

Burbage, Birchen and Owler

I had a bit of a break after the last few mad climbing sessions, not going out at all until Thursday night. Andy and I met up after work and headed to Burbage North to meet up with Rich and Jen. They were climbing on “Holly Bush Wall” which turned out not to be named as such in my guidebook! We decided that that must be near a climb of similar name, but found them just about to start on Knight’s Move, a 3 star HVS and allegedly the best thing on Burbage North. While Rich made short work of it, ticking his first HVS on grit, I made my way up Still Orange which was ok, even though I almost didn’t complete it due to not actually checking it’s route in my guidebook.. Doh!

Once off that, Rich convinced me to try Knight’s Move. Urk. I started it nervously, eventually finding some momentum up to the crux and then kinda stopped. I’ve never fell on, or even sat on trad gear in the 2 years I’ve been going outside. As a result, I’ve never really developed the trust I need for a move like that! After what seemed like an eternity of faff, I sat on the my cam for a few minutes to sort my head out. Sitting on the gear and seeing it happily holding me meant I could just get on with it and make the move. Even so, it was pretty tough and go; a rock over onto a highish left foot while palming down on my right hand and reaching for a distant ledge with my left hand. Urk! I eventually completed it after some more faff a bit laster as I drifted a bit far left, making the last gear placement difficult but by then it was getting dark! Andy followed quickly with head torch. I think I envied him for the second: I think it would be an even more fun climb following!

Saturday I went with Kiri on a Foundry outdoor session. We hit Birchen Edge at about 9:30, and top roped all day. It was actually quite good. I spend the whole time on VS’s, most of which would have definitely given me pause on lead. Really good for building up confidence and some technique. Highlights were the brilliant Topsail and the really quite difficult Mast Gully Buttress. It seems that my “technical grade” limit is 5a, which seems to match up based on my logbook.

This morning I took Jo and Ian out to Over Owler Tor to introduce them to bouldering outdoors for the first time. They went over all the problems we did in June. The weather was a little windy and chilly, but I think they enjoyed it. I’m left with very sore hands today, complete with a missing chunk of skin on my thumb.

I think I need to sleep now… shattered!

(Image of Still Orange from Antgirl’s Photostream)

More Stanage: Popular

I think I’m going to need a day off climbing tomorrow, I’m pretty knackered now.

Today Kiri and I discovered the Sunday bus that runs out to Hathersage via Burbage and Stanage. £2 for a return ticket with stops by the major car parks is brilliant. I suggest you all use it to make sure they keep running it! It goes from B4 at the Sheffield interchange. I’ve added the timetable at the bottom of this post. Click on it for a bigger version you can actually read.

We decided to start on a HVD called Recess Wall. It was nothing special tbh, but I did rather amusingly get my helmet trapped behind one of the overhang rocks above it. It was quite a fiddle to get around it with the extra inch of so of helmet in the way. We were intended on climbing the HVD next to it, but decided not to after not really enjoying Recess Wall and it looking similar. When I got home I discovered that I’d already seconded it with Rich and Jen last year!

Instead, we hopped over to Plate Glass Slab, which was quite busy with top roping kids, but had the interesting looking HS 4b climb called Plate Glass on it. I eyed it up and hopped on and then spend most of the next hour creeping my way up it as I swapped bits of gear in and out of the really poor ledges and pockets on it. Every single bit of gear I seemed to place was the bit that would fit into the next hole further up the wall! It genuinely would have been an easier climb if I’d solo’d it. It was still great fun though, you just needed to be careful with the slippery holds at the start. I was suprised to find it upgraded on Uk Climbing when I got home to a VS 4c. Not sure I agree with that, but it’s nice to have another VS in my log

Feeling confident, I thought I’d pick out one of the VS’s on this part of the wall and Trivial Pursuit looked interesting. Overall, it wasn’t too bad but the top out was a nightmare. An overhanging topout with really not that much to grab a hold of on the top. What should have been a graceful, measured mantle was in reality a gruesome looking bellyflop-wiggle!

Checking the time, we had long enough for one last lead, which was a quick saunter up the simple Mantelpiece Crack. I managed to place every one of my hexes up it for the first time. A nice bit of practice for placing them as they do usually get overlooked.

