The past couple of months have represented something of a
lull for me. With some pretty mediocre weather and mounting uni work I ended up
having a few weeks off climbing, mainly running during the time I had out of
the library.
Predictably this break did not last long and after a few
weekends away the psyche has definitely returned. Pembroke Bank Holidays seem
to have become a mini institution of late, with tons of people making the long
journey down. At one stage Huntsman's Leap was reminiscent of a busy evening at
the Tor. Route of the weekend was probably the "One-Eyed Man" at Blind Bay
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| One Eyed Man! Exposure! |
In the past few months a couple of people have asked me why
the winter has been so quiet for Grit ascents. To be honest I'm not sure why.
The apparent danger involved in most of the hard routes means that you can't go
at the them half-heartedly. Following the last winter its probably natural that
there was a bit of a hangover period. Obviously I only speak for myself in
this, this lack of psyche has clearly not been felt by everyone. Perhaps the
best ticks of this grit season for me have come in the past few weeks. Firstly,
capitalising on the dry, hot weather of April, Oli and I managed ascents of the
rarely dry, and even more rarely climbed, Dharma in Dukes Quarry near Matlock.
This route, effectively a spicy, runout 7b+ on pegs is almost an anomaly on
grit; being 30m high its probably twice as long as most routes on the brown
stuff.
Another long awaited tick came in the form of Crypt Trip at
High Neb on Stanage. Having been shut down on this previously it was great to
finish it off, all be it in a relatively poor style.
In a few days I'll be heading to the Emerald Isle for a
month of tradding, Murphy's and sitting in cafes waiting for cliffs to dry. Ireland has
been top of the trip-list for as long as I can remember, god I hope the
weathers good.
Nathan.
