Present: Chris Williams, Trudy Young, Dave Wylie, Al Metelko, Andy Grantham, Christine Stark, Roger Dyke, James Oswald.

I turned up at North Lees Campsite on Friday with somewhat mixed feelings, the weather was not looking that fantastic, having been away I had not spoken to any members recently, many KMCers were either already in the Alps or were about to go. Would I spend the weekend bouldering by myself? So it was with great relief that as I registered I noticed some familiar names had booked in for Saturday night! All was not lost! This was shortly followed by an enthusiastic call from Trudy confirming she was coming with "rent a crowd". (The crowd didn't quite make it in the end but never mind!).

After a rather damp start on Saturday morning the weather picked up enough to head off for High Neb. Trudy soon arrived and we started off with Eric's Eliminate followed by an exhausting struggle up Eckhard's Chimney - never again. Trudy led Boyd's Crack and was determined to place every piece of gear in her rack, just to make sure! Around midday Dave arrived closely followed by Al, Andy and Christine who made all sorts of excuses for being late... something about buying a tent for a trip to the Alps?

A whole raft of routes were ticked off by all those present including Twisting Crack, Tango Buttress, and the classic top 50 climb High Neb Buttress. Al showed us all up by soloing several of the routes in bare feet, but the start of High Neb Buttress Variations proved to be a worthy struggle for him. As usual the KMCers were last off the crag and regrouped in the Little John for an excellent meal, when it arrived! The happy campers, Trudy, Chris and Dave retired to the tents for cheese and wine while the others drove home.

The weather on Sunday was not quite as bright as the previous day, but the three campers were soon joined at Crow Chin by Roger and James. Dave made easy work of Autumn Gold together with Trudy and Roger, followed by a bold lead on Bright Eyed. October Slab and Kelly's Eliminate along with several other routes were tackled by the group. James was hungry to test his new found lead skills and did an impressive job on several routes. Urged on by all of the group he rounded off climbing on the crag with a very impressive onsight (almost) of The Marmoset, demonstrating the joy of youth. There was a distinct lack of volunteers to second the route so it was fortunate that James didn't need to place any gear further up! Roger and James were keen to climb longer so walked along to High Neb where they both led another route each.

All in all it was a great weekend out on some classic grit. We enjoyed the sun on the odd occasion it came out but it did remain dry, which is something for this summer! Even the midges seemed to stay away which was a relief!

How can the KMC calendar be complete without a meet at Stanage, "the finest of all the gritstone edges by quite a margin in a setting of unrivalled grandeur" (Rockfax). Yes I know on August weekends it will be heaving with budding climbers and the midges will be queuing up for a bite or two, or three... but will that deter us? No never! I will be at the North Lees Camp Site on Friday evening and will bring along a barbeque. Just come with whatever you would like to burn and something to wash it down with.

Saturday should be less busy especially in the morning so I plan to be at High Neb from 10am. at the latest. There are lots of excellent climbs here with star routes at grades from VDiff to VS plus way beyond for the adventurous ones. High Neb is best approached from Dennis Knoll car park for those arriving on the day.

Sunday the plan is to be at Crow Chin from around 10 a.m. hoping to avoid the worst of the crowds. Here again there is a good selection of star routes from VDiff upwards. Later on we could move onto Marble Wall for a few more serious routes!

Camping at North Lees can be busy at this time of year so it is strongly recommended that you book yourself a place well in advance.

The details are:

North Lees Campsite
Birley Lane
Hathersage
Derbyshire S32 1BR
Tel: 01433 650 838

The facilities are excellent and is within easy walking distance of all the crags as well as pubs etc. in Hathersage. Bring plenty of midge repellent!