The famous gritstone is basically just a coarse sandstone, though i'm sure anyone from sheffield would hit me for saying "just coarse sandstone". To the local cognoscenti nothing even comes close to experience of trad climbing on grit. The rock offers a very technical style of climbing, relying heavily on faith in the friction of your boots and your body position/balance. Though while this may be true of a lot of the routes every single style of climbing can be found on the grit and I guess that's why the locals love it so much and it has become so beloved by the global climbing community.
Originally the plan was for me and Sachi to head to either North Wales (preferably) or the lakes (if the weather in Wales was poor). Though in the approach to the selected week I looked extensively at forecasts to discover that sadly a diagonal line cut across the country meaning both of these options were likely to be a rainy shambles, so I happily settled for climbing in the peak for a week. And what a week it was! It quickly proved to be my most successful ever climbing trip (though admittedly I'd only ever been on a handful of short ones before) pushing my onsight grade up one notch to E3, working heavily on my crack climbing, and also on my mental strength whilst climbing.
Due to the huge volume of climbs I did, I won't bother doing a write up of each one as this would take me an irrationally long amount of time and would also be immensely boring for the reader. I'll simply go day to day and select a few good routes I did. Unfortunately I forgot to take lots of pictures, though Sachi should post them when he gets back from his holidays on my facebook. Pretty excited to see how they turn out!
Day 1
After a 9 hour bus journey starting at 7am from Inverness to Manchester I met Sachi at the bus station and we wasted no time in escaping suburbia and entering the peak. Soon we were at the North Lees campsite setting up our tents and I could feel the stoke building! From the campsite you could glimpse Stanage edge behind the trees, I was practically shaking with anticipation. My small tent went up quickly, though Sachi's proved to be more of an obstacle, after the first two hurdles we were soon on our way up to "the queen of the eastern edges". I've flicked obsessively through the pages of the definitive guide since it was bought in 2008 for a top roping day dad took me on. As a result I could now spot the famous and most recognisable lines and buttresses despite having only spent about 10 total hours at the crag.
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| Tiny grit climbs at the easy jamming buttress, our first grit hit of the trip! |
The first evening was characterised simply by the release of all my pent up energy from throughout the day, and psyche to finally be spending a sunny week on the gritstone! In one evening we climbed a ridiculous volume of routes. (about 14 in 3 hours) Without stopping we worked our way from easy jamming buttress leftwards to Rugosity Crack. Few routes we climbed this evening were classics by anyone's estimation, though neither of us cared as we were happy in the simple act of moving over quality rock. Some nice routes were climbed however; a V0- boulder problem called "the high road" (more of a short solo to be honest) proved to be an interesting exercise in padding up gritstone slabs. Rugosity Crack also was a very fun (If challenging for the grade) route, requiring stiff body tension to layback up the thin flake crack.
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| Rugosity Crack, Credit: http://www.ukclimbing.com/images/dbpage.html?id=118020 |
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| Sachi ft Eastern Grit NEW ALBUM, OUT MONDAY! |
Day 2
Day two was spent once again at Stanage and we simply started where we left off, carrying on working leftwards along the crag until we'd covered most of popular. As the day wore on we found ourselves at High Neb, Secret Stanage and plantation too! A real tour of some of the crags finest delights in a day!
After warming up on solo's of some classic lower grade stuff I looked around at the lines around me for one that seemed a likely candidate to lead. The previous evening I had spotted the line of black hawk bastion and noted how cool it looked. Originally I'd planned to try the iconic "Comes the Dervish" in the llanberis slate quarries as my first E3, though with that trip having fallen apart I found myself with the desire to still climb E3 though with no climb I felt like leading.
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| The Crux moves of Black Hawk Bastion, Credit: http://www.ukclimbing.com/images/dbpage.html?id=189602 |
The line of black hawk bastion looked as inspiring from the ground as any and I felt a huge desire to get on it, From the ground it looked almost easy? Obviously not vdiff. Though nor did it look like a complete impossibility. I scoped out the locations of all the holds and gear in and around the crux from the ground and decided it would go.
