Peak District Report

by Matt Everett

Ahh the peak district. Known for its gritstone and Scottish weather conditions and we weren’t going to be let down this weekend. With an optimistic forecast of ‘slightly cloudy’ the cars and minibus set off on their staggered starts with Linge at the helm of the minibus. Despite his nervous jitters and laughing fits though - nobody died!

While the BUCS personnel settled into their comfy hotel in Chesterfield, the climbing team arrived at Fulwood scout hut to discover a major revamp - new showers and kitchen! Despite a bit of a chill we all slept well and were pysched to go climbing. A large amount of sun was beaming through the windows of the hut, so the team prepared on the double with minimal faff and headed to stanage.

First thoughts of getting out of the car - “holy toledo its cold”. Approximately 0 degrees out of the wind, maybe -2 to -3 in the light breeze that danced across the marsh land as we headed up. But grit is always grippier in the cold, and we weren’t wrong.

I started on Amazon Crack (s) with Tom, who joined us this weekend for his first taste of outdoor climbing. I made sure the experience was memorable as my climb had a tough boulder problem to start with which was made even tougher with the cold rock sapping my nerve ability. After a lot of struggling I made it up and was congratulated with pretty painful hot aches.

Leah had opted for the easy Fairy Chimney (Diff) to start which still proved no pushover in the cold despite several ledges allowing hands to be taken off the rock. Max and David started on Fallen Pillar Chimney (VDiff) which had a bit of shelter from the cold, but green rock all around reduced the grip to that of a piece of ice. We all survived our routes and came down for a rethink.

Then the blizzard started…

Meanwhile in a comparitively tropical indoor centre not too far away, this year’s SUMC BUCS team were hanging around waiting for their afternoon slot (which Im sure they were super psyched to do). When they finally got to it the team launched into the problems / queues while the route judges kept a watchful eye on the competitors. The latter was done so well by Emily, she got a special mention by the organisers for being so good. So even if we didn’t do well, we did better than others there ;)

Well done to all those who entered and I hope you had a great time. Maybe next year you can coach an even better bouldering team?

Back in Scotland, the stanage team were divided. On one scale was David who had decided point blank to call it a day. On the other side was Max who seemed so keen I thought he was going to just start soloing everything topless. Inspired by Max and Florians determination, we all pushed on. Leah and Su climbed Mississippi Chimney (VDiff), I climbed the Fairy Chimney and Ramiro made an ascent of the now green and wet Fallen Pillar Chimney. As I topped out, the blizzards came back and visibility dropped to about 15m (plenty for stanage). Tom battled through and after several attempts of hand warming he made it to the top of his first route! Needless to say we quickly tidied up and foxtrot oscar’ed.

But we still weren’t beaten, as we all had our eye on Heaven Crack (VDiff), a top 50 round the corner. The snow had stopped and we decided we would get this route bagged before we left. Max ran up it super quick and it elegant style, followed by Ramiro and then Florian who took his time to enjoy it because it was that good. But I ushered him on as I was next on lead and the next bout of snow was heading in. I pulled through the awesome moves and topped out just as the snow came in. Tom, Su and Leah then all had a go on second and we packed up. We headed for a walk to plantation while we still were out to make the most of the day. On the way back, Max, Florian and Ramiro (presumably feeding off Max’s psyche still) decided that the weather was improving and they wanted to do one more route! Crazy! So we left them to it and had tea in Hathersage.

An hour or two later we were joined by them and had a quick look around the shop before heading back to the scout hut. We witheld cooking until the others joined (more importantly head chefs Adam and Betty) and exchanged stories when they did. The evening was filled with beer, wine, sambuca and 90’s bouldering videos.

We woke up next morning and tidied up before we headed out. The minibus crew and a Florians car headed to the roaches for some bouldering/climbing combinations, while my car headed to Birchen for routes. The air was cold again but dry. We warmed up by soloing The Gangplank (Mod) a short but still worthwhile forray on the far left of the crag. The route was soloed by all and the Johnny Dawes jumper was out! I then lead Emmas Dilemma (S) which would become Tom’s first venture into the world of crack climbing and fist jamming. After that as snow was set inbound, I lead Emmas Temptation (HVD) which had a technical boulder problem start and a steep finish. As we all topped out of this, the snow came in so we headed to the pub for a cup of tea.

A similar scenario was taking place in the roaches only on a shorter time scale. The bouldering crew managed to slap their way up several problems and the trad climbers got a route in each, but soon afterwards the white stuff came in, and the crag became a washout. It was time to head home.

So a new form of weather system had made itself known the the SUMCers on the trip who perservered and 100% manned the f*ck up.