Torbryan Twostep

A quick afternoon out to Torbryan near Totnes yielded a redpoint ascent of 'Boogie on Down' 6c+ whilst Pete led 'Famine' E2 5c after giving it a bit a clean. The crag is dominated by hard sport routes so getting a warm up can be tricky but the climbing is of superb quality flowstone and it's a great place for projects.

Cornwall calling

This weekend saw a quick hit on the Cornish granite again down around Lands End where I ticked off Gallipoli E1 5c and Visions of Johanna E1 5b at Bosigran. Hopefully I'll be returning next week for a few more days to help out with some route checking for the new guidebook and possibly a bit more new routing :)

Welsh Magic

For a climber, North Wales is a special place. The quality and variety of vertical challenges on offer is hard to match anywhere in the country and the atmospheric settings amongst the beautiful mountains of Snowdonia, the menacing slate quarries in Dinorwig and the wild, wave washed sea cliffs of Gogarth are just icing on the cake.

View of Snowdon and north side of Llanberis pass from the Dinorwig slate quarries

However, in recent years I've spent a lot more days led in a tent listening to giant rain drops fall on the Welsh cliffs than I have actually spent climbing on them. I was keen therefore to take advantage of the amazing dry weather we've been enjoying recently and the magical conditions inspired me to finally lead some classic hard (for me anyway) routes!

Me leading 'Karwendel Wall' HVS 5b on Clogwyn y Grochan

Pete and I climbed at lots of different venues in the area and my leads included; The Plum E1 5b at Tremadog, Superdirect E1 5b on Dinas Mot, Fools Gold E1 5c at Bus Stop Quarry and Sterling Silver E2 5c also at Bus Stop. These were all fantastic routes but the most memorable were The Plum for the number and variety of obstacles that had to be overcome all in about 20m and Superdirect for the sheer terror of a sketchy traverse on poor holds with only the vague rumour of a micro-wire somewhere beneath my feet. (For non-climbers this means: if I fell off all my weight would have been taken by a tiny piece of wire which would have most likely snapped and I would have kept falling, kept falling a long way).

Me leading 'Sterling Silver' E2 5c


Me leading 'Fools Gold' E1 5c

Pete was on good form too and led me up 'Quartz Icicle' E2 5b which is a 'proper' adventurous E2 on Wen Slab at Gogarth (same cliff as 'A Dream of White Horses') and was another highlight of the trip. The final novelty was the joy of fresh coffee, soft beds, comfy sofas and good company courtesy of the Climbers Club hut, Ynys Ettws, in Llanberis Pass - a lot better than camping and cheaper to boot!

Sunset outside Ynys Ettws

All photos courtesy of 'Kafoozalem' :)

Deep Water Soloing

On monday Pete and I grabbed a day out in Torquay and took advantage of the warm (ish) temperatures to do some more deep water soloing. We did Watchtower Traverse (part 1) which is a great adventure around the bay exploring nooks and crannies in the coast and a number of shorter routes on walls and aretes under the spectacular 'London Bridge'.

Me soloing 'Duckless in Torbay' being overlooked by London Bridge and a confused scuba diver

Although not quite as friendly as Cave Hole at Portland this area was still a very good introduction to DWS and has some easy accessible solo's with good climbing.

Pulling shapes on 'Something Ducky'

17 - 21 May Portland and Swanage

Following the international trad fest in Cornwall Pete and I hit Portland for some sport climbing. After a few chilly starts we enjoyed some excellent conditions. By the end of the week it was so hot we resorted to Deep Water Soloing, I was nearly as surprised as the sea kayakers!

Me (in the centre) dodging a kayak on the second half of 'The Big Easy' 6a+ at Cave Hole, Portland

We started the week climbing bolted routes at Blacknor and The Cuttings, memorable routes being Consomme 6a+, Read the Small Print 6b and Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth 6b.

Climbing the excellent Consomme 6a+ at The Cuttings, Portland

These were a lot of fun and good training but when we got back on the trad at Swanage the sea cliff adventure and excitement soon surpassed them. At Black Zawn I climbed Astrid HVS 5a which has a great abseil in, hanging belay and good climbing out of an atmospheric zawn. Later we climbed at Subluminal and after seconding Pete on Paralysis E2 5c I also led it - a lovely route with a technical crux. To finish off the week we had another hard day on bolts including red point ascents of The Accelerator 7a and Nameless 6c at Cheyne Wears before a brilliant day's deep water soloing at Cave Hole area where we soloed Temporary Lifestyle and The Big Easy which had some really good moves and was a very safe traverse above the sea. Since its only the start of the summer though the water is still cold enough to take your breath away!

On the crux moves of 'The Big Easy' before rounding the arete

All photos courtesy of 'Kafoozalem'!

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

9 - 15th May BMC International Meet

I've recently returned from a brilliant week climbing with new partners from around the world and meeting a few inspirational figures in the process. Once a year the British Mounatineering Council invites climbers from around the world to come and sample the unique delights of British 'trad' and winter climbing.

Toru Nakajima making a very bold ascent of '29 Palms' E8 6c at Sennen

This year the meet was held at the Count House near St Just in Cornwall. The Count House is owned by the Climbers Club who co-hosted the meet and did a brilliant job accomodating and feeding 65 busy climbers for a week!

Erik after his frist trad lead on 'Demo Route' HS at Sennen

I joined the meet as a 'host' and teamed up with different international guests to introduce them to the Cornish cliffs and the basics of trad climbing - whilst they were very able sport climbers many of the guests had never climbed on leader placed protection. Over the week I climbed with Erik (Belgium), Ekaterina (Kyrgyzstan) and Christos (Cyprus) who after getting over their intial fear of 'chimneys', 'nuts' and the idea of getting washed off a ledge by the Atlantic swell were soon cruising their way up classic Cornish routes from HS to E2. The full report on the BMC site can be found here.

Christos looking releived after escaping the overhanging chimney crack on 'Double Overhang' VS at Sennen