Dave Sutcliffe off Loaded E8 7a, Ilkley
After a week of torrential rain in the Aire Valley I was surprised to see some sunshine on Saturday morning!
A trip to Ilkley with Pete Chadwick enabled us to enjoy a classic bouldering circuit on dry rock, with good conditions…no excuses! Despite the cold the crag was busy with climbers as well as the usual hordes of tourists and young children demanding ice cream (even though it was 5 degrees)!
A hilight of the day was watching “grit kid” Pete Whittaker, putting a couple of E6s to the sword in excellent style. One of which was pretty much in the dark! Pete is a super-nice lad, very modest and clearly enjoys being out climbing. Great to see!
Pete Whittaker ground-up on "In A Pickle' E6 at Ilkley
On Sunday morning I spent another short session at Ilkley with Steve Dunning and Dave Sutcliffe. Dave is getting pretty close to nailing Loaded, John Dunne’s E8 7a which climbs the arete right of Wellington Crack, from just over halfway up the latter route. Having had a couple of sessions on this myself I can fully vouch for the utterly desperate but at the same time, awesome nature of the climbing. Come on Dave!
Dave Sutcliffe attempting Loaded E8 7a, Ilkley
Dave Sutcliffe attempting Loaded E8 7a, Ilkley
The afternoon saw me in the pretty village of Clapham from where I thrashed myself running a 10 mile circuit, taking in the summit of Yorkshire’s second highest peak, Ingleborough along the way. Cold weather, great views and a super weekend!
Heading back to Clapham
Running Gear
- Scarpa Apex Gtx Shoes
- Smartwool running socks
- Kalenji Lightweight Running Tights
- Patagonia Lightweight Capilene Long Sleeve Crew
- Marmot Ion Windshirt
Does Pete have a rope protector on his lead rope in that picture? If so, what is the concept with that?
Yeah, Pete took a fall and the rope scraped over the boss (just under the gear) badly damaging the sheath (of a brand new Stirling rope!!) The rope protector was added to stop this happening if he fell again.