Routes, Lakes and Cats!

The guides have gone. That's the the biggest change in the last few weeks. Really short evenings and a house to myself. Its all good though! Just had a great few days in the lakes with Sarah and have done some great routes in the last few weeks. Biggest news is that I ran for a good few hours and my hip though uncomfortable doesn't shoot with pain when I go up hill.

The best route of the last few weeks has defiantly been The Strand on upper tier Gogarth. Its a stunning line and defiantly one which jumped out at me from the guidebook pages. Another E2 5b classic test piece and long, a full 42m. It was a massive  mental effort for me to get on it. I hate blowing an onsight, especially on a classic. I don't know why but getting to the top of a route when you've climbed it bottom to top with no knowledge of the moves or gear feels so much better. The Strand isn't particularly hard to figure out gear wise, you can throw two racks at it and something will go in nearly every metre. I just worried wether my arms would last to the top.

On a damp Thursday afternoon Will and myself arrived at the bottom of the crack line. It didn't look too bad but was wet so we headed down to Imitator so Will could practice a traverse rescue for his assessment and the sun could come around and dry the route. Down at the ledge below Emulator and Imitator I looked back in the direction of The Strand. The shortening that a wall takes on when you stand at the bottom was gone, the pitch looked massive. Long and sustained. The doubts crept in. Some messing around later we were back at the bottom of The Strand. "It still looks wet," I convinced myself. Will knew I had psyced myself out so we went round and he cruised up a damp Run Fast, Run Free. I didn't even bother to second and abed off after Will from the top of the 4b pitch. We went home.

The following day I was back with Tom Grant who has just started on the guide scheme and again I was standing at the bottom of the Strand. It hadn't rained overnight and we'd just done Emulator. I didn't really have a valid excuse not to just try. So I racked up. I tied in and for the first time in months it felt like I climbed. I kept thinking of stopping. Just lowering off. I was just waiting for my arms to fail. I had to remind myself to breathe once or twice but I seemed to keep making upward progress. The climbing was great and arriving at the top felt amazing. I can still see the ropes running back down the crack through a string of gear to Tom below and the land falling away to the sea. The thought makes me smile.

The following week I rang Joe to see if he wanted to have a cup of tea. "Why are you ringing me?" was the response I got, "The weather's good. Ring Davey and see if he want's to go climbing!" So I did and he did and we ended up in Tremadog. The top pitch of Meshach was the highlight of the day. I retreated from the peg to pace a half sized wallnut and an RP 5 before continuing after Davey had a conversation with someone saying how the peg was sawed off and still stuck out loads!

I'm just back from a great few days running in the Lakes with Sarah. We arrived up in Ambleside to hear that ultrarunning legend Scott Jurek would be in The Climbers Shop at five the following day. I remembered reading about him in Born to Run. The bit that always stuck with me from the book was the way he collapsed at the Badwater Ultra lay and the side of the road for a while and then got up and smashed the course record. We decided to be back down to see him! I was a bit concerned that my hip may not last the long run we planned from Harter Fell around the hills to Crinkle Crags in the cafe but I was willing to find out.

The route from below Scafell, just follow the hills right!

We parked at the bottom of Harter Fell and ran over the top into Hardknot Pass to pick up the long trail up Scafell. Three hours in it was getting dark, we were soaked so we decided to pitch up for the night. The usual mess of trying to get a tent up in the rain and keeping it dry followed. We managed to keep everything relatively dry until I spilt half a pot of water on the tent floor. Typical! Dry clothes on, we had some dinner and lay down to sleep.

I struggled to nod off with the hammering rain and howling wind harassing the tent but it eventually came as it always does. At some point in the night I woke up and I could feel Sarah shivering beside me. She had only brought a plastic bivy bag as a ground mat having decided to go really lightweight! "Sarah, are you cold?" I grunted. "No, I'm ok," was the response I got. "Then why are you shivering?" We ended up sharing a Klymit X-Frame mat. They're small. Really I think it was a well thought out tactic to have a bit of a cuddle. She only had to ask!!

A warm, well rested and relatively dry Sarah

We both woke up a few hours later warm and with no rain falling. A bite of malt loaf and some cheese and we packed up and started running up Scafell. The weather closed in and visibility was poor by the time we got to the top. It had started raining again so it was heads down and concentrate on the nav. The rocks were slippy which made some of the going really slow across the tops. Oh and whats with all the cairns?! The bloody things are every ten meters and they go in circles! We made good time up Scafell Pike, across to Esk Pike, Bowfell and onto Crinkle Crags where we slowed up with the nav a bit. I was not entirely sure of my compass and Sarah's was stuck in one position. Going off the map alone we came down the 'bad step' but failed to find the junction bridleway leading back to the road. It looked like the trail we were on would put us a few kilometres further up the road than we wanted and not being able to take a bearing or see more than five metres we continued. A clearing allowed us to make out Great Knott so we kept to paths going right and eventually with a bit of relief arrived back at the road.

Slogging up Scafell Pike.

A few kilometers later we were on the way to Ambleside and managed to arrive just before five to grab a shower in The Climbers Shop and have a cup of coffee before meeting Scott. He's a super nice guy and I now have a signed poster to go up on the wall! Paul invited us up for dinner with Cathy and himself. It was easy to say yes after ten hours running in two days and the venison stew was gratefully received. The best bit about staying in Paul's is the expedition thermarests! A bed was offered but there wasn't a chance I was turning down the option of the thermarest! You'd need a sherpa to carry one if you ever used one on expedition but it'd be worth it! They're amazing. Defiantly something to try before you die. Needless to say I slept soundly.

I'd been in touch with Will as he was now back home in St. Bees. I really wanted to visit the area as I've been hearing how its the best crag in the world all summer. So with a quick call to Will we headed there stopping on the way to run Sharp Edge on Blencathra. It was a fantastic run over some exposed terrain with lot's of people about enjoying the sunny Saturday. I got a few shocked looks which happens when you tear by people with big packs on a narrow ridge. The best comment came from a bloke who exclaimed, "He's not even got a packed lunch!" Run done we continued on to St. Bees and were taken in by Will parents who generously fed us and gave us a place to sleep after a few pints in the pub. I'll not describe the cat sexing incident, just include the comment, "I think I can feel and empty ball sack?" Don't let vet students get drunk!

Sharp Edge.

Sunday was wet so we scrambled down to look at some wet boulders. The tide was in so we couldn't have a tour from the bottom. We walked along the top for a bit with Will pointing out various bits. I want to do a route on the south wall on the head and a bit of exploring would be awesome too! I'll defiantly be back.

I want to climb on this cliff!

A wet Monday had me back in Llanberis so I went and biked back down from the half way house on Snowdon with Llyr. SPD's defiantly make stuff more fun! Still not content I went for a run over the Moel Eilio ridge with John just to make sure my legs were well and truly knackered! It feels great to be running again and I feel like I'm running surprisingly well considering the amount of time off I've had. Maybe I wasn't trying before? Time to apply some of the psyche to training and get on the woodie.