Blog Posts in Category: Rock Climbing

After a very successful trip to Pembroke last weekend, and some great mid week cragging it was time for a four day weekend for easter. Last year I spent easter doing a winter traverse of the Cuillin Ridge, this year I spent it climbing sea cliffs in the sun. I was supposed to be heading down to Cornwall, however due to lacking a climbing partner for Cornwall I decided to head to Pembroke with my Mum for two days, before having two family days. On the first morning we decided to head to range west which meant we had to head to the Castlemartin camp to attend a briefing, due to the live firing which occurs on this range. We decided to walk to the Fortress, which is about as far from a car park as you can get in Pembroke, being a 70 min walk according to the guide book! Thanks to the great new guide books, we found the crag easily enough and enjoyed a fantastic day climbing on remote sea cliffs hardly seeing another person. The rock in this part of Pembroke is completely different to the. Read the full article…

Last weekend had a good weather forecast with a dominant high pressure system in power, this combined with excellent tide times meant a trip to Pembroke, which is one of my favourite climbing destinations. There were four of us which headed to pembroke, myself along with Rich, Nick R and Steve. It was a very successful weekend where Rich and I climbed 3 E1s, 3HVSs and a HS in good style with no falls or rests, I was very glad to get another 3 E1 leads under my belt and am now starting to feel more confident at the grade. The first day was grey and breezy but dry and not too chilly, we started the day by heading to the legendary Mother Carey’s Kitchen, also known as Mother Scarey’s due to its intimidating nature. I started the morning by leading the classic E1, Rock Idol, which heads up a very distinctive corner and contains some brilliant, very sustained and steep climbing. I was very happy to get the route cleanly, especially due to the slightly greasy morning rock with the odd wet hold. We quickly made our way back. Read the full article…

Another weekend with a forecast for sun and warm temperatures meant another weekend climbing. Last weekend I headed out sport climbing at Tirpentwys on the Saturday and trad climbing at Wyndcliffe on the Sunday. This weekend after a chilled out Saturday sorting stuff out at home I headed to Wintour’s Leap with Andrew today. We had a brilliant day out in the sun, even in the morning before we were in the sun it wasn’t cold. We started the day by climbing the classic route “The Angel’s Girdle”, due to having already lead the first pitch Andrew got pitches 1&3 and I was lucky enough to get the two main pitches. The route was great with some fantastic exposure, it was just a shame that we were climbing in the shade, however due to it being a traverse across a very popular section of wall it was necessary to start early. It was lucky that we did as there were about 6 other teams at the crag by the time we finished the route. The route was a bit runout in places inbetween pegs, but the climbing was never difficult, apart. Read the full article…

Today was certainly a plan c day, but it turned out to be a great day out. During the week I was trying to find someone to go to Scotland with me for the weekend, however all my regular partners were busy so it didn’t happen. In order to make the most of the good weather I then made plans with Neil to head up to the Peak for the day on Saturday to do some rock climbing. However early on Saturday morning the weather forecast changed to be for rain in the Peak, due to this we had a lie in and went climbing locally instead. The main slab at Portishead Quarry is a fantastic looking bit of rock, which surprised us both and once we arrived we were very keen to start climbing. Due to the aspect of the rock and surrounding quarry we were in the sun and sheltered from the wind which was fantastic as it meant that we could climb in base layers in January which was fantastic. We started up Pharos (HS) which was straightforwards but lovely climbing and a good warm up as. Read the full article…

Lundy is one of the places I have wanted to climb ever since I started climbing, this is due to a few reasons. Firstly, I have heard lots of great things about it from my parents over the years and secondly, I love sea cliff climbing to so the idea of going to an island and climbing is brilliant. Due to injury and the alps with just over a month to go until the trip I hadn’t climbed for almost two months, and when I started climbing again I felt very weak. Due to wanting to get the most out of the trip I started training a lot, and it seemed to work as by the time I was in Lundy I was feeling pretty strong. The boat ride out in the fog was fairly rough and there were a few moments where I felt pretty touch and go, however I made it across and fixed myself up with a full english breakfast at the pub on Lundy. After we had dumped some stuff at the accommodation we headed off to the Flying Buttress to climb Horseman’s Route in the. Read the full article…

It has been a pretty manic month with lots and lots of climbing making the most of the good weather we have been having. Since the start of April I have managed 51 rock climbs all over the country including, Pembroke, The Peak, The Lakes, Wye Valley and Avon Gorge. It has been a brilliant start to the climbing season and I am looking forward to the rest of the summer.

With a bit of a contrast to last weekend in Skye on the Cuillin Ridge, I spent Saturday rock climbing on Pembroke’s fantastic sea cliffs with Neil. It was a glorious day with a warm sun and a chilly breeze however the crags were mostly sheltered from this. With less than ideal tides and bird bans we headed to Stennis Head in the morning to do some non tidal and non bird banned routes. I started up Bludgeon which was a lovely HVS 5a corner which was quickly climbed to the top without much difficulty which I was very pleased with as I hadn’t lead a trad route since January and in February I only rock climbed twice. After this we abseiled back down and headed for the ‘Merchant of Stennis’ however in Neil’s haste he ended up leading up the E5 crackline to the left of the route called Fetish. He made swift work up to and past the crux but ran out of energy for the final section. After a few more attempts, including having to repeat the crux he escaped right into the E3 for a few moves before heading to the top. I. Read the full article…