No such thing as bad weather....

...only the wrong clothing.... Its a popular cliche but I'm here to say that the weather today was bad, just not as bad as it might have been. I was working with Helen, Johnston and Will for Steve Fallon today and the objective was Tower Ridge with Trainee MIA Mehmet along to get some practise and feedback on his shortroping. Watching the forecast carefully yesterday I watched it change from showers, to heavy rain, gales, hail and thunder, back to showers and settle on heavy rain and gales. BUT it looked like the morning wasn't going to be too bad AND the wind direction made me hope for shelter on the way up.
It was wet, it was a bit grey, it was a little chilly, the water got in at your wrist and ran down your sleeve... and they seemed to love it! Well done for zipping up the man and woman suits today and getting on with it. I enjoyed it too and we didn't feel the wind until the way down. Johnston kept throwing compliments at my advice on the way up but that may just have been because I was holding the rope he was attached to, Will's face getting up the 'will' to make the step at Tower Gap was one of deep concentration and Helen was a hero at the back end of our two ropes where it can feel a little lonely but I could always see a smile. Challenging conditions accepted and route completed. Enjoy the afterglow guys :-)
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