Been climbing (outdoors) since April 2004 and was very soon completely hooked. Started on (generally evil) Sandstone in Kent, did my first multi-pitch on Doorpost at Bosigran in Cornwall over the August bank holiday weekend that year and climbed Diedro UBSA on the Penon de Ifach in Calpe, Spain on October 24th the same year. Not a bad start to my climbing career :-)
Great start but oh dear, 2005 was *not* a good year. Took a tumble doing one of my first leads, my one and only gear placement failed (this is called learning the hard way!) and I had a helicopter trip to Chesterfield Hospital... and my first and very welcome taste of morphine! The skull fracture is now healed and I am at one with my new and slightly asymettrical head!
2007, and after a quieter 2006 (only 4 trips) it was a great year and I started leading on trad again, albeit low down in the grades. This was a conscious decision to take it slowly, do lots of gear placement under no pressure and learn the lessons of 2005's "mishap". So far so good and I'm *loving it* again!
2008 is here and despite the usual dodgy weather and the demands of personal life and work trips out of the country, the climbing season is upon us again. Just led an HS called Zelda at Wintour's Leap, which was a good achievemment for me, early as I still am on my journey as a lead climber. Planning a week in North Wales in the summer, so it's all leading up to that :-)
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