Classic Peak District Rock Climbs
Over the last few days I've been in the Peaks with Ed and Jerry to continue Jerry's filming project. We were pretty lucky with the weather and we got two classics covered - Sirplum, "One of the great ticks in the Peak which reaches positions that other E1's don't". I had done this two pitch route with friend Dean Russle back in 2011 and it was fun getting back on it and revisiting "the very edge of the world"... We also climbed a route called The Stalk, given VS, but decided not to film it as, despite it's stars, wasn't a great route. The following day we strolled into the beautifully lush Chee Dale Gorge, with our attention fixed on the grand five pitch Chee Tor Girdle, an epic VS, given 4b, 4b, 4a, 5a, 4c. I had also done this route before, back in 2008 with Giles Cranston, in the pissing rain, but fortunately the first pitch was the only to succumb wet rock and we enjoyed the rest of the routes in the dry. This time we were blessed with perfect conditions and although the filming of different angles on the girdle took a long time, we managed to get it all covered in two days. Not a bad three days in the Peak.
