Well, my heel is mostly better, and certainly good enough to climb on, so another trip to Almscliff was arranged. Mike's having his tonsils out (3rd time lucky!), and Gordon's gone to pastures new (BT), so it was just me and Ed. Hence no new photos (the one shown here is Ed on Low Man, from a few weeks back).

We started on the South West Face, and I repeated Bird's Nest Crack, which I'd lead with Mike last time out. This time round, it didn't seem quite so enjoyable (read "easy"), but perhaps the troubles after climbing this during the last session altered my perception of it? Ed didn't enjoy it either.

Next up we decided to try Central Crack, which defeated me last time. This time I'd come better prepared with new (and stickier) rock shoes, and more importantly, a large crash/bouldering mat. Getting off the ground is easy, but as you gain the crack, you run out of, well, everything. A few false starts led to arm jams across the crack, shortly followed by a nice soft landing on the crash pad, but eventually I worked out how to get into the crack, at which point it's a case of wriggling up it. Reaching the ledge gives some good gear placements, but then a rather exposed rib is the next challenge. I made it, although not exactly elegantly. The annoying thing was the guys busy climbing all round us without ropes - probably on harder routes. They did ask Ed why we were doing this route, as it's not very nice. I kind of agree, but at least I cracked it after last time.

On their recommendation, we moved on to The Traditional Climb, a VS 4c, so a little harder than what I've been climbing to date. The first couple of moves were OK, and I got a good friend placement. But from there on, it all went pear shaped. I made the next break, but there wasn't much to hand on to, and the next vertical crack flared the wrong way. End result was I found out the hard way how good the friend placement was! A combination of that plus the crash pad (yes, I decked out) meant a reasonably soft landing to my first lead fall. Unfortunately, I skinned my fingertips in the process, as they were jammed in a crack at the time. I had another go, but didn't even make it as far (although the friend got moved a bit higher). Ed took a go, and made it about half way up, but was too knackered to finish, and ended up lowering off of a large hex. Determined to finish it, I ran up top, set up a belay, and top roped Ed up to collect the gear. Not entirely sure we've made friends with either Leeds or Yorkshire Mountaineering Clubs, as they all turned up just before we started, and seemed to be waiting for us to finish messing around so they could have a go. Also, it was rather busy up top, so finding a belay point was somewhat challenging (a large sling around the top of the large boulder (someone else was using the base) was the best on offer).

Time for a break, and a look at the guidebook. We did look at The Goblin (too green and slimy), Zig Zag Direct (busy) and The Nose (didn't like the look of it), and then settled on Central Climb on the North West Face. The start went OK, but again I got a little way off the ground and bottled it, lowering off two nuts. Ed solo'd up to retrieve the nuts and we decided to call it a day.

So, in total, I clocked up two routes:

  • Bird's Nest Crack (Almscliff Crag #56, HS 4b P1 **) - lead
  • Central Crack (Almscliff Crag #48, HS 4b P1)

and I failed miserably (again) on two others:

  • The Traditional Climb (Almscliff Crag #58, VS 4c P1 **) - fell off, bounced and skinned my fingers
  • Central Climb (Almscliff Crag #108, VS 4c P1 **) - got off the ground, go stuck and lowered off

Route numbers and grades are from the 1998 edition of Yorkshire Gritstone, compiled, revised and edited by Dave Musgrove.

I'm really frustrated, and there seems to be little else available to climb at Almscliff without at least moving up to VS/4c. Unfortunately, I don't seem to be getting any better either. I'm half wondering whether to quit leading and either get Ed to belay from above, or set up a top-rope instead. Maybe that way I can concentrate on the technique and moves with less worry about the exposure? Alternatively, I'm going to look for somewhere else to try - perhaps Baildon or Ilkley (although I seem to recall Ilkley being similar - lots of poorly protected routes, and limited number of ~Severe routes). It looks like plans for Great Western may be on hold for this year.

Oh, and I did say I was after some new toys following the last session. Well, I acquired said bouldering mat, and it was well worth it. (OK, not sure it's worth the money, but I was very glad we had it.) Plus I got some Mad Rock Mugen climbing shoes, which are really good, if not exactly as comfy as my old pair. That just leaves the following on the shopping list (none of which is likely to be any real advantage):

  • A new harness - to better organise my lead rack, and keep it away from my back for doing chimneys (OK - this is a lame excuse, but I just fancy a new harness, and I spotted a Wild Country harness in the shop at the Leeds Wall which looks pretty much exactly what I've been searching for ever since I started climbing, and up to now hadn't found)
  • Bigger protection - I'm thinking a #4 Friend or a #9 Rockcentric (or bigger - I'm sure you used to be able to get a #10 Hex from Camp, when you were allowed to buy them and rope them up yourself)