The line of Tom Leppert's HVS!!!:' Out to Lunch'
A ‘ping’ from my
inbox announces Tom Leppert’s email. Glyder
Fach New Routes it says. Our paths had crossed a week earlier, one sunny
evening below the Milestone Buttress, when he and Pete Anderson hove into view.
This chance encounter with the author of the 1982 Ogwen guidebook was too good an opportunity to miss. I knew he’d
done some new climbs on the East Buttress of Glyder Fach’s Main Cliff and was
keen to pick his brain. As it turned out, he and Pete had done another that
very afternoon.
“Quite a nice line,” said Tom, “about HVS.” Was it my
imagination or did Pete’s eyebrow arch imperceptibly? “I’ll send you the
details,” Tom said as they shouldered their sacks and made for the path down to
the road. I scrolled down the page: Quixote,
Senile Saunter, Out to Lunch, The Deviant, Deviation. Evidently he’d been
busy.
…
The Luncheon Stone
feels cold through the seat of my trousers as we sort out the rack. It’s too
early for the sun to be on the crag, and a grey overcast holds down the air
temperature. I hand John the crib sheet of Tom’s route descriptions. “How about this Out to
Lunch?” he says.
Out to lunch, out to lunch, I could do with being out to
lunch. Breakfast was four hours ago and my stomach is rumbling noisily. I keep
my fleece on as he leads off up the corner of pitch one, placing a cam and
cleaning out the crack with his nut key. When my turn comes I’m cold and stiff.
Clumsily I step up to reach the cam, but can’t. As so often in the past, John’s
superior reach has taken him past a difficult move, where I struggle to gain
height on inferior holds. By the time I join him on the ledge the circulation
is returning to my fingers. Warmer now, we lead through on the middle pitches,
and belay on the ledge below the Hand Traverse of Direct Route.
Above us rises a long slab with a slender flake on its left edge. Tom’s nuances
taunt me from the crib sheet: a ‘step’ on the final steep nose has to be gained
‘with conviction,’ then ‘a hard final pull’ remains before topping out.“Sounds ominous,” I say to John, and it’s my lead. The slab
lures me in, seductively. Above the flake, small edges entice me on, drawing me
like an amorous spider irresistibly to his mate, yet sensing peril lies ahead.
Now the angle steepens; the slab goes concave, sweeping up into the final
faceted nose. In front of me, Tom’s ‘step’ is no more than a scooped foothold,
and below, the tape on the flake seems a long way off.
Clearly some
‘conviction’ is required. A shallow nick beside the ‘step’ takes a sideways
wire, but I’m not convinced it will stay in. Just do it first time, I tell
myself, it won’t be that bad – it’s only supposed to be Hard VS. Leaning
leftwards, I get a foot on the ‘step’ and stand up carefully, holding myself in
balance with side holds. As expected, the move isn’t bad once I commit, but I
wouldn’t care to reverse it, and know at once the trap is sprung. Now the ‘hard
final pull.’ Easier angled rock lies tantalizingly close. I glance down at
John. The tape on the flake looks even more distant now, and my right-hand rope
is pulling disconcertingly on the poor wire.
“Could do with a decent runner,” I shout, pointlessly
stating the obvious. The rock defies me: compact, impassive, and devoid of
cracks. It’s down to ‘conviction’ again. The way lies up and rightwards, across
the bridge of the nose, but this time I need a good look at it, or three or
four good looks at it, before I commit. Up and down, up and down, balancing up
from the ‘step’ to the small holds on the nose, then scuttling back, like a
fledgling psyching up to take to its wings. Next time. Balance up again. I can
see the holds I’m going for. Now commit. Push off with the left foot, right
foot on a smear, pull hard and ease my body weight across. A tinkle is heard as
the wire lifts out, but I’ve got the good holds and it doesn’t matter.
“Bold little number,” John says as he comes over the top.
“You’re not kidding. Sand-bagged again. Wait till I see Mr
Leppert.”
Out to Lunch-E3-5c: Glyder Fach. P 169 CC Ogwen Guide
Mike Bailey: 2014
