Mission Aborted

In the interests of maintaining balance here and just to show that things don't always go to plan, my latest foray into th'ills, went something like this.

The original plan (and yes, there is a cautionary tale about sticking to your original plan!) was for a walk, more specifically, Catbells and Maiden Moor in the North Western Lake District Fells. The weather has been grim for the best part of a month, barely a dry spell in amongst seemingly endless rain. So a walk seemed like the sensible option, I couldn't think of a single spot that might be dry enough to climb.

Then something happened. A cursory check of the weather forecast and there they were, 2 days of brilliant sunshine, a whole weekend! A quick consult with my partner for the day and we agreed, sun after all this rain was just too good an opportunity to pass up, we had to climb.

So Catbells was put on the back burner and a plan B was quickly drawn up, we'd head across to Wilton, this decision being helped by another climber buddy announcing a party were headed that way and they'd see us there.

I picked Nathan up and we were in good spirits, the thought that this might not be the best plan, never entering our heads, this despite the snow covered tops in the distance.

We parked at the Wilton 3 car park and trudged up the hill towards the quarry, the fresh snow crunching underfoot. Although, late morning by now, the winter sun was very low. Would any of the crag be in sunlight?

 

 

No was the answer, well, apart from a small section away from the main crag, which contains a handful of good bouldering problems but nothing more. The rock was dry though in quite a few places and when the wind dropped, standing in the sunshine, it felt quite pleasant. But the wind didn't drop that often and the crag was swathed in shadow, occasional glints of sunlight here and there bringing thoughts of what might have been.

Undaunted however, Nathan chose a particularly dark corner of the quarry and a HVD to start. Damn it was cold gearing up, Nathan racking up between bouts of blowing into cupped hands. I didn't even take my gloves off!

He set off, got 5 or so feet off the ground, placed some gear, moved up, looked for some more gear, which was difficult, what with the icicles in the way! I got the sense that even Nathan, who is probably even more enthusiastic about climbing than I am, was starting to doubt that this was a good plan! I suggested we abort and try and find sunnier spots.......I think Nathan was down climbing even before I'd finished the sentence!

As we were packing the gear away, our friends from LCCC arrived and were setting up base camp in the only sunlit spot in the quarry. We wandered over for a chat. They were bouldering only, maybe moving to Wilton 2 later. I suggested Brownstones to Nathan, a bouldering only venue about a mile down the road, surely there'd be a bit of sun there?!

No, is the answer! The path leading to this miniature gem of a quarry, was flooded, seriously flooded! We had to scramble up the bank, through the brambles, just to navigate a way around what was a path but was now a pond!

On finally arriving at the first section of quarry, ironically named 'The Pond Area', well, judge for yourselves what our reaction might have been!

The whole area was underwater! There IS a pond here, but it was now buried under this lake!

There was one last option, at the far end of the quarry and we headed over there but by then, we were pretty much downhearted and defeated. My mind was already wondering at what might have been if we'd stuck to our original plan of Catbells.

And so we aborted for the second time that day, cold and beaten, we retreated back to the car and headed home.

So the first snow on the hills......and I spend the day searching for climbs in a dark damp Lancashire Quarry..... bloody marvellous!

Helm Crag

Today I decided to push myself again and try my first 'proper fell' for some years! In fact, the fell I chose was actually the last fell I'd walked previously and I reckoned it to be about 5 or 6 years ago.

I had 2 companions for the day ( well 3 if you include Lester of course!), my son Joe who is in training for his D of E award and Nathan, a keen rock climber looking to get more 'mountain experience'.

We parked in the main car park in Grasmere and Nathan, who had only visited The Lakes once previously, immediately fell in love with the place. It's the olde worlde charm of the Lakeland towns and villages that gets people, like a glimpse into a far simpler bygone era. For more regular visitors like myself (or maybe it's just me!), the tacky shops selling 'backpacking gear' at 'bargain prices' and 'I love the Lakes' memorabilia, all made in China of course, have ruined villages like Grasmere. Windermere is even worse, a place I avoid like the plague.......The Blackpool of the Lakes!

