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To climb or not to climb

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 rtinma 13 Dec 2021

To climb or not to climb?

December late afternoon. Tenuously clinging to a single good hold on the flat top out, I try to do what I did the first time, raise my right foot high enough to smear the top of the rock and topple over the edge. Seven metres above a bouldering mat I know will be in trouble if I miss it and fall onto the rock platform. No-one knows I’m here. It’s cold and will be dark in less than an hour. My car is parked just off an unfrequented road near Hepburn. What the hell am I doing here?

Photo-opportunity Arete at Hepburn says it all. High but relatively easy, I had climbed it the first time enjoying the sequence of moves, making the high step at the top with ease. Why not set up the camera for the classic photograph? So I set off again and that is when I found myself marooned, miles away from any help facing the possibility of a bone-crushing fall and hyperthermia. For some reason I couldn’t repeat the rockover move. I had come too far round the arête. So I inched my way back and found another hold which I hadn’t noticed or needed before. Relief. Sitting on top I could savour the twilight tranquility with the Simonside Hills stretched out before me, the snow-draped domes of the Cheviots in the distance.

With some trepidation I have explored other unfrequented crags on my own, an hour or so from the road; Rylstone and Great Wolfrey in the Yorkshire Dales; Kay Nest and Boulby on the North Yorkshire Moors; Slieve Binnan in the Mourne Mountains. Some had phone signal, others didn’t. The consequences of an awkward fall could be serious. How to make it more safe to visit these places without losing the sense of adventure? And why go to these places on your own anyway?

There’s nothing like the thrill of exploring an off the beaten track crag. The seclusion of Smuggler’s Terrace beside the North Sea, accessed by rope down a steep wooded landslip; the cry of curlew and lapwing in the Pennines; wind-buffeted cottongrass on Simon’s Seat in the Dales. Each place tugs at the heart, making the long walk in and out worthwhile and those intervals between climbs even more precious especially for those who love and need solitude.

It takes time to find your way around and to choose the climbs which you can safely attempt. I have a simple rule of thumb, connected to three elements - the height, the landing and the top-out. If two of these are dodgy, I’ll back off, but if two of them are alright then it’s good to go. Of course it is essential to let someone know exactly where you are going, otherwise you might end up between a rock and hard place. Other factors include where the crux comes and the difficulty of the climb. Paul’s Arete at Slipstones for instance has a flat landing and a good top out which may justify climbing its 7 metres. Steve’s Wall to the right has the same grade, but a slight traverse and a difficult stretch near the top makes it a far more risky proposition.

The rewards of climbing in such places can outweigh the apprehension and the risk, the time and effort. I remember climbing two problems at Camp Hill on the North Yorkshire Moors, just above Great Fryup Dale (named after the goddess Freya, not the greasy spoon). The climbs were done in twenty minutes, but it took an hour to drive there and nearly an hour to walk in. Four hours for twenty minutes climbing? Well worth it.

6
 alan moore 13 Dec 2021
In reply to rtinma:

Yep. What it's all about.

Have a like!

1
 Rog Wilko 13 Dec 2021
In reply to rtinma:

I know I’m being a grumpy old pedant, but there is quite a difference between hyperthermia and hypothermia. Enjoyed the read, though. 😀

OP rtinma 14 Dec 2021
In reply to Rog Wilko:

Thanks. A bit of a typer.

 midgen 14 Dec 2021
In reply to rtinma:

It's been a bit of a crappy year, bereavements etc....but I do have a highlight. My other half is from Glossop and I'd driven Snake Pass enough times and eyed up the north edges of Kinder, I decided I needed to get away from it all and still don't have a regular climbing partner, so opted to go and check it out on TR solo.

I didn't finish a climb in the end. The first route was too green, then the weather turned, so I just sat on the edge for a couple of hours eating my lunch looking out over Ashop moor as the showers rolled over the moors and the sheep were driven along the clough below. 

I didn't see anyone for hours. It was bloody marvelous. I can't wait to get back there after some dry weather in the summer, preferably with a partner, but going solo was incredibly therapeutic!

In reply to Rog Wilko:

> there is quite a difference between hyperthermia and hypothermia. 

Not if you're in nerrth yerrkshire

In reply to rtinma:

Lovely little read that, thanks.

 climbingpixie 14 Dec 2021
In reply to midgen:

I found out just before last Xmas that my dad's cancer had spread and was untreatable. So I've spent a lot of time up in West Cumbria, trying to enjoy the last year of my dad's life as much as possible. It's been pretty intense at times and I found coping with his decline and the inevitability of his death very upsetting.

