Any dry rock in Lancashire?
I should have known that yesterday would be a failure. I had a morning free, but needed to be back by around midday.
I wanted to look at some projects that I've virtually spent no time on this year, so a round of the local quarries was in order.
First on the list, is Dinosaur Adventure 3d at Lower Montcliffe. This takes a line up a diagonal ramp feature in the third quarry along. Although it had been raining a fair bit recently, I expected the line to be dry as it is not directly affected by seepage. Or so I thought. In the event, the face was all but dry except for the crucial arete hold and the ramp sidepull. This was due to run off from the patch of grass above the problem.
This will need a good couple of dry windy days at this time of the year before it comes into condition I reckon. Other than that I'm pretty psyched for it, and think it will go down as soon as I can get on it. The last time I tried it in the summer I was getting close.
A brief look at Indian face, also on the list soon discovered that it's sopping wet. This line however takes direct seepage from the quarry face, so is unliky to be dry in the winter. It looks like this will be shelved.
After these disappointments, I decided to sack LM and move on. Next was Brownstones. I've still got quite a few lines I want to climb here, and first up was Verdinand. The pond area however seems even worse than last year, the level of the pond comes up to lobotomy. Any water that the tree would have soaked up is reduced due to someone hacking it back earlier this year (why this was done I have no idea) so it looks like this is unavoidable.
Even if the line was dry (it wasn't) I wouldn't have fancied the prospect of putting my mat in 2 inches of water.
Next up is Groundhog, a problem I've not even tried yet, but the high crimp was wet and the arete itself was greasy.
Finally I got to Nexus wall, which was actually in perfect condition. No sooner had I got my shoes on however, it started raining. The dyno now feels impossible without the flake, and Lancashire Pothot has been upgraded to around 7a+ without it too.
However, the crumb of satisfaction was that I was able to find some dry rock. In spite of the rain, it wasn't too bad, and I managed to play around on quite a few eliminates on the wall which provided some satisfaction for me. I got one small rubbish eliminate on tape done, one that I'd done before, but has a couple of nice moves. Probably around font fuck all (but is probably 3+ for all I know about grading though...)
On my way home I popped into Wilton 1 to see if Snakey B was dry and it did appear to mostly be dry - this is also one that keeps fairly dry.
I think this just proves that at this time f year, you need to pick your battles in the quarries...
here's a shit vid of an easy eliminate.
I wanted to look at some projects that I've virtually spent no time on this year, so a round of the local quarries was in order.
First on the list, is Dinosaur Adventure 3d at Lower Montcliffe. This takes a line up a diagonal ramp feature in the third quarry along. Although it had been raining a fair bit recently, I expected the line to be dry as it is not directly affected by seepage. Or so I thought. In the event, the face was all but dry except for the crucial arete hold and the ramp sidepull. This was due to run off from the patch of grass above the problem.
This will need a good couple of dry windy days at this time of the year before it comes into condition I reckon. Other than that I'm pretty psyched for it, and think it will go down as soon as I can get on it. The last time I tried it in the summer I was getting close.
A brief look at Indian face, also on the list soon discovered that it's sopping wet. This line however takes direct seepage from the quarry face, so is unliky to be dry in the winter. It looks like this will be shelved.
After these disappointments, I decided to sack LM and move on. Next was Brownstones. I've still got quite a few lines I want to climb here, and first up was Verdinand. The pond area however seems even worse than last year, the level of the pond comes up to lobotomy. Any water that the tree would have soaked up is reduced due to someone hacking it back earlier this year (why this was done I have no idea) so it looks like this is unavoidable.
Even if the line was dry (it wasn't) I wouldn't have fancied the prospect of putting my mat in 2 inches of water.
Next up is Groundhog, a problem I've not even tried yet, but the high crimp was wet and the arete itself was greasy.
Finally I got to Nexus wall, which was actually in perfect condition. No sooner had I got my shoes on however, it started raining. The dyno now feels impossible without the flake, and Lancashire Pothot has been upgraded to around 7a+ without it too.
However, the crumb of satisfaction was that I was able to find some dry rock. In spite of the rain, it wasn't too bad, and I managed to play around on quite a few eliminates on the wall which provided some satisfaction for me. I got one small rubbish eliminate on tape done, one that I'd done before, but has a couple of nice moves. Probably around font fuck all (but is probably 3+ for all I know about grading though...)
On my way home I popped into Wilton 1 to see if Snakey B was dry and it did appear to mostly be dry - this is also one that keeps fairly dry.
I think this just proves that at this time f year, you need to pick your battles in the quarries...
here's a shit vid of an easy eliminate.
That's basically the low eliminate traverse with an extra RH hold to make it easier. I'd let you have 4+ grudgingly.
ReplyDeleteIf you clean the patch of grass from the top of Dinosaur it will dry more quickly and will be a nicer problem.
This weather is well shite.
How embarrasing. I think I might give up.
ReplyDelete