Out of the Box

A family special on Boxing Day 2009

Ho Bloody Ho

It's Christmas Day.  The Wild West of Winston is a WHITE CHRISTMAS (official) - we've been dreaming but now it's all true.

We've had a fowlbulous dinner courtesy of the Queen of all things Roast. 


Big kudos to Lord Hodgson of Piercebridge and his turktastic Norfolk Black, reared home on the local range and scoffed with great gratititide..

The Big Chill

Minus 8 degrees C this morning

Fabulous

Winter in the Wild West of Winston

The last few days have seen the temperature plummet and some light snowfall.















Will it stay for Christmas?

Max has resurrected some deep seated norwegian forest instincts -  he's out and about!

Black Moss

There was a cold glow in the late autumn morning. The plan was to invent something out west.  A fatal crash on the sixty six diverted us to Brough via Lunedale.  Keswick was rainbound so replenishment in Fishers eaterie used up some time. 

The Eagle Crag option was quickly binned - no time to trudge all the way up there, so a low level Langstrath round to Black Moss Pot came to the fore. 
Bleak How, Fat Charlie's Buttress, Sergeant Crag Slabs and Cam Crag Ridge were all eyeballed for future reference.

Finished up at the new Keswick indoor wall for some refrigerated routes at improbable grades.

Crathorne Fandango

November 29th came upon us suddenly - Katy and Richard's wedding at Crathorne.  Lovely do - Katy looked stunning - may explain why Richard seemed knocked out for most of the day. 

Crathorne Hall is a splendid venue, top quality all the way.  It was a lot of fun meeting the extended families and getting to know who was who and what was what.  Jo and Nick turned up for the evening do and we enjoyed a good gas and a bit of a minor league boogie.

Cone below!

Early November and it's a day out at Kyloe(nly) - just me and NB the whole day.  Bright sun gave way to a brief shower but the rock stayed mostly dry for a series of regulation routes all done in good order.

It's a peaceful place - carpets of pine, birds twitter, bongs ting like cowbells, and carefree climbers call  "Cone below"! 

NB took wing up and down and up Bird Lime Crack - a fine Severe, but about as mild as a Madras. Finished the day in the gathering gloom with a sprint up Saint's Progress - a perfect wire where it really mattered.  Another day stolen from the fickle late season weather Gods.

How Green was my Stanage?

It's Monday - so it must be another late season trip to Stanage.  BP with a mission to tick off some more star stuff so right hand end again... weather much milder and the crag is in full bloom. Physiology, (BP) Anatomy, (AT) Crack and Corner (AT), Cakestand (BP)  all done.  Square Chimney and Mantlepiece Crack, Black Hell Hell Crack (BP) and Black Hawk Traverse Right (AT - traditional)

All in all another great day of miscellaneousness. Eight character building routes done - who needs Kalymnos when you can stay in Derbyshire and save the planet?

Who let the dogs out?

It looked like a full working week except for Monday, fortunately the rest of the pack were up for a day out and the weather turned up too.  After a very cold start (felt like we must be barking mad) at Stanage High Neb the sun burnt it all off.  NB going incommunicado (pic).

Three routes there and then a short drive to the far right hand end for some off the beaten track climbing.  BP please to add five new routes to the 17,653 he's already done, some BIG MOVES needed.  Four more routes there with WingCo Thompson in flying form.

Who let the dogs out?

Raven bonkers

After Tuesdays downpour Wednesday 7/10 turned out great as forecast, so a crack team rendezed themselves at Greta Bridge - objective to re-take Raven Crag.  Some short but steep routes on East Raven were despatched, then me and Norm headed over to explore the mysteries of Evening Wall while Bruce stole P1 and P3 of Centipede from Mark at the other end.  That FRCC guide is USELESS, I finished up a 4b line - think the route traversed several metres left although that wasn't clear, how come a 2 star route isn't shown on the topo?  Earlier on the guide had us guessing on "Speckled Band".

South bound again

Travelled to Hove for a break with Vikki and Pete.  Called in at Profeet for boot upgrade for Her Luminescence, progress made but will need another visit.  Great weather, dazzling white light white heat flat sea hard to beat anywhere.  Shopped, scoffed and quaffed for three days straight - new venue "Bills" interesting eaterie in a converted bus depot, and a meal out with Rog and Sue at the Ginger Pig -  plus great home cooking by the Vikk - fishtastic..!

