Brean Down and Cornwall

Nick on Brean Dream (F7b+)
08.06.2011

Just got back two days ago from a couple of excursions over the past couple of weeks. Went to Brean Down for the first time on the eighth, and really enjoyed that. Lovely location, by the sea, although parking was limited and somewhat hard to find. Nick led all three climbs, although he had to rest on Brean Dream (F6b) and used a clip-stick on Tide Rising (F7b+), also climbed Bikini Atoll (F6c+). The latter two were quite tricky, and I had to rest on both, although I clung on and climbed Brean Dream clean. It had a horrible start though, which was quite hard and boulder-y... Gemma only seconded Brean Dream and Bikini Atoll, and although she did neither of them clean, she came very close to doing so on Bikini Atoll. We ran out of time for her to have a go at Tide Rising. The start is relatively easy, but Nick had trouble on the third clip and was unable to clip it, would have been a nasty fall if he had fallen there... All the climbing was quite finger-y... to some extent my type of climbing, but it was sharp and tricky too. It was, however, a nice crag which I would be keen to visit again. However, considering that the easiest problem there was Brean Dream at F6b, I reckon it'll be a while before I'm capable of leading anything myself - maybe Torbryan would be a bit easier and more accesible...

Jen on Banana Flake (VD**)
10.06.2011

From the 10th to the 13th, I went down to Cornwall with the club. Upon arriving we went to Sennen, where Mike asked me to climb with Amy and Gemma. I know that Gemma is capable of climbing quite hard, but wasn't sure how Amy would handle it. My first climb was Corner Climb (VD*), which was fairly pleasant and easy. However, Amy had trouble climbing it, resting on the rope unexpectedly at one point, which hurt me as it pulled me into an awkward position and placed a lot of strain on my waist and also on my back, which hurt the whole weekend, probably as a long-term effect of the car crash on 27.03.2011... After that initial setback though, Amy forged on and eventually got to the top. Gemma swam up it very quickly, and once she got up we had a chat and Amy decided she was done for the day. We also bumped into the guys from the DUMC, including a chap whom we met on the 31.05.2011 at the Cuttings... Gemma and I then abbed down again and, having been the last two to ab down we decided to stick to an easy climb, and climbed Staircase (D*).

Harry on Doorpost (HS 4b)
11.06.2011

On Saturday we went to Bosigran, where I once again proved that I am incapable of leading multi-pitch routes without having an epic on them. Climbed Doorway (S 4a*), but had issues at the top of the final pitch, where there was so much rope drag that I was incapable of setting up a belay to bring up my seconds, Emma and Sam. Eventually, as I was about to climb down and retrieve my gear so as to stop all the rope drag, Mark and Harry topped out, allowing me to downclimb the route on their rope, strip the annoying gear and then bring up my seconds... All in all, it took us 5 hours to get one climb done. I doubt that my seconds were too impressed, but then, they were climbing trad with me, which takes forever. I am, after all, far more interested in sport routes than in multi-pitch trad.

 

Mike on Bosigran Ridge (Commando Ridge)
13.06.2011



Although we were meant to go to Sennen the following day, we instead went to the Barn. Although I must say that the Barn is an incredible indoors wall, I was not impressed by the fact that we had to go back into Devon to climb, and would much rather have gone out for a walk, or to visit some other scenic location in Cornwall... As it is, we went, and I had a relatively good session there. Our final day in Cornwall we once more went to Bosigran. Sam, Amy and I were paired up, and along with Tom, Emma and Gemma, we went to climb at Bosigran. The other nine went off to climb Bosigran ridge together. Liz and Andy turned up and must've climbed something a bit harder, although I didn't see them for most of the day. We started off the day with a quick and nice climb, Alison Rib (D*), which I led last year, but then, its a classic, and I wanted to climb the second pitch too. Amy managed to get up it, although she struggled on the final section, and Sam whizzed up it. Determined to crank on, we decided to climb Clob (VD). Unfortunately, this proved to be a mistake on my part, as we had to share a belay ledge with some other climbers who were climbing Clob before us and then with some guys who had changed from climbing Doorway to doing Ledge Climb. I stopped and had a chat with the guys from UNUMC, which was quite nice - they were probably committee members, as they seemed to know a fair bit about the club... Once I managed to secure the belay point, I started by belaying Amy up. However, she got stuck at the end of the first pitch, so she had to be lowered down. I then belayed Sam up and attempted the second pitch, but unfortunately strayed onto a much harder climb, possibly E1 or E4, so I had to downclimb that, retrieving the gear and get down onto the dubious belay ledge before finishing up the correct route.