Open Project of the Month - July

This Month we visit a project that has been very close to my heart; it was the very first Giveaway of the Month back in 2009, and a project I raved about back then. This was a period of time where I was relatively time rich (in between Logan and the Twins) but finger pulley injuries had set me on the path to crack addiction. It was whilst I was sampling the Big G's fine Running Jam that I glanced over and espied this massive roof, and what appeared to be a crackline through it. This turned out to be a ramp forming the Arête Superior of the SuperProw of Cwmffynnon:

This was obviously not a crack, or within my realm of optimism at that time. So I tried to sell it to all the great and good, but still the Super prow abides...
Fast forward 5 years, and I'm getting more and more blessed allocations of adventure time, and the whole year of open projects came about. This was always at the top of the list, I'm getting a bit less bold, but what a location for a bit of extreme top-roping!

The Mighty Cwmffynnon, a pleasant if out of the way site of adventure bouldering and extreme top-roping. Super Prow is in the middle of the rocky bit, amongst the heather band.
The approach from Pen y Pass took about an hour, although some of this was due to curiosity and incompetence. The final 100m or so are a bit tricky route-finding wise so this piccy might help:

Over the twin streams, up to the second boulder of Giveaway April 2012, then up again over a craglet, to drop down the far side of the prow.

Setting up the Top rope

Testing the Swing

A quick play on the Arête Superior, showed it was a little out of our league (I could pull on the massive starting hold, but movement was improbable. We then moved onto the Arete Inferior; a sort of direct bypassing all the uber-territory and launching into the realms of possibility. This also starts off a clearly defined hold. This is my first attempt:

Many, many attempts later, I got a working sequence, but I was too boxed to link it to the top of the prow. I pulled up the rope to play on the finish:

Here you can see the Arête Superior in all its glory; the starting hold is just right of the slanting hairline fault on the left. Between this and the junction with A. Inferior, there are 2 incut holds and a whole bunch of slopers. A. Superior seems in the upper 7's into 8's range and A. Inferior is somewhere in the low 7's. I'm really keen to return, but I think some mileage is required first.

Could they be Highballed? sort of... The ground slopes away alarmingly, It would be best to be roped and "guided" onto a raft of mats. I'd be more inclined to think in terms of an E grade, despite its diminutive size. You could pre place some RPs that might hold...

Top Rope Bouldering; Could it catch on? Unlikely, too much testosterone in the world. I, for one, will be back with my rig (25m static, 4 screwgates, 2 large nuts, plus the TR) and looking forward to the king swing!

Enjoy!

Lunchtime Bogtrot

Had a couple of hours between school drop offs to check out the more direct route to Craig yr Haul. Within four steps I had entered a pond (note best to use the 3rd layby after the chicane for direct approach rather than the 2nd...).
Once I'd wrung myself out and re-calibrated next to the major riverlet, and surprise surprise a fence (no wonders I got my wires crossed conversing with messr Peck), it was easy navigation up to the now obvious Sun-y-Haul boulder.

Its a nice find, with many also-rans in the vicinity, though nothing to waste too much effort or patio time over. I was able to make sense of the righthand start (the only large hold) and sussed some of the swing in.

Really good effort by Tim for interpreting the line, the patio work, and just projecting up on this hill side.

I ferreted around a bit before the fell run back to the car for the School pick up. I'm not totally sold on the Direct route. The hillside is a mine field of crisscrossing streams and unhelpful vegetation. It also is fairly lumpy with hillocks and craglets to negotiate. I personally would recommend sticking to the Mymbyr approach to the wall, and using the path inside the wall to traverse to where the riverlet breaches the wall:

From here a scramble down gains Sun-y-haul

And a wander up gains the Craig y Haul boulders


Think I'm still on the hunt for that F7A+ project tho'

Enjoy

Wander to Craig yr Haul

Had a blessed opportunity today to perform a quick sprint up to explore J and K on the Mymbyr topo .

It was a fact finding mission, so rather than pads and shoes, I took my adventure hat, mobile phone, and Logan's 1 litre Spiderman water bottle...

J I had visited before, I had heard that Dr Crane and Associates had visited there, and at the time I was only looking for cracks anyway (pulley injuries led me to the true calling) It looks an impressive collection from the road, but there are only two properly useful blocs:

Upper cluster..

