This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
Another post on Red Rocks about difficult to find climbs, reminded me of an experience I had there.
(Yes, the guidebooks to Red Rocks are particularly confusing as to finding climbs).
About 10 years ago a mate and me were there, we agreed to alternately choosing a climb each day.
One day he chose Geronimo on Jackrabbit Buttress. With difficulty we found the foot of the climb, and managed to do about 4 pitches, with very difficult navigation, getting into deeper and deeper trouble, until a traverse took us to an impossible slab, far above the expected 5.6 climbing. Baffled, we retreated and did something else.
Next day, I chose Cat in the Hat, and following the guide to find it, it slowly dawned on us that we were approaching yesterday's climb, and the first three pitches were the ones we climbed yesterday, but then the description made sense and we topped out this brilliant climb.
Reminded me of the ISIHAC game, one song sung to the tune of another, anyone else climbed a climb following the description of another?
(Yes, the guidebooks to Red Rocks are particularly confusing as to finding climbs).
About 10 years ago a mate and me were there, we agreed to alternately choosing a climb each day.
One day he chose Geronimo on Jackrabbit Buttress. With difficulty we found the foot of the climb, and managed to do about 4 pitches, with very difficult navigation, getting into deeper and deeper trouble, until a traverse took us to an impossible slab, far above the expected 5.6 climbing. Baffled, we retreated and did something else.
Next day, I chose Cat in the Hat, and following the guide to find it, it slowly dawned on us that we were approaching yesterday's climb, and the first three pitches were the ones we climbed yesterday, but then the description made sense and we topped out this brilliant climb.
Reminded me of the ISIHAC game, one song sung to the tune of another, anyone else climbed a climb following the description of another?
5
In reply to Fredt:
Accidentally put up a new route in lofoten last year, which my climbing partner insisted was "consistent with the guidebook" description of a completely different and much easier route nearby.
For the record it was steep, slimy and slightly loose. The one we were supposed to be doing is a classic.
Accidentally put up a new route in lofoten last year, which my climbing partner insisted was "consistent with the guidebook" description of a completely different and much easier route nearby.
For the record it was steep, slimy and slightly loose. The one we were supposed to be doing is a classic.
Post edited at 17:00
In reply to Fredt:
As a youngster I was climbing on Skye in a thick mist, we thought we had found the climb (guides to Skye were very rudimentary then) so we did it, it followed the description for about four pitches then we were lost, as the mist rose we realised we were not only on the wrong route but the wrong mountain.
As a youngster I was climbing on Skye in a thick mist, we thought we had found the climb (guides to Skye were very rudimentary then) so we did it, it followed the description for about four pitches then we were lost, as the mist rose we realised we were not only on the wrong route but the wrong mountain.
36
In reply to Fredt:
Climbed Buccaneer thinking it was Finale Groove at Swanage. I spotted some tat high up and remembered reading that there was a thread high up on Finale Groove. Thought the route was a bit stiff for 4c!
Climbed Buccaneer thinking it was Finale Groove at Swanage. I spotted some tat high up and remembered reading that there was a thread high up on Finale Groove. Thought the route was a bit stiff for 4c!
5
In reply to Al Evans:
You gotta have a like for that.
> As a youngster I was climbing on Skye in a thick mist, we thought we had found the climb (guides to Skye were very rudimentary then) so we did it, it followed the description for about four pitches then we were lost, as the mist rose we realised we were not only on the wrong route but the wrong mountain.
You gotta have a like for that.
2
In reply to Fredt:
I climbed at the wrong crag altogether in the alps once. Walked up the wrong side of the valley, found a crag, it was bolted, the lines kind of sort of matched, ish, it was pretty scrappy! I got stuck climbing a 20 6a corner that had about 3 bolts and was more like 6c.
It was only when we got back to the car that we saw the, much much better looking, main crag over the way.
