12th September 2010
Pentire Point

The English Way – HS 4b – Second
Nipped in the Buddha – VS 4c – Lead
Our Stars, Our Sky – VS 4c – Alt Lead P2

This was a day for calendar shots so we took a couple, ensuring the magazine pose was just right. I think I’ll need to stick with the day job though.

Pentire Point in my mind was the playground of ‘grown up’ climbers. People who see E5 as a reasonable grade. So it was great to discover that there is a real mixture of climbing here and some amazing routes. Nick and I ended up doing three great climbs.

Black Zawn is aptly described in its name. It is a place that the sun does not often reach and therefore is a bit forbidding when you first drop down on an abseil. It is also wet in places, mainly due to run off. Having said that there is something magnetic about the climbing there. The two routes we did were both great. The English Way was just a means to climb out at first, but turned out to be worthwhile in its own right. An awkward move at mid height destroys all pretences of elegence and makes your mind work hard.

Nipped in the Buddha was not dry enough in the morning so we considered a couple of options: play around on a top rope on the more difficult climbsor have a go at a route I remembered from somewhere callesd Our Stars, OUR sKY. The latter won out and we lucked into a fantastic route, which provided a great deal of adventure and two good pitches. I led the second pitch which follows a line across the shield face just above the undercut. It’s amazing, one of the best pitches I’ve evr led. Not  the hardest, but committing with perfect foot and hand placements where you need them. I had my crunchy moment, as I stepped into a crystalline pocket, but this seems to be a trend with me. Of course my attempts to follow Nicks instructions on communicating with my second went slightly arrae so we sat there like lemons for ten minutes waiting for a signal to move. My fault, but as Nick said, a lesson well learnt.

Still buzzing, I managed to get the lead on Buddha as well. This one is much harder climbing, with some wet areas. To be honest this didnt effect the route and I think I got it as good as you can get it in the dark, dank zawn. Once again, brilliant climbing, pushing me all the way with a tricky crux a few metres above the slab. Its great to have routes where the rock feels really positive and all of them were like this. It can be brittle in places, but take care and you can climb with confidence.

With the sunny day fading we climbed back towards Pentire Farm (just long enough to get another calendar shot). Another new venue for me and somewhere else to add to my long list of places to return to.