17-19 April – Peak District – “New to rock”
The regular new to rock meet was a great success with some 39 members and guests attending. That’s nearly half the club! It was great to see so many new members getting involved and trying out the big outdoors. Thanks so much also to all of the experienced members who gave up their time to make sure that the weekend was smooth, safe, fun and informative.
Some members headed up on Friday to climb at Frogatt. Alan and Mary went to Birchen, they were half way through their final climb when a heavy shower passed over. Alan got washed off, safely caught by Mary. He then got quite wet at the belay and Mary was confronted by a waterfall at the start of the climb. Alan decided to abseil down to recover the gear – but they got a few routes in.
The campsite at Pindale was a little muddy but manageable. Peter and Kathy opted for the electric hookup and a heater as the night time temperature dropped to 1 degree on Saturday night. The rest of the group was disdainful – but really just jealous.
On Saturday Peter, Dom, Adam and Alan took a large group of around 15 to Horseshoe Quarry for an intro to Sport climbing. We all started on the Top quarry with bottom ropes put up on Uranus, Klingon, Vogon, Dr Who (which Rhiannon climbed first impressively) and Beam me across Scotty! As the morning progressed a few people also tried leading. After lunch we headed down to the practise lower off anchor and everyone who wanted got a chance to try rethreading under Peter’s supervision. After lunch we climbed near Toilet wall which challenged a few of the experienced leaders, with the hard route of the day set by Peter who put up “A right earful” 6a+ for everyone to try – Dom finally seemed to work out the last move right at the end of the afternoon. The rest of the meet headed over to various venues including Stanage North and Birchen for some trad climbing.
Nigel and Helena walked from Birchen Grove Bridge to Alport Towers with the intention of scrambling up the tower, however, due to lack of time and wet rock they erred on the side of caution and returned via the same route. There was some good chat about navigation tips and about the ecology and history of the Peak District.
That evening one group headed out for a large curry dinner in Hathersage whilst another from Pindale headed to the Old Port Hotel in Castleton for a drink.
On Sunday it was Trad day. 9 groups including a leader, and experienced second and a novice were set up to go and explore Stanage Popular. This was a new setup compared to previous years due to the large group and was only possible due to the large number of experienced club members helping. Thanks also to Tom for stepping in at the last minute and helping as a leader to support.
Lots of routes were climbed with the new members in the cold but clear weather ranging up to HVS (reportedly – photos or it didn’t happen)! Alan, Peter and Kathy ran an abseil workshop at the end of the afternoon letting Harry, Will, Andy, Amit, Patryk and Cade have a go at the system. Climbing on gritstone was quite a shock for many as compared to indoors as they just didn’t believe that they would stick. And as ever those gritstone VDiffs……
The experienced group headed up to Goliath grooves for a crack fest led by the indomitable K2. Kieran did say that he wouldn’t be doing TRS on cracks again soon.
Nigel ticked off a scrambling route that he had been meaning to do for some time: Chrome Hill and Parkhouse Hill from Earl Strendale. There is a long circuitous route to get to the scramble up Chrome Hill on a permissive path, otherwise the hill would be an inaccessible open access island! Once on top, via some really good short scrambles, the view of Parkhouse Hill makes it look like a dragon’s back! The second Hill, Parkhouse offered the best scrambles with longer, more exposed sections and requiring firm hand and foot placements as grip was not so good.
A great weekend with lots of learning and experiences. We know the outdoor bug has firmly bitten a few after this weekend. Looking forward to seeing everyone at a meet on the rock climbing or scrambling soon.
Great trip and some quality climbs. And some extensive abseil practise!