I climbed at the wrong crag altogether in the alps once. Walked up the wrong side of the valley, found a crag, it was bolted, the lines kind of sort of matched, ish, it was pretty scrappy! I got stuck climbing a 20 6a corner that had about 3 bolts and was more like 6c.
It was only when we got back to the car that we saw the, much much better looking, main crag over the way.
2
In reply to Fredt:
I did Hombre to the tune of This Years Model.
I decided I didn't need to take the guide book down (despite having never been down Easter Island Gully before), got the tides wrong, got wet, dropped half my wires in the sea, and then really really struggled to follow a "line of holds across the wall".
"What, these microscopic crimps which show no signs of ever having been climbed? Where do they even go? And is this really reasonable at E3?" I thought to myself over and over again for at least half an hour. Still, I tried and tried to traverse across this smooth wall into the land of nowhere. Eventually, I went up the obvious corner which looked reasonable and well-traveled, and then the nine miles of steep grass to safety. On consulting the guidebook, it was bloody obvious what had gone wrong.
A classic early experience at Gogarth from which I learnt a few valuable lessons. Would be nice to go back to do both This Year's Model (one of the mainstream-ish Gogarth E3s I'm yet to do) and Hombre, without bumbling incompetence and abject terror.
I did Hombre to the tune of This Years Model.
I decided I didn't need to take the guide book down (despite having never been down Easter Island Gully before), got the tides wrong, got wet, dropped half my wires in the sea, and then really really struggled to follow a "line of holds across the wall".
"What, these microscopic crimps which show no signs of ever having been climbed? Where do they even go? And is this really reasonable at E3?" I thought to myself over and over again for at least half an hour. Still, I tried and tried to traverse across this smooth wall into the land of nowhere. Eventually, I went up the obvious corner which looked reasonable and well-traveled, and then the nine miles of steep grass to safety. On consulting the guidebook, it was bloody obvious what had gone wrong.
A classic early experience at Gogarth from which I learnt a few valuable lessons. Would be nice to go back to do both This Year's Model (one of the mainstream-ish Gogarth E3s I'm yet to do) and Hombre, without bumbling incompetence and abject terror.
3
In reply to Al Evans:
You are in good company! This is what Peter Habeler, only the guy who summited Everest without oxygen with Messner, did on his first job after qualifying as a guide. Apparently his clients pointed out to him just why the route they were on seemed a touch harder than expected ....
CB
You are in good company! This is what Peter Habeler, only the guy who summited Everest without oxygen with Messner, did on his first job after qualifying as a guide. Apparently his clients pointed out to him just why the route they were on seemed a touch harder than expected ....
CB
2
In reply to Al Evans:
Guide book euphemisms :
Interesting route finding - you are on the wrong route
Challenging route finding - you are on the wrong crag
Difficult route finding - you are on the wrong mountain
> as the mist rose we realised we were not only on the wrong route but the wrong mountain.
Guide book euphemisms :
Interesting route finding - you are on the wrong route
Challenging route finding - you are on the wrong crag
Difficult route finding - you are on the wrong mountain
7
In reply to Simon4:
I love Grimers story of climbing a grit slab next to The Strangler but accidentally being two metres further right, and doing a new route.
As the climbing was so similar he named it the same as the original- Skidoo, and gave it an almost identical description.
I love Grimers story of climbing a grit slab next to The Strangler but accidentally being two metres further right, and doing a new route.
As the climbing was so similar he named it the same as the original- Skidoo, and gave it an almost identical description.
2
In reply to Fredt:
Stupidly climbed Premier de Corvée instead of Ex Libris on the Brevent summit buttress in Chamonix one day & couldn’t understand why I found the grading a tad stiff
Obviously this climb was conducted without carrying or the need to consult a guidebook as the route was obvious, it goes up a massive corner!. Needless to say Ex Libris is a left facing corner & Premier de Corvée faces right, both facing each other & approximately 100 meters apart.
Just to compound the problems faced that day, it was the first route I had climbed with this particular climbing partner which certainly added more interest, needless to say, we never climbed together again!
