Well, it’s been a long time since I wrote on here!
The main reason for this neglect is simply that it has been a busy year, with a promotion at work and, of course, lots of climbing going on.
Shortly after my last blog — way back in February — I had a very successful trip to Trowbarrow Quarry. Not only did I climb some pretty cool boulder problems on the Red Wall, I also onsighted ‘Cracked Actor’, E2 5c. This was an excellent result so early in the year, as one of my objectives was to consolidate the E2 grade (see ‘Moving into 2018’).
Hepburn — the first new crag I visited this year (photo taken in Autumn)
With that success firmly in mind, I was back off to Northumberland. It was to be a year of exploration far beyond the haunts of last year. Due to having a car with me, I was able to try out new crags from the moment I arrived in the County. The first of these was the fantastic bouldering venue of Hepburn.
On my first visit to the crag I ticked off several climbs on the lovely ‘Warm Up Wall’, a low, slabby escarpment with some quality low grade climbs on it. I also managed the technical 6B ‘Hard’, which was, somewhat predictably, the most difficult climb on this section of rock. With balancey moves, including a single-finger layback, this is a climb which is not to be missed! The many aretes at Hepburn are real classics, and on this first visit I climbed ‘Fine Arete’ 6B, which has a burly sit start.
Slacklining in the snow, one way to deal with the ‘Beast’
Another venue I’d never been before was Back Bowden Doors. Despite spending a lot of time with the area’s more popular protagonist last year, this unhinged, shadowy figure had lurked unseen until this point. Once this surprising new character was revealed, however, Back Bowden was to yield a fascinating array of classic climbs.
But not yet.
I had a chance to boulder there in early March, and the plan was for Elaine to come up and explore some of the trad at the crag. We only had chance for a small amount of climbing, though, before the ‘Beast From the East’ put paid to that idea. Instead, a lot of climbing films were watched at that time…
When the snow finally cleared, conditions were poor for a while. I managed to snatch the odd bouldering session outdoors, but found myself increasingly heading to the small indoor bouldering room at Alnwick. I also managed to check out a couple of indoor walls further afield with some colleagues: EICA at Ratho, and Newcastle Climbing Centre.
About to spring on ‘Coffee and Commitment’
Towards the end of March the weather settled down and I managed some good, high-ish problems at Back Bowden, including ‘Pinup’ (E2 6a/V3). I also worked out a nice dyno on a little boulder at Hepburn, which I called ‘Coffee and Commitment’, because that’s what it took for me to get the send. It’s a cool problem, around V3 in difficulty: starting on two sidepulls, you reach up for a big pod, match it, and dyno up and slightly leftwards for a good hold on top of the boulder.
After all spending so long mostly bouldering, it was getting to a point where I really wanted to climb some trad. One of my new colleagues, Al, had mentioned that he did a bit of climbing.
April/May was a time for roped climbing, and adventures in the mountains…
The Next Reach 