Making the Most of a Sunny Day by Madeleine Cope

So the sun finally put its hat on (hip hip hip horray)! I was keen not to miss out on a day of good weather (for fear that it might be the last one for months) and as a result I holes in nearly all my tips. But when I saw the sunny forecast for the Roaches I couldn’t resist! It was the last day of my Christmas holidays so I had nothing to lose as tips aren’t really an issue in the chemistry lab! I really love the setting at the Roaches and with the sun shining on the frosty ground it did not disappoint.

We started the day off on the upper tier, which provides a good selection of easier problems to warm up on and a rock over problem called ‘Sheep Shit Crack’ (7a), which I was told involved an “angry” crimp. It’s quite a funky problem but I’m glad I did it quickly before the rock savaged my skin further. I had seen a picture of a problem called ‘Slabotomy’ (7b) in the guide book that I had never noticed before and can be found in the woods just below the path along the top tier. I think its well worth seeking out (access from the top path to avoid erosion); technical climbing, a little bit high and amazingly grippy rock. I was surprised to send this quickly and haven’t climbed many boulders at this grade so I was pretty happy. Feeling slab happy I headed down to spring boulders and did C3PO (7a) – brilliant. As the light faded I ran over to the fourth cloud to repeat Trust (7a) and flashed Thrust (7a+). Then, just as I decided that my skin could take no more snow started to fall – perfect timing!