Fontainebleau Diary 2018 - Part 4

It's October - nearly November - and I am still writing this up 2 months on.  Truth be told I can't really remember the details any more so will have to cross reference photos, log books and other people's blogs to see what we got up to :)

Day 6 saw us go to Cul de Chien, where we last went in 2016.  It's a beautiful place, full of wide sandy clearings and interesting boulders with good landings.  Rumour has it the clearings were created by the German Army looking for supplies dropped in the forest by the Allies for the French Resistance (if you read Part 3 you'll know more about this).

We had chosen Cul de Chien today as it dries quickly - the weather was looking a bit threatening - and no sooner had we arrived than we bumped in to Patrick out on another of his runs.  He assured us it wasn;t going to rain, and then he was off again.  Before I had really had a chance to warm up however it rained, and I must admit I found this rather frustrating as I was ready to get stuck in and didn't want to sit around waiting for the rain to pass.

According to my log book I climbed a bunch of oranges, and then some 4 / 4+ problems from the Blue and Red circyuits, but I think I had a good day all in all. Later in the day Kelly was trying Verglas Fréquent in a full on session mode.   I tried it a few times and then decided to go and look for something else, and around the back of the same boulder was the 6a Pince sans Rire which looked tempting.  I thought I got it after several attempts, but looking back at how I did it I think that I used holds which can't be in at that grade, and didn't follow the line of the problem properly.  However, as I write this I realise that bleau.info has picked up my video of me climbing the problem so maybe I can count it :D

Day 7 then was our last day. We wanted to get up and out early to maximise the climbing and give us time to pack after and headed to Rocher Guichot which has the advantage of being right next to the car park.  Turn up, walk in, climb a few things, bump into Patrick..  We'd suspect him of stalking us, but he was as surprised as we were! I apparently climbed 3 things here before the rain came in, and while we were sheltering under an overhang I found a cave to explore behind it and camped out in there.

Once the rain stopped we explored a little further, and discovered an area which makes you walk in circles; after Jim mocked me for reappearing after saying I was heading back he managed to do exactly the same thing!  Sadly the rain returned even heavier, so we decided to go back to the gite and pack.  While the sun dried up the rain I headed over to the Aire where Lolly and Jim were staying to look at her van which wouldn't start that morning, I didn't manage to solve it but the French breakdown guy had it running in 5 minutes - a good dose of brake cleaner into the intake manifold!

It soon dried out again, and we decided to head to 91.1 - another revisit, this time only from last year, also on our last day.  Andy and I had a good day touring the area and trying various things, enjoying the last day of the holiday, while Jim was sessioning Le Flipper.  At the end of the day I found a really fun problem called Pégase which was very satisfying to climb as working out the sequence was an exercise in technique.  It was som much fun I think I made everyone have a go at it, and I was really pleased for Liz when she got it.  What an end to the holiday!

With that it was back to the gite to finish up the food and wine before the long long drive back to Sheffield - I was delighted when we got to Calais to hear them say "boarding in 10 minutes" as we had managed to catch the earlier ferry, and pretty much as soon as I was on board the ramp when up and the doors started closing - don't think that could have been much closer.

One more thing of note though - driving back up the M1 and I was really hitting tired and hungry, when I get a message from Andy suggesting we stop at a pub he'd found near Newport Pagnell (The Chester Arms in Chicheley).  I pull up in the car park, and who do I see but Patrick!  No, that didn't happen.  But it was a very nice pub and the accommodated us in a mezzanine.  After our meal we got chatting about how far we had driven and how far we had to go, and the waiter said "So are you guys on tour then?" and after being momentarily stumped I realised that yes, we probably do look like a band!

Fontainebleau Diary 2018 - Part 2

Day 3 of the climbing holiday, and we decided to go to Rocher du Potala - Liz, Ceri and I went here last year and really enjoyed it, I got a few blues on that trip and was keen to try and get some harder stuff this year.  I also decided to try out my new action camera, a WaspCAM ROX 9942 which I managed to pick up cheap earlier in the year (half the price of that Amazon listing) to video a few climbs.  I started out warming up on some Yellows and Oranges with Liz, Ceri, Sheila and Lolly which gave me a great opportunity to test the camera.


