Springtime in the U.K.

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It was a cold and rainy day when we touched down in Heathrow after was seemed like an eternity in economy class. Not quite the weather we had been hoping for, but this is London after all. Once we’d spent a few days taking in the sites of London it was time to head to Dorset to visit some of Sarah’s cousins and hopefully sample some sea cliff climbing. Luckily the weather on the south coast was clear but cold so we set off for the famous sea cliffs of Swanage. The aptly named subluminal area (being under the lighthouse) was our target. All the Swanage crags are abseil only access to a ledge system that runs above the high tide mark. Not wanting to end up in a sticky situation at the base of some desperate route it took us while before we were sure we were we wanted to be. Numerous rusty iron bars have been driven into the cliff top for abseil anchors so we choose the strongest looking and rapped off towards the heaving sea. Fortunately only 15m down was the promised ledge, about 4m wide and a reassuring distance above the waves. We committed and pulled the rope down and racked up for the 1st route of the trip. The rock at Swanage is a limestone of sorts, but with large mudstone boulders in it and has quite a gritty texture. It is also split by good cracks and horizontal breaks for gear. We ticked off a couple of 3 star VS’s when I decided to have a go at a 3 star HVS which the guide described as having a polished exit groove. The climbing began easily enough on rough rock so I made the mistake of running it out a little more than I should off. Suddenly the rough rock disappeared and the gear ran out and I found myself facing an awkward step up to a greasy ledge at the base of a steep corner about 10 feet above and well to the left of my gear. I gingerly put my foot up and jammed a finger tip in the groove crack and pulled up and across onto the ledge which sloped out more than I realised. Heart pounding I placed 3 quick fire pieces in the crack, while constantly having to reset my feet on the slippery slope. The finger jams weren’t much better, only one and a bit knuckles and polished through years of traffic, and the cold wind was numbing my hands. Pro sorted, heart rate down, and a couple of bridging moves saw me to the top of the groove and a small overhang with another ok jam to pull on got me out onto the rougher rock at the top. By now we were well chilled so Sarah led the VDiff escape route back to the cliff top and we hurried off to the visitors centre for a warm cup of tea.

A few days later we were up in Birmingham for Martin and Lisa’s wedding as well as gaining beta for our trip to Wales. It was a warm (I mean above 10deg) day when we arrived in Llanberis and drove up to the pass. Being on the drivers side meant I didn’t get a good look at the south side of the valley until we drove back over. It’s then that I experienced one of those epiphanal moments, similar to seeing Yosemite for the 1st as you drive into the valley. There high up on the right was what had to be the most famous climb in the UK. A massive right facing open book corner split by a crack in the back; Cenotaph Corner, climbed by the legendary Joe Brown back in the 50ies. The story goes that Joe was working the route and dropped his piton hammer onto his belayer, knocking him stone cold senseless. Joe bailed and got his belayer to hospital where he managed to find another belayer and went straight back out and finished the climb.

Unfortunately for us it was also seeping wet, but to the right was an equally classic route (if not quite as hard), Flying Butress. At 3pm decided we had time to climb the 6 pitches and get back before dark so we set off up the steep talus to the base of the route. The 1st three pitches climbed the buttress before merging into a steeper face and corner system above. I racked up and set off revelling in the kind of climbing I love, where you climb and place gear only because you think you should rather than because of a sense of imminent falling. The 1st 3 pitches ran together smoothly in one 60m rope length to the base of the steeper face and a traverse pitch. Sarah quickly followed carrying our day pack with running shoes and declined the traverse so I led off again up a tricky wall to the ramp and across to the base of another headwall and a belay. The next pitch followed easily to the base of the crux chimney with the most polished section of rock outside a graveyard headstone maker’s factory. Getting into the chimney required an indelicate bellyflop manoeuvre and then a thrutch to get into a bridge before finally getting spat back out onto a slab for the finishing moves to the top. Sarah followed, swearing at the pack pushing her off balance in the chimney and we descended a steep gully back to the start where we saw a guy saunter up in his 5.10’s and solo the route! (It was only a VDiff but quite exposed by the 4 pitch). Next day we bagged Mt Snowdon via the Crib Goch, a delicate scramble along a sharp rocky ridge and continued on round to complete the Snowdon Horseshoe, getting back just in time for a quick fed at the one and only Pete’s Eats café.

