Since it’s discovery two weeks ago there has been little else on my mental Ticklist.  It appears from a distance as a friendly wall at the left edge of Hunter’s buttress- Ingleby. Only on closer inspection does one realise the blankness and severity of the beautiful wall. It is as far as i’m aware unclimbed, as it has no mention in the guide or internet. It is gearless and does not sink in technical difficultly much below 6b. For those of you who know the moors well, the move is very similar to eve left-hand at scugdale, only with worse holds and the foot at near-chest height.

I had previously failed to get much off the ground, but today worked the start out. The move still requires the use of a mono (1st green) to get

established, then two poor sloping crimps (1st red and blue) and then a high foot (brown) with the left foot trailing on the pink hold. A powerful crimpy pull and then a snatch for the big pocket (2nd green) makes it possible. After the second green is gained, some good footwork would allow a reech to a poor sloper (red) would be possible. Then easier climbing to the top, I imagine, via a few breaks. I’ve worked out the bottom i just hope that i’ll get back strong and the slopers will be good enough to pull on. It’s looking like a solo on 6b moves. A good landing though so grade-

wise? E3? We’ll see, but i hope to get back next week and finish it off. It’s a great route and

                                            the start its self deserves a star.

A trip to Hasty Bank saw some attempts of difficult routes and some equally spectacular failures. A great day, that couldn’t be lost. We started on Jackdoor wall (E2 6a) (Wainstones) and were at the beginning unsuccessful. We attempted a Solo, but with large angular shelf below a fall would have meant serious injury. I elected for a lead and rummaged through my sack for a piton I had brought. This was against Ian’s ethics, but it was hand placed and damaged no rock so I was content. The peg pushed in and then some precarious wires were placed. I still decided to retreat though- after some dithering, although nearly went for it. We later climbed it solo, but was extremely scary.

My god, what a climb. Dooge shall be witness of my terrible failure upon this. Psycho Syndicate (E4 6b), described as a ‘test piece’ in the guide, it climbs the peg-scared crack for 6 metres and then another couple of metres up a blank face. Again I tried on the blank wall. My lack of skill being punished with horrendous falls down the hill. No serious injuries were had though and I’m nearly there!

Whilst I munched on my tin of nuts, Ian (chubby/little) decided to waltz up West Sphinx (E3 5c). It went smoothly until the ‘Eye’ when he had a ‘wee bit of a tumble’. He was alright though and finished it off. He wasn’t too bothered though as he’d previously onsighted it-not loosing his tick. Me and Dave attempted to climbed the direct start to west sphinx (E3 6a) , although the last move was repeatedly failed, the beginning was worked out and hopefully the rest will be done next time.

Then there was a crazy solo attempt at Sactchmo, which resulted in a nasty fall and then a tumble; and a kamikaze attempt at a roof at the Wainstones, resulting in some more interesting falls. So there was only three successful attempts and many more leg-braking falls. –A good Day out!

Weather’s crap once more, so did nothing on Sunday (my day off). Luckily I decided to cycle to Park Nab after work on saturday and got half an hours climbing in, in good weather. I’ve finaly riggled my way out of saturday shifts after this weekend though, ready for the summer, climbing twice a week at least and then school nights.

Trotted out with dooge again to our local (Park Nab).  I was expecting to cycle to The Wainstones and take part in a fell race with Ian Jackson, but on awaking I found that it wasn’t raining and I couldn’t be arsed. i phoned dooge and he agreed to go so we set of again in the usual weekly ritual. On arrival it was windy, but we thought little of it. It got worse and worse untill it whipped away dooge’s bouldering mat down the valley. This was a bad sign as we had our eyes on twister (E2 5b) . we failed and just made our ascents ofthe usual routes- Lion King, Bow String ect.Twas a nice outing and good not to be obsessed with pushing ure self all the time.

The plan was to check out some potential bouldering up at a local crag. I was going to go with Dave ‘Dooge’ Warburton, but he had to go to the Boro match. This meant it was either not goina at all or going by myself. Obviously I’m a crazy delinquent so I chose the latter. I Trotted off up to the crag at 4 O’clock. Twas cold and snowing and the seepage on the crag was awful, did a bit of bouldering, but not as much as i’d wanted to and it was too misty to recoard the routes. Then I came back down on my road bike with mitts on.:)

Taken By Myself On A Camera Phone.

Arrival at the Wainrock,

A glimpse at a line,

Determined to climb it,

Regardless of spine,

………………..

Brown knarled skin,

In the twinkling light,

His dodgy eyes fixed,

Upon this Majestic onsight,

……………

His leathery palms trott,

Up the crimps to a break,

A 2.5 friend is placed,

And given a little shake,

…………………..

