Bank Holliday Sunshine.

The bank holiday sunshine was enjoyed in Deeside. Andy and I headed off into the Cambus O' May quarry in the morning to have a look at a disappointing venue. Despite the hot weather the quarry was wet through with much of the back wall seeping heavily. The dash for the Pass of Ballater was postponed slightly, as we had a go at Sharp Practice. A 6a sports route that makes it way up a lovely flake to a very reachy crux. Anyone over 6,3 would find this route easy for the grade. I being of (slightly) less stature had to make a few extra moves a bit harder than 6a to reach the finishing “jug”.
The afternoon was spent in the “Pass” here we did a few routes, the highlight for me being Convoy a lovely VS that finishes in a wild position crossing the roof of a niche some 20mts after leaving the floor. Nice of Andy to hold the ropes on this one as I think this may almost have put his repeats of this route into double figures. Still it was a top route and worth much more than the 1 * it gets in the NE Outcrops guide. As we were so busy enjoying the routes and the sunshine, the camera never came out, however on return to Andy’s I enjoyed the hardest problem of the day on the “green” traverse on Andy’s home wall. A nice crimpy 6b traverse across the length of his wall. You can see from the photo he has built himself quite an impressive bouldering venue in his shed.

Andy's training venue!