Wednesday, 26 October 2011

Hawkcliffe revisited... Woodland Ecology & Flame Arete

My wednesday day off was put to good use with a return to Hawkcliffe, hoping to find it dry after last nights rain. It was.
Arriving at Emerald Buttress i wanted to do Woodland Ecology and Huw was keen to follow up that or Ginny Greenteeth or whatever. I decided i wanted to do Woodland, repeating the start (which is the same as Ginny) to the gear and then right to the Arete. I repeated the start with ease and then placed some gear but failed to head right on scrittly holds, so i backed off and abseiled down to clean the holds i could reach... And gave it another go. This time i found the clean holds a nicer crimping proposition and it make the experience much easier, however i still needed a slight footslip to jolt me with adrenaline which allowed me to reach blindly around the corner, into the slightly dirty scoop and then, the scrittly and airy ledge - it's clean now!!!. The finishing arete of Blood on the Shamrock providing a beautiful finish... Have to do Blood on the Shamrock now!

Woodland is an odd one, its sooo much easier than Ginny Greenteeth its amazing they have the same grade. E4 5c and E6 6a seem to be more representative of the routes, although i muddled around on Woodland Ecology, perhaps put off by the grade wondering where the E5 6a bit would be...? That said, i did feel i benefitted a lot from previous doing the start of Ginny Greenteeth, up which it starts, but even so it's a world away from Ginny Greenteeth! Still, a quality little route and well worth doing, it's the easiest of the buttress and provides a good warm up for the bigger challenges that await...

Huw then followed me up and also did Ginny, seeming pretty impressed with the climbing - what a buttress!

We then went over (somehow missing Adam Hughes who was at the crag today too!?) to Flame Arete. This is a terrific, bouldery arete, well protected and with some good moves. E5- 6b-** is a fair reflection of this route which i got after several ground up attempts... Theres some many different holds and sequences i kept getting drawn into different holds and body positions. Doesn't really matter though, cracking arete climb.

Chalk on Driveby - Good effort Adam! Start of this 'Charlie Don't Surf' also chalked which is great - this crag is seeing a proper revival. Class.

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