Extracts from Newsletter 3
Next
Newsletter
Previous Newsletter
Newsletter Index
Clotted cream, sun, pubs, granite - yes Cornwall had them all in large dollops. The "Keen Machine" was there with a full backup team of 2nd's, namely Rod, Karen and Alison. When we met them they were wrestling with Terriers Tooth (V.Diff) at Chair Ladder. Karen, in an effort to impress the "in-laws" had pulled off a spectacular inverted abseil to get to the foot of the climb. Unperturbed, she followed Derek up the exposed pinnacle of this classic route (I think the captain has another one hooked). Derek kindly soloed up the start of the quartz vein start and stuck a wire in for me (why the bastard couldn't do this all the way to the top was beyond me, most unsporting). We then had to race to the top against 4 other parties; classic mosh pit climbing at its worst.
Corporal's route was next, my apologies to Shirley at this point, the rope drag I was hauling up the 2nd pitch turned out to be ...... Shirley. The keen team continued with routes such as Flannel route, Autumn Flakes and Western Arete. Shirley and I had an appointment with fish and chips in Sennen.
Meanwhile, in another dimension far removed from us mere mortals Toby, Barcode, Mike et al. where going LARGE. Bar had the dubious task of seconding Mike (Mike lives in Sheffield ....). The bald old bastard done good! Lets take a look at the evidence:
Bowwall E2 5b
Grendel E2 5c
Marisco Striptease E1 5b
Grande Plage E3 6a
Reflections in a Mirror E4 6b
Crack in the Sky E1 5b
American Dream E1 5b
More E numbers than a can of Tango. Not content with purely climbing like maniacs, these guys then proceeded to "test" their friends by taking deliberate 20' lobs of Crack in the Sky !!? Friends work - ask Barcode. I overheard climbers in the pub talking about it later.
And what of the pub? I hear you ask. Maybe our rock athlete friends were too knackered after all that pump action climbing, anyway we didn't see them. Later that evening local residents claim to have spotted a fast moving silver dome in the sky over Sennen Cove.
Sunday, after a shit start to the day at Chair Ladder (consisting of queuing for Pegasus while two incompetent parties farted around on it), Shirley and I needed a buzz. The answer came in the shape of Little Brown Jug (VS 5a). By the last pitch it was 8:00pm, I was freezing cold and the whole thing started to feel a bit epic like. When I got to the crux overhanging crack my mind was oblivious to any distractions, just this constant Radiohead lyric looping through my brain "but gravity always wins". Layback, haul, grab, haul, lose block - fuck, thruch, knee! top ... phew. Ali told me this was a good route. RESPECT SISTER!
Well if anything else happened that weekend I wasn't really paying much attention. We are going back in August, Go climb LBJ - let me know what you think.
Ian
