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Paul and Martin took advantage of the fine weather and went further afield than usual, all the way up to Stanage Edge in the Peak District for a day of classic Gritstone climbing.
The first route of the day was Crack and Corner, which has the truly strange grade of HVD 4B. This turned out to be a poor choice of "warm up", being horrendously polished at the start and really not what you're expecting to find on gritstone. Martin quickly decided he hated it and backed off the glass-like foot holds, muttering things about Curbar Edge and 2005. It was in fact the first time Martin had climbed in the Peak District since having a serious accident there and Crack and Corner brought back memories he would have preferred to forget forever! Paul stepped up however and after one abortive start, managed to get going. Both climbers got to the top in the end, Martin disliking most of it... except for the excellent roof section at the top. Not a great start to the day!
Happily the day improved from there. Martin led a Hard Severe called Christmas Crack, which turned out to be excellent, with a great layback up a flake at the top. By now, both climbers were beginning to get acclimatised to the nuances of grit.... being able to trust your feet on slopy breaks for example... something we would hesitate to do on limestone and would probably never do on southern sandstone! Oh, and losing skin from the backs of yours hands and occassionally drawing blood due to the frequency with which jamming was required!
A reminder of the dangers of the sport came just as Paul was preparing to take the next lead, another HS called Robin Hood's Right-hand Buttress Direct. We'd seen a mountain rescue helicopter fly past and heard sirens. Not a good sign :-( A mountain rescue guy came along the foot of the crag looking for volunteers to help handle a stretcher over a difficult section of boulders, down to the main path. A climber had taken a fall and was injured.... we think he'd sustained a leg and shoulder injury so hopefully it was not too serious. So Martin and Paul untied and hurried along to the site of the accident, which was right by the first route of the day.
After helping with the stretcher, Paul and Martin went back to their route only find that some other climber was just starting it, despite the very obvious signs that the route was in use like ropes at the foot of the route! Selfish g1t! Anyway, this turned out to be an interesting and quite challenging route, with a roof section to negotiate with difficulty and the start and then a long, quite wide crack to climb, with a series of very slopy and smooth horizontal breaks. Again, hand and arm jamming was the order of the day. Paul did a great job to lead this one, definitely high in the grade.
The day ended with Martin leadnig a classic Severe called Right-hand Trinity. Despite being a relatively easy climb, it had a great start, requiring a layback up a flake just to get started, after which it was mostly plane sailing to the top.
Another brilliant day. That's 4 trips this year already, not bad at all. 2008 was so bad there were only 3 trips all year!
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View along the crag. |
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Paul coming up Christmas Crack (HS) |
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Martin just after leading Christmas Crack. Follow the crack line up to the flake near the top. Layback up the flake and you're done. | |
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The mountain rescue helicopter arriving |
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The queue-jumping climber on Robin Hood's Right-hand Buttress Direct. Gives a better idea of what the route is like than the following pics. |
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Martin seconding Robin Hood's Right-hand Buttress Direct |
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Martin belaying at the top of Right-hand Trinity |
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Paul on his way up Right-hand Trinity | ||
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Paul, head somewhat stuck in the large finishing crack! |
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Leaving Stanage after a great day... |
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Video (no sound) of Martin on Robin Hood's Right-hand Buttress Direct |