After that, there wasn’t really enough time for another climb before the bus, so we packed up, wandered down to the carpark and I got a Mint Chocolate Chip Icecream in a wafercone with a flake in it! Yum.

Sunday Stanage Bus Timetable!

Hi, High Neb!

Good weather continues! Today we went out to High Neb, on Stanage. I’d arranged to climb with Heidee, someone who was asking for climbing partners on UK Climbing. She picked me up from my place at around lunch time (after negociating Sheffields horrific one way systems) meaning we got to High Neb by about 1pm. It’s a strenuous walk up to the edge from the Dennis Knoll car park, especially when carrying ropes and trad gear! After huffing and puffing our way up the hill, we checked out the slabs beside High Neb buttress to warm up on.

I selected Mantleshelf Climb as a warm up, which was pretty simple, although a little bit unprotected and with some definite potential for hitting the ground! Next up was It’s a Cracker which was more of the same but with one toughish move in the middle.

Next up was the almost brilliant Tango Buttress. The first 3 quarters of the climb were brilliant, nice little holds, nervy slabby climbing and really not quite enough protection to feel safe. Definitely a little heart in mouth. It’s just a shame the top turns into a bit of a scramble. I found this nice little collage of pictures of it. By this time, Dan had turned up, just in time to “rescue” someone who was feeling stuck on High Neb by setting them up a top rope. I like the look of that climb so I’ve added it to my wishlist.

Next up was Norse Corner Climb, which was another great climb. It has a really awkward start, which took me at least 5 goes to sort it out, but after then a lovely wandering climb including slabs, cracks, a mantle and a surprise layback right towards the end.

Last climb of the day was supposed to be Solo Slab, which rapidly turned into Fail Slab. Dan leading it, came off on the 2nd bit of gear while attempting to back off it. Luckly the 1st bit was bomber and meant he didn’t hit the ground too hard. I had a go and couldn’t reach the second gear placement and couldn’t work out the next move at all. Extremely hard! To make up for it, I stripped off my harness and gear and solo’d Duo Crack Climb which was pretty simple, except for one bit in the middle where I’d muddled my feet up. Doh! Well.. I didn’t come off!

That was pretty much it for the day. A long walk back to the car park, a quick drive home and a curry!

(Photo from Earthwatcher’s Flickr photostream)

Over Owler Tor

Another week of perfect weather continues, so we decided to go out bouldering to Over Owler Tor.

Andy and I met up with Lou and Mark at Surprise View and we set off up the hill. We first stopped off at Mother Cap, being as it was on the way to try out the two problems with our grasps: Milk Cap and Blue Cap. Milk Cap wasn’t a problem, well if you don’t count the painful jamming! I started but didn’t finish Blue Cap, unlike Andy who monkey’d his way up to the break. Rich and Jen caught up with us at this point so we moved on to Over Owler Tor.

We spent the next 2 hours meandering our way over the majority of the easier problems. Myy favourites were:

• Peak Bouldering Problem 9 (Roof 2), an exciting little pull over a roof from a little cave which left me scratching my forearms somewhat
• Plop, a really delicate corner climb that wasn’t half tempting to continue into a very scary looking solo up the final third.

I didn’t manage to complete Jawbone, which was a particular nice problem from a sit start. I did manage to push it to the last move right at the end of the evening, but just didn’t have the energy left to complete it. One to come back to later!

This time I remembered to bring a half decent camera with me as well, rather than relying on a camera phone so got some, well interesting photos.

Click the images for a bigger version and the photostream with the others on.

Wednesday Night at Stanage End

Stanage is pretty damn big… 4 miles of big! As a result, there is loads of climbing I’ve not seen on there and I’d never even been to Stanage End! It was on my radar though because I’d added Incursion to my wishlist based on a recommendation and I wanted a look at it.

The sweatiness of Sheffield had pretty much disappeared once we got out of car. It was warm enough to not wear a coat and a nice cool breeze looked promising for keeping the evil midges away. It was a nice 15 minute walk up hill from car to End Slab, the first large piece of Stanage End and we were surprised to not see another person at all!