After one yellow and two oranges it was time to get moving on the blue circuit and get a bit of good climbing under my belt. Unfortunately although the circuit had been updated in 2017 the topos on bleau.info are not using the new numbering, and only Andy's 2018 edition of Fun Bloc had this circuit in so mapping problems got a bit tricky and there are still two I haven't managed to marry up.  After cribbing some beta off Andy and Kelly who had already done a few of these while I was warming up I got a number of problems under my belt, and after trying a traverse a few times with Andy and Kelly I decided I needed to go and climb something to keep my head in the game.

I wandered a short distance away and found a nice little bit of rock in Astérix and decided to set my camera up and give it a go. It was an interesting problem with a combination of slopey holds to palm down on and crimpy holds on a balancey concave slab. If felt very much like some of the shoulder heavy inside corner problems sometimes set at The Climbing Works which are great fun when you crack them.  The practice must have paid off as I flashed it on sight, though I wasn't sure I was going to as at the point where Andy and Kelly wandered over I was precariously balanced and quite contorted - one of those moments where you have to be careful how you breath lest you topple over backwards off the rock!  Once I'd got the foot up it was all over and I topped out before supporting Andy while he worked out how to approach it - a theme of the holiday was how differently all of us climb and where our strengths and weaknesses are.  With a niggly should this wasn't an ideal problem for Andy, but he got it done.


We carried on climbing long into the evening here as I think we were all in the zone and feeling quite psyched - Liz had an orange traverse she was projecting, Kelly was working on Acid, and other people had their own favourite bit of rock to tickle.  Andy and I found a nice big lump of rock with interesting problems on, though sadly quite a few of these don't match up with the bleau.info topo so I don't know much about them. A particular highlight for me here was La Farissure - a 5+ wall climb with some nice cracks on it which again needed shoulders:


The as yet un-named Blue 16 was not quite so straightfoward. The start was fine, but I seemingly struggled to work out how to get over the rounded top so resorted to stroking and fondling the rock until I found a way to handle it


We joined Liz looking at her Orange traverse for a bit, had a look around some other bits, before finding another fun problem - also a traverse - to play on.  This was a really nice way to end the day.


If anyone can tell me the name of this problem I would love to know, as Liz was doing really well on it - completing all the technical moves and just lacking the strength left in her arms to mantle the top out - and wants to put it on her "to do" list.

Three days of climbing done. A "rest" day to follow.  I'll let those quote marks pique your interest as to just how restful it was...

Fontainebleau Diary 2018 - Part 1

I'm conscious of the fact I haven't updated this in quite some time; I started writing about running and climbing to give myself something to focus on and at the start of this year I made the decision to run for fun not for targets. Part of that fun was letting go of obsession with statistics, training plans and whatever else which led to a more relaxed view on documenting them too. I've run a few races this year and am keeping up with it, just not pushing speed, distance and training plans. Maybe there will be a retrospective of the year at some point.

 Anyway, this is a climbing update. September always marks the annual group trip to the iconic forest of Fontainebleau, the home of bouldering, to spend a week in the forest with bread, cheese and rocks. This year it was the earliest we have been for various logistical reasons, and on Friday 31st August we converged on The Norman Guesthouse in Dover for the 3rd year in a row, where Laz remembered us (if not our names) and we found a delightful micropub in The Lanes to refresh ourselves before heading for a curry at The Virsa. Saturday morning saw Laz treat us to breakfast before it was time for the ferry and we were on our way.

After a long and rather warm drive south through France we arrived at Gîte La Rochetine on the outskirts of Noisy-sur-École - ideally located for the Trois Pignon area.  Once settled in went for a 6km run in the forest to stretch our legs after the drive before settling down to a dinner of pasta and a glass of wine.

