UKC

Climbed my first HVS 5A yesterday, Lyons Corner House Direct, at Millstone and I'm well chuffed (don't care if it does make me a "punter")as i can still count the number of times I've trad climber on the fingers of one hand and i'm nearly forty (started this game late in life). Must say though that my heart rate was through the roof by the end.

In reply to Anonymous:


No it makes you someone who can be proud of a proper lead (I assume) of a good HVS route. Well done.

In reply to Anonymous:
Hey congratulations I hope you are proud of yourself. I lead my first HVS "Crystal Edge" this weekend and I am 40! (no sense in hiding it)

In reply to Anonymous:

Good stuff, and definitely not a soft touch at the grade!

G

In reply to Anonymous:

Yep, on site lead, no resting on gear, just lots of sweating and the odd trembly knee

In reply to Chardee B:

Good effort, sir and madam (Chardee = madam, is that right??). Is that Crystal Edge in Pembroke on those slabs where Michaelangelo is? If so I remember doing that about a hundred years or so ago, and I thought it was rather stiff for VS at the time.

In reply to Anonymous:

There must have been something in the air ..... I also lead my first HVA 5a - Short Slab at Curbar ....aged 38 and climbing for approx. 13 years ....I'm well chuffed with myself.

So pleased I went and lead the E1 5b next door - Greenacres - WOW - did I have a headache this morning.

Thanks to Offwidth, Sarah and Nigel who were there to encourage me on the beautiful delicate slab.

Congratulations to all ....I can honestly say I know how you feel.

In reply to Lynn Robinson:

Did you now? We did those on Sunday. Do they sport any gear at all? Good effort going from VS to E1 in a day. And a particularly good call not to pick, say, Three Point Turn and Fidget to try and do it on.

In reply to johncoxmysteriously1:
Yeah that is the one. I had a real knee trembler (don't say anything!) at the overlap bit and the bf asked if I wanted him to lead it but I thought "No way!" I wanted to do it myself so I summoned up my courage and went for it, lovely holds but I was really glad to get to the finishing bit of Michaelangelo and get some solid gear in!

In reply to johncoxmysteriously1:

Green Acres sports a huge pocket which takes a perfect Friend 4. They both take a small Friend in the top break, but it's all over by then. Personally I thought Short Slab harder than Green Acres.

G

In reply to Chardee B:


Get your profile updated! No sense in hiding it.

G

In reply to Graham:
No one took any photos *sniff*

In reply to Chardee B:

No, your best onsight grade.

G

In reply to Anonymous:

Nice one. My first Hard VS was Lyons Corner House. I had a look at the Direct but thought it looked harder

In reply to Graham:
I'll see what i can do

In reply to Anonymous: nice one! i recomend you do rubberneck on the 5 clouds@ the roaches next! Its excellent climbing for the grade and very well protected!

In reply to dylan burgess:

Rubberneck is superlative, but quite hard for grade. Maybe next obvious one (at Millstone) is Great North Road.

In reply to Anonymous:

Well done sir!
I'm gonna be 40 this year and only started climbing 5 years ago but intend onsighting my first E4 before my birthday

In reply to Graham:

Green Acres sports a huge pocket which takes a perfect Friend 4. They both take a small Friend in the top break, but it's all over by then. Personally I thought Short Slab harder than Green Acres.

Agree with gear placements, although I also had a small friend in a pocket to the left of the huge pocket on Green Acres.

I'm 5ft 4 inches tall with a small ape index so found the rock-over move on Green Acres the hardest move. Agree that the slab above is easier than the slab on Short Slab, but still wobbling from the huge rock over, on balance I found Green Acres harder.

PS Just spotted a typo in my first posting - of course it should have read HVS not HVA!!!!

PPS Gordon, - it must have been all that smearing practice at the Roaches last weekend!!!!

In reply to johncoxmysteriously1:

Oddly enough Nigel led and I seconded Three Point Turn. An odd one to grade: I thought HVS 5b but somehow it feels harder than 5b or HVS without the logic to justify an upgrade of either. Nigel later failed on that nasty crack left of Cioch Crack.