We were due in the Peak District the next day to meet our kiwi friends, Arwen, Anthony and Warren, so said goodbye to Wales and drove to the small village of Elton where Sarah’s cousins had a holiday cottage that we were invited to stay in. This was a major score as we had been planning on camping and meant we could spend a cold day outside on the grit and come back to the comfort and warmth of the house, instead of retreating to the tent. And so to the grit (or should that be The Grit!). The forecast for the weekend was for rain all weekend so upon arrival in Elton so we decided to head for Froggatt Edge that afternoon and bag a route while the weather was fine so at least we could have claimed to have climbed on grit. So it was a cold Friday afternoon that I climbed my first grit route, only a HS 4c, but what an experience! The cold meant the friction was superb as I jammed and smeared my way up the crack and slab through a couple of small bulges to the top. Every smear was like standing on a shoe width ledge and the jams felt like you could hang on them forever. The next day dawned overcast and cold (our Peugeot warned us of “ice alert” as it was below 3deg) for our return to Froggatt. Many routes were dispatched by all of us, Sarah revelling in leading classic natural pro routes. I ambitiously thought that Chequers Crack (HVS 5c) looked a goer so stripped down to just 3 layers, from my previous 5 and racked up. The finger locks on the lower section were good, if somewhat far between but pretty soon I’d lost all sensation in my tips it was so cold. I could see they were jammed in the crack but I couldn’t actually feel them in there. I figured that I’d just keep pulling on them and see what happened. This went ok for a few moves but by the time I’d reached the top of the crack section at a ledge break I couldn’t actually hold onto the slopers that were the key to the mantle to make the ledge. Several short falls (and a change of belayer to warm up) later I admitted defeat and Warren had a go. Being taller he was able to reach past the slopers for better holds, but not before a couple of good falls. Then part way into the upper crack he too lost finger sensation and had to bail, leaving Anthony to complete the route for us. Nothing like good British alpine siege tactics we thought! (Oddly the guidebook says it may be easier to solo than to lead!) At which point we decided to call it quits for the day and head back to the cottage to warm up.

The most famous of the edges, Stannage was our mission for the next 3 days. No ice alerts this time so things were looking up. These three days were some of the most enjoyable climbing I’ve done for a long time. Our favourite grades were VS 4c and HVS 5a (only about 16-19) but with so many 3 star routes in these grades we didn’t feel the need to extend ourselves into the E grades. The rock was immaculate, the protection usually good, and the climbing interesting but never straight forward. Vibes were on a high. Standouts included Golliaths Groove, HVS 5a which has some of the best bridging ever done, pure friction for the feet on featureless rock with side pulls on the arête and corner to gain height, all the while plugging cams into the hand crack in the back. The classic of them all however has to be Right Unconquerable (HVS 5a). A Tour de Force of laybacking and jamming up a curving crack to a slightly desperate mantle at the top. Very similar to Millenium Cracks at Waipapa, except it was first climbed in the 50’s (that man Joe Brown again) without modern gear equipment. An awesome achievement. Our final day in the Peak was spent bouldering at Cratcliff and Robin Hoods Stride, just down the road from cottage. An attempt on Jerry’s traverse (B, not V 8) was unsuccessful but numerous B3’s and 4’s were climbed on the scattered boulders. The sun actually came out too! So all up, a great trip. We were lucky to experience a variety of rock and while the weather was never spectacular it didn’t stop us getting out there as often as we wanted to experience some of the classics of the British climbing scene.