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22nd November 2013

Coastguard Cliff – The Lizard

Silent Movie – VS 4c – Lead
Quo Vadis – E1 5a -Lead
Sirius – HS 4b – Second

After what has seemed to be forever the bright weather came back. Friday turned out to be clear skies and little wind. The south facing Coastguard Cliff provided the perfect warm, sunny venue for Dave, Tom and myself.

Moody Coastguard Cliff's
Moody Coastguard Cliff’s

Dave and I had had a couple of outings to Hawks Tor in the rain and fog, but on each occasion the weather limited our efforts. This time we could go for it with dry positive rock. I’d done Silent Movie with Chris and remembered how good it was. A committing climb where you need to hunt out pro. But the holds are excellent and the climbing thrilling and exposed.

Dave cruising Silent Movie
Dave cruising Silent Movie

Having warmed up it was straight onto Quo Vadis. I figured with the bunch of crocks I was with I’d better pick a jug hauling route rather than a finger stretcher. QV provided this. It has two crux’s. The first is a thuggy haul over an overhang ontothe face. The second is a delicate rising crack which can be tackled in a number of ways.

Tom showing he's got balls - Quo Vadis
Tom showing he’s got balls – Quo Vadis

Tom and I laid back and Dave went out onto the face to the crimpier holds. Both ways are great and the climb overall is worth doing. Typical of the venue. Strenuous start followed by face climbing. It also provided one of our best photos of Tom in the crack. Really exciting and reflects everything about the day.

Dave sat on the belay P1 Sirius
Dave sat on the belay P1 Sirius

Dave wanted to get back into leading and took on both pitches of Sirius. This is also a really cool climb. Exposed with two contrasting pitches. A juggy but exposed traverse, followed by a more technical slab. It was a good lead as the climb is tricky throughout.

Dave leading P2 Sirius
Dave leading P2 Sirius

It was a fitting end to a brilliant return to climbing ways. Cornwall as usual delivered on the ‘spectacular beauty’ front. The booming surf added to the atmosphere and provided lots of distraction when you heard a set thunder in sounding like it was going to engulf you. We are so lucky!

 

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Scared to Life

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23rd September 2011

The Lizard – Coastguard Cliffs – Hollywood Walls

The Goldrush – HVS 5a – Lead

Silent Movie – VS 4B – Second

Quasimodo – E1 5b – Lead

Mae West – HVS 5a – Second

There are good days in climbing and then there is the 23rd of September. This turned out to be a cracker. I’d wanted to get back to Coastguard cliff since climbing Limelight and Chris and I headed off with the intention of tackling some of the other starred climbs. As it happened we ticked all of the routes we had looked at.

Climbing here is guarenteed to put a smile on your face. Sometimes a very nervous smile, but nevertheless you end up smiling. The venue is pretty intimidating and on this day with a good swell running and a moderate southerly breeze the whole atmosphere was quite overwhelming.

Descent Route!
Descent Route!

We kicked off on The Goldrush, an amazing climb with a tough start and nervy traverse. It then opens out onto the face and technical edges and small slits for your fingers. Not as hard as Limelight, but harder to protect on the more difficult moves.

Chris then lucked into Silent Movie, a stunning VS. Again challenging because of the pumpy start it once again takes you onto the main wall and some brilliant moves up to the descent gulley. It looks very unlikely at VS from the bottom, but after the initial pumpy overhang it eases and just gets better and better.

Silent Movie
Silent Movie

It was strange that Quasimodo, an excellent climb did not quite seem to match the others on the day. At E1 it was the hardest and the central black slab proved very tricky, but it did not give the atmosphere of the other climbs. On another day I would have been raving about this one, but on this day the competition was stiff. Anyway, it still took me a while to pluck up the courage to commit to the crux moves having backed off on my first attempt. Second try proved successful as I tackled it with a bit more finess and less grunt.

Chris finished on his first HVS Lead, Mae West. This has a complication in that rope management becomes an issue as it zig zags across the massive overhang abouve the belay ramp at the bottom. It is super atmospheric and the pro on the left hand side is a bit sparce. However there are two monster threads (Chris had run out of slings for the second so an improvised Chock had to make do) to give you confidence. Still, as a first HVS it was a great climb and although it definitely made Chris nervous it also put a huge smile on his face for the journey home.

Mae West
Mae West belay ledge

A very scary day all in all and one which helps you put everything into perspective. Sometimes you need to be a bit scared!