matt segal

Finally the weather cleared and we had a proper day on the grit. It was the first “real” climbing day we’ve had in over a week, and it was sick! The weather was splitter, sun shining with a nice breeze. We started the day at Curbar, where Kevin and I sent The End of the Affair E8… so psyched! Finally got up a route! It was a pretty mellow experience since it felt way easier on lead then it had on any previous top rope tries… It was so cool, before I knew it I was pulling the the last move, which is the crux for me and is at the most dangerous part of the climb… it felt so easy…  Since I’ve been in England I’ve forgot that I actually climb much better on lead then I do on TR. I think my lack of confidence on the Grit has made me forget this… I need to just sack up more…

After Kevin and I dispatched, we walked over to give Alex a belay on some variation of Knocking on Heavens Door E8. Knocking is a pretty cool looking slab with ancient bullet shot holes for most of your hands and feet. He cruised all the way up to the crux and just as he was about to throw the last move we heard this death curdling scream in the distance “aaahhhh I BROKE MY LEG” Luckily Honnold was unfazed by the scream and finished the crux with ease… Once he topped out we rushed over to the Kayak slab where we heard the scream come from to see what happen and if they needed help…

We got to the scene and a someone had fallen off the slab. The climber had a compound fractured his leg and was obviously in a lot of pain… His partner called in the accident and a huge rescue team and helicopter arrived… We helped carry the climber tot he top of the crag where the helicopter awaited…

It was definitely an eye opener and reality check for all of us, climbing can be dangerous… After the rescue was over and the climber was off in the helicopter we all divided… Pickles went off to send The End of the Affair for the 3rd ascent of the day and the rest of us left Curbar, Alex, Sam, Dave and I went to Black Rocks while Kevin opted to go on the solo mission and try the Groove on TR…

In typical Honnold style, he walked up to Gaia E8 and thought it didn’t look too bad… After a quick warm up he flashed (much closer to an on-sight) Gaia… Was pretty sick, there was no chalk on the holds and he didn’t have any beta, he had just seen Hard Grit a while ago… Super proud!

After watching Honnold I had the internal battle of whether I should try and flash or headpint… He made it look pretty doable but I know I’m going to do a different sequence since I’m shorter… I watched Sam try it on TR and opted not to try since by the time it was all said and done it was getting dark and I decided I should at least try to give it a proper flash attempt. But now that today I’m sitting in the rain I’m kinda beating myself up over it. Should of just sacked up… Hopefully I’ll get another chance…

And that was a real day on the grit… 4 E8’s got head-pointed, one flashed and one bad injury… Crazy!

The rain started again… so Alex and I are going to compete in a local bouldering com at the Works then probably hit up the pub… should be fun… Kevin has managed to get a really bad cold and hasn’t left the couch all day. I guess this is England: bad weather, scary climbs, broken bones, colds, indoor climbing and my personal favorite the pub…