New Coastal Trio

Written by Greg Chapman Monday, 06 December 2010 00:00

I have added a few decent additions to the St. Bees Head - South circuit, all of which are located in the vicinity of the most frequented sector, at the base of the cliff top descent (rope).

On the Whale Boulder, Shark Attack (7b/V8) follows the obvious traverse line, starting at a big pocket half way along the seaward face of the block. From a sitting start follow the horizontal seam right to the end of the face, before mounting the nose direct. Incidentally, you may need to throw a few blocks into the small rock pool just right of the start, to keep you pads dry. I did do this when I originally climbed the line however the tide has a habit of dragging them out. Next up, after sorting the landing out I climbed, from sitting, the slopey, rising lip traverse, on a block 60m right (as faced) of the classic Honeycomb. This is Sword of Omens and goes at around the 7a+/V7 to 7b/V8 mark. Finally, the main event is on the vast block come craglet situated immediately south of Sword of Omens. Despite its size and quality the main face offers little in the way of holds, however I have managed to climb a fine problem up the centre of the wall, finishing at a good pocket at 2/3 height, before dropping off. Izaro (7c+/V10) starts sitting on a flat block in the centre of the wall and uses two poor pockets and slopey footholds to make a hard move to gain a thin edge, from here ‘staby’ moves between pockets and slopers lead past a shallow break and on to a final do-or-die pop for the finishing pocket. Image below: Izaro 7c+/V10