Yosemite 3

Sunday 9th

Had a great day at the Chruch Bowl crag. I did 'Bishops Terrace' (5.8), a full 60m pitch of glorious crack-work. I lack superlatives to describe the quality of this route. Perfect climbing, Yosemite style. If you've done Millstone's Bond Street, imagine three of them stacked on top of eachother. We then moved on to do 'Church Bowl Lie Back' (5.8), claimed to be the choice route of the crag. Sarah backed off the initial slick, bold layback, and I took over the sharp end. This pitch was 35 metres and managed to feel way harder than 5.8. We rarely get a chance at pure laybacks in the UK, at least not for 35 metres continuously. Back to camp via the shop. Had a long chat with various Camp 4 inhabitants over food, beer and a roaring camp fire courtesy of the Jap contingent. Spoke to Dave the Kiwi who upon hearing we're from Bristol were wondering if we're familiar with the route King Kong at Wintour's Leap. Bizarre being in the states, chatting about the Crag of Dreams with a Kiwi. Tomorrow Bruno is off to do something ridiculous with Matt the German, and the rest of us are heading back to Manure Pile Buttress to do Nutcracker.