June | 2018 | The Magik Rock

22nd June 2018

Predannack Head

Down Under, Up Top – VS -4c
Upstart Colonials – Diff – Solo
No Humans Involved – Diff – Solo
Nasty hanging Groove – E something – Fell Off

It made a difference that we weren’t wading through mud this time; in fact conditions couldnt have been better with the continuing spell of great weather.

Of course we still walked past our destination, but it helped getting our bearings from last time. The headland is bigger than you imagine and I think this is why its easy to gt disorientated. But we knew where we wanted to climb. It was the cool looking VS in Kangaroo Zawn that we were driven off from because of swell.

Well not today. No swell and wall to wall sunshine. Down Under, Up Top looks brilliant and had good reviews, but in the end I felt it didn’t quite meet expectations. Don’t get me wrong. Its a good climb. Moves up to and then along a curving flake overlap are excellent and there are a couple of testing moments, but I find its climbs that leave an indelible imprint that are the ones which warrant the most stars and this one didn’t make the grade. Probably the most memorable part was the slightly crumbly final wall on small crimps with poor gear which isn’t the basis for 3 stars.

Still, very good and recommended. And so on to what should have been Dave’s lead. Except we got the wrong crag!! Another of those slightly ambiguous descriptions which rely on you knowing exactly where you are in relation to the guide book description. We didn’t and ended up the the wrong side of the zawn. Still it gave rise to an hours worth of soloing on some great diffs before ‘good ol Dave’ suggested we descend steep slab and attempt a hanging groove which was clearly easy. FFS!

The descent slab. Not THE descent slab, but the initial easy one before Dave tried to kill us.

Well I had the pleasure of Dave discovering the folly of making rash assumptions as he sketchily descended the slab which steepened and rounded towards the bottom, running out of any discernible holds. Very nervy and an excellent attempt to kill both of us. But not as nervy as committing into the hanging groove which I proceeded to fall out of a couple of times. It is possible, but I think its somewhere in the E range with limited pro, so next time we’ll abseil inspect and then give it a go. Cant find it in the guidebook, but also cant believe its not been climbed. I’ll need to do a bit more research.

21st June 2018

Butter Hole

Little Robert (Variation Start) – VS – 4c Lead

Butter Hole is such a great place to climb. Especially with the great evenings we’ve been having. This session was a quick grab before the main event on Friday, but actually turned out to be a proper adventure. Dont they always!

So despite the swell being fairly small, the base of Little Robert was soaked so it was a no go with the odd set spraying it completely. Daves eye for a new line picked out an alternative start which involved coming in from a high line on the left. Having experienced Dave’s “that looks easy” philosophy I was obviously dubious, but for a change it turned out to be on.

A wild traverse, with nothing for your feet allows you to swing up onto the main slab. Committing and with average pro it is exciting, but because of the large jugs it feels OK.

The rest of the climb turned out to be atmospheric and brilliant climbing with nothing too difficult. A great VS in fact with good character. Butter Hole is turning out to be a little goldmine. Easy for us to get to and with a good range of climbs. I can see this being the source of quite a few great evenings this summer.

The whole time we were there we were tracked by a couple of Rock Pipits who clearly didnt appreciate us being around. I have a feeling there is a nest somewhere high in the gulley so we’ll need to be careful in the future. Still the company was nice 🙂