This
weekend we made the long trip to Malham for a coaching event organised by the
MCofS and delivered by Robbie Philips. The drive was long and mainly wet, with
the rain giving us thoughts about where the nearest indoor wall was! We arrived
at the campsite at 9:30 on the Saturday to a rainy, grey sky and some psyched
climbers. Robbie reckoned the crag would be dry so we headed up and found the
entire wall was dry as a bone, and I think the only dry piece of rock in Yorkshire !
The conditions
were perfect, cold and dry and the rock felt really sticky warming up (and
that’s saying something for Malham!) and after doing a route or 2 and using the
Crusher Holds Orbs hanging from a bolt (great for warming up, will get a pair
to go to Ceuse with! http://crusherholds.co.uk/crusher-orb
), I got on my project from last time at Malham, Raindogs!
The (one
of many) classic of the crag, pure power endurance without a single easy move
or rest over its 24(?) move length has been a project that has taken me a while
to do, at least since I first wanted to do it, which was as soon as I heard
about it! It has not taken a long time in actual work on it, but it feels like
ages.
I had one
quick go to remember the moves, feeling very strong from the start and only
resting on one sequencey move that I soon remembered and again to clip the
final clip that hadn’t been extended. I came down and after a bit of a rest
went for the route again. First moves felt strong, but a foot slip by the first
bolt put me back down again. Another rest, then off!
I felt
strong and solid, climbing steadily to the “rest” and had a minishake and
chalked before moving on to my redpoint crux, a high step up to a polished
foothold from a sidepull and a sloper undercut pocket. I stuck it, bumped for
the sidepull, right hand to a sloper, feet up, go again for the final pinchy
sidepull, match and final foot change. Then the final move, a long bump to the
chain that many people fall off 20 times before they actually do the route.
Fortunately I stuck it and clipped the chains in relief, a good first day!!
Grabbing the chains! DONE!!
Relieved!
The
second day I decided to focus on volume at mid 7 range in preparation for
Ceuse, and got some good onsights, second goes and a couple of failures!
Ticklist:
-Raindogs
8a
-Free and
even easier 7a+ (Flash)
-Just
Another Dead End Job 7a (Flash)
-Rose
Coronary 7a (Second Go, numb fingers!!)
-Something
Stupid 7b (Onsight)
-Bongo
Fury 7b (Second Go)
-Rated PG
7a+ (Onsight)
-Consenting
Adults 7a (Repeat to take the draws out, still polished and rubbish!!!)
Below are
a few pictures of the trip: (All credit to my Dad, he’s got a new camera so
took about a thousand photos!!)
.jpg)
Warming up
Something Stupid, 7b Onsight
Starting Wasted Youth... (love this picture!)
And off!!
