Milestones

     A return to trad has been on the cards for a while now and so the rope and rack were packed and we headed off to Brimham to get on some longer gritstone routes.  Although sunny today, many of the further edges weren't getting any sunshine and still don't seem to be in the best condition.  After seconding The Pig Traverse I chose Grit Corner for my first lead climb of the year.  Infact it was my first time on the sharp end since Stanage last August, it's been a very long time!  Although an easy route I faltered on the first few moves up a crack, two attempts trying to take it direct, jamming and feet slipping before I realised a layback was the easy way.  Certainly not the best of starts.  The rest of the crack to the ledge was a path, though very dirty for the feet.  Stocked up with cams, hexes and nuts I only actually used 1 sling and a quickdraw for protection and headed up the left hand finish feeling incredibly rusty.  A few easy chimney solos later and that was the proper climbing done for the day.  My head just wasn't in it.
     Brimham is a beautifully scenic place with tons of rock but I've never found her routes to be particularly friendly and so it perhaps wasn't the best venue choice for a refresher.  I'll have to aim for an improvement next time out.

     At Lovers Leap area sits Anniversary Arete, a boulder problem I'd tried the last two visits here and one of my future aspirations.  It's a great looking line and gets a grade of British 6b, a grade I felt I was still quite far off achieving.  Its moves are really quite specific and balancey but the start actually felt really steady today, small sharp pebbles and smears for the feet, lay-backing off the arete.  After having a high crimp pointed out to me and giving it some thought and attempts going into double figures I caught myself by surprise by latching the top and fought my way over.  I almost couldn't believe it, I don't climb that hard, only an hour ago I was struggling on a VDiff.  A little while later I did it again without much of a struggle to prove to myself it wasn't just a fluke, it just felt so easy.  Perhaps it was the shoes, I'd put my new Chilli's on for the occasion.
     On a high, and after a cup of tea, I decided to try another 6b, again an arete, this one called Pommel.  It's overhanging but has a positive enough edge to allow a good pinch-grip.  A crafty heel-toe in the break made reaching the sharp part of the arete quite easy and I hit the top just as my feet cut loose.  An awkward top-out with 'technical knees' completed the problem and yet again it felt pretty easy.  I'm guessing this one has been over-graded a little though.
     Considering the let down of the first part of the day this turned into a fantastic outing.  I'm absolutely buzzing, even if my hands and arms are raw with gritrash I feel like I've broken through a barrier in the difficulty I can climb, probably more of a mental barrier than anything but an important milestone to me.  I hope I can continue with this new found good form and use it to improve my trad. It's all in the mind you know!

Upleatham Daze

      As I had a busy morning I hoped a local walk would help blow away the cobwebs.  To the North of Upleatham is a plateau of farmland surrounded by pine woods, a popular place for dog walkers, mountain bikers and horse riders.  I like it too and go there regularly.  Today was warm but very hazy, the daffodils and gauze were in bloom and the wildlife active.  I like being up here, music player on, just exercising and enjoying the views.
     As I had mentioned Soapwell Quarry in a previous post I thought I'd better go take some photos.  The rock here is very sandy, soft and loose so not the ideal place for clambering.  The photo is the only part of the quarry where I have done any climbing, a few years ago we had a few hours soloing and bouldering for which I recorded some route descriptions and grades (currently lost).  The obvious sharp arete to the left is the best line here and the only thing I chose to climb today, the rock seemingly a bit (not much) more solid than the rest.  Everything here feels serious and I certainly do not recommend anyone to climb here!

     There is a wind farm currently proposed for the top of the plateau.  More on this area and my thoughts on the wind farm can be found on a separate page here.

Rematch

     As it was such a sunny day today a return journey was called for to a spot I visited last month (Two Newish Venues, 18th Feb 2012).  As it was getting dark that day I had failed to get up a problem I had commented was a bit too hard.  It's a pretty insignificant problem in the grand scheme of things really, it doesn't stand out as a 'climb me' line and I have no idea of it's name or grade but the moves had felt good even though I couldn't complete them and the failure had played on my mind for nearly 4 weeks.  Sometimes there are only two grades for things I try to climb, easy or impossible.  I came at the problem a bit more thoughtfully today, looking at all the holds and the best way to grab and use them and visualising the body and feet positions that would be needed.  After practicing a couple of the higher moves to see if the way I wanted to do it would work I sat down underneath.  I got the sequence correct straight away and was soon at the top.  Easy!

   









     Other problems I was shown here today were a slab with a couple of decent but slightly sandy lines on it and an arete that climbed great but should have been longer. Many of the lines here will benefit from some more traffic.







     Across the valley some cleaning but not a lot of climbing had taken place last time.  After a nice easy ramble on one of the bigger bits of rock it was time to go look at the little roof that was clean and dry but unfortunately impossible.

