Lakeland Scramble & Tops

Colin, Bev, Nick, Christine and me attended an FRCC meet based at Beetham Cottage in Patterdale. We took advantage of the fine cold weather to gain the ridge of Hartsop above How by a grade 3 scramble on Gill Crag  which we completed with some intentional and unintentional variations. We carried on to Hart Crag and Dove Crag then down by Little Hart Crag and High Hartsop Dodd. The weather stayed fine and we had extensive views in all directions.

On Sunday we were blessed with similar weather and decided on a short day with a round of Birks and Arnison Crag. Once again we enjoyed extensive views, all in all a good week-end with seven summits and a good scrambled ticked off.

More Wet Walking

 Clive and Jago set off for Ynys Ettws the CC hut which was the venue for the November meet. A wild windy drive brought us to Nant Peris where an accident had closed the road so we made a long detour round to the Pen y Pass approach. At Pen y Gwryd the police were blocking the road due to a landslide down the pass so we decided to retreat to Helyg where we found 2 family parties who were unable to get to Cwm Glas.

  On Saturday wind and rain were the dominant features in our choice of a walk round the hills behind Llanberis. These were relatively low so would miss the worst of the wind and we had not done them before.

A pleasant path took us to to the col below Foel Goch from where a steep slope led to the summit. Up to the col we had enjoyed dry conditions but now we were exposed to the wind and rain. The ridge then continued over Foel Gron and Moel Eilio from where we descended down the ridge to Llanberis.

 Meanwhile Dennis had arrived at Ynys Ettws early on Friday afternoon and fled from the rain as soon as the pass was open on Saturday morning.
 On Sunday the same weather conditions prevailed so we decided to traverse Creigiau Gleision above Capel Curig and return by the llyn Cowlyd Reservoir which we completed without incident and even got the occasional view.

Get Fit Week-end

I accompanied Colin and Bev up to Langdale on a quickly arranged get fit week end. Arriving Saturday afternoon we made a quick ascent of Loughrig Fell in rain showers. 

On Sunday we headed up the Band and across the climbers traverse towards Bowfell Buttress which was shrouded in mist and where a party of 4 brave souls were preparing to tackle the climb. In the mist we missed the gully by the Great Slab which we intended to take and scrambled up the gully next to the Buttress which brought us out almost on the summit.  The summit still held an accumulation of snow which had fallen the previous day. From Bowfell we headed over to Esk Pike and back to Ore Gap to descend to Angle Tarn and then took in Rosset Pike before dropping down Rosset gill to the valley floor.

Last weekend (24th/25 Oct) I accompanied Clive on a couple of wet walks in the Lake District. We  were on the Langdale meet stopping at the Raw Head FRCC hut. Saturday morning served up an obviously wet day so Clive and I opted to do the Green burn horse shoe starting from the Travellers Rest Pub on the A591 near Grasmere.

We reached the summit cairn of Steel Fell (553m) at 12.30pm during strong winds and heavy rain. So in the best club tradition we agreed to stop for lunch. Once we were comfortably ensconced in Clive's new bothy shelter he nonchalantly commented that he thought the map and bothy storage bag had just blown away. Surprisingly this turned out to be erroneous, as on this occasion he was merely sat on them, nevertheless flashbacks of past experiences triggered by similar comments from Clive momentarily intruded on my consciousness as I chewed my gluten free sandwiches (Mme lovely).
The route then took us SE to Calf Crag (picture of me above) and then down the SW ridge until we reached Helm Crag (405m). Clive claims this is the only Lake District summit that can’t be reached without the use of hands, and although it isn't in the same league as the Inaccessible Pinnacle, it did require a few moments of rock climbing concentration to safely negotiate due to wind and rain suddenly strengthening. Indeed the last section of ridge proved unexpectedly challenging as the wind became quite vicious, but the final descent through woods rich with autumn colours was a seasonal delight. We reached our car at 16.23hrs and returned to the hut just before Nick and Christine arrived after enjoying some shopping in Ambleside. Their day’s ambitions having been limited by an impressive array of injuries acquired whilst playing football and squash.
On Sunday morning Nick and Christine determined to make a tactical withdrawal home in order to recuperate. Clive and I headed to the Rigg Wood car park on Coniston Water’s SW shore, before heading directly up hill through the woods towards the Top o’Selside summit (335m). After a second bothy bag protected lunch stop we attempted to negotiate the mere 3Km to the nearby top marked by the presence of Grizedale Visitor Station. However our efforts were thwarted by the alteration of the woodland landscape since our map was printed – at least that’s our excuse. Despite scrutinizing the map endlessly, referring to compass bearings and consulting Clive’s GPS (a retirement present), and lots of cunning navigational plans, we managed to walk in a complete circle and exited the woods where we‘d previously entered! However we easily salvaged the situation by employing another trusty club tradition on wet days. We retreated for tea and cakes in a Coniston

