Queen's Quadruple Quest.

Quest 1: Nice day. Walked into the crag. It rained.

Quest 2: Dry sunny day with snow on the ground. Walked into the crag. It was coated in snow.

Quest 3: Sunny breezy day. Showers just past. Walls soaked. Didn't even walk into the crag.

Quest 4:


Ohhhh YEAH. Amazing conditions. Lovely day to be bouldering, right on the cusp where unbeatable conditions turn into unsurvivable cold. Tris and I survived 5 hours although it was touch and go at the end. A quick half of Twice Brewed bitter at the Twice Brewed Inn (shown on the bouldering guide map as "Once Brewed", I was really not sure about drinking Twice Brewed at Once Brewed, or vice versa) kept morale enough to finish the 250 mile round trip.

Despite the conditions, this turned into more of an easy mileage day. A nice warm-up circuit, a couple of good middling problems spoilt by weirdo landings, and some fun problems later on seen in the video, including this Queen Line:



I did want to push myself on harder things at Queens, but there just seemed to be niggling little issues on the day:

Victory Arete SS - top-out felt too dodgy with smeary feet and a nasty blade of rock to skid onto. Even after flashing both stand-up versions to the top it just seemed unjustifiable and couldn't be arsed trying the sitter to not top that out either. Could have tried harder to pad the blade I guess.
West Wall - not sure about line, we tried an easy line but backed off the top-out again because of bad fall potential not difficulty.
Mxymatosis - not sure about finish, saw a climber climb to the top but the direct finish was too dirty. Again dodgy fall for that sort of nonsense.
Border Reiver - had a brief look at the end of the day but needed more time, more cleaning, and more attention given it's highball nature.
Left Hand Leap - kept trying the wrong method, got suckered in by a fruity pinch on the very arete but that's not the actual line, which goes up the righthand face. There's even a photo in the guide! Not that that's always to be relied on...

So dodgy lines and dodgy landings were the main deal! I'd go back for all of those with better preparation and knowledge. On my own, I'd probably be most tempted by working Worldline, probably waaaaay beyond me but could be interesting. Loads more easy stuff to warm-up on too.

An easy day on Sunday left my body feeling good on Monday, so I focused on a harder session at TCA, and felt quite good. Hurrah.