Blog post by Ruth Taylor
Sylvain checking out the moves on The Crypt Trip
As Dunk mentioned a few days ago, Sylvain Millet has arrived in the Peak District with his friends Thibaud and Yannick (I apologise now for spelling them both wrong!). So Andy and I headed up to the High Neb area of Stanage Wednesday to see how they have been getting on. We had never met Sylvain before and so we headed to the crag wondering if we'd find them. We spotted a team right next to High Neb Buttress but weren't convinced it was team France - they looked to be lacking the standard french uber-climber tan....... we were right definitely some brits, but cowering in the shade behind a boulder were the boys - it's HOT, HOT, HOT out there and that is not great for climbing on the gritstone. Friction is definitely not at it's best!
Thibaud facing the tricky top-out on Quietus
Undeterred the boys were cranking away and we were just in time to see them cruising up Quietus. We hung out for a couple of hours, Andy mostly lay in the sun attempting to get some kind of a tan - whilst I scurried about getting a few photos and soloing some super easy routes.
Andy Turner, Sylvain Millet , Yannick, Mac the dog and Thibaud under the jumper
Sylvain making very short work of Quietus
We left them still climbing as the temperature began to drop, with an extra guide book and some advice about which crags will be shady for the next couple of days. Andy has arranged to meet up again over the weekend and is hoping to tempt them further south to some of the shady crags on the Western Grit, so watch out for the next update.
