The last few days have been pretty jam packed. Despite being tired on Saturday after my bouldering antics the day before. I went to the Roost with Ben to get some mileage in, and finish brushing Why Port Pearl E6/7 6c on the natural edge. As it was Ben's first trip up there. I was happy to climb first and make sure each route was clean for him to flash. We did Chip and Pin E5 6b*** first, which Ben narrowly missed out on flashing. The Chip and Pin Indirect E5 6b***, which he did flash in the Quarry. Then moved to the natural edge to look at Why Port Pearl. I gave it a good brush, then tried it on a toprope. It is far from my preferred style, so a good thing to try. But I got shut down by the 2/3 move crux. Really frustrating, as the rest is fine. Maybe when things cool down it may feel slightly better, so I will be back. I re climbed Daddy Daycare and brushed that so Ben could have a bash and see if my grading seemed fair. It would appear I'm in the right ball park, as he was shut down. We wrapped up with an ascent of the Virus E5 6a**. Ben so close to flashing it, but ran out of gas at the very top. He will be back for the third ascent.
Sunday took me down to the Peak for work on a Problem Solving Day run by James Thacker Mountaineering for the Not So Trad climbing club. To make the most of the trip down, I got up at 5:30 and got a cheeky route in a Millstone. As always I had a plan, but ditched it when I saw the wall left of Great Arete full of chalk. I didn't have a guide with me, but it did not look too bad. I rigged a rope and toproped it (seemed like the sensible option, not knowing and all!), finding one hard move about 6 ft up. It was awkward and uncomfortable on my wrist more than anything. So I tried it a few ways till it felt comfortable, then lowered back down and climbed through it and then on sighted to the top. Everything seemed all good, so I chilled out for a bit, then soloed it. It was only when I got back to the car at 8am and checked the guide I found out the route was the Bad and the Beautiful E7 6b**. Pretty happy with that, I went off to meet the clients.
We had a great day at Stoney putting the skills they had covered the previous day into practice on a route. As we climbed Pearly Gates/Gabriel VS 4c,4c***, we threw in a few problems to solve. We then made a multi pitch abseil and looked at issues that can occur. After Lunch we did a bit of abseil rescue and simple problem solving, before finishing off with a refresher of escaping the system. A full and great day.
Today, despite feeling pretty bollocked, Ben and I went to Troller's Gill. After warming up, Ben on sighted The Jim Grin 7a*** in fine style. I don't have many routes left to do here, so opted to try one of the easier ones, hoping to pull something out the bag. Smouldering Globules of Lust lost a key hold in March 2012 on the lower crux wall, and was already high in the grade at 7b+. This loss has bumped it up to a good 7c, with a longer sustained bouldery start. Hoping for the best I got it, and was happy to quickly work out how to do the lower section. I then led through to the top and put the draws in and came down for a rest. Ben made an awesome on sight/flash of Haslam 7b***, managing the pump extremely well. Manning up I went for a quick redpoint, and smashed it! Super happy with a quick tick, as I probably would have been too tired for another quality shot. Ben wrapped up his on sight bonanza with Barquest Direct 7a**. We both did a cheeky lap each of that before running away happy with the day.
Totally knackered now! I need a well earned couple of days rest.
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