Wasted Years was first climbed by Matt Ingham in 1994 and its ascent immediately made an impression especially when it was graded E6! Matt climb the stunning line right of Bagheera on The Escarpment and having made the second ascent of Lunatic Fringe(E7) he was clearly no slouch!
My attention was first drawn to the line by rumours of its desperate moves so far above protection but I was to learn quickly how compelling the line was too. But probably what attracted me most was the challenge of working out a way up 8 metres of seemingly blank rock linking two well defined cracks. Of course it then dawned on me having done this relatively quickly I had no excuse not to try the lead! The key seemed to be convincing myself that although it was potentially a huge fall form 6 metre above the projection on 6b and 6c ground I shouldn't hurt myself, so what was all the fuss!
Having been frozen into submission on our first attempted (and my 3rd!) to get it lead in December Piotr and I headed back up on Thursday 14th March. After a quick refresher on the moves we abseiled into the hanging belay and only just in time as the tide turned and soaked the starting foot holds! Piotr did a stunning job belaying and grigring up the rope at the same time to avoid the incoming tide. The second ascent went smoothly enough and thankfully without taking the fall!!! But I had taking it so many times already when ever I shut my eyes I would find myself missing that crucial dead point and falling into space...
...... But not any more.The north coast in all its glory, Tim Rankin on the first ascent of Comfortably Numb E8 6c (photo Mike Reed collection)
