Spurned!

Rain was forecast to the west and clear blue skies to the east which gave a great excuse for abandoning the photography, scanning and guidebook writing and having a ride out to a place I had often heard about but never visited; Spurn Point.
It was further than I expected from Sheffield (98 miles) but at least the roads were quite - and the forecast was spot on. It turned out to be quite a weird spot - stuck out in the middle of nowhere, and home to the UK's only permanently staffed lifeboat station. A steady stream of ships chugged into the Humber as we circumnavigated the whole headland at beach level, photographed the groynes and lighthouses, then adjourned for a cream-tea to fortify us for the journey home!

Lancashire Hotchpotch

What with the state of the weather in recent weeks I have been rather slipping behind schedule with the crag shots for Western Grit. A better forecast seduced us over to the 'west' for three days, we stopped B & B in the heart of the area - Rossendale. I also wanted to have a quick look at a few of the crags we left out of Western Grit ver 1 - so in three hot and sweaty days I visited and photographed Helsby, Pex Hill, Frodsham, Witches' Quarry, Hoghton, Denham, Anglezarke, Brownstones, Wiltons 2 and 3 (I was in 1 last weekend) Egerton, Troy, Cadshaw, Shaw and Den Lane. That should put me back on target - all I have to do now is sort the 250 RAW files, choose which crags are going in and write them up!

Evening Snapping

I zipped over to Windgather early evening to meet Sarah who had come straight from work for a photo-shoot for the new Western Grit. It was hardly ideal - pretty grey, with a damp mist in the air and the place was amazingly busy, especially considering it was a Monday evening. We did a bit of soloing and got a few pics then doubled back to Castle Naze, which proved to be deserted.
Keep Arete (VS 4b) was dispatched in good style and I got some half decent pictures despite the poor light. I also introduced Sarah to the idea of abandoning her halfway up the crag then wandering off with the camera - she cope well!
The difference in our eras/back-grounds was interesting - I got told off for cleaning my shoes on the rock, coiling the rope the 'wrong' way and offering unwanted advice (beta) - I did my best to get up to speed on the modern approach!

The Shining

Work on Western Grit continues at a steady pace, though the thought of making the dark cliffs of Kinder and Bleaklow look as attractive as Lofoten's granite peaks is a bit of a daunting one. A 4:30 start from Sheffield caught Wimberry bathed in morning sunshine about a month ago, but Kinder North and especially Shining Clough have been preying on my mind!
Last night the forecast was to clear up before dark despite it having been a cloudy day to I took the weather lady at her word and tootled round to Longdendale at seven in the evening. The walk up seemed shorter than I remembered it, I even found a decent path all the way to the cliff this time. Right on cue the sun pierced the banks of cloud out west and illuminated the main face and that was it; job done. So I guess its Kinder next!

Ramshaw Wrestling

Monday and good forecast saw a team assembled, Graham and Dan (home from Uni) plus Dave Vince on his 50th birthday. We fancied somewhere a bit different and so tootled over to Ramshaw, not unexpectedly we had the place to ourselves. I soloed a few easier ticks that I had never done, and we tackled off a few of the E1s on the crag and a varied bunch they were too:
Louie Groove (E1 5b) - very mild at the grade despite the boldish last move. An oddity for Ramshaw as it is delicate and very short-lived.
Sneeze (E1 5b) - a tricky little monkey with a hard layback start, a precarious middle, and a rounded top-out. The 'definitives' two stars is a bit generous, and the suggestion to leave the ropes behind is just odd!
Alcatraz (E1 5b) - another that felt low in the grade (it used to be HVS), but a steep and imposing line with a nice wriggly off-width to finish and good gear throughout.
The Untouchable (E1 5b) - a hanging bulging crack reached by a tricky little traverse. The crack is pumpy and leads to a 'lovely' finish on fist jams - very tasty!

Party Time

That's that then! Time to reflect on a superb three weeks in Lofoten, the highlight of which was probably Friday 13th. We had a gentle day scoping out Alan and Mark as they steamed up Vestpillaren. They were on the top of Festvågtinden at 6:30 and still made it to the Nord Norske Klatreskole at five minutes to eight, just in time for the guidebook launch.

The evening was a great success, the beer flowed, yarns were spun and Thorbjørn was the perfect host - my glass never got less than half empty all evening. Sadly Arild Meyer couldn't be there (a bad back from too much DIY) so we called in for cakes and coffee the next day, after clipping a few bolts at Finvika, just to say hello.

The party wound down at about 2:00am and "Lutta's Taxi Service" ferried everybody home, before we bedded down we checked out Vagåkallen bathed in the early morning light - quite superb. 

Midnight Sun

Two weeks up here now and the sun hasn't sent, and won't for about another six weeks - which is all a bit strange. Even stranger is that once again, the weather has been great for us.

The Lofoten guidebooks have yet to arrive and everyone is waiting with bated breath - last thing we heard, they had made it as far as Oslo, so at least things are moving along.

We have climbed (new routes and old) fished, and hiked, and Colin has been plodding around up amongst the snow and ice that still blankest the core of the islands.

Everywhere is very quite, we have hardly seen another climber, which is great - just how we like it!