Boiler slab

by Alex Cutts

So the trip to boiler slab was very successful, we started the day with a long and muddy walk in and praying the weather stays nice, too much surprise it did and was perfect shorts and t-shirt weather for the most part. The day started with Tom relearning trad on a VD (however he did the first half on a severe) with Sam and Ellie following, Hugo on a severe even though he did not feel up to it, and Henry started on a very wet VS followed by Richard. Muthappa did his first trad route on a VD with Max teaching him the ropes. Jack and Abbey climbed an S and Michael climbed a VS with Carlos following, Bertrand and Chantal climbed a severe also. Henry finished his route with some shouting and described the route as bold, Hugo also finished with what I can only say is the most cams ever placed on a route.
The day then proceeded to more teaching with Sam, Chantal, Richard, Stuart and Abbey completing their first routes, shamefully another group turned up doing some sort of charity thing and took 3 of the easiest routes leaving everyone to do the same two. I completed the route Henry did with Stuart and Hugo following and thankfully Hugo removed a cam that Richard couldn’t get out, Muthappa tried a Severe but the crux was too much so he went a little off route but his rope work was still great.  As the day was coming to an end and the temperature dropped a few decided to leave early but some of us decided to do one last climb, Max decided to take on a HVS with a nice slab start and no protection till at least 5 meters up and after following him I can only say it was an incredibly fun climb. So our tale comes to an end with everyone happy after their first lead climbs however we still had to trek back through the mud with Carlos almost falling into a puddle if it wasn’t for his quick feet, all in all an amazing day!