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| Sachi Flaking ropes at the bottom of the route |
I ascended the corner to the roof quickly and efficiently placing some bomber nuts and cams in the corner crack before questing out onto the left wall to find the real difficulties of the route. I hung around with a good sidepull for my left hand and bridging the corner for a little while as I hunted for more holds and confidence. I found a good crimp inside a thin flake in the roof, after messing around with my feet and shaking out a couple of times more I swung into action. I found myself hanging off the roof crimp with my right hand chalking up and savouring the exposure from that position. I felt like a rockstar hanging horizontally in space whilst casually chalking up. A powerful swing with my left hand lead me to the sloper on the arete. I moved my feet up and left forcing me into a constricted squat under the roof. My left leg scrabbled around the arete also join my hand in a heel hook on the sloper. Heel hooking on a trad route? that might be a first? Though this is when all my composure went out of the window. The confidence had sufficiently ebbed and I was now fluttering like a leaf whilst slapping my right hand higher trying to find something that wasn't another sloper (It's Grit, I don't know what I really expected?). I realised that If I progressed as such I was quickly going to find myself falling. I stopped, slowed down, reminded myself 3 of my points of contact were on good holds and I wasn't particularly pumped I totally had this in the bag, I breathed out, let thoughts of the high grade leave my mind and yarded to glory! I'd only gone and done it!
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| Ropes Trailing off of the crux! |
Very public displays of emotion aren't really my forte, they make me feel a little awkward (The autistic mathematician within me I suppose). Though I yelped and hollered with pure un-adulterated Joy for the many stiff upper lipped northerners climbing at stanage popular to hear. The top was dispatched with comparative ease, and me and my humongous cheeser were soon atop stanage hollering once more! Before too long I was swaggering back down to the base of the crag where I was stopped by a friendly american couple who commended me on my lead. I preceded to regale them with a move by move account of how it went down trembling with joy every now and then. Genuine praise from climbers I find is often hard won and so feels even better when it comes. So this american couple really were the icing on the cake for how psyched I felt!. First E3 bagged!
The day then continued and we were still climbing loads. Sachi also later went on to bag his first E3 with his onsight of the bold and ridiculously technical Impossible slab. He did well to get up it clean.
The Final Great route of the day was my tranquil solo of Fairy steps at the close of the day after I got spanked by the wide start to Goliaths Groove. It was very peaceful watching the sun get lower and lower behind the castleton cement works whilst I teetered delicately across the exposed slab.
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| Fairy Steps, Credit: http://www.ukclimbing.com/images/dbpage.html?id=47796 |
Day 3
The third day of our already very successful trip was spent at Froggatt edge, famed for its bold and highly technical slab climbs. Sachi who had already spent a day or two at this particular edge climbing the classics continued to establish himself at the E3 grade with an onsight solo of Long Johns slab and then an onsight lead of 4 pebble slab. Good effort to him on them both.
The day for me focussed on doing the lower grade crag classics. The day began with an interesting ascent of Valkyrie on the Froggatt tower. I'll be honest I'm not very good at wider cracks and the first pitch was a bit of a grovel.
The best routes of the day for me were the ultra classics: Tody's wall and 3 pebble slab.
3 pebble slab was for me probably more adventurous than most, I had progressed past the crux of the route and was about to embark upon the blank slab above which requires total faith in the friction generated between your boots and the rock as your gear recedes further and further behind you. This was sadly the point when the heavens decided to open. I stood on an edge for maybe half an hour waiting for the rain to stop and the rock to dry sufficiently for me to carry on. as the minutes ticked away my calves kept getting more and more pumped, my decision to move was more motivated by the ever nearing cramps in my calves than by the condition of the rock. The teetering began and was all over very quickly, A fantastic line!
Tody's wall proved to be another fantastic climb, The route Is one of the most varied on grit, requiring you to grovel up into a standing position on a large block in the face, Once atop the block you then continue up and onto the slab above by a really nice rockover. The climb finishes up a good jamming crack.
