Fun times over, bank balance depleted, time to get back to work. There's never a good time to do admin when you're busy planning your next climbing trip, which meant I returned to London faced with a lot to catch up on. I didn't manage to get out climbing again until early October when Les and I managed to sneak in a day at the Roaches, while Kirsty and her Mum went to a wedding fair in Birmingham. Les is currently training for his Climbing Wall Award so was happy to do a day practising top rope and abseil set ups before we finished up with a quick lead of Black Velvet.

Les testing out my releasable abseil

The rest of October was busy with the wedding venue hunt starting in earnest, so I wasn't able to get out again until my SPA assessment in November. After such an enjoyable training, I had booked in with Joby Davis again to get my assessment completed. We met on a grim and misty Monday morning in the Roaches Tea Room and spent some time going over log books before we finally plucked up the courage to leave the log fire and head out into the clag. The plan for day one was to look at access rules and land ownership before hiking up to the top of the crag to run through top rope set ups and our personal abseil. Everything seemed to take a long time and numb hands and wet feet were not helping matters. Fortunately everything I did seemed to be safe, so I finished up and went home feeling mixed about my chances of passing. I needed to show I could be slicker on day two.

After a comfortable night in Hartington Hall Youth Hostel, I drove over to Wirksworth to meet the others to run through indoor wall safety. After a quick discussion, we got back in our cars and headed in convoy to Harborough Rocks, to get on with the remaining tasks. As the weather had been so poor the previous day we still needed to do our personal lead climbing. We had to lead a severe standard climb and I somehow ended up with a bit of a sandbag severe (given HS on UKC), which was a short overhanging hand/finger crack. I managed to dispatch it fairly comfortably and felt I had given a good show of myself, so I moved on to bottom rope set ups feeling more confident. As we were the first pair to finish leading we also got the pick of the spots for bottom ropes, so I managed to breeze this section too. The area I found had a couple of huge bouldery spikes so I could rig up twin bottom ropes with just a few slings and carabiners, easy! Last up was the releasable abseil, for which I also found a couple of good areas, and before I knew it, the assessment was over.

Working an awkward releasable abseil under the watchful eye of Nick

Standing and waiting for my turn to speak to Nick (Joby's assistant instructor) I felt very nervous. Day two had gone well so I was hopeful I had done enough. Nick gave me a good run down of the two days and was particularly complimentary on my lead gear placement. Most importantly he told me I had passed. I was officially a qualified climbing instructor, fantastic.

Just in case you didn't believe me, check out my official geek badge!

Since passing SPA I've only managed to get out once, making use of some unseasonable weather to take a trip down to Swanage with Kirsty. As it was our first time there we stuck to one of the friendlier crags and did a few routes on Subluminal, nestled under the famous Swanage lighthouse. The crag is truly a sun trap and we spent most of the day climbing in tshirts, I'm definitely keen to get back again and try some of the harder routes in the near future.

It's been a long time coming, but it turns out that when you take four months off work you don't have much time to write a blog, because you're far too busy having fun. So here goes, this is the highlights from Chamonix to my French road trip with Kirsty...

After my adventures in Yorkshire and the south west I headed to Chamonix for three weeks where the weather settled into a persistent pattern of thirty degree heat interspersed with heavy rain. Due to the large volume of snow up high, the first week involved a fair bit of sport climbing (which I'm begrudgingly starting to enjoy), an ascent of Contamine-Grisolle on Triangle du Tacul and some frustratingly mushy snow at the Albert Premiere hut. Sam and I also managed what was probably the highlight of the trip, climbing the Rebuffat Route on the south face of the Aiguille du Midi. I don't have any pretty pictures of the route, and that probably deserves an explanation, so here goes.

Plan for week 1 in Chamonix

1. Get acclimatised on some easy routes lower down

2. Get more acclimatised on some easy routes higher up

3. Get onto some harder routes higher up towards the end of week 1

4. Feel like legends 

Actual week 1 in Chamonix

1. Get overexcited

2. Get on a lift up to 3800m on day 1

3. Get on a route that is at the limit of your ability at sea level

4. Neglect to drink or eat anything

5. Neglect to put on sun cream

6. Find the final pitches covered in snow so take an alternative route

7. Accidentally climb your first E2, nearly shit myself

8. Start a very long series of abseils

9. Get your rope stuck twice

10. Get to the hut, look like you're going to cry

11. Feel ill (with a little bit of legend thrown in somewhere) 

Sam in the Cosmiques hut after our Rebuffat epic

I was partnerless for week 2 but fortunately there were plenty of keen climbers at the camp site and I hooked up with Neil to head back up Mont Blanc du Tacul via the Contamine-Mazeaud route after bailing off an avalanche prone Jager Couloir. I also met a bunch of Ali Baxter's Lairig buddies and got some hard (for me) sport climbing done in between rain showers.

