Simon explores Trollers Gill
1st Oct 2011
On Thursday and Friday I headed off in search of some limestone, with the forecast looking roasting hot Malham was out of the window and apparently Kilnsey is currently disgusting so I decided to check out another Yorkshire sport venue, Trollers Gill.
It turned out to be an awesome venue, beautiful, remote, quiet, takes no seepage and steep ebnough to stay dry in the rain! There are a few easier bits and bobs but the main routes really start at about f6cish.
After a pumpy warmup onsighting a 6c+ I was keen to try something a bit harder, I had a go at a 7a+ but got really pumped figuring out the crux sequence as it was really technical and pretty hard to onsight. I must remember to get a good nights sleep the night before sport climbing, without enough sleep I still feel strong but have no stamina whatsoever! After a couple more lame attempts on the route I realised that it wasnt going to happen so we set our sights a bit lower. 'Dry Tooling' Tom led a fairly horrible 6b+ simply because of it name 'Korean Canine Kebab!' then we did a pretty nice 6c and by this point we were both shattered so headed home.
The following day I headed back with Addy, I decided to warm up with a redpoint attempt on the 7a+ from the day before, it went perfectly up to the crux sequence where I missed a foothold and got pumped trying to power through regardless, I got to within half a move of the final jug then lobbed...... I may have swore slightly! (oops). Addy went next and he managed to flash the route using my beta, a fine effort! After a short rest I went again and cruised the route, everything went perfectly, it felt easy!
The next route we tried was a 7b+ called Haslam, its an awesome route, really technical and it just gets harder and harder the higher you get with the crux move right at the top! We spent a while working the moves and soon got them all figured out but linking the route was going to be hard. The first 4 clips are pretty steady, steep but on good holds, then you get an ok(ish) rest, then you just have to keep on pulling all the way to the top! I managed to make all the moves and could do the route with 2 falls but I felt quite a way off linking it, you need a really strong left bicep for the 2 crux moves and this is probably my main weakness!
Addy got pretty close to ticking the route, falling from just below the last hard move but by this time it was getting dark so we had to head back, by the time we reached the car it was pitch black.
Im really keen to get back there next week before I head to Spain, there are a few more routers at 7a/+ that I want to tick and I want to get back on Haslam and hopefully make some more progress on it!
Simon
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