The plan after this was for me to have a go at sunset slab, unfortunately once again the heavens opened and looked very reluctant to close. So we bailed on Froggatt and went back to the campsite.
Day 4
This was supposed to be our rest day, and admittedly I didn't push the boat out very far for the majority of the day, taking it easy on a few low grade solos and boulders, though the last route of the day was my second E3: Wall end slab direct.
The style of this second E3 was very different to that of black hawk bastion, The route takes a direct line up through the blank slab that was first climbed in the dark ages (good effort ye olde grit climbers) and goes at E2 5b. and then cuts left up the steep scoop at the top for a "Harrowing finish". Despite the start supposedly being the easier part of the route, for me It was definitely the crux. The hardest moves were crossing over a scoop in the rock using a rockover with only slopey sidepull blobs for the hands. The next move was a very tenuous high step on the blank slab with gear far behind. I remember telling Sachi to be quiet because I needed to concentrate hard on the moves so as not to fall. A fall from either of these two moves would probably result in a groundfall. My chosen finish went just to the left of the imposing nose at the top of the slabs up a vertical groove. In typical grit style the top is the worst rounded sloper in existence. Thankfully at this point I had a bomber red cam in a pocket out left and knew I would no longer hit the ground the event of a fall.
The third day of our already very successful trip was spent at Froggatt edge, famed for its bold and highly technical slab climbs. Sachi who had already spent a day or two at this particular edge climbing the classics continued to establish himself at the E3 grade with an onsight solo of Long Johns slab and then an onsight lead of 4 pebble slab. Good effort to him on them both.
The day for me focussed on doing the lower grade crag classics. The day began with an interesting ascent of Valkyrie on the Froggatt tower. I'll be honest I'm not very good at wider cracks and the first pitch was a bit of a grovel.
The best routes of the day for me were the ultra classics: Tody's wall and 3 pebble slab.
3 pebble slab was for me probably more adventurous than most, I had progressed past the crux of the route and was about to embark upon the blank slab above which requires total faith in the friction generated between your boots and the rock as your gear recedes further and further behind you. This was sadly the point when the heavens decided to open. I stood on an edge for maybe half an hour waiting for the rain to stop and the rock to dry sufficiently for me to carry on. as the minutes ticked away my calves kept getting more and more pumped, my decision to move was more motivated by the ever nearing cramps in my calves than by the condition of the rock. The teetering began and was all over very quickly, A fantastic line!
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| Hope you stick!! credit: http://www.ukclimbing.com/images/dbpage.html?id=56572 |
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| The flexibility required for the rockover move, watch and weep! Credit: http://www.ukclimbing.com/images/dbpage.html?id=210088 |
Day 4
This was supposed to be our rest day, and admittedly I didn't push the boat out very far for the majority of the day, taking it easy on a few low grade solos and boulders, though the last route of the day was my second E3: Wall end slab direct.
The style of this second E3 was very different to that of black hawk bastion, The route takes a direct line up through the blank slab that was first climbed in the dark ages (good effort ye olde grit climbers) and goes at E2 5b. and then cuts left up the steep scoop at the top for a "Harrowing finish". Despite the start supposedly being the easier part of the route, for me It was definitely the crux. The hardest moves were crossing over a scoop in the rock using a rockover with only slopey sidepull blobs for the hands. The next move was a very tenuous high step on the blank slab with gear far behind. I remember telling Sachi to be quiet because I needed to concentrate hard on the moves so as not to fall. A fall from either of these two moves would probably result in a groundfall. My chosen finish went just to the left of the imposing nose at the top of the slabs up a vertical groove. In typical grit style the top is the worst rounded sloper in existence. Thankfully at this point I had a bomber red cam in a pocket out left and knew I would no longer hit the ground the event of a fall.
