Another glorious day – people keep telling us that December is often rainy or even snowy, and only last week the climbers staying at the Kasbah only managed a couple of days’ climbing. Lucky us! Here’s the view from the breakfast table:

Our plan for the day was to find a bit of a Goldilocks crag, having been too hot or too cold on the last couple of days – Aktil Edge gets morning sun and afternoon shade – “just right!” It also benefits from a 5 minutes walk in and a good range of grades set above a grassy base – a bit like a friendly gritstone outcrop but made of quartzite.

First of a couple of 3* VSs, Cirque de Sollei, follows a steep groove followed by an exposed traverse at the top.

Chasing Rainbows was also excellent, but we weren’t quite so impressed by the thuggish crack of Flashpump:

Undoubtedly the route of the day was Wall Street, a thin but not too steep E1 with a stunningly photogenic upper wall:

Lastly, with the crag now in shade, Jake and I did Head Honcho, E3 5c, 5c with “a poor stance” between the two pitches. Here’s me leading the crumbly groove and approaching the “stance” – this turned out to be the most elaborate construction I’ve ever made, involving a full set of cams, an RP2, a wire and about 30m of rope!

Pitch 2 takes a very Gogarth like traverse before launching up the arete via a layback flake.

All very memorable but not really sure it can be recommended!