The spell of good weather coincided with a cancelled ML assessment and an
extra week off work which led to a varied and great week of climbing. The
quantity of ascents of most of the tricky routes on the Final Judgement Wall on
Cloggy has been unprecedented that I know of and shows how many good climbers
there are operating in North Wales at the moment. Routes which have been getting
ascents apart from the obvious are It will be alright on the Night, Authentic
Desire (3 ascents) and Shaft of a Dead Man, the culprits are Calum Muskett,
George Ullrich and Alex Mason.
I’ve wanted to try Margins of the Mind for well over a decade. A John
Redhead route from 1984 its second ascentionist Nick Dixon suggested it may have
been the first E8 in Britain. At a party some years previously Johnny Dawes had
mentioned that it was a ‘feral climb’. Neil ‘the Youth’ Dicksen hit a purple
patch early in 2008 and got close to an onsight going back a few days later to
polish off a groundup, but you know how they always ham things up in films?
Having done a bit of climbing with Neil I thought I’d save a separate report for
him at a later date. On his first effort Neil spent about 4 hours on the climb
and I was intrigued as to what took him so long.
extra week off work which led to a varied and great week of climbing. The
quantity of ascents of most of the tricky routes on the Final Judgement Wall on
Cloggy has been unprecedented that I know of and shows how many good climbers
there are operating in North Wales at the moment. Routes which have been getting
ascents apart from the obvious are It will be alright on the Night, Authentic
Desire (3 ascents) and Shaft of a Dead Man, the culprits are Calum Muskett,
George Ullrich and Alex Mason.
I’ve wanted to try Margins of the Mind for well over a decade. A John
Redhead route from 1984 its second ascentionist Nick Dixon suggested it may have
been the first E8 in Britain. At a party some years previously Johnny Dawes had
mentioned that it was a ‘feral climb’. Neil ‘the Youth’ Dicksen hit a purple
patch early in 2008 and got close to an onsight going back a few days later to
polish off a groundup, but you know how they always ham things up in films?
Having done a bit of climbing with Neil I thought I’d save a separate report for
him at a later date. On his first effort Neil spent about 4 hours on the climb
and I was intrigued as to what took him so long.
Me and Neil the Youth on the belay of Hellbound, Smoothlands, Devon. Composed of 2 pegs and 3 skyhooks it was one of my least pleasant belays, luckily Youth didnt test the factor 2 fall off the 6a/b moves above it.
On the Monday I had 2 top ropes on Rare Lichen on the Gribin Facet with
Alex Mason, working out the moves and the gear before leading it. It’s a great
route, serious but after working out the moves the climb felt ok and the
Longhope was a considerable step up in difficulty. For some of these hard routes
the American grading scale does make a bit more sense 7c R/X for Rare compared
to 8b R for Longhope gives a better idea of the difference in difficulty. After
a quick top rope on the Gribin Wall Climb I decided to leave it for being fresh
one day after work as I’d enjoy it more, it's probably easier technically than
Rare Lichen but a tiny bit bolder.
The following day myself and Calum headed up to Cloggy with Ed Booth.
Calum cruises up Authentic Desire for a warm up and Me and Ed second up. A great
route, the more microwires you have the better you can protect it.
Alex Mason, working out the moves and the gear before leading it. It’s a great
route, serious but after working out the moves the climb felt ok and the
Longhope was a considerable step up in difficulty. For some of these hard routes
the American grading scale does make a bit more sense 7c R/X for Rare compared
to 8b R for Longhope gives a better idea of the difference in difficulty. After
a quick top rope on the Gribin Wall Climb I decided to leave it for being fresh
one day after work as I’d enjoy it more, it's probably easier technically than
Rare Lichen but a tiny bit bolder.
The following day myself and Calum headed up to Cloggy with Ed Booth.
Calum cruises up Authentic Desire for a warm up and Me and Ed second up. A great
route, the more microwires you have the better you can protect it.
Calum showing his better side on Authentic Desire with ed Booth getting some glory shots.
On the top I get racked up and with Ed belaying I set off on unbeknownst
to me one of the hardest unsuccessful ‘efforts’ I’ve given. Shuffling over loose
crap at the start I was struggling to work out where to break through the first
roof which Neil had mentioned was an issue. After some mincing I commit to
slopey backhands and make the pull to ok fingerjugs. After plugging cams into
rattly thin downward pointing flakes I shimmy up to the peg and thread a sling
through it. After going up and right then down and left then up then down then
right then up then down then left then up,(you get the point) eventually I crack
a sequence for the mid crux and reach for a small flake. Making steep moves to
get stood on it I try and place a poor RP and can’t resist shouting Redheads
iconic line down to Ed "you’ve let me down Ed, you’ve !!!!!!! let me down you
!!!!!!!". Ed went quiet but it was meant to lighten the mood.
