Mexican Hat

Day Three Mexican Hat Banditos Route In the earliest days of my climbing in Leeds I'm not sure I was much aware of the grades and reputations of the routes I climbed. I was just pushed in the direction of a route and then went about having fun trying to get up. It didn't take long (for practical reasons) to get into the rating systems--initially to find challenges suitable for my ability and tastes, as well as understanding the climbing vernacular. Shortly thereafter, although it would be impossible to say exactly when, I found myself regularly ascending routes that didn't look all that appealing for the simple sake of having a "challenge".

What a joy it becomes, then, when you finally find yourself on an appealing route of no consequence; chosen, in fact, for its lack of "challenge". Mexican Hat is undoubtedly the silliest route I have ever done in this vein. The approach is so casual that the first belay is covered with the etchings and grafitti of passing motorist. The only requirement in reaching the summit is to clip and pull on five big, fat bolts. After the previous day of tough guy action it was the perfect salve.

The first and only challenge of the day was reaching the first bolt. It wasn't so much the fact that it was fully 8 feet off the deck, it was more that reaching it required standing perilously close to the cliff edge. Had we packed a stick clip, this would have been a trivial detail. So, in lieu of the stick clip, the physicist and engineer decided that one of us should stand on the other's back to make the reach. Early trials proved too wobbly. We decided to try a piggy back. Too short and too wobbly. Naturally, we settled on a shoulder ride. After a disasterous but honest attempt to lift Mark, I ceded the manly task of lifting to him.

After several false starts he rose under my weight and I enjoying my first shoulder ride since the age of five! With me palming across the ceiling, Mark drunk-walked us as near to the cliff's edge as he dared. With a stretch the bolt was clipped. The rest is pretty stock. We ran about the unique, perched summit and tempted a tipping fate, I suppose, by venturing out to the edge.   The rest of the afternoon was religated to the consumption of cheese, crackers, and beer.

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