Reports for Tennis Shoe Idwal Slabs

Date	Description
21/09/2020	Near miss: We were watching (from the bottom) a team of 2 ascend Tennis Shoe (HS 4b). The second was belaying at the stance in the gully at the start of pitch 4 (30m) whilst the lead approached the recommended belay at the ledge at the start of pitch 5. The lead looked around the ledge for some time and appeared to fail to find the (good) gear placements. The lead then started up pitch 5 (40m) looking for gear placements. When the lead was around 5m up pitch 5 the belayer was heard to say "low on rope mate" - no names were used. When the rope ran out the belayer proceeded to dismantle the belay and commence climbing without any further (observed) communication to the lead. The lead was still climbing. The belayer was about 5m above the belay when the lead questioned the second and the second told him that he was climbing. The lead then made a belay (unknown as to quality) half way up the pitch 5 slab whilst the second waited (without being made safe). Based on this it appeared that the team were using a 40m rope ? - which is not long enough for the abseil or possibly pitch 5. It is not known if this was a later issue.
13/07/2017	Swinging leads on Tennis Shoe, my partner dropped a carabiner of nuts from the top pitch, and its landing was not observed. We climb with a double set of nuts, and so we were still sufficiently equipped after this error, that we continued up Lazarus to extend the climb. During this climb, I slipped off while seconding, and minorly strained one ankle which slowed me down a little for the rest of the day. Having gotten back down to our packs with plenty of daylight, and wishing to attempt to retrieve the dropped gear, we also climbed Heather Wall as it would place us at the top of Tennis shoe, from where we could abseil to look for the carabiner of nuts. It was a very slow climb, even for us. Finishing this, we set up the abseil and began our search on the grassy ledges below (the rope was threaded around the tennis shoe boulder, and backed up by nuts on the wall behind). I abseiled, with my partner waiting at the top so as to clean the anchor after I was off the rope. I was unable to locate the dropped gear, and my partner then had a great deal of trouble with freeing the rope, spending what felt like an eternity trying. By this point it was getting late in the day, and so I returned to our packs below Heather Wall to retrieve warm jackets and headtorches, and make my way up the 'usual descent' route to assist. While I was doing so, the rope was freed and dropped. As the light was fading, my partner felt uncomfortable with attempting to find their own way off so, I continued up around the descent route to find them, eventually needing the headlamp. I found my partner quite shaken up, a bit cold and lonely, and very glad to see me. We made our way back down to our packs and out to the car by around midnight and home without further ado.

21/09/2020

Near miss: We were watching (from the bottom) a team of 2 ascend Tennis Shoe (HS 4b). The second was belaying at the stance in the gully at the start of pitch 4 (30m) whilst the lead approached the recommended belay at the ledge at the start of pitch 5. The lead looked around the ledge for some time and appeared to fail to find the (good) gear placements. The lead then started up pitch 5 (40m) looking for gear placements. When the lead was around 5m up pitch 5 the belayer was heard to say "low on rope mate" - no names were used. When the rope ran out the belayer proceeded to dismantle the belay and commence climbing without any further (observed) communication to the lead. The lead was still climbing. The belayer was about 5m above the belay when the lead questioned the second and the second told him that he was climbing. The lead then made a belay (unknown as to quality) half way up the pitch 5 slab whilst the second waited (without being made safe). Based on this it appeared that the team were using a 40m rope ? - which is not long enough for the abseil or possibly pitch 5. It is not known if this was a later issue.

13/07/2017

Swinging leads on Tennis Shoe, my partner dropped a carabiner of nuts from the top pitch, and its landing was not observed. We climb with a double set of nuts, and so we were still sufficiently equipped after this error, that we continued up Lazarus to extend the climb. During this climb, I slipped off while seconding, and minorly strained one ankle which slowed me down a little for the rest of the day. Having gotten back down to our packs with plenty of daylight, and wishing to attempt to retrieve the dropped gear, we also climbed Heather Wall as it would place us at the top of Tennis shoe, from where we could abseil to look for the carabiner of nuts. It was a very slow climb, even for us. Finishing this, we set up the abseil and began our search on the grassy ledges below (the rope was threaded around the tennis shoe boulder, and backed up by nuts on the wall behind). I abseiled, with my partner waiting at the top so as to clean the anchor after I was off the rope. I was unable to locate the dropped gear, and my partner then had a *great* deal of trouble with freeing the rope, spending what felt like an eternity trying. By this point it was getting late in the day, and so I returned to our packs below Heather Wall to retrieve warm jackets and headtorches, and make my way up the 'usual descent' route to assist. While I was doing so, the rope was freed and dropped. As the light was fading, my partner felt uncomfortable with attempting to find their own way off so, I continued up around the descent route to find them, eventually needing the headlamp. I found my partner quite shaken up, a bit cold and lonely, and very glad to see me. We made our way back down to our packs and out to the car by around midnight and home without further ado.