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| Glorious day at Stanage.....and not a soul about! |
Plantation for me is a much better area than the Popular end anyway. Classic routes on magnificent buttresses and the base strewn with some outstanding boulders sporting classic lines themselves including the superb 'Not to be Taken Away', 'Crescent Arete' and 'Brad Pit'.
We made our base camp alongside 'Brad Pit' as it happened and I chose a line as a warm up called 'Hot Spur' HS 4b. Another slabby number (I seem to be favouring the more technical slabby routes at the moment, in love with the grit friction!), it starts from a block below the buttress, a steep step across gets you established on the route proper, then it's just nice climbing finishing with a balancey couple of moves up an exposed rib. A nice pleasant start.......and in no way in keeping with the rest of the day!
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| Me setting up belay atop Hot Spur HS 4b |
In fact, it was probably THE worst warm up route I could have chosen! Nathans lead next and we were both eyeing up another slabby route or two......except that Nathans eye was constantly found wandering over to the magnificent line that is Goliaths Groove! He pondered whether to do something else first and then announced "right, let's do it"!
I'd done GG many moons before although weirdly for such an amazing line, I couldn't remember too much about it. I didn't lead it, I remember that much but as for the route and the climbing itself, nope, nothing! After what was to come, I suspect this may have been a kind of voluntary memory loss!
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| Nathan 'tooling up' pre battle! |
We got the gear sorted and Nathan racked up. He had settled on a plan of attack which basically involved treating the lower wider section of the crack as an off width. He would position his left hand side into the crack itself and face right and so he racked all his gear on his rh side. I suggested he get up to a point, place some gear and then come back down for a breather before setting off for a big push. Nathan agreed and off he went.
What a struggle! There was a fixed wire nut just below the final bulge of the first section that Nathan would clip en route if solid enough. He got to just below this and placed a big cam, clipped and retreated, exhausted! It was slow going and looked extremely hard work. Jam left leg into crack, get some sort of left arm jam and somehow manage to inch upwards! Nothing on the walls either side, no holds no nothing really!
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| what seemed like hours of struggle and this was our high point! |
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| 'no hands' rest above the final bulge! |
After a number of attempts this way Nathan retreated and sat slumped below the route absolutely shattered. I'd mentioned trying to layback the thing. It seemed the only logical solution to me so I asked if he minded if I jumped on it and I think he was quite relieved to let someone else get on the sharp end for a while! I decided not to rack up thinking there was no point if I couldn't do the first section, I'd see how it went to the gear Nathan had fixed and if it went ok I'd come back down and gear up. I wasn't sure how it would go really and so set off with no expectations......I certainly wasn't expecting to be at the gear in seconds and surprisingly easily.....but I was! Gear clipped, I returned to ground for a breather. I'd even reached the fixed wire but having no draws on me I couldn't clip it. Buoyed by my small success and some new beta for the route, Nathan, on the verge of admitting defeat, decided he'd like one more go at the thing. Confessing that he hadn't done much laybacking, he set off, like myself, with no expectations at all, in fact probably secretly thinking we'd got no chance on this route, it had beaten us. Not at all! Up he went, reached his gear, past it, managed to clip the fixed wire and he was now in unchartered territory.......this might just go! A couple more moves and he'd be over the first bulge and at a position where he could rest. A big push, words of encouragement from me and he was over and sat on the half way ledge! The crux was done, surely it would be easy from now on in? Not at all. Our previous efforts had clearly taken their toll. Nathan moved up to the second bulge, it was a struggle, he was nearly there and I wasn't about to let him give up now. One more layback, go on, big push and yes, he was over, it was done! It was a fantastic effort really, just sheer tenacity and bloody mindedness got him up it, brilliant stuff!
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| Nathan on the summit |
I seconded it, managing the first section really well but come the second bulge I had nothing left, mentally and physically I felt shot to bits. I had two tries but just couldn't get over the thing. I've analysed this in my head since and this is the honest conclusion I've come to.........after the time we'd spent on the route, I just wanted to get off the thing now, either up or lowered back down. I therefore wasn't thinking about the climbing. I was flailing about up there instead of working the thing out. The upper section walls have holds on, it isn't just a crack up there and I know that if I'd gotten my feet right, my body positioned better, thought about things more, I'd have done this route. It's another learning curve and another lesson I'm happy to take.
I was really pleased for Nathan though. This route is tough, very tough. No one move wonder here, it is relentless and it never stops wanting to hurt you! His sheer determination was to be admired.
So that was us for the day, 2 routes in 6 hours and we were absolutely battered......but that's good isn't it?!
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