Winter Grit (29-1-12)

Now if the forecast doesn’t look to bad but probably a bit chilly and potentially some snow on the ground, the obvious choice to me would be a north facing crag high up in North Yorkshire.  So it was this badly flawed logic that saw us flying up the road to painfully harp gritstone on Rylstone, that is, after a half hour diversion just outside Cambridge.

Snowy Rylstone

There is not much to say about this tip other than it happened.  The warm banter was about the only warmth available from which to draw solace, however watching others go through hot aches on short rock routes did provide some entertainment.  Dental Slab was the focus of the group, only mildly perturbed by the thin ice smear at half height.  Presidents Slab also went, but ice filled holds on the upper section of Castrol repelled an attempt at the second pitch.

Possibly not the best friction day on Dental Slab at Rylstone as Donald moves up past the ice smear

Then came the highpoint of the day……..leaving.  Well, not just leaving, but making the short hop to Eastby, which turned out not to be the scrappy set of ribs and turf it appeared from the road but a set of towering buttresses of south facing, perfect, clean, warm gritstone (ok, maybe not warm).  The highlight here was undoubtedly Pillar Rib but everyone squeezed in one more climb to finish the day on a high with the bonus of having visited a great new crag which will be well worth a return visit.  Obviously the highlight of any trip to Yorkshire was the Wetherby Whaler on the way back south.