Roadrage..

With weather still not settled and with the constant rain the majority of climbing is being done indoors on the plastic. close eyes have been on the forecast, watched hourly in hope to see a symbol of no rain, luckily that's we we got this week for Saturday, Although raining all day and night Friday we were pretty sure we could find some dry rock to climb somewhere. After a little chat on facebook we decided to head to to cheyne wears on Portland. The main reason being Phil wanted to try the Portland testpeice "Roadrage". Most of the routes here are 7a upwards and all pretty steep. there is one 6a+ which we all opted to warm up on. We also managed to find a pretty hard 6b+ route called "Remembrance Sunday". this felt pretty tough for the grade with a hard boulder problem start.
Phil and drew spent allot of time on "Roadrage" with Phil coming very close only failing right at the top, with high winds and time getting on the face was getting a slight spray from the sea causing the holds to become greasy, I had a play on the route too but soon realised I wasn't quite in the 7b+ grade yet, although all the holds felt positive i would need to work a line this hard to find a good sequence.
I'm pretty sure Phil will send it next visit, Drew was also pretty close considering this was his first day out this year.
I spent allot of time today hanging on a rope taking photos, believe it or not hanging up on the wall gives you time to think, made me realise how lucky i am to come to places like this with good Friends and enjoy something so simple...

Phil Fighting hard on "RoadRage" 7b+

Drew On "RoadRage"

Sitting on the rope taking photo's

Not a bad place to think and take photos

James feeling the strain

Agonies of a dying mind

Despite all the rain this week I was determined to get out again this weekend, The psyche is running high at the moment so I need to take advantage of that, and I pretty shocked that I seem to find myself enjoying clipping bolts..
Myself and Dan headed back to Winspit in the hope of finding some dry rock to climb, I was pretty keen to get on last weeks unfinished route but was let down when arriving at the bottom to find water dripping down it. The route Dan wanted to try was also wet, so we headed around the area in the sun and warmed up on some easier lines. After having a look through the guide book we decided to have ago at a route called "Agonies of a dying mind". The route is graded at 7a with a V4/5 start. Dan jumped on first and despite a good effort was unable to unlock the no feet start.
After a short while it started to rain so we decided to have some lunch and shelter under a large overhang, the rain soon passed so I tied in a gave it a go, It felt hard and the holds were not the best considering you pretty much start from a campus position, after a few attempts I eventually managed to pull through the start and get established on the main wall, I continued up the route soon becoming aware that the rest of the line was no harder than 6a, I eventually clipped the lower off and claimed the redpoint.
Dan had another go and came pretty close but was unable to pull it off..
with most other routes seeping wet we decided to call it a day, packing up we bumped into Scott Titt, the president of the BMC, we walked out from the crag having a good chat about climbing and future ideas, I also slipped in about getting support to try climb K2, Scott not being a lover of mountaineering soon shut me down..
Another awesome day out.. all I can say is roll on next weekend!

Dan moving through the easy climbing on "Agonies of a dying mind" 7a

Suprised!

With all the rain lately its been difficult to get out and climb on rock, this hasn't bothered me to much as most of my training and climbing as either involved time in the gym or pulling on the axes in the project cave, so With the forecast looking good this weekend I decided to head down to Winspit with Dan to clip some bolts, Not having done alot of sport in the last few months I wasn't expecting much.
We arrived at the crag to bright clear blue skies and cold temperatures, the wall was dripping wet in places, In the back of my mind I wanted to try and play on something hard and possibly future RP it, I had my eyes on a hard 7a+/b route called "Solstice", I had a look at it and it looked good, it was wet in places but the sun was out so I knew it would dry later in the day, Dan was keen to jump on "Peppercorn" an awesome technical 7a.
We got some mileage in warming up on some of the classic 6a routes at the crag, we even run up a soaking wet 5+, although easy it gave alot of fun as the water dripped from it.
The routes eventually started to dry so we headed to try the routes we wanted to do. I jumped on first. The route was very steep and blocky, the first section wasn't to bad, My first impressions at the first crux was this is impossible, but after looking further I opened a sequenced that suited me, I was pretty surprised at how strong I felt considering most of my efforts had been on the tools of late. I wasn't aware but this wasn't actually the crux, after moving further up the route you reach another tough section, I spent some time and worked out the moves, Its one of them times where I was at the limit, its the fine line between latching the move or taking some airtime, It feels desperate but I can do it. Feeling tired I lowered to the ground so Dan could jump on his route.
Dan done pretty well on his route before failing at the top in a wet crack, he had a short play before retreating, I then jumped back on pump fest.
I was only on top rope but managed to get all the way up past both cruxes to the top jug without a fall, although feeling beasted and pumped. I continued on up to the top to see what that was like. Feeling tired I decided to clean the line and fight another day, I know I can do this route and now I know all the moves pretty sure its going to go down next weekend.
Dan had another go at is route but feeling tired decided to call it a day, by this time it was getting late so we threw the towel in and called it a day.
Fingers crossed this rain stays away so we get more good days in like today..