Early September ramblings

Tuesday Sept 4th: Top rope solo try out

Given that I have free time when my limited supply of climbing partners are hard at it keeping the country afloat, I decided to to a local crag (Three Springs) and have a go at top rope soloing as an option to get a few more days in and tried out various options to see what worked best.

So, what is it ? Basically it is climbing on a top rope, but solo ;-)  Seriously, instead of a belayer, one uses devices such as ascenders which will move up a rope more or less freely but grab it as soon as any downward pressure is felt.  There are various devices that will do the job,   though none designed specifically for this so they all come with major health warnings from the manufacturers and TO BE CLEAR, this is NOT A RECOMMENDED TECHNIQUE particularly for people without a lot of experience of setting up rope systems.  For that reason, I won’t be describing the techniques I tried out in any detail.  Notwithstanding the health warning above, I am a fairly cautious climber so all my options included full redundancy and backup, including using two ropes.  On my third attempt I arrived at the optimum approach and successfully climbed an E1, as well as giving myself a refresher on rigging techniques, so all in all a good day

Thursday 6th Sept: Sport Climbing – Castle Inn quarry

We were due to set off for Wasdale in the lakes in the morning, but a dodgy forecast convinced us that there was likely to be little climbing to be had, so we went via Castle Inn - only a ninety minute detour ! – for a quick hit.  The weather was chilly and overcast but the rain held off to allow us a great couple of hours.  I nipped up ‘Route 2’ (F5) and Mogadishu  (F4+)to give Julie a couple of nice routes to climb, Route 2 in particular is 20 metres of pure climbing pleasure.  She then returned the favour, leaving the rope in situ after we climbed Finale (F5) to allow me a go at working out ‘The Outsider’ (F6c) which is well above my pay grade. Despite this I made a decent fist of it, though I’m not sure the handhold on the crack I used at one stage is ‘in’ for the full 6c.  if it is, I think it is generously graded at 6c, I’d say more like 6b or 6b+ tops.  We finished off with a lead attempt on Indian Summer, at 6a+ still above my usual outdoor lead ceiling and after a fall on the first attempt due to poor route choice, I made it ok on the second go ..the continental climbing is paying dividends ! Flushed with success we then hot footed it to Nether Wasdale to meet up with friends in the Screes pub and compare summer exploits over dinner and beer.

Friday 7th Sept: trad multi pitch – Buckbarrow, Wasdale

Despite waking to a fine day, we knew the forecast for Scafell was poor and so my target route ‘Botterills Slab’ was probably a no go.  A quick look at the guide showed some likely routes on Buckbarrow, a lower crag with a 20-30 min walk in, so we headed round and worked our way up the inevitable scree slope to Witch buttress to climbed the signature route, ‘Witch’ a two pitch VS 4c.  On close inspection I was not impressed !  A corner (though the book describes at as a chimney) over hanging at the top, quite vegetated lower down ,water running down the crack and the wall to the right looking decidedly green. Still with the weather closing in, it was this or nothing, so off I went, the first few metres living down to my expectations, and with my lack of recent trad climbing I found gear placements quite tricky.  However, the higher I got, the better it got and the more I relaxed into it.  I made the crux quite comfortably, particularly pleasing because I thought my way through it, finding and choosing the best holds.  Post crux, P1 was a lovely romp up the wall on good holds to a stance on top of the pillar, where I found an old thread with a maillon.  The thread looked quite weather worn, so although I used it I also place three other equalised pieces and brought Julie up just as the rain set in properly, leaving me an awkward and poorly protected slab to climb in the wet – gulp !  fortunately P2 was quite a bit shorter and protected form the rain fairly well, so after some dithering with small nut placements and thanking the fates that I had my brass offsets, I made it reasonably easily and brought Julie up as fast as possible before we tackled the new crux – a small track down steep wet grass in rock shoes back to our packs & boots !  We then headed gingerly down the wet scree and adjourned to the Strands for coffee and cake.

Sunday 9th Sept: Coniston Old Man and Champagne !

The primary reason for the lakes trip was for the wedding of Chris my step brother and his fiancée Joanne, being held at Brantwood, Ruskin’s House on Coniston, and though I had an idea we might get on Dow crag and do Eliminate ‘A’, Saturdays weather said ‘no’, but we did enjoy a lovely occasion complete with food on the steam Gondola as it sailed up the lake and back.  Chris is also a  keen outdoors enthusiast so the plan for Sunday was for all who were physically able to climb Coniston Old Man and enjoy wedding cake and champagne on the top.  A cool idea, but with dodgy weather on Saturday there were mutterings amongst the troops in the bar on Saturday evening.  Sunday confounded the pessimists, a bright, sunny day and we had lovely chilled stroll up to Goatswater, where the climbers amongst us looked wistfully at a dry and sunny Dow, and on up to the summit to toast the new couple.