Back in the Saddle

It was 12 weeks to the day since I fell of my bike and bust my ribs and I had been putting off starting riding again. The weather man predicted that today would be the last fine, warm day of the autumn so I resolved to face up to the challenge and it was with some trepidation that I clipped into my spuds and pedalled along the waggon way at Cawthorn Basin. I had decided to ride from there to the top of Cotes Hill and back.
Getting to the top of the hill was quite straight forward apart from rusty leg muscles and confidence was returning. I started the return journey and soon  picked up speed down the rough farm track, suddenly the rear wheel caught a rut and skidded and the bike turned sideways...oh oh here we go again...I pulled the bike over, pedalled hard and we were back on line and bouncing down the track with a big grin. The demons had been faced and vanquished and I finished off with some exciting single track back to the car.  

Mountain Biking

Nick has got enthusiastic about mountain biking again and has being doing some rides with his work colleague. We went for a ride from Darley Bridge at a slower pace but it was far from easy. Much of the ride was on minor roads and tracks around Elton and Youlgreave but it was raining and the limestone was very slippy making it very difficult to grip on the uphill sections and very unnerving on the downhill sections.

It was around 18 miles but it did take us around 3 and half hours due to a section of bridleway, Gratton Dale, which had become very muddy. It was impossible to peddle as the mud and foliage wrapped around the brakes and forks and we needed to constantly stop to try and disentangle it all. At one point it was impossible to even push the bike.


Enjoyed it though, (much more than trying to add this blog).
11th October 2009

Curbar Edge

Paul and me decided to re-visit 'The Brain' area on Curbar edge not having been there for some years. We had lovely autumn conditions, warmish sun and cool rock in the morning and started off with The Brain (VS 4c) which I led to warm up. This climb was an old favourite but seemed a bit more of a struggle than it used to be however it went without incident with an enjoyable exposed finish up the arete.
Then we tried the nearby Birthday Crack (VS 4c) this had an intimidating overhanging start but we thought at VS there should be holds. Paul led off but was stopped short at the overhang complaining that the crack was too wide to jam adequately. I tried but fared worse than Paul. We set up a top rope and both failed again then slunk away disheartened to the Barons Wall area.
Here Paul bouldered out the start to Barons Wall (5b) then I led Wall Climb (VS 5a) and Paul led Calver Wall (VS 5a) both of which gave good value for VS. By now the sky was grey and a cold wind had sprang up and the call of the cafe was too strong so we called it a day.

Birkness Maintainance

Up to the lakes this week-end for a maintainance meet at the FRCC hut at Birkness the main tasks being to divert a leakage path in the woodstore that was causing damp in the cottage and to lay some hardcore on the driveways.


The main tasks were all about completed on Saturday and after some clearing up on Monday morning Colin, Bev and myself enjoyed a walk up Fleetwith Pike in the sunshine and were rewarded by widespread views over the Lake District fells.


On our return we were met by the sad news that one member of the work party had died in his sleep during the night.

Bouldering

Bouldering at Apparent North on Stanage today. Rain showers were sweeping down the Derwent valley but the crags were in sunshine. I decided that either I had lost a bit of strength and ability or that the problems where undergraded as I struggled with the 5a ones and failed on the 5bs although I had cruised a 5b climb on Thursday. Anyway I completed 10 problems then de-camped over to Burbage where I did the Chant (5a) and, after much huffing and puffing Wednesday Climb (5b) which improved my confidence levels.
Finished off the day with a walk round the Burbage valley, back via Carls wark and Higgar Tor.

Midweek Stanage

Colin and me set out for Stanage on Thursday afternoon to meet up with Colins son David and his mates and to take advantage of the early autumn sunshine.

As expected the crag was quiet and I led Central Trinity and Easter Rib, the friction was excellent but it was cold belaying on top. When the sun lost its warmth we finished off by soloing a few routes on Rugosity Wall.

