This
last week the weather has been amazing in North Wales, temperatures
have regularly been into the upper 20's. Mid week I spent a couple of
days living in the van and climbing on Anglesey with Luke Brooks.
On
the first day we got some hot and sweaty crag miles in at Rhoscolyn:
climbing Mask of the Red Death E3 5c and Wild Rover E1 5b with a
coffee and ice cream break in-between, then finishing the day on
Centrefold E3 5c. Centrefold in particular was amazing; great
climbing, well protected and in lovely golden evening light.
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| Andy Turner on Warpath E5 6a at Rhoscolyn |
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| Centrefold E3 5c |
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| Mask of the Red Death E3 5c |
On
the second day we ventured onto Gogarth Main cliff nice and early to
get on Ordinary Route. The name is a bit misleading, it's the only
5-pitch E5 6a 'ordinary route' I've ever done! Luke smashed out the
first meaty 6a pitch before the sun hit the crag. I got the second
pitch which was the pumpy Positron headwall crack pitch. Despite
early season lack of fitness I battled my way along the rising crack
line, fighting the pump till I was a few feet from the belay. Here I
started trying to go directly left to the belay in the Mammoth
chimney, which was hard, at this point I succumbed to the lactic acid
in my arms and rested on some gear. Now more chilled I realised that
the route goes up for a few meters before moving left into the
chimney, via some easier moves higher up. Finally I reached the
hanging 'belay' in the overhanging Mammoth chimney, which was not
really much of a rest. Even setting up the belay was a fight against
the pump! With the belay set up and clipped into I sat back limply in
my harness, removed my tight climbing shoes and prepared myself for
2hrs of uncomfortable and dizzyingly exposed free hanging above the
sea.
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| Ordinary Route P2 'belay' |
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| Luke seconding Positron headwall crack pitch |
Luke shuffled his way along the next pitch which was 40m of 5c
traverse, crossing all the most impressive and steep bits of Main
Cliff. It was not without drama, Luke pulled off a hold and
experienced his shoulder semi dislocating itself during a
reverse-arm-barring move. This pitch made for a spicy second. By the
time I reached the belay we had been in direct sun for over 4 hours
with limited water, it was fair to say we were both feeling pretty
goosed. Two more pitches remained. These were dispatched much more
easily, but they were still mentally tiring; negotiating loose rock
and Gogarth grass.
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| Luke enjoying a non-hanging belay! |
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| Final pitch of Gogarth grass up a rather nice pinnacle |
6
hours after starting the first pitch we arrived at the top of the
crag, sun baked, de-hydrated and very satisfied to have experienced a
fine adventure on a fine cliff on a very fine day.
The
last couple of days I've found myself down in Bristol after
missioning it down in the van on whim after Amy locked her self out
of her house. My van stepped in to provide temporary accommodation
complete with me, van cooked curry, red wine and good music. The next
day which happened to be Sunday I went climbing at Brean Down with
some good friends. Brean Down is renowned for being a total Southern
sun-trap, Sunday was no exception. After warming up I surprised
myself by managing to flash Storm Warming 7c+! Although it was very
soft for 7c+.
Today
Amy and I headed to Cheddar Gorge. Unfortunately Cheddar Outdoor, the
only source for the Cheddar climbing guidebook had completely sold
out. So we spent the day following the sun around the gorge climbing
whatever lines took our fancy! It was actually a very refreshing
climbing experience, I would recommend everyone to try climbing
information blind at some point! When setting out on a route it was
nice not to have any grade preconceptions or expectations. Routes
today only had two grades, one's that I could climb and one's I
couldn't!