If You Go Down To The Woods Today

     Instructing work has been a little thin on the ground this winter as Ability Outdoors has a face transplant and becomes Dalby Activity Centre.  New location, new buildings, new activities and new paintball games.  If you would like to see some photos I took today and hear more about how the new site is progressing click here.

Some Old Footage From Scugdale

Scugdale from Martin Whitton on Vimeo.
     I rediscovered this short film of me the other day.  I made it on Windows Moviemaker and it used to have a beginning sequence but it was slightly embarrassing and so I've omitted it.  I think this was around 2009 and has Tippling Wall, Black Banned, Parsons Nose and Eve Left Hand.  For some reason there are a couple of photos of Pebble Climb at the Wainstones too.  This brings back some great memories of being on my own at Scugdale, feeling like I was doing something really special.  I remember Eve vividly, one cold, windy winter day.  It ain't half got a terrible landing and I haven't even considered doing it my last few visits.  I've failed at Black Banned on a good few occasions recently too which proves I've lost a lot of strength.  Must try harder.
     The images may be slightly grainy as I wanted to keep the size of the video down but it looks ok in the small window.

By The Seaside

     There seems to have been a fair amount of bouldering development going on around the coast lately and as others were visiting one of these new(ish) coastal venues today I thought I'd join in and take a peek.  This may be the nearest bouldering to me, only a few miles from my house.  The only things nearer are perhaps Soapwell (there's a reason you've never heard of it) and Highcliff, plus it's only a ten minute walk-in.
     I generally avoid the coast, it always seems cold and windy and on top of that it's near the sea (I don't like the sea).  Coastal views certainly don't appeal to me as much as hilly ones and I have probably missed out on some fantastic climbing because of my aversion to large bodies of water.  Today was beautifully sunny and even though the wind was strong it certainly wasn't cold.
     The boulders themselves lie on a plateau with sheltered hollows, well above the sea and below a large but soft cliff.  It just goes to show that soft sandstone crags can be good for something.  They fall down!

                                                                                                                The rock here is incredibly variable and ranges from excellent to soft to conglomerate like choss but there seemed to be plenty of the good stuff to go round.  We started off on a nice easy slab which was a good size and had a decent sit start on it's left hand side, all good and solid.  A semi-arete around the other side of the same block had good rock for the hands with just one handhold which didn't feel 100% safe but this, along with a nice crossover move gave it a bit of spice.

     A little further south sits a lovely, photogenic pointy block just away from the main boulderfield.  As the soft rock on one side has weathered away it has left big chunks of hard rock slightly protruding.  Some good problems could be worked out on here missing out the bigger holds but the sit start up the centre was decent regardless and the arete to the left has nice crozzly holds and is interesting.  Further round the block, the slab (without the arete) is mostly on the feet and has a great couple of moves.

     Some pretty good problems and these were on just two of a great many boulders here.  If the nice weather stays with us I may be back to explore further.

Castleton Rigg Quarry

     This rarely visited quarry is a bit esoteric and certainly an acquired taste.  This despite the fact it has a great many redeeming features:  It is truly roadside, very close to a main moors through route, has stakes well positioned above, dries quickly and has over twenty short routes at a variety of grades.  That said it has some suspect rock, particularly at the far left end, some ankle twisting landings and is extremely open to the weather.  On a windy day it can feel particularly cold and nasty up here, today I went home with ear-ache because I didn't take a hat and it was a relatively warm day elsewhere.
     This is the only venue where I've done all the recorded routes in one visit.  Today that was never going to happen, I couldn't keep my fingers warm so just did some easy stuff at the left end, following the flakes up The Slab on the shield was enjoyable as always and the scrambles on the tower pleasant.  I had actually come after hearing about a few new but poor routes that had been logged on UKC but forgot about this as I was rushing around trying to keep moving.  On getting home and looking at the descriptions and my photos, Knock Off climbs the dirty slab to the left of Red Slab which I'm pretty sure I've done before and Shoddy Slab looks like it is the obvious slab in the centre of the lower photo.

 (Castleton Rigg Quarry - Left)

(Castleton Rigg Quarry - Right)

     There is a great problem at the right hand end called Two Faced, it takes the wall to the right of the diagonal crack (far right of picture), unfortunately I didn't get up it today.  I was at the crimps not far from the top, unable to feel what I was holding onto when I had a moment of doubt, it wouldn't be great to fall off here sans mat.  Getting buffeted by the wind I made a tactical retreat and instead punted for the slightly easier Face Route which goes up the side of the arete, but without using it.  It's only hard at the start and I was soon enjoying the good holds, taking a moment to look around at the view before topping out and running back down the hill to the car to direct the heaters onto my head.

A free guide to Castleton Rigg is available here


photo:copyright phleppy

DVD REVIEW - The Long Hope

'Another offering from the man who doesn't seem to believe in having limits.'

Read my full review of The Long Hope here.