{"id":236,"date":"2014-10-05T20:23:40","date_gmt":"2014-10-05T20:23:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hodnett.eu\/?p=236"},"modified":"2014-10-06T22:59:07","modified_gmt":"2014-10-06T22:59:07","slug":"hard-routes-and-big-cams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hodnett.eu\/?p=236","title":{"rendered":"Hard routes and big cams…."},"content":{"rendered":"

I haven\u2019t written much the last few months, mainly because I\u2019ve been having too much fun climbing this year to sit in front of my computer and write, but I thought I\u2019d write a little update on one of my trips to one of the local crags to Edinburgh.<\/p>\n

Me and a friend\/work colleague Dave went to a local quarry at Rosyth (or Rosyth quarry as it is in the Lowland Outcrops guide book – page 334). I had my eye on a route I had seconded a couple of times over the years call Broken Pillar HVS 5a* so when Dave picked me up to go climbing, I was like lets go to Rosyth and he was up for that.<\/p>\n

\"Rosyth<\/a>

Rosyth Quarry<\/p><\/div>\n

We arrived, got geared up and Dave warmed up on an easy route called \u2018Sickle VDiff *\u2019 which he quoted as ‘probably the fastest I done the route’. I was feeling good so jumped on \u2018Heathy Very Severe 4c **\u2019 as I had backed off it a few months before with Dougie. I had a little trouble at the start getting on the block at the bottom, which as a short person isn\u2019t the easiest start, but other than a that and bit of down climbing just to work out the couple of moves before the crux the climb went really well.<\/p>\n

We both grabbed something to eat and Dave wanted to climbing similar to the grade I climbed called \u2018The Waullie HVS 5b**\u2019 which he climbed really well, and then when I seconded Dave up the route I fell off at the bottom, but then managed it. I was feeling a bit pumped afterwards so was a bit worried that it might affect my climbing when I went for Broken Pillar.<\/p>\n

Now Broken Pillar isn\u2019t a route I\u2019d call a first ascent for me but it’d be my hardest route this year as I\u2019ve succeeded on this route twice before, once with a friend James, and Dougie so I knew what was coming and what gear I needed for the route.<\/p>\n

Broken Pillar is an easy climb up a corner, I found it easy and well-protected to a ledge just below an off-width crack which is described in the guide book as a \u2018awkward off-width crack\u2019. So I have on my rack 2 big cams, a DMM Dragon size 6 and Wild Country Friend size 5 which is bigger than the Size 6. Both cams placed in the off-width makes it well protected.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The beast on the right wild country size 5 and DMM dragon size six on the left.<\/p><\/div>\n

There are 2 ways I\u2019ve seen people climb Broken Pillar, one by moving up the face left of the crack which is a bear-hugging move, or by lay-backing up the right hand edge and your feet on the inside edge. On both attempts when I had seconded it before I lay-backed the route so I decided I would do it in this method. Placing my big Dragon cam in at the bottom of the off-width and then reaching as High as I could I placed the Wild Country friend in as high as I could then went in for the lay-back, getting my hands on the right hand edge and bringing one foot up and putting my weight on my feet and arms. My left foot slipped a bit and Dave thought I was off, but I held it. I was annoyed at myself for that but I powered through it moving up the crack, remembering some advice from a friend that it\u2019s better to try sliding your hand up the crack rather than going hand over hand which I found made a big difference. The bit I was most worried about was rocking out of the crack onto my feet again, but once I got my foot into the right place I went really easy and I climbed to the top letting out a big ooops!!!!!<\/p>\n

Dave topped out saying the lay-backing is a lot easier than the bear hugging method with big grin on his face.<\/p>\n

This was my hardest route of the year as I felt comfortable and convinced I could climb it, as I\u2019ve spent this year having fun with my climbing concentrating on how I was climbing rather than pushing my grade, but felt this was a great route to push myself on and the cams that people said I\u2019d never use got used \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Dave videoed me on his helmet cam climbing both Heathy and Broken Pillar which I\u2019ve edited into a short video.<\/p>\n