A Welsh climbing weekend...
in the Lake District that lasted one day.
High Crag from Gatesgarth, Buttermere.
The plan for the weekend was to head down to Wales late Friday night, sleep at Llanberris Pass in the van and then spend two days climbing on the mountain crags and slate quarries. However, when sat in the Library on Friday afternoon, trying to get some words written for a Social Issues assignment, a quick look at the Snowdonia weather forecast made the climbing look doubtful and not being one to drive a long way for little reward the Welsh climbing weekend was off.
Looking across Fleetwith Pike towards Littledale Edge and Dale Head.
Climbing was still on the cards however. The Lake District forecast looked as mixed as the one for Snowdonia, but at least we were on local turf and therefore a wasted day in the Lakes would not have been as bad as a wasted weekend in Wales. The plan of action was to get up early and get over to Honister Pass so that we could get a look at a little E2 on Moss Crags called Arrest Arete, which is a friend's project route.
Chalking up and rested at the crux of Arrest Arete (E2, 5b).
It was apparent that the day wouldn't be one of those super productive days; the rock was mildly moist, but there was enough dry rock on Arrest Arete to warrant some work on the project. We fixed a line down the arete, abseiled the line to find the rock incredibly greasy and found some marginal protection that may just prevent a ground fall at the crux, before getting on the shunt and working the moves.
Above the marginally protected crux of the route.
The weather did begin to turn around midday so we de-rigged and headed over to Keswick for an indoor bouldering session with the hope that Sunday would be better. However, the weather forecast once again thwarted our plans and I find myself sat in front of my laptop, trying to put off the inevitable University work, whilst tapping out this post.
More pictures can be found here.
High Crag from Gatesgarth, Buttermere.The plan for the weekend was to head down to Wales late Friday night, sleep at Llanberris Pass in the van and then spend two days climbing on the mountain crags and slate quarries. However, when sat in the Library on Friday afternoon, trying to get some words written for a Social Issues assignment, a quick look at the Snowdonia weather forecast made the climbing look doubtful and not being one to drive a long way for little reward the Welsh climbing weekend was off.
Looking across Fleetwith Pike towards Littledale Edge and Dale Head.Climbing was still on the cards however. The Lake District forecast looked as mixed as the one for Snowdonia, but at least we were on local turf and therefore a wasted day in the Lakes would not have been as bad as a wasted weekend in Wales. The plan of action was to get up early and get over to Honister Pass so that we could get a look at a little E2 on Moss Crags called Arrest Arete, which is a friend's project route.
Chalking up and rested at the crux of Arrest Arete (E2, 5b).It was apparent that the day wouldn't be one of those super productive days; the rock was mildly moist, but there was enough dry rock on Arrest Arete to warrant some work on the project. We fixed a line down the arete, abseiled the line to find the rock incredibly greasy and found some marginal protection that may just prevent a ground fall at the crux, before getting on the shunt and working the moves.
Above the marginally protected crux of the route.The weather did begin to turn around midday so we de-rigged and headed over to Keswick for an indoor bouldering session with the hope that Sunday would be better. However, the weather forecast once again thwarted our plans and I find myself sat in front of my laptop, trying to put off the inevitable University work, whilst tapping out this post.
More pictures can be found here.
Good lines, stay safe and see you on the wet stuff...
Iain
1 comment:
We went climbing on Sunday, only to find the rock was so slippery, it was like climbing on glass. I think I'm going to wait for it all to dry out a bit. :O)
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