I thought I would open with a brief look at the state of British Trad Climbing, as today I went to Gogarth and was virtually alone except one other team. Fine I thought they’ll be doing gogarth of another of the easy classics. No. They were on Positron, a route simon and I had been psyching ourselves up for all the way across the Island. So in my book that would make British Trad climbing in a pretty healthy state when you have to queue for E5’s mid week a Gogarth.
The route was awesome, and Si lead the first pitch making it look easy until that final move up the steep groove. I then made the second pitch look desperate, but I had just seconded the first pitch without chalk, and with my SLR strapped to my back!
Unfortunately Si had to rest on the final main pitch, but what lead, and what an atmospheric bit of climbing. Totally sustain, and it just keeps coming at you until the final moves into the much appreciated groove.
I lead out across Cordon Bleau, mainly because I had climbed the last pitch of dinosaur before, and wasn’t going up there again! It was a long day out, and my arms can barely type, but I have to recover as I am heading up the pass imminently
Si and I recalled one of the last times we climbed at Gogarth, many years ago now. We had been in Time, Bangor Uni’s answer to a night club, then gone back to someones house for more booze. Anyway it ended up with us somehow being at Gogarth, still drunk and attempting to climb the Strand E2. This was probably the reason that I tried to get Simon to up grade the route in the new guide. However when asked why and I recounted this story of an ascent where I was almost passing out, and then realising I was still climbing, and then having to dry retch on the belay. I got the response I should have expected, ‘So mark you want me to up grade a route because you climbed it drunk, and therefore found it harder!’. Anyway funny how you remember these thing I should try and remember some of my other Uni adventures!
