Also known as the day the Ravens ate John's malt loaf. Out of all the classics so far, Flying Buttress in The Pass holds a strange place in my logbook. I’ve climbed the route 2.67 times and never had a dull visit; learning many lessons, making mistakes and gaining experience. The Cromlech is close enough to the road that you’d be able to see someone breaking into your car in the layby, but at the same time so remote that you’d be able to do nothing about it for an hour or two. It’s kind of a roadside crag but not a place to get caught out. In June 2004, Flying Buttress was my 6th multi-pitch lead and despite being a bit gloomy, was still a good day for climbing. Partner for the day, Hannah, was a little more experienced but we were definitely learning together and were pretty pleased with ourselves as she set up a belay at the top of pitch 3. Although a pair was ahead of us, they seemed experienced and were moving quickly. As JG, their leader, shouted he was safe at the top of pit...
Poor weather in the Lakes gave us a weekend in Yorkshire, a county that spreads most of the way across northern England but only contains 2 of Ken’s Classics. Almscliff Crag on a perfect Yorkshire summer day Almscliff is squarely in the realm of another classic; BBC’s strangely successful Last of the Summer Wine and in parallel with the show, we arrived, 2 middle-aged blokes, to play about in the countryside, with a Yorkshire Dales backdrop. I hope we looked a bit more competent and less desperate to impress than the characters we recalled, but with the reputation that Parson’s Chimney has, competence and desperation may both come into question. First impressions of the crag are beautiful but understated; a modest sized lump of castle-like rock, topping a small summit, with 360 views and climbs on all sides. With the temperature hitting 24C by 10am, we were drawn after our 2 minute walk-in to the shady side, which happens to have the classic on. Choosing to warm up on a VD w...
Midge issues at 5:30am Of course, having a tick list shouldn’t blinker you from the other great possibilities around you. So for our next visit to The Pass, being midsummer, we planned a lengthy enchainment of crags from road to summit, incorporating 2 Classic Rock routes. The original version of the day saw a sensible breakfast time, safe in the knowledge that we could climb until 10:30pm if we needed to; no great rush. In the run up to the trip, the met office couldn’t agree for more than half a day what the weekend was going to look like, but the final forecast before Saturday looked good….. until about 3pm! Did we want to be climbing Main Wall in drizzle or even a potential thunderstorm? No, an alpine start seemed to be calling. Sleeping in the car has its downsides but a big advantage is not having to find a parking space. Others were already pulling up in the layby while we were pushing in our porridge and double brew at 4:30am. What time do you need to arrive to get a space? The...
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