In April myself and Paul had a go at some top-roping in Heptonstall Quarry, West Yorkshire, with the help of his uncle Mick. We did a couple of short climbs each on some gritstone prior to reaching the quarry proper, these were pretty easy and served as practice using the gear (with Mick’s close supervision of course!).

Once we moved into the quarry we set up the rope above the red wall and had a go at one of the cracks (Demera I think). It was fun laybacking but this was too hard too soon.

We reset the rope and had a go at the corner of the yellow wall (Trepidation I believe). This is about 24 metres high and quite straightforward, apart from one awkward bit where I needed to smear up the wall while holding on with only one hand so I could reach the next hold. This took quite a few attempts, and I think I would have given up if it wasn’t for the fact that the rope got stuck, meaning Paul couldn’t lower me down! So I had no choice but to push on, and I did it 🙂

This was the first time I’ve climbed on gritstone and was loads of fun, until next time!

Details of the routes are here.