Laetitia’s parents were visiting at the weekend and somehow I managed to get a day-pass to go out climbing with Paul! (I think Laetitia had taken pity on me after having managed so little quality climbing this year due to the awful rainy weather we’ve been having all summer.) We chose Dow Crag, and Paul immediately pointed us at the Extreme Rock route, Side Walk…
We both thought the first pitch was desperate and a little dangerous (especially for anyone not very confident at the grade). One contributing factor might be that it clearly doesn’t get a lot of ascents despite its Extreme Rock fame – every millimetre of the route is covered in moss, lichen, and dirtiness. We were lucky it had been dry for a few days before we climbed it, as in this condition any sign of dampness would make it bloody hard to find any friction and super-scary to climb.
(With people belayed before the “Rochers Perchés” pitch of Eliminate ‘A’ behind.)
A great route, although we both reckoned it is probably under graded (certainly at the E2- given in the selected guidebook). Not one we’ll be rushing to repeat (at least not until it gets cleaned up) – as often said, “we’ve done it now, we never have to come back”.
Did Tish use the visit as an excuse not to do any baking?