Saturday 26 October 2013

Welsh Slate and a Woodhouse Cracker

Smithy cruising the Dervish
It has been a real poor week weather wise, but there have been windows on dryness.  Whilst down in Llanberis visiting friends, I managed to grab a couple of hours on Thursday in Vivian with Smithy.  I had only been here once before and climbed Comes the Dervish E3 5c***, so was glad to come back and try and tick off another route.  Smithy led the Dervish and I followed hoping to warm up and get a feel for slate climbing again.  Feeling good, I jumped on Flashdance E5 6a***.  This is bold, but steady, and I found myself stepping into the Dervish after 10 mins climbing.  I was pretty psyched with this, having no real knowledge of the route and there being no chalk on it.  It felt like a proper outing across the face.

Pulling hard on Cracker Jack
  Today after a 30+ miler on the bike, I found myself surprisingly free.  I nipped over to Woodhouse to see how Cracker Jack V10/font 7c+ felt.  After climbing all the problems on Cave buttress, I got stuck in.  It is another eliminate based around the Sheriff which eliminates pretty much all the holds above the roof, leaving a couple of slopers and the arete.  Life the Sheriff-less, which I had done.  It came down to getting my heel on and keeping it on long enough to move my hands and adjust it.  After losing more skin off my ankle, I finally managed to get my heel to stick long enough to adjust and finish.  An awesome end to a surprising week of climbing.

Reach!!!!

Vid to come

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