Gambling with precipitation... Again

John Gaskin's on Violent New Breed (9a+).

I climb a lot at the Newton Rigg Climbing Centre. The main reason being that the wall is on campus and for this reason it allows me to train in between lecturers and on an evening all for a very reasonable price. I suppose "a very reasonable price" could be read as free as I give my time, free of charge, to manage the wall on a Friday evening. However, on one of the wall's is a poster, with the above picture being the main focus. The route is Violent New Breed (9a+), which is one of the hardest sport routes in the world, and for this reason you'd think it was in some far flung place. However, it isn't. It's down the road at Giggleswick South, which is about seventy miles away from me in Carlisle.

On Thursday I had the urge to get out on the rock and see what this bolt clipping was all about and I thought that as a destination Giggleswick would be one of the best. I'm not sure why I thought this, but I suppose seeing such an iconic route on the wall of my main training venue could be a major driving force behind my choice. All I now had to do was find a belayer/partner for Sunday (I was working on Saturday) and pray that the weather would be reasonable.

From the above picture, I am sure you can deduce that the weather was not favourable. I got as far as Sedbergh before I was thwarted by 'Road Closed' signs and the frozen precipitation. It was obvious that the gamble with the weather forecast had not paid off on this occasion and so I returned to Carlisle and hit the fingerboard instead. I've now got a week off from lectures and with this I am hoping that the weeks training schedule can incorporate a couple of outdoor sessions bouldering, leading or shunting, whilst also tapping countless words out on the keyboard all in the name of academia.

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