A mixed bag

The conditions in South Wales havent lived up to their expectations based on the last big freeze. Firstly sunday we got to llanbradach only to find that the water was still running freely down the vegetated steps much to our disgust. So that day got bagged and we went home dejected.

Keen not to repeat this i held off going out again until we'd had a good freeze-thaw cycle. So instead went and picked up my skis from a mates house. Now considering they cost me £15, i used my climbing boots and i cant ski i think it went quite well. According to my mate "they are a special set up only for me" which i think means they're completely fucked to anyone who knows anything about skiing but by the end of the couple of hours i hit the streets / parks / hills of Cardiff i was able to stop-ish, turn-ish and go off jumps that were about waist hig, getting around 6ft jumps that went on for 6m. Was a good laugh,and not as steep a learning curve as i expected.

AirBourne off one of the larger jumps

After my brief ski fun went to Boulders climbing wall, its shite so i wont post much. Did a few routes, and am now called the 'northern fairy'. Nice.

Today however went slightly better on the climbing front. After getting up at 7 and waiting for Bob in the cold for 45mins we headed back to Llanbradach, picking up a guy called Ken on the way. On arrival it was surprisingly mild, considering it was -2 in Cardiff, nevertheless we headed to the crag, but lowe behold it was sopping wet, possibly even more than on sunday. Dejected we walked around the crag looking for something to scratch up. We did actually find a non-summer route corner groove thing that had mud and some frozen bits on it so headed up that. Bob give it grade 5 but hes a hard bastard. Felt hard is all i know.

Llanbradach in the Snow. Normal falls come in on the left of the crag.

The Corner crack. We stepped left onto the triangular wall toward the top

Despite it feeling hard, it would have felt harder had i not fixed my crampons to be monos. Now this is something i have avoided doing for 4years now mostly through laziness and being scared they wont climb as well. But they do, they didnt rotate off holds like i thought they would and i was able to stand on much smaller holds more stably.

After we finished scrathing around on this route, we headed off getting in the car off to the Climbing Station, Bob commenting "that guy can talk" referring to Ken who hadnt stopped since we saw him first 2hours ago. The climbing station is pretty good, is only bouldering but thats made up for in the fact that they are good, there is a good variety and the staff arent cunts like at the Boulders wall. If im able to get to it, im definately going to be going to the station from now on. Rest day tomorrow, well might do some skiing but rest for my skin, they hurt now.