Neil, Daniel, Mark and myself headed down to the boulders at Portlethen yesterday for a wee sesh. Kids piano lessons, diy and work commitments ensured we didn't get too carried away...Mark had three routes in his sights that he had insisted were going to be sent; The Pit, The Lynx Effect, and The Barrel Traverse.
Neil headed to the warm up wall to get started whilst Mark, Daniel and I, after a few pull ups and 'hangs' got stuck in about The Pit. Unsurprisingly some of us struggled to wake our bodies up to full throttle whilst Mark prepped up.
The weather was mixed sun and showers but the rock dried very quickly and proved to be of good friction.
Neil returned back, and Markpromptly proceeded to send The Pit in good strong style.
We then proceeded to the Barrel with gems such as Slap and Tickle and the Barrel Traverse in our sights.
With the starting hand sequences completely changed I strained through on the low slopers of the Traverse. Anything to make it more difficult! Having done the crux moves i must admit to almost diving off the boulder on probably the easiest part of the problem.
Up to the sports wall with Lynx Effect and Into the Groove were the targets.Some powerful crimping action was needed and ultimately given by all!
Fortunately we had four mats with us to cover the drop zone fromthe highball Move to the Groove as thats the last thing you want to be worrying about when you're crimping a two fingered notch and sharp ledges...The Trio was done! Mark had his ticks for the day so everything else was a bonus.
The fingers were beginning to tingle and strain so we opted for some luxury. Being in the Sun we headed down to one of the Slabs, The Howling and then the Sea pig to tackle the prow.
With questionalble style and refined stubborness I proceeded to prove the use for fnacy rock shoes and extravagant moves as i continued through the prow with heel hooks, toe hooks, hanging upside down and figure of fours! All from less than a foot off the ground.
The north side fo the boulder and problem were proving to be the trickiest as the rain had kept the holds damp and a mix of slopers and showers didn't help matters.
All in all a good day even with the scattered showers. Some classic Porty routes and a great sign of strong climbing to come this summer!!
Check out the Links to the Flickr sites for more photos.
