Pendeen Cliffs
17th October 2009

Second Slip – Severe 4a – Lead
Wave Dancer –  Severe 4a – Second
Rip Tide – VS 4c – Nearly drowned

Not the best days climbing I’ve ever had but probably one of the more eventful. Joe and I had not been to Pendeen but  with the attraction of a short walk in we thought we’d give it a go.

The lighthouse is very impressive as are the two massive fog horns located on the seaward side. I wouldnt want to be in front of them when they go off! Still they led us to Pendeen Watch, the first of the areas we climbed in. The shorter seaward wall is definitely the more stable and offers some good routes. I went for Second Slip the obvious vertical crack and it turned out to be a gem.

You start from the giant boulder and make a nervy step onto the face (no pro available here but a significant drop if you slip). However once on the face, there is good pro available with some bomber placements. More importantly the crack is steep and tricky in places. Lots of holds, but still exposed for a severe.

With the tide pushing we opted to climb the main face and so Joe set off up Wave Dancer. This too was supposedly a severe. However, the almost complete absence of gear and the fact that what you put in you couldnt trust meant it was more of a 15 metre solo for Joe. Only when he reached the top wall was there some obvoius placements, and these were brittle. I would put the climb as Hard Severe purely on the quality of the rock. Two holds snapped on me as I climbed. The holds are big and the climbing good, but you’re never sure on how hard you can pull.

Then it was off around the corner to Ripe Tide Wall. The book warns that the ledge whilst not tidal in the main , can be washed over by a large swell. On this day the swell was not that big and we were two hours off high tide. We watched for a while and the waves didnt get anywhere near so I geared up and set off down. The bottom of the ramp is smooth and a bit greasey, but you can climb without a rope. Just as I was about to step onto the lower ledge I looked up to see  a set coming in substantially bigger than any before . I took off like a startled rabbit back up the bottom section, to see a series of sets completely over the ledge and the area I had been climbing on. Had we not stopped for something to eat we would have been on the ledge climbing so it was a full on warning to watch out when the surfs up.

Instead we played on a little overhang at the bottom of the ramp. Great fun and hard with little pintchy holds. Only problem is that by time we had finished we’d killed one of the twins. An edge had cut the rope right in the middle so it has now been cut in two and will be used for rigging. That was a quick £120 gone.

I expect we will return as there are a number of climbs here still to be done. Next time I’m bringing some rope guards.