Stats

I recently upgraded my Flickr account (my photostream is here by the way) to "Pro".

I didn't do this to make myself look like a professional or to increase traffic. I did do it because I'd reached one of the limits of a free account (displaying only the last 200 photos) and I did do it because it was a gift.

However, with the pro account comes the stats page. Oh dear. I love stats, I'm absolutely pants at working them out but I find them fascinating to read. They're often bandied around in order to make statements seem profound or to deride another service.
Since my account has introduced this stats page I find myself checking it, almost every opportunity I get. Whilst I don't see a serious amount of traffic I seem to be receiving 1 to 5 views per day on my recent photos.
My latest photo is:

This is the first photo on my photostream that was taken with my smartphone, rather than a dSLR. I'm very happy with the way it came out (hence why it made it into my Project 52), I'm hoping to improve my smartphone photography!

Watch this space for more info!

A few days climbing in Yorkshire - 26/09/2012 to 28/09/2012

Day 1 - Wednesday 26/09/2012
A leisurely start to the day involved me leaving home at around 10:30am, provisions made for climbing and accommodation had hastily been confirmed a few days ago once the weather had started looking better.
The plan was to meet up with Frosty in Harrogate around lunch time before heading over to a fast drying crag for a climbing session...that'll be Almscliff then.

From the car park the top of the crag looked horrendously wet, not really surprising given the last week of wet weather and mornings occasional heavy showers, so we opted for the bouldering mats! We started at first boulder, think I've completed it before but with a sodden start and a face exposed to the wet and sheltered from the winds meant we had to look elsewhere. The face of flying grove was a good slab (well as good as slabs can be!) until the drizzle started. This we moved on to the "Virgins Traverse" (V4). The first section has a tricky start on sloped holds which flows into a section where hand holds become (polished) foot holds, finally a long reach brings you to the arete and positive holds. The traverse continues around this corner to the obvious corner under a block, a nails end to an excellent problem.
Whilst the drizzle was still coming down, the assault on problems continued including The Gypsy (V4 6a). All were nails, none were sent.

Whilst waiting for the rain to finish, we also went looking for the cave under Almscliff. Supposedly one end starts near the Virgin Boulder and comes out on the other side of the crag, information seems a little sketchy and this forum post is the only information I can find after a cursory google. 

Whilst at Almscliff, we also completed the often bouldered start to Wall of Horrors, coming in at V3 6a it is a little awkward but a very rewarding problem. I also tried the Wall of Horrors traverse, http://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/c.php?i=69704.

...and so ended the days climbing, let's head to the pub!

Day 2 - Thursday 27/09/2012
A slow start to the day whilst recovering the nights beer consumption, whilst Frosty was at work. Then a trip over to the National Trust site known as Brimham Rocks (http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/brimham-rocks/\). Although the National Trust does some sterling work in protecting and publiscing sites of interest, I do feel that their car park charges leave a little to be desired. The car park charge at Brimham is £4 (I imagine this is consistent across the National Trust sites but I do not know for sure).
For an evening's climbing £4 felt very steep at the time, however on reflection it doesn't seem to bad. To start with, if I was a family man taking my kids somewhere for the day (you could easily spend this amount of time at Brimham with a picnic etc) then £4 for a day out is pretty good value. The parking is well defined and has been laid with hardcore meaning it wears much better than a simple grass field. There are also amenities on site including a cafe (I was much too late for this). Either way at the time it felt expensive, on reflection it is reasonable for a day out.

Frosty and I started at the Cannon Rock Area, with me taking the first lead up Maloja (VS 4c). This was a nice little climb to start on, nothing strenuous (in fact it was bordering on easy) and with a move at half height that just made you think a little. Once the problems are overcome it was a simple jaunt to the top.
Frosty was next to lead and opted for Frensis (VS 5a), a short set of parallel cracks that led to a n interesting traverse unless you were willing to commit to the E1 finish!
Before I had chance to follow Frosty up and tell him he made it look hard (he didn't, it was pretty tough going!) I was asked to help rescue a child off some boulders. It turns out the kid had been able to go up the sloping stair case to the top of the boulder but couldn't reverse the moves and trust those grit slopers. I can't say I blame him, sloping holds on grit is an acquired taste and not something I'm inclined to use at the best of times. 

With the rescue and seconding complete, it was getting late so we headed on to Castle Rock for Frosty to try Desperation Crack (HVS 5b). About three quarters of the way up Frosty had decided he could go no further and opted to be lowered off and ab for my gear. During this time, the sun finally set and we were benighted, given the easy access to this crag this is definitely not a major problem.

With the climbing over for another day, we headed back to the pub...

Day 3 - Friday 28/09/2012
The last day in Yorkshire. After a brief walk around Harrogate city centre I picked Frosty up and headed up out to Almscliff with the intention of leading some routes. However as with most plans, they were laid to waste when the heavens opened for some short heavy showers. As we sat in the car contemplating the rain in Yorkshire we decided that an afternoons bouldering was the way forward.
For the first time this trip we were not alone at the crag, several other groups had the same idea and were bouldering.
Starting from the Low Man area, Frosty sent the Matterhorn Arete (V0 5a) as a warm up, something that I found I could not commit to. So instead I went to solo Low Man Easy Way (Diff) followed by Stew Pot (HVD), both were rather polished but eased me back into solo-ing gently.

The final problem of the day (and this climbing trip) was Pork Chop Slab (V2 5c), which felt harder than V2 but that may been because it was raining! Still it was sent with minimal effort and was extremely rewarding.

End

Additional: I'm pretty sure there are lots of problems I've missed off, mainly from the Friday. These include a slab that started on two dodgy pockets followed by a rock over onto sloping holds as well as some more problems to the left of pork chop slab.
If I'd written these down at the time of doing them there'd probably be more information..still at least I've written a (mostly!) complete trip report.