> Reminded me of the ISIHAC game, one song sung to the tune of another, anyone else climbed a climb following the description of another?
Stupidly climbed Premier de Corvée instead of Ex Libris on the Brevent summit buttress in Chamonix one day & couldn’t understand why I found the grading a tad stiff
Obviously this climb was conducted without carrying or the need to consult a guidebook as the route was obvious, it goes up a massive corner!. Needless to say Ex Libris is a left facing corner & Premier de Corvée faces right, both facing each other & approximately 100 meters apart.
Just to compound the problems faced that day, it was the first route I had climbed with this particular climbing partner which certainly added more interest, needless to say, we never climbed together again!
In reply to Al Evans:
I went to the wrong mountain once, although I did realise before we got onto our chosen route.
When I started leading I did Digitation at Wallowbarrow to the tune of Trinity Slabs. Quite tricky for a diff.
I went to the wrong mountain once, although I did realise before we got onto our chosen route.
When I started leading I did Digitation at Wallowbarrow to the tune of Trinity Slabs. Quite tricky for a diff.
In reply to Fredt:
I've done that in mist. The thing is you can read the guide book in such a way as to make the description "fit" what you are climbing. Somehow your mind allows for little discrepancies like 100m turning out to only be 30m, and this "seems bloody hard for a V Diff", when it feels like VS, because that's what you want it to be......
I've done that in mist. The thing is you can read the guide book in such a way as to make the description "fit" what you are climbing. Somehow your mind allows for little discrepancies like 100m turning out to only be 30m, and this "seems bloody hard for a V Diff", when it feels like VS, because that's what you want it to be......
3
In reply to Fredt:
I surely can't be the only person who has climbed the top pitch of Devotee rather than the top pitch of Gogarth, and wondered how it could ever have been given HVS.
I surely can't be the only person who has climbed the top pitch of Devotee rather than the top pitch of Gogarth, and wondered how it could ever have been given HVS.
1
In reply to Trangia:
Mist is not required, descriptions can be made to fit what is in front of you in perfect visibility.
> I've done that in mist. The thing is you can read the guide book in such a way as to make the description "fit" what you are climbing.
Mist is not required, descriptions can be made to fit what is in front of you in perfect visibility.
6
In reply to Fredt:
Some friends of mine, fairly new to winter mountaineering, once set out to do NE Buttress in very poor visibility and, following the description in the guidebook, did the entire climb including the notorious mantrap, and were just wondering where the summit was, when the cloud lifted and they found themselves at the foot of Slingsby's Chimney!
Some friends of mine, fairly new to winter mountaineering, once set out to do NE Buttress in very poor visibility and, following the description in the guidebook, did the entire climb including the notorious mantrap, and were just wondering where the summit was, when the cloud lifted and they found themselves at the foot of Slingsby's Chimney!
3
In reply to Fredt:
I climbed the wrong mountain in the Dolomites once despite following the approach description to the letter. It wasn't till we got down to the hut and looked back that I noticed that the peak we should have climbed had a cross on the summit.
The problem is that it's all too easy to make what you are looking at fit the description. It's such a common phenomena that you would think there would be a name for it.
Al
I climbed the wrong mountain in the Dolomites once despite following the approach description to the letter. It wasn't till we got down to the hut and looked back that I noticed that the peak we should have climbed had a cross on the summit.
The problem is that it's all too easy to make what you are looking at fit the description. It's such a common phenomena that you would think there would be a name for it.
Al
Post edited at 10:47
In reply to GridNorth:
I set out to climb the Lagginhorn with a new alpine partner, it was dark and quite a lot of cloud came in. Presently we got through it and the visibility improved and we reached the summit. We looked across at a slightly higher neighbouring peak that, to my considerable surprise looked remarkably like the pictures of the Lagginhorn, also wasn't the Weissmeis that we had climbed the previous day supposed to be the only other 4000m peak in the area, so why was the one we were looking at higher?
