....but is it fun??

Abseiling off gear after leading "Rubblesplitskin" at Diabaig. As you can see it's not a typical Diabaig steep slab.

This was an inspiring line but a pretty arduous ascent. It's very steep, tiring, slightly greasy rock on a muggy evening, sometimes hard to place gear, a bold middle section with some nasty rock and a tricky blind finish over a roof. All very Gogarth. Highlights of my eventually successful ascent include having a right wobbler placing gear on the lower section and having to downclimb to nearly the ground, having a good struggle in the middle section past a throbbing block that was my only hold AND gear placement, and having an absolute tourettes tantrum desperately reversing the obtuse top roof back to a rest. Even the Pylon King was shocked by the volume, duration, and sheer profundity of my profanities.

The question then: But is it fun??

The answer, overall, is yes. Despite this being a fine battle (almost all the other climbs I did in Scotland went smoothly, many felt easy), I can say that I enjoyed it and had fun overall.

I enjoyed: Yarding up the start and discovering the holds were there; recovering enough on the lower rest to feel I could push on; going for the lower crux, trusting myself and cranking to a jug; being totally committed above that crux and knowing, as nervey as it was, that I would continue; getting into the upper rest and sorting my gear out; revelling in the exposed position; finally working out the top roof and pulling through it with gusto; and finishing steadily having put some good effort in.

Despite the struggle, I enjoyed a lot (not all - the stressful moments I hated!) of DOING it, not just having DONE it.

Which is nice.