Walking through Grasmere to the start proper of the walk gives a nice gentle introduction and provides a 'warm up' for the real walking to come. The tacky shops aside, the village is stunning! If you can see past the rows of Regatta waterproofs, past the 'All I got was this Lousy t shirt' displays, then Grasmere is a real treat! Lakeland stone walled houses and Westmorland Slate roofs blend effortlessly into the surrounding countryside in stark contrast to the shop wares, which do not!

The road leads through the village and on towards Easedale Tarn but then the path takes a sharp right, into the woods and the fell proper.

This section of the walk, through the woods of Kitty Crag, past the ruins of a once walled garden complete with man made ponds is very pleasant indeed, gentle and with a well formed and marked path.

 

 

But don't let this lull you too much into a relaxed state! Although only 1329 ft in height, the ascent to the summit of Helm Crag, is done over a short distance, 1.5 miles. It is therefore steep and soon gets the thigh muscles burning!

 

The walk soon breaks out onto the open fell above the tree line and with Lancrigg Crag on the right and Jackdaw Crag to the left, it strikes a path between the 2 before turning east above Jackdaw and then meandering up past White Crag, Raven Crag and on to the summit.

 

 

 

Be sure to take in the views on your way up, they are simply stunning! to the west, Easedale Tarn and Sour Milk Gill in full Winter flow! Beyond and slightly southerly, the Langdale Pikes of Harrison Stickle, Pike of Stickle et al, rise imperiously from the valleys beneath them. To the south, the village of Grasmere and the vale down to the mere itself and then onto Rydal Water, get ever smaller as you near the summit.

 

the summit itself appears (or appears to appear!) just in time as burning thighs start to complain! The last section to the plateau is quite rocky and a little care is needed. But then there they are, the Lion and the Lamb, the two rock formations on the summit plateau that give the Fell it's nickname.

 

 

 

But they aren't the true summit! A short walk northwards along the summit plateau and we soon arrive at The Howitzer! An impressive leaning buttress of rock in the shape of a huge canon, about 20 ft from base to peak, lies between us and the actual summit.

 

 

Now of all the 214 Wainwright Fells in The Lakes, this was the only one Wainwright himself didn't summit on, his aversion to rock climbing on this last section of the route would defeat him sadly, for eternity. So on this particular rain soaked occasion, with the already polished rock now sodden and like glass, I'm not ashamed to say that this time round, I decided to join lofty company and give the summit a miss. One of our party, Nathan, did however make it to the top!

 

 

 

 

Just as we were preparing for our return descent of the fell, Nathan and Joe both experienced what will prove to be an invaluable lesson to them!

 

You can hear tales of bad weather experiences til you're blue in the face from other climbers and mountaineers, but until you've actually experienced something for yourself, it never really sinks in.

 

Within literally seconds, a summit which was clear, with views for miles around, became engulfed in cloud and visibility was down to yards! We didn't see this coming, there was no warning, it was clear one second and then it wasn't! Being aware of the conditions, logging your position regularly, being aware of exactly where you are, where you are heading, where potential dangers are, are all essential skills in the hills, for exactly this kind of event. I would like to think that both Joe and Nathan, if they weren't before, are fully aware of this now and will take this with them whenever they venture into the hills themselves.

 

 

Knowing the fell, we found and followed the descent path easily enough though, despite the weathers best efforts at preventing us and were soon once again below the cloud level and with full visibility.

 

We made good time on the descent, despite the glass like surface of the soaked stone slabs, and were back at the car in no time, soaked, a little tired, but safe and exhilarated! Another excellent day in the fells.

 

 



Keep Going

A weather forecast which meant either climb indoors or don't climb at all saw me choosing the 3rd option for this weekend, a walk.

