First ascent: 10th April 2016
Scouring the fellside for new routes is a common pastime for the climbing activist and occasionally you come across some real gems. So stumbling across this grossly overhanging arete next to a well trodden footpath meant I nearly keeled over. ‘How could this not have been done before?’
Returning to clean the line and take a look at the moves, it was evident this was going to be hard – every move from the ground to the top is 6c. The gear is a Rock 2 just below halfway and the crux is the last few moves.
The day I went to lead the route I was climbing well and was pretty confident. I cruised the lower section and commenced the start of the crux. For some reason I just couldn’t get my leg high enough and onto a crucial foothold and had to drop off. The severity of the fall (steep route with little rope to absorb the energy for the fall) meant that I crashed badly into the bottom of the route (about 1ft above the ground) and broke my ankle. Going back to the route some 10 months later I had a huge psychological burden and was massively relieved to finally sent it.
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