UKH

Just thinking back on some of my grandest days out, not necessarily the hardest climbs - but days that stay with you down the years:

A lot of years ago and on the way home from work on a Wednesday evening I got a copy of the latest Dow, Eskdale and Duddon guidebook. I spotted a double page with four three star routes we hadn't done. Thursday night at the Porter Cottage a plan was hatched and Friday we bivied out by the track to Dow.

Catacomb (E1 5b), Holocaust (E4 6a), Nimrod (E1 5c), and Tumble (E4 6a) passed in a glorious day of climbing. In the evening we called in at Hodge Close for Sideshow (E2 5b) - then went in search of beer.

Anyone like to share theirs?

Chris

Good for the ego as well.

A balmy September day out on the Roaches skyline with Mark and Andi. Normally we were just lazy and hardly achieved anything, but for some reason we all had the fire that day, starting off with three ascents of San Melas (E3 5c), and blitzed our way along doing most of the routes up to E4 (including Paul's Puffer (E4 6b) and Slips (E3 6a)*). Andi and Mark finished off with Wings of Unreason (E4 6a) and Track of the Cat (E5 6a) while I took their photos. A grand day out.

* their height counted against them on these!

One that stands out was with Roger Everett when we both students at Oxford (me a 1st year undergrad, he a postgrad) also in the Lakes on Scafell East Buttress. We'd never climbed together before & I was a little in awe of him as he suggested Minotaur as a first route but it went well & we also climbed May Day Direct and Leverage before running down to the pub at Wasdale Head for last orders - the first extremes I'd ever climbed and the breaking of a mental barrier.

One of my most memorable days out was after kipping in the slate quarries before... Comes the Dervish (E3 5c) ... followed by hitching up the pass to do... Cenotaph Corner (E1 5c) and Cemetery Gates (E1 5b)... magic sunny day with a cool breeze... Good times 😁

A glory weekend rather than a day but: first year of uni (so 1982), weekend trip to Wales to do classics we were only just good enough to try by then. First day Left Wall and then Vector. Second day White Slab free (after an eternity of lasso attempts!)

Hard to imagine 3 bigger classics at the grade, and all done right at the best time for greatest uncertainty and greatest pleasure!

Has to be the Gates and then the Corner on my 60th birthday  38 years after 1 1st led it in 1965              I I decided to try this new fangled chalk stuff

Just after the little steep bit 30' up the Gates I found a jug with a pool of water behind it, didn't bother with the chalk again that day

Did Spectre HVS  after those 2 and found pitch 4 harder than anything on the other 2 E1's

I remember thinking that if I could get good enough to do the big classic E2's I'd be over the moon. And then I did Shibboleth, The Bat and Carnivore on consecutive weekends and felt I'd made it as a half decent climber.

I think I'll struggle to beat the day in the Lakes in 2007 (during an amazing Summer of climbing) that I visited four major crags first time - Central Buttress (E1 5b), Ichabod (E2 5c), Central Pillar (E2 5b) and Gormenghast (E1 5b).

My humble contribution and as you say not the hardest climbs but the best days out.  Bosigran Ridge a.k.a Commando Ridge (VD).  It was days after, or perhaps just before, the publication of the Rockfax West Country Climbs guide and there was an taster .pdf on UKC of Bosigran Ridge.  My partner at that time suggested we go and do it.  We picked a weekend and away we went...with the only problem being that low tide was about six a.m.!  Why we didn't change our plan I don't know but we stuck to our guns.  The morning of our departure I woke up to my wife in tears...WTF? "We're going to have a baby"...

A looong drive down to Cornwall and we caught last orders at the Tinners Arms with some hazy idea they might let us camp somewhere.  Not to be and we ended up bivvying somewhere in the region of the Count House for a couple of hours semi-sleep.  Up at about 4 and we packed the gear away and racked up. I've got vivid memories of being at the start at about 5.30 thinking "What on earth am I doing here, and holy sh*t I'm going to be a DAD!".  

The day passed in a surreal blur of thoughtful belays, beautiful azure seas and introspection before another looong drive home to pick up the threads of my life.  The rest is history!

Oh - and of course I went straight out and bought the guidebook Chris : )

Midsummers day 1986, The Stand, Big Groove and T-Rex; topped out as the sun set. 

If ever I've seen a thread show just how much UKC should get rid of the dislike button, this is it. What sort of cretin needs to show disapproval of Mark's achievement/enjoyment/sense of satisfaction at such a wonderful day's climbing. It's not like a Brexit debate or me calling Clarkson a tw*t.

(This applies to all the posts on this thread similarly spoiled but the 23.11 one in particular)

I would not even have noticed the use of the dislike button in skim reading this thread unless it was pointed out and then I had to go back through and search for the alternative argument ....

If the dislike button offends you then don't pay attention 

Alternative argument to what? This wasn't a debating thread, just reminiscences.

Actually that's a fine idea for a user config option, to simply not show dislikes or dislike buttons.

That’s a great day Chris.

