Mike Owen

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The week before Mike had set off up the route but had to get a top rope rescue as he couldn't clip the peg.

There was nobody there at all, just Elaine and me. Therefore no chance of a top rope this time. The boulders were slippery and it was very still and quiet. It was do or die. So I set off up the start of The Cad, traversed right to a good foothold and put the HB2 in again. Without hesitating, I committed myself into serious terrain, where it was up to me alone to see this thing through to the end, come what may! I dared not look at the tied off peg as I followed the line of incuts up to the start of the second traverse. There is a shield of rock there where I spent ages trying to get in some dodgy rp's and a tape sling over the top. The seriousness of my position was gnawing away at my concentration (if only I'd known that Hex 4 was nearby!). I have never been so totally frightened in all my years climbing, as I was from that shield onwards. I seemed to be looking down at myself tiptoeing across, with the ropes trailing uselessly down to the left of me. By the time I gained the shallow groove that led to the top I was almost completely spent and there was no meaningful gear to stop me decking out from about 150 feet. There was a nasty sting in the tail: on the last difficult move I felt a tiny foothold break off as I delicately weighted it. For a moment I swear that I thought I was going to fall to my death. At this point, Elaine was well aware of the mess I was in and was weighing up her possible options to run over the slippery boulders in an attempt to take in the slack if I fell. She told me afterwards that she realised there was nothing she could have done! Somehow, I told myself to calm down and test with my foot to see if there was enough left to stand up on. I crawled over the top and just lay there, utterly spent and sobbing as it all sank in. After a long time, I set up an abseil to strip the gear. You should have seen the smile on my face by the time I got down to Elaine. And I've been wearing it ever since! [1]

References

[1] https://mikeowenfrance.blogspot.com/2013/09/what-do-steve-boote-climbing-hangar-and.html

[2] Mountain Issue 134 (1990), page 14 /library/11317/mountain-134

Mike had previously climbed The Bells! The Bells! which shares the same middle section, the rest of the climbing was completely onsight.

Third ascent.

First day with Tim Tim Lowe, who gave me all the beta. Second day managed to red point it first go in front of Jerry Peel, Joe Healey and Martin Berzins, well chuffed!

References

[1] Mountain Issue 143 (1992), page 11 /library/11327/mountain-143

At the time of writing (November 2021) Mike has climbed this route 97 times!

63 years old!