My great failure of the day was bottling the 'paps' finish of Cioch Crack. We wont talk about Sarah's day if we want to stay alive. Burnt off by Lynn, the lot of us.

In reply to Offwidth@home:

Harder than 5b?! You're kidding. I thought HVS 5a was about right: quite stiff I agree, little bold up to that slot which I imagine takes some gear.

Nasty crack left of Cioch Crack? Cioch Left Hand, possibly? We had a Very Experienced Gritstone Climber with us who reckoned he'd once had a wobbler on that. (presumably more of a panter, bearing in mind the nature of the climbing, but the point stands).

In reply to johncoxmysteriously1:

I didnt say it was harder than 5b, it just sort of feels that way. I'll stick with 5b for getting your feet up high at about 2m, it was certainly unusual and that grey lichen is very slippery.

Just to keep you happy we did think Beech Buttress should be downgraded to 4b as we couldnt find a 4c move on that..and Campion Groove to S.

Oh and Cioch Crack is bloody brilliant and deserves another star.

In reply to Offwidth@home:

Hey, I led my first HVSs two weeks ago: Goliaths Groove at Stanage and (inevitably) Knights Move at Burbage North. Im 48 and been climbing three years. Any good ?

In reply to stonewall:

Of course it's good, I would have been pleased to lead GG at 18, never mind 48. Onwards and upwards for you sonny

In reply to sutty:

since we are talking about veterans, one of the best things I saw was on one of our first days at the peak: we had just done a VD and HS I think over at Crow Chin and we were having something to eat when we saw an elderly gent with a walking stick coming towards us with a younger chap. Was thinking: nice to see someone in his 80's out for a walk with his son, but then he came right up to us, put his stick down and soloed the routes we'd just done. Gulp !

In reply to stonewall:

I usually carry a walking stick when going on the hills as the descent s are a bugger on the knees. My poles seem overkill sometimes. I only climb easy stuff now but still have to lay down the stick to climb.

Going in the opposite direction, we were on Crow Chin a few years ago, about five, and saw a team of beginners gearing up. one was having his harness put on, rope tied on for him, then, BLOODY CHALK BAG! Why cannot people learn to do without it till they really need it?

In reply to sutty:

The lines of chalk up various mountain routes in Wales last weekend were a bit annoying - no need when the holds are <----------------------------- this big ------------------------------------------>, and not usually needed in most cases it's used, but you know that!

In reply to James Jackson:

Sorry I may have been responsible for some. This weekend was my first trip to Wales. I was leading the second pitch of Sabre Cut on Cromlech on saturday and was getting scared as I have never climbed more than about 60 feet off the ground before and the wind was howling and I was getting a bit shaky especially with a crap rock 1 by my feet and last decent gear about 10 feet below that.

In the vien of the original thread though the following day on sunday I also lead my first HVS called G-String at Tremadog. I got a proper pump going through the crux but lots of fun!

In reply to stonewall:

Well done! Goliaths Groove is certainly no walkover at HVS. I was, I guess, not completely unhappy on my onsight attempt a few years back, that from a fairly blue sky a huge black cloud appeared and it chucked it down causing me to abandon at 3m. With an omen like that oddly I havent been back since :-O

Lynn quite rightly still hasnt stopped talking about Short Slab and Green Acres. What is a reasonable time you think to tolerate someones joy before taking the piss, as I sadly only lasted seconds: in response to the fact that after finishing Lynn immediately "mooned" us (sort of a tradition for us on hard leads so I apologise to other crag users).

In reply to Lynn Robinson:
Good effort Lynn, very impressed. Keep up the good work. Nice to hear that people are enjoying their climbing as much as me!

See you in Sept

Mike

In reply to Big Gay Mike:

Indeed: 5a moves above gear with no TAKE IN or SLACK heard all day.

In reply to Offwidth:
Wish i was there, but on second thoughts, your Missus mooning at the top of a slab only conjours dire images.