From Dirt Grows The Prowess, Dirtlow

[Droyd]

A long shot given how esoteric it is, but a few of us had a go yesterday and got shut down by what seemed to be an utterly massive span. We ended up with a sequence where we had left hand on the low crimp that Joe matches in his video, right hand on the arete, and the knee in, eyeing up the pinch, and none of us (spans up to 6'4) could get a hand even close to the pinch. At the time we were all absolutely convinced that Joe is just massive and easily reached off the knee where we couldn't (and Dan presumably did something totally different but probably isn't the most useful person to copy beta from - not that there's any FA footy online that I can tell), and collectively wrote the problem off as morpho nonsense that wasn't worth another session. But with hindsight I wonder whether that's total bollocks: the sequence we came up with involving not using the hold on the left arete, which perhaps meant being a bit low once in the knee and going for the pinch. Maybe we're just insecure little beta males?

So, has anyone tried and/or done this, either using Joe's sequence or another? It'd be nice to either write it off completely (i.e. it's 7C+ only if you're >6'4 or Dan Varian) or have a bit of a kick up the arse to go back and persevere.

 

[mattsparksy]

Not sure about the problem, but what condition is Dirtlow in at the moment? I hear it requires a fair amount of brushing, worth a visit?

 

[Droyd]

Everything is bone dry, and all of the holds on From Dirt Grows the Prowess and Dirt Diggler are clean and chalked. The holds on Drowning My Sorrows in Dirt looked to have chalk on, although we didn't actually go over to it.

In general things need a good brush at the beginning of a session to get them climbable, just because of how much crap seems to come down from above, but it's not like you need to spend hours scrubbing or put in a cleaning shift and then come back another day - there's just generally a coating of dirt that needs to be swept off, and once you've done that (preferably with a sacrificial brush) things are good to go. I might have lower standards than some in terms of being willing to climb on shite rock, but I don't think it's all that bad, and the minor effort needed to get things clean is more than offset by the fact that most of the holds are really ergonomic and nice and conditions are pretty reliable (doesn't seem to condense) by Peak Lime standards.

The left side of the crag (what's written up on UKC under 'Left Cave' and 'Middle Cave') doesn't ever seem to get the sun, so were lovely and cool yesterday - no complaints whatsoever about conditions, and there was even a bit of a breeze. Drowning My Sorrows is in the sun from at least midday until around 5 pm at the moment (not sure about the morning as I've not been then), but then nice and cool in the shade. Drowning My Sorrows needs two or three pads as it has a nicely terraced landing (cheers Jon?); Dirt Diggler/Protest are okay with a couple, although the landing is a bit sloping and soily, so things can slide; From Dirt Grows the Prowess would need three or four if you were to ground up it alone, and more or a ladder to be able to stack pads and safely work bits. I can't comment on anything else as that's all I've been on, but hopefully it's of some use!

The only other thing that's worth mentioning is that we had an interesting exchange with a bloke who (impressively) drove a Land Rover down to the bottom of the hill to fetch some sheep and spotted us. He initially didn't seem like he was going to say anything, but then reversed and asked us if we were rock climbing and said that it was private property. He seemed to be on about the bolted routes, and when we said we weren't going up there he drove off with his sheep, and that was that. So safe to say that you're not hidden once you're in the caves (although the base of Drowning My Sorrows is in a bit of a hollow so is more hidden). Not really sure what to make of the guy basically telling us that we shouldn't be there but not saying anything more; I think maybe he thought we weren't rock climbing because there weren't any ropes but wasn't sure what we actually were doing and was in a bit of a rush, so just didn't have time/couldn't be arsed to kick us off. I reckon the key to avoiding that is not being there if there are sheep about, so perhaps as simple as turning around and going somewhere else if there are sheep in the field?

Also, mods please delete if this last paragraph isn't appropriate for a public forum.

 

[mattsparksy]

Cheers Droyd, I'll have a gander next week maybe. Looks very 3D climbing quite unique for Peak Lime.

 

[SamT]

Hi Droyd..

As I'm sure Lovejoy will be along to confirm, there has been a long history of access issues up here with the farmer/land owners amongst both cavers and climbers.

UKC and the RAD clearly state the crag is not on access land and access is banned. Seem's like you caught him in a good mood, but if asked, please leave politly.

Posts like this will increase interest and activity there so likely others will be asked to leave in future.