Bank Holiday Weekend

I love a long weekend when I get to squeeze more climbing and less work in. I love it even more when the weather plays ball and I actually get to climb outside – a rarity in this country. Finally if I actually feel good on rock and send some new problems I don’t think it gets better than this. All three elusive pieces came together this weekend.

On Friday I drove down to Tunbridge Wells with my wife to spend the night and next day visiting some of our friends who live in the area. I awoke bright and early on the Saturday morning and saw an opportunity for a little bouldering session while everyone else had a lie in. Now my friends live just next to Toad Rock and are surrounded by little sandstone boulders. The most obvious one is a very striking prow that you can see from their house. The aesthetically pleasing arête is a font 6A problem called ‘Ankle Locker’ (some clues about the beta) that Ben Read put up a few years ago. Is there anything better than climbing a quality line in the morning sunshine? I couldn’t believe I hadn’t been on this bloc before – it could rival ‘Red Snapper’ for best 6A on the sandstone!

In the gully of the same bloc is hidden ‘Car Crash Arête’, another Ben Read addition but a little harder at font 7B. At first inspection this looks unclimbable as after some initial good holds there is very little else until much nearer the top. However I managed to work out that it is possible to throw to a poor sloping hold on a lip to the right – hold this and you are more or less done. After some considerable work I eventually sent it – I think only the third ascent of this line after Ben and Peter. Again thoroughly recommended, especially as this area has had a lot of gardening done to it recently, making both problems much easier to reach!

On the Sunday I headed back to Mount Edgcumbe Rocks where I have been commencing battle with a stubborn project. Unfortunately it was too hot to do any of the moves on this, so my attention turned to a couple of other lines I have been eyeing up as potential problems.

One of the most obvious features to a boulderer visiting this crag is the small, but steep roof in-between Smiling Buttress and Dusty Buttress. At first I thought that there were not enough holds and that the rock was too soft for it to be of interest to the climber, but after some careful cleaning of the holds I found a potential line. It is essentially a training board style problem – pull on with a crouching start on two opposing side-pulls (obvious because they are the only holds in the roof!) and make a big move to a good hold. This is then followed by a droppable sandstone style mantle-shelf/grovel. Focusing on catching the hold and engaging my core I eventually dispatched it. I have named it ‘Fruit of the Spirit’ as one of the biblical fruits of the spirit is self-control, a quality that is needed on this problem. I think it weighs in at around font 7B?

The other line I had often looked at was the vertical side wall to the right of ‘Faith’. The climbing looked relatively straight forward, although the landing slopes away and I wouldn’t want to fall from the top moves. I gave the holds a brush and sussed a sequence on rope before going for the send. With some tentative feet placement at the top I sent the problem. I feel the name ‘Meekness not Weakness’ is appropriate and I settled on a grade of font 6C, which takes into account the airy finish. Now the weather is improving let’s hope there are plenty more weekends like these ahead.