Borrowdale

The October meet was based at the CC hut at Grange with Jago and me in attendance.
Saturday was bright but with a NE wind with a cold edge to it so we looked for a SW facing crag and settled on Goats Crag near Watendlath.
 A short steep slog through fields took us past the lower crag, which looked uninviting in the shade to the upper crag which was just catching the sun.


The upper crag.

The upper crag holds some short but pleasant climbs mainly in the HVS/E1 range and has a very pleasant situation with good views over the fells.

I led Poland (VS 4b) for a warm up. The route climbed a short slab to the sunlit overhang in the picture and traversed underneath the overhang to another slab which led pleasantly to the top.

Jago then led Emma Line (HVS 5a) which broke out of a severe corner to gain the sharp sunlit arete in the picture by some thin moves.

I led the next route Inner Limits (HVS 5a) which took the steep front wall to break out onto another pleasant slab.

Finish to Inner Limits

We then decided to walk across to Reecastle Crag but by the time that we had negotiated our way across the pathless loose slopes, through boulders and trees and found the crag looking less than inviting we decided to call it a day.

Sunday was warmer and we decided on Bowderstone Crag. This crag is home to Hells Wall which has a number of routes in the high E grades. Our objective was more modest one pitch VS called Wodens Crack. This takes a line round the left arete of Hells Wall starting over large blocks to a steep corner which gave a few testing moves.

Jago starting out on Wodens Crack

    

   

Cosmic Buttress

Paul and me arrived at Cosmic Buttress on Stanage in unseasonably warm sunshine. This buttress is fairly short but bristles with overhangs. 

Cosmic Buttress

We warmed up on X-Ray a tough hard severe which avoided the worst of the overhangs but still gave food for thought with tricky moves up a thin crack.
Paul then tackled Electron (VS 5a) which went easily up to crux moves through overhangs. After several attemps to surmount the final cux overhang he admitted defeat being unable to get his hands in the the crucial hand jam. 

Paul on Electron

I climbed up on Pauls gear and after some to-ing and fro-ing managed to get the jam with my smaller hands and pull through the roof.
Paul then led Cosmic Crack a meaty VS 4c with a barn door move through the final roof.
A combination of the warm sun and the shinanegans on Electron sapped our energy so we called it a day with not quite a half ganley in the bag.
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September Helyg Meet

On reaching Helyg we, that is Jago and me, found that repairs were ongoing and no water was available at the hut. Once again we had to divert to Ynys Ettws in Llanberis.
On Saturday the forcast was for light showers passing through so maintaining the spirit of the meet we decided to climb in Ogwen. We decided on Kirkus' Route (VS 5a) on Craig Lloer to escape the crowds and sure enough after one and a half hours steady walk we found ourselves at the bottom of a deserted crag.



Craig Lloer

Jago set off on the first pitch undetered by a few light spots of rain. I followed and eyed up the next, crucial, pitch which was an off width chimney crack. Armed with all our large cams I set off and soon reached the chimney crack and placed a couple of the bigger cams. I ignored the increasing spots of rain placing great faith in the weather forecast that it would blow over. The pitch succumbed to a variety of traditional techniques until the final steep moves to a large jug. I realised that it was now raining steadily but had no option but to carry on. Placing my largest cam I gripped a small but sharp finger hold and shuffled up a couple of moves to try to reach the jug, I made the mistake of looking down and saw my last cam wobbling about in the crack. I tried a few more placements but none were good so nothing for it but to reverse down the pitch and retrieve a bigger cam to protect the final moves. This I did and finally emerged onto a soaking belay ledge.






In the crack.....



.....in the rain.

Jago followed and we completed the last couple of pitches in the rain and found the descent gully which provided some excitement in the greasy conditions.

The rain continued until Sunday so we headed home via a couple of gear shops.