Froggatt Edge - Hairpin and Pinnacle Boulders

Two days in a row climbing in the peaks? It must be summer!  Amazingly we had a bank holiday weekend with fine weather every day so despite the cocktails last night we decided to go climbing again - Andy and Ceri couldn't make it yesterday so wanted to get out and it didn't take Liz and Kelly much convincing to join us.  QWe were looking for somewhere for Ceri to get back in to climbing after injury, so it was a toss up between Stanage Plantation and Pinnacle Boulders at Froggatt and Pinnacle won - mainly because of the fear of Stanage midges.

Once parked up we started the walk in, and decided to warm up on Hairpin Boulder as it is so close to the parking.  As usually happens when we get to this block I mange to climb the easy problems - Hairpin Scoop, Hairpin Arete and Flake Problem - before trying and failing on something harder.  This time it was Crash Test, not much harder but a sit start and I just could not make it work. Still, I wasn't going to beat myself up over it as there was plenty more to climb, and we walked on to the Pinnacle Boulders proper.

Plenty of fun here - some nice warm up material on Pooh Bear and Teddy, then the significantly harder Teddy with a sit start which took me a while as sit starts really are not my thing (I know, I need to work on them) and then a nicer climb on Pick Pocket.  I tried and failed to start on (Ahem) Starter Motor so went on to try Areet - I got to the top and then bailed, realising when I got down that for the easier grade I should have broken left to finish, but also I had missed the sit start. I couldn't face trying it again...

I went back to join Liz round the back for some light relief on Bear Pooh, Rupert Bear and Bare Rupert, then news came back that Andy and Kelly had cracked Starter Motor so I went to steal beta and watch them trying Areet.  While they tried I practised my sit starts on Baby Bear which is a great little problem for precisely this purpose, and Liz successfully topped it too. Back on to Starter Motor and it all clicked, I was up.  Andy and Kelly were trying Northerner now and I spent a while working it with them, I got as close as any of us did - reaching a ledge we think you need to mantle, but on my best attempt I bailed right and finished on Teddy, so I'm calling this climb "Northern Bear". None of us finished it, but on a cooler day it might go.

From here we moved up a few boulders, Flatulence refusing to go for me (!!!) and Air Bear was it's typical inelegant self.  I did the not particularly tricky Mini Mantel before stopping for a rest and really failing to get going again, I looked at some of the other problems on Air Bear but couldn't bring myself to try them so napped in the sun with Liz and Ceri while Andy and Kelly finished up some more climbs.  Soon it was time to head to the pub for a couple of pints and then home after another successful day out.  The next time we climb outdoors may well be in France, it's not long now!

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