16th September 2011

Sennen

Civvy Route – HS 4b – Second

Gillian – E3 5c – Top Rope

This was to be my last climbing session in my forties, not that the thought crossed my mind at the time. Still its strange to think that another milestone has passed. Hopefully I will continue to improve as a climber. For certain in most other sports I am heading the other way so its great to have a really positive challenge.

This was Tom’s first outing with Chris and myself. After a few days at Plas he seems to have caught the bug so should be a regular participant in our adventures.

We knew the weather could be a problem and as it turned out rain stopped play in terms of leading. I’ve never liked granite in the rain. It takes on a peculiar quality. What was previously grippy and reliable suddenly becomes slimy and unpleasant to climb on. This is particularly the case when you get the black mould growing on it. This should be kept well clear of in damp conditions, which is what we did in the end.

Civvy route is one of those climbs that is always on the agenda but never actually gets dealt with. So we were straight on it as an opener and a challenging return to leading for Chris. At HS it is good value. Sometimes climbed as two pitches, we did it in one, which makes much more sense as long as your on double ropes. The first section moves up a tricky groove providing testing moves, but it is the top part which provides the surprise. Leaning out in an exposed position it definitely gets the adrenaline going. My feeling is that it gets a bit overshadowed by Demo Route but is actually a top climb.

Tom had climbed before, but this was a tough starter. Particularly the top where height and atmosphere have a telling impact. Tom loved it though and this can be chalked up as his first climb on Cornish granite.

The rain then put paid to any more leading for a while and so we decided to go play on an E3 called Gillian. In hindsight this was a bit unfair on Tom but having said that it does give an indication on how the grades vary. Gillian is a fantastic climb requiring strength, technique and if you were leading a steady head. We did it on a top rope, with bot Chris and myself getting to the hight underclings before pumping out. I made it on a further attempt having gained a bit of beta from watching Chris. I can only aspire to lead something of this difficulty but maybe one day it will be within sight.

Tom and Chris climbed out on Vertical Crack, another gem of Sennon and at the end of a mixed day where the weather did its best to mess everything up I reckoned we were very lucky to get such a good days climbing in.