An Anniversary or Two

It's been a year since I had my accident. I hadn't realised until Cath started going on about not falling off before I headed out to climbing on Saturday. Perhaps not a brilliant year, frustrating definitely but one that just needed working through.

As mentioned, we headed out climbing on Saturday. Given the recent fine weather we were going to chance Trow Gill, it takes a while to dry out and it was getting late in the season so there might not be another chance to get up there. Another reason was that Simon had never been. We were going to meet Mike and Gaz there.

The crag was rather dirty, perhaps not surprising given the rains through the middle of summer, also it's a 40min walk which puts many off. A nice F6a+ warm up then on to Alick which I've done before but for some reason I though was F6b. At the top I thought I was struggling but then after his ascent Simon felt it was F6b+. A quick look at the guide confirmed it. Doh! Close by were a couple of routes that I hadn't done before so we ticked them off.

Mike Bullough on the crux of Alick at Trow Gill

A bit of lunch and we reckoned that we really ought to get on something harder. The central corner of the face is taken by Clink - F7a and equipped with staples rather than mechanical bolts so bailing out would be a bit easier. Simon had a really good effort, only needing to to rest on the top bolt before working out the crux sequence to the belay. I was feeling a bit jaded so tried it on a top rope. There was a really tenuous move at half height but I couldn't even make the move to the top bolt and struggled with the move past it. Mike and Gaz also had a top-rope on it. One more route and we were ready to head home.

I've been biking in to work most days - the only day that I didn't, Tuesday, the trains were late! This extra bit of exercise combined with being quite strict about what I'm eating means that I've lost quite a bit of weight already. Just need to keep going with it though it would be better if I lost weight at a slower rate so that the body can adjust rather than react. Even on the bike I can feel my knee playing
up at times. Will just have to see how things go.

25 years ago! Dai Lampard on "The Ramp" on the Original 1938 Route on the North Face of the Eiger.

Another anniversary that I missed was the twenty fifth anniversary of succeeding on the North Face of the Eiger. We actually completed the route on the last day of August 1985. Given the increased summer temperatures in the alps summer ascents of the Eiger have become increasingly rare and it is more likely to hear of a winter ascent than a summer one. So I have to say I feel lucky to have done it when I did. Definitely one of my life changing moments, as was last year!