I reached the juggy shakeout on the left and realised Neil the Youth had
in fact let me down by saying the wire was good. 2 Rps 'sit' next to each other on
the top of the block with, I bluetacked a big skyhook down and equalised the lot,
thinking the hook to be the best piece. It had taken some time to reach this
point and I grew well acquainted with the next section. Up and Down, up and
down, Sorry Ed. Up and Down. Locking off the sidepull youth used I was still a
mile off the jug and definately felt the route was pushing my comfort zone of hard
moves above shit gear when knackered. On one effort a small pinch offered extra
height gain and spurred on I started to move up but the bugger snapped. Somehow
I stayed on and prevaricating on the shakeout I wondered if I was trying hard
enough. It was a progressively loosing battle from this point really. I had
felt tantalisingly close to success on a few goes but I was KO’d. Joe Brown had
told me he never did a move he didn't think he could downclimb and I felt kind of
similar on much of this route. Rather than lowering off the gear and going up
Octo then rapping for it I got Calum to throw me a rope (when he’d put his
rescue on facebook I wondered if it may have been better to have fallen and
died) and pretty much hoist me out as it was a swifter affair. Ed Booth who is
taller than me came up saying he couldn’t lank that move either but having
belayed for hours its surprising his body worked at all . Although the effort
had ended in social embarrassment I was actually pretty happy with my effort at
the time and a bit blown away by Neils efforts some years before and Redheads
effort in 1984. I’m sure I would have backed off sooner without having seen Neil
going for it. At 20.00 Calum was keen for one more route, having poured the
rest of my water over my shaking toes to cool them off I said I was going
down.
to me one of the hardest unsuccessful ‘efforts’ I’ve given. Shuffling over loose
crap at the start I was struggling to work out where to break through the first
roof which Neil had mentioned was an issue. After some mincing I commit to
slopey backhands and make the pull to ok fingerjugs. After plugging cams into
rattly thin downward pointing flakes I shimmy up to the peg and thread a sling
through it. After going up and right then down and left then up then down then
right then up then down then left then up,(you get the point) eventually I crack
a sequence for the mid crux and reach for a small flake. Making steep moves to
get stood on it I try and place a poor RP and can’t resist shouting Redheads
iconic line down to Ed "you’ve let me down Ed, you’ve !!!!!!! let me down you
!!!!!!!". Ed went quiet but it was meant to lighten the mood.
I reached the juggy shakeout on the left and realised Neil the Youth had
in fact let me down by saying the wire was good. 2 Rps 'sit' next to each other on
the top of the block with, I bluetacked a big skyhook down and equalised the lot,
thinking the hook to be the best piece. It had taken some time to reach this
point and I grew well acquainted with the next section. Up and Down, up and
down, Sorry Ed. Up and Down. Locking off the sidepull youth used I was still a
mile off the jug and definately felt the route was pushing my comfort zone of hard
moves above shit gear when knackered. On one effort a small pinch offered extra
height gain and spurred on I started to move up but the bugger snapped. Somehow
I stayed on and prevaricating on the shakeout I wondered if I was trying hard
enough. It was a progressively loosing battle from this point really. I had
felt tantalisingly close to success on a few goes but I was KO’d. Joe Brown had
told me he never did a move he didn't think he could downclimb and I felt kind of
similar on much of this route. Rather than lowering off the gear and going up
Octo then rapping for it I got Calum to throw me a rope (when he’d put his
rescue on facebook I wondered if it may have been better to have fallen and
died) and pretty much hoist me out as it was a swifter affair. Ed Booth who is
taller than me came up saying he couldn’t lank that move either but having
belayed for hours its surprising his body worked at all . Although the effort
had ended in social embarrassment I was actually pretty happy with my effort at
the time and a bit blown away by Neils efforts some years before and Redheads
effort in 1984. I’m sure I would have backed off sooner without having seen Neil
going for it. At 20.00 Calum was keen for one more route, having poured the
rest of my water over my shaking toes to cool them off I said I was going
down.
George Ullrich the day after making a brilliant OS on Shaft of a Dead Man with the Final Judgement Wall in the sun
After a rest day involving ice cream and chores the Thursday found me back
on the same wall with George Ullrich. After climbing Octo George started to get
racked up for Shaft of a Dead Man. I can’t resist abbing down and looking at the
move which had stopped me. Pulling on with my feet at the high point I couldn’t
believe it. Having thought it to be a solid 6c move, the move appeared easy. I
pulled on again for good measure and did the move again. How could I fail so
near, the move felt easy whereas I was adamant it was 6c on my attempt. I jugged
back up thinking I hadn’t given it 100%. George makes a sterling onsight of
Shaft and having had a pretty derisive kicking on it many years before I was
happy to second it clean still feeling a bit baked from Tuesdays effort. Unhappy
with how easy the move on Margins appeared and being 2 routes from completing
the climbs in John Redheads book One for the Crow we leave the kit and return
the day after. We climb the Hand Traverse to warm up which feels pretty cold and
windy but in a great position. Wondering if I should have a rematch with
Margins, I did.
