I’m 63 now, so the concept I ought to nonetheless be collaborating in “journey sports activities” is maybe a little bit ridiculous. Nonetheless, mountaineering has been a lot a part of my life for therefore lengthy that I nonetheless attempt to get out, typically for straightforward quick climbs on the gritstone cliffs close to my dwelling in Derbyshire. There are issues that I’ve accomplished in my youthful days that I’ve put behind me with out a lot remorse – I gained’t be climbing frozen waterfalls in New England once more, or winter climbing within the Lakes or Scotland. I do miss snowy mountains a bit, although I do know I’ll by no means be a severe alpinist. However there’s one number of cllmbing that I believe could be very particular, that I look again on with actual pleasure, and that I believe perhaps I ought to attempt to contain myself in as soon as once more, even when at a a lot decrease stage than earlier than. That’s mountaineering on Britain’s sea-cliffs, a department of the pastime with its personal distinctive environment and set of calls for.
I began mountaineering critically after I was 14 or so; at the moment it was my household’s behavior to spend each summer season in St Davids, Pembrokeshire, close to the place my mom had grown up. The shoreline of Pembrokeshire is spectacular – a succession of coves, headlands, and cliffs, pounded by the open Atlantic waves. On the time, the concept of climbing the cliffs of Pembrokeshire was in its infancy. Mountain climbing on the granite cliffs of Cornwall was well-established, and the counter-cultural climbing scene of North Wales had created onerous and severe routes on the sea-cliffs of Gogarth, on Anglesea. However what little climbing on the cliffs of Pembrokeshire was recorded in a slim guidebook by Colin Mortlock, printed in 1974, not by the Climbers Membership or any of the institution sources of climbing data, however by an area publishing home extra related to postcards and wildlife guides than mountaineering.
The primary ever guidebook to climbing in Pembrokeshire, by Colin Mortlock. Simply 150 pages lengthy (the present guidebook runs to five volumes), it usually failed within the primary perform of telling one the place the routes go (and, in a single or two circumstances, even the place the cliffs truly are), however was a supply of nice inspiration. The quilt {photograph} is of Colin Mortlock himself climbing “Pink Wall” at Porthclais.
My creativeness was seized by the duvet of this e-book, exhibiting Mortlock himself powering up a sheer, apparently overhanging, wall above a boiling sea. The route was referred to as “Pink Wall”, and was graded “extreme” – that was the type of climbing I needed to do. In 1977 I persuaded my faculty pal and climbing accomplice Mark Miller to come back and stick with my household in Pembrokeshire so we may give this sea-cliff climbing enterprise a attempt.
Mark and I had been, by that point, fairly assured climbers as much as grades of extreme, with some stage of primary competence at rope work and safety, and in possession of the essential gear – ropes, harnesses, the nuts and slings that had been cutting-edge on the time. We studied the guidebook and regarded on the image. It regarded steep – however certainly, if it had been that overhanging, the holds should be good. We’d accomplished routes like that on the gritstone cliffs of Derbyshire, we thought – robust routes for the grade, however inside our grasp.
However we’d misjudged it. The quilt image turned out to wildly tilted; it’s an off-vertical slab, perhaps 70 levels or so, blessed with excellent sharp, incut finger holds. We romped up it. Extreme? It could barely be V. Diff within the Peak District! But it surely stays one in all my favorite routes – I’ve in all probability accomplished it twenty instances since then. Few routes seize so fully the enjoyment of sea-cliff climbing at its friendliest, with easy accessibility to the bottom of the route, clear blue water sloshing gently under one’s toes, lichen and rock samphire on lovely pink rock, footholds and handholds in all the appropriate locations.
Mark and I acquired higher and extra skilled at climbing. By the point we left faculty I used to be a assured chief of climbs VS in grade, tentatively attempting issues that had been a bit more durable. Mark had by pressure of will transformed himself into an excessive chief, with a specialism in daring, protection-less slabs. In the summertime earlier than I went to College, in 1980, we persuaded a comparatively new pal, Peter Carter, to come back with us to Cornwall and Devon. Or, extra precisely, we persuaded Peter to take us there – just lately discharged from the Royal Marines, he had the distinctive asset of proudly owning, and understanding how you can drive, a small van.
