Terminal Trajectory

We forgot the camera today! 😳 However, I’ve recycled a picture from a previous trip to Warton Quarry to show the line of today’s adventure; Terminal Trajectory. It’s a lovely looking E3 that I’d wished I’d climbed the last time we were at the quarry. On that occasion I wasn’t brave enough to have a go – there’s a long (over 10m?) runout section of 5c climbing! However, after that visit Paul suggested that if I got a good runner in the crack of Third World before committing to the slab it should all be good. Not that Paul actually knew this, but it’s amazing how simply thinking this can power you up a route – especially in less than ideal damp conditions! 😮 To start with the first 10m, which follow the crack of Third World (HVS), were scary, being very damp! So much so I thought I wouldn’t be able to do the route at all. But luckily the thin climbing above had dried, game-on! It might be in a quarry, but it’s gotta be one of the best 50m limestone pitches in Lancashire. 😀

I felt quite happy stood on top of the cliff belaying Laetitia, watching a steam train roll gracefully in to Carnforth station from Grange-over-Sands, a fast Virgin train swoosh down the West Coast mainline towards Manchester, and a peregrine falcon cruise by just a few feet above me. 😎 It may only be a quarry, there might be a lot of loose rock in places, and all those other negative things we associate with quarries. But all-in-all, it’s a very fine place! 😛