St. Bees? Yes Please!

Written by Greg Chapman Thursday, 24 June 2010 07:47

Some more developments at St. Bees Head to report, this time around the Northern Head. At the Fisherman's Steps Dan Varian has climbed a new problem on the Fisherman's Dyno boulder. Straight outta Rowrah starts sitting as for Tim's Crack but heads up at a perpendicular angle to finish matched on jams in the crack about 1m left of the end of Primate Principles. Dan commented that it was “a similar grade to Tim's Crack”, so in the 7c/V9ish range. Although it's worth noting, as with all the lines in this cave, weather and sea conditions have a big part to play in their relative difficulty on any given day.

At Fleswick Bay, I climbed a few more problems on the boulders recently reported, situated at the south end of the beach. I have updated the basic topo (available here) to include all the new additions, however the most notable new problems include two fine climbs on the north end of Bega's Boulder: Soundwave (7c/V9ish), climbs the left side of the wall direct, starting with a small crimp (LH) and slopey break (RH), whilst on the right side of the face we have Captain Scarlet (7a+/V7). This starts on a good side pull for your RH, before pulling on and making a tricky “over yourself” move for a pocket-come-slot, match this and finish direct. On the large blocks at the north end of the beach, I also climbed a couple of other lines (both noted on the updated topo), this time the most noteworthy problem was a superb undercut arête on the uppermost block. This is Bay Watch, at goes at 7b+/V8ish.

Image: Bay Watch (7b+/V8ish).

More images here.