So, Sunday and time to climb. We decided to go for an area we had not tried before in La Ségognole where we met up with two of Kelly's climbing partners of old, Jim and Lolly, who had made the trip down from Bristol a few days before us and were staying in their vans. Historically the first day has been a day of getting carried away and climbing a whole load of problems at a relatively easy grade, but this year I decided I wanted to try a little bit harder and set my eyes on problems in the Red Circuits and/or Font 5 difficulty. I ended up getting 13 Yellow and 13 Orange problems - yellows being mostly Font 2 or 3 and Oranges Font 3 or 4 - but I was also really happy to pick off Calvaire from the Red circuit, a crimpy arete climb coming in at Font 5; what a great start to the day!  I also decided that this was the perfect place to do a bit of lunchtime yoga, with a Tree in the Forest

The second day of climbing saw us return to Canche aux Merciers, a location we last went in 2015 which was my first trip to Font. That year I climbed Yellows and Oranges, and one Blue (the Blue circuit at Canche is mostly 4s and 5s). This year I got 11 yellows and then knocked out 8 blues - definitely demonstrating my climbing progress in 3 years. 3 of these were rated 5-, but enough time has passed that I can't remember any specifics.  So that's two days down, and doing really well on my target of pushing myself to climb things which stretch me a bit.  Oh, and two days of lazing in the sun eating lunch too :D

Fontainebleau Diary 2017 - Day 6

The last day of our holiday was forecast to be an utter washout, to the point we had started thinking about tourist destinations, indoor climbing walls, and other things to stop us getting cabin fever.  As mentioned yesterday the forecast climbed up towards the evening and when we woke up to blue skies we did indeed invoke our backup plan of 91.1 with my plan being warming up on the orange circuit and then pushing myself a little on the red circuit.

Things started off pretty much to plan; we warmed up on a few low level yellows and then started on a taller route which may have been called Les Fuilles Mortes on a boulder known as Casque which was a nice 6 metre climb, but at the top there was a great big hornet sat atop to the ridge I wanted to put my hand on to get to the downclimb. Instead I had to traverse a 45 degree slab while constantly watching it in case it took affront to me being on it's rock. Thankfully it never moved and I got down without incident :)

After this I felt it was time to look at harder things so Andy and I went to Flip Flop to try a couple of crimpy slabby problems on the red circuit - Le Savon and the harder La Savonette. I decided to try straight off on the harder 6a problem but I just couldn't get off the ground, and as it turned out I couldn't start the easier problem either.

From here we moved on to Ingratitude which I was struggling with as I couldn't trust the first foot.  Kelly got it sent without much fuss and then Andy managed to get it done too.  I worked this one for quite a while and eventually managed to find a starting foot which worked for me and get stood up, and then in a few more attempts I had the rest sorted and was over the top.  Totally stoked to get a 5b+ in Font, definitely the hardest thing I have climbed in the forest.

I moved on to try La Gratitude after, but this one was a 5c+ and my energy levels were waning, after a valiant effort where I got half way up and couldn't stick it I was rather shattered so went for a rest and to see what Liz and Ceri were working on for a bit, then to see how Ed was getting on with Le Flipper.

Just as I was thinking of giving it another go there was a brief rain shower so we stopped for lunch, only to have to scatter all directions for shelter when the rain got heavier, hastily stuffing half made sandwiches in any safe location we could find and then hiding under rocks until it started to dry out.  With lunch finally done I was enjoying some digesting time then gently getting my head back in to it on a traverse when the rain came back even heavier, so it was back to our caves.

When we emerged after the worst of the rain had eased off all the rocks were soaked and there was no chance of further climbing, so we packed up and headed home to finish off the last of the beer and wine and to treat ourselves to pizza from Croq Forêt before the long drive home.

In the words of Lars Ulrich, Same time next year?

Fontainebleau Diary 2017 - Day 5

After the torrential rain of our rest day we woke up to a chilly morning with very wet ground, but a mostly blue sky with warming sunshine. This meant we put in to play our plan to see if there was parking at Gorge aux Chats with a backup of 91.1 if it was busy.  As it happened there were only 2 other cars in the small layby at the side of the road (And they too were British).  We made the very short walk in and started to warm up on the new yellow circuit which isn't listed on Bleau.info yet as they have not graded them.  After a while I started to add in blue problems as this year I have been trying not to go for volume on the easy problems but instead climb withing my grade on blues and try to push myself on to reds.  The first to go was Rohald Dalle which was a classic crimpy slab Font problem; as I was figuring it out the first of what transpired to be several rain showers came in giving me time to examine the feet while it dried, and I was stoked to get it sent.

