Why

I was thinking just now of the qualities I value most. Ingenuity, tenacity, patience came to mind first. Then I realised that these are all things which cannot be exercised in a vacuum: they need a problem to strive against. It's like a wall you can push off, or like swimming in water rather than air. Climbing is resistance. A problem which demonstrates a theorem.

A bit better

Climbed in Redhill with K. Got up something graded 6b+ but clearly it can't be; still they reckon it's about 6a which would make it my first. Quite chuffed.

Crawley

Today I went to Rock Club in Crawley. It was the first time I'd gone to that for more than six months - first time in Crawley other than on the auto-belay for nearly as long too. I was a bit anxious about it because I remember when I went to it before they were all much better than I was and it felt slightly cliquey. Well today it made no odds what they were like since they weren't there! It was just me. The instructor was a guy called James, 18 years old, friendly. More into running than climbing and injured, but he went up some routes, in trainers, and it was interesting to watch him. Ha - at the start he produced a ground anchor and assumed we'd need one on account of his being heavier than me. Thinking about it, I must have misheard what he said he was, which sounded like 55 (kg. Anyway he was no problem to belay. Dunno how he found me - he was using a Gris-gris anyway. I went up some 5's, the odd 4, some 5+'s (failed dismally on one of them - fully of slopey holds I got nowhere on; J kindly said he thought it was more of a 6 and I'd agree but then maybe I would). Tackled two 6a's, one on the shorter vertical wall near the till, which is a bit beyond me still - need to get better at moving my feet up to where my hands are, better balance, and stronger - as much in the legs as the arms. The other I think I'm a lot closer to getting up, on the main wall, round about 17. It was red. On that one I mainly need to get used to where the holds are - there's a dark pink up the same panel - and also get used to leaning sideways on side-pulls. But I think if I also work on stamina, I'll get up that fairly soon. Maybe next visit but one? I think oddly enough my 6a's might come in Crawley rather than Redhill.

First outdoor lead

Last weekend I went to North Wales to climb with C. The plan was that I'd drive up, in my little hired car, put up the old blue tent I've had for years, and then collect C from Bangor railway station, since he was working that day. I hadn't seen the tent up for about 15 years, at which point I wasn't aware of the different types of tent, and didn't know that this one isn't waterproof. My father told me later tht it was never even meant to be - apparently he bought it for summer use in a hot climate. C and I managed one rather soggy night's sleep in it, and then bought a replacement at Llanberris the next day. B and I do have another tent but it's a big car-tent, not something you'd walk with, and this is the first one I've had that's really felt like my own (even though C kindly contributed to the cost). It's made be Gelert and cost us the princely sum of £70. I know it's not the finest money can buy but it's waterproof and it's mine! We had planned to climb something around Tryfan on Friday and then move on to Lighthouse Arrete on Anglesey on Saturday. But on Saturday it poured with rain all day and we had a tent to buy. So when the weather began to clear on Saturday we decided to devote the few hours we had to a very easy beginner's route on Little Tryfan where I could learn to lead. I've done some of this indoors and on sport routes in France, but clearly placing trad gear, setting up a belay etc is a different prospect. C ran through placing gear with me at the bottom of the crag. Some of this is fairly apparent from seconded a few routes. Then we went up a route that seemed suitably easy (a Diff I think but the guidebook had got sodden in the tent). It was great fun though - all except for the descent which was steep, wet and grassy. Back at the bottom again, C showed me how to secure and equalise a belay. He got me to do it three times before he was happy that I could try leading. Well I say happy - he seemed pretty nervous. More so than I was but I suspect I don't fear climbing problems enough. So eventually I set off up the route. The weight of the rack around my hips felt quite noticeable. The best bit was looking up at the rock and deciding where to go. This was a doddle because the crag was climbable just about everywhere - very easy angle, loads of cracks and blocks to stand on, but I should have stuck to one line more, because changing my mind meant that I'd clipped into the wrong rope and they crossed over. I took my time, happily pottering up it. I felt completely relaxed and I really enjoyed it. Eventually I got to the place where C had belayed before and I set mine up in exactly the same place. I put the anchors in, equalised them with a knotted sling - and then thought, "now what?". Actually tying into it baffled me a bit. I felt foolish as I called down to C to ask, and was glad he was within ear-shot. I will be much clearer on what to do at that point next time. Next I brought C up behind me. It felt odd to be belaying someone from below me. He took pictures of the gear I'd placed and critiqued it as he went - it was all passable, most of it OK, one or two bits very good. At that point it was about an hour off the start of dusk and C decided we'd abseil down. Neither of us had enjoyed the descent path much. It would also be another useful exercise, since sooner or later we'll try a sea-cliff and that will be a much bigger deal to get down to. This was a trickier abseil than Obituary Grooves because it was far less steep so there were lots of things to go round - but it was all very easy. I went down first so that C could then remove the extra protection and leave as little as possible behind. So there we are. Not perfect, but I will be clearer on exactly how to attach myself next time; nobody diedl and I have a lovely new tent!

