18th July 2008
Sennen
Demo Route - HS 4b - Second
Africa Route - VS 5a - Lead
Double Overhang - VS 4c - Second
Church Window Direct - HS 4c - Lead
A packed day at Sennen, with four brilliant routes, all of which were quite tough.
We started on Demo Route before the rain set in. This was a benchmark for us both as we had always wanted to do Demo Route but thought it was too difficult. This year though we've jumped up in grades and it seemed a good day to crack it. Chris made a great job of the lead, cuising through the chimney and handling the still wet undercling on the nose. Just before I set off it rained, so I had a nervous time, particularly in the chimney with sliding feet and hands. The nose funnily enough wasnt so bad, but I dont like climbing in the rain. It adds an edge to everything.
Things started to dry out, but then just before we set up on Africa Route we had another shower. I was ready for packing up, but the brisk wind and brightening conditions temted me to have a go. Africa route had two tough sections, one at the bottom and the other in the chimney at the top. There's good protection once you reach the crack, so it wasnt as tense as it could have been. By time I reached the top, the rock was feeling much better and I was able to trust my feet a lot more. A top route and one I'll do again.
Double Overhang was Chris' next lead and is a good steady route, with challenging moves right up to the final pull through to the belay ledge which requires a some power and is grunty. Chris managed to do it protectionless as his nut fell out half way through the move. It would have resulted in a nice bounce off the ledge if he'd gone.
This left Church Window Direct as my final lead, probably meant to be the easiest, but I made my useual mess of the direct crack at the start hanging around too long and caning my arms. I've top roped this before and messed it up and I didnt let myself down, ending up resting on the mantelshelf ledge of the traditional start to Church Window. So I got to do the bridge across as well.
The top section is hard if you take on the overhang more directly which I did, but I managed this better. I rekon CWD felt the hardest of all for me, but thats probably because it was the last of the day and I was tired. The move up through the cracks above the window is committing until you hit the diagonal jug of the top crack of the Quaker.
We left feeling like this was one of the most challenging days of climbing we'd had, sore arms, tired legs and mentally drained. Bring on the beer.
