Peaks Weekend Trip

by Lewis Fisher

Oh where to begin? Well, with the rain. There was lots of it. It said it was going to rain, and it rained. It said it wasn’t going to rain, but it rained anyway. Even outdoor legend Barter said it wasn’t going to rain, but it rained.
The trip started off with a loooong drive up to the Peaks, full of traffic and brake lights, but let’s not dwell. Once we’d arrived Friday was kicked off with some expertly cooked food by our resident rice expert, Abby! Everyone piled into the cosy bunk house for some wine and card games, which ran far too long into the night (I got eight hours sleep across the whole trip to set the scene). But regardless we all slept lovely on the plastic mattresses under the mouldy collapsing ceiling.
Saturday promised to be wet, almost as wet as all our fearless trad climbers who drove an extra hour and a half to climb indoors, could’ve sworn I bought Swansea uni not Cardiff? My car (the brave ones) stayed outside the whole day, exploring Stanage and the surrounding area, soloing, bouldering, and generally monkeying around. I can’t speak for the success of the indoor lot, but I’m sad to say no one flashed the 8a long wall (not even Mike)!
Sunday was much better all round, we cleared away in record time, flew out the bunkhouse, and headed over to the Roaches, for what would hopefully be a send-filled day! The weather had other plans, whilst there was no actual real rain, no wind meant some soppy rock, and misty air meant that sop was there to stay. After some reluctant bouldering, waiting for the walls to dry, a few braved the routes to soak up the puddles for the rest of us. Pricey set off up ‘Right Route’ whilst Culley lead ‘Inverted Staircase’, and both powered through the water, absorbing the lakes from any jugs with their chalk balls.
A few others, including myself, followed up these routes, and despite the wetness, we saw the beauty of GRIT (oh lord its good). Smith even sent a HS, which is basically an E7 in those conditions, so good job Smith. Alex flew his drone about, catching some sick footage, so we forgive him for that awful noise, and Alfred danced around making a fool of himself for the vlog we were filming.
If anything, this trip showed us that it’s the company that makes the fun, not the sends, and I think we can all say we had a great weekend, even with the sop, and even if Joe wasn’t there (missed you).
Also, shout out to my Mom for giving us food and tea on our pitstop on the way back ?
Catch ya later, Lewis xo