Western Grooves - Shelter Stone

Just back from a superb days climbing. The snow was great and made the 2 hour walk to Sheltre Stone Crag a joy. The 220m long climb basically goes up the face opposite to the camera and in the new guidebook is IV, 5 (IV,4 in the old). The cruxes were all short and well protected, but I can say that I was being belay bunny for the day! Conditions on the route were good with some ice and well frozen turf. Some of the snow wasn't particulary good i.e. not consolidated and the winds had stripped much of it off the steeper rocks. The wind picked up through the day and was irritating towards the top. However, the air temperature was relatively mild which helped keep the experience relatively pleasant. It was my first real mixed (basically climbing on rock with crampons and axes) route and I loved the techincal problem solving nature of the whole thing. As we were climbing in a three (thanks Kenny and Steve) it took a bit longer and we finished at 4:30. The walk back over the plateau wasn't too bad and the bit down Goat Track in the dark was a sublime experience, almost Alpine.

Time: 10h of which 4h were walking with a heavy bag.