Have enjoyed reading many of these and so felt obliged to actually contribute instead of just stalking for a change.
Top 3 boulders
Slopey Trav 7C Almscliff
Got around to actually investing some time into this and glad I did. Very rewarding and had to do it twice as I had a slight dab that would have eaten away at me on the first send(non-send) Took 3 sessions and a very cold day.
Texas Hold Em' 7B+ Trowbarrow
This has always been wet but found it dry and even had a knee pad with me. Some damn slippy slopers on this.
Renaissance 7B+ Baildon
This is a superb feature and it climbs just as good as it looks.
Sport UK First Ascents
Well Connected 8a+ Malham
A first ascent on the catwalk WTF! I had looked at the hanging groove feature 2m left of the Raindogs belay for years and eventually got round to investigating it more closely whilst doing some re-equipping over the winter. The resulting route starts up Connect 4 before a superb sequence heads off rightwards to gain some pretty stern finishing moves to a perfect little tufa next to the belay. Maybe one day someone will extend it through the roof to give an awesome 9c ???
Taxus Baccata 8a Yew Cogar
This was Innes Deans old proj and I'd been badgering him for a while about passing it on. He relented this year and even made a trip down there to put the hangers back on for us! A gracious gesture. Lincoln had a cheeky solo trip to clean it and work the moves the day before so unsurprisingly he redpointed it first and I slapped my way over the line an hour later. A good addition to a great crag.
Top 3 Sport UK
The Perfect Mirage 8a Gordale
First hard route after recovering from an A2 pulley tear sustained at start of May that put me out of action till mid July meant this was a great milestone. Very good route as well that sees very little attention as its on 'The Other Side' away from the main event of Cave route area.
Ingham's Route 7c Tilberthwaite
Really enjoyed this. Super tech and thin and a very good test of finger re-hab! On gaining the good holds after the hard climbing I declared it the hardest route I've ever done and true to form Mitch declared I made it look it!
Conceptual Continuity 8a Malham
Decided on a whim to try this and glad I did. I worked it on the first day then went back and re-bolted the upper half a few days later and somehow managed to redpoint the same day. A wild little route that deserves more attention than it gets. Very soft at 8a as well!
Trad Onsights
Didn't really do any as the A2 injury put me out for most of the summer.
Top 3 Trad Headpoints
Janus E7 Curbar
Just superb. Amazing movement and pretty safe. Thoroughly enjoyed having to try really hard on this, skin of the teeth as they say.
Torture Board E7 Reecastle
Found this really tough, possibly pushing 7c+?
Employed the dodgy tactic of placing a wire above the peg and clipping them together so as to take any doubt away from the peg which I then tested by falling on it 3 times I think. If that peg ever fails on someone the resulting fall may well be life changing.
Exponential Exhaustion E7 Kilnsey
There was a lot of discussion about retro bolting old trad routes that rely on a lot of old fixed gear amongst the Kilnsey regulars this year. I wanted to bolt some of them, others wanted them to stay as they are. One of the upshots of this was Mike Grey taking Exponential off the table by stripping the pegs out of it and leading it as a pure trad route. I was impressed by his 'actions speak louder than words' approach and was inspired to follow suit. The routes around 7b+/7c and is pretty bold, protected by small wires and the climbing is every bit as good as that on Biological next door.
Other highlights
A wonderful late summer morning swinging along Rainbow Bridge with an old friend. This was only a few weeks after starting back climbing again after nearly 3 months off with the finger. Super psyched, what a route.
2 trips to Margalef doing loads of on sighting and beer drinking with good friends.
