It didnt take me too long after my first trip to chee dale to return - about 39 hours! This time we ended up at Max wall for a warm up - as the most polished route I've ever done and graded at just 6b this felt incredibly hard. Trying to escape the polish we headed up to the embankment to tackle the very technical routes - although only graded at 7a+ these were really tough. I dogged up the first route - Bream in black and managed to clean it second attempt. The next route- The Barracuda bass sound along seemed much harder for the same 7a+ grade and took 3 or 4 attempts to get clean (I guess it did say high in the grade in the guide book...). These routes are tough to read and to find the holds so it was great practice and I really need to start reading routes better.
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| The Barracuda bass sound , 7a+ looking friendlier in the photos |
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| The Barracuda bass sound , 7a+, trying to sort those feet out after the relief of clipping the second bolt! |
The intensity of the side pulls and crimps was greater than I have ever experienced on rock anywhere and I can see great gains to be made by getting alot more mileage in at this venue. At Chee dale I have found that getting the first couple of clips is a bit stressful, so I think a clipstick must be on the shopping list and as Steve McClure (who was at the crag) said 'everyclimber needs one' - then I can really start pushing my grade further:)
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| Cavewoman tying on ready to crush... |
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