Adventure #238

possible, and, if so, how risky it might be; there are
no bolts, and we have to place our own gear into the
wall’s cracks and crevices to protect ourselves from
any potential fall. Whether there will be placements,
and if so, how many, are questions that hover over
every move.
So there’s the elation at having summited, but also
relief for having not crushed anyone beneath me while
throwing down loose rocks, contented fatigue from the
day's mental and physical exertion, and gratitude for
the adventure in a part of the country as remote as it
is beautiful.
Not that it was free of near-misses, after which
I always try and consider what I should've done
differently. The lesson from the previous season,to
carry some pills in my chalk bag, had followed a
ground fall while first-ascenting on a nearby face,
having left my first aid kit behind at our bivvy spot.
This time, like last time, there was a clear lesson that I
already knew but had neglected: to keep any potential
fall to a minimum, place a piece of protective gear
before trying to throw a wrecking ball of rock from your
perch. It was a lesson that, thankfully, hadn’t come at
a high price.
I’d faced a similar scenario a few weeks earlier, but
I hadn’t learnt anything as there’d been no price
to pay. I was on a craggy cliff below Mt Syme, in a
neighbouring cirque, and leading up a long crack
system that would eventually become a new threepitch
route.
My friend Nick Flyvbjerg had climbed the first pitch,
starting up a two-crack system that eventually
petered out and demanded a committing move above
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