A mountain day that stands out was doing Capital Punishment (E4 5c) Wavelength Touch (E2 5c) Demetreus (E3 6a) and Javelin Blade (E1 5b)

And a cragging day was doing The Last Waltz (7a+) The Last Toad (7b+) and Gorgan Direct (E5 6b)

Happy days when we were young! 

Cheers

Chris

Simon and I many year ago. Fantastic weekend.

Top form from a winter on Ice followed by Sandstone.

Cenotaph Corner, drive to Tremadoc then  Vector.

Sunday just left the walk up to Cloggy and White Slab. I'll never forget and never repeat.

Oddly, the days that stick in my mind the most are sometimes the ones that don't go according to plan.  One that I recall vividly was a day out at Clogwyn Yr Eryr with my now wife.  It was August and we walked in in beautiful sunshine...arrived to find we had the crag to ourselves.

It was so hot I set off up Oriole in just a pair of shorts.  By the time I reached the belay it was bloody freezing and it started hailstoning.  I set up a belay and clipped in, but quickly realised I was getting hypothermic.  The missus quickly followed the pitch and we abbed off...leaving a fair amount of gear at the belay to ab off.   Immediately on reaching the base of the crag the sun came out again.  We decided to head up to the top of the crag to ab and retrieve the gear.  So we set off climbing up the steep, bilberry-covered hillsides, eating the juicy berries as we went.  On reaching the top of the crag the sky clouded over quickly again and there was a fairly major lightning storm, with strikes very close by.  We decided to head back down to the base and abandon the gear, but decided to take an "easier route" down to the base.  Not sure how, but we ended up lost (and soaked to the skin!).  On arriving at the base of the crag again we packed up and headed back towards the car.  On passing through the woods we found a load of ceps, which we picked and took home for dinner.  We were both soaked and had no spare clothes so stripped naked and drove back to a mate's house in Llanberis naked.

On passing through Betws Y Coed - we realised we needed some milk for a brew.  We had been so busy chatting I'd forgotten I was naked, so parked up and quickly hopped out of the car outside the spa shop.  A few shocked looks from passers by and I quickly realised my mistake (add to that the missus was pissing herself laughing in the car).

We figured out over dinner that we'd done a 7 hour day out and climbed on single pitch, but it was a good one

One of my favourite days out has to be the Stanage VS challenge. No epics, just great weather, great company, so many old favourite routes and a good few I'd never got round to doing before. 

Climbing Corvus with my son when he was 8. Beats all the E5’s, E6’s or E7’s that I’ve done over the years by a long way. The company is better than the route?

Undoubtedly with regard to British rather than Alpine climbing when I was a beginner (I started late at 28 in the Alps in 1962): Whitsun 1966 with Ron James when he led me up  Craig yr Ysfa lower amphitheater girdle (FA), next day Shrike, following day White and fourth day Crucible. I can cite glorious days and seasons in the Alps and elsewhere, which  rival or surpass that long weekend, but for a sheer joyous experience when I was a novice it must remain  my nec plus ultra. 

Too many to choose from, for which I count my blessings. If I had to go for just one, it would be this:

Plan to go winter climbing and hear that the NW Highlands are in good nick. Drive from Kendal to Carlisle to pick up partner, en route my head gasket blows. I abandon my car, and my partner picks me up in his wreck, nicknamed "The Tractor". We head North slowly, top speed 60mph. After 3 turns each at driving, we arrive in Torridon in the very early hours, and pitch a tent on the only flat ground we can see.

Far too soon afterwards, we wake up to find we have camped in a frozen bog, and have sunk overnight. Some of our kit is wet, but we decide to carry on and start walking in. As the sun comes out, we dry out a bit and when we turn into the corrie around 3 hours later, we feel like St. Paul on the road to Damascus. We're already really tired but there is no wind, the sky is blue and the route is glittering like a prize jewel before us. What follows is a joyful experience, close to our limit, steep but with helpful ice conditions, and all too soon we reach the snowfield at the end of the difficulties. I pause, thinking of a friend avalanched here years before, and his partner who was killed, and thank the mountain gods for being kind today.

We bumslide the easy gully down the backside, hollering at the madness of it, and I fall headfirst through exhaustion into a stream and have to be rescued, stuck by my rucksack. At the car park, we bump into some friends who've also had a great day out. We trade coffee for a slug on their hipflask before heading south to the promise of a warm dry bed in Fort William, courtesy of some friends guiding for the winter season.

The name of the route doesn't matter really, it's the friends who made the experience possible that count for me. Jimbo for "The Tractor" and his winter nous, Noddy for the whisky and warm smiles, and Rocio and Owen for a bed when it was most needed.

Perfect spring day after Easter Monday we did Bishops Rib as  a three, perfect warm rough granite with holds getting bigger the higher you get, off for a cream tea on the way to Bosi for the team to do Bow Wall while I wandered solo up Autumn Flakes, Doorway and Doorpost, great memories.