Setting off at 11.00 the face was still in the sun. I climb the first roof
which is about E5 6b. Reaching the peg I go into the mid crux (like the hard bit
on a 7b+/7c) immediately followed by the next few meters ( like the crux of an
E6 6a)to the shakeout jug where I placed the poor wires and put on 2 hooks and a
pap hook beyond for good measure. It’s probably hard E7 6c to reach this point
and the crux for shorties lies beyond. Pulling up into the reach move I crimp a
small thing and hop my left foot high. At this point things are starting to feel
wrong and a few seconds later eyeballing the 2 finger sidepull crimp for my left
hand things not only felt wrong but I began to realise I’d made a mistake. When
looking at this move on the abseil the rope must have been taking most of my
weight, the pap hook falls off and I have to lay it on for the jug which feels
miles away. The easy move was in fact a pretty grim one. Thankfully the gear
didn’t get tested and expecting George to come up saying all the gear was fine
he concurred with my fears. We guestimated the climbing to be between 7c and 7c+
depending on wether you can reach. It is certainly harder than Sping in the Slate quarries.
It’s a serious climb which would have been a bad joke at E7. The best
protection on it is the peg but the guide says it’s poor and sawn off. I had
visions of falling, all the gear ripping and the loose flakes the cams were in
coming out to finish off an already battered body but to be honest that was
looking at it with a pessimists eye. I’d recommend taking a few skyhooks and
some bluetak as they are the best bits of protection. The route would have been
properly cutting edge in 1984 and youths ascent in 2008 I rate as one of the
hardest ground up ascents seen in Britain.Cheers to Ed and George……not sure
about Calum.
on the same wall with George Ullrich. After climbing Octo George started to get
racked up for Shaft of a Dead Man. I can’t resist abbing down and looking at the
move which had stopped me. Pulling on with my feet at the high point I couldn’t
believe it. Having thought it to be a solid 6c move, the move appeared easy. I
pulled on again for good measure and did the move again. How could I fail so
near, the move felt easy whereas I was adamant it was 6c on my attempt. I jugged
back up thinking I hadn’t given it 100%. George makes a sterling onsight of
Shaft and having had a pretty derisive kicking on it many years before I was
happy to second it clean still feeling a bit baked from Tuesdays effort. Unhappy
with how easy the move on Margins appeared and being 2 routes from completing
the climbs in John Redheads book One for the Crow we leave the kit and return
the day after. We climb the Hand Traverse to warm up which feels pretty cold and
windy but in a great position. Wondering if I should have a rematch with
Margins, I did.
Setting off at 11.00 the face was still in the sun. I climb the first roof
which is about E5 6b. Reaching the peg I go into the mid crux (like the hard bit
on a 7b+/7c) immediately followed by the next few meters ( like the crux of an
E6 6a)to the shakeout jug where I placed the poor wires and put on 2 hooks and a
pap hook beyond for good measure. It’s probably hard E7 6c to reach this point
and the crux for shorties lies beyond. Pulling up into the reach move I crimp a
small thing and hop my left foot high. At this point things are starting to feel
wrong and a few seconds later eyeballing the 2 finger sidepull crimp for my left
hand things not only felt wrong but I began to realise I’d made a mistake. When
looking at this move on the abseil the rope must have been taking most of my
weight, the pap hook falls off and I have to lay it on for the jug which feels
miles away. The easy move was in fact a pretty grim one. Thankfully the gear
didn’t get tested and expecting George to come up saying all the gear was fine
he concurred with my fears. We guestimated the climbing to be between 7c and 7c+
depending on wether you can reach. It is certainly harder than Sping in the Slate quarries.
It’s a serious climb which would have been a bad joke at E7. The best
protection on it is the peg but the guide says it’s poor and sawn off. I had
visions of falling, all the gear ripping and the loose flakes the cams were in
coming out to finish off an already battered body but to be honest that was
looking at it with a pessimists eye. I’d recommend taking a few skyhooks and
some bluetak as they are the best bits of protection. The route would have been
properly cutting edge in 1984 and youths ascent in 2008 I rate as one of the
hardest ground up ascents seen in Britain.Cheers to Ed and George……not sure
about Calum.
Snowdon Lilies at the base of the 'grim gully'
Neil Dicksen in Pembroke at the start of an ace UK cragging trip in September 2008
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