April Fools at Stoney

Above: Warming up on Mani

I met up with Tony, Ian, Guido and Jim in Hathersage yesterday morning hoping to get out and do something as I am still feeling weak from the virus that hit last week. I copied Guido's report from the Yorkclimbers blog, here is what he had to say.

'Yes we fell for it hook, line and sinker the BBC predicted sunshine as another squall of rain splattered the windows of the Outside café we ordered a second cup of coffee and huddled round the table.I hate to say this but there was only really 2 places to go to on a day like this & as none of us had brought sports ropes sadly we headed for Stoney.

As usual despite the wet roads Stoney was dry as a bone and in perfect condition. It was both Adam and Ian’s first time here so all was not lost really as we parked amid the caving group mini buses and trucked up the well worn track.

Now Adam has been ill recently so he was weak as a kitten in fact he was almost as weak as the rest of us. I pointed out the many desperate classics as we wandered up to our regular warm up route Padme, Hvs 5a, followed by Mani E1 5b, Solitude E1 5b.

Below: Climbing Solitude, a neglected route but well worth the effort.

Above: Jim on the crux of St Peter

Jim then led St Peter E1 5b which was a bit of a grudge match as he had failed on it last summer, Adam then finished off on the superb Dead Banana Crack E1 5c.'

Below: Doing the Crux of Dead Banana Crack

Above: Cruising up the easy crack of Dead Banana Crack

I had heard all sorts of tales of Stoney polish and horror stories which had put me off going there. Having been, I will definitely be back. Some of the classic harder lines look amazing, and there is nowhere near as much polish as Malham (I didn't see my reflection once).