Lee Harrison Climbing

After last weekend's late night climbing antics at Dover I was keen for something less dramatic this weekend. Jack and me headed to the bolted routes at Saltdean. We warmed up of Slab Route/Slab Extension. The start to Slab Route continues to get slightly harder each season as chalk falls away beneath it. A small cave has now formed beneath the slab. The undercut chalk at the base of the slab is plagued with extensive cracks that suggest the slab may begin higher up in the near future. The short wall to gain the slab offered good value and needed composure to clip to the first bolt, after which the climbing became easy. Jack gaining the Slab on Slab Route Having climbed Slab Route we set up a top-rope on the lower-off further right, which I believe to be Christmas Cracker (C6). I think this was the route that Hugh Dennis climbed on the BBC program 'The Great British Countryside', which was broadcast earlier this year. Therefore surely a push-over? This sect...

The tide was far higher than expected by the time Jack and me reached the zigzag path. Low tide had only been just over an hour ago but already the water had almost reached the cliffs immediately East. We quickly descended the path for closer inspection, which indicated that there was just time to traverse the cliffs to the beach that we had visited last weekend. We hurried across the high boulders directly beneath the cliffs but were nearly halted by the waters immediately preceding the beech by their absence. We delicately padded our way across a sequence of smaller boulders that just about poked their head above the water, to the safety of the beech. Ten minutes later and we wouldn't have made it. There would certainly be no return by the way we had come until the next low tide. Traversing beneath the cliffs The tide nearly beat us The obvious choice of route was a grade V called Dover Soul as there was gear to retrieve after last wee...

With winter approaching it was time to begin the season of chalk again. Having been plagued with shoulder injuries for much of the summer I was keen to ease back into things gently to avoid re-injury. I headed to Saltdean together with Julia, another member from the London Mountaineering Club, who was keen to try some chalk for the first time. We met Kirill and his climbing partner Paul at the crag. Back at Saltdean Julia and me climbed the usual regulars on the West side including Day Dreaming, Back in Time and Back Off Back On (all C5). I also top-roped (there are no bolts) a direct version of Day Dreaming, which climbs through a low jutting roof and offers much better value than the regular line. Kirill and Paul managed between them to climb most of the routes in this part of the crag. Julia climbing Day Dreaming (C5) Julia climbing Back On Back Off (C5) Paul climbing the unnamed route (C5) between Back in Time & St. Jerome Rain struck short...

Rush hour We walked into Lochain today in light of the poor conditions in Coire an t'Sneachda yesterday. Despite the higher elevation conditions proved to be no better with the likes of Fallout Corner in summer condition. Fourth Man looked vaguely climbable however the traverse left out of Sidewinder proved impossible without frozen turf. We continued up Sidewinder instead, which proved no pushover in these conditions, and then bore right into the final gully of Western Route. Summer conditions under snow

A cold snap late in the season lured Kirill and me to Scotland for some winter climbing. With substantial snow earlier in the week, combined with prolonged cold temperatures since then, we felt encouraged to to make the long journey. I was in good form having recently returned from the Alps yet felt I had underachieved with my Scottish winter ascents this season (largely due to fickle weather and conditions) given the amount of training I have put in. 'Early season conditions' were being reported on reliable blogs with routes such as Hoarmaster and Fallout Corner having seen ascents earlier in the week. Blog activity had been suspiciously quiet since then but surely that was due to most the Scottish guides having wrapped their bookings up for the season after many weeks of unseasonably warm weather. We walked into Coire an t'Sneachda, which seemed the obvious choice for these 'early season' conditions. Deep unconsolidated snow spanned the floor ...

Temperatures dropped to below -20°C during our first night's camping on the Col du Midi at 3500m. I slept with all my clothes on, which was far from comfortable. I woke in the night with a sore head, took some aspirin and tried to sleep again. Mike was as restless as me by the early hours with both of us feeling the altitude. By the morning everything had froze; water, sun cream, and even toothpaste. With high pressure was prevalent it was essential that we spent half an hour melting snow in order to thaw the sun cream before any climbing could commence. By now the sun had risen. The Triangle du Tacul was the natural place for an acclimatisation climb due to its close proximity, relatively short routes, and easy abseil descent. Contamine-Negri, which skirted the left-hand edge of the triangle, sounded worthwhile and chartered territory unfamiliar to me. We had brought snow shoes but the snow was firm and our intended route only a short distance ...

