Mina Leslie-Wujastyk has continued her current run of good form by ticking Neil Mawson's link-up Raining Bats and Dogs (8c) 8c at Malham Cove. The line joins Bat Route (8c) 8c into Rainshadow (9a) 9a.
Mina had tried the linking traverse section in the spring, but struggled to piece it together. She told UKC:
'It's very sequence-dependent (lots of foot options and a couple of different methods) and I think until you find the right way for you it can feel really very hard!'
The headwall section was familiar to Mina through working Rainshadow. The first half of the route is composed of Seventh Aardvark 7b into the crux of Bat Route 8c (which Mina did in 2015). Mina added: 'It wasn't all new climbing, although there was some remembering and relearning to do.'
Mina had originally planned to spend this autumn on Rainshadow following a promising spring season trying it, but due to a thankfully short-lived shoulder injury and a busy summer, she didn't manage to fit in the intended training preparation for it. Mina explained:
'I came to this season feeling very fit (thanks Flatanger) but not strong enough to make further progress on Rainshadow (the crux boulder being the issue). I didn't want to lose confidence on Rainshadow by banging my head against the moves when I know with some training I can be better on them, so Bats and Dogs seemed an obvious choice: a great route, a good training opportunity and lots of fun!'
Last month, Mina redpointed Nordic Plumber 8c at Flatanger Cave in Norway. Bats and Dogs is her 4th route of the grade.
Comments
Congrats and well done Mina! :-)
Awesome stuff.
Great work.
Keep it up. :-)
Sav
"I didn't want to lose confidence on Rainshadow by banging my head against the moves..."
Great quote regarding her recent incident. Well done for getting back on that horse!!!
Bat Shadow next, or Rainshadow?
It's all a bit complicated up there.
There's an interesting interview with Mina from a few weeks ago:
https://www.trainingbeta.com/media/tbp-112-mina-leslie-wujastyk-overcoming-fears-setting-big-goals/?portfolioCats=72
I will give this a listen tomorrow. :-)