Preparing for Cornwall

The WMC have a meet at Cornwall next week, right down by Land's End for the bank holiday and me and Kate are heading down after work Friday :)  Kate hasn't done much climbing and less outdoors so I thought rather than have a first go with the sea bashing away at a cliff below you; a nice bit of top roping in rural Shropshire would be a good idea so we headed to Pontesford Rocks.  

I decided on a moderate and difficult grade routes to start so I soloed up West Crack (Moderate) in my fell running trainers and set up a top rope on the oak tree.  Kate went up but we didn't bother with the scrambling after the first pitch.  Kate came down and had another go on the slightly harder Moonlight Variation (Diff) which she found easier.

Kate on Moonlight Variation (Diff)

After this I started looking where we could move the top rope to, Kate went down the descent route and I scampered across the top to the other two tree's.  The higher of the two trees looked quite dead and had a huge boulder resting on it so I decided to downclimb to the next tree which felt mega exposed!  I set up the top rope and decided to abseil off, I was a bit nervous about this as I set up an autoblock for protection but it seemed more trouble than it was worth so I took it off.  I got going fine though and soon Kate had a couple of goes on Stoat's Chimney (Mod). 

Kate on Stoat's Chimney (Mod)

When we were driving over it was all black and grey clouds in the sky, with a few breaks of strong sunlight.  We had our doubts, it was even spitting as we pulled up so it worked out great all in all and Kate had a good time too :)  I even got chance to try out my JetBoil in the car park making a brew and pot noodles for lunch (inspired from Nescliffe?  I haven't eaten one in years!).

First visit to Nesscliffe

I didn't manage to get out until Sunday afternoon and was joined by my mate Chris Ellis.  He wanted to go to Nesscliffe so we made our way over and decided to set up a couple of top ropes above Open Air (E3 5b) and Pot Noodle (E3 6a).  Setting up the top ropes was (excuse the pun) a bit ropey as its steep ground at the top of the cliff which is sandy (well it is sandstone!) and covered in fallen pine needles.  Suffice to say that I wasn't wearing brilliant footwear so I was a bit twitchy up the top!  We used a couple of trees for anchors and went back down to crack on.  

The first route; Open Air was really good, and I felt all the moves where very doable.  There was only one particularly bold move near the top to pull up to a mantle but with that done it eased out.  Me and Chris both completed this.

Chris just below the crux of Open Air (E3 5b)

Me on the first shelf of Open Air

After we both completed this route without too much complication we moved over to the other top rope we had set up on Pot Noodle (E3 6a).  This route was heavily focused on laying off and seemed to get harder as it went on.  Chris got up it (looking a bit undignified on the top shelf with his bum and legs hanging over lol) and then I had a crack.  I ran up the first half but got stuck and my feet started to hurt by the time I'd worked it out so I'll have to go back and finish this.  It was standing up on a thin edge to reach for a small crack to lay off.  By the time I'd got the footwork worked out it was too late :(  Lovely views from the top and a good afternoon.

Chris working the first layoff on Pot Noodle (E3 6a)

Chris just below where I got stuck on Pot Noodle

Long Mynd

Yesterday I planned to go for a run after work and was originally thinking about doing the Malvern Hills ridge but after talking to Katie she wanted to come out along side me on her bike so we tried out her new bike rack and went up to the Shropshire Hills.  We parked up in Church Stretton by the social club and made our way up the Carding Mill Valley.  As it steepened we walked up the Valley then ran/rode across the top just as the sun had gone down.  I've never noticed it before but there were really intense pockets of cold and hot air!  We came back down the Burway having done 6.5 miles in 1hr 25mins - not too bad considering we walked up to the top, my legs felt great and I could of done loads more - I feel like I can run for miles when in the hills and its great to chat to Katie while she rides along side and it's  inspiring that I can go faster on my feet (hehe - uphill anyway!).

Katie on her bike with my Petzl Myo XP for illumination!

