More Gillercombe Newbies

Written by LakesBloc Thursday, 01 January 2009 00:00

Greg Chapman has added a number of problems to the boulders around Gillercombe and Sourmilk Ghyll, in Borrowdale. After a tip-off from Mark Johnson, who discovered the boulder way back in 2001, Greg added two fine problems to the steep front face of a "new" block, situated a few hundred metres up the hill from the boulders at the base of Sourmilk Ghyll. The Cloud Chamber, 7b+/V8 takes the right side of the wall from sitting and Deforestation, 7a+/V7 takes the left side of the wall from sitting. This block features excellent landings and some fine climbing, and as such is well worth seeking out. At the main area below Gillercombe crag, Greg also added a sitter to Neil Kershaw's big 6c+ arête on the first large boulder encountered on the approach from Sourmilk Ghyll, giving the quality N&G Special, 7b/V8. All these problems are featured in the new PDF guide to the area, which can downloaded here.

Further south at premier Lancashire destination, Thorn crag, Greg added a new problem on the Loaf boulder. Positions of Strength, 7b/V8, climbs the rising rib on the west facing face of the block and starts from sitting below a short face, before making a hard couple of moves to link into the rib and following it up and left to the top of the block.

Image right: The Cloud Chamber (7b+/V8).