Day 314- Rehabilitated
5 March 2010, 9:59 pm
Days of rain- 36
Dry days- 28
At 8am I was sat in my Speed Awareness course. To be honest, it was quite a good morning really. Theory for 3 hours was OK, although I was sat next to a loud guy that kept piping up (very loudly) with totally non-hilarious comments. Twuntmonkey. The practical session was good. Apparently it's only Lancashire area that does the practical bit, all other areas do 4 hours of theory. So I had some time driving around my local area being observed and educated. In a way it's a shame you can only go on this course if you get done for speeding.
I was back home for 15:00, so I quickly got changed and had some scran. I had originally intended to head to the Project again, but it was cold and windy and threatening clouds were rolling in. I diverted to the other side of the valley, and a visit to Healey Nab. This is a small, very much esoteric, crag but it offers some pleasant problems and is very near home.
First of all I did Slaptasm, and the Coolboy Slap (from a proper sitter just to show Ginnster it's possible). Then I grabbed the second ascent of Barmfingers, one of R-Man's additions from last December. He has also added Double Dutch, but it was wet so I didn't try it- I did have a go last time I was here, but couldn't even pull on!
R-Man on some first ascents:
Somewhere in Lancashire from r-man on Vimeo.
After Barmfingers I had a look at my (other) project. This is the second time I've given it a proper try, and it feel pretty hard- 7b+ maybe. It's a hard pull on, then an awkward lock to a fair sidepull. Then it's just a case of a big slap to an OK edge, and victory. Today I was touching the hold most tries, but it was wet and I wasn't catching it properly. One to come back to.
I moved over to Scrunch, which I couldn't get close to today, then to Grabadabadoo. This felt tough today, but then I got the numbers right and got it done. Then I noticed a small crimp just left of the cricial pinch. And an eliminate was born- I had a vision of a Grabadabadoo-without-the-arete-problem. What I ended up with was a start on the Grabadabadoo hold. a massive reaach to the OK crimp and a match to the sloper on Grabadabadoo. This proved to be the hard move. A right heel seemed the way forward, but it was very tenuous and kept slipping out. By this time I had 3 fingers bleeding from the tips. One more try. And luckily that was all it took. Big reach, crap right heel, slap sloper and suck it up. Hard pull to get a foot on, then slap the slopey top. And boom- The Stretch 7a+.
The only downside is that my skin is in ruins, so I'm not sure what I'll be able to do on Monday. Maybe the Bowderstone to get one of my 2010 aims, or maybe Carrock Fell. I'll have to wait and see what skin and weather are like.
Healey Nab Again from GCW on Vimeo.
Source: Wafflings of a Lanky Punter
