Sump To Summit

A beautifully leasurley start this day – We took our time and enjoyed breakfast, then headed out to cimb Orange Rocket, VS 5A, Rainbow Butress. The walk in was only 15mins, so we were soon racking up. I led the first pitch, as the second pitch included a technical hand traverse, which had Els name written all over it!

The first pitch was a super easy climb up to a large pillar. From this El led. the pitch included climbing up a crack to the side of the pillar, then transferring to the main face to climb the hand traverse. Once past this, El climbed a corner crack up to a ledge and belayed me up. My pitch next, and I’d ended up with the 5A crux, which was up a crack/chimney. This proved to be a struggle until I took my bag off and dangled it below me on a donkey’s dick. When El appeared at the top, she commented on the fact she’d seen blood in the crack – was it mine? It had been… Another couple of pitches, and we were having lunch at the top with a superb view! We climbed down the gully and back to the car. It’s always great to have an early finish after a climb! Back to the Kazbar for a chill, followed by dinner.