First up was a trip to Gardoms to seek out 'Make it Snappy' E6 6b. I had my eye on this a few years ago but never checked out but I had made sure it was on my ticklist for this winter. Its another sweet route and it was nice to be back on a rope and running it out!
I've also been giving Black Rocks a bit of a revival of late. This is like my home crag and the place I first went climbing. I can remember when I first lead the old time classic Lone Tree Groove and how amazing it felt (and hard!) and then looking up at some of the other test pieces and never imagining that I might one day be able to climb them. One of these was a route called Pseudonym that goes right up the middle of the West wall. I used to mess around on this back in the day and the thought of leading it used to scare the life out of me! While its not exactly anything too desperate it was just really cool to tick after all these years and it still felt a little on the scary side haa!
Yesterday I went back up to try another route that has always been a dream of mine to do. Velvet Silence, a line that nowadays is pretty much considered a highball but still something that most people wouldn't be too keen to slip off on near the top... It was super dry, the sun was bouncing off the slab and I was buzzing for it! We gave it a quick brush and it was done! Another one crossed off the list. This one definitely felt a bit special to me, pure faith in friction and a test of balance!
Velvet Silence, E6 6c or 7A+...
2 comments:
Hi Ethan. Good blogging. Nice and succint, but you really convey your enthusiasm so well. Love the stuff about looking up at those routes in the past and wondering if you'd ever be good enough to do them. I've had a few things like that in my climbing life - things I've seen and thought "one day..." - Lord of the Flies, Supercool (Gordale), London Wall. Keep the faith!
jOE
Cheers mate, always good to see the progression isn't it! Hope the snow has stopped for you guys...? Syked to read about all your sends! Peace
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