12th March 2012 - A visit to Creag Dubh

Graham making early moves on Inbred (HVS 5a***)

The view from my belay on pitch 2 of Inbred

Graham moving up pitch 2. It was an excellent, interesting route well worthy of its 3 star status

Graham approaching the crux roof of King Bee Direct (HVS 5a**)

Placing protective runners before the tricky move to gain the belay ledge

Graham upon reaching my perch after pitch 2 and 3 (crux) of King Bee Direct

Graham dropping over the edge approachinh space on the final descent

Looking justifiably happy after pitch 1 of Inbred, a Haston classic

The view from the belay ledge on pitch 1, Inbred. Pumped and cold, it took me a while to take the next lead!

So today Graham and I headed east to look for some dry rock. I cant believe that this time last week I was on my Winter ML assessment, and now I'm doing my first rock climbs of the season, its pretty mental! But best to start as we intend to go on, so it was a trip to Creag Dubh that was in order, a crag that neither of us has ventured to before - and it delivered the goods!

We decided to get straight on something with a bit of kick, so G led the first pitch of Inbred (HVS 5a***) which was steep and sustained, but on good positive holds. He belayed on a decent ledge, and as I seconded up my hands were so cold and pumped I couldn't feel anything. A great start to the season for G, he will be leading to a great standard by the time the season ends! I then led the second pitch over easier ground, with some decent gear if a little run out. Positive holds and a lack of over-polished rock made this route an immediate favourite, and after a lovely abseil back to ground level we were keen to grab a bite to eat and hit the rock again.

Although the rock was generally dry, there were some irritating areas of wet which disturbed some lines which may have taken our fancy, so we opted for the classic King Bee Direct (HVS 5a**). Again G took the first lead (which gives this VS classic its HVS grade) and after some deliberation made easy work of the overhanging crux to a solid belay above. I moved up after, impressed at his lead, and then took over to attempt the 'original' crux at VS 5a. The line was lovely, with alot of interest, a good mixture of holds and body positions and just the right amount of exposure for someone just getting into multi pitch VS+ climbing. In some guides this long pitch is split in two, but I led through both as one. Having made short work of the well protected crux, I scaled the shallow arete to the exposed but comfortable belay and brought G up. He then led through up the final pitch, which started with interest and ended like a scene from the Lost World: grassy, slippy and overgrown. We rigged up an abseil rope, and nicked down to our original hanging belay before heading on down the looong Great Wall to the ground and packing up.

A superb start to the season, my intention being to be climbing comfortably at VS 4c multipitch by the end of the year seems much more achievable. Cheers to Graham for coming out and as always, having a right blast!

Check out some pics of the handsome man at the other end of the rope at Grahams blog! :)