9 degrees and an Easterly breeze
29th Sep 2012
9 degrees and an easterly breeze. These were the key ingredients for a good slice of ‘send pie’ last weekend at Badger Cove, where I managed the 1st repeat of marra Varian’s “Dandelion Mind”. Since trying this problem in early 2011 it has been high on my to-do list. The problem is steep, powerful, and on skin-friendly limestone holds, perfect for someone who trains on a board week in week out!
I had planned to head to The Hangar comp with Tom Newman on the Saturday but after waking up to cool sunny conditions it would have been a crying shame to waste it indoors. The obligatory weather check turned up even more good news when it promised an easterly breeze at Buxton. This is just what is needed at Badger Cove, as it is sheltered on the west side of a deep valley and thus tends to be sheltered by the prevailing South Westerly’s. As the Easterly breeze is more rare than chicken lips, the decision was quickly made and we were soon on the road.
The walk in was the standard bumble along steep unstable slopes but I was surprised when we arrived in the cove and were greeted by 4ft high nettles, which were quickly tackled by the ever-handy stick brush. After a brief warm up, I got straight onto “Dandelion” and was pleasantly surprised to find I was much stronger on the line than when I had tried previously. The only problem was I had completely forgotten the sequence to the easier end moves, which I had written off as being pretty straightforward. This caused slight panic as I wasn’t too eager to spend energy working out the working beta. I tried to get Newman to suss out the move but quickly realised that his lengthy limbs wouldn’t give great beta for me. So, after a quick leg up, I had a working sequence and I was happy it would do the job when I got up there. Sure enough, after a few more attempts the problem was in my satchel.
Dandelion Mind from David Jones on Vimeo.
In other news, I managed a wee first ascent at Trowbarrow a couple of weeks ago. “Barbaric Yawp” is a small gem on the Shelter Stone, which packs in two good moves before topping out at head height! Brilliant. More info on it here: http://lakesbloc.com/news/423-trowbarrow-barbaric-yawp.html
Contributed by: David Jones
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