Friday, April 24, 2009

When 7c feels easier than E1

Had a couple of quick interesting forays on rock this week. The first to Froggatt to try the leaning wall of Strapiombante and Don Whillans extraordinary roof crack Strapiombo. I had a little struggle on the former but Whillan's bloody roof crack was a real bugger. Surprise, surprise you say? Well I'm not naive I've done my fair share of his routes and yes they're all pretty brutal but some in a reasonable way. Strapiombo is one of the unreasonable ones. I was close to giving up before on about my sixth attempt I finally clawed my way round.

The second outing was a couple of hours reacquainting myself with "Follow the Slick Red Road, a 7c sport route at Cheddar. That 11 years ago I managed in two sections. I'm probably conning myself that its feasible for me this year although I managed all the moves this time. Which sprung the question just what French grade would Don Whillan's be climbing if he were active now!
Spring leaves at Froggatt

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