Triangle du Tacul, Contamine-Grisolle heads (unsurprisingly for French speakers) up the left edge. Contamine Mazeaud takes the wide central snow and ice ramp.

For the final week I had arranged to hook up with Will, a friend from work, and we got on a bunch of classic routes including Y-Couloir on the Aiguille d'Argentiere, l'Index SE Ridge and the Voie Frison-Roche on Brevent. Special mention should go to Will's superb French speaking which made hitch hiking more enjoyable and far less excruciating than listening to Sam try to explain how much he liked pizza to a slightly terrified looking local.

On the summit of Aiguille d'Argenitere with Will after climbing Y-Couloir

After Chamonix I spent a week or so relaxing and catching up with Kirsty before packing the car and driving up to the Peak District for SPA training. I had two cracking days with Joby Davis teaching me how to dangle unsuspecting children from a cliff and also managed to get some good bouldering and climbing in with fellow trainees, including the classic three pocket slab at the Roaches and a bottled attempt at Commander Energy (which would have been my first E2) that I annoying top roped clean afterwards. I managed to pass training so was keen to get practising so I could get my assessment done before 2013 ended.

Top-rope fun at Harborough during SPA training - I have no idea what is going on with the other dude's full face helmet, so don't ask.

A couple of days later I was back to Staffordshire for a day out with Les (Kirsty's Dad). I'd previously lead Les on a few lower grade grit classics so we pushed the grade up a little up got onto some of the Roaches great S/HS routes on the Upper Buttress. Les also got back on the sharp end and lead Inverted Staircase which was great to see. I decided to utilise his good mood and asked him how he felt about having me as a son in law, he didn't seem too unhappy with it so long as Kirsty said yes and he could continue to use my rack!

Les leading on Inverted Staircase

With a secretly bought ring stashed away amongst our hastily packed camping gear, Kirsty and I got our trip under way, driving to the Champagne region of France via a couple of days of festival fun in Lewes. We spent a few days relaxing and scrubbing off the festival grime in a beautiful hunting lodge outside Epernay, before we continued south to Vallouise, nestled above Briançon in the Écrins national park. The plan was to go mountain biking for a day followed by a day hiking up to a hut and a nice easy alpine route. I was planning to propose on the summit surrounded by the beautiful mountains. I was nervous, but all was going to plan. That is, until kamikaze Kirsty was let loose on the bike and managed to remove a fair amount of skin from her knees, hands and elbows.

Ouch.

Numerous antiseptic wipes and a bottle of wine later I was looking for a plan B and it didn’t take much convincing for Kirsty to agree to head to the Verdon Gorge a little earlier than planned. It was frustrating to head to France’s premier multi-pitch climbing region and not get to climb but we did get to see some amazing landscape and more importantly I managed to pop the question and between tears I think she said yes. With that pressure off and Kirsty looking very happy we spent another day enjoying food and sun in Verdon before heading down to les Calanques on the south coast near Marseille.

Engaged - woohoo!

Les Calanques is a national park formed by a series of inlets along the coast. There is a huge amount of limestone climbing there but 36 degress is no temperature for being on the rock. We did try to get on one route done, but half way up we couldn’t stand staring at the people enjoying the cool water in the bay beneath us so we abseiled back to the beach and went for a dip instead. We didn't stay too long baking on the coast and were soon on our way to Orpierre via a quick stop in Marseille.

Hard to resist a swim!

In Orpierre we finally managed to get some climbing done, the highlight of which was probably Voyage, a large 6a multi-pitch sport route up an intimidating wall. Kirsty climbed brilliantly on the first four pitches, especially on the tough undercut 5c+ section (she made me write that). The final pitch was an amazing overhanging hand-crack corner, and despite a few tears and some choice expletives from Kirsty that could be heard down in the town square, we finished the route and abseiled back down the main face. We also managed some single pitch routes on the steeper walls above the town before getting thoroughly beaten at boule by a couple of Belgian children from the tent next door.

