Its been a big week....
Nai, Grubes, TommyZtone, James and myself had a weekend planned in Northumberland at the end of the week and in the beginning the forecast looked good. But during the week it snowed, and snowed and snowed and by mid week reports suggested there had been about 30 cm of snow up in tcounty which made our trip look a bit marginal.. To make things worse, the long range forecast had things warming up by the weekend so not only would getting around and cleaning snow from problems be an issue, but the probable melt, seepage and runoff over crags looked like it would put the kybosh on our planned foray...
Closer to home, there was plenty of snow about and on Tuesday, with some trepidation I headed to the cliff to get my Keel on again.. I wasnt that hopeful to be honest, travelling over from Hull there was a mixture of clag, sunshine and freezing fog but she was standing proud of the weather and covered in 10-20cm of snow... Unfortunately the sun was melting the snow (just) and it was running off down most problems. The usual warm ups were streaky with water and the Keel, the beloved Keel had two large streaks running down it, one over the chip and the other over the pocket. Game over. Well nearly, I sat down in the snow, had some lunch, exchanged pleasantries with a man taking some pictures (who expressed his doubts about climbing) and had a think. I brushed off the snow on the slope above the face towelled down the face and in the sun it started to dry.. with the towel positioned on the slope above the pocket, it intercepted small drips from above and after 30 min or so it was bone dry and clean... were on again.. But this is tough.. its close to freezing, nice in the sun but no-where to warm up.. I do some press-ups, potter on the Virgin traverse (Which I loathe), do some planks then start working each section of the Keel in isolation. Christ its hard warming up on the problem youre planning to do.. my shoulder screams from the pocket wrench.. core grumbles on the span out. The blister on the top of my right foot opens up again (from the foot jam on the start) ach... still, I pull on its laps I tell myself, practice, all money in the bank etc.. and to be fair Its not feeling too bad. Of course if I do the problem I cant top out as its covered in 20cm of snow!
Martin from Citybloc racks up, has a look up at the top tier (DWR area etc..) and comes back down again gopping he says.. and starts pottering around under the Virgin boulder.. I try again.. and again.. get the pocket with a whopper dab on the mat. I get straight back on to try the top out move so I gain some stamina.. shoulder wrenching and I just cant lever my left toe onto the end of the nose.. ach.. I wandered down to the Virgin and Martin is trying Cherry falls and so for the next hour or so I rotate between spotting him on that, and moving mats back to the Keel and flailing away on that.. the sun drops, my towel is now frozen to the upper part of the Keel boulder and Martin is getting closer.. desperately close. I am getting further maddeningly further.. I start just practicing the final moves as it is my obvious weakness but its all wrong, nothing working I hang from the pocket with my legs flailing around trying to get some sort of purchase to get a toe on. My right knee starts bleeding though thermals and double kneed trousers through pushing on the face to get some leverage... light is fading, Martin is getting increasingly close latching the top but not holding the sloper once, twice and the last time holding it then as his body rotates it pulls him off. Man so close.. Packing up the temps have plummeted, and my towel has stuck to the face of the Keel, and we both trudge back to the cars through the quiet snow defeated.. Tuesday was a really hard session no room to warm up and wet snow.. mats slipping, shoes and clothes getting wet as it was melting a real struggle to keep things out of the snow and dry, bouldering mats skitting away down the hill..
So with an eye firmly on the weather the week progressed.. for me teaching starts the next week, so this was my last fairly free week to get some sessions in and Friday looked like it might work. Heading over to Manchester anyway it was freezing fog most of the way from Hull to Wetherby.. superb. Freezing fog bizarrely is one of the best conditions Ive ever found for the cliff.. as long as doesnt precipitate out on the rock it can be mint.. below freezing and still. But as I drove past Collingham it started to snow proper snow but not the deluge wed been promised would happen later in the day. This was some snow starter just to get things going.. the road up to the Cliff was better than Tuesday and despite the snow I thought Id go and have a look.. at least it was below freezing so no melting out on things.. Stomping up the hill to get warm, I saw someone under the Virgin and it was Martin again working Cherry falls. Friday was a completely different picture to Tuesday.. it was colder, now windy and starting to snow properly I think Martin was finding it hard to get going in the conditions.. Wandering over to the Keel - the pocket and chip were starting to fill up with snow! The trusty burgundy towel came out again, and by stuffing one end in the pocket and draping it over the nose I could keep it covered. I warmed up by deadhanging on the Virgin face, doing strange pull ups and sideways moves.. Tom P came along to help spot Martin and like Tuesday it rotated between Cherry falls attempts and dragging my mats back to fart about on the Keel.. Video says it all
To be fair, I had one really close attempt in the pocket and then plopped out and the one that I filmed that had a fairly large dab. Importantly, I managed to figure out my knee beta for the final pull up from the pocket. I have to bring my right leg close to my chest, and my right knee goes in a high dish on the underside of the arκte almost nestles in there from which I can lever my left toe onto the face. This is really vital for me as Ive done this instinctively a couple of times when Ive nearly done it but flailed badly on others. So now I know what to do exactly for every part and I tried this last move 3 or 4 times successfully. While Tuesday was wet Friday was cold. Really cold snow got everywhere, mits off, shoes on, down off, on problem, fail then reverse...