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| Nice gear spacing! My crux was crossing the chalked blobs at the bottom of the shot and then the move to attain the position the climber is in. The finish, goes up the groove left of the climber. Credit: http://www.ukclimbing.com/images/dbpage.html?id=52500 |
One of my goals for the trip was to improve my crack climbing, where better to improve my crack climbing than millstone edge? Not a single poor quality route was done this day. The first route of the day was Embankment 2, This route had been on my wishlist for ages ever since seeing this fantastic photo:
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| looks too good to be true! credit:http://www.ukclimbing.com/images/dbpage.html?id=161389 |
The second route of the day was time for tea original which I was happy to have seconded cleanly. It would seem I'm not so awful at finger jamming. I could definitely feel myself getting better at crack climbing!
The best route of the day for me and the best route of the entire trip was without a shadow of doubt Bond Street. On the wall of Bond Street are two top 50 HVS's I let Sachi take his pick of the two. He chose Great Portland Street, which unfortunately was the climb I originally wanted to lead. I had let him choose though so I wouldn't complain. I'll be honest I was quite intimidated and not really looking forward to getting on bond street. From the ground It looked like a meat grinder that would eat climbers for breakfast lunch and dinner, I was sure I was just going to be a light snack. With my double rack of cams ready at the base of the route I reluctantly set off up flakes and edges to the left of the crack to allow me to start the crack at a slightly narrower section. I placed my first jam in the route and all the anxieties melted away.
The jam was the stuff dreams are made of, I let out a happy cheer; "YES! The jams are bomber!". Cruise control was activated and I was soon at the sentry box 3/4 of the way up the route after a glorious section of bomber jam after bomber jam in the crack. From the ground I thought I'd be using face holds for feet but once you're in the crack it just seems insulting to even think about. The crack leaned very slightly rightwards to make it awkward enough to maintain interest, but not too awkward to make It scary. I don't think I've ever felt so comfortable on a climb in my life apart from fallout corner. Upon reaching the top I shouted that I could do the climb every day for the rest of my life and still be happy. I still stand by this assertion, the route only comes second to Jack the Ripper in my list of all time greatest climbs due to a lack of exposure (and perhaps because I don't want to admit that English climbs can be better then Scottish).
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| Bond Street, the second best climb I've ever done. |
The day began with us briefly hitting up Froggatt edge so that we could do the remaining classics at the crag, I started by onsight soloing sunset slab. Sachi continued to expand his repertoire of hard bold trad leads with a solo of the great slab and a very bold lead of browns eliminate. The favourite route of this half of the day for me was chequers buttress. The route takes a nicely exposed position on an arete at the end of Froggatt edge. I remember pausing a while to savour the exposure whilst on the jug before continuing on and up the climb.
Unfortunately due to the menace of midges we opted to abandon Froggatt and after some lunch head to the leaning block on Higgar Tor. Where I got spanked by a VS (the file) and then chickened out of the Rasp, what a way to end my trip on the grit! Thankfully after my failures I soloed some short off-width cracks to the right of the leaning block which proved to be hideously fun.
Day 7
Though all of the climbing was now finished the adventure was not over. My plan had been to sit on the platform of Chester train station from 3pm on Saturday till 11am on Sunday (20 hours) as I didn't want to pay for accommodation and as a dirtbag climber I was happy to rough it like some povo (My new favourite word, and yes St Andrews has changed me into an elitist) on the train station floor.
At about 11pm on the Saturday I was sat reading my bible when a young couple (the recently engaged Ant(h)ony and Sarah) approached me asking what I was doing; I told them I planned to rough it on the train station floor. It soon transpired they too were christians and after hearing my tale of woe, they asked if I'd like to go with them back to their house. They lived in Wrexham (my first time in Wales, I was very surprised when I found out!). After meeting some more of their friends and getting fed a greggs sausage roll (which I'm grateful for by the way) I was shown my room where I crashed for the night, In the morning I was given a lift back to the train station to allow me to catch my train. As you can understand I'm very grateful to the couple, thanks again Ant(h)ony and Sarah!
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| Some really cool older guys we met at millstone edge, I loved talking to them and hearing their experiences. |
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