Prospective Members:
   Holly Warder, Daniel Arrowsmith

Member:
   Dave Wylie

It was a rather smaller, but no less enthusiastic, turnout for the antepenultimate outdoor evening meet of the year. Numbers were eroded partly due to at least one of the usual suspects being otherwise engaged on the Club's week-long trip to Skye.

Holly arrived first and, while waiting for others, only managed to avoid being recruited into a religious group by pointing out that the "Bible" that she was seen to be reading was actually a climbing guidebook. Same thing, really...

Dan turned up an hour or so later, having been so keen to get out that he initially went to next week's venue before realising he should be about 13 miles due south of there!

Dave got to the crag a few minutes after Dan, mumbling excuses about heavy traffic preventing him arriving sooner. Note to self: set off earlier in future.

With the team finally assembled, Dan tied in to the sharp end of the rope and did all the leading for the evening. His first route was "Cracked Corner" (S, 4a). Holly and Dave followed him up this, but the consensus was that the Rockfax grade (Hard Severe, 4b) was more appropriate - given the steepness of the route and the fact that all of Dan's gear flipped out as the rope was being taken in after he'd belayed at the top. An abseil descent was made from the in-situ maillon tied to the tree at the top.

Next, Dan led the classic HVS, 5a "Alcove Crack". This also seemed to be very steep and proved problematical for both seconds. Dave blamed his struggles on a lack of climbing for nearly two years, as his arms shrivelled away on the middle section of the route. Another abseil descent avoided any need to trespass into the garden of the property above the crag.

With the sunlight starting to fade, attention moved to the bolted (and floodlit!) sports routes on the pillars of the viaduct holding up Union Road. The guidebook suggests using a clip-stick to reach the first bolt. We didn't have one - but then Dan didn't need any such method of cheating! He led "The Price of Admission" (F6a+), up the arête of one pillar. Dave, then Holly, only managed to get about two thirds of the way up this when seconding. This meant that Dan had to do a final route, "The Thin End of the Hedge" (F6a), in order to thread the lower-off bolts and retrieve his gear.

A good, if short, evening's climbing. More fun to be had next week at Den Lane!

New Mills is a good low level crag. Warm and sunny, approached downhill and a pub 2 mins away! There is a high quality mix of routes (both trad and sport!) and bouldering at all grades, all on quarried grit. For late season it’s a great crag to get a lot in quickly. Expect some people there from 4.30pm ish but check on the scribble board on the website as well.

Details for the crag on UKC can be found here:  

 https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crag.php?id=149