18th January 2025

Commando Ridge

Having missed out last year through a combination of bad time management and poor weather, it was good to get our annual ‘New Years on the Ridge’ going again.

With a tentative theme of ‘Pattern Disruptive Material’ (Camo to you and me) we set of for what was to be a great day on Commando Ridge. We lucked the weather with sunshine for most of a chilly but bearable day.

Two new recruits in Chris D and Ian T joined us with a few of the regulars missing because of various ageing complaints. We did have Chris S and his new pet Cougar. Not that we could see Mike with his stunning cat like camouflage. We also managed the crossing to the normal start, with no ‘Dave’ factor to take into account.

Being a chilly day it was noticeable that hanging around on the belays was tough work. In hindsight, I probably should have let Chris and Mike lead off as they would have been faster, but having to share a rack meant we needed to stay together anyway, so I’m not sure it would have made too much difference.

It was good to actually be out on the rock again. The Ridge is never really hard, but you do need to stay focused. Chris and Ian were loving it and it helped that the light was amazing, lighting up the main face and bringing out all the colours.

Hopefully next year will see an even larger team event. We may have to have start times haha.