As part of my work as a NICAS Moderator I was recently invited to Plas Y Brenin for a day of workshops looking at good practise and and ideas that can be filtered down to centres and people we work with. It was a busy day with 40 or so people coming from far afield to congregate at the Welsh National Outdoor Centre. I'd taken the opportunity to come up a day early to get out with Pat, a friend that lives up there for some climbing. The weather on the coast looked good and a trip to the exciting sea cliffs of the Lleyn was planned. Sadly the weather was pretty wet when we got there and plans were quickly changed for a reliable wet weather crag, steep and sheltered at the Ty'n Tywyn Quarries. These too turned out to be wet and a token effort at climbing the first pitch of a two pitch E2 named The Naturist was undertaken before it was decided to bin climbing for the day. You don't win 'em all.
On the other hand a fun and dry time at PYB was had the following day and it was nice to catch up with various folk that I hadn't seen for a while. The day was split into four workshops with the opportunity to discuss personal experiences and draw conclusions.
The first workshops was delivered by a Petzl sales rep and looked at the use of the Gri-Gri+ in different applications as well as problems associated with direct use of guide plates when two seconds weight the devise in different directions of pull (the second rope that is weighed won't hold!) I've added a video to show the effect below.
The second workshop was delivered by Olly Saunders and looked at loading forces on Tyrolean Traverses and various ways of rigging ground anchors. After lunch we were entertained by a chap from DMM where a good discussion on climbing kit strength was gone through and finished with an enjoyable session testing various kit to destruction - Good to further prove that climbing kit is incredibly strong given proper care and maintenance! The last workshop was delivered by Dave Rudkin and went through considerations for coaching trad lead climbing. After the traditional "tea and cake" it was on to the evening presentation by visiting German mountain guide and Edelrid gear development officer, about rope shear testing and best practise in Germany for the teaching of belaying and holding falls in different situations. Believe it or not it was a very well presented and interesting three hour talk!!
Lovely video of travelling wads ticking some big numbers on Britains favourite sea cliffs. Enjoy...
The idea was simple, four super strong rock climbers on a trad-climbing trip to South Wales. Jacopo Larcher, Barbara Zangerl, Roland Hemetzberger and Lara Neumeier head to Pembroke, a stunning coastline climbing venue with some very hard and beautiful Trad routes.
It’s a funny old thing choosing a “favourite route”. There are so many crags, with different character and situations. Nowadays I spend most of my time climbing by the sea in Pembrokeshire and have had time to think about what makes a route above and beyond the rest of the great climbs here. The other day I had a morning’s climbing that made my mind up.
Mother Carey’s Kitchen is in my opinion THE best crag in Pembrokeshire. It hosts a wealth of quality routes on perfect rock through a good range of grades. The setting is exquisite and there’s almost always routes to get on even if there’s a big sea booming away at it’s base.
A few days ago I met up with Louis (a Pembroke local) at the MCK car park for 9am - I had to be back home just after lunch. It was mid November and even though the forecast suggested it would be a max of 8 degrees, the sun was out with little wind. I suggested starting on Brazen Buttress - a classic Pat Littlejohn E2 5b that I’ve climbed many times and one of my all time favourites. The climbing is sustained but with no definite crux’s. The climbing flows beautifully, with moves that role into one another and more opportunities for protection than you could ask for. The only problem I had was that I’d started the climb with my fleece on and soon started to over heat!
It was a different story when Louis said he wanted to climb Deep Space - another Littlejohn route given the same grade as Brazen Buttress. In contrast this route takes the outer edge of a huge dark cleft, in the shadows and cold. As Louis arrived under the roof I called up to him to make a belay as it was mid tide and the sea was coming in at a speedy rate. The rock was just about dry but cold and lay backing on jams soon chilled the hands to a point of numbness. Arriving at the hanging belay the world below you drops away in a fashion that only climbers can enjoy. Above the way is blocked by an imposing roof but thankfully the holds are as good as you could ask for. A couple of wild pulls and you’re deposited on the upper wall and straight forward climbing on wonderfully sculpted stone to a point where you’re able to bridge across the cleft in dramatic positions to the top.
If you haven’t already, go and do these routes. Of course, when you have there’s all of the other blinders to do at MCK as well! Enjoy…
Alas, this is the first blog I've done since June - so terribly sorry for leaving you all hanging like that...
The season is slowing down for me now and I'm getting some time to catch up with general life admin and heading out for some new recce missions. It's been a great summer of work and play on the sea cliffs, guiding, running courses and meeting some very cool people along the way. Thanks to everyone that I've shared a rope with this season and I hope to bump into you on the crag in the future! Here's a random selection of photos since the last blog - with a sneaky trip to N/W Scotland in June thrown in too. Time for winter sea cliff projects!
