Widdop

Sully on Pickpockets Crack V3 (Left) and me on Four Square Left V4 (Right)


Met Sully for ten at Lancatser train station then drove to Burnley and on to Widdop. First impressions of Widdop were of a bleak, green and damp place but we decided we would man up and give the lakeside boulders a go. It took a massive five minute hike to get to the first of the lakeside boulder. This boulder contained a number of pleasant easier problems and we climbed a few V0 –V2 problems. We then took a look at the classic V4 problem called splashdown arête. This is a very cool dynamic arête with some delicate opening moves setting up for a pop to a sloping top. I managed this problem but Sully declared his contact strength was letting him down and that he would have to come back fitter, stronger and super manned up to hold the slopping top. (Click here for Sully's words of advice). We then moved round number 2 boulder to climb the nice slopping holds of the shelf problem (V2).
The next stop off was pick pockets wall. I managed to climb the two very nice V3 problems called Pickpocket’s wall and Pickpocket’s crack on the slab face as well as the delightful Fagins ridge (V0).
We then moved on to boulder four and five and managed to climb a the classic V2 aretes of Four Square left hand, Red edge right and Red edge left. I decided to climb the V4 version of Four Square arête. This was very frustrating and I had to walk away without the tick after numerous plummets back on to my pad. I had to console myself with a quick dispatch of the V4 eliminate next the easy arête. We then moved up to the Seventh boulder and climbed the nice V2 delicate slab problem called Seventh Heaven. I then managed to climb the delightful V5 arete/slab problem called The Seventh Wave.
Decided to finish off on the V6 slab on the Sixth boulder but upward progress was stopped by a split tip dripping blood onto the tiny pebble hold. We left Widdop satisfied, with sore skin and well used guns.