Whilst I've been getting 'climbing fit' over the summer, aerobically, my fitness levels are to be frank, quite shocking! So, I've known this day would come for some time and here it was, time to get the boots out, dust off the compass and map case and get out into the hills and explore.

I currently own the grand total of 2 ordnance survey maps, one for The Lakes and one for The Peak. The weather forecast for The Peak District was horrendous, the forecast for The Lakes was really really horrendous, so I chose The Peak and in particular, a summit called Shining Tor.

I planned the route beforehand, loosely ( I wanted to keep my options open and pretty much go where the path took me) and worked out that my proposed route would be about 6 miles long.

Now 6 miles is nothing for a mountain walk. My plan is to get up to double that and be able to do at least 2 consecutive days at that level. But for now, 6 miles on testing ground in serious conditions would at least give me a benchmark as to where I am in terms of both fitness and just how rusty my map and compass skills are.

I parked at Pym Chair car park and immediately set off in a southerly direction along the escarpment of Cats Tor with the views out towards the fertile fields and valleys of Cheshire to my right and the peaty barren uplands of the Peak on my left........although the view in either direction was pretty poor through the low cloud and drizzle.

I found the initial walking fairly steady. The ground is rising here towards the Tor but at a steady and manageable gradient. About half a mile from the Tor itself though, the ground gets a little steeper and I could feel the burn in my calves as I fought against the gradient and elements.

But summit we did, Lester and I and what a view we would have had if only for better weather!

From here, our path struck a south easterly direction towards Stake side and Goyt's Moss but on reaching the edge of Shooters Clough ( I love these names, conjuring up images of a hard but simple life in a bygone age!), turned sharply NE and down through the clough itself.

A 'clough' is a valley or ravine and the walk through this, with the wood on my right, the escarpment of the tor to my left and Errwood reservoir in front of me, was really very pleasant.

Before reaching the reservoir itself, my path turned again and I now began to head NW through the woods and now abandoned grounds of Errwood Hall. I think this place would be quite magical in the summer. Walking through the woods, you can still see signs of a former life. Derelict walls in what looks like it was once a walled garden. Stone steps leading off in different directions. I bet the grounds were beautiful back in its day but you know, in its now wild and unkempt state, I thought it was simply stunning anyway!

The path begins to steepen again here and after what was a very gentle stroll through the woods of Errwood, now became hard again. Rising up towards Foxlow Edge, we broke through the woods and back out into the open and the elements. The rain and wind were in our faces for this last hard section. We passed an old building. I've no idea what it is, the cross on top leading me to think it was some sort of old chapel, but tiny!

The path continues north easterly for a mile or so before hitting the road known as 'The Street' and this would take us the last half mile back to the car park.

I absolutely loved this walk for many reasons. I'd never done it before so everything I saw was new. I was happy with my navigation skills, maybe like riding a bike, you never forget! But mostly, I was really very pleased with my fitness levels, which, on evaluation, weren't as bad as first feared. It took me around 3 hours, with stops for photos etc let's say 2.5hours of walking, on rough terrain and in pretty bad weather so I hadn't done too badly. I have to keep pushing myself, even small successes, small improvements, make a difference. There were times on this walk when my legs were complaining, especially my calves. But I'd take it to the point where it was really starting to burn and then pick a spot in the distance to aim for as a rest point. The idea being to push myself to the pain barrier, and then to keep going!

I'm looking forward to bigger and better things to come. It will not be long before I'm in amongst true mountains. This weekend I will be in The Lakes with my son (the 2 legged one Joe although Lester will be coming too!) doing Helm Crag. This will be our first proper fell walk together! My fitness levels and confidence will soon improve and then it's Blencathra and Sharp Edge, Scafell, Helvellyn and Striding Edge, The Langdale Pikes et al!

Froggatt and Troy

A dry and windless day in late October was just too good an opportunity to miss and so on Sunday, it was off to Froggatt Edge with Sam and Lester of course......have I mentioned my crag dog? Loved by all, I've bumped into folk on crags who recognise Lester 'oh look there's Lester'.....me, not a second glance!......Jealous much?! Anyway, I digress and he gets enough attention at the crag anyway!