Trad chalk climbing is an odd style in so far as you need to clip in to your axes and hang on them in order to free up both hands to bang in a warthog with a lump hammer. Given that so few people chalk climb the ethics book hasn't been written yet. How often you stop to hang on your axes in order to place gear is entirely up to you. Therefore the style is similar to ice climbing with elements of aid. In the case of a route called Relax on the Western Cliffs at Saltdean I found myself hanging on my axes fairly regularly during the first pitch which was unrelentingly steep for the first half. My wrists burned with each successive swing of an axe as I  steadily  bridged up the beautiful corner. The chalk was top quality. Hard but very stable and a joy to climb. Every bit as good as the 'sport chalk' routes at the crag but of course without the bucket holds. The steepness eased as I approached the belay however the climbing was every bit as absorbing. I set my belay up o...

With summer conditions prevalent in Scotland, I headed to Saltdean. Mike Stephenson and Mike Moss joined me. With plenty of chalk mileage under the belts in recent months we were keen to try some of the steeper routes. Tide was high in the morning so we were forced to climb on the West side to begin with. We led Back in Time (C5), then climbed the wall and arête to the right on top-rope. The latter has an obvious loose block at half height so take care if attempting this line. We then climbed Back Up (C5) before heading across to the East side where tide had now dropped. Mike on Back in Time (C5) Back Up (C5) - Below the overhang Back Up (C5) - Above the overhang From what we can fathom, our first route was a right-hand version of 7-UP (C7), which started at a bulldog and climbed up and slightly left to a belay.It proved to be a cracking route with tricky sequence of moves in the upper half. We then top-roped what I think was a left-hand vers...

With no partners free, I headed to Saltdean by myself for some training. I spent much of the day traversing the cliffs but had a look at Direct Route (IV) during the morning, which reasonable proposition to solo. The route lies at the far Western end of the cliffs, next to Saltdean Slab. Direct Route (IV). Saltdean Slab (II) starts further left and traverses right to finish at the same location.  I carefully surmounted the slippery black boulders that were strewn around this part of the shore and set about forming initial first axe placements. The start of the climb was steep but having gained a ledge a few metres above the boulders the cliff soon eased back. Climbing became much easier as I linked up with Saltdean Slab but the ground was equally unstable. The plan had been to down-climb Slab Route but given the instability I thought better of it. I would say this is a soft grade IV but worthwhile all the same. Look...

With lots of fresh snow and cold temperatures in the Lakes it seemed unnecessary to drive all the way to Lochnagar this weekend, as had been the original plan. The high winds forecast in the Scotland also looked to be less of an issue in the Lakes. Mike and me made a late decision to switch plans to the Lakes and drove to Ambleside. The plan had been the climb Bowfell Buttress (V,6) today but there were multiple teams queuing at the bottom of the route on our arrival with teams seemingly occupying every belay above. My friend Ryan was starting the second pitch. We waited but things weren't progressing quick enough. People were struggling on the first pitch. With the crux not being until the third pitch it was quite likely that even when we did get on the route there would be further delays higher up. We didn't fancy waiting around until mid-afternoon and then climbing half the route in the dark and therefore cut our losses and climbed Plaque Route (IV,4) further le...

Rick, Noah and me headed to Saltdean for more winter training. We met Rob Marson and Steve Melvin at the crag. In contrast to Scotland last week, the fine weather was out in force today. The tide was still relatively low so we headed to the Eastern end of the cliffs. A new route called Cold Front (C5+) had recently been put up near to the Pleasure Dome, which we were keen to try. Rick went first but by the time he had traversed left onto the steep finishing wall the pools of water below the cliffs had quickly risen to an alarming level. Rick bailed off a quickdraw runner, we packed our stuck, some of which was now submerged and made for dry land further West. The tide was already hitting the Seaward Face but with our crampons still donned we were able to traverse above the waterline. 1/3 of the way along the face the line of low-level traverse holds dipped down beneath the water line and we were forced to remove boots and socks and start wading. The water was only knee de...

After yesterday's drama my bottle to try anything harder than V had disappeared along with my Nalgene bottle that had rolled down the slopes below Savage Slit yesterday morning. The winds were calmer today and the cliffs nicely hoared up. We climbed Deep Throat which was in excellent condition. Rick climbed the classic first pitch through the roofs and I strung the second and most of the third together. The route was as good (possibly better) as Savage Slit. We reached the top of the route by 2pm and with more temperate plateau conditions were able to walk off instead of abseiling. And so began the March back to the car park and the drive to London. Rick on the first pitch View down to Rick at the top of the second  pitch