Meeting in the middle

Monday, 14 April 2014

Meeting in the middle

Setting off from Whaley bridge, destination Birchen edge. Deans still out on the road somewhere between here and Chesterfield on a job with Mockrock the climbing wall design and fit company (http://www.mockrock.co.uk/)

Quick text to let him know were we are and me and John are heading into sunshine and adventure. Parked up on the old Roman road just outside of Baslow, super spot with easy access to both Birchen and Gardoms.

Heading across the moor Dean calls, on my way. Excellent, me and john head down to the bottom end next to the monument.

First route, a nice little severe (Trafagar Wall S4b) very little kit to place on this one, easier to just solo it.

The wall started to get busy so we headed of down to (Promenade Direct HVD 4a) again super route, kit at the break which makes the route feel tenuous at times.

Quick look down towards Topsail and it's clear, this has been on my tick list for a long time.

John catches a shot of me topping out over the crux.

At VS 4c this is a route you can do time and time again, one sling is all you need for the route as it's pointless wasting time on the lower section with gear you might as well just head straight into the cave. There is a fantastic thread runner under the crux, this is all that's needed, then it's just a long reach and a pop over the top to easy ground.

Dean arrives and new I was going to bag it before he arrived, yes, in the bag.

Dean on the exit move to easy ground.

Now we are off to Orpheus Wall HVS 5c, deans got his eye on this one. We had a quick go on this to try the moves before we did Topsail, hard start.

We try the moves with a spotter before we commit, deans got the moves linked at the bottom so he gears up and goes for the lead.

This is one of the hardest HVS climbs I know. The start is an absolute beast, then the middle section just wastes you away. However dean put this to bed in fine style, and absolute hats off to him.

My story is not so honourable, the start was absolute nails. I did manage the start, but it was bloody hard, then into the middle section. I decided to dino this as it was just sapping me out, so went for the pop and peeled straight off. Tried several times before going down, not my route today.