The decision had been made by now that we were going to do A dream of white horses later in the year so, again whilst away with a group of mates in the Lake District, the four of us sloped off for a bit of Big Easy Mountain Route Action.
I don't think I ever have any say in the routes that we are about to attempt. I think that there are 3 or 4 nice big routes on this crag below HVS level (I'd have to check to be sure) but we have to do the HVS because we are in training to do A Dream of White Horses.
As usual I was full of confidence on the ground once we were there and it was obvious that this was the climb that we were going to do. Walls of mist was just a hiccup, a freakish down turn of an otherwise horizontal trajectory. But this was a crag, i'd done loads of VS's and this could be my breakthrough back into HVS territory.
I led the first pitch, Malc led the second (It was a difficult pitch, I was impressed). The third pitch was where the trouble started. Again, I had become exhausted and lacked the confidence to continue. Again, like on walls of mist, I asked Mark and Ben for a rope. They obliged and threw a rope down. They threw a bit too much so I called for them to take in whilst holding the rope with one hand and the rock with the other. Unfortunately Malc heard me and started to take in hard, obviously thinking that I had some gear in and was about to come off. I had not been able to place gear for some time so this resulted in me being pulled from the rock. I let go of Ben's rope and clung onto the rock for dear life with both hands, I really didn't want to take the 20 odd foot fall that I would have suffered if I had come off. In the meantime Ben had been taking in and ended up with the end of the rope in his hand and a very surprised followed by a very worried look on his face. My voice went up 2 octaves and many decibels. Malc stopped pulling me off and Ben threw the rope down again. I tied on and was safe. I don't remember much from then on other than pain in my forearms and a horrible hand traverse.
