Whilst the current pandemic has presented a number of challenges, it has, in some senses, offered some small silver linings too. In my case, one such silver lining has been an opportunity to re-explore the UK's Lake District (somewhere that, barring a failed 3 Peaks Challenge attempt some years ago, I haven't been to for over 3 decades) and spend some time re-honing my climbing skills under the guidance of my good friend and Jagged Globe guide, Matt Brook.

Aside from a very slippy first pitch, Little Chamonix was a lot of fun and a great first challenge having not been able to climb for the best part of 2020. Unfortunately we had to abandon Gillercombe after the first couple of pitches, mainly due to my feet being in bits after a day of climbing, having not worn rock shoes extensively for such a long time and wanting to still be in decent shape for the rest of the trip. It did, however, conclude with an unintentionally intimate rappel off the climb, the details of which shall remain solely between Matt and I. Hashtag tender.

Some of the most slippery climbing / scrambling I have ever done, with some exceptionally varied weather, ranging from beautiful sunshine to torrential rain and hail storms. A lot of fun though, finished off with a hot chocolate in the National Trust car park, where Matt was called "expedition royalty" by a local fan of Jagged Globe. I did my best to stop it going to his head.

Our plan was to climb Giant's Crawl on Dow Crag set in the shadow of The Old Man of Coniston, having been promised sunshine after a light shower at 10am. What we were presented with was gale-force winds and freezing rain that got no better as we approached the buttress. Rather than spending half a day slipping all over the place and slowly freezing in miserable weather, we decided to get some miles in the legs instead, traverse underneath the crag and around the cow lake, climbing the Old Man of Coniston via our own scenic route.

Probably the most challenging outdoor climb that I've done, topping out and summiting Great Gable with visibility all the way to Scotland. The approach was described by Matt as "short but steep" ; what he meant was climb most of the way up, then across one of the tallest mountains in England before getting to the wall we plan to climb...