Dom with the 'classic' belay joke (at least we had a belay device this time)
Dom woke be at some horrific hour with an expresso - its not my fault that Jude got up early! Still all was good as we set off for PenyGhent. We drove up to the col that i had started from early in the year up the road from Staniforth which is a great place for a short easy walk-in. Within about 40 minutes we were at the base of the crag and ready to set off up Red Pencil Direct. It was pretty cold and windy but the grit felt good. Within a few metres i came across an old hex which i managed to remove without even a nut key so god knows what the people that abandoned it were thinking. Free gear!! I finished the route in the stipulated 10 minutes and we made our way down to make plans for the next route. I quite fancied Pitch fork crack but feared a major epic so didn't get on it but did get back on my nemesis Brass Monkey scene of an epic failure back in 2003 after Me and Jim's sleeping on the top of PenyGhent after the pub with the intention of climbing every route. I got pumped and seem to have written strenuous a lot of times and even underlined it in my guidebook so i got the message. About 2 years later Brass Monkey supposedly fell down and so i thought i would never get my revenge but i was pleasantly surprised to find it pretty much in one piece. The lower bit was straight forward but then it steepens and i managed to wedge a cam in badly. after a bit of up and down climbing i eventually manned up and committed to the crack - it felt good and i was soon past the hard bit and onto easier if potentially loose ground. there were plenty of perched and loose blocks all the way to the top. I brought Dom up but he couldn't get the cam out so i had to ab down (thankfully i had a belay plate today) and managed to retrieve it. We walked back to the car past a bunch of trail trekking people on some charity race and returned to Long Preston for coffee and medals. Weather looks ropey for tomorrow but have plans. watch this space! Hopefully by tomorrow evening the list will be down to 11 left out of 80. where will i go? Place your bets!!
Dom in the exit cracks of Red Pencil Direct
Celebrating another 3* route with sausage sandwiches - they were still warm
The supposed fallen down Brass Monkey takes the central crack - a chunk has fallen out of bottom of it
The old bits of Brass Monkey
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