This was to be Simon Curtis's first trip to climb on sea cliffs and I knew he was looking forward to abbing in and climbing out. Cattle Troughs was the chosen venue and since neither of us had been there before we took a lot of care making sure we abbed in at the correct spot. We faffed a bit at the top making sure the rope wasn't lying on anything sharp and then I chucked it over and clipped in, made sure me prussic loop was all attached and saying, as I usually do "I hate bl00dy abseiling!" I set off. Halfway I looked down to see the remainder of the rope sitting on a ledge although some had slipped off the ledge and in to the sea. So feeling cheered that I now knew I had rope for the remainder of the abseil I was feeling a little chirpier. I went past a section of free abseiling and thought how much Simon was going to enjoy all of this... Got to the bottom, unclipped and tugged at the end sitting in the sea. And tugged again. And just for good measure tugged some more. Nope, nothing doing there. It was stuck fast. Called to Simon that he could come down and waited for his arrival. In the meantime I went to look for the route out. By the time Simon arrived I was able to report that we had two problems. One, that the abseil rope was caught and, two that I hadn't, as yet, found the route out. First things, first though and I clipped back on to the rope to ab down a bit lower to release the end of the rope. I slid in to the wide crack taking care to brace my feet against the walls either side then, whoosh!! A wave wove its way up the crack and up my bum and all over the rack hanging from my harness. Somewhat shaken and dampened by the experience I scrambled back up on top the ledge where Simon was standing. Sadly the rope was still stuck. Simon decided that it was his turn. He stripped off his many t-shirts and clad only in harness, rock boots and trousers he clipped on to the upper part of the rope and we waited for the 'big' wave to come again. And we waited and counted and waited and counted... For some time there was no large wave and so Simon decided it was time to go. He dropped down the front of the boulder we were standing on and made his way into the crack and started to pull the rope, as he did so another wave, larger than the first hit him with some considerable force. All I could see were Simon's arms and head and white foam. Oh and a picturesque shocked expression!! :) I grabbed the rope and he scrambled out of the sea as I pulled for all I was worth. He was totally soaked! I did what any decent person would do in these circumstances. I laughed and once started I couldn't stop. Sorry Simon! :)
He looked so dejected - worse than a wet cat. I went to look for the route out and turning round to see how he was getting on, saw him standing wringing all the water out of his trousers!! Just for good measure I laughed some more. But give the boy his due - he led the route out rather than stand at the bottom being cold and went on to do another lead with Steve C. Well Done Simon. Hope you enjoyed your introduction to sea cliff climbing!!!
Looking for the tops of routes
Looking for the bottoms of routes