Looking down over Orpierre

Having endured some long nights on the sleeper train and some brutal weather in the Cairngorms on our previous trip, the forecasted alpine conditions due to hit Scotland were a welcome prelude to our return match up with the unpredictable world of Scottish winter climbing. After running the gauntlet through the usual strange looks as I left work at 3pm on a Friday carrying a bag the size of a coffin, I met up with Dan and we made our way to Luton airport where we joined Pat for our flight to Aberdeen. On arrival in Scotland we were met by Ali and the logistical challenge of getting four people, eight bags and a week’s worth of shopping into a Skoda Fabia. Packed in like sardines, we made our way west past Aviemore and onto our cottage on the shores of Loch Laggan where we met Ed and David and grabbed a cup of tea before heading to bed.

  Wednesday morning Pat, Ed, Ali and I made an early start and hit the well trodden road to the north face car park of the Ben. We made quick progress up the seemingly endless walk in and, after gearing up outside the CIC, headed on towards number two buttress and our route for the day, Comb Gully. Pat and Ed headed off and Ali and I followed up, me leading the initial two ice pitches and Ali finishing up. The route was pretty well trodden and felt pretty soft at the grade but was a great intro for the week and fairly soon we found ourselves surmounting the cornice and heading across the summit plateau towards number 4 gully. It was still fairly early but with plenty of climbing ahead we decided one route was enough for the day and we made our way down and back to the cottage.

Happy Ali seconding on Comb Gully

Back in the warm we met up with Dan and David who had been up on Creag Meagaidh climbing Staghorn Gully and Cinderella and set about getting some dinner on to refuel for the following day. Despite a lot of cloud the guys had seen some great looking ice on The Pumpkin which according to Dan was "well doable" so we made plans to head up the following day to have a look.

The next day dawned to glorious blue skies and an icy chill in the air. My new boots had torn up my heels  so I opted for a big pack and comfy shoes for the walk in to Meagaidh and in a little over an hour from the car park we stood looking up at the pumpkin. "Fuck me, that looks steep Dan". It turns out that in the cloud Dan and Dave had been looking at Glass Slipper, an easier ice route off to the right. We could already see Pat and Ed half way up and another team queuing so we decided to give it a miss and climb Glass Slipper instead. I ran the first two pitches together, using every inch of our 60m ropes, then Ali finished up the route, making the most of some excellent bucket seat and buried axe belays that some kind soul had already dug out on the way up. With such nice conditions it seemed a waste to head back down so we continued on to the summit of Creag Meagaidh for some lunch and my first winter Munro before heading back down via the window to the car park.

David leading it out on Glass Slipper

By this point in the week both Ali, Dan and I were having some serious feet issues. Compeed had become the most valuable commodity in the cottage and Ed, our supplier, was fast becoming the object of much bribery and affection. Dan decided to ignore this and made the eye-wateringly early start to get on Tower Ridge with David. Stiff and sore we decided a short walk-in was in order for the following day and Coire an t-Sneachda fitted the bill. After a leisurely start, listening to Ed's questionable music collection and breaking into some acapella Annie Lennox, we made the quick trot from the car park and arrived at the bottom of the coire. Ali and I headed off to our first objective, Aladdin's Mirror Direct, which looked in great condition with a perfect line of blue ice running down its middle. Pat and Ed headed off in the opposite direction towards Invernookie on Fiacaill Butress. We soloed up the easy start to the bottom of the ice fall where I got roped in for the crux ice pitch. Feeling fresh from our recent trip to La Grave the 10-15m pitch flew by pretty quickly and I was soon at the in-situ belay at the top calling Ali through. He duly cruised up the pitch in style and lead on. Once Ali ran out of rope I unclipped from the belay and we simul-climbed the remaining easy ground up to the top of the route.

Running it out on the crux of Aladdin's Mirror Direct

With our first route in the bag we headed round to the goat track where we descended on the right hand side below fluted buttress and traversed across to the bottom of Spiral Gully, a classic grade II. At this point we had a call from Pat. Invernookie was looking busy so they had climbed The Seam instead, an imposing looking mixed route and an absolute classic of the coire. Massive tick! We set off again and Ali was keen to get on the lead so he headed off and made light work of the first pitch, only placing a couple of bits of gear despite some fairly loose sugary snow. Ali lead on again through pitch two and the ground eased so we moved together again for the rest of the climb topping out about 3pm. Through some miscommunication we spent the next hour and a half waiting for Ed and Pat at the top of Aladdin's Mirror Direct, when they were actually climbing Hidden Chimney Direct. Annoying as we could have got another route in had we known! Never mind it was a great day and we headed back to the car with ear to ear smiles.

