Peak Mix & Match Meet 2015

29th-31st May 2015

At the top of Covent Garden pitch 2

At the top of Covent Garden pitch 2

It’s the end of a pretty wild and wet May, and with the forecast for strong winds, unseasonably cold temperatures and overnight rain I’m racking my brains wondering where 17 of us can find some dry sheltered rock to climb on Saturday!

Friday evening and most people have arrived at the hut, cracked open the beer and are busy discussing the same question with their allotted partner (it being a Mix & Match meet this has been pre-decided by the meet leaders). We retire to bed mostly undecided – let’s see what it’s like in the morning…

Overnight heavy rain, everywhere very moist, and as predicted a strong westerly wind – good for drying the rock at least! In the end we all head off for different destinations – Lawrencefield, Millstone, Yarncliffe, Rivelin and two hardy teams go up to brave the wind at Burbage north. In the end it stayed dry, the wind gradually eased and the sun made an appearance in the afternoon and everyone got lots of climbing done. The Rivelin teams ticked some classics but also got spanked on some of its more esoteric gems, the Millstone team grappled with the dark arts of finger locks and toe jams, while Peri discovered that the ground is hard. She claims to have learnt the lesson ‘Never commit to a crux with a single dodgy microcam between you and the ground’ – how long have you been climbing Peri? Fortunately just bruises resulted.

Still some food left!

Still some food left!

As usual the Saturday evening feast was chaos, with a wildly eclectic mix of starters, main courses and puddings arriving at unpredictable times and often in no logical order! Of course all proved delicious and everyone ate far more than was good for them, washed down by copious amounts of beer.

It was a slow start the next morning with the predicted rain and strong winds having arrived overnight. We lazed around, finishing off the remains of last night’s food for breakfast. Eventually people started to drift off, leaving the core team of Alison, Andy, Ali, Hilary & Chris to head for the Climbing Works where we were joined by Ellie & Martin. Group bouldering provided a somewhat competitive edge and led to a killer session – I don’t know about the others but it took me three days for the stiffness to wear off!

A great weekend – a good day’s climbing, loads of food and drink, sociable company and a hard session at the wall. What more could you ask for?

Alison & Andy Cairns

Attendees: Alison Cairns, Andy Cairns, Steve Crossley, Terry Fletcher, Tony Sawyer, Dave Wynne-Jones, George Salt (aspirant), Alex Smith, Max Streeton, Chris Poad, Hilary Lawrenson, Danny Towers, Peri Stracchino, Ali Wood, Clair Wilson, Dave Smith, Thea Williams (aspirant).
With brief appearances from: Adele Long plus guests Ben & Meg, Ellie Roddick, Martin Lancaster, Anne Tweddell, Jeff Wincott.

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