A Spot of Trad at Kilnsey

Despite the weather today, Elliot, Ben, Huw and I headed to Kilnsey to take shelter.  I was quite keen to do a spot of trad, while the others fancied sport, so a perfect venue for to suit everyones needs.  After climbing The Bulgelette 6b+, which had an unpleasant, wet and dirty finish.  I got a little bit of a flash pump through over gripping, and thought I had blown my day, so took a long break and stretched to manage my error as best I could.  I went to have a look at Claws E5 6a***.  But after spending over half an hour on the steepest part of the pitch with my brush in my mouth, trying hard to clean as I went, I finally had to sit on the gear.  I finished the pitch with many rests and a lot of cleaning, but at least it was now climbable without a full on fight through the ming.  Elliot had been a star belaying, so it was my turn to return the favor.  He was keen to finish off Sticky Wicket 7b, but dropped it at the very top.  I had stripped Claws, but decided to re lead the route despite not feeling at my best.  It went smoothly this time, a lot easier when it's clean and you know where you are going.

A damp Bulgelette

Picking a way up Claws

Through the crux of Claws

Elliot again fell short on Sticky Wicket and decided to bin it till another day. Instead we went and looked at Smooth Torquer 7a+ at the far end of the crag.  On our way we checked in with Ben and Huw.  Huw was walking hard on Slab Culture 7b+ and Ben was getting very close on his redpoint attempts on Subculture 8a.  I took advantage of Ben's draws to give it a bash, not expecting much after being the end of the day.  It was a pleasant surprise to lead into Slab Culture with one fall from the last move of the crux, and still feeling fresh enough to have finished.

Elliot then went for the on sight of Smooth Torquer 7a+, but seemed to be having one of those days and fell at the bottom.  I then went for it, and realised half way up that I had not taken any draws.  After holding on and catching a few draws that got thrown up, I ran out of steam and just missed the final jug, Gutted!!!!  It went next go though.

We raced of in a rush to get Ben back for work, with everyone feeling they've had a good workout.

There may be a couple of pics, when Ben sends them over.