Lower Boulder

As you can see, Logans water bottle proved invaluable in providing scale and the vertical axis. I also have discovered that its a pain in the arse to traverse this hillside, this area is best approached from the Cube, as slogging up is infinitely easier then sideways travel.

My understanding of the area K; the main Craig yr Haul boulders was done on hearsay, squinting and looking at a map. I knew that Ug (Matt Perrier) had been up there and they were good, but that just made me think Ug probably did all the cool stuff, and I had plenty to play with in Feidr Fw. Hence I never went up there.

Big Mistake.

Lots of large boulders, many with flat grassy landings, often with a strong line. Obscurist's heaven.

My reason for finally making it up here was Tim Peck's Vid on vimeo, not only showing a nice Font7A+ in the neighbourhood,  but extolling the area as replete in the 3 to 6B range. I didn't find his Sun-y-haul, I think this is because he didn't approach from the same layby as me. In fact I reckon trips up here are better made from the next layby towards Capel, following the stream up. This would mean less traversing and more likely to find this Bloc.

That'll be my next trip, as Its part of this years plan to climb a Font and French 7a+ where I wasn't the FA, and this looks pretty.

Please visit

Getting out and Taking stock

This year, I have mainly been going Bouldering..

I've tried a bit of sport, trad, and solo, but it takes time, which is in short supply, and I'm route weak, and probably a bit scared. There I said it.
Bouldering's easy. Strap it on, try a few moves, go home. The lack of immersion has also meant I can keep up my new territory fix without becoming a gibbering ball of obsession.
Tuesday I wandered back up to my favourite place. No not the quarries, but Dyffryn Mymbyr:

This bit of tranquil hillside has a enough bouldering to keep me happy; new and old, fondly remembered and waiting to be rediscovered. Its all a bit hidden and spread out, which explains why I still have to revisit the Craig yr Haul boulders having only wandered the lower cluster once when searching fot the next Georges crack and climbed nothing.. Boring boulders look great and amazing boulders can look dull, until you actually get over and give them a feel, very deceptive place.

I noted that others have visited the Haul fields recently, I wonder if they played elsewhere (do tell..)

 My visit was due to kids having a taste of full time school, as I ended up lonesome I wasn't happy to gleam the cube, so I played with some old friends at Feidr Fw:

Last visit was around the time of Minnesota Loon, and I couldn't do the harder problems then. This visit Heel Keel and Happy Feet were sent which made me warm and fuzzy.

Heel Keel is the overhanging arete by the highball pad, and has many poor holds in its lower regions, choice and a well placed heel-toe in the crack to its right is the key. Back it the day I was trying this sans heel, very butch.

Happy Feet is not an aesthetic problem, in fact the Big G stomped up here, peered, and wandered back down again. Maybe it was some thing to do with the start being in the cave underneath the chockstone bottom right, or the fact that your back is rarely more than inches off the ground, or that if your chest is more than 40 inches or so you might bottom out...

Never mind, the moves are ace and the struggle taught me to invert without the risk of severe neck injury.. My core is certainly weak compared to those days, my training started tonight.

So How, I hear you ask, are the open projects going...
January - Neverfall
2 more trips and I'll have to arrange a grand opening.... I foresee many, many mats...
February - The Tosheroon
Not been back, but very keen, good painful fun!
March - James' Boulder
The cognoscenti have been sniffing around, I need much, much more conditioning before my elbows will handle it
April - The Old Pier monolith
The last nail for my elbows (ok now tho') bit like above really, one for a hot day, and then I can go swimming...
May - The Marchlyn grit Mimic
Ready for a pad, not feeling the psyche for the cycle, fully expect someone to snatch it.
June - The Cube
the most reasonable I reckon, just needs a pad team, watch this space.

Been a good year really.

Enjoy, and drop me a line (here or UKB) if you have tried any of the open projects.. We will Succeed!

Open Project of the Month - June

Almost didn't make it this month, as I had a particularly special chappie in mind, and was waiting for the stars to align.... only for the good weather to come to an end. However, a window of opportunity opened today and another Gem was visited.
This month is another criminally neglected past Giveaway, that I have chosen to take on myself until the rightful owner takes up the gauntlet. Okay, my directions may have been a little vague, and info sparse, but I may have been rushing that month.
Usual approach to Dyffryn Mymbyr; first layby after the chicane travelling from Pen y Grwyd to Capel, over the road and 5 bar gate, follow the fence up to the wall. Now over the wall and follow it to the right until this appears:

This is the Cube. The photo is a little tilted back and its more like this:

Now the issues with the Cube are: 1) its quite big and technical, and 2) the landing is a leeetle slopey and many of the central lines require a chute and pit approach to matting. the exception being this arête:

Although this is more of a stepped or tiered matting situation.

