1996 First year of uni, First weekend MUMC meet, the Lake District, Langdale to be precise.
Saturday was a wash out, not surprising in October but it didn't matter to Hares and I, due to a lack of prior planning we were in the minibus all weekend so despite the damp night were still dry.
However, late on Saturday night, probably more like Sunday morning, the drum, drum, drum on the bus roof began to get quieter and we managed to drift drunkenly off to sleep, for a couple of hours, when it got light, and we woke up. A lack of prior planning forced us into another bout with a Kraft cheese slice and pickled onion space raider sandwich. OK at first, but not after three meals in a row. Still, lunch would be nice; perhaps Kraft Cheese slice and pickled onion space raider sandwiches.
How we envied those with experience, they had bought tents, camp-mats, even stoves, tea, milk, sugar, mugs. Oh for the heady days of naive youth; nowadays it's all club huts and boxes of food. The importance of which a lack of prior planning teaches you over the years.
Once the wise old owls had filled themselves with such luxuries of bacon and sausage, readied themselves with monster rucksacks festooned with all sorts of metalware it was up to the crag; or Upper Scout Crag as I was reliably informed.
I teamed up with Hares, a fellow first year who informed me that he'd “done a bit” and Lucy, a wait for it......third year; who had evidently “done alot” as she prepared to take us up a nice looking two pitch route.
After climbing this we wandered down to the bottom looked up to choose the next route and I thought, “I wouldn't mind a crack at this leading lark” , so feeling emboldened I chose the easiest route, a Diff, with the biggest, easiest to set up belay, a tree, and a crack, on a ledge big enough for six and asked for an impromptu lesson in setting up a belay. After all, a lack of prior planning never got anyone anywhere.
The lesson seemed to go OK and so I took a lot of bits of funny metal off Lucy, tied on and with her and Hares' encouragement set off.
.... Well.... What a feeling.
Totally different to seconding, no matter how big the holds, I remember the innate concentration in every movement, complete absorption in the rock, rather than a rope running to the top, looking for cracks for these 'nuts', actually clipping in to the 'quickdraws' and then tying into the tree and shouting “safe” Then sitting down for a moment on my own, looking out onto the Langdale valley in the brilliant autumn sun and thinking. Yeah, I think I'll carry on with this climbing lark.
And what I remember most of all is that NEVER has a Kraft cheese slice and pickled onion space raider sandwich tasted so nice.
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