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..

Giveaway Project of the Month - October

I feel like I'm out of the game, with only two of my projects in my back pocket, I'm needing a flash light to scour the vaults for more treasure. Its not all gloom and doom, however, and there are a few virgin lines that I have caressed that I have not already thrown over to you. Once these last titbits have been offered, if I have not been out gathering more, I'll just have to give someone else's projects away (any offers?).
Anyway, here's today's offering. Back in the slate quarries where most of my wandering and tinkering has occurred. This item is on one of my wet day circuits; pen garret, oildrum glacier, braich ladders, upper dinorwic and back to the car..

The Item of my interest is found on G'day level and is spied on page 91 of the current guide, glinting in the sunshine just left of the rust red climbing frame. This blunt curving arête is slight, maybe only 8-9m, but a bolt or two would make it more attractive than a patio as its a long way to drag a pad stack. A little play a year or two ago certainly revealed its technicality, a nice little mover.

enjoy

Back on the Beast

As you have probably noticed, life has mainly been about earning money and looking after the family rather than wobbling up 400ft of virgin horror show. I got out twice in August, and this Tuesday was my first day out since then.
Acting on some stiff words from chief Wideboi Messr Randall, I stopped fooling myself with the pursuit of well trod classics, and got out on a damp day to revisit the Beast. The plan was to wander up via the fox steps, across the slipped shelf and drop down to Kyber Pass. A short shimmy later and I was at the top hut retrieving the carpet to protect the ab rope. I had in mind a thorough reccie, place all the necessary gear on the way down, give it a spring clean (it'd been a year and a half) and suit up and shunt my way back up.
With the lay off from this kind of silliness I wasn't sure I'd even get over the edge. However, the fear didn't come and I was able to absorb myself in the minutiae of project prep. Once I'd reached the ledge that separated the scary finish from the meat of the overhanging flare, I was able to assess things so far. This 9m section was harder than I remembered, the two clusters of gear, one of three rp's, one of four cam #2's. Both of questionable quality; the rp's shallow, the cams shallow and a bit hollow. I'd forgotten the first 5m of dirty baggy shallow hand jams / shape throwing, that made this bit more E5/6 6a than the E4 5c I had in my brain.
I swung into the lower section an immediately felt amongst the sharks. A lot of the gear I'd placed for the initial clean was just not feasible to place on lead, and mostly not worth more than an aid piece. My initial swing gained the rest niche and I confidently placed a key slider into the 7-8mm parallel crack that provides all the gear bottom to top of this section.
It ripped under less than body weight. Five or six attempts followed, eventually much lower down a cam #00 held enough to pull in on and continue down.
The game had changed, there was only a few spots in this 9m section where protection worth more than aid would stay, and it still would probably rip if I fell in anger. I arrived at the base a bit narked, with the groove having had a barely adequate clean. This section stays out of the rain, but being dark and enclosed sucks in and holds all the mist and condensation. Once damp, the algae turns to pure lubricant. Properly clean, I reckon this section is somewhere between f7b-7c+, so I wasn't expecting a lot today. I did at least establish some technique ideas, and identify some nicks that could be imagined to provide some purchase for the left foot.
The meat of the Beast is this undercut section of v groove; tighter and less featured than the quarryman, once inside (a brain masher in itself) the right hand does some finger barring, the right foot does some sloppy torques, left arm snakes into ineffective bars, and left legs swims for its life.

I'm totally sold on the Beast, but Its needs about 10 bolts. None of the available protection after 5m guarantees you'll survive, combine that with hard f7 climbing where you can fall off any move, and it indicates a level of commitment that is completely unjustified by the experience of the route.
As a sport route, you'll be able to clean it well before climbing, and you won't need 5 sliders, 4 cam #00's, 4 cam #2's and an array of RP's. Hardly standard rack.
The climbing is good enough to encourage repeats, the hollow section by the cam#2 cluster is going to fall off someday, so as standard sport route prep has got to go.
One Winter day I'll get it sorted so I can condition myself for the spring.
One last Hurrah?

Giveaway Project of the Month - September

Clearing out the Shed, this ones now a Open Project.

4 bolts to a lower off, 10m overhanging by 1.5m
 V4/5 into V5/6 into V7
3 good shakes
Prone to seepage, but nothing some Vaz couldn't solve.
I don't expect this one to go unclaimed.
Bottom of Chwarel Fawr, round from Way Down in the Hole, see Ground up Guide

Enjoy