Malteser 5.

Today we climbed slabs. Lots of slabs. Very slabby proper slabs. 30m with good gear at 15m and then a 15m runout full of 1/3 first joint razor rugosity slabs. Yup, those sort of slabs, well to start anyway. The warm up for the 15/15 runout route was an 18/12 runout route, with a crucial wire slot that crucial 3m higher. I placed a wire in this slot and tried to back it up with another one. I peered into the slot. A beady and belligerent eye peered back at me. Gulp. For some reason I panicked thinking it might be a giant spider, despite being a beady slit eye not a beady compound eye. This got me moving fast on the runout, but abseiling back down confirmed it was a firmly entrenched lizard. Hurrah. We also saw a turtle in the sea which was totally super-awesome and did not interfere with any gear placements.


Later we moved on to the slightly more conventional HT Gully slabs, which were even better. Shorter but more gear and a steeper, holdier angle. Truly a gem for girls who like crimpy slabs, and me. We basked, padded, and rocked over until our feet were aching. I attempted to round out the evening with a funky and bizarre roof climb, to give my feet a rest. It was all going swimmingly until cranking on a spikey jug round the final roof, when my heelhook slipped. "No problem", I thought, "I'll just swing free on the jug, chalk up, blow my fingers, and place heel better". Alas this cunning plan depended on the jug staying attached. It didn't, and neither did I. Was this punishment from the Slab Gods for attempting such a heretical angle of climb on The Day Of Slabbiness?? Or a reward from the Beef Olive Gods for completing last night's feast and increasing my mass even more??


Anyway, 5 great slab routes. Woohoo.