Hardest E5 ever made gets top roped and Rosesdale Head gets visited

Hit the moors with Steve D today. First stop Round crag and having warmed up on the boulder, we tried Pippi Longstocking. On top rope, naturally. My previous session's beta recce prooved useful and we both got the sequence up to the first good slot sorted. This section alone is probably around the font7a+ mark which is a bit tough for what you'd expect on an E5 I reckon. Really great climbing though. Unfortunately, I didn't have the top section sorted well enough to go for the solo today - definitely don't want to be falling off anywhere beyond the slot really... Plus I was already feeling a bit tired - don't think I'd fully recovered from Almscliff on tuesday night.


^Pippi Longstocking face with Steve demonstrating scale. slot visible in middle of face. grim, steep landing less visible....

Content with progress and all the hard climbing sketchily linked on toppers, we headed off to the nearby Rosedale Head Boulders - a new crag tick for me and Steve alike. We only climbed on the large 'Lion boulder' repeating Lee's established problems on it (Lion Arete, 6A and Beer, 6B) before adding two more. Steve put in a good show of steely crimping to climb the wall right of Lion Arete from an obvious start on holds in the iron seam. I didn't tick this one but reckon it's at least 7A, perhaps 7A+, but hard and crimpy for sure - called it 'The White Room' 7A for now. We then both managed a cool line we'd spotted earlier on the left side of the front face. I was knackered on my go on this but we reckon 'Badge' is worth 6C+ or so, maybe just 6C though it's pretty powerful. We did it with heels starting on a block underneath the roof. Though I'm sure it's possible without, I reckon the problem's better and more balanced with it in.


^Steve on Badge, 6C. The arete in the background is Lion Arete.


^Me struggling on Badge.

Most of my attention and effort was directed towards the bottom of Lion Arete. Though you can sit start on a boulder and get going up the arete relatively easily from here, there exists a lower start from sitting on the actual deck which is pretty hard and pretty good too. I eventually found a way to do it and also managed the moves (mostly in isolation) to reach the start point of Steve's The White Room. This is the obvious link over that bit of rock and will be tough - 7B+/C or so I'd guess though I was trying the moves tired so hard to tell. The downside is that some of the holds are a little sharp and brittle due to the high iron content. It's good though and I'm definitely keen to head back when it's forecast coolish and try to do it. There's also scope for other stuff on this boulder particularly a very long looking traverse of the iron seam across the entire boulder. The Rosedale Monolith looked cool as well but we were too cooked to try the problems on it. Next time!?