El Chorro 2013-the return

I couldn't believe my luck with a second trip to El Chorro in a year! After a hectic time starting my masters it felt like a relief to make it on the plane to escape the workload and the cold weather. Once we hit the Spanish crags soaked in sun everything else was forgotten. The first day we managed to tick some routes at nearby sector Castrojo, and we soon realised that we were going to need to be walking to the crag for sunrise to maximise the time climbing before the heat became too unbearable.

The alarm was set for 7am every day which felt tough given it was pitch black. I don't think I could get anyone else to get up before 8am on a trip! However I wouldn't be me if I didn't try to push my luck and Paul was not impressed with my proposal to set the alarm for 6.30am!

On our first full day we headed back up to escalera Arabe as we had lots of routes we wanted to try from January, and top of that list was the bladerunner and amar sandringero a tricky 6c. This was also a good strategy to get the hardest and longest approach out of the way.

Bladerunner 6a

Amar Sandrego, 6c

The second day we headed back to poem de roca, warming up at nearby sector momia first. It was all about talibania for me, a 7c I'd tried twice before. Still didn't manage to get the route clean but as always I enjoyed the climb and working through the last couple of moves which always causes me the biggest problems. We did some other routes to the right of the crag including fahrenheit, an arête which appeared like a soft 6c but I felt pretty relieved to reach the top.

Talibania, 7c

I had promised Paul we'd visit el polvorin this trip. For some reason el polvorin had never took my fancy. We climbed some slabs at Los cotos on the way which is always good for me as I rarely climb slabs. My prior feelings for el polvorin were justified given that the crag felt exposed with the foot of the crag a bit dodgy and very spaced bolts. We climbed sueno de venus, a top 50 6a which had some good moves and rock on the second half of the climb.

Paul on Sueno de Venus, 6a+

I wanted to visit a new crag (other than el polvorin) and I had spotted a couple of 7bs at the solarium. These turned out to be great lines, although solarium required care around a wasp nest.

Lobo Popez, 7b

Paul on Solarium, 7b getting close to the wasp nest

We returned to my favourite crag, sector suizo. I wanted to get on the few routes left I'd not tried. This included 'new 7b' which is the longest single pitch there which climbs out over the route. It was a great route and possible my favourite route there now. I then managed to clean on top rope bienvenidos 7b for the first time and 1 stop Alicia 7b+.

Paul on Que leche que tango, 6b

With the best intentions for the last day for some hard routes it ended up being too enjoyable climbing up quality 6s in the sun at sector Castrojo before heading home...

Croatia

So Croatia wasn't meant to be a climbing trip but seeing as there was climbing in Split it would be rude not to! Split itself was a bustling historic and picturesque town. The old town was the Diodectians palace, made up of a maze of alleyways to get lost in. Just out from the town was Marjan hill? this is a hill of woodland which included a cliff of around 80 sport climbs in a tranquil setting overlooking the sea, a nice contrast to the centre of Split. Without a topo we just turned up and climbed routes which took our fancy! There was a range of different styles of climbs, and as usual I loved some of the overhanging lines.

Coll on an unknown route

Coll on unknown route

Post climbing rest

Portland in the van

The premier sport climbing area of the South, Portland did not disappoint. I think this was the first time I'd done a climbing trip for 3 days in the UK and my first time sleeping in the back of the van. I think I can blame the combination of both for feeling so tired, or perhaps it's because I can't pace myself!



Paul on Pinning for gossip 7a



We had intended to take it easy on day 1 after the drive down at 5am, but it turned out to be a great day. We found ourselves enjoying the climbing and pushing the grade to more than a gentle warm up. We headed to Blacknor central and before we knew it we had climbed 9 routes including two 6c/6c+ and two 7a onsites.

 

Me leading the climb of the trip Ausfahrt 6b+

The climb of the day had to be Ausfahrt 6b+, a route which caught my eye from the distance with a steep juggy start followed by more intricate climbing leading to a crack finish. Perhaps the only thing to spoil the route was the long run outs, but I think deep down I do get a bit of a buzz from that...


