Sump To Summit

It became apparent as soon as we stopped at the base of the climb that we didn’t have enough layers! Climbing in August is supposed to be delightful, but we had a bitter wind to contend with on this one!

El led the first pitch, which was awesome. A really polished start, combined with El’s new climbing shoes, meant a couple of tense moments. The in-situ nut and cam made it almost feel like a sport route! The crack following a rib towards the top of the first pitch was lovely climbing. (And another in-situ cam).

I led the second pitch, which started off very nicely and somewhat easily for the first 8 meters. Then, I had to climb a steep wall onto an arête. I managed to place a micro cam and two silver cams; however, none of them were particularly inspiring! I made the move, which felt great, and had just the right amount of scare! Following the arête on the slab side, there was no protection for around 5 meters (though it was easy enough climbing).

I made it to the top and set up the belay, gobsmacked by the look of the next pitch.

El joined me and also couldn’t believe what we had to climb next—it was her lead!

She got a couple of pieces of gear in but couldn’t reach to place a third further along. She attempted multiple starts, both with hands on the crack and feet on the crack, but to no avail. Eventually, we switched, and I had a go. I could at least reach to place a third piece of gear, but after trying both ways, I realized how much I didn’t ‘want it’ 🤣.

I think a lack of climbing this summer, due to the weather, has meant I’m not as eager for the exposure as I might have been a year ago.

We bailed… We couldn’t take the direct route, as a teenager named Linus was having a tantrum halfway up it, so we scrambled the best we could and made our way to the gully to down-climb.

It had been a good adventure. Shame we hadn’t made the climb, but it wouldn’t be fun if you always completed them!