Can't edit: more things to learn

Can't see how to edit the post below to add this: on re-reading it's clear I also need to learn:

- how to climb cracks

- to do do laybacks

- how to be better at traverses

Obituary Grooves

After Troutdale Pinnacle we were still pretty energetic so we went over to Brown Crag and had a go at a route there called Why Not. C got up it but found it really tough and I had no idea how to leave the ground on it. NB: must practice climbing cracks - they feel intimidatingly like something that Proper Climbers do but clearly that's something I want to become so I'd better begin to learn.
Anyway we ran out of water so we called it a day.

We decided to do Obituary Grooves on Sunday. C suggested it, and I agreed. In retrospect I'd have been better off on something of a middling grade, but the Why Not was supposed to be that and clearly wasn't, so the grade isn't terribly helpful.

On Sunday we arrived after a good breakfast and found the crag busy already. I was a bit wrong-footed that there were several people wanting to do the same route as us: I'd gambled that it was less well-known and so my struggles would be more out of people's way. Not so.

The first pitch certainly isn't the hardest but it was right on the edge of what I could do. I loved it but I knew I looked to the guy belaying below me to be on the wrong climb for my standard. I stopped caring about that, which was just as well, because no doubt I looked like that for the next few hours.

The challenge came on the second pitch. C found it pretty tricky and had to make quite a big effort on it. I didn't find that too intimidating because I had come looking for exactly that.

I remember setting off round a tree. It was hard but I found a way to do it. Just above and beyond the tree was a move where there really weren't any obvious footholds at usable level. I believe the normal thing there is to layback. It's a tricky version of it and I'm weak at them. After a few minutes I decided to turn my back to the rock, put my hands up just above my waist, brace my left foot against the rock, and push myself up that way. I tried again and again and again and again and again and again. I was sure I couldn't do it any other way. I didn't think about not getting up. At one point I swung right out and shouted "Oh Christ" and the people just below said, "Are you OK up there?" Round about then I stood on the holds below and rested my forehead against the rock. I thought to myself, this is very hard, and I'm going to do it. Nothing else - no great perceptions. When it did actually work, about the sixth time, I was so surprised I nearly lost my grip!

There were some easier moves for a while and then I came to the other big tricky bit of that pitch. I was right over the ropes of a team doing a route to our right which rattled me a bit. I misundertood where our route went because - bless me - I couldn't believe it was where it really was, I was sure the right line would be easier (ie would look possible) and must be higher up.

Eventually I sussed where the route went. It was a short traverse with very little for the feet, and the handholds (as I remember) were side-pulls. I should have crossed it briskly but I didn't. I lost momentum; I did get across but I lost height, and the move up from would have been hard for me even from a strong start. I didn't manage it cleanly, and got up by scrabbling and shouting "take" every few seconds, to have my every inch or so of gain kept for me. I suppose I was pulled up a bit too though I'm not sure.