We started out warming up on The Ariel which Rich lead delicately. Quite a nice climb to be honest, a bit longer than expected. The slab, although a touch green had plenty of friction. After that it was my turn to lead and I sized up The Green Streak. This is the route that shares the start of Incursion so could give me a taste of it’s seriousness. Nervously I started up it, faffing with a cam in the first break. I’ve not actually done that many VS’s yet, although I do like slabs… Eventually I started to find the motion of it and begun to trust my feet on it. There are couple of really good gear spots, mostly for cams, but there was a slot that against all common sense sucked in a small nut that must have taken 10 minutes to remove. The last half of the climb was an exercise in keeping calm and trusting those feet; the sense of relief was amazing once I reached the break near the top with it’s lovely juggy hold.

Next up, Jen lead The Pinion which was probably one of the most nervy HVD’s I’ve ever been on. Nice lead!

Both Rich and I eyed up Incursion a bit. Definitely one for later when it’s not quite so late and we’ve summoned up the courage…

We finished up with a quick solo up The Rack and them bouldered over some of the small rocks to the left. By this time it was about quarter to 10 and the light was rapidly failing so time to go! Overall, a really nice evening of climbing. No sunburn, no midges and no crowds!

Beware! Falling Flakes!

Today I found out about a chunk of Solstice @ Bus Stop Quarry falling off! (Well, being pushed off…) Crikey. Rich, Kiri and I did that climb on our little expedition to Wales this time last year and I know it was one of Rich’s favourites. I remember all of us commenting on the creakiness of the flake in question has we used it gently, trying not to put too much weight on it!

I didn’t enjoy the climb much to be honest, but I think that was generally just down to being “climbed out” that day. We’d spent all day in Dali’s hole trying out all the sport climbing that had recently (ish) appeared in there, (and is now gone I think?). I think I’d racked up 7 leads already and really just didn’t have the head space for a big creaky climb like Solstice! Rich convinced me though and I guess I’m glad I did it now, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t enjoy it at the time! I’ve got used to the fact that there will be some point in the day when I just have run out of brain power for climbing!

So, the flake in question. I remember wondering about the mess it could cause to your belayer if it came off mid climb. Well, go have a look at this entry on Life in the Vertical and compare it to the position of the belayer in the photo on the right! Eeep! I can imagine plenty of belayers being much closer to their climber than Kiri is in this photo. Doesn’t really bear thinking about. I captured a photo showing how far the flake was away from the wall in 2009, which I’ve linked in below.

We like Birchen Edge!

Just got back from an afternoon at Birchen Edge. I really like Birchen Edge. Parking not that far from the crag. Open ground at the bottom of the edge so you aren’t tripping over stuff. Lots of climbs in the “green and orange” zone (Mod to HVS) which is where I’m playing right now. Strangely, I started the day on an HS, Captain’s Prerogative which was actually quite scary. Slabby and a set of mantles to get up it, I think I bit off a bit much on a first climb, but I think that somehow it got my brave head on! After that, we took a look at Nelson’s Slab which looked frankly awesome.

Fail!

VS 5b. The 5b being the first move which I could NOT get off the ground on. A really high stop on my for my right foot, with my left jammed in a really polished crack. I’ve taken chunks out of my shin (as usual) from this! Kiri on the other hand, being a flexible little nymph, showed me how it was done and after convincing her that she’d be able to lead the rest, scurried up it quickly.

However, this left me at the bottom needing to second it to collect the gear. Er… hang on, haven’t we just worked out that I couldn’t do the first move? 5 or 6 attempts later, I gave up and instead decided to pull out a load of slack on the rope and solo up the start of Left Ladder Chimney, a Mod next to it, and traverse along the crack that ended up as the 2nd hand hold for Nelson’s Slab. Well, it worked! When I got home I was surprised to discover that I wasn’t the only person who had to do it this way, probably through need to recover gear! I present to you, Nelson’s Slab Indirect Start. The rest of the climb was a gentle, easy slab. Rather nice!

After recovering, we moved along the crag to Emma’s slab. Feeling brave I chose The Prow and got cracking. I really enjoyed this route, but entirely innocently ended up wandering off piste somewhat near the end for the overhanging top out. Shame really as I think I could have managed the final move properly.

Last climb of the day was Emma’s Delight which lived up to it’s name. Very nice, and tough too. Had my head going a bit on trusting undercuts and side pulls!

