June | 2016 | The Magik Rock

8th June 2016

Carn Gowla

Silver Dollar – HVS 5a – Alt Lead

Well there’s a few lessons to be learned from this climb. When guidebooks refer to Carn Gowla, they are basically using a different form of climbing dictionary..

‘Generally good rock’ = ‘Some holds may remain attached to the cliff”

‘Reliable protection’ = ‘Placements will only explode after you load them’

‘Good holds’ = ‘They may break and you will plunge to your doom’

‘exhilarating climbing’ = ‘You’re going to die’

I base this upon the adventure Dave and I had tackling Silver Dollar and fantastic, if mentally draining climb on the Baptist Cliff. The abseil in sets the tone for the adventure. A long drop down a V groove which involves free descending for a way. Then having arrived at a ramp in an amazingly beautiful but overwhelming section of coast you traverse across to a large cave and the start of the climb.

From the bottom it looks intimidating. Once on it, it becomes a mental game of you vs the unreliable rock. I had the honours for the first pitch which climbs slightly rightward, angling over the cave initially and then cutting back to finish under the silver dollar.

The climbing is great, forcing shapes and moves, but none too hard. The pro is spaced and only just adequate. Of all the pieces I placed I would probably only have really trusted 3 to definitely hold.

However, the cliff forces you into a level of concentration you normally dont have to create. Move delicately, test each hold and foot placement and work your way up into a magnificently exposed part of Gowla. So good and so terrifying at the same time.

Dave set off from my only just adequate belay and moved up and around the Silver Dollar. We used the Pat Littlejohn guide and I think the route diagram is wrong in this book. It stay too far right of the dollar. The climbers club book is more accurate. As a result Dave ended up on the upper reaches of Castaway, an E1 variation. This was still brilliant climbing but was definitely more 5a than 4c and more E1 than HVS for pro. Still Dave handled it well and reached the second belay, which was effectively a pile of tottering choss. It was in keeping with the final 10 metre scramble across mounds of earth, grass tussocks, loose gravel and paper thin flakes of rock.

As I crawled over the edge onto the grass above I have never been so relieved to grad a Rabbit Burrow, which was the best hold I encountered during the whole of the last pitch. Next time, we will be placing a pre placed rope for the final section. God it was awful!

The evening’s end though was not. A setting sun, warm breeze and massive amounts of contentment and self congratulations capped of another Gowla epic. Will this place ever stop scaring me?

Steep but great climbing on Silver Dollar

Traversing to the start of Silver Dollar

3rd June 2016

Screda Point

Needle Direct – VS 4b – Lead
Seabreeze – HS 4a – Second
Tourist Trap – E1 5b – Lead (dnf) T/R

Neither Nick or I have any concept of how long it actually takes to get to the Culm. We were both 45 minutes late and arrived within a few minutes of each other. Doh! Obviously tuned in on the same wavelength.

The drive up to Hartland is lovely and the lanes leading through the village and out to the quay were decked in purple rhododendron and vivid green trees showing their new leaves. Quite spectacular. Of course you then drop down to the quay itself which has its own splendor, this time with stark rock outcrops and prehistoric jagged runnals heading out to the sea.

Screda Point sits to the South and is only a short walk away. We decided to ab in so that our gear wasnt at the bottom (a good decision that one) and head straight out to the outer fin where an HS and VS lurked. Both turned out to be great routes. The Needle Direct was a well protected and tricky route up the centre of a slab. Fantastic climbing with a real out there feel because of the isolation of the fin. Nick’s HS also had a character of its own. Following the arete and then breaking out onto the slab it was a cool peer for the VS.

Casting a shadow on the great moves of Needle Direct

The tide was chasing all the way though and we left as the waves started surging up the runnals toward the main face. Just enough time for me to bag an E1 in order to get to the grassy saddle… or not???

The start of the E1 was fine but I soon found myself high up with just a micro and a difficult move. The combination was enough to stop me in my tracks and with the water lapping at Nicks feet we opted for a me to downclimb and both of us to shimmy up the ab rope on prussics. So it was a lower off to fetch the gear and then a climb out.

Of course I couldnt help but try to impress Nick with my magic tricks. David Blane makes planes disappear into nothingness. I make quickdraws and runners disappear into the sea in a blink of an eye. Impressive huh? The trick is to switch off your brain, use a bit of thuggery on a stuck nut and not bother attaching it to your rope. That way it cartwheels into the ocean and its possible to just stand there and look really stupid…

When will I learn. So with Nick safely up the route as well, we called it a day fairly early and so ended a brilliant session and a good return to ‘business as usual’ for me and Nick. Lets hope for loads more days like that in the near future.