Met up with McFiend yesterday armed with trad gear, sport gear and a bouldering mat as the weather was looking a tad ominous and so having as many options available as possible seemed like a good idea. After a while spent talking and generally catching up we went off to have a look at Hen Cloud but bailed before we got to the crag as it was plainly obvious that it wasn't going to be in nick - Hen Cloud was in the cloud so to speak.
Therefore plan B was put into operation - Smalldale Quarry for some bolted action and while the thought of climbing in a grotty quarry of bolted limestone wasn't the most thrilling of things to be doing but it was better than nothing. McFiend showed that he had not lost any of his ability to climb in a grotty quarry of bolted limestone with relative ease which was more than could be said for me - decided to warm up on a 5 and it kicked my arse! This can be put down to many things - having concerns about my shoulder before starting off, not being on a piece of string since Wales last year, having no routes fitness and being plainly unfit in general, too much drinking in the days previous and a 450 mile round trip to look at a van two days earlier. All of these factors contributed to a massive display of punterness, featuring overgripping, swearing, reading the route badly and getting hideously scared. My forearms felt like they had been remade out of super compressed lead by the time I got to the second bolt and it didn't get much better the rest of the way as I dogged up the route in a style that would be called in a fit of extreme charity haphazard.
McFiend then made short work of something else and it was my second lead of the day, this time weighing in at a mighty 6a and it went much better (it couldn't have gone any worse). Still got pumped, still got scared and still had a real struggle reading the route but managed to make it to the fourth bolt and was inches off the 5th before having to downclimb and rest when I couldn't figure out the sequence - it later transpired that I missed an undercut which would have allowed me to clip the bolt. After resting I looked at the route some more - I couldn't see a way of getting to the fifth bolt and even if I had it looked like some nasty run out slab climbing to the top (there was a bolt but I couldn't see it). Taking this into consideration I decided that I had put myself through enough trauma for the day and the thought of taking a huge whipper on a slab going for the top had zero appeal so I backed off.
Overall it wasn't a wasted day - the shoulder injury seems to be fine after treatment last week, I got back on a piece of string again and didn't do that badly considering I was in pretty bad shape overall - it just needs more application and a bit more time getting used to grotty quarried bolted limestone. I must be mad...
Therefore plan B was put into operation - Smalldale Quarry for some bolted action and while the thought of climbing in a grotty quarry of bolted limestone wasn't the most thrilling of things to be doing but it was better than nothing. McFiend showed that he had not lost any of his ability to climb in a grotty quarry of bolted limestone with relative ease which was more than could be said for me - decided to warm up on a 5 and it kicked my arse! This can be put down to many things - having concerns about my shoulder before starting off, not being on a piece of string since Wales last year, having no routes fitness and being plainly unfit in general, too much drinking in the days previous and a 450 mile round trip to look at a van two days earlier. All of these factors contributed to a massive display of punterness, featuring overgripping, swearing, reading the route badly and getting hideously scared. My forearms felt like they had been remade out of super compressed lead by the time I got to the second bolt and it didn't get much better the rest of the way as I dogged up the route in a style that would be called in a fit of extreme charity haphazard.
McFiend then made short work of something else and it was my second lead of the day, this time weighing in at a mighty 6a and it went much better (it couldn't have gone any worse). Still got pumped, still got scared and still had a real struggle reading the route but managed to make it to the fourth bolt and was inches off the 5th before having to downclimb and rest when I couldn't figure out the sequence - it later transpired that I missed an undercut which would have allowed me to clip the bolt. After resting I looked at the route some more - I couldn't see a way of getting to the fifth bolt and even if I had it looked like some nasty run out slab climbing to the top (there was a bolt but I couldn't see it). Taking this into consideration I decided that I had put myself through enough trauma for the day and the thought of taking a huge whipper on a slab going for the top had zero appeal so I backed off.
Overall it wasn't a wasted day - the shoulder injury seems to be fine after treatment last week, I got back on a piece of string again and didn't do that badly considering I was in pretty bad shape overall - it just needs more application and a bit more time getting used to grotty quarried bolted limestone. I must be mad...
1 comment:
I'll "Mc" you, you greasy fat choad!! :P
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