Granite, limestone and sunshine...

Finally the sun has got his hat on and the crags around Torbay & Dartmoor are habitable once more. After not being at the crag since my winter mountaineering trip in Scotland its safe to say that I have been relishing the sun shine with a busy weekend of climbing.

Saturday 10th March 2012

Finally back to the good old granite climbing, it is the connoisseur's rock type after all. The day was spent on one of Dartmoor s most impressive tors that is Haytor, a beautiful outcrop of granite which can be seen from several miles in the distance. Having routes on the main tor which reach a whopping 27 metres and a grade range from V-diff to an astonishing E5 6a its safe to say that its fairly busy, all the time!!

My climbing partner Jack stepped up to lead the 1st route of the day, Aramis, a crack climb which requires bridging and jamming in order to bypass the crux. Jack led easily and I seconded, followed by Joel.
The 2nd route of the day was down to Joel, a novice of lead climbing, so me and Jack pointed out an easy route which he could attempt. Unfortunately Joel took a fall on this route, Bulging wall, and didn't have the confidence to try again so this turned out to be my route of the day and Joel was happy to second me.

       Jack on Aramis VS 4c

Unfortunately due to faff and time wasting we opted to call it a day, however the weather for the following day was forecast to be sunshine all round. Hallelujah... 

Sunday 11th March 2012


I met up with Jack in the morning and we made our way to one of our more local crags, Ansteys Cove, a huge coastal arena with a vast amount of both sport and trad routes in a beautiful location.

Sneakily Jack shotgunned the 1st route of the day and chose to start off with a crack climb named Tiny Tim. So we stood at the bottom of the route gearing up and looking at the line when a young blonde female strolled past with her boyfriend (probably on the way to a dogging site) when she let out an almighty scream, and rightly so when she discovered a bee the size of a small karabiner attached to her left hand. A giggle between me Jack and the blonde soon settled down and Jack started on the route. Swiftly pushing Tiny Tim aside and belaying me from the top of the route me and Jack both knew the friction today would be perfect.

The next climb was mine for the taking and I chose to attempt Cocytus. A climb that has been on my wish list for quite some time now. Graded E3/E2 6a and is a technical master piece. I tried the first few moves of the climb and realised that the moves were extremely tricky from the start so I kindly let Jack have an attempt. After a few falls, and some foul language, Jack topped out on the 1st pitch (good effort mate) and then lowered to the ground to let me take my 2nd attempt on the route. After seeing Jack climb it I was more determined to lead it my self. So I geared up at the bottom and led the route clean without falling or resting on the rope before screaming 'yeeehhaaa' to let Torbay know I had finally ticked off the beast that is Cocytus.

Me top of pitch 1 on Cocytus E2/3 6a, Britain or Spain? you decide...

 

Jack on 1st pitch of Cocytus E2/3 6a

Me and Jack were both happy with our achievements of the day and decided to 'cool down' on the Might and Main to Crook Bruce Traverse and then again swapping shifts on Tiny Tim before calling it a day.

Tomorrow is Monday and the weather is dry yet again, climbing possibly...?

All photos curtosy of Jack Hatton