Our journey began on the very tip of Cornwall – on the granite cliffs of West Penwith. We did some fantastic climbs on the standard cliffs of strong granite, like Bosigran and Chair Ladder. But it surely was on the return journey that our sea-cliff horizons had been really expanded. A bleak headland close to the north coast village of St Agnes is thought to climbers as Carn Gowla, with 300 foot cliffs falling vertically into the deep sea.
The route we selected was a HVS referred to as Mercury. The primary drawback is attending to the bottom of the route – the one manner was to abseil. We tied two 150ft 9 mm ropes collectively, anchored them to a great thread within the slope above the groove, and set off down. On the backside, a ledge about twenty toes above the waves, there’s an enormous sense of dedication – the simplest manner out is the route Mercury, all 270 ft of it. In the long run, the technical difficulties weren’t past us, although the publicity, dedication, and the doubtful, vegetated rock had been very removed from the pleasant crags of the Peak District.
One other spotlight of that journey was my first encounter with the spectacular surroundings on the stretch of coast north from Bude to Hartland. Often called the Culm Coast, it’s composed of thinly bedded sandstones and shales which were dramatically folded, after which sliced abruptly by the ocean. Not solely is it essentially the most dramatic coastal surroundings in England, it additionally offers a wide range of nice climbs, starting from quick and strong sea-washed slabs to 400 foot climbs, nearly of mountain scale, on rock whose solidity just isn’t above suspicion. I’ve returned to it many times.
There’s one thing uniquely memorable, I believe, about sea cliff climbs, and even a long time on I vividly bear in mind the climbs and the folks I did with them with. On the Culm Coast there’s a 400 ft climb referred to as Wrecker’s Slab. The primary time I did it was with my school pal Jonathan Sharp, I believe only a few months earlier than he tragically died within the Alps. It wasn’t onerous, however its scale and looseness gave it fairly a repute, well-deserved.
In Pembrokeshire, amongst the cliffs north of St Davids, Trwyn Llwyd is a wonderful buttress of strong gabbro. I did Barad with Sean Smith; its crux felt like a VS gritstone jamming crack – 200 toes instantly above the ocean. Craig Coetan is a a lot simpler crag, above a little bit inlet which attracts curious seals. In my teenage years I explored these mild slabs with my father.
Again within the Culm coast, the toughest route I did was with my previous and far missed pal, the late Mark Miller. Blackchurch is a crag with a sinister environment that totally lives as much as its identify; Archtempter is among the classics of the principle cliff – a hovering groove line now graded E3. Mark did the primary pitch, skinny and unfastened, and I led the widening crack above by way of an overhang. On the high, we up to now forgot ourselves to shake arms.
Blackchurch, North Devon. The plain groove is the road of “Archtempter”; the (simply seen) climbers are Mark Miller on the midway stance, and above him the creator, nearly to enter the overhanging part. It’s not a fantastic picture, but it surely does convey one thing of the demonic environment of this crag.
Searching for new routes offers one other, exploratory dimension to sea-cliff climbing; I had many memorable journeys with Brian Davison, who believed that the aim of information books was to let you know the place to not climb. Within the Lleyn Peninsula, we did one of many earliest routes up Craig Dorys; we referred to as it “Error of Judgement”. Because the guidebook says: “It definitely was, an appallingly unfastened line”.
In North Pembrokeshire Penbwchdy is a protracted headland with a future of huge, vegetated cliffs. I’d been there with Jonathan Sharp however did not stand up something – we’d scrambled down a grassy slope, accomplished a 150 ft abseil to sea stage to search out our manner ahead was to cross a deep however slim inlet on the stays of a wrecked ship. Not relishing the concept of balancing throughout on an previous propeller shaft, over which waves had been breaking, we went again the way in which we got here.
