Stanage Challenge
25th Jul 2011
Mid summer challenges are something I’ve always enjoyed. A few years back when I worked with planetFear we actually ran a competition to encourage people to take up the mantle and rise to the ‘challenge’. This summer it wasn’t exactly on mid-summer’s day, but on Jul 5th with a friend of mine from Sheffield called Chris. We set out and in 14 hours, climbed all the starred HVS’s on Stanage (as defined in the current BMC guidebook). It was a very, very long day, with around 1,400m of height gain and loss. We lead 44 and solo’d 62 routes. It was actually the descents that really took it out of me most. Chris was a lot fitter and fared better on the whole. We couldn’t have done it without a support crew so massive thanks to Amy, Louise and Ed. Also to Mule Bar who gave me a load of energy bars at Cliffhanger the weekend prior! I’ve written up a full account of the day which will be published on UKClimbing before too long.