By the time we’d finished up that last climb, the midges descended in their hordes. We hastily beat an escape before being devoured! Urrgh!

(Photo from Mikey Bean’s Flickr photostream)

A cheeky evening climb

It’s Wednesday. Wednesday is indoor climbing at The Foundry day. Except, the weather is lovely and The Foundry is going to be boiling. So instead we conspired to go out.

Rivelin Edge is a £9 taxi fare from my house, I speed home, packed my bag and orders a taxi. It was about 7:30 by the time we got to the edge, and rather conveniently, the taxi driver offered to pick us up to take us back at 9:30. (Turns out he is was a climber too, Sheffield is like that!). That gave us 2 hours, probably enough time to get 2 leads in! Quickly checking Eastern Grit, we decided to trek up to Birch Buttress, a 10 metre or so buttress on the far left of the edge.

Once we got set up, I started up Birch Crack, a VDiff which warned of needing large gear. It was ok, although there was quite a scary move about half the way up over a chockstone in the crack. At that point, as I probably should have expected, I had nothing big enough to protect anything higher! The set up for the belay was pretty simple though and my partner followed quickly afterwards.

Next up was Birch Buttress, a rather gorgeous looking slab, with a simple looking arete to finish up. The slab was nice and simple (managed to get 3 bits of gear into it) but the first big step of the arete was nervier than expected! I eventually got my act together and finish up. Again my partner cruised up with a grin. That was definitely her sort of climb… and mine too!

We then checked the time and it was 8:45, so we started packing up to head back down. It’s amazing how long a climb takes, time just flies! We were back at the road by 9:15 for our pick up and back at home by 9:45.

In another “small world” moment, I discovered the taxi driver used to own the pizza takeaway at the bottom of my road and had a copy of my bands first album due to knowing the our guitarist! Sheffield!!

(Photo from Rivelin Edge from Subterranean Tourist Board’s Flickr photostream.)

First Visit to The Roaches

(… so.. without further ado, I’ll start up as if there isn’t a year of missing posts…)

I went to The Roaches for the first time on Saturday. It’s been on my list of places I want to see for a while. It’s got three sections in my copy of Western Grit and just looked amazing. I wasn’t let down either; the place is beautiful with impressive and exciting looking rock along with a healthy load of bouldering and some trees for shade.

We started out on the lower tier, spotting Yong which looked like a perfect warm up climb. While Rich got to work on leading it with Jen belaying him, I eyed up the smooth looking slab next to it. E2 5b you say? Ever since a trip out to Rivelin Edge which saw me finding the balls to lead Better Late Than Never, I’ve been keeping my eye out for sexy looking slabs… Once it was my turn on Yong (which was pretty nice actually) I’d decided that since I couldn’t see a single bit of protection on Something Better Change, it was probably a bad idea!

So… we… uh.. top roped it. I hope no one saw

It was great actually, and definitely within the ability of both Rich and I, but still not within our bravery limit I fear!

Afterwards to trekked up to the upper tier attempting to find one of the two other groups of people we knew here. Eventually we found them on Roaches Skyline and joined them. After a lot of faffing, and some lunch we completed a couple of other climbs (Time to be Had, Cracked Arete) and I bottled a solo (Did 3/4 and decided that the last quarter looked a little to dodgy!).

We finished up the day on Thrug, which was every bit as fierce as it’s name suggested. I lead it on gear left by Rich after he wore himself out on the last move or two. I really don’t think I could have lead it and placed the gear myself! I fear the HVS’s!

I had a long look at Condor Slab, which looked brilliant but completely scary and Bad Sneakers which is probably way out of my league, but feeding my slab fixation!

Great day out!

(image from Shwe’s Photostream)

Back from the dead.

About 6 months ago I accidently dropped the database behind this site (and quite a few others).  Doh.  Poof.  It all disappeared.  I shrugged, tried to remember the last time I posted and decided not to try and fix it.

Today it occurred to me that I could actually recover most of this as I’d been using a cross poster to post all the entries to the twinned livejournal account I have.  So this evening I fixed it..  kinda!

Some of the entries are probably missing images/videos etc and may be a bit corrupted.  I may work through them later and fix them.  In the mean time, I’ll start posting again I think….