The Staffordshire Nose

So i tried this last year with Andi, but we were defeated at the last hurdle. This time its different, we feel more ready, the weather has been dry for a while now, we can pick the exact day and time due to the holidays. its now down to us.

we started at 7am sharp on the upper tier, first route of the day was aqua, a pleasent solo, then sauls crack hen sloth. Andi forgot to take the nut key up with him, so had to clamber back down then back up again. the crux of the day, crack of gloom, went quite well for both of us. A little tiring, but still feeing 9/10. soon enough roaches is complete in just over 3 hours!!, thats half the routes. now its the psychological Hen cloud, long sustained routes. The walk over has been a mental drain and we've slowed just a little, but now found a steady pace, which is good. one by one we complete the routes. My psychological crux is Hen cloud eliminate, as ive never lead his one, but i do it easily and im in full swing. We finish on Seconds retreat, which i love to do.

Now its just the Ram left. we get there and find the quick pace again. one by one the routes fall victim to us. Its a masterclass of crack climbing in a day. At this point, all the routes are easy. Soon enough we've complete the day in 7 and a half hours. All thats left is Ramshaw crack. we know we have to do it.

So we have a break for twenty mins and take the slow walk up. we get to the bottom of it and Andi takes the front seat. He gets so far up, gets pumped and comes back down, then again and again. Soon he's run out of juice, which means its my turn. Ive not done Ram crack before. I tried maybe 4 years ago, but didnt manage to get off the floor. However ive done alot since then, and today has been all about crack climbing, so what better way to finish it than Ram crack. So off i go, soon enough i find myself on the final few feet. The crack is to big to get a proper arm in and only half the body fits, at one point im sure i used my leg and head to hang off to rest my arms. then i go for the final chuck, i feel the top, but im fully pumped the top is rounded and its greasy, but why fall now, i have a moment of self talk in my head and muster some technique and maul myself overt the top. First go and what a way to finish the day. Andi comes up not long after, and we stop the stopwatch. 8 hours 41 minutes. A new record and what a day.