Afternoon Rock in Nelson

Vicki Following a Route at Sunnyside

Vicki and I hooked up for an afternoon of rock climbing around Nelson. Although the alpine climbing around Nelson is spectacular (the Valhallas for example), crag climbing around Nelson is not all that great, as most routes suffer from an overabundance of trees and rainfall - resulting in lots of moss and vegetation on routes - and a paucity of climbers to keep the routes clean. Nevertheless, its close, and there are some good climbs to be done. We started off at Railway Crag - which is actually quite clean and has two good climbs, a 5.7 and 5.10a, and then moved up to Sunnyside and did three slab climbs on somewhat more mossy rock. By the time we'd done that, we had used up all the time we had as we both had somewhere to be that night.

Slapping the Stone at Slocan

Top Roping After Breakfast 5.9

Delia and I tried to get out rock climbing most of last week, but it kept raining, and raining, so it wasn't until today that we managed to hook up and head up to Slocan City bluffs. It was Delia's first day back on the rock after almost a year hiatus, and I am a timid leader at the best of times, so we climbed mostly easy routes. One thing about climbing with beginner climbers is that you have to do all the leading, and, in the end, this makes you less timid. I always warm up on either Pie or the Big Easy (sport 5.6 and 5.7 routes respectively), so today we warmed up on Pie. Pie is a full 30 metres long, but has 11 clips so it is well protected, and has lots of incut holds – it feels like a Skaha climb. After Delia had seconded the climb, I ran up it again in a pair of new rock shoes I bought – they are pretty good, but not as sensitive as my Bongos.

Next off we moved along to the right, and I led a gear 5.6 called Sunny Side Up. A nice easy route with good gear and good stances to place gear. The bolted anchor is shared with After Breakfast, a 5.9 (or 5.10b if you pull the roof) sport route, so, as we had the top-rope up, we climbed that too. You can climb it as a 9 by deeking around the roof to the left – I've never managed the 10b variation, but, actually I've never tried. Maybe I should.

Time to move on, over to Sahara, which is a really fun 5.7 gear route up a huge corner. The opening moves are the crux, a bit of a slippery layback, where you'll smack on to a ledge if you peel, and, as I don't like leading laybacks, I bumbled around a bit before finally pulling the moves. After that it is pretty easy with good gear and good stances.

This is the last route I climbed, a 5.7 slab climb, but this is actually Hamish climbing it on another day

Finally, one last mixed 5.7 slab climb, which I led but we ran out of time for Delia to follow. Too bad, but it was getting mighty hot in the sun anyway.