Sunday 30 December 2007

An Uneventful Year Ender - Farndale

First forecast good day of weather for a few days, so Me and Franco decided to go to some of our more local crags. Farndale hosts two very nice but Esoteric locations, one of which Round Crag, boasts some of the hardest and boldest routes on the Moors. We set off on our bikes to the Forgotten and somewhat un-developed Middle Head.
There were quite a few routes we had lined up there, but as we raced along the old Railway track joing Rosedale with Teeside we knew the conditions weren't right, and also, that they weren't going to improve.
Sure enough, when we reached Middle Head, the seepage was evident and the lines we wished to climb were somewhat 'Out of Condition'. We non the less geared up and attempted a route i had wanted to do for some time.
The Roof crack, which the route took was good and dry, but the Slab above was wet and dirty, so i saw it neccasary to take a sneeky step left, to gain the top more easily.
Fran then decided to try and climb the good looking unclimbed arete, which unfortunately, ended up summing up what the days climbing was. Utter Toss. Not because of the Route i hasten to add, but because it started to rain.
Rock that was trying to dry up, soon became drenched with the seepage off the moortop and try as we might, the Arete was not going to fall.. Quite the opposite, the arete caused many falls for myself and Franco.

Battered and bruised, we set off for our bikes and we decided that a rekky to Round Crag was in order. No climbing was going to get done due to the foul weather so we decided to check out routes that "looked Doo-able" and see if there was some potential for some bouldering around the Crag.

We looked at the routes and discussed the talent involved in establishing these lines. Farndale Fayre and Scut di Scun ai were both looked at in Awe. Both routes unprotected, hard 6b/c climbing with awful landing's.

We made our usual remarks when we have a disapointing day at the crag, 'We'll come back in Summer and lead some stuff and that' the response, from either party is usually 'Iy'.

We set off once more on our bikes, but this time we headed home. Damp and a tad cold due to this, it was a disappointing end to what has been a great year of climbing.

Ps. I ended up forgetting 4 Karabiners and 2 slings, so i had to journey back to Middle Head on my bike in Freezing/foggy conditions. I arrived at the crag after an awful bike ride through Snow, and frost was developing on me. My face was numb and my feet wet. I found the crag after getting lost in the Fog and saw that Verglass had developed on the crag, but was now slowly melting. I got my gear and set off home.

I arrived home, completely numb. My clothes wet and slightly frosty. My hands were blue with orange spots...(god knows why that was!) and all i wanted to do was sleep. However after a quick shower i knew i had to do my homework.