We met up at Steeton station and I drove to the crag. It looked a bit frosty at first but all the rock was pretty ice-free. We warmed up on the usual aretes where there were a few folk about. A couple of them were trying Handy Andy's which I did years ago between snow showers on an absolutely baltic day when I'd dragged Nicky to the crag from York - she was upset when the snow started but I was so keen to stay I suggested sheltering under a boulder rather than retreating to the car. I've had a few plays on it since but never seriously as the crimps are pretty sharp. Anyway keen to dole out the beta I pulled on and the crimps felt pretty rubbish - they were caked in chalk and felt a bit greasy. For some reason I kept on (probably because I was doing better on it than the other people there) and a few goes later I fell off when my foot popped off as I hit the penultimate hold. Now I was really keen to get it repeated and kind've ignored the suspicious flat spot in my finger. This was a bit sore from earlier in the week when I slipped with a knife whilst chopping celeriac to make soup (how middle-class an injury is that?!). A couple of attempts later the inevitable happened and I tore a huge flapper.
The rest of the day was pretty useless for me as all the tape on my finger tip wasn't helping my already poor form. I failed to do The Flakes, did the John Dunne Slap the crap non-slappy way after way too many goes trying to eliminate the intermediate crimp and had a few useless attempts on Sloping Beauty - probably more goes than it took me to do it years ago.
All in all pretty useless waste of the best conditions this winter. Really need some motivation to get out and try and regain some of the strength from last year.
