What a Ride... And a Family Climbing Session

Pembrokeshire Sea Cliff Rock Climbing.

My good friend Tom came to stay over on Sunday evening and we got out on Monday to South Pembroke. We headed to Block House Buttress Left Wing, in search of some fun - we found it... Tom kicked off with a nice E1 called Amnesia, taking a rising crack line with a steep start. I had spotted some blank sections in the guide book to the right, so we went for a look. I jumped on a line heading up to a good looking roof section, that turned out to be a surprisingly amenable E1, taking in some impressive ground on quality rock. Tom, feeling keen for his first new route then blasted his way up another steep unclimbed line, that also went at around E1. Tom decided on the name Crack My Pitch Up, in homage to a favourite Prodigy track and I settled on House Party. Two cool routes, both deserving of a star! Feeling very happy with our selves, we got on a two pitch, two star E2 traverse called Across the Universe. we abseiled into the massively overhanging cliff and looked up at the route with trepidation. The first pitch was a real esoteric struggle - much harder than the technical grade that was described, but extremely absorbing. Tom then took the second pitch, which although was the stated crux, felt a lot easier! Then with the evening light, it was straight to the St. Govan's Inn for a meal and a pint. 

The following day Tom assisted me with a morning family group climbing session at Wolf Rock - one of the few inland crags in Pembrokeshire. Tom Is coming up to his outdoor rock climbing instructor award assessment, and needs to log many sessions shadowing qualified instructors. It was a great session and everyone got to the tops of the climbs and we had a lot of fun. Well done  to you all :-) 

After that we had arranged to meet up with a mate called Ian up in North Pembs for some climbing at Trwyn LLwyd. Tom was keen for the three pitch E1 classic Barad, which we climbed first. Ian - being the monster that he is was keen for Raging Out - a Two star E5. Ian (being the monster that he is) dispatched the route, then I was up second. I got to the top, without the flare and style of Ian but did get up it... Tom then joined us and we packed up and headed back to the vans. A very full on couple of days. Love it!

Pembrokeshire Sea Cliff Climbing

Guided and Group Climbing Adventures 

It's been another busy few days working on the sea cliffs. Firstly I had the company of Dave and Ella up in North Pembrokeshire, where we visited a less frequented area and had an idilic crag to our selves! The following day I met up with Pulkit, Ankur and Zeck down in South Pembroke, where we all got busy building anchors, and I demonstrated how to equalise multi point anchors to set up top ropes. Four ropes set up we headed down to the crag to get on with the climbing. After we had climbed out our first crag, we strolled over to Saddle Head and made a ropes scramble down the ridge and down to the crag. We climbed the fantastic Flake Quake to finish. Nice one guys, top day!  

A Slow Boat To Skomer

Rope Access Abseiling Work

Today I was up early to drive over and catch the first boat over to Skomer Island, on the South West tip of Pembrokeshire. Skomer is home to some of the most important and rare sea birds that come to Britain during nesting season. I had been asked to come over and assist with some abseiling that Elspeth (a phd student) needed to do to get some information on Gillimots that are nesting on a certain part of the island. The weather was great, the Bluebells and Campions were spectacular and the day was an absolute pleasure! Thanks to everyone I met and the fun that was had. Can't wait to go back!  

Exciting Climbs and Another Dead Camera

Pembroke Sea Cliffs, Tremadog and Gogarth Rock Climbs 

So, it was off to Mother Carey's on Friday to meet up for the initial day of Steve's stag do. I met with Steve, Dave and Caliean at the car park and headed to the cliffs. Steve was ordered to climb the classic Rock Idol and I was climbing with Dave. When we got down, I spotted a line that looked fun. We didn't have the guide book with us and I couldn't remember anything that mentioned routes on the wall to the right of the Wraith arete. I headed up a steep crack to beneath a roof. After trying to pull out right a couple of times, I opted for a left exit option. This proved a techie little number and came onto the Wraith arete, to then head right, back onto the wall and a dodgy belay at half hight. After a traverse across and up the Cracks Wall, we were back at the top. Caliean, having seconded Steve on Rock Idol, was up for something a little steeper and started the tricky abseil into the high tide belay of Just Cling On, on the super steep Space Face. Me and Dave took our places on the viewing platform opposite the Space Face and got ready for the action! A brilliant performance by Caliean saw him at the top of a very exciting looking climb. Both me and Dave didn't fancy swapping places with Steve. Steve put up a great fight to clean the route and gave a very good performance indeed - let's hope he isn't challenged too much each day of his stag do...

That evening Edmund came round and bags were thrown into my van and we booted it up to Snowdonia. We climbed at Tremadog on Saturday, ticking off some great routes on Craig Pant Ifan (Stromboli, Cardiac Arete, Helsinki Wall and Ed finishing on Spare Rib). I forgot to take my camera to the crag, so no photos from Tremadog. That evening we drove off to Gogarth for some "big fun" on Sunday. We started by walking in via North Stack - a way I've not explored before and found our way over to the top of Wen Zawn. I peered over at Wen Slab and the famous route Dream of White Horses, which I had climbed almost ten years previously. I threw the abseil rope down where I thought the descent to Britomartis was. After committing to the abseil, features began to look familiar and eventually I was back down at the belay ledge, just above the uncaring sea. Ed joined me and I set off on Spider Wall, a two pitch route taking in some impressive ground. That done, Ed was up for something a harder, so we headed off for North Stack. The wind was blowing hard and I put on my hat and gloves. The abseil (off an old sawn off wooden telegraph pole) filled me with apprehension - Surely this is strong enough...? Ed went first with one rope on his back and his full rack. I consoled myself with the fact that Ed would have weighed far more than me with all that on, as I tied the second rope round my back and put my self onto the abseil. North Stack felt pretty scary... As I made the descent I noticed long loops of tat, hanging like casualties from former ascents of Doug Scott's major roof aid climb The Big Overhang from 1967. Seeing this line of shredded tat, though the roofs of an impossible looking challenged made me feel even more out of place. 

Ed was keen to get onto Blue Peter - a terrifying looking E4 up a large, loose looking wall, with the apparent crux only 8 meters off the ground. To be honest, It was one of the scariest belays I'd ever done and by the time Ed had got to the top, I had already made up my mind to jumar out. As I had jumared about 20m, I heard a smash from below. It was my camera that had fallen out of an open pocket. So the big question was: Was my "bash proof" camera that bash resistant?... No, not bash proof when it comes to a North Stack boulder beach I guess... 

On Monday I tagged on a NICAS moderation for a Leisure Centre in North Wales to bring some form of working normality back into my life. Fun, head games and work. 

Work and Play - A Busy Few Days

At the end of last week I was out in the St. David's area with Allan, an experienced rock climber with over 40 years climbing experience. He was down in Pembrokeshire on holiday with his wife and was basically after a belayer who could also drop in some local knowledge so he could get leading some cool routes. After a very quick check that his skills were sound, it was over to him and I enjoyed a day of belaying and seconding brilliant routes :-) 

Over the weekend I was running an Introduction to Sea Cliff Climbing course for the BMC. This had three people on it: John, Malcolm and Rachael, who were all super keen to develop existing skills to feel happier pushing their limits in exciting places as well as being confident to take less experienced climbers out themselves. We covered lots of important skills and even got to climb some great routes too - Nice! 

On the Saturday evening, after work I also met up with Edmund and climbed a route that had been on my tick list for far too long - Lucky Strike at Rusty Walls. What a great route! If you've not done it yet, don't delay, do it today!!