It took a minute or 2 for the horrible realisation to set in, then we discovered there was supposed to be a ridge between the Fletschhorn and the Lagginhorn, so we did eventually get to the Lagginhorn summit, rather later than intended.
It was on this same trip that I decided that my new partner, on his first trip to the Alps, was not experienced enough to climb the North face of the Lenzspitz. So I took him on the Rochefort -> Grandes Jorasses traverse instead, being a safe, easy escape, non-committing Alpine route. It took another 20 years before I finally climbed the Lenzspitz, NOT by the North face, but with the same partner.
I set out to climb the Lagginhorn with a new alpine partner, it was dark and quite a lot of cloud came in. Presently we got through it and the visibility improved and we reached the summit. We looked across at a slightly higher neighbouring peak that, to my considerable surprise looked remarkably like the pictures of the Lagginhorn, also wasn't the Weissmeis that we had climbed the previous day supposed to be the only other 4000m peak in the area, so why was the one we were looking at higher?
It took a minute or 2 for the horrible realisation to set in, then we discovered there was supposed to be a ridge between the Fletschhorn and the Lagginhorn, so we did eventually get to the Lagginhorn summit, rather later than intended.
It was on this same trip that I decided that my new partner, on his first trip to the Alps, was not experienced enough to climb the North face of the Lenzspitz. So I took him on the Rochefort -> Grandes Jorasses traverse instead, being a safe, easy escape, non-committing Alpine route. It took another 20 years before I finally climbed the Lenzspitz, NOT by the North face, but with the same partner.
Post edited at 11:05
1
In reply to Fredt:
The descriptions for the first few pitches Direct Route and Spiral Climb on Glyder Fach used to be the same and they both started by a capstan shaped block. I got some way up the former in mist and rain while following the description for the latter.we abseiled off once the climbing got harder than our level of Diff!
The descriptions for the first few pitches Direct Route and Spiral Climb on Glyder Fach used to be the same and they both started by a capstan shaped block. I got some way up the former in mist and rain while following the description for the latter.we abseiled off once the climbing got harder than our level of Diff!
In reply to alan moore:
Once did extraction instead of the fang as looking out from the corner went right not left on pitch 2, seemed a big step up in grades at the time.
Once did extraction instead of the fang as looking out from the corner went right not left on pitch 2, seemed a big step up in grades at the time.
In reply to Stephen Reid - Needle Sports:
Arriving at the FOOT of a route after convincing yourself you had climbed a quite different, quite long and hard route is impressive. Arriving at the TOP of somewhere quite other than where you thought you are is routine.
> NE Buttress in very poor visibility and, following the description in the guidebook, did the entire climb including the notorious mantrap, and were just wondering where the summit was, when the cloud lifted and they found themselves at the foot of Slingsby's Chimney!
Arriving at the FOOT of a route after convincing yourself you had climbed a quite different, quite long and hard route is impressive. Arriving at the TOP of somewhere quite other than where you thought you are is routine.
1
In reply to GridNorth:
I think the name for it is imbecility
Once when we hadn't climbed much in Leicestershire (our then local patch) we went to climb in Whitwick Quarry for the first time. With difficulty, we had just managed to fit all the features described in the guide on the various climbs to the rock features in front of us when one of our group found the proper Whitwick Quarry - we were in the working quarry next door.
It's amazing how one can make such fundamental mistakes and get the descriptions to fit whatever's in front of you.
Funnily enough, once in the proper quarry, the descriptions fitted much better.
I think the name for it is imbecility
Once when we hadn't climbed much in Leicestershire (our then local patch) we went to climb in Whitwick Quarry for the first time. With difficulty, we had just managed to fit all the features described in the guide on the various climbs to the rock features in front of us when one of our group found the proper Whitwick Quarry - we were in the working quarry next door.
It's amazing how one can make such fundamental mistakes and get the descriptions to fit whatever's in front of you.
Funnily enough, once in the proper quarry, the descriptions fitted much better.