After this Andy and I decided to try Dallain from the red circuit (font 6a), we were both getting up to the good right and side pull, and bailing out.  We both decided it was a dyno to the top as although I could see a static route it wasn't going to go for me.  Andy managed to catch the top and found an awesome ledge but came down, so we popped around the corner and went up the blue to check the top out.  This gave Andy the confidence to try it again and he got it done, I climbed back up to where I had got to before but utterly bottled it, I rarely have the balls for a dyno when I'm inside so this would really have needed me to commit to it.

After this the rain came back briefly so we sheltered under some roofs while eating lunch and commenting on how similar to The Roaches this weather was (in joke reference to an ill fated trip across the Peak District last year which means I am no longer allowed to proffer an opinion on the weather forecast when we are trying to go climbing.)

After lunch all my motivation had evaporated so I tried to get my head back in to it on some yellows, before getting La Bascule done - the very problem you can see us sheltering under above. It was then back to lovely quartzy crimpy slabs with La Minou and L'Arbre à Pain which I was really pleased to get.

We then headed up to some classic steep roofy problems which Ed, Kelly and Andy were trying, Liz, Kelly and I wandered down to try some easier things and were just getting started on La Boule and the neighbouring Petanque before another and unfortunately heavier rain came in which knocked us out for longer, eventually the sun came out again and we tried Pomme and Le Terrorist but the top was too damp and I lacked balls (again) to finish it.  Instead I got another crimpy slab in La Dalle Bleue and then we finished up with La Traversée des Fougères before returning to base for beer and chilli. Tomorrows forecast has appeared to clear up, so we may yet get to 91.1 - watch this space.

Fontainebleau Diary 2017 - Day 3

For our third day in Fontainebleau we split in to two groups; Ed, Kelly, Andy and Kelly went to Bas Cuvier to session the classic problems La Marie-Rose and Duroxmanie while I went to Rocher du Potala with Liz and Ceri.  Our aim was to get lots of the Yellow and Orange circuits plus anything else which took my fancy.

The first problems on the orange and yellow circuits were on a fairly tall slab, but the climbing was good and I got up both of them.  We meandered around the circuit trying various things along the way, in total I got 7 oranges and 9 yellows.

Depart Yellow and Orange

There were a couple of tasty blue problems which I attempted as well, Scorpion was a lovely traverse under a roof and then over the roof from a ledge, I was really pleased to flash it on sight and it felt really good.

Scorpion 

Having noted what I climbed from the book I got thoroughly confused looking at Bleau.info as nothing matched up, I think the others I managed to climb were La Parfumerie and La Douce.

It was a good day at a gentle pace, and once again the rain threatened us but then went away before it could do any damage.  Tomorrow is a rest day, and we will see what the rest of the week brings.

Fontainebleau Diary 2017 - Day 2

Day 2 saw us head to Apremont, targeting the area known to Jingo Wobbly as Apremont Chaos but in Bleau.info it is listed as Apremont Est. Chaos is an appropriate name, as we ended up parking at the wrong car park and taking a while to find the boulders we were looking for - but at least we didn't have the problem which we hit last year and again little bit last year where the circuits have been renumbered since our guide books were written.

We started out on the Green Circuit which dates back to 1952 and is an alpine circuit, designed so you can climb the problems in order and link them all together without touching the ground.  Nowadays this is a relatively unusual approach (though still found around Fontainebleau) but it has it's roots in the history of bouldering as a training exercise for mountain climbers, hence the term alpine circuit.  After the first few problems though this was not doing it for me, I suspect that it is wisest to follow such a circuit in a smaller group so there is less queuing. I took the opportunity instead to doze on a rock in the sun for a bit while the others followed it further.

Depart of the white circuit. Elsewhere painting on rocks would be frowned upon, but it's part of the history and tradition of Fontainebleau and most routes and problems are numbered.