Poser 1 on Fallen slab arête 3



Poser 2 on Fallen slab arête 3



 The search for a campsite in Weymouth proved interesting, it would seem a certain campsite wouldn't take a van that was smaller than camper vans and tents unless we cut a window out, because it was commercial- do we look like gypsies? Ahh perhaps they judged us on all the holes in my climbing shorts, my scraggy hair and Paul's tattoos?! Anyhow we found a more accommodating campsite and although we had an air bed the experience confirmed to me that I was right. I cannot climb hard and camp, I need a warm bed and good sleep (oh and hot tea on tap). Not that I'd have changed the camping (What girl wouldn't want to boast "i slept with Paul in the back of a transit" lol), it was fun and an experience of how I've always imagined the hardcore climbers camp (of which I am clearly not one).



The climbing shack!

Day two I had insisted on going to the reptile smile area of Blacknor North as I'd read that the flow stone is the only of its type in the UK.

Reptile smile area, Paul on reptile Smile 6a

Both Paul and I were pretty tired and so we thought that was why the grading felt so hard. As the day went on and I warmed up I started to realise that it was more a case that this area has the hardest grading I've experienced anywhere in the world. I adapted to the attitude of forget the grade (and our egos) and just enjoy "lower grade" classics- which each felt at the top of my grade. I managed to get 10 routes in on day two which I was pleased with, ticking off a number of portland classic routes.




Paul leading through the roof of Indian Summer 6a



Me leading Megs got Leaukemia 6a

Day 3 and we were asking ourselves "how do we do this abroad every day" as we rushed to get to the crag first...This time we headed to east portland and used the nice easy approach to Neddyfields cliff. The routes here were pretty good and it was a relief to feel that the grading seemed a lot fairer than Blacknor North. After completing Lugwilers dismal itch 6c+, we felt satisfied after an impressive long weekends climbing and it was time for home and a comfy bed.



Pleased to have a clipstick on Portland for those very high first bolts

Day 1 

Blacknor south sacred angel area  

It's my life 5 

Imperfect 3 

Silent but deadly 6c+

Ausfahrt 6b+ 

How now brown cow 7a 

Talk 6a+

I love the smell of resin in the morning 6c

Pinning for gossip 7a 

Fallen slab arête 3

Day 2 

Blacknor north 

Greece paint and monkey brains 6a

Indian summer 6a !!!

Meg's got leukemia 6a 

Reptile smile 6a+ 

Talking smack 5+ 

Slings shot 5

Cake walk 6a

The tea  cake path  6b 

Mothers milk 6a 

Do you like our owls 6b

Day 3

Cheyne Wears Neddyfields Cliff

Inception 6a

Time of the month 6b

Ecosystem 6b

Lugwilers dismal itch 6c+

Wye valley-Tintern quarry and the red dust wall

It's been a frustrating few weeks as I have not been able to get out climbing. Thankfully August bank holiday gave us great weather so we decided to return to Tintern quarry with a view to getting on the premier wall of the quarry- the red dust wall. After a couple of warm up climbs Chris, Dave and Edwina the collie joined us just in time to climb the two pitch climb-dust devil 6a+. I have been looking forward to doing this climb since seeing it on my first trip to Tintern. It made a nice change to be excited to be doing a climb because it looked fun rather than because it was pushing the grade- and was a good reality check as to why I climb! It was also Colls first multipitch!

Coll on the first pitch of dust devil

Me leading the second pitch of dust devil, 6b

Me abseiling back down whilst Dave climbs the second pitch

Greeted by an excited Pepper

After the adventure of colls fist multipitch we headed round to the first routes of the red dust wall and did a few climbs. I was pleased to try a line which started up an arête which ended up requiring a bit of finger crack climbing, very spicy and a nice 6c+ onsite.

We finished the day by heading over to the Sunny side wall to do a couple more routes, which were on good rock again (considering its a quarry). That was about all we had time for as the Bank  holiday traffic home awaited us...

Chris in the distance on Phil in the gaps, 6a

Entry wall

• Point of principle 5
• Bigfoot 5+

Red dust wall

• Dust devil 5,6b
• Ammonite 6b
• Dinosaurs don't dyno 6a+
• Fragrance Abuse 6c+

Sunnyside wall

• Phil in the gaps 6a
• Rock juggler 6a+

Llanymynech

Perhaps I have had my head in the sand but I had only heard about Llanymynech quarry this year. I dont understand how I have missed out on this venue for so long. Yes its 'just' a quarry but it had some of the best quality of quarried limestone climbing I have tried (to be fair I havent yet climbed in the quarrys at Portland which are meant to be good....). Whats more Llanymynech is only about 1.5 hours away so possibly the closest decent crag.  The Clywd limestone guidebook (2005?) would have you believe the crag has limited climbs-fortunately UKC shows theres actually tons of routes here on a number of different walls.

