new projects
I went over to Widdop on Saturday morning.
The less said about that the better. I might as well have gone to Brownstones, I would have got more done.
So I had a bit of time to spare yesterday and decided to head over to a local venue to have a look at an old project that I started a few years ago but never finished, partly because it wasn't very close to where I was living at the time, and partly because the summer in question was particularly wet and I lost the psyche for it. The project is a fairly long traverse, nothing groundbreaking but with several distinct cruxes which should nevertheless be possible with a bit of effort.
To my surprise the whole crag was pretty much dry, which even in the summer is relatively unusual - there are a lot of cracks, and there consequently tends to be a lot of seepage.
I managed to work a solution for the intial crux which involves a couple of stiff low moves on small crimps, but couldn't climb through it.
I only had a short window so had to head off shortly after. On my way out I decided to have a look at a part of the crag that for most of the year is shrouded in trees - I have had a look at this area before, but dismissed it previously because of the fact it attracts a lot of seepage.
This time though, it was different.
There is quite an attractive and slightly overhanging prow, probably only 4 or 5 moves long before easy ground, but nonetheless it was bone dry. I had a brief look before I drove off, intrigued.
Fast forward to tonight - I had a spare hour or so, and decided to give the crag another look. On closer inspection, the moves on the prow look really good - I can presume it's not been climbed before, it certainly needed a good brush as it was covered in lichen, which tends to take a while to grow. But in addition to that, a: it's pretty much hidden by tree cover for the majority of the year, and b: most non-bouldering climbers that would visit the crag would walk past it anyway.
Let's put it this way, unless R-man has been, it's not been done. At least I've not seen any mention of it anywhere.
The true problem would be from a sitter, with a highish good left sidepull and a poor right sidepull, and not much for the feet, pull up to a large, but poor right sloper with a crimpy lip, then a good left crimp, and then somehow levitate to a ledge - it becomes a bit fridge-huggy from the good crimp and I've no idea how that part would be climbed.
I only had about twenty minutes on the problem and I could barely pull off the ground from standing, leave alone sitting. It looks to me like it'll go somewhere between font 6b and 7a probably, but who knows. All I know is that I'm psyched for it, but I don't feel strong / good enough at present.
There are a couple of other lines there that look easier, but nevertheless interesting, so I might go back for them anyway in the meantime...
The less said about that the better. I might as well have gone to Brownstones, I would have got more done.
So I had a bit of time to spare yesterday and decided to head over to a local venue to have a look at an old project that I started a few years ago but never finished, partly because it wasn't very close to where I was living at the time, and partly because the summer in question was particularly wet and I lost the psyche for it. The project is a fairly long traverse, nothing groundbreaking but with several distinct cruxes which should nevertheless be possible with a bit of effort.
To my surprise the whole crag was pretty much dry, which even in the summer is relatively unusual - there are a lot of cracks, and there consequently tends to be a lot of seepage.
I managed to work a solution for the intial crux which involves a couple of stiff low moves on small crimps, but couldn't climb through it.
I only had a short window so had to head off shortly after. On my way out I decided to have a look at a part of the crag that for most of the year is shrouded in trees - I have had a look at this area before, but dismissed it previously because of the fact it attracts a lot of seepage.
This time though, it was different.
There is quite an attractive and slightly overhanging prow, probably only 4 or 5 moves long before easy ground, but nonetheless it was bone dry. I had a brief look before I drove off, intrigued.
Fast forward to tonight - I had a spare hour or so, and decided to give the crag another look. On closer inspection, the moves on the prow look really good - I can presume it's not been climbed before, it certainly needed a good brush as it was covered in lichen, which tends to take a while to grow. But in addition to that, a: it's pretty much hidden by tree cover for the majority of the year, and b: most non-bouldering climbers that would visit the crag would walk past it anyway.
Let's put it this way, unless R-man has been, it's not been done. At least I've not seen any mention of it anywhere.
The true problem would be from a sitter, with a highish good left sidepull and a poor right sidepull, and not much for the feet, pull up to a large, but poor right sloper with a crimpy lip, then a good left crimp, and then somehow levitate to a ledge - it becomes a bit fridge-huggy from the good crimp and I've no idea how that part would be climbed.
I only had about twenty minutes on the problem and I could barely pull off the ground from standing, leave alone sitting. It looks to me like it'll go somewhere between font 6b and 7a probably, but who knows. All I know is that I'm psyched for it, but I don't feel strong / good enough at present.
There are a couple of other lines there that look easier, but nevertheless interesting, so I might go back for them anyway in the meantime...
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