Great Roova Moorland Grit

At last, a day off work during this good weather. I've been watching the forecast all week, counting down the days till Friday. The weather was looking uncertain with lots of cloud and drizzle on the way. The skies looked threatening all morning and dark clouds loomed above with a bitterly north eastern wind whipping along the moor. I had been inspired by the new Yorkshire Gritstone guide, and slogged a couple mats up the hillside and onto the moor with the goal, Great Roova crag, in sight most of the way. On the opposite side of the moor to Slipstones, this north facing crag shared the same top quality grit. The compact edge provides a selection of buttresses with stunning aretes and blank looking walls offering clean lines of a highball nature.

I had a scout around the crag working out where things were and eyeing up problems that stood out to me! The friction was great thanks to the cold wind, as I warmed up on a few different lines, concentrating on my movement up these easier lines. This gave me the time to appreciate my surroundings as I looked down on the length of Coverdale and the rolling green hills, it was a stark contrast to where I was, alone on the edge of the barren, darkly coloured moor. The crag has quite a wild feel to it and I would guess that you are likely to be the only people there on a visit.

A problem called Aurora had caught my eye, with the higher aretes being the cleanest lines, there was still a lot of lichen and green on many cracks and corners. The first time I pulled on, the moves felt really good, it flowed really well, a reach out right to a sharp crimp enabled me to reach a slopey hanging flake. Bunched feet on the starting lip lead to a big reach to the top. I seemed to be able to make the beginning moves each time and was getting frustrated at the big move to the top. I find it hard to rest between attempts, and had to really force myself to sit down, have a brew and chill out for a bit. I studied film footage of my efforts, and thought about how I could adjusted my body position to give myself even more height to latch the top before I lost too much precious skin. My next attempt went really smoothly, I turned my hips into the wall and managed to catch the top with a typical slopey Yorkshire mantle finish.



It was a cracking day, cut a bit short by going through the skin of two tips making a bit of a bloody mess. I was stoked with the selection of problems I'd got done, and it was great to explore another of Yorkshires hidden gems. It has definitely got me psyched to check out some more of the esoteric crags that are out there.