Today I was free as Em has been on nights and sleeping during the day. After the last few weeks efforts, taking a couple of days off has left me feeling rested and ready to go again. I only had 2 more of the 3 star routes to do at Crookrise, Small Brown E4 6b*** and Slip n Slide E6 6a***, so that was the aim of the day.
Conditions where great, but it was warming up in the sun as I walked in. Wanting to take full advantage off the cold I went straight to Slip n Slide. This is an extremely bold solo, with a very poor landing that can't be padded out very well. With this in mind, I decided to abseil down and see where to place the mat to protect the crux as best as I could. This also gave me the chance to see what I was going to at the top of the ramp. It all looked quite straight forward, so I got on it and went for the flash. Very balancy padding led to the crux at the end of the ramp. If only I was 6 ft, I could reach the hold without making the holdless rockover. It took quite a bit of composing myself to make the move. It is not that hard, V3 as a boulder problem. But the situation really makes you earn all the E points. After that move you have holds and can sprint to the top.
Small Brown was up next. I wanted to flash Massive Attack E5 6b** as well, so abseil that which meant I got a look at both. This was useful and showed me where the mat would be best placed. Small Brown went very easily and it soft for the grade, but has nice moves. Massive Attack goes where Small Brown should have, and follows the arete all the way top the top. This has all the best climbing of Small Brown and more, awesome!
It was warming up by now and the crag was getting a bit busy! Surprisingly. So I decided to head back and spend some time with Em as she would be up soon. On the way back to the car I climbed Ron's Crack 1 V6*** and the V5 arete to the right. Both nice problems and a good way to wrap things up.
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