Monthly Archives: March 2012

Climbing

Moor please

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30-31st March 2012

Hawks Tor and Trewortha Tor

West Chimney – V Diff 4a – Lead
Crack,n,up – V Diff 4b – Lead
Cat Nap – Severe 4b – Lead

This trip came about because of a discussion on camping out on the moor. We had been thinking about doing this later in the year, but with the warm spring it was a case of striking while the iron was hot.

Tony getting ready to take care of those pesky Squirrels!
Our backyard for the night

Hawks Tor is a stunning location. Bodmin moor is bigger than you may think and the collection of Kilmar, Trewortha and Hawks Tor’s are isolated and give a remote feeling you would not expect. We found a perfect spot, flat ground and sheltered from the cold northerly. Fire bucket in tow and Jagermeister stowed in the hip flask we were destined to have a great night.

Bed pal. Courtesy of by Jane

Those pesky Squirrels were back, this time hiding in my sleeping bag, but I made short work of this one; taming it by the morning. Whilst Tony fry’d up his three course breakfast, to complement his steak from the night before  and as an appetiser for his sausages at lunch, I eye’d up the climbs. Tom wanted to do some leading so we concentrated on the South end of the Tor.

Tony negotiating the hard start on Cat NapDave on Cat Nap

The two V Diffs I lead were both good climbs. West chimney was slightly better, but both had challenging finishes. I would say that for a V Diff West Chimney is bold. Straight forward climbing but little gear. The final move can be protected by a carefully placed cam, but your last gear is a long way below and it is an awkward move.

Cat Nap….. Welcome to the ultimate sandbag of the Tor. Graded Severe, but knocking on top end Very Severe. It’s more friendly with a bouldering mat under you, but placing gear is challenging (it is there though) and there are a series of slopers and jams to negotiate, and blood to leave.

Mats heading for Trewortha

Tony, Dave and Tom made it up with varying degrees of style and success. Nick showed us how it should be done. Shame I hadnt given the same example of technique as I fell off the opening moves about a half dozen times! I finally worked out that it was better to undercling than go for the slopers.

We wandered over to Trewortha were I was thoroughly defeated by Just Good Friends, a climb I cruised through the last time I was here. Still, it happens. The best thing about Trewortha is the bouldering. There is loads, and lots of it very hard. We found an 8 inch offwidth on a curved boulder. Laybacking all the way, but suprisingly the hard parft is when the lopes eases. You end up in a quandry as to continue laybacking or get your foot on the face. We all bellyflopped the top which as Nick said, could be the best way to finish it. The whole team negotiated this one which was a great end to a fantastic couple of days on the moor.

Ian's Atlas impression
Climbing

Perfection all around us

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23rd March 2012
Pedn-men-an-mere (St Levan’s Wall)

Geriatrics – Severe 4a – Lead
Midnight Express – E1 5b – Lead

St Levan’s Church is tucked away in a valley near the Minack theatre. Idyllic is probably the best word to describe it, nestled in amoungst a small copse with probably one of the best beaches in Cornwall a few hundred metres away.

The view across to Porth Chapel Beach

There is an honesty box for the grass car park run by a friendly women attendant, who appeared as we were about to leave. Luckily we had ‘been honest’ as ours was the only van in the car park and it would have been fairly obvious if we had not been. The walk in brings you out on a headland  with an absolutely stunning view across Porth Chapel beach.

Getting down to the main face can be tricky but follow the most obvious path to the left of the lookout and it takes you down through boulders and grassy gulleys until you arrive above the Bemuda Wall area. A quick ab down and you’re faced with the two amazing crack lines of Midnight Express and Devils Meridian.

With Tom and Dave making up the trio, we set about Geriatrics, a Severe just above the lower rock pools. It’s a strange line with a tricky start. Wet rock (which it was because of the tide and good sized swell) always un-nerves me and this proved no exception. So the warm up route became an adventure in its own right, with poor rock quality and unreliable holds.

Ian on Geriatrics
Dave on Geriatrics

It did though get me focused on Midnight Express, a line I saw the previous time I was here, and which looks hard but magnetic. After a nervy start where micro’s are the only thing stopping you taking a splash in the rock pool below, the route goes through a series of delicate bridging moves. Unfortunately I spent too long trying to fiddle in pro just below the horizontal break which blew out my arms so I ended up sitting on my gear.

Ian on Midnight Express

I think its something I’ll have to work on. Being confident enough to push on when I need to and leave my gear a bit below me.

Midnight Express - Before the final ramp

Still, I was pleased with my climbing and I’ll return shortly to clean it. Tom and Dave both made it up which was impressive given that it was top end E1 and I reckon a tough 5b on the crux. Be warned though, there is a sting in the tail and on rock with the texture of weetabix.

We finished what was a fantastic day near the marconi slab on a climb originally attempted by Joe. It proved as hard on the repeat, but gave a good bit of climbing to finish on.

Dave on the 5b finale

I’ll be back shortly to do Midnight Express again and possibly have ago at Devils Meridian, although it too looks hard. But it wouldnt be fun if it wasnt!

 

 

Climbing

Squirrel!

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16th March 2012
Dewerstone Woods – Main Face

Climbers Club Ordinary – VS 4b – Lead
Central Groove – HS 4b – Lead

The wind pushed us into choosing The Dewerstone over The Cheesewring. It turned out to be a top decision. With both Chris and myself there, we split into two pairs, Tom teaming up with Chris.