Ali smashing out the classics on Spiral Gully

With the weekend approaching Ed left to meet his wife in Torridon, Hannah came up to meet Ali and David fancied a walking day leaving Dan, Pat and I to make up a triple threat for the return for Creag Meagaidh. We decided to have another leisurely start and after prying my lazy arse off the sofa we plodded up the walk in to the base of our objective, South Pipe Direct. There was already a pair on the first pitch as we geared up at the bottom of the approach slope but given that we were climbing as a three we figured they would soon move away ahead of us. When we arrived at the belay the second of the pair was still there but as he moved off we got ourselves secure and started flaking ropes. I lead up the first long pitch and at the belay was surprised to find the lead of the previous pair was still only half way through the next pitch. There was minimal belay gear so I had to stand on the snow ledge waiting for about 20 minutes before I could clip in and bring the others up. Pat arrived first looking pretty peeved and I explained what had taken so long and Dan soon joined him looking pretty cold. Pat lead off up the next pitch and pretty much the same thing happened again. Somehow the pair infront were only just setting off and as Dan and I arrived the second was still belaying.

At this point we started to get concerned, from here on the climbing only got harder and we were due in Fort William for the film festival at 18:30 so we decided to cut our losses and finish up the easier (but infinitely more disappointing) north pipe, the ordinary finish to Staghorn Gully. Dan lead off and got held up again by another pair having some epic rope faff, by the time we joined him we were so keen to get going I pushed straight through grabbing a single ice screw to protect the steeper ice at the top. I climbed through and arriving at the belay realised I only had a single nut to make a belay with, whoops. I managed to find a slot for it and found a turfy crack for my ace so, praying that Dan and Pat wouldn't fall I brought the guys up and we simul-soloed on to the summit.

Not the recommended way to make a winter belay!

From here the mad dash began and we raced down through the window, de-cramponed lower down and then half ran-half walked back to the car park where we were picked up by Ali and David and headed straight on to Fort William. The film festival was great and we had some chat from Dave MacLeod, some great short films, a hilarious talk from Andy Cave and some amusing Q & A with Andy and Mertyl Simpson ("if you can ski in Glen Coe, you can ski anywhere!" - the motto of the evening).

Five bags in, four to go

With sunny skies and low winds forecast on Saturday, Kirsty and I decided to ditch our plans for a lazy day watching the rugby and head out for some warm winter rock. Usually we'd head to the peaks, but having got the West Country Climbing guide for Christmas we decided to do something a little different and headed to the Avon Gorge in Bristol for some multi-pitch limestone fun.

After a couple of hours of easy driving we parked up at the foot of the Sea Walls area (nice to have a 1 minute walk-in) had a look round and decided to have a go at Sleepwalk, a four pitch Severe heading diagonally rightward up the face. Apart from the final pitch that took a striking 45 degree flake crack, the climbing was very straightforward (scrambling in many places) and we ended up completing the route in three pitches. The one noticeable difference from our usual climbing was the limited amount of protection that quarried limestone seemed to provide and the large number of flat polished holds.

Blinded by the winter sun on Sleepwalk

Once back in the bottom of the gorge we stopped for some lunch before heading to have a look at Gronk, a five pitch VS with a steep start and some exposed traverses further on. By this time it had got very warm as the crag was south facing so I set off in just a t-shirt to minimize the bad combination of sweaty hands and polished rock.

Heading up pitch two of Gronk

Having worked out the interesting mantling crux of the first pitch Kirsty seconded up cleanly. It looked like all the bouldering had paid off as she made light work of the tough 4c moves. The real interest came on pitch three which took a spicy rightwards traverse with very little gear. This wasn't a huge problem on lead as the moves were fairly straightforward but it left the second in an exposed position when following, with a nasty pendulum should they fall. Kirsty was less than happy about this and after a long time stressing with the commitment and a few tears I tied her off to the belay and soloed up to the break above to add some protection, essentially putting her on top rope. This solved the issue and Kirsty has soon committed and made it over to the third belay.

