Disappointed by the recent weather thwarting our climbing plans, we decided that we would test the idea we had, that 'Battersby Tower', a newly discovered outcrop along the Battersby range would provided superfast drying, rock... We weren't disappointed.
We arrived feeling 'ropey', from the effects of an upper-class night out in Yarm... but quickly got to work. Franco abseiling down the left arete and proclaiming that 'it was for another day'. I then decided, feeling the least dodgy of us, to have a quick solo of the 'rampline' of weakness up the front of the buttress. We couldn't decide if it looked VS or E2. However, i was confident i wouldn't be too bad. I racked and roped up, but realised i cherished photos much more, so Franco took them while i trailed the rope and gear up. I intended to place gear where possible, however, the gear is poor in the lower sections.
The crux is interesting. A step up to either a large, licheous sloper or a smaller footedge. Eitherway, the move is unbalanced and the lack of gear focusses the mind. A cool little move and the top groove was delightful. An E1 5a* or E2 5b*, we were unsure. It reminded me of 'Physical' at Broughton Bank, although harder, but it also reminded me of Queer Street at Highcliffe, an E1 5a**. Either way, a lower grade route, which we were especially pleased with.
Franco then quickly dispatched the direct start to the same line, taking the obvious groove at E2 6a, but with not added quality. The real shame was the offwidth that bounds the right side of the crag. It is too close to the edge to warrent a route effort, REALLY large gear would be needed too!
We decided to call it a day at Battersby and for whatever reason chose to walk towards 'Rudd Scar' and 'Botton Head' to check if they actually existed... Rudd Scar certainly does and there are outcrops along the Botton Head area, though we lost psyche to check them today after being defeated by endless bog and waining time.
Some crags for future devoties?
We finished the day with a quiet evenings bouldering at Potter's Quarry. I haven't been for ages and the two 'big 5c's', Borboletta and Poision Letter were in mind, as we had previously dismissed them at 'hard and high' when climbing at 5a/5b. Anyway, the route was less high than i remembered and was also much more decorated with holds. The crux actually appeared to be the move off the deck and we quickly dispatched both routes first go, which was very nice. They are hard for '5c' i would give them either highball V3 or much more fitting, E1 6a - i don't know if it was just my knee, but i felt pretty lonely towards the top of the wall. Regardless, it's an excellent little problem, quite sustained to the top.
Franco on an 'undergraded' eng.'5b'... more like Font 6a+
After viewing the old maps in the area, the area that 'tower' is found, was called 'Otter Hill', which we liked a lot. The buttress is part of the 'Battersby Crag' area, but it is around half a mile from the already developed 'Battersby Crag' so, we have elected to describe this as it's own buttress. The Otter Hill Bastion...
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