Widdop
Yorkshire gritstone again.
Two weeks ago I managed to get over to Widdop. John fancied getting out and all things considered I wanted to make an effort, given that his availability is severely restricted.
I turned up to pick up JB and found that Chris had put in an appearance, and we were to pick up JB's mate who I can't remember the name of cos it was two weeks ago.
Anyway, short and tail of it was we ended up getting over to Widdop by about 9.30, and made our way up to the crag.
The original intention had been to go tradding, but it appears that JB had chosen the most damp, humid and generally sweaty day possible to visit the crag.
It had also been raining almost continuously for the past week, so the moss on the main crag was looking as luminous as ever.
With an overwhelming sense of enthusiasm we went up to the crag and shuffled about making non-commital noises and generally pro-crastinating. We decided to head over to look at the boulders to give the main crag a chance to dry up for a bit and as I know the bouldering circuit quite well I wanted to show them what was what.
We started off on the easy side of the boulder with pickpocket slab on it and even these felt incredibly greasy.
After a bit we moved round to the boulder opposite the red wall problems and did the dynamic problem in the centre of the wall and the arete to the right.
Today was not a day for hard problems...
After a brief discussion on whether or not to toprope Umpleby arete, the boulders were written off as a bad job and we made our way over to the main crag.
I pointed Chris and JBs mate who I can't remember the name of cos it was two weeks ago up the original route as
1. It's the classic of the crag,
2. It looked like the least covered-in-luminous-death-moss route on the whole crag.
and 3. Getting round the bulls horns is, "entertaining".
So while they got on with that, me and JB decided to do a route round to the right that I can't remember the name of cos it was two weeks ago. Went up a crack and slabby thing at about VDiff but felt about HVS in the circumstances.
Might have well as been on rollerskates.
Filled with total excitation at doing this route, I could barely contain myself to get more routes done, but alas, we'd spent nearly 4 hours at the crag, and I had to get off.
Still, I learnt a lot by this trip:
a. I like climbing with JB, and need to get him out a bit more when circumstances allow.
b. Don't go to Widdop on the most airless, muggy, warm day of the year after 40 days of continuous downpours.
c. I should go chuffing more often. It appears I enjoy it more than I think.
Two weeks ago I managed to get over to Widdop. John fancied getting out and all things considered I wanted to make an effort, given that his availability is severely restricted.
I turned up to pick up JB and found that Chris had put in an appearance, and we were to pick up JB's mate who I can't remember the name of cos it was two weeks ago.
Anyway, short and tail of it was we ended up getting over to Widdop by about 9.30, and made our way up to the crag.
The original intention had been to go tradding, but it appears that JB had chosen the most damp, humid and generally sweaty day possible to visit the crag.
It had also been raining almost continuously for the past week, so the moss on the main crag was looking as luminous as ever.
With an overwhelming sense of enthusiasm we went up to the crag and shuffled about making non-commital noises and generally pro-crastinating. We decided to head over to look at the boulders to give the main crag a chance to dry up for a bit and as I know the bouldering circuit quite well I wanted to show them what was what.
We started off on the easy side of the boulder with pickpocket slab on it and even these felt incredibly greasy.
After a bit we moved round to the boulder opposite the red wall problems and did the dynamic problem in the centre of the wall and the arete to the right.
Today was not a day for hard problems...
After a brief discussion on whether or not to toprope Umpleby arete, the boulders were written off as a bad job and we made our way over to the main crag.
I pointed Chris and JBs mate who I can't remember the name of cos it was two weeks ago up the original route as
1. It's the classic of the crag,
2. It looked like the least covered-in-luminous-death-moss route on the whole crag.
and 3. Getting round the bulls horns is, "entertaining".
So while they got on with that, me and JB decided to do a route round to the right that I can't remember the name of cos it was two weeks ago. Went up a crack and slabby thing at about VDiff but felt about HVS in the circumstances.
Might have well as been on rollerskates.
Filled with total excitation at doing this route, I could barely contain myself to get more routes done, but alas, we'd spent nearly 4 hours at the crag, and I had to get off.
Still, I learnt a lot by this trip:
a. I like climbing with JB, and need to get him out a bit more when circumstances allow.
b. Don't go to Widdop on the most airless, muggy, warm day of the year after 40 days of continuous downpours.
c. I should go chuffing more often. It appears I enjoy it more than I think.
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