Well it is very occasional now that I get out climbing on anything other than plastic, however today was an exception, and after Llion suggested a rainbow slab session, I started getting psyched, as after my training seems to be going well, and have followed him up Pull My Daisy, I decide to strap my cock, tuck my skirt and man the f£$% up, and have ago at one of my major goals for this year Rainbow of Recalcitrance, and E6 with a big reputation and undoubtedly the line of the crag.
To say I was nervous was an understatement, however compared to a blind date I went on a few months back, where I almost puked on the lass when she eventually turned up, and was unable to string sentence together for five minutes, I can safely say that it wasn’t that bad. Years of anticipation disappeared after the first few moves and wires. The first crack is a bit of a fight however i didn’t find it too bad, however there was a lot of ‘Watch Me’.
I had quickly abseil to the side of the route to eye the gear, mainly because I didn’t want to kill myself, it all looked good and on the lead when I was slotting home good wire after good wire my confidence increased. My problem was where and when to traverse across onto the rainbow, I forgot my tape measure, so my 13 metres up was a bit of a guess, it turn out to be more like 12m, and after what I can only describe as a desperate battle I finally fell off.
A quick go the same way made me think I was going about it all wrong, and as soon as I committed to making another move up the crack, the step across, which I had built up to being the crux was well easy. Stood on a ledge unable to reverse with the bold climbing ahead it took a long long time to commit to horrendous smear or disappear move, which on slate means that every move felt like my last, all the way up to the junction with Poetry Pink, where despite the difficulty reducing the on/off teetering of the ripple became apparent as the run-out is astronomical. It looks like you’d make quite a crater from here.
With my belay getting cold, and my failure already sealed, I ‘escaped’ up the top of poetry and belayed Llion, as my pulse rate slow and the jitter diminished. Next time I tell you, next time I do it!
I decided that it wasn’t bad for an old man who doesn’t get out that much to comes so close to on-sighting such a respected route so early in the season. Come On!
Llion Morris on Pull My Daisy – E2 – Rainbow Slab