Doc jnr 1 and I weren't keen on going to a swim party today. It was clear and sunny, so we opted to head to the Kebs. When we arrived we discovered it was blowing a gale. We walked the length of the boulders, struggling to walk, before calling it a day and shifting to Widdop with soaking feet.
There's a lot of work going on at the Widdop dam, and the temporary path goes down then back up. At the boulders, the ground was waterlogged. I did Red Edge problems, the scoop and the other easier problems. After a while we called it a day as soggy feet meant I spent more time drying shoes than climbing.
We dropped in on BeardyBeast on the way home for a coffee and mince pies, along with Postman Pat. Lovely.
The Doc and I went for a walk in the rain this afternoon. We had a wander past Cadshaw and around Entwistle Reservoir. I noticed that the Red Wall had loads of blocks at its base, obviously trundled from loose stuff at the top of the crag. More annoyingly, the nice tree in front of the Red Wall had been cut down. I hope whoever did this is coming back to tidy all the mess up.
I went to Wilton One this morning, but as I drove South past Abbey Village the cloud thickened up. I wandered around Wilton One but everything was wet due to condensate.
As I headed back home I thought about the recent reports of fire damage at Denham, so I thought I'd take a look.
Basically, some fools have set a fire under Crap Pot- this fire was obviously very hot as it has taken the surface layer off the crag. The damage is localised but still significant. The only surviving hold on Crap Pot is the right starting hand hold. The higher holds that are slapped to are gone- the flakey area they existed on has peeled off. This is unfortunate, as these are also the crux holds on The Denham Traverse.
So basically two of the best hard problems here are destroyed, and no longer possible. I would strongl suggest this section of the crag is left well alone until natural weathering over the next couple of years stabilises the surface.
On Sunday a team of us went to Blackstone Edge. This was due to the re-write for the new Brick, as well as the topo I had done for the Edge 3 years ago. Gordon and Bruce (Goodwin) hda kindly agreed to join R-Man, myself and the Ginnster to look at what I had documented and what was done in the last 40 years.
It was foggy/ cloudy at the White House. We wandered into the small quarry, then on to the crag end. The cloud dropped into an inversion and left us basking in the sun. Unfortunately this didn't last, and we soon ended up back in the cloud. We looked at the Back Edge, I showed Bruce all the stuff we'd done before- much of which he said he'd never seen climbed.
After this we headed to teh Trig Area, much of what BeardyBeast and I had done before were old problems, as expected. Wandering along to the Hueco Block area we again found much of what was old and rediscovered matched up. Interestingly, Bruce knew that what we had referred to as Ape Hour and Nik's Traverse were done years ago by Nick Conway. Heading further right most stuff matched again.
R-Man and I had a look at Ape Hour. I was getting fingers on the top some goes, but getting nowhere on others. The drifting mist probably didn't help. R-Man used a typically R-Man technique and beasted it. A couple of his friends arrived from the Peak, whilst The Ginnster and myself wandered over to the right and did some of the good easier problems. There's a foul mantel that we tried as a dyno, big move and one to get back to.
After this I had one more go on Ape Hour but discovered my skin was ruined. We wandered past the Trig Point to the Crag Boulders. The Ginnster failed to cruch the Double Arete/ Blackstone Best. R-Man and Gareth.PB.info had a look at BeardyBeast's Fridge Hugger, but PastyKid and I had to head off. Later I found out they had done it, and the shamelessly stolen video is below. Seems to be a consensus of 7b+/7c.
Keen for a re-visit sometime, still lots of work to do.
I took the bike in for its MOT this morning. This was 12 months overdue as it has been sat in the garage all that time. Therefore I wasn't surprised when it failed due to the brakes not running freely. I ended up leaving it at the garage so it was 11:30 before I got home.
This afternoon I went to Wilton, only to find it full of mist. I looked at R-Man's new problems but they were damp. Sex in the Woods felt awkward, but having seen R-Man's vid I was doing it rather differently. I briefly tried Barbara's Man, via another daft sequence. After this I looked at Midgesquito Crimpelopes. I snapped the left hand sidepull that I had used for my sequence. I tried an alternative method, but it was also greasy.
I ended up back at the graveyard area, trying my pinch project. I was getting close using some completely different footwork. Another to go back to.
Today I intended to head out to Brimham, but being lazy I didn't get away as early as I had intended. I decided to go somewhere a little closer, and after Probes' recent comments about Charlotte Rampling Direct I decided to hit the Kebs. I sent the BeardyBeast a text to this effect.
The Sun over Chorley faded as I went along the M65, and by the time I was heading over from Burnley the mist was on the hills. Helpfully, BeardyBeast texted me at this point to tell me the Kebs were covered in mist. He did, however, have coffee and chocolate brownies so I carried on and went to chez Beardy. I sat in the car to hear the end of the Armistice Service, then headed in. D-unit was Ben 10ing, Mrs Beast had been sent out shopping (more halloumi). After a coffee and a bit of brownie, I opted to head back West to see how the weather was.
As I headed home it brightened up. I thought I'd have a look at Wilton one. A fair bit was wet, so I had a look at the Graveyard area, initially doing the traverse link. Then I did various eliminates. I ended up trying a new eliminate involving a pinch on the arete and a big move to get a foot on and slap for the high sloper. It felt pretty tricky and it's left for another day.
Need to get the 'bike MOTd and taxed, it's all due. Maybe this week. How come I now work part time but have even less free time than ever before?!?!
Drizzle this afternoon so the going out plan was shelved. I had an afternoon at Wet Pooh which went reasonably well. I managed quite a lot up to the usual V5 level, fell off a couple of V6s that I should have done and got a fair bit of mileage in.
I'd been there an hour and a half when all the climbing lessons started and I found myself spending more time waiting than bouldering, so I did some easier problems and then left. The forecast for my day off tomorrow is poor, so I may continue the half arsed Wainwright ticking in between child herding. We shall see.
