Totally absorbed

It feels like it has been a while since I climbed at Moses Rocks, but it has only been two months.  That was with Tomski, who had asked at the time “where’s Jaime and why didn’t she come out with us”.  So it seemed fitting that this time I headed out with Jaime, and no Tomski.  I can’t recall the reason Jaime hadn’t joined us two months back, but yesterday Tomski had a pretty good reason for not tagging along seeing he is back in Israel.  The morning was more than a little damp back at home but I was confident that it would be OK down at Moses in the afternoon:

Unlike our trip to Welly Dam where Alan and I only did a single climb, due to the persistent rain, this time the forecast was spot on.  The clouds started to break as we walked in during the early afternoon and we were climbing mostly in the sun.  We also chose the north facing walls which meant we were protected from the moderate south westerlies.  There aren’t heaps of climbs above grade 10 on this section, but enough for us to have a bit of a play.  An allow me to feel like I was going back to my climbing youth:

Our first climb was Stanage Youth.  For those not aware Stanage is a four mile long mega cliff in the heart of England and is one of the many famous gritstone crags.  A place I cut my teeth when I started climbing (https://sandbagged.blog/2017/07/30/part-4-the-peak-district-learning-the-ropes/) and the place we used to camp was a pub called The Plough in a small village called Hathersage.  The name of the village is the name of the route I’m on above, and you may be wondering with just the two of us how we got the image.  Well Lisa joined us today, not to climb but just to soak up that great Moses atmosphere:

I knew we wouldn’t have too much time on rock, as Lisa and I had a few things to get sorted on the way home.  So next up was a Classic Thrash, the idea was to make sure Jaime would at least feel like she had to work on the few routes we would get in.  It’s a steep, in fact slightly overhanging wall, which provides a strenuous outing.  That is as long as you don’t make use of the opposite wall of the chimney.  Each time Jaime wanted to lean across and use the other wall to give her arms a rest I simply gave her a heap of slack, which meant she would have fallen further if she slipped.  This was the perfect encouragement for her to get back on the wall:

I could see Lisa watching in the back, and I got the feeling that she was looking at the lines wondering how she would go on them.  One day we will find a climbing shoe in which she can fit her fused toe, most shoes make the toes point downwards but her toe points upwards.  So far we’ve had no success, so if anyone has any ideas of good shoes for fused toes let us know.  Back to the days climbing and as I went up Classic Thrash I spotted this tiny exoskeleton, which we guessed had been left behind after the unknown creature had moulted:

There weren’t too many other creatures to spot.  I did find a lizard that had found the perfectly angle crack allowing the sun to stream in and warm it up.  Other than that there were only mossies, and we only found out about them from Lisa.  Jaime and I were on the move and they never seemed to settle on us, but Lisa was getting munched.  She didn’t complain about it so we cracked on, and I decided on a short but fun traverse climb.  Jaime was all smiling, as she belayed me from the corner in the sun and away from the wind:

However, once she started to follow me out the realisation hit her of just how rounded the crack was, with no other options for hand holds.  I think the Classic Thrash had done its job in making her work, and this route just added to that.  There was also a good incentive of not falling, and landing in the sink.  The waves hit the rock shelf below and sent spray flying upwards before the main body of water engulfed the shelf below.  It was an exhilarating position for sure and despite finding it hard work Jaime was all giggles and laughs.. after she’d completed the route:

We squeezed in one more line called Fish Food.  Like the one above called Nothing too Serious, it was a route that Craig and I established three years ago, when we had also enjoyed a winters afternoon at Moses rocks with the sun on our backs.  A day when everything we did was a new route https://sandbagged.blog/2018/06/24/new-stuff/.  After that line it was time to allow Lisa to escape the mossies, and I reckon I walked out most of the way out looking backwards.  Not to see the crag in the sun, but to watch the waves.  They had been full of energy today, with the promise of even more energy tomorrow:

Today was an earlier start, and I met Mario in Capel at 6:30.  An hour plus later we were walking back to Moses Rocks watching the waves crash into the headland.  It was Mario’s first time to hit rock for six months.  Back then he had been training at a boulder wall and after down climbing most of the last problem of the night, he jumped down to the mat a mere meter below.  On contact with the mat he heard his meniscus pop.  One surgery and months of rehab later he was finally ready to test the knee on real rock:

So with a good selection of mid-grade routes on offer, and being a place Mario has not climbed at before, we headed to the most southerly section, Rumploes Rocks.  To be careful with his knee we decided it would be better to rap in, this also allowed us to look down from above to scope the conditions. The rock was feeling good and there was a ledge below from which to belay, but with the bigger swell some of the waves looked a little threatening.  The crag is not in the direct firing line of the open waters but we wanted to make sure the belay ledge wasn’t being flooded:

In view of being Mario’s first time here I was happy to offer him the floppy end, and see how things went.  We started at the left-hand end and worked rightwards, leaving a few lines out for one reason or another.  We bypassed the most left-hand route, Rude Awakening, as it isn’t really a warm up route.  Mario started on and sailed up Rarely Wild, but had to stop and think before getting up the mid-section on aptly named Hexed.  I often feel people may be disappointed with this crag, the difficulty of the routes is often short lived, but each line has character and Mario certainly seemed to be enjoying himself:

Moving rightwards he decided not to lead Burning Both Ends.  The gear is sparse and the moves up the mid-section are hard to read.  So not wanting to risk a dodgy landing he skipped it and instead ate up Yogurt, which provided ample protection and fun moves.  After following up he suggested I should jump on the pointy end for Burning Both Ends.  He seemed keen to try it with the rope above him, so one small RP and an interesting cam placement later I committed to making the moves so he could follow.  We really should have taken an image of that cam placement, it’d be interesting to see what other might have to say about it:

I then went back to belay duties, and I have to say I was really enjoying them.  The waves were stunning to watch, occasionally crashing into the protective blocks sending spray high in the air and water cascading down into the pool between us and the blocks.  The consistent and rhythmical sounds was both soothing and energising, each sensation washing over me in a positive way.  The rope followed us along the base and we found dry’ish places to lay it, at times just a foot or two away from the water lapping below:

Most of my time was spent looking out to sea.  As Mario soldiered on above me I felt the movement in the rope to tell me how he was going.  He really enjoyed Chillies and Garlic, then Jugs Galore and next up was the best line of the place Olive Oil.  There was little rest in-between each climb, and with a rap line to avoid the walk down we were moving pretty quickly.  There was no sign of his knee playing up or complaining as he gobbled up route after route.  On each climb I came across his favourite piece of gear, his No.4 cam, and it was clear he was having a lot of fun:

The No.4 cam is a big piece of gear and I was impressed that he found a spot for it on every route.  And as he climbed, climbed, climbed I watched, watched, watched.  Both of us absorbed in our respective situations.  He kept going, ticking Finger Licking and then making short work of the thrutchy off-width of No Spinach for Popeye.  I took heaps of video clips of the waves and included a couple below so you could get a sense of atmosphere, made all the more intense by being so close to the water’s edge.  I reckon I could have stayed there all day soaking it in:

I got the feeling we might climb every route but by the end there were two we missed, one being a variant and the other a bit of a walk in the park.  Before we wrapped it up, we headed back to the far left-hand end to finish on the route we decided not to start on.  Kym you may be interested to know that we reckon Rude Awakening is a bit of a sandbag, and it was the only line Mario struggled on.  I think it is fair to say he had a stonking first day back on rock, and better still no niggles or pains in the knee.  My only concern now being that Mario will just keep getting stronger and then I’ll struggle to keep up with him: