Making the most of Good Conditions...

Today, I was on the first day of a First Aid at Work course, which was a shame as the conditions were perfect for climbing. However, when the course finished at 4:15pm I was in the car and driving down Borrowdale before you could say: "DR ABCDE!" I eventually parked in the lay-by for the Bowderstone and was almost running the short distance to the boulder in the hope of making the most of the light, which would soon be fading.

I managed to work through the three problems, which I have now been sending since the end of April 2010, and called that my warm up, before taking a good long rest and during this period I decided what I would try and work in the hope of eventually ticking it. I've been working several problems at the Bowderstone now - Picnic Sarcastic (Font 7a+), Power Pinch (Font 7a+), Bloodsucker (Font 7b+), Statstick (Font 7a) and Move Man (Font 7a+) - and feel motivated to get Statstick the most. I don't know why this is, but this is what I now set to as the sun eventually dipped below the mountains and darkness quickly set in.

Cal Reid on Statstick (Font 7a).

However, the darkness didn't cause that much trouble; it was out with the head torch, and once it was set to it's brightest, it acted as the perfect spot light to illuminate the holds from the floor and it also doubled up as a handy light for the camera. I know the quality isn't that great, but you can just make out in the video my efforts to tick Statstick; I fell from the last hold several times as I failed to control the swing and match the hold. I should get it on my next visit.

The last clip, where the climber is wearing a head torch, is Needle Sport's Cal Reid climbing The Ramp (Font 6b).

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