Kentmere, Tranearth and Langdale
Yesterday I went up to the Lakes, an area that I've not really done much in. I had to drop the better half in Ravenstonedale for a hen do, then nip over the motorway to Kentmere. I drastically underestimated the amount of time it takes to get anywhere in the Lakes and ended up being over an hour later than planned.
Anyhoo. Kentmere was the order of the day.
G had already been at the crag for some time and I found him loitering around the Badger's appendage.
Badger Rock was feeling intimidating as I was still extremely hungover from Big Gay John's wedding on Friday, so I mostly procrastinated whilst GCW failed to crush Badger arete (it looked all but crushed until he jumped off).
Then we went up to Little Font, where I proceeded to crush Sheep Flies, which weighs in at a mighty Font 3 (amazing top out skills were also on show).
Then we took turns to sit under The Way (6a+) but all the holds were pointing the wrong way for some reason and I couldn't even pull on.
We gave that up as a bad job, then G suggested Blow yer Ballast (6b), as he'd done it earlier on. At first it seemed hard to hold the pinch, but as soon as CrushCam was deployed it seemed to click, and it was in the bag.
Then I tried Stegasaurus on the Leaning Stone but the train had already left Success City and I didn't get on with it.
G-man had to leave, and as I'd managed to block his car in comprehensively I had to walk back to the car. As I couldn't be bothered to head all the way back up, I decided to go to Chapel Stile.
I nearly managed to plough into a wall as I tried to open a scotch egg packet - note to self, leave savoury snack opening when NOT driving. Amazingly I managed to get there in one piece in spite of the satnav trying to take me down a footpath, hmmm.
After parking in the village and stomping up the hill I started at the H&M area. The only one I wanted to do here was the H&M Smith traverse, which is fairly easy until the arete/groove thingy which I couldn't get established in for all my trying, so I moved on - one to come back to though.
I missed out great wall and found Frittner area, but it felt dodgy without a spotter, so I went up to the higher crags and found Pocket Slab. after some consummate faffing I managed to fight my way up Pocket Slab Far Right (5b), actually a really nice problem off an undercut to a pocket and interesting mantel. Then I did a couple of the easys to the left, Pocket Slab Left being the best of the bunch. These all had the feeling of mini routes, and reminded me a bit of the long slabs at Thorn crag.
I went over to the Billy Bucket wall but by this time I was knackered and the back breaking rock in front made the traverse an unpleasant proposition, so I gave that a miss.
then I backtracked to Pike ridge to tick that off and headed off. All in all the crag is worthy of a visit, but I wish there was less tramping about to do.
In the evening I went to Tranearth as I needed to get a sample of the ceiling to send off for asbestos testing and it's been a while since I've visited the hut. As I hadn't eaten I went to the Church Inn, but they were fully booked, so I had to make do with a liquid tea. Incidently I got chatting to a bunch of people from the Vintage Motorcycle club which was interesting, didn't get back to the hut till gone 12...
I woke up this morning slightly hungover again, and started out late. I got to Langdale boulders around 11 and started on the West block climbing the left crack (Font 3+, woo!) and then couldn't work out how to get back down. After eventually figuring it out, I went over to the East block to look at the 6a+ wall just over the wall. I could get the juglet on the lip from the crimps, but just couldn't mantel it out. Very frustrating. I did however do all of the easys on these blocks, the groove to the left, the slab opposite (2 problems) and then much to my surprise I flashed the 6a+ slab round the corner. I spent some time on the blunt arete to it's right (6b+ from sitting), but although I could get the ledgy jug I couldn't mantel it out. It seems this is a running theme...
It was about time to get going to pick the better half up so I left.
I would have loved to get all of these amazing ascents on tape, but unfortunately in my 'still pissed' state on Saturday I only picked up the flat batteries. Here's a picture of a fish, by way of compensation.
ooh, and here's CrushCam capturing me on Blow Yer Ballast. At least someone was paying attention....
Anyhoo. Kentmere was the order of the day.
G had already been at the crag for some time and I found him loitering around the Badger's appendage.
Badger Rock was feeling intimidating as I was still extremely hungover from Big Gay John's wedding on Friday, so I mostly procrastinated whilst GCW failed to crush Badger arete (it looked all but crushed until he jumped off).
Then we went up to Little Font, where I proceeded to crush Sheep Flies, which weighs in at a mighty Font 3 (amazing top out skills were also on show).
Then we took turns to sit under The Way (6a+) but all the holds were pointing the wrong way for some reason and I couldn't even pull on.
We gave that up as a bad job, then G suggested Blow yer Ballast (6b), as he'd done it earlier on. At first it seemed hard to hold the pinch, but as soon as CrushCam was deployed it seemed to click, and it was in the bag.
Then I tried Stegasaurus on the Leaning Stone but the train had already left Success City and I didn't get on with it.
G-man had to leave, and as I'd managed to block his car in comprehensively I had to walk back to the car. As I couldn't be bothered to head all the way back up, I decided to go to Chapel Stile.
I nearly managed to plough into a wall as I tried to open a scotch egg packet - note to self, leave savoury snack opening when NOT driving. Amazingly I managed to get there in one piece in spite of the satnav trying to take me down a footpath, hmmm.
After parking in the village and stomping up the hill I started at the H&M area. The only one I wanted to do here was the H&M Smith traverse, which is fairly easy until the arete/groove thingy which I couldn't get established in for all my trying, so I moved on - one to come back to though.
I missed out great wall and found Frittner area, but it felt dodgy without a spotter, so I went up to the higher crags and found Pocket Slab. after some consummate faffing I managed to fight my way up Pocket Slab Far Right (5b), actually a really nice problem off an undercut to a pocket and interesting mantel. Then I did a couple of the easys to the left, Pocket Slab Left being the best of the bunch. These all had the feeling of mini routes, and reminded me a bit of the long slabs at Thorn crag.
I went over to the Billy Bucket wall but by this time I was knackered and the back breaking rock in front made the traverse an unpleasant proposition, so I gave that a miss.
then I backtracked to Pike ridge to tick that off and headed off. All in all the crag is worthy of a visit, but I wish there was less tramping about to do.
In the evening I went to Tranearth as I needed to get a sample of the ceiling to send off for asbestos testing and it's been a while since I've visited the hut. As I hadn't eaten I went to the Church Inn, but they were fully booked, so I had to make do with a liquid tea. Incidently I got chatting to a bunch of people from the Vintage Motorcycle club which was interesting, didn't get back to the hut till gone 12...
I woke up this morning slightly hungover again, and started out late. I got to Langdale boulders around 11 and started on the West block climbing the left crack (Font 3+, woo!) and then couldn't work out how to get back down. After eventually figuring it out, I went over to the East block to look at the 6a+ wall just over the wall. I could get the juglet on the lip from the crimps, but just couldn't mantel it out. Very frustrating. I did however do all of the easys on these blocks, the groove to the left, the slab opposite (2 problems) and then much to my surprise I flashed the 6a+ slab round the corner. I spent some time on the blunt arete to it's right (6b+ from sitting), but although I could get the ledgy jug I couldn't mantel it out. It seems this is a running theme...
It was about time to get going to pick the better half up so I left.
I would have loved to get all of these amazing ascents on tape, but unfortunately in my 'still pissed' state on Saturday I only picked up the flat batteries. Here's a picture of a fish, by way of compensation.
ooh, and here's CrushCam capturing me on Blow Yer Ballast. At least someone was paying attention....
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