Craven Mountaineering Club
4 rather cold but very happy climbers rocked up at Eastby last night for the first outdoor meet of the season.
Two teams managed six routes including Mantelshelves (HS 3c), a harsh re-introduction back into gritstone climbing after a winter of plastic! The classic Eastby Buttress (gotta be done) and the (in my opinion) best gritstone route ever – Piller Rib (VS 4c).
The sun shone bright until it disappeared behind the crag and we descended with smiles! 🙂
Following the deluge that forced cancellation of the previous attempt of this walk we couldn’t have had a better day for the second attempt. Ten of us (plus Stitch and Fudge) enjoyed glorious blue skies, sunshine and plenty of snow on this walk. We enjoyed lunch on a windless summit and only on the very last section did the weather change bringing a few snow flurries.
Thanks all for a great day out.Andy
A few pictures here (you dont have to be a facebook user to see them) https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10208321988226342.1073741887.1…
Three of us plus one guest wandered up to Rylstone on a warm evening under blue skies, a perfect evening to be up on a moorland Gritstone outcrop.
Starting out on the “must do” Presidents Slab, we moved onto “Bad Boys”, following this Steve decided to do Twin cracks (ignoring the luminous green and bird poo!), following this up with Falcon Crack, Monkey Corner and a top rope inspection of Angry Woman. Andy and myself decided on Senators Saunter (pictured), Misty Moo and Dead Kennedy’s.
Five of us headed over to the beautiful valley containing the Stoney Banks. Erica, Chris and Tony led the early charge with Roger and myself following up later.
Quite a fresh wind was blowing down the valley meaning we were all quite keen to keep moving, fortunately this is easy to do at High Stoney with it’s mixture of sport and trad, and particularly at the left hand end short bolted routes at accessible grades.
Some routes completed were Mutton Jeff, What Remains, Pinnacle Flake, King Flush and Candy’s Case.
With arms feeling heavier than they did on the walk in we retired to the Listers in Malham
Roger nearing the top of Candy’s Case
Eventually the ever present rain of the past few weeks parted and we finally managed to get a Tuesday evening trip in.
8 of us headed upto Pot Scar to try to tick some of the classics and look at some of the more “esoteric” routes!
In the warm evening sun Equity, Nirvana, Cannabis and payback were all climbed, along with some lesser traveled routes such as Fingers Climb and Car Stop. There were even rumors Sunspot recieved an ascent…must just be a rumor though…..
As the sun set we headed off to the Mason’s at Gargrave for a post climb pint 🙂
Chris and Erica climb into the sun on Equity
Sunset from Pot Scar
