Saturday 13 June 2015

The Lull and Pembroke

The past couple of months have represented something of a lull for me. With some pretty mediocre weather and mounting uni work I ended up having a few weeks off climbing, mainly running during the time I had out of the library.

Predictably this break did not last long and after a few weekends away the psyche has definitely returned. Pembroke Bank Holidays seem to have become a mini institution of late, with tons of people making the long journey down. At one stage Huntsman's Leap was reminiscent of a busy evening at the Tor. Route of the weekend was probably the "One-Eyed Man" at Blind Bay; perhaps most famous for the photo of Jules Deep Water Soloing it. Having done the route this is something I'd love to re-enact!

One Eyed Man! Exposure!

In the past few months a couple of people have asked me why the winter has been so quiet for Grit ascents. To be honest I'm not sure why. The apparent danger involved in most of the hard routes means that you can't go at the them half-heartedly. Following the last winter its probably natural that there was a bit of a hangover period. Obviously I only speak for myself in this, this lack of psyche has clearly not been felt by everyone. Perhaps the best ticks of this grit season for me have come in the past few weeks. Firstly, capitalising on the dry, hot weather of April, Oli and I managed ascents of the rarely dry, and even more rarely climbed, Dharma in Dukes Quarry near Matlock. This route, effectively a spicy, runout 7b+ on pegs is almost an anomaly on grit; being 30m high its probably twice as long as most routes on the brown stuff.

Another long awaited tick came in the form of Crypt Trip at High Neb on Stanage. Having been shut down on this previously it was great to finish it off, all be it in a relatively poor style.

In a few days I'll be heading to the Emerald Isle for a month of tradding, Murphy's and sitting in cafes waiting for cliffs to dry. Ireland has been top of the trip-list for as long as I can remember, god I hope the weathers good.


Nathan.