further moorland adventures part II

Bank holiday monday; myself and stead lord headed out, you guessed it, up to the Moors. The plan was a morning raid on Park Nab followed by a visit to Highcliffe Nab. I fancied Highcliffe mainly to have a spin on Esmerelda - my tip for the hardest route on the Moors. Unless A Different Kind of Blue is harder but I think Esmerelda will be both hard and bold.....We'll see. I also want to solo Magic in the Air - my tip for the best route on the moors, I think. Have done it with the siderunners but it doen't feel like I've 'done it'.

Anyway after a pleasant time soloing most of the best stuff at a perfectly sheltered Park Nab it was time to move venue. Highcliffe got dropped from the agenda as the strong and cold North Easterly would, I'm fairly sure, have rendered climbing more than a little uncomfortable.

So back at the car, getting a little late in the day, we eventually decided to head to the wooded and therefore presumably sheltered Danby Crag. After a nice drive and an interesting walk up through the wood past some very green but potentially decent looking boulders we arrived at the crag top and located Valiant - a good looking VS line. Just left is Franco's brand new masterpiece - The Hypocrisy of Moose. Stead didn't fancy Valiant so I got straight down to business and flashed the Moose in my trainers. Not really, sorry UKC. I engaged the now familiar headpoint punteneering mode. Abbing down I was already impressed, some cool looking holds promising good moves. After some time top roping, I'd done all the moves a few times, figured the gear and linked it in two halves. I was getting tired though and was too sketchy on the top to contemplate lead attempts this visit. Really enjoyed working it though - definitely a brilliant route. Haven't been on End of the Affair but I think this is the Moors' answer to it. All in all, a really good effort by Franco. Keen to get back and lead it if I can soon. I reckon the climbing's a bit easier than on A Different Kind of Blue but it's a good bit bolder. They're both 3* routes anywhere as far as I'm concerned, hopefully the moors has more of these to offer up yet...