New routing at the Lizard

During the recent BMC meet I was lucky enough to go climbing for the day with Pat Littlejohn OBE (South West climbing legend and Director of ISM), David Hope and Dr David Hillebrandt who have made great contributions to Cornish climbing over many years and have an incredibly intimate knowledge of the coast. Along with our international guests, Ekaterina and Vladimir from Kyrgystan we went to Predannack Head on the Lizard peninsula (the UK's most southerly point).

Coast near Predannack Head

Despite us all leaving the Count House at the same time Dave Hope and I arrived much earlier than the others. This was soon explained however as Vladimir and Ekaterina alighted from Pat's car brandishing mouthwatering Cornish pasties picked up on a detour to Marazion. We got our packs together and headed down to the cliffs, Dave and I almost as envious of the pasties as a golden retriever who also wanted a bit of the action before their owner called them off!
Dave Hillebrandt had previously put in a lot of reconnaissance in the area and led us to some unclimbed buttress where a brace of new routes were ripe for the picking. I climbed a short, sharp and steep corner crack which led to an hanging rib and pinnacle belay with fine sea views. It went at about VS 4c (I think... anyone care to come and repeat it?) and I christened it 'Chopper' partly after the team of helicopters from nearby RNAS Culdrose which seemed to be roaring overhead all day.

'Chopper' VS 4c FA. Adam Thomas & Ekaterina Andreyeva 13th May 2010 marked in red, other possible lines in green.

Pat led two new E1's and we finished a perfect day's Cornish climbing with a pint of Tribute overlooking the picturesque fishing harbour in Mousehole.

Pat and Ekaterina in Mousehole near Penzance