Trenchtown rock

Tuesday came.  The idea was to head to Borrowdale and revisit The Pinnacle of Troutdale - but the weather forecast was 30:70.  In the face of those odds PLAN B was invoked - N Yorks - Peak Scar.  We went, we found it.  We let it be.  Norms words of wisdom along the lines of "let's f@&k off to the Wainstones.  Couldn't fault the reasoning, given the airborne fret, damp rock, and the prevailing Tolkien vibe of the place.  So we drove up Bilsdale and commenced PLAN C.

Walked in from Hasty Bank, Ravenscar option thwarted by a new and serious fence.  Uber classics looked green anyway.
On to Wainstones for a sporty afternoon. Ling here, Sphinx there, Christopher to finish, nice catching Norm.

Stone ground

Back in the loop with team Binks on Sunday - on a Millstone mission.  Several other notables present, C Craggs (Mr Peak) Steve Cunnington, Dave Spence, Graham ? Dave Vincent inter alia.

The Pinnacle Club were also out in force, showing how it's done (well Bond St certainly isn't a one way street!),   Me and MB joined on a rope and played Monopoly with the routes. It's no place for the faint hearted, but there's no way would we let it grind us down,  http://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/showlog.html?id=12428&sort=e
Pretty windy on top but an excellent day out.  The Mall (VS4c) pictured ((c) Madking thanks to UKC) and also CB smearing his jams all over Bond Street

Life's a beach

Friday was a day for us, so we packed a picnic and headed out to find the sun. Original plan was N York Moors, maybe Rievaux Abbey, but it looked dull that way so we peeled off to the seaside. 

A windy walk down the stupendous Saltburn strand, so much space across the sand , sea, and sky - vertiginous in a horizontal kind of way

Revelation Rock

The weather forecast got better and better, and by the time Wednesday came round it was looking good out west. I fancied another go at Gimmer, but the wind was blustery in the valley so Norm's Raven recommendation was spot on. I got lucky and won the toss for the lead on Centipede, which meant I also got P3 which was delightful.

Over lunch we watched a youth make easy work of what looked a hard route (Revelation, below). Above pics are of Centipede, third pitch.

So I gave myself a good talking to,
and Norm
was up for it,
so away we went.
Steep in places, but good holds and immaculate protection, marvellous. Norm led P1 in fine style. The second pitch was my go, filled it full of gear, and in return it filled me full of fizz... used all 14 quickdraws/slings in the 38 metres. By then the clouds were sinking and could feel the threat of imminent precipitation, so we bailed out to the bar at the ODG. Just in time - it tipped it down... felt sorry for those still busy up there.

Road dreadge

A dull day turned into a fine evening - rather than pound out at the Gym, the cycle option came up front so off round the local lanes - by the Ha Ha (pictured) and back via Pudding Hill 12.5 very pleasant miles except for the crazy 70mph driver who nearly killed us both cutting a corner on the back lane to Caldwell, too fast to get his or her number, would have seen em in court, our lives nearly ended there and then.

Road dreadge

A dull day turned into a fine evening - rather than pound out at the Gym, the cycle option came up front so off round the local lanes - by the Ha Ha (pictured) and back via Pudding Hill 12.5 very pleasant miles except for the crazy 70mph driver who nearly killed us both cutting a corner on the back lane to Caldwell, too fast to get his or her number, would have seen em in court, our lives nearly ended there and then.

Dredging for Copper

A big high pressure has landed over Blighty and so plans for a two day trip were laid. Wednesday started with a meet at WWOW and a drive up to the Coppermines hut (a great facility), from where various obscure crags and routes were re-discovered and enjoyed. Thursday arrived -eyes squinting from the combinaton of the dazzling dawn light and last night's libations. So off to high exposure in White Ghyll - Slip Knot, Slabs Route 2 both dispatched in fine style, despite added interest (on the latter) supplied by a neighbouring party in some difficulties. MB gave the necessary assistance, followed by choice words of advice from BP. Two corking BIG DAYS IN THE NORTH!

Dredge in a Woodburn

Me and Normski got four routes in on Wed 2 Sep - all good stuff. Approach walk in fraught with danger from herd of cows, but survived intacto. Only 4 routes done due to late arrival from a soaking Simonside via a last gasp petrol pump

Start up dredge

It's happening......

Well, feeling a bit weird today after a couple of extra weird dreams last night. How can there be so much imagination locked up in a persons subconscious? I can't begin to describe what was in them and what they were about, but on some level I can recall them in detail. What's the difference between be able to remember, and being able to describe? Think I must have been dredging from the deep, where the pressure of ideas is so great that no language can survive.