Tag Archives: Oread

Politically incorrect climbing

16th January 2012

Bosigran
Gollywog’s Cakewalk – HS 4b – Lead
Oread – V Diff – Lead

I love Bosi, the atmosphere and the beauty of the place, so what better venue to get onto when the sun pops out and you are sheltered from a cold wind. For Tom it was his first outing there so I wanted to start off on something reasonable.

Gearing up ledge below Gollywog's Cakewalk

The last time I tried to lead GC, I ended up way off route. Admittedly it was when I had first started leading and the first pitch scared the pants off me. So I went left and ended up on Red Slab(ish). This time it felt a lot more comfortable, although the traverse across the slab is still fairly run out. A high runner in the left crack helps out a lot and the slab itself is a great bit of climbing.

Following this the climb fragments a bit following a black ‘quartzy’ type vein to the top. Still some tricky climbing on weird rock, but too much greenery in amoungst it for my liking. Climbing shoes and grass dont mix!.

Oread is another of those climbs I’ve passed loads of times but never thought about climbing. I think its easy to get drawn into the main cliff and the big routes. On this occasion it made abundant sense to give it a go as it was on the way out and with time getting shorter it was nearer to the car.

Me leading Oread first pitch
Tom finishing off Oread in the sunshine

The climbing is better than I thought, adequate gear and a number of variations possible. I tried to mix it up a bit and picked a line which saw me at the top of Alison’s Rib. Tom made short work of it to cap off a good day out. I am thinking that this spring could mean a shot at Suicide Wall. It’s about time I had a go at one of Bosi’s E’s