While Roaming in England: The Peaks

This weekend I went climbing with the Lancaster University Mountaineering Club again, but this time we spent all weekend out. Friday we drove out about 2 and a half hours to Edele (Idaly!). On the way we stopped and got some beverages, everyone had a laugh since it's illegal for me to buy alcohol at age 20 in the states. As we were getting close my ears popped, and I knew it was going to be a good place. We came down into the valley on a narrow windy road and in the moonlight we could see hills covered in snow.

After wandering around in the mini bus a bit, we found the community center where we were staying. It was really really nice, including a full PA system and lights. That night we made pasta then hung out a bit before getting to bed. We slack lined and did some building bouldering as well. That night was a cold night. Billy and Josh said they were hot before going to bed so turned off the heater. Bad decision, haha.

We woke early the next morning, had breakfast, and made our way on out. We went climbing at this huge cliff band on the edge of a valley. It was really pretty, but the antarctic like whether didn't let us get much climbing done. After I seconded supposedly the "best route" with Arran we stood at the top screaming and grunting as our fingers thawed.

After everyone realized how cold it was, we made our way to the bouldering routes. I wish we started out there, but the snow came in as we discovered we made a mistake by starting off with trad.

We made our way back to our community hall and basically started a circus. Gaz had fire poy and once we got the hang of the tennis ball poy we all got a chance with the real deal. He also had a huge yo yo thing, but I didn't like that one as much. He also breathed fire. We spent a lot of time just sitting on bouldering pads having deep conversations about religion, climbing, americans, and random issues. It was blizzarding, so we also had the first of many snowball fights and some people made a snowman. I snatched a bouldering pad to sleep on and had probably the best night of sleep I've had since I've been here.

The next day Joe was our guide. We went to a different place, but it was even more beautiful. It was a short walk in the snow, but we were just hoping the rock wouldn't be wet everywhere. We lucked out, and after needlessly scrambling down a hallway of rocks the bouldering started. There was one trad route, but it turned out to be more difficult than expected. I spent most of the day wandering up above and coming back to the main climbing area. It's weird being one of the only girls because I'm unable to climb many of the guy climbs, and it's hard to find climbs to do when only one set of eyes is looking.