The nice pioneer of sea-cliff climbing, Pat Littlejohn, had a accomplished a route on the far finish of Penbwchdy, on a bit of cliff he referred to as New World Wall, accessed by a protracted low-tide sea stage traverse after the shipwreck crossing that Jonathan and I had balked at. Achieved in 1974, I believe Terranova, because the route was referred to as, hadn’t had lots of repeats, given the awkward strategy. However Brian and I later discovered one other manner right down to New World Wall, with some cautious route discovering and a remaining scramble. Brian led a brand new route up this, which he referred to as “New Daybreak Fades”, at E4, a great onsight lead up a steep groove.
The perfect new route I ever did was on the sandstone cliffs south of St Davids, a few miles east of Porthclais. A pamphlet describing new routes reported a brand new crag on the headland close to Caerfai, with a HVS referred to as “Amorican”, now a traditional and infrequently repeated route. I kicked myself – I’d walked previous that crag innumerable instances however by no means observed its potential. However to the appropriate of the crack of Amorican is a sweeping concave slab of sandstone, unclimbed in 1984. Climbing with Mary Rack, I discovered a circuitous line; a skinny sloping crack demanded 20 ft of intricate and exact footwork, with solely tiny holds for the arms. I referred to as it “Unsure Smile”.
Sea cliff climbing undoubtedly has extra hazard than the landward selection – unfastened rock, tidal situations, huge waves. One expertise in Cornwall was the closest I’ve (knowingly) come to dying. My climbing accomplice was José Luis Bermudez; we had been staying on the Climbers Membership hut at Bosigran, the place I bear in mind being hubristically superior, as skilled climbers and profitable younger teachers, to the get together of college college students we had been sharing the hut with.
The following day we went to Fox Promontory, a barely obscure granite headland on the south aspect of the West Penwith peninsula. We scrambled down above the March seas to a sloping platform, perhaps 20 toes above the extent of the ocean. However freak waves do exist; I bear in mind seeing a wall of water coming in direction of me, then an enormous weight knocking me down and dragging me downwards throughout the tough granite. José had been on a better stage than me, I felt him seize me as I got here to a cease a couple of toes above the ocean. We hastened to climb out, me soaking moist, practically hypothermic by the point we acquired to the highest of the route, with the entire of the entrance of my physique grazed and bloody, feeling like I had been dragged throughout a cheese-grater.
In some unspecified time in the future in my 30s I realised I didn’t any extra have the bottle to do huge severe sea-cliff routes any extra. One memorable day trip with Brian Davison in all probability confirmed this; he had his eye on an unclimbed sea-stack near Fishguard – Needle Rock. However to get to it we needed to resolve a 200 foot cliff, additionally unclimbed. We abseiled so far as a 150 rope would take us. We needed to descend the final 50 ft utilizing the ropes we had been going to climb with, so once we acquired to the hole between the cliff and the needle we needed to pull them down after us. Now we needed to stand up the sea-stack and down once more earlier than the route again to the principle cliff was reduce off by the tide, after which discover a new route on-sight to get again up the mainland cliff.
In the long run it was fantastic – Brian led a great route up the sea-stack, which he named “For sure”. And there was a comparatively simple route up the principle cliff to be discovered, at about VS in grade. Brian is a perfectly sturdy and resourceful climber; there may be no-one I’d belief extra to get out of a sticky state of affairs, and there actually was nothing to fret about, however I may really feel myself dropping my cool and succumbing to nervousness and worry.
I believe these routes had been just about the final severe, excessive routes I’ve accomplished on sea-cliffs. However sea-cliff climbing doesn’t all the time should be like that. There’s nonetheless pleasure available in mild routes above quiet seas. And there’s no higher instance of that than the route I began this piece with, Pink Wall at Porthclais, nonetheless one in all my favorite routes anyplace.
The gentler aspect of sea-cliff climbing. The creator on his umpteenth ascent of Pink Wall, Porthclais, close to St David’s; this image provides a way more correct sense of the character of the route than the duvet image of the Mortlock information!