It's lovely running in such open ground, I want to get up there again soon and do a longer route (not crammed in after working in Coventry all day and rushing back).  I also want to have a stab at the Malvern ridge after work one night.  I'm loving the longer days!  Also this was the first time I've worn my Inov8 Mudroc 380 (which I got for a bargain £48 from High Sports in Shrewsbury), they are bloody brilliant off road, bags and bags of grip and feedback but I would'nt want to pound much tarmac in them!  I'll hopefully have some pictures of some more climbing over the weekend.

First trad lead! Climbing at Pontesford Rocks

Building on the the successes of Sunday I was keen to get out again so I packed my rack last night but wasn't sure if I could make it from Coventry to Pontesbury with time to get to the crag and get up something.  I checked on the net and had just under 76 miles to cover, leaving work at 5:30pm with sunset at 8:03pm.  I was guessing I had an hour to play with so I gave it the beans and got to the crag by 7pm.  I told Mick from the club that I wanted to have a go at leading and he recommended Oak Tree Wall Direct (VDiff).  Shortly after a new buy turned up (sorry if you read this, I'm crap with names!) and he offered to belay me.  The route was really nice, a bit more tricky than I'd expected for a VDiff but nothing hard at all. It was nice to be placing gear and getting a belay set up at the top, my second came up and we made it down the ropey decent route before it started to get dark so we called it a night and went to the pub.  I didn't get any photos, wish I'd taken my phone up as it was a nice view at dusk :( so I've pinched one off the free guide from http://www.westmidlandsrock.co.uk.

Oak Tree Wall Direct (VDiff) 

I can't wait to get out again!  I need to get something planned for the weekend, although I need to get some long runs in too, I really want to build up to running the Welsh 3000ers.  My mate Chris Ellis had a top rope set up with another couple of guys from the club on the Pontesbury Needle which looked like fun, I'll have to get back and have a go on that!

First lead! Climbing at Trevor

Last weekend (first bank holiday of 2010) was a bit rubbish :( I had planned to run the South Wales Three Peaks Trial but lack of organisation meant it wasn't too be.  I went bouldering Saturday and as the night went on I got pain in my hips and back again which wrote the Sunday and Monday off.  Since then I've been doing a lot of stretching, coupled with a massage or two from Katie and I was back out running again by midweek, one of which had Katie chasing me on her mountain bike :)  While I was hurting I got myself some Inov8 Mudroc 280 fell trainers so I am busting to get out in them!  There are are a few sites coming up on the Mercia Fell Runners site including the Wrekin Streak albeit short and detracting from my goals of mountain marathons and beyond.

This weekend I was busting to get out and do some climbing or failing that fell running but my normal climbing partner Chris is building an extension and therefore a bit tied up so I wasn't hopeful.  I put a post on the WMC bulletin board and Sunday morning I got a message from Perry and it was game on!  I had wanted to do some multi pitch stuff in Ogwen but given how late it was we head for Trevor for my first attempt at bolted climbing.  When we got to the crag Stewie was there with a friend.  I didn't manage to get any photos of me, but there are some of Stewie and his partner and Perry.  We started on Suspect Wall with Prime Suspect (F4) first before moving onto Innocence (F5) the adjacent climb to the right.  We then walked down the crag to Impact Wall.  I had a go at No Evasion (F5) which I started skirting up using the flake on the right.  I couldn't reach the bolt (which is very high for a first bolt!) and under the roof was wet and shitty so I bottled it and down climbed around the flake.  I then had a go at Sudden Impact (F4 in the Rockfax but F5 on UKC) which was nice, no positive holds but they kept coming!  Anyhow I then moved back to Suspect wall and tried Cluedo (F5+) but could only get the first low bolt because it was ridiculously polished.  I think F5+ might not be valid anymore.  I finished up on Forensic Science (F5) a cracking last route.

Stewie's mate on Innocence (F5)

Perry on Sudden Impact (F5)

Perry did a couple of climbs I didn't even attempt, one was Impact Imminent (F6b) and before that a F6b whose name I can't remember - both much harder than anything I can do!  The first climb (unnamed one) seemed harder pulls and Impact Imminent was more more fingery.  As you can see from the sky on the photo of Perry above it was a beautiful day and what a view from the crag!  An excellent day :) 


It's also suddenly dawned on me that the Alps are beckoning so its getting about time to start making plans!