With that issue solved we were faced with a new problem. Having taken so long to complete the first three pitches the sun was dipping behind the opposite side of the gorge. Darkness aside, this meant that it was rapidly becoming freezing cold and my decision to wear just a tshirt was looking rather foolhardy. The only solution was for me to squeeze into Kirsty's spare top, a rather snazzy purple Patagonia number in ladies' small. Fetchingly clad, I got stuck into the last serious pitch, the long leftward traverse back across the face. I got in as much gear as it was possible to find to prevent a repeat of the previous epic and set myself up hanging well below the next belay so that I could watch Kirsty's progress. I needn't have worried as with ample gear she easily followed me across and we quickly dispatched the last short pitch to top out.

Topping out as the sun sets (me sporting a fine skin-tight purple number)

Ever since booking the flights back in November I've been counting down the days to our trip to La Grave. Axes sharpened and passports packed, Dan, Sam and I flew into Lyon late on Thursday evening where we picked up our car and (after 2 hours of trying to find a supermarket using only Sam's natural charm and pigeon French) hit the road into the Ecrins fully stocked for the week and rushed along by the noxious gases emanating from Sam's backside.

On the train to Gatwick, a long way to go!

We arrived in La Grave after a nervy journey through the icy streets to a toasty -15 degrees and quickly bundled our gear into the room. We were in a small dorm with two bunk beds and once we'd started to unpack our gear we soon lost sight of the floor. No problem, floors are overrated anyway. We hit the hay with plans for an early morning start.

Which way's the ice?

The plan for day one was to head to Caturgeas and climb the first few pitches to get our skills honed on some easier ice. The conditions were a little thin but there was plenty to go at so Ed lead off with Sam and I lead the first pitch with Dan seconding. Ed's other mates (Matt, Mark and Ben) were pretty quick and zoomed up the right hand side of the first pitches moving together.

Leading off on pitch one of Caturgeas

While we waited for Ed to clear the second pitch the first incident of the holiday occurred. Dan, in no uncertain terms, informed me that he was going to shit, right here, right now. He didn't say "Tom, I need a shit", he said "Tom, I have to shit, right now". Thus ensued what has become known as the belay slomp. That is all I wish to say about that.

Dan leading quickly on second pitch for some reason

While Dan was heading up pitch two (his first pitch ever on lead) I looked up to see what is best described as a fairly sizeable spindrift avalanche coming down the top pitches. As if his first lead wasn't a stressful enough experience he had the additional fun on not being able to see the avalanche coming down, instead he was alerted by my voice shouting "Avalanche" about two octaves higher than usual. Fortunately it fairly rapidly petered out, we finished the second pitch and as quickly as possible abseiled back to the foot of the climb. If this was ice climbing, maybe I'd stick to the peak district.

Let's get out of here!

With conditions on the south side looking fairly avalanche prone we decided to head over to the north side and take a look at the classic WI3/4 Le Pylone in the afternoon. After the snow slog up to the base of the climb it became fairly clear that the conditions were as thin as feared. The climb looked very steep and there was water pouring out of the right hand side. Keen not to risk an epic we turned tail and reversed the 45 minutes approach in 5 minutes with some epic bum sliding action.

On the approach to Le Pylone

Since there was plenty of daylight left we walked just down the valley from Le Pylone and had a play on an easy climb in the small gorge below the telepherique. The climbing was straightforward but it gave us an opportunity to practise placing screws and rigging abseils which we were glad for. Knackered from the long journey and the climbing we headed back to the gite and cooked up some pasta, washed down with a bottle of red, before hitting the sack, ready for an early start the next morning.

Mr T, cranking in the gorge

The next morning, once we'd finally managed to get Mr T out of bed and some breakfast down our necks we headed back down to Les Freaux and headed up to Le Colere du Ciel. The route was getting busy so we moved quickly up the initial easy pitches to the belay at the base of the steeper final two pitches. I lead off on the first pitch which, although supposedly the crux of the route, was actually fairly easy as the ice was stepped out and I was able to hook my way up the majority of the time.