Martin nailed Cherry Falls Tom gave him some good beta about how to push down to hold the break, and three really close attempts later he got it.. superb. Probably the 6th or 7th repeat - and the first time Id seen some one work and land a problem that hard.. Fantastic effort.
So, the big Northumberland weekend. Not. Snowmageddon III was forecast for Friday afternoon/evening followed by the big thaw so we took the tough decision to cancel. Tweets were flying in all directions on Friday. All of us had a weekend pass out (which was rarer for Nai than most of us) that shouldnt be wasted but most of the UK had LOG written all over it as far as Sat and Sunday were forecast.. picking the UKB twitterarti collective brain cells, someone suggested Porth Ysgo and as the forecast for the weekend drew closer it seemed like a better if not the only alternative. Nai booked a bunkhouse (thanks Fatneck for all the help/advice) and at 8-9 on Saturday Morning, Nai, Grubes, James and 3T rolled up to MrsTTs house in Manchester and we set off to the Lleyn.
Ive never been to the Llyn peninsular.. I lived in Aberystwyth for 6 years had a house on top of a hill with uninterrupted views of the Llyn.. watched thunderstorms roll across it at night seen patches of cloud form above each of its hills in the day, seen the lighthouse on Bardsey wink at me during summer nights.. I loved the drive over, once you got past Bangor into the wilds, it was great like chunks of wild cornwall with great hills looming up above.
None of us had ever been to Porth Ysgo before and after some fannying around figuring out where to park etc.. we wandered down the path (it did rain a little) and scrambled on to the beach/rocks.. What a place it looks like a geological mess when you first arrive, but as you thread your way carefully over the rounded slippy boulders it reveals more and more fantastic grippy gabbro boulders and problems.
So we started in the first set of boulders Ysgo Flange, Unnamed, Justice Nai flashed Really Cool Toys (impressive sloper thrutch fest) and we wandered over to Higginsons Scar. I had real problems with this, I just felt too tall to get under it properly for the balance move over and had about 6 or 7 attempts eventually managing by using a little crimp on the RH face before lanking up to the shelf. Which felt like cheating :-/ We got about 2 hours in, then it started to drizzle (as I finished the scar) and rain harder so we packed up. Given the sketchy forecast a couple of hours was probably a good shout.. then as James put it RAIN PIE BEER then cards and bed..
Me overbiting badly on Higginsons Scar.. nice picture apart from the Chipmunk effect..
It would be an understatement to say group psyche was high.. The rock was superb problems looked great and we wanted to get on it the next day.. It shat it down with rain during the night, but as sun broke the skies were clear and it looked like a mint day was ahead. I got the bacon on at about 7:30 and we were parked up ready to walk down by 9.. Oh yes.
Oh fuck, was it windy.. and as we walked down, foam was blowing up and water blowing the wrong way off little waterfalls in the beck.. never mind it was windy the day before yet surprisingly sheltered down by the sea. But as we came to the edge all was not well.. High tide was about 8:30 and with a low pressure, big moon and strong onshore wind the sea was high. The picture does it justice.. no dry boulders there.
Spectacular but a disaster. What to do? We walked back to the cars where Fatneck was tweeted for advice, alternative venues sought.. the pass? RAC? The Cave psyche was not high for anywhere else, and we decided to head to Abersoch, have a coffee and come back in a couple of hours when the tide had gone out a bit. 11am and were back at the car park.. run down the hill.. and well its marginal lets have a look and well, surprisingly the boulders at the back were fine, wind wasnt high in amongst the boulders and the sun was out. T shirts, drying rock and many pads.. superb.. Grubes made a short film, that captures some of the days highlights..
For the team as whole, problems ticked were The Ramp (V3), Unmarked Grave (V4), Closer (V3), Jawbreaker (V5), Popcorn Party (V6), The Incredible Shaking Man (V3), Perrin's Crack (V2), Perrin's Crack SS (V7)
I really struggled on the harder problems all of which seemed to involve a horribly bunched sit start or powerful dynamic moves... my usual lanky grit nouse didnt serve me too well here.. Unmarked Grave was superb fantastic moves. Closer had me panting and scrabbling at the top like a fresher on their first climb.. Jawbreaker utterly beasted me.. campus moves with a wart as a foothold nope.. Personally, this was a bit of a disappointment in myself. Talking to 3T on the way home many of the problems were like wall problems clearly defined holds and powerful moves. I guess Ive not got the guns for that at present.. Perrins Crack SS looked fantastic except I couldnt fit and then extract my body and legs from under the Sit.. Popcorn party felt better but it ate my skin and I wanted to save some for later on in the day. But my performance aside it was a superb team effort James got 3 V6s and above.. 3T smashed in Perrins SS and Jawbreaker... the Most impressive performance was Nai on the sit to Incredible Shaking man (7B). His last problem of the day and after 5-6 tries he got the first move with two power screams (one to set up one to go) watching him work the next moves and then get that first really hard lunge repeatedly after how hard it was to start with was pretty inspirational.. He was so close to getting it and only fading light and a pressing need to get home with a 3 hour drive ahead of him dragged him away from it.
What a great trip what a great place. I hope I dont sound down on it in the above thats just a reflection on my own performance.. I think I find it hard adapting to different rock types Im OK at working harder problems, but my onsight/flash/new rock skills are much weaker.. I want to get back there are problems there I need to try again, and new ones I must get on... appetite whetted
