Back from another weekend in wales with Soames and although I feel battered and tired, I'm buzzing. It's been a good weekend. I think there some people who'd be disappointed with the amount of climbing we got done, but I wasn't because sometimes going away climbing, isn't actually about the climb, is it?Like all trips this started with an early start and a long uneventful drive. We did stop off at V12 for Soames to purchase a rack of DMM Brass offsets. I have a few of these and I love them to bits but I just can't justify purchasing a full set (sadly). Breakfast was had at the Treardur bay Cost Cutter, because it's simply the best £2.50 you'll spend on breakfast. We parked at the same spot and walked in along the same path we always seem up, this time weighed down with a little more extra gear... namely 3 angle iron belay stakes, pegs and a 1kg lump hammer each.
The weather report for the weekend was pretty good, considering the rest of the UK. We expected some showers in the early afternoon and thus planned to climb, run back to the car to wait out the rain and then climb some more in the evening. This is basically how our day went too. We got to "Black Crag" (still haven't settled on a name for it) and set about protecting the top of the routes with our stakes. These were originally intended to be lightweight stakes that we could remove and replace as we moved along different sections on coastline (and along the Range) but it soon became apparently that they were going no where. It's cool though, just means I'll need to source some more. With the stakes in place I volunteered to test them and rappel in first. 
They held (evident by the fact I'm still here) and Soames said there was virtually no movement in them we I abseiled in. The weather wasn't exactly perfectly sunny to begin with but down in the small zawn the spray was getting whipped around and covered all the walls in a greasy film. Once Soames joined me I had a crack at the most obvious line on the crag, which was super greasy and I backed off, tail firmly between my legs. Instead I tried a line to the right which broke through the overlap and followed a shallow seam before a short traverse left (to avoid large loose blocks) gained access to the top. I named it "the approaching curve" and we gave it E1 5a. Back down Soames had been eyeing up a line which took a short corner crack before breaking right onto a rib (and then up and out). Needless to say this was actually damp, rather than just greasy. It had water running down small sections of it! During our gearing up Soames came out with the 4 qualities that a route must possess to be a good route (as far as he's concerned). These 4 "qualities" are:
- Loose
- Greasy
- Damp
- and Unprotected
I think these 4 qualities say a lot more about what Soames likes climbing, rather than what makes a good route. Needless to say "The Rib Tickler" (as it became) was a little loose, unprotected in it upper section, damp in the big groove to begin with and all the rock was greasy... and yes, it was a great route.
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The weather put play to any climbing in the afternoon but it was predicted and instead of sitting it out in the car we did something productive and went to put the tents up. This turned into an excellent plan as the weather lasted a little longer than we anticipated but it meant an afternoon of sitting under the tarp drinking tea (and scotch) and the eating of various different cheeses. It also gives me an opportunity to introduce the height of climbing-bum civilisation... the camping table! What may look like a piece of wood that we found at the side of the road to the untrained eye is actually the communal focus of our tents and somewhere flat to put things down on. I know it might seem a bit over the top but we spend a lot of time in our tents. We don't wander down the pub in the evening and it just makes life a little easier. Which isn't bad for a piece of wood we found at the side of the road really.
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Slightly later, but as predicted the weather did clear up in the evening. Our first port of call turned out to be a wander along the coast line from Porth da Dafrach so Soames could show me "muscle beach" (a 50 degree overhanging climb with some short routes on it). Such a walk didn't just stop there and we continued to wander southwards checking out all the little bays and zawns, most of which contained some seriously overhanging or loose quartzite. Carrying no climbing gear we headed back to the car and after much decision ended up at Holyhead Mountain. I don't know why but this just put me in a bad mood. We'd toyed with the idea of going to Main Cliff and getting a route done, but it was getting late and we'd already watched the coast get hammered by rain and there was more coming in. Holyhead Mountain always just feels like a consolation prize to me. I never aim to go climbing there, but it's always a back-up option when the weather crap out at Gogarth or Rhoscolyn. I guess part of the reason is that I've never really bothered to get myself psyched to actually anything but a load of the trad routes there.