We decided on Froggatt a place I hadn't been to in 25 years or more and Sam had never visited so one way or another we were in for something different. Very quickly I decided that if nothing else, it was worth the visit, just to highlight to me how aerobically unfit I am! I really need to get my legs motoring more often because I have to confess, I found the walk up to the crag, bloody hard work! But we got there and I managed to avoid a massive coronary too.

Sam was to lead the first route, a severe 4a called Sickle Buttress, an interesting looking route with a bit of variety. A tricky finger crack leads to sloping ledges leading out right. There is a choice here, to smear on the slopers to a semi mantle onto a good ledge below the final groove or climb a move or 2 higher to a good flake and arguably better footholds and then make a traverse out right to the same ledge. As we geared up I was again amazed at how busy the place was, seriously, it was like somebody had just opened the gates. People seemed to emerge from the footpath at the foot of the crag, one after another for what seemed like ages. Pretty soon, folk were queuing for routes. Sam had barely gotten off the ground when 2 chaps parked themselves next to us announcing they were looking to do the route after us. Now Sam is like me in respect of not really liking a crowd scene whilst climbing and in particular, an audience! I also don't think it's polite is it? I mean who needs that added pressure? No reason why people can't wait a bit of a distance away at the very least. Anyhow, I knew they would be bothering Sam and so politely told them they were welcome to wait but that we were likely to be some time and they might be better seeking out an alternative, which option they thankfully chose.

The damage had been done though. I could see Sam was struggling a bit. A new venue, unfamiliar territory and an audience and it was enough to have unsettled her. I'll say 1 thing here. In all the time I've climbed with Sam, I've only ever seen her back off one lead and that wasn't through not going for it, it was a tough VS 4c which she just couldn't do. So it was sad to see her unable to continue and I lowered her to the ground from gear. Knowing what was going through her mind, having been there many times, it's incredibly frustrating knowing there is nothing you can do except encourage and hope they manage to battle through it.

I finished off the lead and Sam followed no problem at all. This was all about the head and nothing to do with being able to do the route, on another day, she would walk that lead no problem!

 

The view from Sickle Buttress

 

 

We decided to move down the crag to try and find somewhere a bit quieter but pretty much every lower grade route with a star against it had queues of folk waiting to do them, it was like Alton Towers! We managed to find a V Diff called Solomons Crack. A broken blocky ramp leads fairly awkwardly to a decent ledge and then there is a final tricky corner. I thought it best to try and get Sam leading again as soon as possible, using the falling off the bike get straight back on mantra. It didn't work. Sam managed to get to the ledge above the ramp but she just wasn't in the right place for leading headwise and so she down climbed and I finished off the lead.

 

We discussed the possibility of another route but really, neither of us were that enthusiastic by now! The crag was busy and the sun was getting lower anyway and so we did what all good climbers must do from time to time.......we retired to the pub for a pint!

 

I had a good day! Being outside, in beautiful countryside with great company, ticks the boxes for me. I was more concerned that Sam hadn't enjoyed herself!

 

The next day, with 2 different partners, Sharon ( a regular participant in this blog and Nathan, another I've met through the LCC club). We chose to go to Troy Quarry. I'd been extolling the virtues of this magnificent place to anyone who would listen and both Sharon and Nathan were intrigued.

 

On arriving with Nathan (we met Sharon at the crag), I was worried that I'd over sold the place, would it live up to Nathans expectations. I needn't have worried!

 

We actually took the wrong path to the crag (out of a choice of 2!.....maybe guiding isn't for me then!) which led us to the top of the crag rather than it's base. What an entrance! A magnificent vista of the whole crag unfolded before us and I could see immediately Nathan was stunned......the jaw drop and speed the camera came out were the give aways!

 

 

taken by Nathan on our approach, fantastic photo, stunning view!