Dan, through the steepest part of the second to last pitch of Le Colere du Ciel

Dan had a quick look at the last pitch and decided it wasn't for him so I set off on the lead. In theory this was the easier of the two steep pitches but with conditions thin it was very steep and by the time I hit the top I was totally pumped and ready to be sick, a perfect mixture of terror and excitement. Dan seconded up easily and we abbed back down and took the short path through the trees to Diabolobite where Sam and Ed had set up a top rope. Feeling pretty pumped still from our effort, Dan and I took a spectator seat while Ed and Sam played around on Diabolobite, then quickly made the descent back down to the car and returned to the gite for some carbo loading.

Sam showing off some suspect ropework on the final pitch of La Colere du Ciele

With the promise of a big dump of snow on the way overnight, we had a good chat about our options before getting our heads down. With the increased avalanche risk after snow we decided that skiing might be a good option and sure enough we woke up to a blanket of white the following morning. We headed into town and rented some gear, then after a journey best forgotten involving numb hands, badly fitted snow chains and a lot of pushing, we finally made it up to Le Chazelet. Through some mixed up communication Dan and I were separated initially but got back into the groove of skiing after long absences by heading down a great red piste.

Still (just about) able to ski after a 12 year break

As we headed back up on the chairlift we were on the lookout for the others and a black blob lying on the slope caught our eye. Sure enough, having never skiied before, Sam was finding out the hard way that a red run was potentially not the best place to learn. Under the careful tuition of Matt he eventually made his way to the bottom of the run onto a more amenable green slope where, by the end of the day, he had easily mastered the craft. While not quite the same buzz as ice climbing we all had a great day.

The ski masters on lunch stop

With the final day of our trip looming we grabbed some food in the gite then headed into town for some drinks. The northern contingent of the group were heading off early to fly back from Geneva but Dan, Sam and I had the morning to try and sneak in one final climb. After another night of snow we weren't hopeful that there would be anything safe to climb but we optimistically headed to the guide's office to ask about conditions. The answer was a pretty straightforward, "Non". The other guys in the group had previously put a toprope down a chossy pitch under the car park so with no other options we geared up and had a final play on some suspect ice before packing up and heading back to Lyon to catch our flight.

Following on from a brilliant time at crack school, I was starting to regret my audacious claims that I would be putting it all into the practise on The File at Higgar Tor. Never before has a hunk of rock haunted my dreams and I woke on numerous occasions with mental images of bloody hands and whipper falls as I nervously approached the weekend.

Up and early on Saturday morning, we hit the road towards the Peaks. The plan was to spend a day and a half at Burbage North and finish up at Higgar Tor where I could man up and take my jamming exam on the File. Kirsty had kindly agreed to brave the cold with me, so we met up with Dan at Burbage Bridge car park and got warmed up at the short end of the crag on 20 Foot Crack, a thin hand crack with a couple of helpful jugs along the way. First route down, we then moved next door to the Chant which took a couple of goes to climb clean (and resulted in Dan's first trad fall - great fun!). Kirsty seconded up then we climbed it again but this time with the HVS direct start.

Committing to the crux on the Chant

With a few warm up routes under our belts we decided to get onto a classic and headed down to Knight's Move, a three star HVS. Dan was feeling good and decided to get on it (his first HVS lead) but had some real trouble finding protection and backed off after getting pumped out (it turned out he'd not taken his set of small nuts, no wonder he struggled to find gear!). Still keen for the route, I tied in and climbed it clean. I didn't think any of the moves warranted the 5a tech grade but it was consistent 4c and therefore probably warrants the HVS tag. Dan seconded it no problem and vowed to head back the following day to get the lead done.

Comfortable gear placements on Knight's Move

After topping out we noticed that the light was fading fast, but we thought there was time for one more route. Having felt pretty good all day I decided to try and take the big step in every climbers life and get my first "extreme" tick by climbing a great slab route called the Penultimate (E1 5b). After checking out the route I decided it looked doable and got straight into the climbing. It was classic grit slab climbing, trusting my feet on tiny protuberances in the rock and before I knew it I had arrived at the top, shaking with adrenaline and the proud to have achieved a long term goal. Dan followed up after a little trouble on the difficult starting moves, not helped my the fact that it was now pitch black!

Trust your feet... the Penultimate, my first E1

Chuffed with a great day's climbing we had a quick pint in Hathersage before Dan headed off to meet his family in Dronsfield. Kirsty and I stayed in the pub for some food before heading up to Edale to the YHA where we spent the evening.

