It's Easter and as always that means climbing. You thought I was going to say Easter Eggs or something to do with Jesus didn't you? Well shame on you!
Martin went down to Portland for the day to climb with friends Derek and Lesley who were spending a few days in the area on holiday and couldn't resist getting some climbing in whilst there. Paul and Anna made a brief appearance too.
It was a beautiful sunny day in a really lovely spot. Climbing highlights for Martin included leading Juggernaut (5) which has a mystifying crux move (mystifying until you figure it out) and seconding The Sod (5+) and Three Fingers (at the 16m end of the crag).
Enjoy the pics!
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| Martin arrived at the crag at 8am (up at 04:20!) and took a few pics before people arrived. This is The Cuttings area. |
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| ... and you're afforded a nice sea view without actually having the sea crashing against the rocks that you're climbing! |
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| Portland cllimbs are almost all bolted with staples like the one shown. This makes for relatively safe climbing compared with "trad" but routes are pretty tough in their grade to compensate for this. |
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| Lesley on a "warm up route" at the start of the day's climbing |
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| Martin seconding something.... possibly juggernaut before leading it. Tricky footwork.... |
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| Leading Juggernaut just after the crux move |
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| At the top of Juggernaut |
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| "Topping out" involves anchoring yourself by a sling to one of the pair of top bolts, then passing a loop of roop through both bolts, tying a figure of eight knot, clipping this to a karabiner attached to the belay loop of your harness and then.... untying the original knot and passing the loose end through the bolts. You can then (after checking carefully!) unclip the sling and get lowered off. Get that? Good. |
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| Martin on Three Fingers at the 16m end of the crag, belayed by Derek. |
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| We had a break whilst wating for a route to free up so Martin took some photos of the surroundings |
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| Derek leading the marvellous Amazonia (4+). Martin lead this one too. |
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| Job done :-) |