The weekend of the 10th-11th Oct 2009, saw 11 Brixton climbers head for The Queen of Grit: Stanage Edge in the Peak District. Stanage Edge is about 5Km long, and has over 1,000 trad routes of all grades and flavours, reaching a maximum height of 30m. It is home to some of the greatest climbs in the country.
We all left gloomy London early Saturday morning. Stanage is so big, that it is divided into several sections, and has three car parks serving different parts of the crag. We headed for Stanage Plantation, home to such classics as The Unconquerables (E1 and HVS), Tower Face (HVS), Goliath's Groove (HVS), Archangel (E3), etc. This area alone has 600+ climbs including boulder problems (such as the famous Brad Pitt V10).
Alex went straight for a 'warm-up' route "Death and Night and Blood" (5b E1). The name says it all! A precarious and balancy arete not recommended for the short. I focused my attention on Tower Face, and led a variation called Tower Face and Chimney (VS 4c). Soon Steph and Mel followed me, Mel climbing the proper Tower Face route (HVS 5a), from which I had retreated earlier.
We then headed to Goliath's Groove (HVS 5a) one of Stanage's all time classics. A steep off-width groove leading to a superb finger crack above. After a gruesome battle with the bloody groove (the term bloody is literal here!), both I and Alistair led it. We have the wounds to prove it! I've lost a chunk from my left ankle and Alistair lost the skin on one of his hands!
The rest of the guys had gone to the farther western ends of the crag, Stanage High Nebb. Steph, Mel and I had a lovely walk from the Plantation to the High Nebb, taking photographs, chasing sheep (Steph has an obsession with Sheep) and watching the sun setting in the distance.
We arrived at High Nebb just in time to see Eric tackling the critical move of Impossible Slab (5c E3!!!!). Eric was balancing on a tiny, tiny edge. Above him, 3 metres of blank looking rock, below him, 2 metres to his last piece of protection! We all had our hearts in our mouths as we watched Eric decisively tackling the final moves, with a balancy elegance that only he can achieve. When he reached the safety of the upper ledge we all exploded in delight and loud applause. Well done Eric!
However the true bravery award should go to Chris Gribble. He tackled a VS climb at the top of his technical ability, giving it all. At the crux of the climb, he fell off and a precarious cam held his fall. Not content with this, Chris proceeded to try again. He soon found himself struggling at the crux, just to fall yet again. This time the camming device failed and was ripped out of the rock. He kept falling until a piece of gear further down stopped him. The carabiner that finally took the brute force of the fall was seriously deformed. I was not there to see it but every body said it was one of the most incredible falls ever!
Tired and happy after so much excitement in a single day we then headed for the Millstone Inn. There we delighted ourselves with the now legendary Millstone Fish and Chips. The fish fillet is so big that literally does not fit in the plate! We also had steak, scampi, lamb pot, etc. all washed down with some nice beer.
With our bellies full it was now time to go to bed, however, we still had an adventure left for the night: finding the bivy cave in Stanage Popular! It was very dark and it took us about 40 min to find the cave, just to realise that about 10 people were already in there! Most of the guys decided to set up their bivies under overhanging buttresses at the bottom of the crag. Eric, Alex, Mel, Steph and I decided to explore another smaller cave, rumoured to be used by sheep in the winter. This cave is accessible only from the top, so we had to solo on-sight a 10-metre high moderate climb with our rucksacks in the dark!
The cave turned out to be very spacious but full of sheep dung. That problem was easily solved using Eric's super sized tarpauling. In a few seconds the cave was transformed into a clean, cozy room were we spent a really comfy night. We all agreed at the morning that it was way better than sleeping in a tent in a camp site. We had breakfast in the cave's balcony, high up in the buttress and with breathtaking views over the Hope Valley. We greeted the park warden who was happy to see that we were clean and organized.
As we were getting ready to start another climbing session the weather became nasty. The winds were fast and cold, and the faintest of drizzles started to fall. The drizzle keep strengthening in the most subtle of ways, slowly dampening, then wetting, then drenching everything. Alex had the brilliant idea of leading an HS in the middle of the torrential drizzle. I had the even worse idea of offering him a belay! The weirdest thing was when Richard asked, actually begged me to second the route! Be my guest! I never felt so cold and miserable! Nobody else was climbing.
Sad and defeated we regrouped and decided to have a nice pub lunch in some nice picturesque village, and head back to London. We didn't know it but it was still going to be a long day...
We found a very nice pub close to Birchen Edge (you should always choose a pub close to some rocks!). While we were waiting for our food we had a pool competition where the girls, Mel and Steph, convincingly embarrassed us and showed us how to play the game. Our food was ready and we had such lovely things as braised pork belly and black pudding on a bed of spinach and mashed potatoes, sirloin steak with rocket salad and home made chips, and so on. All washed down with the customary local ales!
As we were finishing our meal the sky cleared up, and glorious sunshine broke through the pub window and onto our table. High up on the hill side, behind the trees silhouetted against the perfectly blue sky, was Birchen Edge. A mere 10min walk away. We obviously had no option but to go climbing!
A lovely afternoon of bouldering and easy soloing ensued. We played several games such as doing boulder problems with no hands. It was really impressive what Alex, Mel and Eric managed to do. We soloed some high but easy and freaky slabs. Eric and Alex soloed an overhanging HS crack (HS?, I'll promise to buy a pint of beer to whoever soloes on-sight that thing!). After several hours of relentless bouldering it was finally time to go home. However, on the way back, we realised that we had forgotten to have dessert, so back to the pub for some chocolate fudge and more beer! Alex and I also managed a quick darts competition.
It looked like the fun was never going to end, but in the end it did! Everybody into their cars and back to London, with big smiles in our faces after such an extraordinary weekend!
If you're reading this and you feel green with envy after having missed so much fun, don't worry, everything will be repeated again (in a different sort of way), next weekend: Millstone Edge! And check out the two ticks that are compulsory for all Brixton Climbers: Brixton Road (Vdiff) and Lambeth Chimney (HS), no kidding those are true climbs!
Mario.
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