The crags have been busy, with some long periods of fine weather drawing in the visitors, even Cloggy saw a frantic week of activity. Out at Gogarth the new Gogarth North guide has stimulated an influx of keen craggers. Crag veteran, Steve Long commented that one weekend in early May Main Cliff was swarming with climbers, “There were more people at the crag than I’ve ever seen before. It was great to see so many people enjoying the place.”

The big news on the repeat front is the long awaited second ascent of Mission Impossible on Gallt yr Ogof Skyline Buttress by a very on form James McHaffie. This impressive overhanging wall was first climbed by Neil Carson in the mid-nineties and given a suggested grade of E9 7a. The route is protected by a line of pegs of dubious holding power that had first been put in by George Smith primarily to keep his rope in to the rock when he inspected the route in the early 90s. There had been talk of the route being F8b, making it one of the hardest physical trad routes in North Wales, ranking along side Mark Katz’s short, but fierce Reality on Craig Nant y Fedw, which also rates E8/7a/F8b.

James rated the route as hard E8 or E9 6c, with a physical difficulty of F8a+. Sensibly he backed up the pegs with some natural runner placements, all of which were placed on lead during the succesful headpoint. Preperation for the headpoint was minimal by modern standards, with James only having a few cursary top rope inspections over a couple of visits. In fact prior to the lead he hadn't actually linked it in one push. James described it as: “One of the best trad routes I’ve ever been on!”

Jack Geldard, who kick started the recent interest in this wall, has produced a topo. See it on his blog: Jack's blog. There is also a full report and film of the ascent on UKClimbing.com.

Back at the end of March Neil Kershaw made a cool flash of Windows of Perception E6 7a on the Seamstress Slab in the Dinorwig slate quarries, or perhaps more accurately he flashed the crux section. After the desperate rockover he drifted off right to join the top of Heading the Shot as he was uncertain of the line and didn’t have a guidebook with him. This does miss some bold 6b climbing, but is an amazing effort nonetheless. A few weeks later Ryan Pasquill had an astonishing day flashing both the full version of Windows of Perception and the even harder The Medium F8a. See the UKC report for more comment on the routes from James McHaffie: UKClimbing.com.

At a more attainable, but nonetheless impressive level the modern classic Conan the Librarian E6 6b in Wen Zawn at Gogarth saw a remarkable repeat from two ageing rock stars with a combined age of over 100 years. Mick Lovatt and Ground Up director, Streaky Desroy made quick work of this hard and committing route, with Mick flashing the crux pitch in fine style.

Out on the Llandudno Ormes, Chris Doyle fulfilled a dream by climbing a hard new route on the Mayfair Wall. Masterplan F8a+ tackles the blank wall left of the old school Jerry Moffatt test piece, Masterclass F8a. The difficulties are relatively short, but extremely intense; the crimping strength that Chris had developed in his many bouldering sessions on the nearby Pill Box Wall served him well and he completed the redpoint in good time. The route saw second and third ascents from Paul Smitton and Ryan Pasquill. To see a film of this go to Chris' blog: doylosblog.

Over at Llandulas Cave there has been much activity, with old routes getting a spring clean and a few new lines added by Tony Shelmerdine and friends. Check the wiki for the full details: North Wales Limestone wiki . On the Ormes proper, Pete Harrison deserves a special mention for the huge amount of re-equipping work that he has carried out in recent months, particularly on the Split Infinity area and downstairs on Lower Pen Trwyn.

Up on top of Little Orme Jon Ratcliffe (aided and abetted by Gav Foster and Si Panton) replaced the old threads on the classic Paul Williams route, Hole of Creation E3 6a, removing some very old karabiners in the process, including a very rusty screwgate which looked like it dated back to the first ascent in 1983! Jon also re-equipped the neighbouring tufa line, Magic Flute F7c, a neglected but utterly classic George Smith route.

Out on Anglesey at the Equestrian Walls near Porthllechog Nick Bullock and Streaky Desroy moved quickly to put the new Gogarth North guide out of date. Firstly Streaky climbed a direct start to Three Day Event. The Burghley Start E4/5 6a breaks through the lower roofs with some strenuous moves to gain the upper wall. Nick then added All the Pretty Horses E6 6b, which adds a direct finish to his own route The Crossing E4 6b. Nick first cleaned and tried the upper section on a top rope, but still found himself taking quite a plummet from the final run out on the lead when a foot hold unexpectedly broke. Next go he climbed through smoothly making it to the top in one piece. To see one of Ray Wood’s shots of Nick on the route go to: DMMClimbing.com.

The slate quarries continue to provide quality new routes. Best of the latest batch is The Wow Wow E4 6a, 5b a stunning two pitch route in the bottom of Australia climbed by Jon Ratcliffe and Steve Franklin. The first pitch is a striking diagonal finger crack situated 20m right of another of Jon’s recent new routes, Great Bores of Today F7a/+. The crack starts narrow, but widens to fist size in its upper section; take lots of cams and the odd wire. A double bolt belay marks the start of the second pitch, which initially climbs up the continuation crack, but then breaks up the wall on the left where the crack deteriorates. A single bolt marks the way to the top.

Although well cleaned by Jon prior to the ascent, the top pitch did provide Steve with a moment of drama when a large block he was mantelling past parted company with the crag. Luckily the block fell past Steve without causing too much damage (a scuffed back and cut hand) and after a bit of rest and having mopped up the blood, Steve went back up and completed the top pitch.

Jon was over the moon with his new line, describing it as, "Better and longer than The Mau Mau!” He also described it as being harder, which means that The Mau Mau is either over graded at E4 or The Wow Wow is no gift at E4.

Elsewhere in the quarries new lines have appeared. In the Never Never Land area Chris Davies and Ian Lloyd Jones established Back in the Saddle F6b, which starts as for Tomb Raider and forges an independent line up left after the second bolt. In the Looning the Tube area Jim Kelly and Julia Kelly added Puddy Kat F5, the flake/groove and upper slab left of Just for Fun, whilst on Skyline Buttress Level Ian Lloyd-Jones, Phil Targett and Sam Beesley equipped and climbed Plastic Soldier F5+/6a, a 40m pitch (13 bolts!) up the large slab left of Lindy Lou. On the Botany Bay Level Ian also established Snakes and Ladders F4 up the obvious slabby feature, and then at harder grade: Wave Rock F6c which tackles the attractive 'Wave' feature on the steep wall between Sylvanian Waters and Botany Bay. Finally with Phil Targett he climbed Impact Zone F7a, which follows Wave Rock to the fourth bolt before breaking left out of the groove and continuing up the line of bolts - a “technically interesting and sustained route on good rock” according to Ian.

Relevant links:
      
      
      

news archive
home