Basically it requires a team approach to mat acquisition and a bit of pushing and shoving.

As I was on my lonesome this visit, I concentrated on getting the groove line done and playing on the other starts. Thankfully the groove was fall free, however, I successfully tested the chute while playing on the central cube arête line.

After succeeding on the groove I repeated it for a vid. Its a bit long but will give you the opportunity to take the piss a bit..

Manly Groove F6B!

I think for a good play 6 mats divided between 3 players would work well.
Enjoy

Thoughts on Soloing, and how far someone will drag a Mat?

It was a glorious day today, and I was priveliged to be allowed to put Fatherhood aside and go and enjoy myself. I had first thought to get in Twll Mawr, but with Tarzan filming, I may have caused issues. I then got psyched to do a classic and get a little boldness training. However, all my climbing partners seemed otherwise engaged. No matter, I thought. Why not have a solo day. I had been keen on doing Zeta, or Stairway to Heaven if a partner had materialized, so I decided on Western Slabs / Slow Ledge Climb as a good combo of classics I hadn't done.
I haven't racked up much real rock time this year, but felt at peace about the route choices, having a good margin of grades in hand. This opinion changed on the crux of the first pitch (4b). Looking back this may have been due to; someones lower off gear being left in place just below me, holds being a bit smeggy / polished, soloing onsight, carrying a (small)rucksack, or just being out of practice.
However, something must of clicked as I pushed on and got to the next pitch. This was a bit more straightforward and my footwork felt a lot more confident and stable.
I was also aware that I couldn't make a mistake. Yes I had plenty of grades in hand, but with a rope, gear (or not - I'm not sure that's the point) and most importantly a partner climbing is so much easier. Mistakes may be painful or even life threatening, but not guaranteeing certain death. At least not the things I tend to play on nowadays.
On the third pitch I jibbed out the crux by traversing around the rib and using the holds round the back, I just didn't see the justification in such risk. It may be a good route, but polished and is my life worth a VS?
On top of the nose I thought about bailing, but the description of Slow Ledge seemed much more my territory, and so it was, some vegetation (negotiable) hard bits with positive holds, and due to rougher rock, no slippy polish!
I may have left my soloing days behind me after today I think. My late 20's in the quarries were punctuated with some pretty full on outings; Opening Gambit, Buffer in a Crackhouse (onsight), even onsight new route solo's like If you Kill People... and the Green Flash Challenge. But leaving my 30's what have I to gain? The experience brings less and the cost is higher, certainly to my family.
I think this is why I like highballs. Risk of injury without the certainty of death is a more palatable tipple, and I can push close to the limit without having to line up a surrogate dad for the boys.

Topping out on the Mot, I contemplated the universe, and all the lovely rock. There's loads up here including some really cool looking boulder size bits:

Overhanging widness in the background...

This one was too good to leave unclimbed:

The vertical wall went on layaways until the crack hit the slab, where the crack opened enough to admit fingerlocks. It took over half an hour to bag it, as the vert section had very poor feet, the locks were baggy, and the layaways were slopey. Oh and I didn't want to break my legs. Wasn't going to kill me though, and the point of commitment when the heel was thrown up was as good a moment of clarity as in any past solos. Toying with the name Kick out The Jams, as that song sprung into my head as I re-lived the experience back on the ground. Font 6C! is my guess but pfff! who knows. let me know if you repeat it.

Enjoy

Random Musings whilst Dylan Sits on my Head

Since writing the piece on Twll Mawr, I appear to have reawakened my passion for the place...

I'v not been too psyched for the quarries since the last big push for the guide, but although I can't get excited about another line of bolts or those classics that might hurt me,  the back wall is a special place.

I'm starting to consider getting on Razor's edge, as its the easiest of two I have left on the back wall (True Finish basically boils down to a single seporate pitch I've abbed but not got captured by). Who knows, I may even get the urge to do something new. Let me know if you're up for an adventure, or wanting to finish of Joe and Ray's work (if it stops raining)