My shoulder had been playing up from a particularly brutal boulder setting day at the Beacon, and I was a bit nervous how I would fare. However, after seconding the first route I deemed it serviceable enough for now.
We'd hit Railtrack and it was in the sun, and despite a few avoidable wet streaks it was in pretty good nick. I'd not been down here since the ack ack of new router's and so the guidebook came out. Red throated diver seemed to have changed with all the footholds through the crux being plenty roomy- not what I'd remembered at all. That's popularity for a friable slate venue I guess, a fair bit softer anyway.
Crazy Train was as good as I'd heard, and despite a few razors left, a pleasant experience.
We had a wander round, and ended up on the Rognon catching the last of the sun. This meant I could clean up a niggle in my mind and lead a variation of Abbatoir Blues I'd top roped some time before. The Red Right Hand Variation traverses right when the 2nd bolt is just below your knees to gain the red groove, which is taken to the top. I climbed up to the 3rd bolt first, for added security, probably giving an overall E2 6a, those with more to prove can clip the 3rd bolt later from the groove to get the E4 tick. The groove is soft and wood like, a hold did detach near the top, so the name does seem apt.
We used the Australian to escape back to the car. However the access bolt at the base of MIL arete has been vanished, and Wolf belayed me up off a braced stance (he's a strong boy). I hadn't noticed this and proceeded to get him to tie me off on his plate so I could stand on the edge and haul up the bags... Boys outing indeed.
I was late and had to face the wrath of Sam, and also both Haston sisters. Fear did occur. However, I got off lightly with babysitting while Sam had a girls night out.
Happy Days
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