Bowderstone

I’m a born and bred Cumbrian and ashamed to say in the past 29 years or so I’ve never made it to the Bowderstone. The excuse before I started climbing would be my father being brought up in grasmere he hated crowds and tourists so there wasn’t a chance of going on a family wander to this tourist attraction. The excuse since I started climbing has been ‘you’ve got to be strong to climb there’ and I ain’t. Well today my bowderstone cherry was popped and I’m now sat at home feeling the aches and pains setting in as my limbs stiffen up from a hard session (for me) on this 2000 tonne goliath of a rock.
Pete was down with ‘team strong’ from Glasgow and after other plans got muddled I ended up meeting him at the boulder. First impressions of the ladder face were this looks ace but hard.
I opted to get warmed up on the classic 6c crack. This took a few goes and didn’t flow as nicely as I’d like but I managed to struggle up it about fourth go. Next was the crack super direct and with Pete’s beta I managed to flash this. Cool! I had a look at the sitter to this which Pete’s mate Will made look piss but I struggled to cross through onto the standing start sloping ledge.
Next up was statstick on the ladder face. I had a couple of poor goes but when I got my left heel in the correct spot it went nicely. By this time Stuart (Glasgow team strong) was trying a link into power pinch. The normal standing start to this problem grabbed the attention of Pete, Johnny and I. We got stuck in. Reaching the powerpinch and tickling the next hold wasn’t too bad but sticking it was a different matter. After numerous attempts we gave up and it was time for picnic sarcastic. Members of team strong had flashed this problem and were climbing the numerous variations.
Johnny joined the flashing crew bagging this classic 7a+ first go. A different story for Pete and I . We both struggled to keep our feet on during the crucial foot swap to get a left heel in to reach the final jug. Eventually we both got it but it took it out of me. A bit of pottering around, banter and then another go at power pinch for me. This time I made progress and I managed to hold the next hold after the pinch a couple of times but couldn’t man up for the finish. By now we had been climbing for over four hours and everyone was ready for home.
Not a bad session for me but not a patch on Will’s and Sturat’s who both managed a couple of 7c’s, and plenty of 7a’s-7b+ each. Gits! I need to get stronger.
The bowderstone is an awesome bloc and I can see myself making more visits.