 

We decided to focus on the grid iron wall for some warm up routes and then to the main attraction of Llanymynech-the red wall.

 

Grid Iron wall

• 49 and counting 6a
• Ba ba black sheep 6a+ (felt stiff through the roof section for 6a+)

Red wall

• Dead man's fingers 7a (onsite)
• Ratpure of the deep 7a+ (nice overhang at the start)
• Lobster on the loose 7a (massive rock over at the second bolt)
• Crab stick 6c (pleased to onsite this at the end of the day)

Me leading ba ba black sheep, 6a+

Paul making easy work of the rock over on Lobster on the loose 7a

 

Paul moving through the roof at the start of rapture of the deep 7a+

The climbing on the red wall was great, technical, fingery and on good quality rock. It was good to get on long routes (28m) which felt like they just kept on coming. The only downside was worn out finger tips very quickly! Highlights of the day were onsiting dead mans finger 7a and onsiting the last route of the day with tired arms - crab stick 6c (Pauls route on the next trip!).

Brean in Somerset

Brean down in Somerset is a good winter venue I have heard about many times. It is a long 2.5-3 hours away but we were not dissapointed; a great selection of routes next to the beach and in the sun it felt like we were climbing on the continent. Moreover, we had the place to ourselves :)

Paul leading Coral Sea 6c

After a nice warm up on the a couple of easy routes (the only routes below 6c on the crag) we got to business on the main route attractions:

• Coral sea 6c
• Chepito 7a
• Tide rising 7b+ (hoping for the rp next time?!)
• Bikinit atoll 6c+ (a first 6c+lead for Paul!)
• Kraken 6c 

  

  Me leading Chepito 7a

  I was pleased with my efforts on tide rising- and I would hope that on a cooler day I could stick through the two-third height crux.

Showing tide rising line to the left, 7b+

 We warmed down on a route that wasn't in the guide but on UKC is called a heavy road at 6b (felt alot harder than this but perhaps we were tired by this point). Overall I thought this crag was great and theres so much more to come back for and I can't wait!

Wheres your spade? View from the crag



Ban Y Gor

It almost seems to be too good to be true, good weather for the second weekend running. Next destination on the list was Ban Y Gor in the Wye Valley-it looked like the best place in the area to climb in the shade with temperatures in the high 20s forecast.  The access to the cliffs within the Ban Y Gor woods was better than we anticipated, and the crags were impressively overhanging and quiet!

View through the tees from Ban Y Gor

With few photos in the guidebook it was tricky to work out the routes especially as it is made up of several crags along the footpath in the woods. The routes were great and different to the limestone I have climbed on before- which is perhaps why they seemed very hard for the grades.


A new route, possibly pink panther?!

The overhanging routes looked great and  I enjoyed the onsite of Gordonzola, 6b+- much less intimidating than it looked, and victimisation, 6b requiring a huge powerful move over through a roof.  Harder routes such as Duhka 6c, and  Blable North, 7a highlighted my poor footwork and lack of trust on the lichen covered rock.  The twelve routes we did were great and included a variety of different climbs, but next time I will be back to tackle more of the tougher overhanging routes.


Gordonzola, 6b+

Cheeky days annual leave with Jon

Masson Lees is up for auction and there are rumours of it being sold for land-fill so I thought it was time to get back and try some of the routes remaining on the overhanging wall. I was with a new outdoor partner Jon, we've said for ages we'll go out climbing so nice to finally get out together. I'd forgotten how nice the rock is even on the red wall at Masson Lees, although very dusty.  It was nice to get a 6c (red and ribbed for your pleasure) onsite early on (fourth route) because I forgot to look at the guide! After 6 routes we got on the bet tpart of the quarry-the overhanging wall.

Jon tying on ready for his pocket rocket onsite

We couldnt get on the overhanging wall without ticking off the onsites of Eye Eye, 6b+ and Pocket rocket, 6c. The wall was a bit damp and very dirty but i gave Exo 6, 7a a go and came agonisingly close to the onsite- just missing a crucial two finger pocket having passed the crux! To be fair on this wall who knows what the current grades are given the chunks that kept falling off!  Nice one Mason, 7a+ took my fancy and had some great moves on it but had to be the worst route we went on as the top looked so dodgy and lose. In the pocket, 6c+ was desperate and seemed a different route to that I climbed a year ago.

