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The ones that you have got away with... 21-Feb-2012 At 1:50:06 PM Nayda

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A fairly tame benighting, & clearly not on the same level as the previous epics posted, but warrants a mention for the benefit of members of the up & coming school of bumblies (of which I can claim devoted membership).

twas my 1st multipitch & 1st visit to Araps, getting some trad schooling cleaning up the leads of my friends illustrious leaders. For lack of organisation the group began at 2pm, one party heading up The Shroud & the other up Hurricane Lamp Cracks. Slow progress and route finding confusion saw the Shroud team traverse to join up with the other party on Hurricane. Since climbing in a group of 5 is no recipe for an express ascent, we hit the start of pitch 4 just after sunset, with 2 of 3 head torches functioning intermittently, a stiff fresh wind setting in, & shorts & shirts being the apparel of choice. By this time I had started to wonder why from the outset I’d been so apathetic in handing over all responsibility for our safety to the lead climbers, which is not to say they had been reckless in their decision making.

After an intro to the dying art of climb-by-brail we hit the summit, but were still unsure of the available descent options. so while some of us beginners huddled freezing our asses off in the partially protected rock feature on the summit, the two most experienced climbers looked around for the descent route, turning out to be the belay off the back of the Pharos. Some quick rope work & well directed belay supervision from the aforementioned leaders had us rapping into the darkness & touching down sometime after 9pm. Walking out toes numbed in cramped climbing shoes never felt so good.