The Dewerstone wove its magic on the walk in, putting us all in a good mood. So when we reached the main face we were ready to go. My original intention was to climb on Raven buttress, but I had a look at CCO and thought it looked OK. So Dave and I geared up and I set off upand across the traverse. CCO is bold in it’s early stages. There is some gear, but you have to look for it and be inventive.

Dave on CCO
Dave on the second overhang on Climbers Club Ordinary

The flakes which at first seem to be a godsend, turned out to be more scary than safe. I got the feeling that if you managed to dislodge one of them, you’d bring down half the cliff face. So I used my feet and tried not to think about the flakes too much.

Chris going directly through the overhang on Climbers Club Ordinary

The overhang below the first belay ledge also adds some excitment. I went straight up it, strictly part of Climbers Club Direct, but wild and fun. Gets the adrenaline flowing.  When Chris led CCO later on he too went direct so we all made the most of it.

The spooky traverse at the top of Pitch 2 CCO

Pitch two we all agreed had another unnerving traverse, different from the first, in that there was pro, but  probably a bit more exposed. By this time you are high up on the face with the woods stretching out below. It’s quite surreal and very beautiful.

Tom concentrating on the second pitch of CCO

The only spoiler for me was the pesky woodland critter (Squirrel) that ate through my pack, then my fleece and managed to steal my crisps and sandwich. Even my strategically lobbed Krab missed it, hit a rock and bounced into the river. There’s no justice. (Tom did retrieve it for me though)

Squirrel!!!!

Our second climb on Central Groove was equally as good and finished up the same top groove meaning that all of us ended up meeting at the end of a brilliant day.

Dave on the upper slab of Central Groove Pitch 1

Two top climbs.

 

Climbing

The sound of thunder

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9th March 2012

Carn Barra
Niche Wall – Hard Severe 4b – Lead

The bloody BBC weather site has been shocking recently. I dont know whats going on, but they used to be pretty accurate and now they are way off the mark. Today was meant to be bright, with light Westerly winds. Drizzly with gusty Southerly winds is what we got.

Abseil ledge above the Southern Platform

To be fair the drizzle didnt last long, but the wind direction meant another abortive attempt on Fox Promontory. Carn Barra was a lot more sheltered and Niche Wall was an obvious choice for me.

Tom negotiating the tough groove on Niche Wall

For a Hard Severe, Niche Wall is quite intimidating. I didnt help that the 8ft swell had soaked the lower section, which was not easy to protect. The guide book seemed to suggest tracking rightwards, where the holds seemed better, but they also seemed wetter.

Me on Niche Wall

I trended left and found pro tricky to place and not as re assuring as it could have been. That said, as soon as I hit the ledge the rock became drier and the whole nature of the climb changed. From here on it was great varied climbing, with a little sting in the tail if you finished more directly, which I did.

Rope Management?????

Top climb really and Pete and Tom seemed to concur, even if Pete managed to leave one of my cams in place so that I could have another go at climbing it.

Clearing the hard lower cracks on Dialectic
Pete digging into his energy reserves

We moved back to the gearing up ledge tyo the sound of thumping waves. With the tide pushing hard, only the Dialectic platform was out of range so Tom and Pete had a go at Dialectic. This had the desired effect as it raised the difficulty level substantially and introduced them to the steeper elements of Carn Barra.

Pete pushing on Dialectic
Tom on Dialectic

Both made it up, Tom cleaning it first attempt. Pete had the added thrill of exploding surf which was sending spray up to the height of his head. Considering he was over half way up the climb this was impressive!

Pete thanks Tom for his encouragement

The rugged and intimidating atmosphere of the Cornish coast made this a memorable day and reminded me of the power of the ocean. The many faces of Cornish sea cliffs had shown us another mood. Brilliant.

 

Climbing

Deception!

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3rd March 2012

Rosemergy Towers
Flash Back – Severe 4a – Top Rope
Go Shorty – E2  5C – Top Rope

This was a bit of a team outing and a chance to go through a few of the basics of setting up a belay and abseiling. Rosemergy was deserted as it often is, so we had carte blanche to set up a couple of top ropes on the main face and Go Shorty, the tough E2 on the right.

Team Rosemergy

Flash Back is a climb in its own right, with a chimney start and then slab and crack climbing up the centre of the central slab. However it also provides a lead into a number of other variations on the arete and right hand slab. The biggest advantage of this is that it gave everyone a chance to climb on a bit of everything and practice their technique’s.

Pete coming out of the chimney - Flash Back
Dave, high on Flash Back

Now ‘Go Shorty’ was a different proposition. From down slope it looks almost as though it is about a 45 degree angle, but once on it you realise this is just your eyesight playing tricks. This gave a chance to test out just how well we were all coming along after a winter of indoor climbing. As it happens, not badly at all…

Tony working hard - Go Shorty

It is a climb with two crux sections, but is tricky right through with a succession of 5b moves leading to a final move for the top which is given 5c but I think is probably harder. Either that or my fingers are very weak.

Dave working through the perplexing lower moves - Go Shorty
Crimping on the top move - Go Shorty
It's not much, but its all there is.. - Go Shorty

Best of all it gave everyone a taste of what hard outdoor climbing is like and everyone duly donated blood to the cause. The granite here is very crystaline and some bits are like razor blades. Pete and Tom particularly felt generous on this day and all we needed was St Johns Ambulance here to complete the process.

Chilling between climbs

We all spent time falling off, but maybe that’s the advantage of spending time on a hard climb. It gives you an idea of where you are and what you need to improve. By the end of the day we were all knackered, but how lucky were we! Sunshine all day, a bit blowy, but ultimately a perfect day out on the rock.