I had a chance on Sunday afternoon to go outside and I thought I'd go to the Roaches, again. Seem to be going there more than anywhere else at the moment. Well, it is a brilliant place and I thought the Spring Boulders would perhaps be the only climbable rock in the Peak.
Without a 4x4 the road was impassable so I parked at Upper Hulme and walked up the snowbound road for 20 mins or so. There were quite a few folks heading back down the road, but it was pretty quiet.
Lo and behold the Spring Boulders had 3 dry problems on it. 1 of them is in theory doable (for me) so I spent a happy hour trying that problem.
Basically I spent 1 hour trying to get my hips in the right position to enable the move from the first rubbish smear for the left foot to step the right foot to a good hold. Much rubber was lost from my left toe as I worked out the minute border between pressure and friction. I almost got it, but not quite.
It was very good. I left at about 3.30 as the sun dropped below the horizon and the temperature plummeted. I was wearing a prototype of a super beefy synthetic insulation jacket -the Citadel due in the shops winter 2010 - and I was WARM. Also I am happy to report my Astron softshell performed admirably as a crashpad/beermat.
Hopefully I'll get chance to hike for some turns on my board next weekend....
The Roaches from the walk up...
Looking back at Hen Cloud
The noble spring boulders: snow free, just
After the sun had set the sky really was this colour.