Med Trip 7

We arrived back in Antibes without further incident and set out for a final days climbing. We decided on La Trinitie because it was north facing and cool. This was a choice popular with the locals, three other teams were climbing including a party of schoolkids, not bad for a Wednesday afternoon. The crag was set up as a recreation facility with parking, graded paths and steps to access the crag and and picnic tables and rubbish bins were provided. This approach could benefit some crags in the UK although it would not be appropriate in most cases.

The climbs were steep and crimpy and took a little getting used to but we managed eight routes between us up to 5b.

Med Trip 6

Time constraints meant that we could not make it to Corsica so we returned to Antibes via Santa Margherita, Loano and San Remo. On the way we checked out the crags at Riva Trigoso but grey skies sucked away our enthusiasm and we arrived at Santa Margherita in pouring rain and thunder and lightning.

Between Santa Margherita and Loano we were accompanied by a small pod of dolphins which played around the boat for about 15 minutes to our great delight.

Med Trip 5

While at Portovenere we climbed at Muzzerone which is about a one hour walk from the town centre. Muzzerone has 18 separate limestone crags with different types of climbing and varying levels of access.

The most popular and accessible area is the Parete Central where we climbed first before doing some routes at the Cava Degli Anelli. The climbing at the Parete Central was similar to peak limestone, steep with sharp holds while at Cava Degli Anelli the rock was much smoother and rounded. Both areas gave good climbing and I led 5 routes from 5a to 5c while Bev led two 4c routes and Colin led a 5b to finish.

Med Trip 4

From Santa Margherita we sailed to Portovenere & La Spezia. The sailing conditions were excellent with a smooth sea and strong winds which allowed us to reach speeds up to 9 knots. From La Spezia we were able to access the Cinque Terre (5 villages) which has a famous walk from Monterosso to Riomaggiore calling at Vernazza, Coriniglia and Manarola.

The first two sections of the walk winds through vineyards along the terrace walls and through shady ravines and is very picturesque however after Corniglia it is less so and the final section from Manarola is along a constructed pathway marred by grafitti.

Officially only this final section was open to walkers but the locked gates and barriers were easily circumvented and we managed to complete all the sections.

Med Trip 3

From Villefranche we sailed to Santa Margherita in Italy overnighting at Andora on the way. During the stretch from Andora to Santa Margherita we had some exhilerating sailing with full sails and the boat heeled over.

We spent a day walking from Portofino to the abbey at San Fruttuoso. The walk went steeply up from Portofino then pleasantly through trees and steeply down to the abbey which was located in a small bay. We took a water taxi back to Santa Margherita stopping to view the underwater statue 'The Christ of the Abyss'.

Med Trip 2

Tuesday 08 Sept.

Tom and Clare joined on board and after much to-ing and fro-in we were fully provisioned, watered, fuelled and set off. We motored straightforwardly over to Villefranche and moored for the night.

Villefranche is an amazing maze of narrow streets, passages, ginnels and steps with houses stacked one above the other up the hillside.

Med Trip 1

Currently in Antibes on Colin and Bevs boat where we are waiting the arrival of Tom and Clare before we set sail. The plan is to sail to Italy and Corsica and call at various climbing venues.

It has been two hot to climb in the daytime but we have managed a couple of evening climbs. The first was at Roquette-Sur -Var where Bev and myself climbed 5 routes at about grade 4 & 5 which were newly bolted and not in our guidebook.

Yesterday we climbed at the Esterels where Bev and me climbed a 5a and a 5b. On the second route I became entangled with a prickly pear plant and by the time we had extracted all the barbs it was two late for further climbs. The climbing pictures above were taken at the Esterels which is an idyllic area and well worth a visit.

Robinsons Cairn

I accompanied Colin, Croak and Nick along with FRCC president John Robinson to rebuild Robinsons Cairn (no relation) on the high level route to Pillar Rock. The cairn was in a poor state when we arrived (below left) and needed to be demolished and re-built. The finished result looked much better and is a more stable structure.

The day was completed by a walk over Pillar summit via the Shamrock Traverse, Steeple and Red Pike descending to Wasdale by the Dore Head screes (not recommended).

Fellow Arete MC members Bev and Jago climbed Rib and Slab on the west face of Pillar Rock.

Welcome

Welcome to ClivesBlog, I will be posting news of my climbing exploits but at present I am nursing damaged ribs due to a mountain biking accident.
I will shortly be setting out on a sailing and climbing trip with friends Colin and Bev round the Mediteranean calling at climbing areas in Italy and Corsica. I hope to post news of our trip subject to wi-fi availability.