Thursday 19 July - Gimmer Crag

F Route - VS+ 4c ***. With Paul Whittham.

It took me two lifts to hitch from mine to Paul's (Troutbeck). From there we hitched along the A66, down St John's in the Vale to Ambleside and through to Langdale with a grand total of 5 lifts and taking 2 hours. We then walked up to Gimmer which was, as ever, knackering. I lead off up F Route, a brilliant pitch, which I had followed some years ago with Dad. I do remember it being hard for VS then. It still was, luckily the route has good gear all the way up and another good hold always seemed to appear. I was Paul's first route of the year and he followed with style. A good effort. I wouldn't be suprised if this get upgradded to HVS 4c in the next Langdale guide.

Whits End Direct - E1 5b **. With Paul Whittham.

A good pitch, faily thin and sustained at E1, but at least it had ample protection. The first moves up to diagonal flake were pretty go-for-it with no time to hold on to place kit. Luckily runners and a good rest appeared after. The climbing then continued up the slab on small bit posertive holds, just my style to a good rest benaeth overhang, where small wires could be fixed. I then climbed up on small holds, but failed to work out the sequence to get to the overlap. Reversed back, rested and tried again. This time I got to overlap, where a friend slotted in nicley, couldn't workout how to get into the hanging corner so climbed back down. Tried again. Got into the corner this time, where I could rest and place another friend. Then made a thin move up and right to a good hold. Easy slab climbing to the top. Paul descided that wearing tight rock boots was too painful for his ingrowing toe so I absailed off to remove the kit. Luckily I met Matt and Francis from OB and they kindly brought my gear down with them. Cheers Guys. Walked back to Langdale had a swift pint and then hitched back to Paul's in four lifts, via Keswick this time. Another exciting day in the lakes.