Before long we found a small sandy clearing and began working La Bosse which took a few attempts but soon went with a bit of beta from Ed.

La Bosse

I'd already scoped out another problem from the Salmon Circuit which I wanted to try, however I was beginning to bottle it.  After a few other people tried it I got it on the second attempt and it felt really good.

By now Ed, Kelly, Kelly and Andy were trying Hyper Plomb, I didn't even bother as it appeared to be somewhat beyond me.  Instead I wandered around the nearby boulders and found Le Couteau which looked tasty, and with Liz to spot me I really surprised myself by flashing it onsight in a calm and controlled static fashion.

With that it was time for lunch, afterwards we were heading for the classic problem of La John Gill which involved a fair amount of getting lost and squeezing through boulders, at one point ending up on top of a rocky plateau at the summit which was rather stunning.

There were some concerted efforts on this problem from others in the group, I wasn't feeling it (common theme) so went to find some other things to try - there was a nice blue which I got most of the way up but the top was so dirty I couldn't finish it, so sat around watching others instead.  Then it was back to gite for wine and Jambalaya.  Tomorrow I believe the plan is to split in to two groups with one going to Bas Cuvier for classic problems like La Marie-Rose and another heading to Rocher du Potala to get a number of lower grades problems in; I am planning on being in the latter group as I haven't got the head for sessioning right now.

Ed attempting La John Gill

Fontainebleau Diary 2017 - Day 1

After a late night drive to Dover on Friday night followed by a hasty pint in the first acceptable pub we found it was to the B&B for (attempted) sleep.  Saturday morning saw an early ferry to Calais and a long drive across France through some rather damp weather before we arrived at Le Grand Gîte Franchard ion the late afternoon.  Unpacking and a quick shop done, we proceeded to drink all the wine we had bought and satiate appetites with copious quantities of pasta. Plans were made and in light of the weather we decided to have a relaxed start and head to Rocher Fin as it dries quickly after rain.

We awoke to a grey and damp sky, but no rain was falling. Slowly people surfaced, and we ate the traditional breakfast of coffee, grapefruit, and fried eggs on toast before loading up with climbing gear and a lunch of more coffee, fruit, baguettes, and various meats and cheeses before loading up the cars with mats and people and making the short drive out and rather longer walk in.

Ed and Kelly were planning on doing the full Orange Circuit, whereas I was planning on not going quite as over the top as I did last year when Andy and I climbed everything in sight.  I decided to warm up on a few yellows then try oranges as I went around and any interesting harder problems I spotted.

Touring around the problems went much to plan, occasional orange problems needed a bit of thought  and got the heart going but for the most part they were doable, and I wasn't worried about skipping ones which weren't doing it for me.  It didn't take too long before I started adding in climbs from the Blue Circuit and they were enjoyable, which bodes well for the rest of the holiday.  I was really pleased to get La Fissure Rouge as it felt like it rewarded the effort I put in.

After a break for lunch it took a while to get my energy levels up again and get my head in to climbing, there were a few things I just couldn't comprehend even on the easier circuits, but then it turned out that the Orange was a 5a- which is well out of the usual grades for Orange.  I soon found a blue crack climb which looked interesting and gave it a go, bailing out at the top out.

Later Andy and Kelly came over and both got up it in very different ways, after a rest I tried again and combined bits of both of their beta to come up with a third different approach, successfully sending it.  After this I was pretty much spent and couldn't climb yellows any more, so I resorted to ferrying kit and watching people try and finish the orange circuit - 4 problems from the end and nearing 6pm Ed, Kelly, Andy and Kelly were finishing up on The Cube and we decided it was time for home. 

When we got back to the Gite we went out for an evening Run, with Kelly, Kelly and Andy going for 12km while Liz and I did a gentle 5km through muddy puddles in the forest before it was time for beer and dinner.  Assuming the weather holds up tomorrow we will be heading for Apremont.

UKC Logbook for 10th September 2017
Bleau.info Profile

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!