Sunday morning the trio was to become four as Wendy joined us for the day. We met for the breakfast in Outside in Hathersage before heading back up to Burbage North where we warmed up on a classic jamming test piece, Mutiny Crack. Dan took the sharp end making a great job of the tough starting moves and I followed him up.

Dan heading up Mutiny Crack

Keen to make good on yesterday's promise we headed back to Knight's move where Dan took the lead. Kirsty was keen to second the route so she belayed Dan and I got onto Hollyash crack, a gentle offwidth VS next door with Wendy. Having learnt a few offwidth skills with the Wide Boyz the previous week, I found the route very straightforward as there were at least three opportunities to get complete hands-free rests and place gear. While Wendy got ready to second I gave Dan some words of encouragement as he topped out on Knight's Move next door, his first HVS lead and a great result after having backed off the previous day.

Kirsty close to topping out on Knight's Move (add your own caption for Dan!)

Eager to get over to Higgar Tor we decided to do one more route on Burbage before moving on and I was eyeing up Great Crack. I loved this route, it was a great contrast of corner bridging, hand traversing and powerful heel hooking and I arrived at the belay with a huge grin despite the hot aches screaming through my fingers.

Surmounting the corner on Great Crack

So this was it. The revision was done, the weekend was fast running out and it was time to put up or shut up. We whipped round to Higgar Tor and suddenly it was there in all its glory, the climb I had been having nightmares about, the File. Eager not to psyche myself out I quickly geared up and next thing I knew I was at the bottom looking up at what felt like an endless crack. I made it quickly to the initial roof, got my first cam in and moved on swiftly, getting my feet up to the horizontal breaks and taking a decent break on a solid locker. Keen not to get pumped out I got some more gear in and proceeded up. More of the same and before I knew it I was standing on a ledge looking at the top of the route. What a perfect way to finish off an amazing week in the peaks! Dan followed up with a few choice swear words and joined me at the top for a few high fives before we packed up our gear and headed back to the car. 

Getting to grips with The File

With a work trip to Jo'burg (and the prospect of no climbing for a week) looming I was excited to have an afternoon at the castle learning to climb cracks with the legends that are Tom Randall and Pete Whittaker AKA the "Wide Boyz". For those of you reading this that don't climb, Tom and Pete climbed the incredible Century Crack in America last year - a 140ft offwidth roof crack, previously unclimbed without aid. For a clip of the boys in action check this out.

I met Dan at the castle and we started off in the school room upstairs learning a vital skill for any crack climber, taping up. Having never climbed with tape gloves before I was amazingly surprised at how much more comfortable it made the climbing and I can't wait to try it out on grit.

Learning the mystical art of the tape glove

All taped up and ready to go we split into groups and Dan and I were under the tutelage of Tom. We started on footwork, looking at making the most out of hand size cracks for feet. The group all seemed competent with their feet so we quickly moved on to an overhanging hand crack - it looked very daunting but on getting stuck in, it quickly became clear that a little bit of tape and some great tips from Tom went a long way to making cracks feel much easier.

Dan getting some personal guidance

After finishing up the hand crack we moved onto fingers, climbing with thumbs-up and thumbs-down jams. Tom then showed us some good circuit routes to get our finger endurance up. These felt much less natural than hand jams, but comfort is not what we went to crack school for!

"I really wanna see those fingers"

Fingers, hands and toes down, now on to the fun part - offwidths! Not a skill that I envisage using in the very near future but given that Tom is the possibly the best person to teach it, I was looking forward to getting some tips. In the Wide Boyz video, offwidth climbing is described as "ultimate fighting with rock" and I began to understand why. Through a bizarre combination of hand and fist stacks, foot tweaks and a bizarre crab-like bottom foot placement we finally started to make some progress and I managed to get most of the way to the top before my various muscles gave up and I plopped unceremoniously to the mat.

Dan learning the mystical art of the offwidth

Before we knew it our time was up and we had a quick rest while we checked out the state of our hands. The tape gloves seemed to have covered most of the vital bits so we went downstairs to have a quick go at the infamous "crack machine". The crack machine is designed to represent the kind of offwidth roof climbing the "boyz" experienced on Century Crack. I managed to do the best part of a length (about one metre) before my screaming abs finally waved the white flag - it really put into perspective the amount of training and dedication required to climb something so epic.

Looking amused at Dan's rapidly reddening face...

...before Dan gets his own laughs at my expense!

