Gimmer

The forecast was for sun and Astrid had called to say she had a pass out. Unusual for us, we had to choose where to go before the day arrived so we checked the forecast again and the expected wind speed and decided we could risk a day on Gimmer.

We met Astrid at the National Trust car park at Stickle Barn at 9.30-ish am. We were glad we went for the reasonably early start. There was an organised run due to start at some time during the day and the crowds were beginning to flood in.

We made a leisurely approach to Gimmer, happy to see it wasn’t too busy. There were a couple of teams on route or about to start, and a team of 3 lads approaching from Mickleden. It was pretty hot, so we congratulated ourselves for choosing such an excellent location on a late summer/early autumn day.

I decided Remembrance would be a good route. We’d not done it before so it should be a good alternative to the many classics. It starts up the popular 4b crack of the Bracket and Slab alternative start. Then goes up an 5a ‘over-hanging groove’, and finishes up a 4b traverse right, then left, then up. The problem was, the popular crack was popular. Of the two teams already there, one was just finishing it, and one waiting to start. Both teams were going for Bracket and Slab.

So plan B. I chose Dipthong, another route we hadn’t done before. It’s a VS with a strenuous 5a pitch on the Alphabet slabs.

We scrambled up to to the start and already the small breeze that bit higher was proving to be cold. I anticipated another route with frozen fingers. The strenuous 5a pitch proved to be very, very strenuous. It even took Pete a fair few tries before he could work out the best moves, avoiding a wet hold. The rest of the route was ok, but maybe not one to bother repeating.

We did get very cold, but the weather was good for paragliders. At one point I looked up and there were 7 paragliders floating by.

After a bit of lunch we saw that the popular crack was free, so Remembrance was our next objective. The crack proved to be easy enough, the overhanging groove didn’t. It was very green and Pete had to smear on wet moss. Very scary for the lead, and not easy for the two seconds, even with a very tight rope. Perhaps another route we might not repeat.

It remained quiet throughout the day – probably only about 6 teams in total, and we had a good day, arriving back at the car just before it got dark.