 

 

Sharon arrived about 2 minutes after we did and so we were soon eyeing up the first route. I'd led Left Siamese Twin on my previous visit and so when Nathan decided to go for Right Siamese Twin at the same grade (S 4a) I was happy to follow, well, when the opportunity arises to 'do' twins........

 

 

Nathan led it nicely and on seconding it, it proved to be a lovely route, not unlike Left but with a nicer top out, exposed but with good gear throughout. Sharon followed up too and having not been sure if she would climb or not today, she loved the route and we were soon contemplating the next!

 

Unfortunately, and slightly weirdly, an outdoor group arrived and began throwing top ropes down a load of stuff in the bay we were in. They then didn't climb much before pulling the ropes and heading off! Not really sure what it was all about but hey, they'd gone and we had this magnificent place to ourselves again.

 

I wasn't sure if I wanted to lead today having climbed the day before (in fact 4 out of 5 days climbing, at nearly 50, was taking its toll a tad!) but I spotted a little VS 4c called Little Sneak. A thin fingery crack, nice and steep leads to an overhang, a shuffle left to skirt this, a ledge and final short groove finished the route. This would be my first VS 4c lead for around 25 years.....if I managed it!

 

 

I set off up the crack expecting a bit of a battle but, and there's 2 schools of thought here, either I'm climbing much better than I think I am or the route wasn't 4c! I found it really nice, a little technical, couple of tricky moves leading to the OH but, in no time, I found myself on the ledge below the final groove. In the groove itself is a perfect slot for a micro wire......of which I had none! So having fumbled around for a bit, I placed the worst cam ever in a slot/pocket in the wall and topped out. I was extremely happy! This was a big milestone for me, a great leap forward and confirmation of how far I'd come this summer.......is it or isn't it 4c? Well the guide says 4c so who am I to argue!

 

 

 

The headless climber, above the crux and about to make the move onto the ledge on Little Sneak VS 4c

 

 

Sharon approaching the ledge on Little Sneak......the concentration!

 

 

 

Seconded by Nathan and followed also by Sharon we were all now warming to the occasion. So much so in fact that Miss 'I might not climb today', was now eyeing up a lead herself, as Nathan put it 'buoyed by the psyche of the little sneak'!

 

She chose One Way Street S 4a, a corner route with a nice crack section lower down but a rather loose looking top!

 

 

 

Sharon on One Way Street S 4a Nathan belaying......Lester the crag dog paying not a blind bit of notice







 

 

The 'money shot'.....Sharon topping out on One way Street

 

 

She cruised it in some style and was clearly loving the joys of Troy!

 

Nathan and myself followed, the top proving to be not as loose as it looked although some care was needed. And so it was down to choose the final route of the day. Nathan had his eye on about 4 routes and was like a kid in a sweet shop, spoilt for choice and wanting it all! He narrowed it down to 2 and then 1, the one being Rapunzle VS 5a. I was delighted he chose this. I'd seen the line on my first visit and what a perfectly named route! Another thin crack leads to 'the window' and there the maiden may or may not let down her hair. If she does you are in luck, but if she doesn't and you can't use her hair to climb, then you have a bit of a struggle to enter and leave said aperture!

 

As seems quite usual for this quarry, a short final crack/groove complete the route.

 

Nathan led it superbly and announced he'd made the right decision, the route was well worth it's 2 stars. I seconded the route and I agree, in fact a little longer and/or the crux being nearer the top and I think this would get 3 *'s its that good! A tricky crux, technical but nothing too taxing, a lovely climb. I did have to be taken on the rope to free both arms to remove a rather solid nut placement though!

 

 

 Nathan setting off up Rapunzle VS 5a

 

 

Just after the crux on Rapunzle

 

 

Sharon also followed and after one fall on the crux, managed it second go no problem and cruised to the top out.

 

So, it was happily and with 2 new Troy devotees added to the list, that we packed our gear and set off for home.