You win some, you lose some and for once I'd won, my year 11s were doing mocks and I wasn't down for cover or invigilation. A free Thursday afternoon and a sunny one at that! The only downside is that I'd been suffering from some long term flu like illness and was feeling pretty grim, but the chance for a longer trip was not to be missed. A few ideas were considered before the classic Juniper Gulf was settled on.
Packing the gear at the lay by
The walk up wasn't too bad. Though my lungs definitely knew they were working and my legs felt more like lead than usual, being with quality mates in a beautiful place was having a positive affect on my head.
Tony making last minute adjustments at the entrance
Mike gearing up
While it was a sunny day, it's been quite wet and it sounded like there was quite a lot of water running. We therefore opted for a traversing first pitch above the cascades rather than following the water directly.
Mike setting off rigging on the first pitch
We are incredibly fortunate in the Dales to have the CNCC. They provide reliable and safe bolts and excellent rigging guides and descriptions. Their workshops are also second to none. \begin{rant} Being in education I have suffered more than my fair share of CPD and I think it would be useful for school managers to go and see what these workshops are like and how much they cost. Being taught useful skills by passionate and knowledgeable individuals beats being subjected to nonsense spewed by snake oil sales people at vast cost any day of the week \end{rant}. Anyway the point is when everything the CNCC produce is so good, you really question when things don't seem quite right. We were still no where near the y-hang, let alone down the pitch when the rope ran out! The water didn't look as bad as it sounded so Mike made the decision to leave the traverse early and ab down to the stream.
[in progress...]
Much of the route is traversing in a rift
Mike setting off down the final pitch - this is what we'd come for