Post edited at 21:10
In reply to Fredt:
Lliwedd.
We went to do Avalanche I think, what with it being claggy and all.
It was perhaps 1986. Our guidebook was ancient - but the beautiful, yet strangely useless diagram was irrelevant due to said clag.
Lliwedd is notable for being rather unfeatured - you can climb almost anywhere at Severe. However, this isn't much comfort when you can only lead VD and the whole place is gopping. It's also notable for the bedding planes leaving the holds all sloping down and not furnishing great protection.
We found the start. We really did. Richard says so, so it must be true. Guidebook cracks and grooves and slabby bits duly followed.
However, the overhang wasn't mentioned. So we went left a bit and found a large chimney. Not in description and slightly nervous so we thought it must be in another route's description. Scoured guide. No chimney.
Stopped. Ate sandwiches and put guide in bottom of sack. Climbed chimney anyway, arrived at terrace. Carried on in meandering line to summit. Walked over Snowdon and Crib Goch to finish. Lovely day.
Ticked route...
Must go and climb Avalanche sometime. I hear it's classic.
Lliwedd.
We went to do Avalanche I think, what with it being claggy and all.
It was perhaps 1986. Our guidebook was ancient - but the beautiful, yet strangely useless diagram was irrelevant due to said clag.
Lliwedd is notable for being rather unfeatured - you can climb almost anywhere at Severe. However, this isn't much comfort when you can only lead VD and the whole place is gopping. It's also notable for the bedding planes leaving the holds all sloping down and not furnishing great protection.
We found the start. We really did. Richard says so, so it must be true. Guidebook cracks and grooves and slabby bits duly followed.
However, the overhang wasn't mentioned. So we went left a bit and found a large chimney. Not in description and slightly nervous so we thought it must be in another route's description. Scoured guide. No chimney.
Stopped. Ate sandwiches and put guide in bottom of sack. Climbed chimney anyway, arrived at terrace. Carried on in meandering line to summit. Walked over Snowdon and Crib Goch to finish. Lovely day.
Ticked route...
Must go and climb Avalanche sometime. I hear it's classic.
2
In reply to JJL:
Approaching Lliwedd one foul January day, hoping to find the "giant quartz chevrons" that mark the start of Slanting Buttress. The cloud began to rise revealing the chevrons and a team of three, already a few pitches up. Clever chaps we thought, to find it in the fog.
Anyway the clouds continued to rise revealing that they were, in fact, on some scrappy rubble down by the lake, hundreds of feet below the base of the actual crag.
They must have been hacked off because there was lots of shouting and they went home. We did Slanting Buttress in the rain. I expect they had the better day...
Approaching Lliwedd one foul January day, hoping to find the "giant quartz chevrons" that mark the start of Slanting Buttress. The cloud began to rise revealing the chevrons and a team of three, already a few pitches up. Clever chaps we thought, to find it in the fog.
Anyway the clouds continued to rise revealing that they were, in fact, on some scrappy rubble down by the lake, hundreds of feet below the base of the actual crag.
They must have been hacked off because there was lots of shouting and they went home. We did Slanting Buttress in the rain. I expect they had the better day...
1
In reply to Fredt:
I once climbed the Plum at Tremadog whilst thinking it was the Fang. Remember thinking it was well hard for the grade!
I once climbed the Plum at Tremadog whilst thinking it was the Fang. Remember thinking it was well hard for the grade!
In reply to Al Evans:
As a youngster, but many years after your tale I would hazard, I was in the Tatras, Poland. Wanting to bag the highest peak in the country and having other commitments the following day, me and my companion set off from the Morskie Oko refuge at about 2am, hoping to make it to the summit in time for sunrise and then back for breakfast. We had to get out of the shared dorm and then climb over the electrified bear fence surrounding the hut before we could start the journey. After 2-3 hours of relentless upwards progress in the dark and many discussions about what we'd do if we actually saw a bear, we arrived at the summit just before dawn.
