Wilton and the Brownstones

Today I finally managed to get out climbing after being confined to the wall last week.  I traveled over to Bolton to meet Elliot and we decided to have a look at Wilton 1.  Elliot very kindly offered to give the Hacker E4 6b** a brush for me a he had headpointed it earlier this year and want to get the onsight.  He had commented at the time that is was not that pumpy etc.so with that in mind I thought I would just start on that.  A boulder around to warm up a little whist Elliot brushed should be enough.

I was quickly through the bold crux at the bottom and reminded even quicker that me and cold winds don't get on to well.  The climbing was pretty straight forward, but steeper than it looked.  Add all the time it takes to work out and place gear onsight, then it becomes a pumpy route in the cold.  Luckily the angle eases at 2/3 height and the cold pump was manageable.  I could not feel the hows I was using through the top section, but thankfully it was mostly on my feet.  A good route none the less.

We moved over to Wilton 3 where Elliot led a damp and dirty Grader E3 5c***.  The conditions did not effect the climb until the crux and top out that had suffered from mud running down it.  Elliot had done the route before and was grateful at the top to have the runner ready before taking on the mud.  A sterling lead today.  I followed and had the same problem by the crux, with no feeling in my hands and just pulling through, hoping for the best.

Crimping Hard

Getting involved and pulling hard on the poor holds on Ridiculous Eliminate

We decided to ditch routes and go bouldering at the Brownstones.  I had been here once before and ticked a lot of the classics. But had a hard time on a couple of the tricky problem.  After sending a range of problems up to V5, we had a crack at Ridiculous Eliminate V8 6c/font 7b**.  This is a short, but hard few moves on some very small, poor, slopey crimps.  After a few failed attempts I managed to work out the right foot sequence to make the holds usable.  This made the world of difference and I sent it next go.  Well Happy!  We finished off try Hank's Wall V7 6c***, which is nails and not one to try at the end of the day.

Elliot trying hard on Hank's Wall