The easy moves between the traverse and the belay didn't feel easy to me because I was very tired. The stance was cramped which disappointed me because I was too tired to realise at the start that I was ok to relax in such a precarious place. We watched the group to the right of us come up, the middle one having difficulty. Just above us he found things impossible and I think ended up catch C with a foot or something. C climbed back down to the belay (with difficulty) and decided we'd abseil down, all things considered.

I was very very scared. I thought I might be about to die. This was probably partly because I was tired, but also a misunderstanding of the thing about abseils: you just have to get it right. I feared the descent would be hard or impossible to control. I knew I had to just get on with it and the back of my mind trusted that it would be OK (it would have been possible, one way or another, to get up, and C had opted to go down through choice).

Anyway C set everything up with great care, and set off, and was fine. I could even see him, very small, at the bottom. It was about 150 feet below. By that stage I was slightly less scared but not much. In the moment as I began to lower myself - or rather try to lower, and realised how solid the rope felt and how in fact progress would be really slow, the fear went. I was told later at the wall that there's a way of using a prussik that would have made me descent more smoothly, but I think next time I wouldn't bother with one anyway.

Had a pretty nice moment emotionally at the top of pitch 2, too.

It's odd that I'd count this as my best experience climbing. I was totally out of my depth, I was in people's way, and we didn't reach the top. What made it so good? I went right up to my limit and persistently pushed at it, and prevailed. It's only writing it down now that I realise this was both in terms of the moves upwards, and the abseil down. I feel a massive sense of accomplishment.

The weekend's climbs were also very useful in clarifying what I'm good at and what I need to work at. I'm good at finding a way/ any way to do things. I'm not bad at dealing with exposure, and I'm not bad at keeping going (outdoors at least). I need to work on smearing, rocking over, rope-work, and arm/shoulder strength.

Having 2 days to climb was great. Doing one more feasible climb and then one more challenging one worked really well too. I think I'd opt to do it by train and local bus next time, but knowing the car was there waiting was a great luxury. If I had all the money in the world I'd go up by train to say Penrith and then hire one from there. But a carefully noted bus timetable would be nearly as good!

Borrowdale

Last weekend was a pretty big deal for me, climbing. Here's how it went.

C and I had been looking forward to doing Troutdale Pinnacle for ages. Several weeks ago we picked last Saturday as the date for it. In the last few days before it I got extremely nervous. It was graded Severe and I'd seen a video of it which made me feel it would include quite a few moves that I would find extremely strenuous, and quite likely just impossible. I wasn't too bothered by the downward traverse because I knew that even if I found this very scary, I'd enjoy that - in its own way.

Thinking back, I don't know why it bothered me so much, because even if I had indeed found it impossible, the solution to that is pretty simple - you either don't get off the ground, or you go back to it, one way or another. I wasn't scared of a fall or anything like that.

Anyway I was so scared that I came very close to postponing it. I felt I wasn't good enough because I'd failed to get up two 4s in Redhill a few days previously. I pulled out of the last indoor climb before going. B encouraged me to go and I didn't fancy trying to tell C I didn't feel up to it so off I went.

We got there, C racked up, we tied in, and up he went. He made the first pitch seem neither very easy nor very hard. I didn't get the horrible feeling of looking at it and having no idea at all how to make even a single move. But despite that, when it was my turn to set off, I nearly wet myself with nerves. They went as soon as I started but I did make heavy weather of that pitch.

After that it went better, in terms of nerves. I dropped my belay plate, the ropes got tangled, and the route was crowded after a while, but other than that it went very well. I did find the traverse scary - enjoyably so - and the more difficult bits were especially enjoyable. I liked having other people around actually but I need to get slicker at the rigmarole of climbing - that will come with practice no doubt.

On the way down I said to C that I'd loved it, but had been psyched for something harder, and I wondered what something one grade up would be like. The weather was great, the little car was near us, we had a lovely bed sorted for the night which I'd already slept in and money for a decent dinner out, and the walk down was short. So those issues were covered: I could afford to focus on technical stuff and I was up for a big challenge. (I should say here that I love camping and relish long walks - they're not a problem, but they do take up energy.)

I'll put the other climb in another post.