As the sun came over the horizon we were treated to glorious views of the whole Tatra range, Polish and Slovakian and also another mountain just next to ours that looked very much like Rysy, because it was.
As a youngster, but many years after your tale I would hazard, I was in the Tatras, Poland. Wanting to bag the highest peak in the country and having other commitments the following day, me and my companion set off from the Morskie Oko refuge at about 2am, hoping to make it to the summit in time for sunrise and then back for breakfast. We had to get out of the shared dorm and then climb over the electrified bear fence surrounding the hut before we could start the journey. After 2-3 hours of relentless upwards progress in the dark and many discussions about what we'd do if we actually saw a bear, we arrived at the summit just before dawn.
As the sun came over the horizon we were treated to glorious views of the whole Tatra range, Polish and Slovakian and also another mountain just next to ours that looked very much like Rysy, because it was.
4
In reply to thread:
Stephen Reid's story aside, it seems everyone has done a harder route thinking it was an easier one but never the other way round?!
Stephen Reid's story aside, it seems everyone has done a harder route thinking it was an easier one but never the other way round?!
1
In reply to Fredt:
Many years ago we set off to do the Vaucher route on the Aig. du Peigne. Walked straight past it and headed up the couloir on the S side of the Pelerins (what on earth was I thinking?). Reached the rock and started sorting the rope out.
Yes, 1 rope.
You got a knife, Jack?
No. Why?
So I can cut this bloody rope in half. (it was his rope)
Various expletives followed.
We set off. Not much joy. Jack tries. I try again. I fall off.
We give up.
A bit later, as Jack nips behind a boulder to take care of some things, I look around. (which I should have done earlier)
I spot a cagoule lying in its stuff sac among the boulder. Take it with a bit of joy. ( I still have this bit of crag swag - it was one of those very light full-length French jobbies.)
Notice that the mountain above us bears a significant resemblance to the Peigne and indeed the description of the Vaucher route.
Jack comes back and I show him the cagoule and the mountain.
A bit of bad language ensues.
As penance, we walked back to Cham and all the ink on my return ticket dissolved in sweat.
In retrospect, the Vaucher route may have been a bit challenging for us. No rock shoes on Alpine Climbs in those days. Not the done thing!
I think "our route" is probably still unclimbed.
Many years ago we set off to do the Vaucher route on the Aig. du Peigne. Walked straight past it and headed up the couloir on the S side of the Pelerins (what on earth was I thinking?). Reached the rock and started sorting the rope out.
Yes, 1 rope.
You got a knife, Jack?
No. Why?
So I can cut this bloody rope in half. (it was his rope)
Various expletives followed.
We set off. Not much joy. Jack tries. I try again. I fall off.
We give up.
A bit later, as Jack nips behind a boulder to take care of some things, I look around. (which I should have done earlier)
I spot a cagoule lying in its stuff sac among the boulder. Take it with a bit of joy. ( I still have this bit of crag swag - it was one of those very light full-length French jobbies.)
Notice that the mountain above us bears a significant resemblance to the Peigne and indeed the description of the Vaucher route.
Jack comes back and I show him the cagoule and the mountain.
A bit of bad language ensues.
As penance, we walked back to Cham and all the ink on my return ticket dissolved in sweat.
In retrospect, the Vaucher route may have been a bit challenging for us. No rock shoes on Alpine Climbs in those days. Not the done thing!
I think "our route" is probably still unclimbed.
In reply to Fredt:
After a visit to the guides office in Argentiere, I climbed a long slab route above the helipad and across the river, with the description of via corde PD 3c at le Bois, also with a helipad and river, Wondered where the restuarant at the top was... found the correct route a week later. They were nearly identical too. Just 4miles apart, and one restaurant at the start of one, and a restaurant at the top of another.
Some funny stories here!
After a visit to the guides office in Argentiere, I climbed a long slab route above the helipad and across the river, with the description of via corde PD 3c at le Bois, also with a helipad and river, Wondered where the restuarant at the top was... found the correct route a week later. They were nearly identical too. Just 4miles apart, and one restaurant at the start of one, and a restaurant at the top of another.
