The weather forecast was for today to be a cracking day so I was keen to make the most of it. I had recently got hold of a DMM Highball crash pad from eBay so I was dying to get out on some boulders to try it out - review coming soon! I was struggling to decide where to go, but I knew I didn't want to drive too far and ideally I wanted somewhere that wasn't directly in the sun. In the end I opted for Salisbury Crags, South Quarry.
When I parked up in Holyrood Park along Queen's Drive, the Park was rammed with folk enjoying the good weather. Ignoring the crags, I grabbed my gear and my pad and headed up the slope to the path leading round to the South Quarry. There were a couple of other folk there but mostly it was folk just messing around at the back of the quarry. I dropped my gear at the foot of The Black Wall (in the shade) and headed to the back of the Quarry to warm up with some footwork and easy traversing.
Twenty minutes later, I returned and studied the moves on The Black Wall Traverse font 6c+***. My flash attempt didn't go particularly well; I managed to get a couple of moves past the initial traverse along the high rail but then lost my way and had to bail to the mat. There was another chap there working the problem: Oly Leask. We chatted a bit and spotted / helped each other on the problem but it didn't look like it was going to go today. I was struggling to get down low and make the big reach across to the right before going into the final sequence. No matter what I tried I just couldn't quite make the link. After Oly left, I had a few more tries but didn't get any closer and started to fade. Eventually, the afternoon sun crept round and onto the front of wall - The Black Wall no longer. I decided it was just too warm in the sun to improve any so I called it a day.
A rather frustrating but extremely enjoyable afternoon - I'll get the traverse next time!
