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.