Castle Hill Bouldering: Wuthering Heights Development

After most people had already thrashed themselves on Saturday there was an agreeance on Sunday that it was high time we headed back up to Wuthering Heights. If you're sick of getting spanked on the same old problems, or are looking for some first ascents, then this is the place to be.

Pete showing us all his defying gravity on a new sit start called Levitation (V6)

After warming up we chucking our guns into second gear and Derek showed us a problem called Hanso lonzo(V6) which involves a hop to a sloper than some slapping up a small layback. After several attempts I pulled the crux and got to the slabby top. Now, what Derek forgot to mention to me was that they top of this problem was about 7m off the deck and involved a poorly cleaned mossy slab with next to no hand holds bar a small finger crack - Joy! I eventually worked up the courage to top the problem out (even though I could see a very small Jase dragging the mat off to try the next problem). The descent also provided some fun.

After lunch Derek and Pete were hard at work on some new problems that they spied. Pete's involved cranking of a no-handed kneebar to a couple of crimps(V7) while Derek's involved a mantle to dyno (if you're short ;-)) to mantle(V4).

Derek on a new problem(V7) spied by Pete

Towards the afternoon, we found a couple of highballs originally found by Matt Pearson. The first was a 6m high layback to VERY slopey top. This prompted a multi-layered arrangement of about 6 mats. Which took a beating as almost everyone fell from the top. Derek eventually styled his was up to show us how it's done.

Paul braving the top on this V4 highball

Next we set to work on the Death Mantle. Which involved some carefuly foot work to gain a couple of slopers, then chucking your foot over your head and trying not to take too much notice of the 4m between you and your spotters - don't slip!