Wintour's Virgins

Post date: Jul 9, 2016 10:24:44 AM

As the weather in early May had started to show promising signs, Lee organised an impromptu day meet on Saturday 7th. After batting around a couple of ideas during the week about where to go we decided on Wintour's Leap.

Whilst it is true that the forecast wasn't promising unbroken sunshine, we weren't really expecting the slight drizzle that started just after we parked! However, it did stop quite quickly and then the sun then made a valiant effort to poke through the overcast. But as we would later discover the drizzle was an omen...

Somewhat to my surprise, there were several Wintour's virgins amongst us. So naturally enough Lee and I ensured that they got a full Wintour's experience and made them descend by the 'Easy Way Down'! We then spent a pleasant morning climbing the 'Corner Buttress' routes.

After a late lunch we decided to move round to the 'Central Rib' area. But no sooner had the lead climbers geared up and started off than there was an ominous rumble of thunder! Then the rain really came down! As polished limestone in the wet is not to be recommended there wasn't much we could do but pack up. Downclimbing from the base of the climbs, and then ascending the 'Easy Way Down', were in themselves now quite challenging scrambles!

A pity the day was cut short, but it was good to get outside!

The Climbers: Lee, Steve, Natalie, Ross, Rick & Simon.