7th April 2010
Sennen

Dexter  – VS 4c – Lead (Variation finish up Double Overhang)
Hayloft – VS 4c – Second

Joe, Alex and I set off for Bosi to climb LBJ but for a change the normally reliable BBC weather got it wrong. The wind should have been from the North so Bosi would have been sheltered, but instead there was a lot of West in it which mucked it right up. Too cold to spend time on belay ledges we figured shorter pitches at Sennen and a bit more shelter would be the order of the day.

And so began a catalogue of misjudgement. Of course Sennen would be no more sheltered than Bosi, but this seemed to bypass us all, right up to the point I was hauling my freezing cold butt unto the spike of Dexter and wishing I was anywhere other than on this cold piece of granite. Joe couldnt feel his hands and I abandoned the airy traverse on the grounds that I would die from hypothermia, choosing the grunt up the top bit of Double Overhang.

In a bid to escape the wind we mooched down Irish Lady Cove. A good idea, but not when there is 8 – 10ft of swell running. We stood looking at Commando Crack, but I was spending more time looking at the waves smashing inbto the cove and remembering Pendeen, when a rogue set tried to eat me. Not happy, I refused to climb the crack, much to Joe’s derision, so I pursuaded him to have a go at Grot.

Never has a name been more deserved. As lumps of rock broke off in Joes hands and Alex launched lumps of it into the cove which exploded like grenades and threw another strop and demeanded we leave ILC immediately. By this time I was completely frazzled and the decision to climb Hayloft was the one good one of the day.

Joe led which was fine by me, and he had fun on the unprotected second pitch, always a pitch to focus the mind. By time we finished the day didnt seem so bad, but not one that will go down as a classic.