A quick session...

Slipping into a cold pair of climbing shoes beneath the Shelter Stone.

I've just got back from a weekend down south in Preston where I did the Christmas thing and called in on family to deposit presents and general Christmas cheer. On the way south I made use of the cold, crisp Friday afternoon with a quick stop at Trowbarrow for some bouldering delights. I've visited Trowbarrow before, but didn't get a lot done as it was late in the day and it was horribly wet, but on this occasion this was certainly not the case.

Trying the first few moves on the Ramp Traverse (Font 6c+), Shelter Stone.

I started out on the Shelter Stone, but soon gave it up as a bad job; I couldn't work the moves as I had little warmth in my fingers and toes. I moved onto the sheltered Red Wall, where I was able to bring the all important digits back to life and start working a handful of problems at the base of the Limestone wall.

About to rock-over on the Classic Rock-over (Font 4), Red Wall.

The problems on the Red Wall, which I sent, seemed to force you to adopt a slow and controlled climbing style and this meant that moving on the rock felt really nice. I suppose this style was forced somewhat by the frictional qualities of the rock; the hand and foot holds were very polished, but it did mean that I could see the strength and power training of the last few months in action; I was able to lock-off with ease and move between holds statically. This meant that when I walked away from the crag, even though I had only sent five problems, I was extremely happy as the session had been so enjoyable and rewarding.

Getting balanced to make another move on The Crack (Font 5).

We eventually had to give up as the light began to fade around 4pm, and even with the aid of a head torch I couldn't really see the moves required for some of the harder problems at the Red Wall. This meant that we packed up and continued on south to Preston for the weekend.

Trying Nick's Problem (Font 6c), Red Wall with the aid of a head torch as the light begins to fade.

I did attempt to call in on Trowbarrow this morning, on the way back up to Carlisle, to try sending some of the other problems on the Red Wall and I was even considering fixing a rope down some of the lines, so that I could get the Shunt out and get some more climbing in. However, the snow that fell over night put an end to that as the roads around Silverdale were pretty interesting so I limped back to the M6 and Carlisle with my tail between my legs.

Not a common occurrence on here, but here's a video of the session for a change.

More pictures can be found here.

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