Spring!
Spring in North Wales is one of life’s true pleasures as a climber and the last few days-off didn’t do anything to alter that opinion! Thursday morning was a bit damp and grey so Keith and I headed for the Orme…which as usual provided dry rock and sunshine. Not having been rock climbing much recently this came as a bit of a shock to the system, especially trying to warm up in the cave!
We ended up tying on and getting a couple of quick redpoints on routes we’d not done before which feels like a nice way to kick-start the season; Keith did Werrys Woof Woot Left-Hand F7b while I did Tomorrow People F7c, then we both went and blasted our arms on the overlooked and very steep Mask F7b+…steepness and pump factor rarely encountered on the upper tier of the Orme!
Keith lapping up the evening sun on Mask of the Red Death E3 5c (crap quality phone shot as the camera died just beforehand!!) Photo: Jim McCormack
The following day saw us at Rhoscolyn. One of the good things about frequently working on the weekends means you get the crags to yourself at midweek, and indeed we had Rhoscolyn all to ourselves ‘til the after-work teams turned up. The arms were tired from the Orme so the Savage Sunbird E2 5b was the perfect warm up in the sun. Keith followed suit with Wild Rover E1 5b, then we reacquainted ourselves with the pump on Warpath E5 6a. I’d not done this before so was pleased to get it done while trying to remember how to place wires at the same time as fending off the pump. We then finished off in the last of the evening sun with the awesome Mask of the Red Death E3 5c. This is usually done in two really contrasting 5c pitches, but Keith fired it off in a single mega-pitch…what an awesome route!
Finally today saw full team-psyche up at the Cromlech. Rhys and I did Memory Lane E3 5c, Cemetery Gates E1 5b and Left Wall E2 5c while The Thing E2 5c, Resurrection E4 6a, Right Wall E5 6a and Ivy Sepulchre E1 5b also saw early season ascents, all with the warm sun on our backs…and it’s still only mid-March!!