Sorry the Gates again. There i was on the belay ledge shouting down to my current G/F  just treat it as a few boulder problems as there,s lots of rest places.  Then out the edge of my sight I saw a flash of light over Pen-Y-pass.  Only 2 F15's coming down the Pass. I just had time to warn her and provide a tight rope as they came past below us. The noise was unbelievable as it seemed to be trapped between us and the Mot. She of course fell off.   They must have been lost as I thought at the time the Pass was out of bounds.  Sorry to repeat a Gates story again but I liked to do it as a birthday treat to myself.  I was 63 that day   

Possibly not our best days climbing ever but a good day non the less, Keefe Murphy & myself

14th July 1990

Stoney:

--------------------------

Scoop Wall E2

Memnon E2

Windhover E2

Armageddon E2

Flakes E2

Flakes Direct E2

Dies Irae E2

Kelly's Eye E4

Bingo Wall E4

Wee Doris E4

Pickpocket E4

Flashing Fisher E3

Double Scotch E2

Traffic Jam E5

Solitairee E2

Cock-a-Leekie E2

Soapsuds E3

Bubbles Wall E3

This Wall E2

Carl's Wark Crack E2

Chee Tor

--------------------------------

White Gold E4

Oblomor E2

Heart of Darkness E3

Hergiani E2

Absent Friends E3

Less Than Zero E3

Approaching E3

Splintered Perspex E3

Queer Street E3

42nd Street E3

Sunny Goodge Street E2

Match of the Day E2

Goal of the Month E2

Rape E2

Dagenham Dave E2

Switch E2

What Aches E3

Mortlock's Arete E4

--------------------------------

And the Pub 

Wow, that's impressive!

No big numbers but the day of my last exam. Scooch up to the peak on my Honda 90, 87 routes either side of a bivi on Birchens.

Blimey, that is impressive!

For me, probably Charlie’s Overhang, Edge Lane and Archangel. Why we couldn’t stay at one crag like the rest of the world I’m not sure.

jcm

As John said - wow!

Chris

100 E point day

102, no?

jcm

Utterly astonishing and huge respect. 38 routes plus a drive from stoney to Chee tor, walk in etc. Nearly midsummer so I presume you started about 3am finish 1030 (in time for pub). Averaging about 20 mins per route - probably the time I spend flaking my rope for the first route! Exhausted just thinking about it. 

My memorable days have mainly revolved around epics - notably topping out on Scorpion at 2am having climbed it early season on verglas and , another winter extravaganza, trying to climb clachaig gully by summer route on 14th january (there had been a recent drought) with a spare head torch battery that turned out to be flat. Baled out about two thirds height by traversing the right wall of the gully by means of a vertical bog. Luckily a full moon helped us make the pub before  last orders. 

Just reread my post and realised I should really post it under a heading on Inglorious Days

More like a glorious four days. One week in July '89 was boiling hot, 30 degs or more. Everyone was busy at work, except Jerry who was just back from a few weeks on the oil rigs. We went up to the Lakes, walked up to Gimmer and did KG at 8 in the evening, rock almost too hot to touch.  Bivied out and walked over to Scafell next morning, to do Central Butress (with flake).  Pizza in Zeffs in Ambleside that evening, amazed they let us in, stinking to high heaven.  Then we did Praying Mantis and DDT.  Last day we were knackered, so we only did Illusion.  But what a set of 3 star HVSs B-)

So many wonderful days - a few highlights:

Jaywalk at Etive with Doug Benn and Tim Dickinson. Left St Andrews on motorbikes about midnight on Fri night (says it all). Jaywalk at dawn. Tim fell asleep on a belay and had to be lowered off. He didn't wake when he got to the floor so we cast off the rope and continued one one rope. The top pitch is possibly the best single pitch I have ever done.

Point 5 with Doug Benn. 10 weeks earlier I had decked off Rat Race and sustained a compound heel fracture - 8 days in PRI. Almost killed me getting up there, and the walk off was worse. But so worth it. Couldn't walk for a week afterwards

Cordier Pillar - not with Doug Benn. I led the 1st pitch - hard and greasy in the half light. At that point Doug balked. A rapid negotiation with the couple of likely lads from Sheffield behind us ensued. I was at the top of a nasty pitch with no partner, they weren't. A full on epic day ensued. Topped out at 7pm. Thunderstorm on the way down, got lost at the bottom and ended up abseiling through the Nantillons icefall in rock shoes. Back at the tent at 3am.

St Loy with Andy (Winger) Cotton. What a day. blue seas and purple bluebells. Clorophyll Cluster (E1), the Boldest (E3), Finesse (E4), Old Fools (E3), and to cap it all, a mad, onsight ground up ascent of the Baldest (E5). I got up the initial wall to the join with the Boldest, and was so freaked I couldn't get the crucial microwire to sit properly. I pulled through to the rest. I was then so determined never to have to go back that I went for it, facing a ground fall if I fluffed the crux. Then back to the Logan Rock Inn for copious pints of High Speed Diesel. I've never been back to St Loy - that day was just perfect!