Climbing - Stanage Edge

Saturday-Sunday, 8-9 October 2016

My first attempt at climbing outdoors. The trip was organized by a friend who gathered twelve individuals and stationed them in The Reckoning House near Bakewell. He was kind enough to share his knowledge and experience with a few of us who wanted to get introduced to climbing outdoors in particular trad climbing. Others spent this weekend running or cycling (Monsal Cycle Trail added to my to-do list).

Apart from the lot sleeping in the Bunkhouse, there were a few people who joined us during the day on Saturday and Sunday.

The Reckoning House Bunkhouse

The weather was kind again. Maybe it was a bit chilly but remained mostly dry.

We reached the crags at about 11am and spent most of the day learning about climbing gear, knots etc.

'Pilgrims' on the way to 'Mecca'. My green, indestructible Taternik backpack is almost 20 years old.

We also practised some self-rescue techniques which involved learning how to escape the belay. This was something new for me and I must admit, at the time I did not appreciate how useful this could be. At late afternoon we reached the point we felt like climbing. Since most of us were beginners we went for top roping on route graded VDiff called Robin's Hood Staircase. I think that apart from top roping (cheat number 1) we also cheated by starting the climb further to the right than intended by the guidebook. This lowered the grade.

This is how it's done - Robin's Hood Staircase

Following day we came back to Stanage Popular, this time planning to tackle something on Mantlepiece Buttress. I top roped (again!) Mantlepiece Crack (Diff) and lead (yes!) Zip Crack (Mod). I did make a couple of mistakes in setting up a belay at the top of Zip Crack but luckily enough had somebody experienced who pointed out what I did wrong. One of the mistakes was to put a sling around a boulder which was clearly too small and could actually be moved by a single person! Well, at least I had two other anchors and will not make this mistake again. This was the whole point of doing something on my own rather than climbing using top rope set up by somebody else anyway. My intention is to be self-efficient in mountaineering at the end of the day, so yes as long as I'm learning, please criticize!

I also (unsuccessfully, despite top roping) attempted Small Crack (VDiff). My lack of technique and strength became apparent here.

There were quite a few climbers around. Shouldn't have been surprised really, given this was a dry Sunday day and we were in the most popular part of Stanage Edge.

A shower and inevitability of our instructor having to drive back home ended the adventure.

We drove to Bakewell for a coffee (or a pint in my case). I must admit that I have never been to Bakewell before despite living no more than an hour's drive from there. Can certainly recommend the place and if you're there remember to get some Bakewell Tart.