A Wednesday morning in June

'Dutch courage', the highball in Shitlington, I opened several years ago

The weather hasn't been great in England, the last few weeks. No surprise, I haven’t been able to climb outside much since the day in the Woods with Frank and Wieneke. Only once, to be precise.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Shitlington with John, Bob and Steve. The name describes the area well, it’s not the best of venues in the county. I thought I’d never been to Shitlington before (Andy would never of taken me there), till I passed this huge boulder. It turned out to be the first (and only) highball I opened several years ago. I must admit I was pretty impressed I had once climbed that problem.

Because the forecast of today looked quit good, I decided to take Fonz to Shaftoe for a couple of hours. Amber is at nursery on Wednesday mornings, which gives me just enough time to have a short in- or outdoor session. 

I warmed up in the moves of ‘Lost Arrowhead’, a 7c traverse. As soon as I found a sequence, I managed to link the moves and do the problem. There must be limitations to ‘Lost Arrowhead’, or the holds of the problem have become bigger over time, because it felt way too easy for a 7c.

Fed up with the flies hovering underneath the Lost Arrowhead cave, Fonz and I moved on to the Main Buttress (one of my favourite blocs in the county).

First, I worked in ‘Sloppy Poppin sitstart’. Besides the first move (which is probably a 7c move on its own), I got the problem wired. Straight after I tried ‘Central Wall’. All of a sudden I could do most of all the moves (something I haven’t been able to do before). I didn’t, however, dare to do the last move without a spotter.

All in all, it was a satisfying and pretty successful morning. As soon as I can do a one-arm lock-off on a sloppy crimp I will be able to finish ‘Sloppy Poppin sit’, and I’ll finish ‘Central Wall’ as soon as I bring a spotter along. Something tells me ‘Central Wall’ will be in my bag a little sooner.....

Fonz and the 'Main Buttress'