Dogging at Dumby

Redpointing is of course an intrinsically soulless activity, a shallow exercise in muscular persistence, hard work and learning by rote that is devoid of any of the creativity and spirit found elsewhere. Nevertheless it is good practice for onsight sport climbing and onsight sport climbing is good practice for onsight trad climbing which is of course intrinsically superior and the true measure of quality climbing experiences.

Thus sometimes one must dabble. Particularly when one drives to Glen Croe for some trad and it is drizzling in Tarbet, raining in Arrochar, and distinctly damp in the Glen. Boo hiss etc and back to Dumby, where it does rain for a bit later on but is dry and fresh either side. Recently I've got a bit jaded with bouldering at Dumby - I rarely go and thus scarcely manage to warm up before getting my arse kicked. However it's one of the few crags where classic bouldering, sport, and trad sit side by side, so there are good options available. It was a nice vibe on Sunday with teams on hard bouldering, easy trad, and middling sport.

We were the latter, and middled and muddled on a few things. Specifically I dogged my way up an F7b which was fairly interesting - not sustained and not powerful, but with most of the holds being sidepulls and underclings, very sketchy on the feet and easy to muff. Mmmmm muff. I reckon it will go fine. Good training after the invariably positive indoor wall footholds. I also gave an F7a a good flash attempt, and missed it by a midge's foreskin due to a casual tactical error - clipped a bolt in extremis, got carried away with how well it was going, and rushed into the adjacent crux when I should have lowered a move, shook and chalked, and planned the crux better. Getting very close to a Scottish F7a isn't too shabby though, given how short and gnarly they can be (the routes as well as the locals).

Next up: Trad! (I hope)