We did 11 routes in Masson Lees and decided to head to Halldale quarry to tone it down, or so we thought...

It was my first time at halldale and it was pretty big, but Jon look us straight to Spectre wall. Looked pretty intimidating to me and the bolting was rediculously spaced! We did  Spectre, 6b+ which was a great line going through the roof. I'm hoping if felt so hard because it was our twelveth route! After that it was time for a burger.

The spectre, 6b+

Wye valley with the spots

Once again its been a dissapointing start to the 'summer' since returning from Kalymnos. Portland over my birthday was cancelled due to rain and so I have been desperate to get out without any risk of driving for hours and getting rained off! Tintern quarry in the Wye Valley had been recommended as a good place to take the dogs climbing, and it looked to be perhpas closer to us than the Peak. With no rain forecast on the final Saturday in June we headed off at 7am to the Wye Valley.

Spotty girls on the severn bridge

I'd heard Tintern quarry was 'epic' and I was impressed with the look of the upper red dust wall. Unfortunately this trip with the dogs it wasnt really feasible to leave them 10m below the belay ledge for the upper red dust walls, so I could only look on in envy from across the quarry.  The drops off the different tiers was a bit of a concern for the dogs but they approached the edges with caution and we felt they could be trusted for once...

Warming up on lower red dust wall

Top of route 1

We started on the lower red dust wall on a couple of routes up to 6a+ and then headed over to the 30-ft wall.  Along the 30-ft wall there was a good selection of low grade climbs without too much loose rock, it was just shame they were so short at about 10m.

We managed 15 routes before the swollen feet in climbing shoes took their toll, not bad for a chilled out day climbing in the sun with my spots.


Taking a rest in the sun



Kalymnos 2013

Last time we went to Kalymnos 3 years ago I left feeling inspired to train harder so I could return to try harder overhaning routes which I had felt were beyond me at the time. My agenda for this trip was to try and get on more routes above my limit (armed with mallions) and to clock up onsites at my limit and try to push for a first 7b onsite. Although if you ask Coll, this wasn't really meant to be a "climbing trip"...

Spartacus 7b+

Spartacus 7b+, daniboy (8a) to the left

Although we wanted to explore new crags we did re-visit some crags form our previous trip. It was pleasing to see progress from 3 years ago. This was most evident at sector Arhi. Here I breezed up Kastor (7a) which I had to take 2 stops on 3 years ago.

Kerveros 7a onsite, Spartacus

Dafni 6c+  onsite at Ghosts Kitchen 

A 7b onsite did evade this trip me but trying harder routes I found that i was losing the onsights because of my route reading more than anything else!

Red monkey 7a, Upper Cave

Helios 8a+, North Cape

In grande grotta I had wanted to try Aegalis 7c+ but it was really dissapointing to see the place packed! Whats more some guys on Aegalis said the bolts were lose and they were fixing the top anchor- this put me right off!  The only route I was able to get on was Ivi 7a+ (groups were hogging all other lines) which was great but it was fustrating that I wasnt able to do any other routes here!

Ivi 7a+, Grande Grotta

The highlight of this trip has to be getting on Daniboy (8a) at sector Spartacus. I first heard of this route online and I had seen a couple of videos of people sending the route. It looked like the exact type of route which motivates me and seemed like a perfect 8a for me to try. 

The start of Daniboy

 Once I found this route, it did not disappoint! Right from the start the it was challenging. I took a first rest just under half way coming out of the cave, I felt this was more for nerves as there were plenty of holds. As I came over the lip I found myself at a bolt but unable to clip and as i moved out left i slipped and took a huge whipper. Once I got back on and made it past this stage I think it was definately the crux. Past here I really enjoyed the last section of the climb, two monos, a tufa.... and I was delighted to reach the lower off. My first 8a. I was really pleased and whats more, I felt that the route was well within my limits.  Okay i didnt get an onsite but i am confident that i could red point the route. However as much as i want to climb an 8a (clean) i didnt really want to spend the trip trying to get just one route clean, plus Coll was not too pleased with the walk in to this sector!



Dani boy 8a

This was another great trip, time to get looking for flights back out there!

Cocktails!