2009 started off in the best possible way - by heading up to the Peak District. At the very kind hospitality of James Berman and all his family - including his grand-parents! I was treated to the best start of a year I've ever had. A couple of days bouldering in the Peaks! : ) Thank you family Berman! (Check out their lovely house!)It was ridiculously cold so I packed my thermals & I was very glad to have them. The days actually warmed a little and we were graced with some pretty beautiful weather, but as the sun went down it got properly cold!
The first day we went to a rock called Trackside - a beautiful boulder with loads of great problems. We didn't rock particularly hard - it has to be said, but we did have a lot of fun and managed to avoid most of the patches of ice!
Trackside boulder. Me failing to climb Strawberries (lame!).After a good lunch of leftovers from the night before and a bit of soaking up the beautiful view, we went on to Birchens edge, where the bouldering wasn't great - but we did find a rock called Victory to climb - what could be better! : )
James rocking my new Christmas bouldering mat, with Victory & Nelson's column in the background (left hand one of the 3 boulders).
James taking command of Victory!
The next day we went to try our hands at some traversing on limestone. This time the location was not quite so beautiful - somewhere just South of Mansfield - but it was great to try some other sort of rock and the traverse was a good challenge (for us, at least!).
James nearly at the end. I got hot & manned up... ...but still failed!
HAPPY NEW YEAR ONE & ALL!