Some funny stories here!
2
In reply to John2:
No, indeed, I've done the same. I didn't even realise I'd gone wrong until my second kept falling off.
In my youth I went through a purist phase of being pretty technically competent whilst being famously unable to read a route. I've played the one route to the description of another game a lot. To be honest, I put up both Sundare (E1 5b) and Not Blisterin' Barnacle (E2 5b) by mistake...
> I surely can't be the only person who has climbed the top pitch of Devotee rather than the top pitch of Gogarth, and wondered how it could ever have been given HVS.
No, indeed, I've done the same. I didn't even realise I'd gone wrong until my second kept falling off.
In my youth I went through a purist phase of being pretty technically competent whilst being famously unable to read a route. I've played the one route to the description of another game a lot. To be honest, I put up both Sundare (E1 5b) and Not Blisterin' Barnacle (E2 5b) by mistake...
In reply to Fredt:
We set off up the Ryan Lochmatter ridge on the Plan, bivvied at the start of it and managed to climb a couple of pitches before realising that we were in fact on the East Ridge of the Dent du Crocodile.
We set off up the Ryan Lochmatter ridge on the Plan, bivvied at the start of it and managed to climb a couple of pitches before realising that we were in fact on the East Ridge of the Dent du Crocodile.
2
In reply to Fredt:
On pitch 3 of Vector (E2) I traversed left and pulled over a roof onto the slab. I had Ron James' guidebook, which said something like 'cross the slab to an overhanging crack'. Did 'cross' mean leftwards or upwards? The crack on the left didn't look particularly steep (I mainly climbed at Swanage) but the one above fitted the bill! I remember desperate moves and uncurling fingers but I made the belay, having unknowingly climbed The Croaker (E3).
On pitch 3 of Vector (E2) I traversed left and pulled over a roof onto the slab. I had Ron James' guidebook, which said something like 'cross the slab to an overhanging crack'. Did 'cross' mean leftwards or upwards? The crack on the left didn't look particularly steep (I mainly climbed at Swanage) but the one above fitted the bill! I remember desperate moves and uncurling fingers but I made the belay, having unknowingly climbed The Croaker (E3).
In reply to Fredt:
First ever visit to St Govan's. Followed Deranged then picked War Games for my first lead. Didn't study the book too closely as the line looked plain to see. Things began to veer away from the description, but by then I was two-thirds complete and half-resting in an awkward niche. Battled on and pulled over the top, having encountered a fairly loose block on the headwall which sent people on the platform running for cover. That was the first ascent of War Crime...
First ever visit to St Govan's. Followed Deranged then picked War Games for my first lead. Didn't study the book too closely as the line looked plain to see. Things began to veer away from the description, but by then I was two-thirds complete and half-resting in an awkward niche. Battled on and pulled over the top, having encountered a fairly loose block on the headwall which sent people on the platform running for cover. That was the first ascent of War Crime...
In reply to Rob Exile Ward:
Its funny you should say that ...
Not helped by the old Alpine club guide description to the route being directly translated from the French one, but with a critical phrase missed out :
"now go up a snow slope on the right for 500m to the start of the route proper"
As we found out to our considerable chagrin, after finishing up on a blank, hard, unprotected granite slab with shiny bolts visible 10m above but quite out of reach. An INTERESTING situation to get out of.
> We set off up the Ryan Lochmatter ridge on the Plan.... before realising that we were in fact on the East Ridge of the Dent du Crocodile.
Its funny you should say that ...
Not helped by the old Alpine club guide description to the route being directly translated from the French one, but with a critical phrase missed out :
"now go up a snow slope on the right for 500m to the start of the route proper"
As we found out to our considerable chagrin, after finishing up on a blank, hard, unprotected granite slab with shiny bolts visible 10m above but quite out of reach. An INTERESTING situation to get out of.
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
Loading Notifications...