Climbing has been an amazing companion throughout, providing a number of bright spots in what was largely a depressing year. I've had a lot of great trips - highlights being a weekend on Scafell, an expedition up Avernus on the Lleyn, soloing Tower Ridge, a great day on Gimmer and climbing all the 3* HVS and E2s on Neckband but, in the soloing theme of this thread, one day stands out.

I was up seeing my parents for a long weekend back in September and, though the weather over the weekend was crap, the Monday forecast was incredible. So I chucked my shoes and chalkbag in my rucksack, drove out to Buttermere and slogged up the hill to Grey Crag. In splendid isolation I soloed Suaviter and Oxford and Cambridge Direct Route. I scrambled back down to the bottom and pottered up Harrow Wall, Slabs West Route and finished up Oxbridge Entrance, bumping into a couple of climbers at the bottom of the final route. It was absolutely glorious, a much needed respite from seeing the cancer eat away at my wonderful and previously vibrant 63 year old dad. Intense in a good way - I've soloed before but never anything on a high mountain crag - and the knowledge that it was likely to be my last mountain day of the year made it all the sweeter. 

 Lankyman 14 Dec 2021
In reply to rtinma:

A good read - you're obviously happy with your own company. When we were under the first lockdown, last year and unable to drive except to work I was lucky enough to have field paths available from home. In one direction I could climb a small hill and in others go through flat farmland. Quite often I'd sit alone in the fields by a tree or hedge and be as content as if I were in the mountains. No work or covid worries. The scenery was by no means grand but it didn't matter to me at all. It helped that we were having a spell of warm, dry weather!

 Graham Booth 14 Dec 2021
In reply to rtinma:

Rylstone certainly is unfrequented.

In reply to climbingpixie:

Your post reminds me of several visits to Grey Crag for early, and still-remembered, days of lead climbing whilst still at school (Slabs West being a particular favourite at the time) and, much later, my best ever day of soloing taking in most of the Birkness Combe crags starting from Grey Crag and working left via Eagle Crag to High Crag. It finished with me trying a route on what I thought was Sheepbone Buttress. I didn't have a guidebook and hadn't remembered any crag details but thought there were no hard routes so I could just have a go. I made an awkward move on to a big grass ledge but didn't fancy the continuation and couldn't reverse the initial move. I was starting to panic until I realised there was an easy way down over to the left. After that I thought it was time to go home.

Post edited at 18:15
 steveriley 15 Dec 2021
In reply to rtinma:

Excellent, did you make any silent promises to imaginary deities if you were allowed out of it safely?

I don't know if it's lockdown or getting out at short notice without a keen regular partner, but I've had some excellent adventures at out of the way spots in the last 2 years. Almost all of them great days. As a tribe we really do lack imagination

 Derek Furze 15 Dec 2021
In reply to rtinma:

I had a spell of doing this type of thing.  I was bored with visiting the same old places, so started going up to the higher edges by myself for the evening.  Places like Kinder North and the ones overlooking Edale, as well as Dovestones Tor.  Often I'd just do bouldering or micro-routes, but I also completed a few things that were substantial and I was always the only person at the crag.  Of course, we always tell ourselves we are being careful - climbing in control - but it only takes one slip, even off an innocuous looking boulder problem to sustain a broken ankle.  Not sure the crawl down from Dovestones to the A57 is quite in the Ogre league, but it would certainly be painful!  I loved it though and the solitude makes those days really special.  Coming down off the moors as day turned to night was brilliant and provided a surprising number of wildlife experiences to top up an already heady mix.

 MeMeMe 15 Dec 2021
In reply to climbingpixie:

Soloing on high mountain crags is great isn't it?

I've similarly done a bit of this summer after a tough year and coincidently soloed up Oxford and Cambridge route too (although the bottom of grey crag was certainly not in splendid isolation unfortunately!). I've had some great days soloing Corvus (Early start, walked in and climbed it and was walking back before anyone else arrived), and my last solo of the summer was on the Napes, a great spot and some good stuff to solo, made my summer.

 climbingpixie 15 Dec 2021
In reply to MeMeMe:

It was amazing and definitely something I'm keen to do more of in the future. It seems like a great way of getting myself out and up some easy Lakeland classics, stuff that I'm almost certainly never going to climb if I've had to hike a rack up to the crag. Plus, much as I love climbing with my partner, there's something really special in being alone in the mountains - whether that's walking, running, scrambling or climbing. I can go at my own pace without worrying about holding anyone up (a perennial concern on walk ins), I can fanny about taking pictures or whatever and I enjoy not being able to abdicate things like navigation decisions to someone else. I always found it quite empowering but this year in particular it's been a vital counterpoint to how helpless I've felt dealing with my dad's cancer.


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