Africa – Scary New Route – Pumping Up The Psyche!

My good friend Garry Phillips and I have been adventuring a bit lately. We recently established a cool route at Africa called Fear of The Dark 100m 23, a scary and serious route on the most remote cliff on Ben Lomond . In the not too distant past I was psyched, and I don’t mean a little bit psyched. The all consuming fire was burning brightly. I had established other major routes at Africa and the rat needed feeding once more. The forecast for the Ben was hot and clear, perfect timing for a busy monkey trapped in the rat race. So I spent 2 days at Africa on my own lugging out 150m of static rope and preparing the line of my dreams. So not a ground up assault; just scraping a nut key down the line to clean the moss and loose rock; but no rehearsal of moves. It would still be a serious lead. On February 3rd, Garry and I did a big day trip, 12 hours car to car, and climbed it, an amazing blank corner up through roofs on a 100m buttress.  The crux pitch involved continuous moves in the 21-23 range with 2m and sometimes 3m runouts between a few good pieces, and many not so good. Afterwards we walked back together in the sunset, a couple of friends riding the euphoric crest of living out their dreams together. Hope this pumps up the psyche for YOUR next adventure. See topo below

Fear Of the Dark

Photo below: A happy as-can-be fella proudly atop the summit of his new route