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Sunday 22 February 2009

Jesus on a bike or death on a stick?

With the weather being far too mild over the week, for winter climbing, I suggested to John that we go cragging on one of the Aberdeen coast finest/scariest cliffs, Earnsheugh (above) to try Death Cap, E1 5a***. John was keen as he'd never been before and was surprised by the height and steepness of the crag.
With an abseil in to the base of the cliff, most of it free, there's no going back. John abbing in above.
The first pitch consists of a big open corner, most of this was wet today, with small roofs and bulges giving some interesting climbing and funky moves. Followed by a gear-less traverse out then back to the belay. John making his way to the belay above.
Once John joined me on the ledge i had the pleasure of telling him where the next pitch went, a very exposed traverse out under a roof to the head wall. John climbed this in good style above.
With much of the crag being damp to say the least, we headed a mile up the road to the far more relaxing Clashrodney. First up we climbed Gorgon VS 5a** above.
John on Chester VS 4c. Both routes were fun a but a tad easy so we headed over to Cairnrobin piont for something with a bit more spice.
The routes here are shorter but harder. Above is me leading a tricky E2 5c called Streetwise. both John and i lead this. John getting the head point on sight.
Walking over i spotted a line and had a good look at it before getting on it. I was slightly nervous/worried as there didn't look like there was much gear to be had. A very tenuous traverse with no gear led me the slab where i placed a sold nut and moved on (above). There wasn't nothing after that to the top (6m). This was a very bold but good E2 6a* with serious ground fall potential.
Last but not least Yellow Peril E1 5b*, above is john tackling the crux roof of this strenuous little route. Not bad for someone who was still in his pyjamas!

All in all a good day was had, and hopefully a good start to a fantastic rock season...though winter's not over yet!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Crickey guys! Good going today. Great pics and you did some scary stuff, by the looks of it.

Sarah said...

that was me leaving a comment by the way :-) xx