"A word on the spot is worth a cartload of recollections"
James Maggs, Southwold diarist 1797-1890

Wednesday, 11 March 2009

Planning for Polar Circus

Tomorrow we are going to try to climb Polar Circus, a 700m (500m of ice) WI5.

The plan is to steal a march on any other climbers who are also intent on this über-classic. It's quite likely that others like us will have delayed their attempt because of the cold but will now be looking to take advantage of tomorrow's warmer temperatures (forecast is for a low tonight of -17°C, high tomorrow of +4°C).

We're spending the day relaxing, eating and drinking lots, so that we're well fueled and hydrated. We'll have dinner at about 4pm, lights out (sacs packed) at 6pm-ish, in the car at about 1 am. We'll arrive in the dark then set off with head-torches for the first few hours of climbing. The guidebook says the climb is often done in 8-10 hours car to car, but I suspect we'll take longer than that, probably arriving back at the car sometime mid-afternoon - which should see us back here sometime in the evening. A pit stop at Craigs' may be needed on the way back...

Nick has started to pace about. I'm getting a few butterflies, now.

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