Today's Logbook

Robin Hood's Stride

It was a bank holiday weekend, there were no plans, and the weather was fine.  We'd been talking idly for a while about trying some crags away from our usual stomping ground, and Cratcliffe was one we'd highlighted as it is a bit of a different setting, with jumbles of boulders in amongst trees - almost reminiscent of Fontainebleau.  With others in our group having things on it ended up being Liz, Kelly and I making the 1hr journey down past Bakewell, and parking up for a short walk in.

We followed the Limestone Way until we could see Dorsal Fin, and walked over to Green Boulder before dropping down to The Lower Boulders. Joy of Ledge and Joy of Noledge went quickly, but Flake Slab and Flake Slab Arete seemingly had no joy in them and as we were warming up still we moved on and tackled The Arch, T Slab and T Slab Arete - a few non commital attempts at Arch Direct and we decided that the description of "A desperate static move" was not very enticing, so wandered back up to Green Boulder and paused for a bit of lunch.

Kelly and I decided to take on Short Arete, and after a bit of cleaning and a bit of effort Kelly got up it, but I just could not get comfortable enough on my feet to enjoy it.  I am currently climbing in either a pair of Evolv Shaman II which need resoling but it'll have to wait until after Font now, or an utterly destroyed pair of Five Ten Anasazi's - the Shamans are miles better where I need good feet but I am saving them for Font in a few weeks at the moment - currently on the lookout for another pair of Anasazis to tide me over as I'm all too aware I could destroy the Shamens if I am not careful.

From here we moved on to Dorsal Fin which was a really nice bit of rock, we soon sent Dorsal Arete, JT and JT Crack and then Vandals went soon after - so named I assumed after some fairly terrible behaviour several years ago. Potty Time really wasn't worth the effort required to send it (but we did anyway) and Flipper / Flipper arete were frankly terrifying.  I'd have tried harder on Flipper Arete were it not for the fact the landing was terrible - a huge lump of rock behind you just where you would fall.

After this we headed to the Main Edge and Muscle Slab.  Kelly got up it with it's interesting mix of slab and overhang, but I again suffered a lack of foot confidence and bottled it despite having cracked the first big move eventually.  From here we headed to The Square Block and some nice slab/mantle practice, finishing up on Angle Arete before it was time to head home for a barbecue.  We will be back to Cratcliffe, plenty to explore on the main crag which we never even got near. For now though it's time to wash the sunscreen off and fins some meat to grill :)

Logbook for the day

Stanage Far Right, again

Stanage Far Right is fast becoming a favourite area.  Easily accessible from Sheffield after work, and the walk in is fairly short and easy - even if we stay until sundown it's not hard to get back to the parking.  It's also really nice rock.  After our recent trip to The Henge we already had desire to try the Huge Slab area so as soon as the forecast was good plans were made.

The Huge Slab is easy to spot and we walked in, landing next to The Cube.  A little bit of Head Scratching on Cube Left made me decide to warm up elsewhere, and I soon bagged the straightfoward Upper Cube Traverse before going back round and working at Cube Arete and Cube Left, comfortably getting them done.  At this point Liz was attacking Lower Cube Traverse so in her rest breaks I was trying Slots but just couldn't get it to work for me.  After a brief look at some of the problems on Huge Slab itself and deciding they weren't for me we moved on to Gripple.

Landings are pretty sketchy with a jumble of rocks at the base of the rock, and it's quite high, but Gripple One was dispatched On-Sight with only a few sketchy moments. Gripple Two needed more work being higher with worse holds and there was a moment when topping out when I thought I was going to topple backwards, but it all came good. Gripple Three looked too green, too high and too poor over a bad landing to even warrant an attempt.

Around the corner Ed, Kelly, Andy and Kelly were already on Gripple Nipple so I went and joined them, but was struggling to link it all up.  The start was fine, thanks largely to some significant reach, but going up from the slot to the top was not working - I was repeatedly chickening out of throwing for it and making neither one thing nor the other moves which weren't going anywhere.  I carried on working it while Ed was grappling with Gripple Graunch, and it was getting rather frustrating.  I switched from trying Kelly's beta from matched on the slot to Andy's beta of pressing down on the left hand in the slot and going for the top with the right.  Eventually my right hand stuck - just - and I matched the top and hauled myself up the wall with more than a bit of noise.  For something I worked so hard I was expecting more than a 5b out of it, but I'll take what I can.

