A Wild Sea

Timing the descent from the Scabby Back area into the Apiary Wall area in order to avoid a soaking.

I don't think I've had such a memorable day on the rock before, which contained so many failures, but today was certainly one of those days. The venue was St Bees North Head, which was amazingly dry considering the drive over from Carlisle was plagued with extremely heavy showers. However, the state of the sea made the soft sandstone cliffs and boulders a formidable place to be and I think this was why the day was so memorable.

Feeling Groovy (F6c).

The rationale behind the trip over to the west coast was to get some more bolt climbs under the belt before the Kalmynos trip in September. However, this panned out slightly different. I dogged my way up an F6c, and then blew the onsight attempt of an F7a+, but this was partly due to the sea conditions.

I reached the rest point on the route, Dreaming of Red Rocks, and whilst I was shaking out my belayer was nearly washed off the wave cut platform by a freak wave. This caused me to loose focus and after failing to read the next couple of moves up to and through the crux I lowered off, pulled the rope, stashed my harness, and took out my bouldering mats instead.

Dreaming of Red Rocks (F7a+).

The bouldering session was short lived though. I ticked a V4, which shot me down on a previous visit, and then ticked two V6's remarkably quickly, before getting shot down on a V5 I have sent on a previous visit. I tried linking some of the moves on Yellow Desert Scream (V8/9) before giving up the game and returning to Carlisle.

I've got a busy couple of days ahead with work at both Go Ape and Summitreks, but the plan is to get some bouldering in at a couple of the South Lakes venues in between driving, sleeping, eating and working.

Good lines, stay safe and see you on the wet stuff...
Iain