Saturday dawned and luckily it was raining. I was supposed to be trying The Quarryman with young super-star climber Pete Whittaker (Grit Kids).
I checked the satellites and webcams and discovered that we would be okay out on the coast, with Craig Doris looking like it would even be sunny (which it was).
Pete hadn’t climbed much choss before, and I did feel a little responsible for him too, so I picked the climbs carefully, we did 3 routes, all 3 star classics. I led Noble Savage (E5 6b), which is a soft touch and a great route. Pete then led Byzantium (E4 6a) which is the Right Wall of the Lleyn, a fantastic adventure and no push over at E4.
It was then time to up the ante a little bit, so I tried to retro flash Tonight at Noon, which is a very steep E6 6b, and I got totally boxed placing all the gear and lobbed on the final move in to the finishing groove. My much younger and more talented partner then had the benefit of my chalk and preplaced gear to cruise the route and fire off the remaining few metres, not bad for a first visit to the Lleyn.
There aren’t many E6’s on the Lleyn that I would be able to recommend and still sleep at night! Tonight at Noon has a naughty start, but the upper parts are safe, so it’s kind of okay. You still have to be at one with the choss though, it would be quite easy to get into trouble on the first groove.
We were being filmed by the Bamboo Chicken team and Dave Brown emailed over some video stills – so here they are.
Pete Whittaker tops out on Noble Savage - watched by 2 kayakers
Me on Tonight at Noon in the crux initial groove
Loose rock on Tonight at Noon - at least the stretching has been paying off - check out that bridge!
High and pumped on Tonight at Noon, smashing a cam in prior to air time!