The crux move is vanquished,

With typical Dooge grace,

His stumpy legs follow,

Up the petrifying face.

…………..

A few grunts later,

The F.A is done,

A smile breaks from the abyss,

To show there was some fun.

After a Winter of awful weather, it came. Many-a-good forecast had been made, but non had been proven to be right. Again a possitive weather window was forecast. I felt doubtful, but still determined to climb some good grades I made arrangements with Dave ‘Dooge’ Warburton to go climbing. On arrival it was windy, but lack of rain and the appearance of the Sun made a smile on even dooge’s knarled face.
We started by attempting the direct start to mowgli. It was unclear from the guide whether it had been climbed before and it looked like a good opportunity for balancy, fingery climbing- our speciality. The first moves were bold and technical, and reechy meaning I was forced to retreat from the solo. After various attempts we rigged up a top rope (or Tope- as we say). It felt easy on the top rope, but unclear as to how much help from the rope I was getting, I ordered Dooge to give me a lot of slack. I found It not too difficult the second time, so I went for the solo once more. The first move i had struggled on went easily, but rather scary. Then the second reech came. Some good footwork dispached this, but then came the crux.
High above the boulders that would be my gate to valhalla if a fall occured, I stood. A Leg at near-chest height and then pressure steadily applied pushed me to reach the joyous crimp. My hands- numb with cold- riggled along to find a better hold. Then the last biscuit of energy was summound to reach the safety of the larger holds. I was pleased with myself as I hadn’t wasted the first good day of winter. Dooge then, angered by this F.A trotted down and soloed it with skill and madness. We found out later that we were the first people to climb it.

We then procceded to climb pessimist right hand, bold and scary, but not the epic of Mowgli. It had been on Dave’s ticklist for sometime- as had mowgli been on mine. It was getting dark and we wished to investigate our mate, Luke Hunt’s Boulder (NOS). We found it easily, then tried some of the boulder problems. We were impressed with the quality and the similarity to grit and enjoyed our selves for around an hour. A fine outing and A good one of the New Year.

Alas the old year is finished, but a trot up to the local quarry soon symbolised the beginning of a new one. Snow and ice covered the moors. the sight of a dog was the focus of a valley. little climbing was done i the tundra climate.`we walked quickly over the moors listening to the battle of evermore by Led Zep on my new phone. A fine experience.

Determind to get an E3+ onsight before the end of the year, I went by myself to the Wainstones. Looking at the guide ‘Peel Out’; ‘west face of The needle and Psycho Syndicate all looked ‘Do-able’. As I thought about them in my mind, they became less steep and with bigger holds, this made it even worse, when i turned up in the rain looking up at this impossible ‘test piece’.

“blooy hell!”,  i thought.

I trotted round the whole crag looking for routes, failed and managed to scare myself onsighting an E1 friction climb. A Sad ending to a great year. 

With Hyperthermia; Swollen Pancreai; dislocated patella; 30ft falls; ripped hands; progression through six grades; F.As; Cleveland MC activities; Self Arrests; terrible falls through trees ripping belayers off of stances and our first Lakes E1, our year has been a good one. Although I remeber not when I actually did my ‘first’ Lead, i think It was around April time this year. This was as daunting as every challenge overcome this season. From this Severe to attempting E3- and failing, I have had so many great (and not so great) experiences with so many differant people. A night ascent of Helvelyn lewis to walking over the struggle at night With Mini Ian, It’s been a ‘reet Bastard’, but enjoyable.it was capped off by a wet, chossy visit to Middle Head today, rain and seepage- along with falls, it was not so good. In the last month we’ve been looking at local crags and ones further-a-field on the Internet.”That looks do-able”, has become a common sound- reverberating from the Girth of Dooge. (Dave Warburton) After out splendid ‘ganda’ at Middle Head we trotted off to Round Hill. Seepage is a real problem here and I think a spade to the top of the crag would be useful. Despite this though there’s huge potential- with bouldering comparable in quality to the Wainstones and a few unclimbed lines (paired with a few hard pre-climbed routes) i think We shall spend some time here next year.The bouldering is on small buttresses (that need de-seepaging) and about 6 big angular boulders. There’s 30/40 problems I imagine and a good few days will be spent there, as well as this there’s an E3 arête- that’s mentioned in the guide(only top roped). With a bit of cleaning this should be possible. There’s also a crappy VS arête- on the south side, that ill probably tootle up.The Unclimbed Arete.So opportunity and exploration found again. I’ll let you know How It goes.