A very late decision to get out and climb brought Dave and myself to Helman Tor. The easy option for us when in a bit of a hurry (The Euro’s are on and as much as I want to climb I also want to watch the football) and given the unsettled weather a chance for some bouldering… or so I thought.
I also forgot the guidebook so it was a case of climb what you think looks good. And the rounded arete on the lower section looked good. After explaining to Dave that I thought it was about E1 we set up.
The biggest issue is the pro. The bottom section is bold and despite a runner out wide I was aware that a fall here would hurt. Dave’s advice was to start on the ‘Bloody Hellman’ face a swing round onto the arete and this proved right. A sketchy move to the break lets you get some gear in and then it’s a case of tackling each rounded overlap until you get to the the final move.
This was not as bad as I thought it would be. The potential for a drop into the fissure between Bloody Hellman and the adjacement rock is there, but there are a couple of good holds. After farting around for a bit double checking my pro I went for it, discovering that I need to do a bit more flexibility training in the process. My leg just doesnt go that high most of the time.
Finding out it was my first E2 was brilliant, although I would say it is E2 for the boldness as much as anything. 5c is probably a bit high for the technical grade, although I think this depends on how you climb it!
With the weather being so changeable and dry spells hard to find, Tom, Dave and I have been trawling the beaches and tors a bit closer to home looking for bouldering problems.
A bleak and grainy view of Rough Tor.
It’s strange how over the years I’ve become fairly fixated on the main climbing venues in Cornwall, always looking for the trad routes. When the weather closes in I’ve tended to just sit tight waiting for it to settle down. Turns out that if you hunt around there are places which dry quickly.
Dave on a problem left of the 4a crack at HelmanThe sloper finish.
Helman Tor has become a regular spot for us recently. Loads of good problems and one we’ve had fun working through. Not listed in the guide (but almost certainly done before) it takes the face to the left of the 4a crack using small breaks for your feet and crimps. Finishes using slopers to haul over the top.
Chris on the thinner crack below the trig point.
Noticeably, we all seem to leave copious quantities of blood and skin on the rock, a right of passage it seems when entering the world of bouldering. The rock is crystalline and when your foot or hand hold goes it tends to be sudden resulting in numerous razor cuts and grazes. But its loads of fun!
Tom finishing off the traverse at Park Head
I’d been bouldering at Park Head before, and there’s a quartzy wall there with solid holds and a strenuous traverse which can be done on a low or high line. There are other boulders there, including a huge pyramid with probably the worst landing I’ve seen (resulting in a drop into a cave underneath the boulder). Some hard routes are yet to be tried on the North side of the bay, including a wicked arrete.
Escape from high tide Park Head
Unfortunately on this occasion the tide cut us off and we had to escape up the slightly loose slope, an adventure in its own right.
A great problem at Rough Tor. Start sitting at far left and work across to finish up the crack.
A great upwards traverse. Not hard but sustained.Move up to the top edge from the right. Finish far left.
Rough Tor is a gem for bouldering. In a few hours we found half a dozen great problems and this was just a small selection of those available. Quite a few are pretty highball, but there’s enough there that you can avoid these for the most part.
Tom about to go for the lip.Carrier Deck. Start right then move up until you can reach for the 'deck'. Haul yourself over the lip on the right.
I left the ubiquitous chunk out of my knee on a hard mantle problem. Tom, Dave and I were so close to making this one, but the foot placement is still gritty and it didnt go on this day.
Failure. Turn out to be the hardest of the day. The move up onto the top slice at head level is tricky. No hand holds.
Add Trewortha and Hawks Tor into the mix and we’ve enough bouldering to last two or three summers.
Dave on a problem left of the 4a crack at Helman
Tom finishing off the traverse at Park Head
A great problem at Rough Tor. Start sitting at far left and work across to finish up the crack.
Carrier Deck. Start right then move up until you can reach for the ‘deck’. Haul yourself over the lip on the right.
Tom about to go for the lip.
A great upwards traverse. Not hard but sustained.Move up to the top edge from the right. Finish far left.
Failure. Turn out to be the hardest of the day. The move up onto the top slice at head level is tricky. No hand holds.
19th November 2011 Problems 5 (6a), 20 (5b) and 21 (6a)
Bouldering is not something I regularly do, but on occasions it makes a good substitute for the climbing wall. Especially when you spend an afternoon looking out over the wooded wetlands created by years of tin mining. It feels like an old landscape, but of course the mining is relatively recent and images of druids and stone age settlements are probably unfounded.
Kieran on Problem 4
Still its a short step for your mind to imagine that much more ancient races have trod the grassy meadows of Helman Tor. Mind you I’m not sure that the earlier residents would have been slipping on their 5.10’s and creating their own problems on the spectacular boulders. More likely trying to move them and create stone circles! The recent removal of the gorse (which revealed a Bronze age hut circle) also revealed some more boulders. For an alternative view of Helman Tor’s history have a read of this article.
Tom, Kieran and I started on some of the easier problems to get warmed up. Mind you, I dont think any of them are necessarily easy. It depends how confident you are. With one mat between us the landings always seem a bit dodgy and some of the problems are fairly high.
Tom on Problem 18
My personal two favorites are the 6a Arete (21) and the smooth ramp (18). The ramp always makes me smile. Innocuous, but every time I jump on it I end up retreating a couple of times before I get established. Always worth climbing though.
Kieran on a unamed sit start
The arete was a problem I looked at a few years back but failed miserably on because I went right instead of following the line of the arete. This time I got established at the top, but it took a while before I plucked up courage to mantelshelp over the smooth sloping finale.
We also spent some time on a newly uncovered boulder, the site of ‘In the Gutter’ a really tough problem. I made the traverse but no way could I do the mantelshelf. We did a route using the crack under the overhang. A fingery route which we extended around to the face and a final climb up to the top. Fun, but not hard except on your digits. Maybe 4b. We called it Bluebells, but its probably been done before.
The start of Bluebell's under the overhangThe finish to Bluebell's
For Kieran and Tom the introduction to boulder problems was an eye opener. As always they look easier than they are, as both quickly discovered. However, they both left with burning fingers from the course granite and lots of challenges to return to.
