Swastika Stones

On saturday afternoon I headed up to Swastika Stones (named after this) to meet up with Matt and Jim - who'd travelled all the way from Sheffield to visit this quality bit of esoteric grit. I'd only been there once before on a sunny evening not long after moving to Burley so was keen to see what it was like in colder conditions. It was grey and windy and although a lot of the rock looked damp it was in pretty good condition.

After warming up we spent a load of time working out the sequence on a 6A arete which I thought I hadn't done before but according to my ticklist on yorkshiregrit apparently had and even more time working out the sequence on Christmas Day arete which I'd also apparently done before. I hadn't done this on the right-hand side though and couldn't use the lank method Matt and Jim worked out and so after many skin-ripping slaps for the sloper that Matt and Jim could get statically we moved onto something else.

I had said to Nicky that I'd come back in time to watch the rugby but we soon got sucked into trying the dyno Swastika Eyes that gets 7B in the latest Yorkshire bouldering guide. The top of this was pretty damp giving a limited area to catch:



Matt got his hand over the top after a couple of jumps and soon had it ticked - although topping out pulling on clumps of heather looked pretty exciting! A lot of tries later I also managed to stick the top and opted for a scary mantle on the 2 inches of dry rock on the lip instead of the heather option. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure that this isn't 7B and I wouldn't argue with the 6C this gets on yorkshiregrit. Whatever grade it is it's a great fun dyno - kind've like an easier version of Jet Set.

I headed home to find that Nicky's grumpiness that I'd not made it back in time for the match was partly defused by the fact that Wales had beaten England!

Three sevens in a day!

After an unproductive trip to Crookrise on wednesday when I slogged up to the crag with 2 mats but failed to do anything new and a brief trip to Ilkley with Matt on friday - got to crag, it was raining, came back for cup of tea - I was keen to get out this weekend. It was wet and windy yesterday but today was forecast to be perfect. I got woken up before 8 by the sun streaming through the windows but Matt was suffering from a night out in Leeds and so it was nearly 12 before he arrived in Burley. I wanted to go to Simon's Seat/Lord's Seat and so after some cunning parking (glad we weren't in my car as I doubt it would have fitted in the space) we slogged up the hill to Barden Fell. This was nowhere as bad as I thought it would be (only 1 mat helped) but I think it was more of a struggle for Matt!

We headed to Lord's Seat first and after a quick warm-up (the grit here's so rough that I was keen to preserve skin) I tried the 7A to the right of the classic prow/arete McNab. Despite having video beta my "flash attempt" was pretty lame. Matt then had a go and found a great heel-toe and with that and a bit more video foot beta a few goes later it was in the bag. I then pulled the mats over under McNab and after some more video beta and a bit of skin loss I got the crucial undercut and was rocking up onto the slabby topout for the second Font 7 tick of the day.

Matt had quite a few more goes at the 7A (Deep Black) with his lanky method and a few other folk turned up. He was looking pretty close but didn't quite have the energy to pull on the crimps so decided to sack it and so we packed up the pads and headed back towards Simon's Seat. On the way we wandered across the moor to what I thought was Hen Stones but as is often the case the great looking crag in the distance turned out to be tiny and the real crag was a bit further away. When I found it the classic arete we were looking for was obvious and some kind boulderers had put loads of stones in the bog below the arete to keep the pads out of the mud.

The right side of the arete gets 7B and has a much less nasty looking top-out than the left side (7A) so we got on this first. After working out the sequence (no video beta) I was ready to throw for the top but didn't commit. Matt seemed surprised as it didn't look that far and next try I did slap up - missing the good hold but the friction was so good that I stuck it and bumped my hands up to get the jug and then top-out the final 7 of the day. Matt had lots of good attempts on this but couldn't stick the barn-doory move lower down. I got Matt to take a post-send glory shot:



I then had lots of failed attempts to pull onto the 7B+ arete of Free Range but only succeeded in wearing through a couple of tips. Matt managed to get off the ground on this (unlike me) with some extreme span, high foot sequence and so he's keen to come back. I then had a few goes on the left-hand side of the arete that Bird Flu climbs on the right but the first time I got up to the top I didn't commit to the scary mantle and the tries after that I didn't really try to get to it (so I didn't have to wuss out of it again!) We headed back in the faded light after a great afternoon.

Pulling through to victory with bleeding tips...

One of my favourite climbing quotes comes from Warren Harding after he climbed the Nose: "As I hammered in the last bolt and staggered over the rim, it was not at all clear to me who was conqueror and who was conquered: I do recall that El Cap seemed to be in much better condition than I was." What that has to do with today's antics should become clear later but first I ought to note down what I've been up to since I last posted.

Once my fingertip had sort of recovered from Earl I had a couple of hours at Brimham where I looked at some of the outlying bits. I did an ok 6C and then had a few goes on Elwood P Dowd but the top sloper was all gritty and the top-out was wet. After both having rather too large nights out in Leeds on friday Matt and I were too hungover to enjoy the sunny cold conditions on saturday but headed out last sunday. We started off trying Cowboy Daze but it's pretty high and the top needed a clean so after Matt bailed off the last holds I wasn't very psyched to put much effort in. The bottom moves are nice though so I guess I should get on it when it's clean. We then had a lot of goes on Boris or Bust which even with 4(!) mats feels scary. It seemed pretty tricky too but it could just be that once you've had one barn-dooring out of control fall off it committing to the moves feels hard!

Matt on Boris or Bust:



Matt off Boris or Bust:



On wednesday it was again cold and sunny with a gentle breeze - perfect grit conditions. I headed back to the outlying bit of Brimham and with the amazing conditions thought I'd done Elwood P Dowd second try. I then tried to do the slightly harder and better line to the left, Harvey. Due to my own stupid fault - not resting properly between attempts, I failed to stick the slap for the top a few times and then my tips were too trashed to do the start. To make matters worse I got home to discover from the fountain of all knowledge UKB that I had used an eliminated hold on Elwood P Dowd and missed out a hard move.

Today I went back and worked out how to do the last move on Elwood P Dowd without the disallowed hold (and with tape on most of my finger-tips) which was tricky but much more satisfying. However my tips were so sore and pissing blood on the rock that I was worried I wasn't going to be able to do the start. I had a couple of goes but failed to stick the last move. I then had a go at the top move of Harvey and that felt fine. Carefully constructing the minimal amount of tape protection so I wasn't bleeding but could crimp I pulled on Elwood P Dowd and scraped my way up it. I then dragged the mat over under Harvey and also managed to drag myself up it. No post-send glory shots I'm afraid as there was no way I was pulling back onto those slopers with tips like this:



Going shopping in Sainsbury's with bandaged fingers and blood-stained clothes on the way home drew some interesting looks...