By James Lawson (kip)
The Journey
Departure from the union was as swift as could be expected from over 40 people; two mini-buses, a car and a Landrover. Shopping was completed in the previous afternoon at ASDA to save money. The metal bus most importantly departed before outdoor club’s (S&G) singular bus. Despite departure music mainly consisting of Tokyo Drift and Pantera and after some crazy big mini bus, small gap action onward progress was thwarted on the M1 due to a fatal motorbike accident. Fortunately we were not involved in this so after a mere 4hr delay the speedy 62mph limited metal bus continued to tear it down the motorway. We arrived at the hall in Middleton at 3AM which considerably impacted on the psyche for any fun that night and we quickly went to sleep.
Day 1
We headed for Lawrencefield/Millstone and the boulders to secret garden, along the way we asked for directions and played some more metal. At Lawrencefield Eliot jumped on Austin’s Variation (VS) and promptly took a >5M lob narrowly missing a ledge. Meanwhile the fresher’s had good safe fun seconding routes from VDiff to HVS. Johnny tried Billy Whizz (E2) and fell off a few times on the crux. Lisa tried Suspense (E2) and fell off, doing it in the end. Kip tried Meringue (HVS) until realizing just how little gear there was. The Boulders by all accounts had a fun time at Secret Garden and Cheehan did a V6, V7 and V9. At Millstone Fresher taught Kip and Dak to Jam (thanks Fresher). Fresher Got his big cam stuck in Crewcut for a while in his enthusiasm to practice offwidth technique. Others climbed big stuff at millstone and all the boulders got stuck into Technical Master, Chi and Danny finishing it quite easily. Lisa did embankment 3. Alistair did Great North Road in the dark and rain by head torch; he described it as “good”. After climbing we headed back to the hut for chili and the sock game. The metal bus, cementing its position as the cool bus stopped off for reduced bakery products. After a few hours of crazy sock wrestling with only minor injuries sustained we headed for bed.
Day 2
After cooked breakfast we headed to Stanage. “V8 “fresher did Deliverance without too much effort; also Joe Prinold also did Deliverance (V8). Alistair, Chi and Joe did Greens Traverse (V6). Johan did an E that was defiantly E1. Kip did his first HVS lead after some failed attempts due to difficulties with the Giant number 6 Cam that had to be shuffled up. It was Corner Crack a charming offwidth thrutchy thing which was quite enjoyable after half height. Fresher lead the well named Mangler (E1 5c) another offwidth chimney thing, he liked it, also it was hard. Some fresher’s were taught to lead/lead belay on a Diff by Lisa and Kip. Other Fresher’s seconded Sarah and learnt to lead belay. The fresher’s that learnt to lead commented on how much fun it was. Johan encountered a strange fellow desperately looking to complain about us/university groups in general on the internet; fortunately no one cares about things said on the internet. The Journey back was uneventful apart from awesome 2 for £8.50 pizzas in Loughborough.
Summary
The weather was great, the climbing was awesome and the pizza was tasty. Despite the traffic Jam tiredness the fresher’s trip was very fun. Everyone who is considering going on the Fresher’s trip next year should, it’s unlikely you won’t enjoy yourself. A small note for future trips is to not attempt to drop people off from the bus as London has a horrible one way system that will cause it to take about 3hrs and it’s faster for everyone to walk.
