A Giveaway Index

Now this blog has been running for a while, I'm beginning to lose track of which projects are out there in the public domain of what. To help me avoid replication, and you find the project of your dreams, I've compiled this list:

2009

July
Super Prow of Cwm Ffynnon
highball

August
Craig y Llam
trad crack

September
Mount Doom
sport project, turned out too loose (see May & June 2010)

October
Porthmissen bridge
cornish adventure trad

November
mynydd drws y coed
virgin crag

December
Darwin level
quarry icefall


2010

January & February
Haldrine Cove
cornish trad

March
dyffryn mymbyr
boulder

April
Glyn Rhonwy
virgin slate pit

May & June
mount doom
repeated offering of sport projects, left hand one is best offering

July
Benllech
offwidth bouldering

August
Clegir bouldering

September
Llanberis Pass
trad crack

October
Twll Mawr arete
became part of an Ian Lloyd Jones Sport route

November
Snowdon Lady Copper Mine
adventure in trad or Ice

December
Glynn Rhonwy
Ice Fall

2011


January
Crystal Chasm
virgin quarry level, boulder and adventure

February & March
Craig y llam
offwidth trad

April
Nantmor
Virgin boulders

May
Suncharm ledge
Dolerite bouldering

June
Lost world
sport project

July
Mancer quarry
adventure trad offwidth

August
Twll Mawr
Adventure trad

September
Clegir
Virgin boulder cluster

October
Vilca bamba
Through trip

November
Upper dinorwig arete
adventure trad/ sport project

December
Fachwen Arete
sport project

2012

January
Cwm Elidir
Bouder

February
Isles of Scilly
Trad

March
Isles of Scilly
Trad

April
Cwm Ffynnon
Boulders

May
Nant Peris
Highball

June
Lost World
Sport project

July
Twll Mawr
Adventure trad

August
Llyn Peris
Boulders

September
Cefn Du
Equipped Sport Project

October
G'Day Level
Sport Project / Highball

November

Twll Mawr
adventure trad

December
The Roaches
Adventure trad on Grit?

I'll do a yearly summary from now on, then hopefully I won't repeat myself again...

Giveaway Project of the Month - November

While Flicking through my photo bank I came across this piccy from the 1st ascent of Taith Mawr:

 This is on pitch 3 which is the 1st pitch of proper new territory. to get to this point I'd placed one folded nut in a shothole and 2 sky hooks. The traverse just kept shuffling on all spacey spacey, I was getting a bit concerned, and then I arrived at a curious phenomenon. A perfect splitter running vertically up the wall, through the traverse line and off into the distance. It may have only been RP2-3, but the gear was bomber once I'd fired a few in.

I got thinking, this could be the key to unlocking this shield of rock. You can see on the topo on Page 168 of the guide that this is a significant patch of line free space, and there's an obvious finger of rock stabbing upward into the middle of it. This less obvious piccy below shows some of the points.

the pink dot is where the 1st picture is taken from, the greeny dot is the thrusting faultline of hamadryad, and the blue dot is the lefthand fringe of the finger. This Giveway is a opportunity for an awesome onsight adventure, avoiding most of the bushes on the back wall. The Finger would lead at some point to the splitter, which would allow safe passage to the ledges at the top of the shield and a shuffle to the summit. The possible challenges are that you would probably have to split this section into 2 pitches, and you may run out of RP's...

Incidentally, during my trawl I happened across this:

A better piccy of Giveaway August 2011..

Enjoy

The Beast Is Caged..

On an exceptionally sunny day, I found myself set free by my better half, plied with big drills and lashings of static rope. Thus equipped I was off to the quarries. Arriving at Bus Stop I was greeted by Carlos himself, off for a spot of slacklining. Spurred on by this fortuitious meeting, we walked in together, him under a load of wide tape and rigging ropes, myself under about 25kg of spaff.

Unfortunately, I'd forgotten my hammer..

Fortunately, I was only 100 yards from the car when I realised this, and as I got back to vehicle, Ian Lloyd Jones appeared and presented me with one. The Slateheads were smiling down....

As was the sun, water, sweating and panting breaks were required, but I eventually staggered to the weighing hut at the top of the yellow wall steps. It was here I promptly got lost and staggered up and down the scree like a numpty, trying to find the Razor's notch. This col is one I frequented and owned godamit, back in my freer days, a calling point on many of my wanderings. However, I turned up eventually and sought my solution to getting all the gear to the Twll Mawr Summit. After tossing Ian's hammer repeatedly into the void (tied to the static) I bit the bullet, paid out lots of slack and lashed myself to the rigging. Its a fairly simple solo to the summit, But negotiating it dragging a rope, which in turn needs to run free enough to allow me to get it back to the hauling point meant some thoughtful moments.

Still I got to my sunbed eventually....

The picture shows all the gear I pack horsed up:

36v drill + 2 batteries

40 bolts

100 of Static Rope

Lunch and water

assorted climbing and bolting spaff.

The view down the beast.

As usual things didn't go to plan, the hollow bit took a hammering, wouldn't fall off, but merely wobbled. I was concious that the bolting should prevent the rope running over the sharp fins on the upper section, or bringing the rope / protection in the firing line if it did shed. The solution was one bolt in the closed out upper section, keeping it bold but safe. The upper groove remained Cam #2 protected, keeping the rope away from danger, but you never get far above them, before getting to the bolt.

The Lower section is bolted well out the way, and is pretty overhanging anyway (the rope here is hanging plumb vertical) and the belayer is in a tunnel.
Everybody safe.
That done, I proceeded to the main event. Rebolting Journey to the centre of the earth. a F6a+/E1 that gets three stars and ends 30m up an 80m wall (hence 100m of static).

As you can see the daylight was beginning to go at this point. With the old rusty bolts being imperial and slightly under drilled, I soon abandoned thoughts of removal, and pushed on. 7 bolts in 30m looks pretty spacey, but at least they're good ones now. At the bottom I started to prepare to rebolt Full metal jack off. Basically I dumped all the kit below it and tied it to the bottom of the rope.

Up I Shunted until a pendulum into the belay was possible without slicing the line. It was proper dark now. I abandoned optimism, replaced the belay, and fixed a handline to the lost world ladders. Once I'd stashed the gear on the ladders, I set about shunting back up, stripping the rebelays and getting back to my head torch.
Proper Dark, Proper tired. I stacked the rope back in the bag and packed everything I could see. Rebolting Full metal and the porphory chair will have to wait until I get another bolting window (or someone else is inspired). They can be done with a less bulky kit list however, as both belays are accessible off the Mordor ring path. I'll probably put in a belay for the middle earth ladder too, so the nervous can rope out to escape the pit.

So the Beast is now ready for me, Caged but not fully tamed (the hollow jaws..) a sport grade or a sporting tradish? My heart tells me it'll be HVM  (f7ish)


Watch this Space

Hat Report

Hat wearing commenced on the 30th Of October.
Comparable to last year's winter (which was rubbish) and 3 weeks earlier than the previous one (which was good)


not sure of the forecasting value of warm head gear, will see how this winter pans out..