Grit time
19th Mar 2012
II am always keen for a bit of grit climbing and have been trying to get out as much as possible over the last few weeks. It has got a lot warmer recently but I figured this would be the perfect time to go and do all the classics I haven’t yet done from VS to E5.
Brads Arete 'the presence of absence' 6c+
Photo by Si Wilson
A few weeks ago I climbed The Angel’s Share an amazing slab climb at Black Rocks. There are four climbs that go up the slab on this block but to begin three of them you have to do a desperate rock over/ mantel on a thin chipped rail, which until that day I have never managed to do.
I did Jumping on a Beetle first which has one hard step through off the rail and as soon as you trust your foot it is not as bad as you think it might be.
Ned was trying Angel’s Share so I decided to have a play on it to. The slab has nothing for you hands, not even a pebble so it is all about getting your body positioning right and weighting your feet correctly. At the very top you can then reach a thin seam with your hands and at this point my feet would generally rip off and I would go sliding down the slab. I finally managed it towards the end of the day with a very ungraceful panicy top out!
In contrast to all this smeary short grit climbing I have just spent a week on the tufery cliff of Terradets in Spain. Totally amazing and I got totally shut down! Every single route was a battle and at around 15m I was boxed out of my mind and it would be a proper fight to get to the top, chicken winging all the way. I managed a really cool route called Energia Positiva 7c+, finger jugs to half way, then tufa, then a little bouldery finish right when you can’t hold on any longer!
Pete Whittaker climbing the beefy L'Anarkista 8a+
Contributed by: Katy Whittaker
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