On Friday Craig and I headed out for a wee climb to celebrate my birthday, but seeing Lisa and Elseya were having a day off school too I didn’t want to drift too far so as to allow me to spend a bit of time with them too. So after a quick drive and short walk we were at Castle Rock:
Craig didn’t seem keen on the first lead so I went first, knowing that my pre-selected line up of routes meant tackling Cool Minty Freshness as a warm-up. I wasn’t feeling on top form and sure enough I pumped out on the slopey, smearing, steep start to this climb and failed to get to the thank good jug before my arms gave out. Craig however romped up it and confirmed that despite the many times we see people struggle on this fine line the grade we gave it was appropriate, even if it may be high in the grade:
I had to start to that line, as while Craig has got out three times in the last month these trips have been his reintroduction to climbing from a much longer break. So I had left the more sedate leads for him and he started on the fun Cornflakes, which I am pleased to say I too managed to climb without taking a rest:
Next up for me was that great line on which Steve stick-clipped the first bolt with his fishing rod. I managed the first clip but kinda went too far right and failed at the second clip. Well Rounded is certainly not what I was feeling but on the send attempt I read the holds better, stayed on line and pulled through in much better style to top out. Craig once again followed with a clean ascent. I love the image below that shows a full lay-back with both feet smearing to glory on this cruxy move:
Next up a climb that suited Craig to the ground and he stepped up to the challenge making short work of Stepping Up. I improvised with the belay to allow me to get some better images, as you will see by the anchor at the base of the cliff and the angle I was able to take images from. When he got to this part of the climb things got a little more nervous but he managed just fine. By now the sun was getting a bit too bitey so after I followed him up (during which I managed to drop one of the bolt plates as I fumbled about) we headed round the corner for one last climb in the shade:
My lead again and I was a bit nervous starting up this route, but the cool shade gave me a bit more confidence or was it energy making me think it was probably doable. So I set of with some level of confidence and soloed the first wall to the big break, nervously steeping up to reach the first bolt. After clipping it I thought that was a silly thing to do so I down climbed a bit to put in an extra piece (what was I thinking?!):
Then it was down to business and I cranked hard in an effort to get established on the very fine headwall of Welcome of Tsaro. As Craig took on the more relaxed belay approach that I use while he took images, I failed yet again and went spinning off into space. I gave myself a good talking too and set off again this time getting established and managing to hold on the whole way up. Craig once again followed up making a clean ascent of this very worthy line:
I’ll blame my efforts on too much sun and the general lethargy that comes with hay fever, as opposed to getting old. That said it was a great morning out as it always is and we both really enjoyed the delights of Castle Rock.
Sandbagged 