Thursday 11 June 2009

And ode to the tor

Oh Tor, how I love thee, thy keepeth my flanks dry in all but the
stoutest of rain, thy pockets be deep and thy crimps small, your
footholds shine with the passing of a thousand hooves and your shiny
ring bolts keep me swinging above the floor. In your dirt I delight,
in your moves I take light and forever you and me we be tight...

It rained and it rained like a scene from 2008's summer. Dylog and I
aquaplaned our way through the peak wondering what we would find. My
inner conditions-o-meter suggested there had perhaps been enough
volume of sky water to saturate the old girl but no, she had held
true. The pockets are not yet soaked, the footholds dry. There is
significant run off in the Out of my tree - Hooligan area, but Pump up
the power and rightwards are ok.

Dylog wanted to do Rattle and Hump. I wanted to do it again. We warmed
up, he equipped the route. I wanted to show off. I wanted to go first,
to do it easily and for him to be impressed, but he wanted to get
involved and like a rat up a drainpipe before I could say another word
he was camped out on the rope at the first bolt. The next move is
hard, it wasnt cold enough and the relative humidity was up in the
70's. On about his third try he does the move and continues to the top
in a push. Two sections then.

My go. I crush the boulder problem start. It feels easy - which is
good because it aggravates the bad finger. I know I am nervously
protecting the remains of an injury, so I'm not as gung ho as I might
be. I sprag the quark and move on past the bivi ledge jug to the
gaston, set it all up and whilst it feels hard, it feels doable, I
reach up but have been looknig at the wrong destination and there isnt
a hold where I am grabbing. I fall off.

Dylog : another good go, struggling with the gaston and its cutting
him. Our skin is soft and wet - its not good condition. Joe and Vics
turn up. I have a go on Staminaband and struggle through the start but
fall off in powerband. Really pretty psyched to get it done. My next
go on the route is successful, although it feels like a fight. Dylog
gets closer and closer, its in the should really do it on the next go
camp, but he doesnt and we go to look at a broken Mecca (the block is
now completely off), Culloden (needs reequipping and serious cleaning)
before driving home.

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