Climbing on the Tor

The Mendip weekend had strengthened my conviction I should get me some more climbing practice, and Ali was eager to get the same. Ferret, a caver form the past who had recently rejoined PCG, was also interested. So I needed the Saturday to do all these things that needed doing, but the Sunday just begged for a climb. So off we went! To Sheepstor, this time. It looked good.

Ferret and Ali explore the rock

I wanted to just climb, just like Ali, and Ferret wanted to lead. And we all got what we came for! We did some demanding routes (that is, for our skills), and the last climb only worked for me because Ferret used his weight on the rope to motivate me past the most difficult bit. But it was good!

Ali in action

Me still coping

We were the first there, and the last to leave. And when it was fairly crowded in between the mood was excellent. Our neighbouring climbers at some point had an acute use for the rope Ali had just gotten into place for a climb we wanted to do on toprope... Ferret found out that among climbers one can get away with making anti-football statements, and I caught up with Fred, an oceanographic PhD student who also appeared on the scene. And now I'm tired in the arms, and all bruised again, but hey, I always am nowadays, and I feel good!

Here I'm really struggling!

Dangling from ropes

Single Rope Technique. It sounds fairly vague! There are endlessly many things one can do with a single rope. But in this precise wording it refers to getting up and down a rope safely. The technique seems to have been developed by tree workers. Some biologists for instance study the canopy of rain forests, and well, one has to get to that canopy in some way or other, and then down again as well.

I was used to ropes only as a safety line and a means of descent. If you climb, you do the going up on rock. But cavers need the rope to ascend, as well. No use, for instance, in trying to climb that 60 m vertical shaft we did last Sunday, and especially not with lots of kit dangling from you, and soaking boots and clothes, and a bag with lunch and whatnot in tow.

So I’d done some SRT. One descends into a dark pit, and later climbs out again. Bob’s your uncle. But there’s more to it. It might happen that you explore a mine, and lower yourself in unknown territory, only to find out there are no safe places to go. The only thing you can then do is ascend again. And in itself it’s not difficult to dangle from a rope, and there get your ascent kit in position, remove your descent kit, and go back up. But it’s better to train it in a friendly environment.

Sometimes a rope also has to have several fixation points. Because it needs to go around the corner, for instance. Getting past such a point in a safe manner is also something you want to calmly practice, before you end up having to make it up on the spot in a dark mine after 10 hours of exhausting exploration.

The Mountbatten climbing wall that we could use for our purposes. In the oval a re-belay is just visible.

Me happily dangling from my two ascenders

Me see from below. I'm making my way past a re-belay; notice the rope above me is slack. Below me there's another one. Pic by Dave

I want to be able to do any accepted rope travel, so I was very glad the PCG organised an SRT training evening. I started practicing the direction reversals on a rope. There’s not very much to it, but it was good to try it in such relaxed circumstances. Then it was time for going up a rope with a few re-belays; some more anchor points, often at some lateral distance from each other. It’s a bit of faffing around to get past, but I have a routine now! At some point I heard voices from below shouting goodbyes; some of the less addicted had had enough training and left. And then, when I had just made it down past a re-belay, Dave shouted from below if I could perhaps move back up, and take out all the re-belays on my way. Well yes why not. I ended up on the top, where I found Ferret taking all the kit down, and this time we took the stairs to get back to Dave and Ali. Exercise over.

From up there I could keep an eye on my bicycle

That of course left us time for a pint. A deserved one! I feel up to all kinds of underground rope antics now. I hope it comes in handy soon…

Climbing again

When I lived in Amsterdam I sat on my arse. When I moved to Norway, all sorts of opportunities for more interesting things presented themselves, and before I know it I had gotten hooked on being in beautiful places, and doing scary and/or physically demanding things. It’s the short route to getting happy! So that’s what I’ve been chasing in the UK as well, even though it’s much harder. There’s less beauty available, and there’s not many people who can challenge you in either way. But seek and thou shall find! Caving already provides me with all three things. But you’re hooked or you’re not, so that’s how I ended up running with Jon, and desiring to restart my climbing career.

Climbing, when outdoor, is almost by definition an activity that takes place in beautiful locations, and that is both scary and physically demanding. And those who cave strongly benefit from some additional climbing skills. So that sounded like a no-brainer! The problem is, though, that one can’t climb alone (bouldering excluded, that is) , and that’s even more poignant as here in the UK bolting routes seems to be sacrilege, so you not only need at least two people, but also at least one who can lead natural routes. And I can’t.

I had already spent months nagging at our sports hero PhD students Rob and Duncan, who can both do that, but they are busy or in Wales all the time or hindered by physical discomforts of plain hung over or all sorts of things, and nothing happened. Very English, but (or thus) not very satisfying. And then we had a committee meeting of the caving group. And while enjoying a beer afterwards I mentioned that. And immediately Ali, our rope magician, said “oh I like climbing too, what about tomorrow night?”. Very un-English, but hey, he’s a caver, so of course he is. And the next day we indeed went to the nearest climbing area (the one I had recently spotted from a distance). It was beautiful weather!

The view from where we started

Ali hadn’t climbed for six months, and my last climb had been the beautiful weekend with Rafael and Tjarda in June last year, so we started calm. Plenty of easy routes! We did a nice four-pitcher in heavily weathered granite. And it was not the most challenging climb ever, but I enjoyed the scurrying along a rock face immensely. And after months of muddy caving I indulged in having proper friction on the coarse minerals!

Ali getting ready

Ali had a more cave-like challenge in mind for after this climb. A large lump of granite split in two. And it’s (at least theoretically) possible to move from one side to the other. The crack is slightly V-shaped, so the bottom is too narrow for a human, and you have to wedge your body in and worm sideways above the ground... I didn’t manage. Ali got quite far, partially thanks to his larger feet. But it was fun to try.

At the top of the four-pitcher

By the time we emerged again it was getting dark, and we went back. A modest start, but there may be plenty of opportunity to follow up on this! And now the thing to do was to have the standard post-activity pint. Or half pint, as I was driving. This was consumed under the pink evening sky with swifts hurtling past. Not a bad evening at all!