St. Bees South: Open for Business

Written by LakesBloc Monday, 07 December 2009 20:52

Greg Chapman, with the assistance of Tom Newberry, Andy Hebson and Mike Binks, has added a more extensive level of recording to the superbly set, yet little known spot of St. Bees Head – South, on the northwest Cumbrian coast.

Greg first visited the area around 8 years ago and climbed a handful of problems between then and now, none of which he publicly recorded, with this being the traditional nature/style of these coastal crags. However, with the recent, more modern approach to documenting the highly popular northern head, he thought it was about time the southern head received similar exposure - if only to spread the load.

Image: Iron Hide SDS (8a/V11).

The likes of Adam Hocking, Wes Hunter, Ryan Dempsey, Jim Arnold and the Wilson’s (to name a few) will no doubt have left their mark here over the years, but as no records have been kept little is known about who did what first. As such, if any of the climbs listed here or on the basic topo, are yours and you wish to take credit, please get in touch and we will amend any FA details on the graded lists.

Of the climbs sent in recent months, the most notable and best are; The Kraken (7a+/V7), Killer Bee (V9/7c), Supposition Test (7c/V9), Dead Calm (7b/V8), Master at Arms (7b+/V8), Kill Switch (7a+/V7), Liberty’s End 7a+/V7, Iron Hide (8a/V11) and Davy Jones Locker 7b+/V8.  Greg climbed all these lines, bar the last problem, which was climbed by Tom Newberry.  As stated above, if you realize you have climbed any of these problems or others not described here, please get in touch so we can up date the records.

A crag's page entry has been created for St. Bees Head – South, as well as a reasonably extensive gallery (containing images of many of the 'new' lines), these can be reached via the link below.

St. Bees Head - South (page).