Local Climbing - Roaches

Members:   Geri Mihalkova, Roger Dyke

Guest:  Michaela Schaller

 

Saturday instead of Sunday because of the weather forecast.

An unusual start to the Meet, in that the team found the Meet Leader where he had said he would be – under the Sloth. 

But asleep.

Well, I’d been there doing nothing for a couple of hours, and it was a nice warm day….    

I had been thinking of taking some selfies of myself soloing the Sloth, but hadn’t quite got round to it.  [I was distracted by a flock of pigs flying over.]

Between us, Michaela and I led Prow Cracks VD, Captain Lethargy HVD, Prow Corner VD, Right Route VD and Inverted Staircase D.

Geri did a grand job belaying the leader on all these, then following with such speed there are no photos of her actually climbing.  If the Club enters a Speed Climbing competition, I know who we need in the team…..

Following Michaela up Inverted Staircase reminded me what an undergraded route this is.   And Rockfax even says it’s mild at the grade!  It’s certainly no beginners route, with protection in the first 7m difficult to find and awkward to place securely, plus a nice rope-trap where you come out from under the overhangs.  

I do agree with Rockfax tho, that it is one of the Top 50 routes in the Peak.  

A bonus for me is that it reminds me of Bowden – if you don’t already know why, perhaps there’s space for an Appendix to this Report?

A fun afternoon in summer sunshine!

Roger Dyke