Walking through the gate into the Stanage Plantation was a bit like stepping through the wardrobe door and into the magical kingdom of ClimbNarnia. It was still cold but gone, all of a sudden, was the heinous withering wind and boulderers were everywhere. One, slowly but surely, was inching his way up the top arête of Careless Torque. Could this be? With a precision and purpose borne of necessity, he completed his task and pulled onto the top to cries of joy from his spotters. Almost immediately, another pulled onto the lower arête and so it began again. There was no way I couldn’t check out the action…

 

A while back the idea of Ron Fawcett’s Careless Torque becoming a trade-route was down right laughable. And in fairness it is far from that, but with the latest cold snap well and truly established Ben Bransby and James ’Caff’ McHaffie made good their claim to Fawcett’s test-piece – both within 30 minutes on the same day! Two ascents in one day – awesome. Top effort guys…

 

The wardrobe door to ClimbNarnia

 

 

Good conditions come at a price; are you tough enough for winter bouldering?

 

 

Caff on the starting moves of Careless Torque

 

 

Caff getting serious close to scoring a second lap

 

 

Ben Bransby latching the final crucial moves on the upper arête for the two in one…