About Us

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Ed is a fireman, Ad is a doctor, and we are both mad keen climbers. Ed is a rock warrior, and a great all rounder too, Ad is steady at all disciplines, but particularly loves the hardships of winter climbing and mountaineering. He keeps fit running and on the bike. We are both from Shrewsbury, where the nearest we have to a climbing club is the shop 'Highsports'. The owner, Stuart is a famous climber and mountaineer, and keeps us locals psyched with a great shop, a great website ( http://www.highsports.co.uk/ ) and a great winter lecture series. Mad for it!

Sunday 10 January 2010

THE DEVIL'S APPENDIX!


After 5 years of dreaming we finally climbed the Devil's Appendix yesterday. It was quite simply the best winter route ever! Beautiful, technical, sustained, varied... what a great line!


The pillar felt pretty bold - there was a small column touching down with a huge spout of free hanging ice in front of it. The crux seemed to be bridging out onto the free hanging bit without kicking too hard! The next 5 meters were insanely pumpy, proper WI 5!


The second pitch which Ed lead was no push over either... It wasn't as steep as the first pitch but the ice was really fragile and covered with mushroom formations. This didn't bode well for people climbing below us!

All in all, the route completely lived up to its incredible reputation!

Just as an added bonus, we climbed the Devil's Pipes afterwards. We must have been the only people in Cwm Idwall to climb two routes and not have to queue for either of them! Walking out yesterday afternoon, we had a great view of the two routes in all their glory... What a day!

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