Wed 15th Jul, 2009
Den Lane Quarries
Attendees: Dave Wylie, Trish Cranston, Christine Stark, Chris Williams, Dave Dillon, Pete Kosowski, Amy, Jo and Mark Furniss.
Dave W. arrived at the quarries first and spent a while attempting a low-level traverse of Rake Wall. Fortunately, before he'd completely exhausted himself, the jangle of climbing gear from further to the left alerted him to the arrival of more KMC'ers. The main activity of the evening was on Long Wall. The routes here included: Elderberry Slab (V-Diff) Ash Tree Direct (S, 4b) Three Notch Slab (MVS, 4c) Palais Glide (VS, 4c) Mississippi Dip (VS, 4c) Orchestral Crack (HVS, 5a) Christine's ascent of "Ash Tree Direct" was her highest grade lead to date - and only her third ever lead using traditional, leader-placed, gear. Well done Christine! For one route, Pete continued all the way up the slope above the crag - leading to communication problems with Amy, who was to second the route, and a very long walk round to get back down. This did, however, mean that they discovered the (non-climber) gentleman who had slipped at the bottom of the path by the road and damaged his ankle. Assistance, in the form of giving him a lift home, was supplied by the team. Most of the group (with the exception of Dave W. who, by that point, was too tired even to drink) headed to the Pub to select the crag for next week.