Climbing with Dan from the club on Saturday, and Duncan, Mich and the Stoke folk on Sunday. Some interesting moments both days - Dan had a little moment on the crux of Long Tall Sally (can see why, not a nice move and just gets you into steeper and worse-protected territory), and Duncan ended up soloing an E1 by accident because he couldn’t find the crucial piece of gear.

Didn’t need to be winched up anything, but nice to get to second stuff harder than I usually lead!

(Score so far:
Winter Routes (survived): 3
Sport Routes (seconded): 5
Trad Routes (seconded): 19.5)
Trad Routes (led): 3.5)

It’s the third weekend, so it must be “informal meet” time. Which is why, of course, I rocked up at the hut to find virtually nobody there. Saturday morning dawned beautifully sunny, so I went for an amble up Moel Eilio and along the ridge to Moel Cynghorion, then back to the hut via a quiet, empty valley and a river crossing that felt very good indeed to hot feet.

Back at the hut, the hordes had arrived . . . ooh goody, climbing partners!

So, on Sunday, I ended up wandering up the Pass to do Rib and Slab with two newish-to-climbing bods. Gear? “We’ve got a new rack to christen, you can leave yours.”

Up the hill to the crag. Explain to partner #1 where the route goes and what to do by way of a belay (yes, it’s a route I’ve done before). Kick partner #1 off up the route. Stand there belaying in the sun and savouring the situation, the view, the nice weather, not being at work and all the other things that are good about being there. Partner #1 eventually finishes the pitch – fairly slowly, but leading’s something he’s still quite new to, and he’s having trouble getting gear in. No worries, we’ve all been there.

Partner #2 will second on one rope, I will second on the other one. One at a time, to simplify things for partner #1. Partner #2 sets off. Stretch, eat cereal bar, admire view. Make encouraging noises at partner #2, who is climbing with all the speed of an elderly snail with a very heavy shell. No worries, admire the view some more and make more encouraging noises. For me it’s a great view, for rather “townie” partner #2 I would suspect it comes across as scary exposure.

Partner #2 finally tops out, second (or possibly third) the pitch and find the belay way off to one side and rather higher than the usual place between the top of pitch one and the bottom of pitch two. Mentally curse and explain to partner #1 why he may not find this too helpful when he leads the remaining pitch.

Except that he doesn’t want to lead the remaining pitch. Neither does partner #2.

“Ok, give us the rack then, I’ll do it.”

He hands me half a set of nuts.

“Ta. Quickdraws? Slings?”

He hands them over.

“Rest of the nuts?”

“Rest of what nuts?”

Eeek! Give the nuts he handed me earlier a quick look and they are, in fact, a full set. Except that they’re a brand that attempts to go from tiny micronuts to huge great chunks in one set and hence, out of the whole set, there’s maybe two nuts in sizes likely to be of any use.

So we have: A very minimalist rack. A belay positioned for a potentially huge pendulum into some rather hard rock. Two partners who don’t look very happy.

Fortunately the top pitch is as straightforward as they come.

I timed the whole route – bottom to bottom – at five and a half hours. Fairly impressive (if you see what I mean) for two pitches and some slippery grass we stayed roped-up for at the top.

Stuff learned – when someone who is new to climbing says they have gear, check exactly *what* they’ve got. Never under-estimate the effect of an unfamiliar environment on people’s performance.

(Score so far:
Winter Routes (survived): 3
Sport Routes (seconded): 5
Trad Routes (seconded): 6.5)
Trad Routes (led): 3.5)

Club meet on Dartmoor. Rocked up at the campsite on Thursday night and couldn’t find anyone. Went into the pub (well, it’d be rude not to, and have to go in there to pay for camping anyway) and still couldn’t find anyone.

Next morning . . . *still* couldn’t find anyone! I *have* got the right weekend, haven’t I?

No sign of climbing partners, so wander off towards Ingra Tor in search of geocaches. Lots to go at, might be able to get the 400th up if no-one else turns up. Back to the campsite – and now everyone’s turned up. Apparently they all arrived half an hour after I left in the morning, I must learn to restrain my enthusiasm!

Saturday saw us all rocking up at Sheepstor. Various other parties out, which is probably how my guidebook came to go missing – when everybody’s got the same one, it’s much too easy to pick up the wrong one by mistake. Led one route and seconded Andrew up a couple of examples of overhanging thuggery.

As for Sunday – all the fun of the circus! We ended up at Haytor, which was swarming with families, children, dogs, kites, frisbees, people asking daft questions, people tripping over ropes, people who think they know it *all*, plus the occasional example of obsolete equipment and vaguely iffy belaying. Aaargh, aargh, aargh! (Only been there in winter in the pouring rain before, didn’t know it got that popular.) Eventually escaped and went in search of more buried Tupperware.

So, what to do on Monday? Climbing club meet so really should go climbing, but am within spitting distance of cache #400 and want it to be a good one . . . sod it, tupperware time! Finished the day in a cramped, dark tunnel containing rather a lot of water and a plastic box, #400 in the bag, excellent!

(Score so far:
Winter Routes (survived): 3
Sport Routes (seconded): 5
Trad Routes (seconded): 6.5)
Trad Routes (led): 2.5)