New St. Bees South Problems
Written by LakesBloc Monday, 04 January 2010 13:17
At St. Bees Head - South, Dan Varian and Greg Chapman have added a couple of new problems to the Cove area, immediately north of the roped descent.
Dan's line is possibly the better of the two new additions, and climbs the tilted wall and niche just right of the classic 6b/V3 Bottomless Arête. This starts from sitting on a small crimp and pocket, then moves up to a typically brilliant, slopey diagonal pinch before making a tricky move for the top of the block. Dan has christened this superb addition Punching Judy, and graded it 7b+/V8.
Just north of this on a previously unrecorded block - directly above the Cryptozoo area - Greg climbed a cool little hanging arête from sitting. This starts on open handed pinch and mono before climbing the undercut prow, via heel smears and small edges. Greg has called his new line Snowproof, and it goes at around the 7a+/V7 mark. The short may need a couple of stacked pads to start this one.
Also of note: Rob Fielding made what is thought to be the second ascent of Supposition Test (7c/V9), at the Cryptozoo area, confirming the quality of this great climb. Rob also informed us that, as suspected, Alan Wilson first climbed The Kraken back in 2001 (the year of foot and mouth). He went on to say that the other 'new' additions had, to the best of his knowledge, not been climbed before.
Blog Latest
Contact Us
