Range West Climbing and a Weekend of Training.
On Friday I met up with Jake and Pablo at 4:30 at the Castle Martin army base, to get our passes and head in the Range in search of some fun. Abseiling down the approach hole it soon became clear that the routes that we wanted to get on were becoming cut off by the tide. Jake had mentioned climbing Chute To Kill if we couldn't get on them, so back we went up the slimy E1 that ascends back up the abseil hole! With few further options due to rising tides, bird bans and lack of time, I decided to climb another "through route" - this time Bullet, a one star VS that also manages to incorporate a caving section, to an incredibly exposed pop out onto the face above to the top. Having climbed two of the three caving routes that basically all start from the same start, we thought it only right to complete the "Triple Crown" and I was pointed up Lost in Space another bizarre 3D route taking in another Indiana Jones style tunnel, which again piped out into a spot of space walking to finish a long way above the crashing sea. All routes were wet, slimy, dark, awkward but amazing fun after you get into that sort of thing!
The following morning I was at St. Govan's car park where a motley crew of experienced trad climbers and friends from Bristol turned up for a weekend of Improvised Rescue training. It was great to catch up with them all and hopefully give them two days of practicing what to do if things go wrong while in committing trad' climbing situations. We covered all sorts of skills starting with the basics at the start to going through options for full blown serious situations towards the end. Good effort all and thanks for a great saturday night in the pub!