This time I mumbled and grumbled, somehow allowing myself to sink in a really bad mood. There was people on the route's I want to do or we simply couldn't be arsed to walk up to the base of the crag. Instead we sat and watched a team climbing a classic VS (black and tans, which I've not done) whilst enjoying just being there. When the guy topped out, Soames suggested we go and do one route. This route was "the Elephant's Arse" and it's managed to change my opinion about a whole crag.
The elephants arse only gets severe but having now climbed it I wouldn't be surprised if it causes more than a few problems for some people. The route involves climbing though a crack/hole in the cliff before belaying inside. The there's chimneying and awkward thrutchy goodness to gain the top. I ended up covered in mud all down one arm, dripped on and generally feeling completely battered, all with a huge smile on my face. We even ticked off a 5c crack line to finish and top out. I think the pictures will do it more justice:
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Because I forgot to set my alarm I woke up at 0545 in the morning on Sunday. As I lay there struggling out of my down jacket that I'd passed out in after a few beers the night before my brain suddenly registered the sound on rain on the fly of my tent. I snuggled back down into my sleeping bag for another hours kip. This pattern continued for a while till I emerged and made some tea. It appeared Soames had had similar ideas to me and we took our time that morning slowly waking up and drinking shed loads of tea. When the rain did stop and we'd had a good look at the weather we made a move.
Breakfast was at the treardur bay Cost Cutter and this beat even yesterdays bap. I ended up with 2 eggs, 3 sausages, hash browns, mushrooms and sauce all for £2.50. This set us up for the day as walked along the coast to climb a route at Llawder, the main climbing area of Rhoscolyn. It was walking along the top of the cliff that I encountered an incredibly obnoxious woman. She actually started talking to me and politely asked whether there was abird ban at the cliff, to which I replied there wasn't. This is where is all started. She went to tell me that there infact was a bird ban (again I explained there wasn't), and that I should have checked the guidebook before I came out. She got a little annoyed when I pointed out that the current guide was about 30 years out of date, but this didn't stop her. She then told me to check the new guidebook (I told her there wasn't one) or the supplement that had been released (again I told her that there wasn't any). After this she left, leaving me thoroughly pissed off. I don't mind people enquiring what I'm up to when I'm out, and I'd have hated to climb on the cliff if there was a bird ban but this woman seemed adamant that she was going to win.
Either way Soames arrived a little behind me, saw I was angry and asked what had happened. He then went off to catch up with her and have a little chat. He came back about 10 minutes later was a broad grin on his face. Apparently she ended up phoning the local estate to check about bird bans only to be told that there wasn't one, and there never has been one. I call that a win.
Climbing wise we had a pretty chilled day. I've been staring at the little slab of rock that had Big Queenie and The Wild Rover on it at Llawder for a years actually, but never got round to climbing on it. Today was different and we descended to the bottom of the cliff (out of the 30mph wind) to bask in the sun trap that was the base of the wall. The route itself (The Wild Rover, E1 5b) was excellent and just how I thought it would be. I didn't have any scary moments but just enjoyed the climbing happily. The rock is excellent and the gear is spaced but bomber. I sat all snug and warm belaying in my new down jacket on the top. It's been a wild since I've pushed myself at a sea cliff (or anywhere for that matter) and it was cool just to climb something that I'd thought about not doing and have enjoyed it so much. 
Unable to decide what to do we headed back to see if the black slab was dry, with a few to put a couple more lines up on it. It wasn't perfect but it was certainly better than the day before and as Soames had put up the last line he gave me the lead. I headed straight for the direct line up the centre that I'd back off doing the day before. It's the clear and obvious line up following a thin crackline up the middle of the slab. After much effort, down climbing, working out moves and placing on gear I finally worked out all the moves I needed to make to get my hands on the good holds and make the final rock over. It was a really hard sequence of moves to make but I got there in the end and found myself standing on the slab.
It's defiantly a route of two halves! The was strenuous and pumpy and the top was delicate and slabby. There was a load of small friable and snappy holds that needed to be pulled on or pushed off to make upward progress and I regretted not following Soames's advice to abseil the line and give it a bit of a clean. It didn't matter though as I soon topped out to give "The good left undone, E2 5c".
It was only after Soames had topped out that we realised that we'd left the camera at the base of the cliff...
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