With the ritual humiliation of the crack machine over we warmed down and headed back home. With plans to head to the peaks next weekend, I can't wait to put these new skills into action. Bring on The File!

Anyone who regularly reads this blog (does anyone read this blog?) will know that there are two consistent themes. The first, unsurprisingly, is climbing. The second is the weather, or more precisely how frequently the weather ruins my plans. Because of this consistent meteorological frustration I'd been promising myself that I'd make the most of any clear spells that arrive and so last weekend it was, ironically, the clear weather that altered my non-climbing plans.

I was booked in to spend time in Cambridge having a uni catch up, punting and drinking on Saturday followed by the traditional hangover breakfast in the Copper Kettle on Sunday morning. A quick glance at the weather forecast, however, showed that the Peak District was due some unseasonally warm and clear weather whilst the south of the Country would continue to labour under an oppressive grey sky. Embracing my new "can-do" attitude and after a couple of persuasive phone calls I'd got Joe and Will on board with a new plan; Cambridge on Saturday then an early morning Sunday start and a day climbing at Rivelin on the eastern border of the Peaks.

So on Sunday morning I found myself bleary eyed, regretting the last couple of glasses of wine and ready to head off with Will and Joe in tow. We arrived at the car park around 11 and after some facilities hunting got to crag in beautiful sunshine. We decided to start on Root Route, tough for the grade at severe but with some really interesting layback moves and solid protection throughout.

Warming up on Root Route - perfect blue skies on an autumn day

Will and Joe both managed Root Route comfortably, impressive considering Joe forgot to put his climbing shoes on and only realised a few moves in he was heading up in trainers. Next door loomed the impressive Roof Route, a solid HVS with some interesting jamming required, but as tempting as it was it felt like a step too far so we decided to head further along to the Altar Crack section of the crag, so named for the giant altar of rock at the centre of the buttress, and got onto the imposing Altar Crack. This climb is renowned for causing accidents, it consists of a semi-comfortable stance from which protection can be placed as high as possible followed by a mad layback dash to the sanctuary of two horizontal breaks in the rock. A fall before the breaks would end up perilously close to the ground with the added danger of smashing into the altar on the way down.

After getting a couple of pieces of gear in I nervously entered the layback section and soon realised my forearms were getting increasingly pumped with each move. Looking down at the gear which now seemed to be a mile below me, I started to get concerned. I had my hands at the breaks but needed my feet up there and didn't have the strength to make the final moves. Sweating and starting to visualise the whipper of a fall I was about to take I quickly stuffed a cam into the crack and slumped onto the rope. I shook out for a while and went for attempt number two which was unfortunately thwarted when Joe forgot to feed rope out and I was unceremoniously pulled back like a dog on a lead. Third time lucky I made it to the breaks, got some more gear in, had a rest and then finished up the final headwall to the precarious mantel finish.

Proving my lack of upper body strength during a laboured attempt on Altar Crack

Keen not to be back into London too late, we decided to have lunch and be done by four. With that deadline looming I was keen to get onto Croton Oil, an absolute classic HVS up the Rivelin Pinnacle that I had been eyeing up ever since Pat had recommended it as a Peak District must do route. Having only climbed slabs at HVS it felt like a my first "proper" climb at the grade and I was eager to get going.

Getting gear in before the crux of Croton Oil

After climbing through the slanting off-width to the plateau and then up to the low horizontal break I found myself looking at some interesting balancy moves to get established on the main wall and arete - the crux of the route. With a couple of decent pieces of protection in I decided to go for it and after a couple of interesting foot holds found myself gripping a juggy flake and getting some more gear in before quickly working up to the infamous "rickety flake". God knows how this flake is still attached to the rock, but given no other options I grabbed onto it and before I knew it found myself on top of the pinnacle in a jubilant mood.

Belaying on top of Rivelin Pinnacle - the perfect end to the day

After setting up the belay it was Will's turn. He also cruised through the initial off-width but got shut down my the crux moves. A pretty impressive attempt considering how infrequently he climbs. After lowering him off, Joe tied in and got onto the route. He made similar progress to the crux but managed to get through the toughest moves and soon ended up at the rickety flake. After a couple of false starts Joe soon joined me on top of the pinnacle for a round of high fives. We rigged up an abseil and were soon back on the ground sporting big grins.

Joe heading down from the pinnacle