Before I left for the UK and after my last climb at Smiths Beach I had suggested I might not get back on rock until next weekend. But Lisa is very understanding and accommodating, or should I say tolerating, of my insatiable desire to climb. I think my drive to get out today was further fuelled by the opportunity I had in England to solo a few routes from the old days in the Peak District. Then, added to that a mottle crew were available and keen to see if we could nab a morning session, despite the continued wintery, wet and windy weather:
As the image above shows I was clearly very excited about today’s trip out. My last two sessions before going to the UK were solo sessions. And while they were a lot of fun, lead climbing is where it is at and I was itching to get on a particular route. Howsie had climbed at Moses Rocks a week back with Ash, when they managed a few routes before getting rained out. But they were both happy to return here and like me Howsie also had his eye on a specific route. Both of these were at the northern end, and both were a tad gnarly so not great warm up routes:
As we passed the northern section, Howsie was eyeing up Kami-kaze Catfish (20) and I was looking longingly at The Plough (18). The latter being on the lowest section of the crag, and as such the bottom part was subject to wave wash. Therefore, despite a strong will to climb The Plough, after having had a beer and meal in its namesake pub in Hathersage in the Peak District, we walked on by. As we did we checked out the cool selection of faces along the way, including of course the mighty zawn. But that too had waves tumbling in making it look pretty uninviting:
It was great to have a crowd out today, comprising Ash, Josh, Howsie, Craig and I. Craig has not cracked a mention in my posts for a long time, in fact it has been close to eleven months since he was last on rock. Something that surprised both of us, and was only realised after I had trawled through past posts to worked it out. And this lengthy stint between climbs is something that he is keen not to repeat. We trouped on, seemingly in no great rush, just enjoying being out and catching up. But we did have a plan in mind and eventually got to our destination:
Rumpoles Rocks is at the far southern end of Moses Rocks, and as soon as we arrived it was down to business. A great crag with what some might call broken or inconsistent lines. However, it has a lot of very cool routes that any true trad climber would have a lot of fun climbing. Plus I had a little project here that I was keen to test myself on. Before I got to that we were determined to warm up on some easier stuff. Howsie was sensible and took Ash and Josh up Yogurt (14), but Craig managed to sway me from my chosen line and instead try Chillies and Garlic (16):
It was a tad feistier than I had hoped for as a warm up, and I felt pretty tired and uncoordinated as I made my way up it. This was despite avoiding the direct start because it seemed a tad wet and slippery. The boys were still enjoying their more appropriate warm up amble, as Craig and I walked down. While he had not climbed for eleven month’ish he made surprisingly short work of the route I had led. So it was clear he was still capable and as such it made sense to throw him on the next lead, which he didn’t seem to mind:
I think he had decided to lead it from the start, as he had hinted that if I changed my first lead he would jump on what I was intending to warm up on. Which is exactly what he did, taking his time on Jugs Galore (14) to make sure his gear was good but other than that looking like he gets out on rock every weekend. The whole while there was banter going on between the two parties, it’s not a huge crag and were never too far away from each other. And as Josh took images of Craig, I was taking images of Howsie on lead:
Josh and Ash were not up for a lead yet, and they were in luck as it never takes too much encouragement to get Howsie back on the sharp end. The other two looked on as he struggled his way up the bottom wall of Olive Oil (16), and once he got past this section his description of the holds and moves were less than inspiring for them. Resulting in both of them being a bit nervous about following him up, so we gave them a bit of encouragement and when they went for it they both made it look so much easier. Probably as they used a very obvious, big and positive hold, one Howsie had somehow completely missed:
While they were making it look easy, it was time for me to get on my project. A sneaky line that I have not seen any record of anyone having climbed before. I’ve previously attempted the bottom part of this line, and try as I might I could not remember who that was with. And it will probably surprise Craig to find out that it was with him when we came here with Jamie early last year (https://sandbagged.blog/2021/02/20/the-power-of-positive-thinking/). Back then neither of us could manage it, and I had written ‘and so we will have to return to bag it another day. Preferable a dry day’, which today the rock was not:
I again had to try numerous approaches, and it paid off as I eventually unlocked the sequence. So the slightly damp conditions today didn’t matter and I pulled off a clean lead, with plenty of self emitted vocals when I felt it was getting sketchy. Ash, Howsie and Craig have all seen me go a bit harder and on new or unfamiliar stuff, so didn’t bat an eyelid. But it did surprise Josh who had not witnessed me needing to resort to such tactics. Afterwards Craig and Howsie both attempted the line with the rope above them, Craig finally working out a sequence that he could manage however Howsie was stumped:
During Craig’s attempts the abrasive nature of Moses Rocks, which makes it feel so much like Millstone Gritstone found in the Peak District of England, bit through the sheaf of the rope. The sheaf being the protective outer skin within which the brilliant white core of the rope, now fully exposed, shone through. As I had packed my bag for today’s trip I had been thinking that it may be a good idea to cut this rope, to make a smaller and more manageable length for the crags we have in this area. And it looks like I will be doing exactly that now:
Despite feeling a little spanked, there was talk of one more climb. Howsie and I considered heading back to jump on our respective lines of interest at the other end of Moses Rocks. But it was instead decided to bag two more lines here, Craig jumped on Olive Oil while Howsie decided to climb Hexed (15). I thought they might both struggle a bit after their battle following me up the new route, which after a discussion in the car on the way down I decided to call The Bunyip (19/20). And as they set off on their leads we got the first proper shower of the morning, just to make things more interesting for them:
Indeed, Howsie managed his line but was showing signs of getting weary. In part possibly due to the perplexing nature of the climb we had pointed him towards. I thought maybe Kym and I had under graded it. Although, having followed up the line afterwards I don’t think so. Craig however ran up his line without any hesitation, but with great joy and sealing a very successful reintroduction to rock. Just proving that he is an old hand at climbing, assisted no doubt by his ridiculous ape index and unnatural finger strength that never seems to wane, maybe due to his job as a mechanic:
Sandbagged 