Autumnal Yorkshire Gritstone

Waking up to glorious sunshine on Saturday morning meant one thing for me this weekend; a trip out for some northern gritstone climbing. A friend was visiting and having just completed an indoor-to-outdoor course at PYB in Wales, was full of enthusiasm for some autumnal climbing. The destination of choice on Saturday - Scugdale, in glorious sunshine.

We arrived at Scugdale early Saturday morning and not a soul was in sight, meaning we had the entire crag to ourselves to pick and choose what routes to start with. We settled on Beginner's Slab as I was still wanting to get some experience in the Diff range of grades before maybe attempting a Severe.

After completing most of the climbs on the slab, it became apparent that I had lead the Arete Finish following the Gash which is in fact HS graded. This was an unexpected win and started to really build up my confidence. A quick lunch of tomato paste was inhaled before cracking on with the next area of climbing.

We settled on the area around Holly Tree Wall, which included a good variety of Severe climbs to have a go at. The first route chosen was Mantelshelf, but after a bit of searching, I decided to ascend using the right hand side of the shelf, arriving at the top elated. This turned out to be Humpty Dumpty, a HS grade route and now I felt like we were really cooking with gas. We rounded the the afternoon off with some more Severe's around Holly Tree Wall, and with a bit of confidence and ego, I decided to tackle a planned HS to the right of the chimney which was a well fought battle.

The day finished with a lovely traverse along cat walk in the falling sun, and a chilled return drive home ready for pizza and rest before another day of climbing on the Sunday. We awoke and rushed our breakfast, realising the marathon would block the car in if we didn't set off before 8:30am, and so just before 10am, we were walking along the path to the Wainstones, ready to tackle a cold Sunday morning of climbs.

The aim of today was to tackle a 'Yorkshire Gem' known as Sphinx's Nose. A severe climb that I've seconded but have obssessed over a lead for the last month.

We started with some easier climbs which turned out to be quite green and slippery. The enthusiasm was dwindled this morning, and it was evident that we were tired from Saturday. But with the sun shining down on the South side of the rocks and a few climbs behind us, our spirits started to rise.

After we had warmed up both in spirit and temperature, it was finally time for me to tackle the Nose. I racked up and after some kind words from my partner I set off on the task at hand. A nice sling over a good spike oozed confidence for the traverse, but a quiet word with myself was still need as I rounded the corner and topped out. A successful climb was rewarded with glorious views from the top of the head, absolutely stunning!

The Sphinx's Nose is also a great climb for some superb second action shots as you can really lean out from the belay point to get some very impressive action shots. I'm no photographer but here is my attempt for Felicity.

To finish off the day, we decided to head to the Main Wall on the south-facing side and after some more successful Severe climbs, I persuaded my partner to have a go at leading her first climb. She was climbing strong and I had made an anchor for her at the top. Meaning she had to focus on climbing above the rope and placing her own protection. She ended up leading a tricky slanting crack graded VDiff and did so with style and grace, maybe a testament to me (more probable to PYB for what they taught her in Wales!).

The final call of the day was a tricky Severe with no protection for the first 7m. A real test of my ability to stay calm under pressure. I'm glad to say I tackled the climb with composure and topped after to complete a very successful weekend of climbing.

15 climbs in Scugdale, including 3 HS routes and 7 climbs at the Wainstones, including Sphinx's Nose and 2 other S routes helped to build my confidence and I now feel confident to lead S grade routes in the future. Not too shabby considering I hadn't lead a Severe before this weekend. An epic autumnal weekend of climbing Yorkshire Gritstone!