After catching my breath again I joined Liz, Andy and Kelly on the Pert Block, going straight up Pert Wall then making a meal out of Pert Bloke by trying to climb it on the steep overhanging side rather than the slabby side.  With this pointed out I got up it and then ticked off Pert Block Arete too before we called it a day as the sun was setting.  All in all a good session, and just what I needed to clear the head after an indulgent weekend.

Witness the Gritness!

It was another fine evening yesterday, so we headed to the Peaks again.  With a flourish of last minute planning we decided to go to Higgar Tor as Ed felt the need to push his climbing into Font 7 territory, and I was looking to try and push myself a little (although not that much!) too. After work I drove out and wandered over the top of Higgar Tor past a plethora of youth groups out enjoying the weather, and dropped down to the Big Slab area where Ed and Kelly were warming up.

(An aside while I think of it: In my book it is Higgar Tor, whereas the location I ended up tagging things with on Instagram and Facebook was Higger Tor.  Turns out both are acceptable, but I am sticking with Higgar Tor as that's what my book knows it as).

After warming up on Broken Arete and quickly getting my head back in to climbing I flashed Pocket Wall which was satisfying, as I was quickly getting on to harder stuff and sending it.  We then moved on, initially looking to head towards Like Pommel but ending up at Harvester.  Here Andy joined us, complete with bike, having ridden out from Sheffield.  Harvest Grove went after a failed attempt where I didn't feel comfortable, then when I got to the top the second time I noticed that I was oozing blood from my little finger - this rock is sharp! Soon taped up and it was time to try Harvest Arete.

Ed got up this quickly, throwing a heel up to a nice ledge and rocking over it, but neither Kelly or I could make this work.  I eventually cracked it by using a pebble for my left foot and getting my right onto a small lip around the arete, allowing me to stand up for the top at which point it was pretty much over save for watching your head when topping out.  We then worked at Combine Harvester, Ed again sending it without too much bother while the rest of us suffered the sharp rock again and again.  I was getting the traverse start in fine, but failing to get to a position where I could then finish it using the same beta I used on the arete.  Eventually multiple repeats saw my technique going backwards so I called it a day on this one.

We then headed over to Leaning Block, the reason we came here as Ed wanted to try the 7A Witness the Gritness.  This is an imposing block, and has quite a few trad routes going up it.  Witness is on the lower side of it, meaning you are faced with the might of the boulder and even though you are not going all the way up it, it's quite intimidating.

Definitely not staged to make it look like we were going to solo it. Nope.

I was quite tired from trying Combine Harvester by this point so mostly spotted and watched while Ed, Kelly and Andy gave it repeated attempts. I gave it several good goes, eventually managing to pull on and get off the ground but unable to go anywhere right or left.  Ed was managing to get an awesome knee bar in, but even once I had switched from shorts to trousers for protection from yet more shard rock neither Andy or I could make it work.  The rock was quite warm and only got warmer as we held it, but the start holds were also suffering from excessive chalk - a bugbear of mine when climbing inside, never mind outside.  You really don't need that much - you are only trying to dry your hands - and especially when outside you really should clean it off afterwards.  It's not that hard to show some respect for the rock and your fellow climbers.

Anyway, rant over.  While we were attempting it a group of Scouts came through who were weaselling up a fault in the block, quite a few of them expressed a desire to climb what we were climbing but I think maybe our lack of progress put them off :). Ed was getting further up than any of us, and at one point borrowed a stick from one of the scouts so he could tape a brush to it and clean a higher hold.  Eventually as the light failed and we had all had enough of this, I took my shoes off at this point and kinda wish I hadn't as everyone else tackled the start of a trad route which looked easy but high - topping out at the same place Witness tops out.

And with that it was time to leave the peaks again in the light of a beautiful setting sun. Hopefully it won't be long before I am back.