another 6c!

Margin of Error, the 6c next to Traction Control (my first 6c lead). The route had a very similar style of climbing, and one that suits me down to the ground – fingery, extremely technical and requiring precise footwork. Gorgeous. Anyway, I had only really hoped to get it clean on top-rope, so that I could come back and lead it on another occasion, but after I’d got the sequence dialled and had toproped it cleanly and with ease it seemed silly not to just go for it.

To cut a long story short, I was cold and fluttery. My climbing was nowhere near as smooth as I would have liked, but nonetheless I did it. My second 6c. What a brilliant feeling. Another 6c, done in a single session. Maybe I really am getting better!

Oh and a huge thank you to my dearly beloved for belaying me without complaint and just being fantastic.

a new found love

Sport climbing. Maybe it isn’t so bad after all.

On Tuesday I managed to red-point my first 6c, an absolutely cracking limestone route called ‘Traction Control’ at Trevor, Llangollen. I’d first tried this route with Patrick at the end of on Saturday’s easy sport climbing, where we’d just done loads of routes in the 5 – 6b region, I decided I wanted to have a go at this 3 star 6c, as seeing as it was easy to get a top-rope on it (as the lower-off was right next to the lower off for another route Patrick climbed), we had a crack.

The start sequence took a while to fathom, but once that was sorted the rest of the route just sort of fell into place. I didn’t try leading it that day, because by the end of the session I was shattered and my fingers were just crying for a rest.

So, a couple of weeks later I headed back with Mick (and his clip-stick – oh my goodness what an amazing invention. I want one.) Had a couple of goes on a top-rope then just decided to get on with it. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I cruuuuuuuuiiiiiised it. Awesome!

So, on to a new bolt-clipping challenge. Having never even attempted a route harder than 6b before this one, and having found this lovely 6c actually quite straight forward (all the moves were fine, it was just the working of the sequence that proved a challenge), me thinks it is time to actually find a 7a to work on (and yes, I know I’m missing the grade of 6c+ out completely there). Could my goal of climbing 7a sport actually be achievable before the end of the year? We shall see…

Meanwhile, I still need to get my trad head in gear. Maybe this weekend will see a return to some kind of form? Again…we shall see…

Sport climbing, Trevor Rocks

Ok so for the first time in ages I went bolt clipping. It hadn’t been the original intention but it was what Ritchie and I ended up doing. And it was brilliant. I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a day’s climbing so much in a long while, and what’s more I’m hopeful that it will have given me enough of a confidence boost to be able to stop just pottering around so much on trad routes. I’m a far, far better climber than I ever give myself credit for.

So what did we (I) do? We headed over to the Fudd Walls area and clipped some serious bolts! Here is the list:

• Item 1: Warm up on a 6a (!), ‘All Fudd Up’. Easy onsight. Nice
• Item 2: A 6a+, ‘Chocolate Fudd’, from which it is more than plausible that the crux holds have fallen off (it was much harder than the 6bs!), and sadly I rested on it.
• Item 3: A vague feeble attempt at a 6c called ‘Would I, Should I, Fudd I’. Neither of us had the bottle to go beyond the first bolt!
• Item 4: A 6b called ‘Fudd Off’. I thrilled and surprised myself by onsighting this one (my hardest ever sport onsight!), finding only one hard move. Recovery of QD from the 6c.
• Item 5: Another 6b, ‘The Fuddites’. This one Ritchie attempted first but failed on (trying not to use a crack feature, which I decided was more than fair game), so after watching him I can only really, truly claim a flash (although to all intents and purposes I onsighted this one too!).
• Item 6: Some weird ropework at the ledges by the lower-offs (Ritchie walked over to the 6c from ‘The Fuddites’ and lowered down from the ‘Would I, Should I, Fudd I’ lower off bolts in order to rig a top rope on it), led to me running up ‘The Fuddites’ for a second time to strip the ‘draws on second. Again, totally clean!
• Item 7: Top-roping the 6c (‘Would I, Should I, Fudd I’). Bloody hard. The route is described as having “an intense and reachy sequence”, and boy did it. Happily I managed all the moves on my first proper attempt, completing the route in two continuous halves. Don’t think I’d have the balls to lead it as the crux follows an incredibly committing semi-dynamic layover move to a cruddy sidepull, between the first and second bolts. Whilst you probably wouldn’t deck from the crux (so long as your belayer was on the ball), the possibilty of a deck-out can’t fail to enter your mind. Think I need to find a safer and less insecure feeling 6c to redpoint!
• Item 8: Moving onwards back towards the car, we stopped at the Compact Walls area, and set off up a 6a+ called ‘The Great Escape’, where the fatigue from a fairly intensive day’s climbing began to rear its ugly head. I got to the last bolt and couldn’t commit to the final couple of moves to get up to the lower off. Gutted. My failure then proceeded to turn into a bit of a circus act as Ritchie also failed to do those last moves up, leading to him making a bizarre and hugely worrying traverse of the crag until he could finally get up to one of the numerous lower-offs. He then had to be lowered off and shift himself across the wall on a truly horrendous diagonal line in order to clean the route. Great fun!

I can honestly say the route ‘Would I, Should I, Fudd I’, graded as French 6c, was the single hardest route I have ever attempted outside. And what’s more, I enjoyed trying it. The hard moves felt good and it was a great feeling to be trying things that actually felt physically hard rather than just mentally. I’m pretty sure now that I could redpoint a 6c in a reasonable period of time – after all, I did ALL of the moves on this one on my first burn. I think that maybe, just maybe, I would actually like to have a crack at some hard sport climbing in the near future. Wow.