More Bouldering at Stanage Far Right
It was a week ago now, but we had a great little climbing session on the evening of Monday 17th. We decided to head out to Stanage Far Right again as there was loads we haven’t tried and aimed to start at the Cube as it wasn’t has high as the rest of the problems so good for getting the head warmed up.
The Cube looked like a great block for getting started on, so I picked the first problem on the left of it, Cube Left. Looking up at it, I realised I might have made an error of judgement for my first climb! It was a blank wall above a deep wide break, and after a few pulls on it I started feeling a little despondent. There was no way I was going to be able to reach the top from the break was it? And then I worked out what I needed to do, undercut the top of the break, get the feet high and push up to reach the top. Doing it on the other hand was tough as there wasn’t really any good holds in the slot to start it! Ed had a go and after a few attempts topped it by using a jam in the slot. Aha! I tried next and have a few goes it went. You needed to jam the slot quite hard allowing you to move your feet higher and then get an undercut on the slot edge. Feeling around there was a dent you could use your fingers on to help the undercut and bang it was done 🙂
Next we had a go on Cube Arete, and The Cube Root. The Cube root was definitely harder than Cube arete and after working it with Ed and Kelly I managed to work out some nice beta on where to hold a poor pinch to finish. With this knowledge Kelly finishing it as well.
On the right hand side of the Cube there were two traverses, Upper Cube Traverse which was easily done and then the more difficult Lower Cube Traverse. Liz had sunk her teeth into this one as the other straight up climbs were a little out of her grade, but she’s happy to push it on traverses. She’d managed to complete the route in two halves but was struggling to link them together. I popped on and started working on it. The first section was ok, but I quickly ran into difficulty where Liz was struggling to transition. Then I worked it out, crossing my left hand far across my body to a poor pinch and rolling with it to a better hold on the right. Sadly my foot popped and dabbed the floor but I quickly put it back on the wall without weighting it. I finished the second section with another slip and dab. Not sure how to treat this, I didn’t weight the floor at all, but I’m not sure it counts! I had another go later but didn’t manage it!
Next we worked on Slots and Cornflake. Slots had two really poor slots for handholds which made pulling on tough, but I eventually did it (after being called out for not really completing pulling on properly before moving to the next hold). Cornflakes was much tougher and I struggled to pull on the eponymous cornflake before deciding to move on.
Next we moved up to the main wall to try the Gripples. This was a nice and big hanging slabwith what looked like great climbing, but the ground beneath it was pretty nasty looking. Lots of potential for broken ankles here. I first tried Gripple Two, and after a few unsuccessful starting attempts finally got to the top. I didn’t finish it straight up as there was NOTHING at the top to grab. Instead I went a little right for an easier finish. After climbing down I hopped up Gripple One which had an interesting start but wasn’t too tough. It’s top out was much nicer.
Next was the amusingly named Gripple Nipple which, tbh wasn’t that great I don’t think. Bit of a strangle handswap thing on the front and then a big move to a ledge and an easy finish. Still, that big move proved a little challenging for some of us. Perhaps all the running is helping with me leg push offs!
Gripple Graunch was next, a much tougher challenge involving a high right heel and a big push. Ed managed to finish it eventually, but Kelly and I just couldn’t do the big push to the first proper handhold. This is definitely something we should work on though as we weren’t far.
I pottered over to the next wall to the left to see what Liz was up to and found her 95% of the way up Pert Wall. She nearly finish it, but due to there having been on opportunity for he to warm her head up for a high top out, she bailed and down climbed. I jumped on and found it tougher than I expected with some greasy holds and things less positive than they looked. Finshing up for the evening, I walked up Pert Block Arete (nice and simple) and then Pert Bloke which was excellent fun!
Andy of Restless Focus was climbing with us and brought his SLR hence the better than usual pictures in this post.