Steall sessions start with a new route

 Bouldery climbing on Stolen Direct 8b/+, Steall

Finally a break in the rain and some decidedly unwintery weather in Scotland and it was time to venture up to Steall for the first time this season. I had a quick session on my project which although obviously still felt sick hard, I could do the moves straight away so it was nice to get a first taste of the effects of the winter’s training. 

After that I decided to look again at a direct start to Stolen that I bolted last year. I had thought the first three bolts would be 8b+ in themselves, with the meat of Stolen to do above that. But a small block had fallen off making a slightly better foothold just where you need it. After a couple of tries, I did it! Since I’d only had one quick bolt to bolt up Stolen and hadn’t tied onto a rope for a looooong time, I didn’t think I’d have the endurance to carry on to the top without a couple of sessions learning how to be a route climber again. There was a bit of puffing and panting, but I got there without too much stress. My base level of strength does seem not too bad. A good place to start for the project. The direct start to Stolen might be 8b or 8b+, not sure so we’ll say 8b/8b+.