The Top Gear Mountaineer: May 2013

I've finally become a proper climber. Having climbed a fair amount indoors since I started this lark back in January, I can now lay claim to having climbed a real rock face. And by god strike me down if it isn't shit-tons more fun.

The oppourtunity was through work and involved me and Charlie meeting some of the senior buying team and giving them an insight into exactly what we can do. There's been talk of getting more staff from the shop floor involved in testing new kit, which is fun and would be good for business, I suppose. To be honest this side of the weekend was of minimal importance to me, and they were gone by lunchtime on Saturday - I was there to climb things, and anything that took time away from that was very low on the ol' priority list.

The weekend started badly with me having my phone stolen in Baker Street station, which in turn caused me to be rather late to meeting Charlie as I'd forgotten exactly where he lived and was forced to wander around Royal Oak for about 45 minutes desperately trying to find something I recognised. Soon after I found him and gave my heartfelt apologies we were on the road towards Sheffield, the soft tones of Radio 4 driving us on our way. Despite leaving late we were in the village of Froggart by about 10am and after parking up the car and donning our kit, we headed for the rock.

The walk in itself was simple but somewhat dull - half an hour took us to the edge of Sunset Slab and the really meaty walls in Froggarts Edge. We'd decided to start the day off with some simple top-roping before cracking on with lead/follow climbing. We had already discussed what I'd be doing this weekend and had both decided that it was probably a little early to get me leading on my first time on the rock - placing protection

Our first top-rope, built and awaiting conquering heroes.
Or me and Charlie. Either.

The first thing we did was, as I mentioned, to set up a top rope. Froggart's Edge isn't a sport-climbing area and therefore there is no protection built into the walls - everything has to be done using nuts, hexes, cams and ropes - and that includes setting up a top-rope. I won't bore you with an in-depth description of the process (partly because I know this blog is going to ramble on quite a bit...) but it involves placing two or more items of protection, equalising the load of a rope between them, tying a bight and throwing the actual climbing rope (attached to the top-rope) off the top with surprising violence and much yelling.

My first climb on the rock was...interesting. It takes a lot of trust to put your faith in climbing shoes on rock that isn't totally 100% dry and warm - my background is partly motor racing, where the best grip is achieved when rubber is hot and sticky. This definately was not what was going on in Forggart in May. Despite this, the gritstone in the Peak District is extremely grippy, even when damp, and I made it up and down no dramas. Charlie did likewise and as the sun began to sneak through the clouds, we decided it was time to start with the lead climbing. But first we had to take apart our top-rope and - crucially - me to try my first ever solo abseil.

Now abseiling is a key technique, especially for mountaineers - the quickest way down a mountain is to set up a series of abseils and shoot down 30 meters at a time. Descending this way means a mountain that might have taken 2 days to climb can be descended in maybe 6 hours. But I'd never done it before - at least not properly. I'd done guided abseils, but now I had to learn how to do it the ropes-and-harness way - with nothing but a belay plat and prussik loop keeping me alive. It turned out absolutely fine, and indeed is now my favourite method to get down things. Charlie took a video of my first attempt, and I'll try to get it up here as soon as I can!

Charlie leading a route on the first day. Lacking a guide book
we christened it 'Charlie's Crack'. Many guffaws ensued.

To be very honest, with the rest of the weekend we climbed so many walls so many different ways that it's a struggle to pick them apart. We did maybe 10-15 routes over the weekend, in weather from the beautiful and sunny to the downright depressing. Some, like Terra's Edge were physically and technically challenging whereas some started easy and ended up as glorified walks. To sum up, the way we went about things this weekend was that charlie would lead the climb, placing protection and guiding the route and generally doing the majority of the hard work in a climb. He would then build a belay at the top and I would follow up on a top-rope, removing protection and following him up, what's known as 'clearing up the route'. The only time I led was on the last climb of the weekend, using a top-rope as a safety line so that Charlie could guide me and check my gear placement without any danger to myself. Thankfully all my gear placement was right on - next time out he won't have to be such a lead-hog, and I can get some practice with my own gear - I need to justify the money I'm spending on it all!

Our night was spent in a conveniently placed, yet somewhat exposed cave. I'll confess I didn't get the greatest night's sleep ever, with a frozen face and the nagging fear of being caught and told to trek back to the car but well enjoyable. Especially the bacon butties in the morning. A proper little outdoor excursion.

What became obvious as the weekend went on was how my confidence and ability shot up - no longer was I beaten as soon as I failed a move - I've found in me a strength of determination to always beat the route. I've found my competitive spirit in climbing, and to be extremely cheesy, the only way from here is up.

Also, enjoy some more pictures, courtesy of Charlie's pretty DSLR. Sorry the formatting is a little off, Blogger is rather restrictive. But the photos are pretty!