We all know climbing is more fun than working, so Ness and I booked off a Friday to head up to the Peaks and beat the crowds. Something we are now calling Sneaky Fridays and hope to repeat soon.
Scooping Tony up on route, we headed towards Bamford. The weather was forecast to have potential showers but apart from the clouds coming over a bit in the late afternoon it stayed fine all day – and the crag was pretty much empty with us only seeing other climbers later in the day or walkers when we topped out or were belaying.
It was my first time to Bamford and didn’t mind stretching the legs after the drive so we did a scout along the crag with the plan to work our way back along.
Starting with a warmup on Great Tor – Gargoyle Buttress, Tony led our first route up Terrace Trog – an enjoyable route which felt exposed for the grade but with abundance of holds all the way up.
Next we headed over to Upper Tier further along the crag where I led WLoEC – a silly but fun shorter route which was bare of protection until the top. Which is good because it’s not wrong about that tricky exit! From here we headed down to Salmon Slab and Tony took the lead on Recess Crack – a route he’d had his eye on from the last visit to Bamford and another great route I’d do again. Heading back to Gargoyle Buttress Ness decided to go on a jungle adventure in Gargoyle Gully. I had my eye on a Severe we’d passed on Wrinkled Wall Area so we went to check it out. Getting closer I changed my mind looking at the top out, so instead we played on the slab adjacent. While I was pondering my way up Que? Slab Direct, Ness wandered past me soloing Que? Slab – singing to herself (apparently the secret to unlocking any solo). I then led Bracken Crack around the corner which was a great route and worthy of its star. We weren’t ready to go home so we snuck in one more route with Tony leading Slanting Slab before heading back to the car as dusk was drawing in.
A really good day – and a roaring success of a sneaky Friday – we’ll let you know when we do the next one!
