Frogsmouth climbing

Crag: Frogsmouth Quarry, Runcorn
Routes: Green Slab (f4:led), Trilogy (f4+:led), Just After Fifty (f6a:led*), Just After Fifty (f6a:sec)
Climbing in Runcorn: I never thought I would see the day. This, however, is an unexpected and interesting venue - perhaps even unique as a bolted sandstone crag. It becomes obvious quite quickly that the routes are sandbags, uncompromising and meanly graded. The 6a's feel more like 6c's, or that was my impression on this very brief reccie. We kicked off on the easy slab furthest right, a secluded locale which gives a couple of warm-ups, even those are on rounded rock. The quarry itself is tree-lined, sheltered, and surprisingly pleasant as an evening venue in warm sunshine: not the urban horror show I'd expected. The steep side wall with sculpted features was steep and harder than it looks. I led Just After Fifty, with a hard and dynamic start, lunging for side pulls until a frieze of jugs and pockets is reached. The route doesn't relent, though, and steepens again to a flat hold with a steep finish. I rested a couple of times, briefly, on the lead: it felt more like 6b or even 6b+ to me, although the routes do have quite precise sequences and it may be that I'd missed the solutions. I did it again cleanly with rope above before we finished: my second time on sandstone in as many days, very unusual for me as this has never been my favourite style of climbing.