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.