Martin being interviewed by Paul at the top of pitch 1 of Central Rib Route III, Martin's first trad lead since nearly killing himself at Curbar Edge two and a half years ago! Point, right click and select from the options.
Martin and Paul spent a great weekend at one of their favourite climbing destinations, Wintours Leap in the Wye Valley near Chepstow. Martin did his first trad leading since his hideous climbing accident of 2 and a half years ago, and rather than go to a camp site like normal people, Martin and Paul decided instead to bivvy overnight on Saturday on the Great Ledge, making it a particularly memorable weekend all round.
Saturday kicked off with Martin leading the first 3 pitches of a three star classic V Diff called Central Rib Route III. There are 4 pitches in total and the route is 210 feet in length. The climbing is of course not demanding, being low in the grades, but it's very enjoyable stuff and gave Martin the chance to re-learn the art of placing protection without being under too much pressure, and to get to know his rack once again. Pitches 2 and 3 were climbed in one push due to Martin being unable to find the peg that the guidebook claimed was at the top of pitch 2. Paul couldn't see it either and we suspect it's been replaced by a metal stake that we did both see.
The second and final route of the day was Left Hand Route on the North Wall. This is a 300 foot HS (Hard Severe) with 4 pitches in total. Paul led the first three pitches, all the way up to the Great Ledge. The first pitch was fairly evil... not that well protected at the bottom and a little polished underfoot. About 20 feet off the ground, there's a fairly challenging roof to climb over.... challenging because you need to get your feet up as high as possible to be able to reach over the top of the overhang, but the small foot holds are rather slippy. All part of the fun of course and as soon as you can reach the holds over the top of the roof, it's just a matter of using some of that upper body strength to heave yourself up!
There are access restrictions in place concerning how you complete the routes that lead up to and beyond the great ledge, because you basically top out in someone's back garden! So we elected to make the final pitch the 4th pitch of Right Hand Route, another HS located 10 metres or so to the right along the great ledge. Martin has climbed this pitch lots of times with Gareth and elected to lead it. It was much more challenging than the V Diff, especially mentally, and 100 feet long, so quite a long pitch. Most of the climbing is technically straightforward, but gets more serious for about 20 or 30 feet as you climb up through a v-shaped cleft in an overhang. Martin managed fine and was jolly pleased with himself :-)
The sun had been beating down during our ascent of Left Hand Route and we'd got nothing to drink with us... so we were really hot and dehydrated by the time we got to the top. We decided to go straight to the pub, as it was early evening by now anyway... but then realised that neither of us had any money as it was down at the foot of the cliff in our rucksacks! So we had to hike all the way down and then back up again before we could get ourselves to the pub and rehydrated!
After the pub, we loaded up Martin's haul bag with all that we needed for the night and lowered it down onto the Great Ledge and abseiled down ourselves (in the dark btw!). After cooking ourselves an evening meal, we watched a bit of a firework display over Chepstow, did some star-gazing and then.... went to sleep!
On the Sunday, we climbed out from the Great Ledge, Paul leading the last pitch of Right Hand Route and getting the short end of the straw and having to haul the large haul bag up the cliff face, with Martin guiding it by a rope attached underneath. We then picked up some provisions from Chepstow before returning to the crag. We only had enough time and energy for one route. Rather than set out on another of the bigger multi-pitch routes, we went to Fly Wall and climbed Moth (HS 4B), which turned out to be a lot harder than it looks, very polished in places and requiring some very powerful moves. Paul led it... Martin decided to give leading it a miss after finding out how horrible it was to climb as a second!
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| Martin about to lead Central Rib Route III - random climber in the background considering the route adjacent to ours. |
| Martin being interviewed by Paul at the top of pitch 1 of Central Rib Route III, Martin's first trad lead since nearly killing himself at Curbar Edge two and a half years ago! Point, right click and select from the options. |
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| Paul appearing at the top of pitch 3 with Martin belaying from a nice big and comfy ledge. |
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| The North Wall illuminated by the setting sun. |
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| Closer view... we bivvyed under the start of the 4th pitch |
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| Breakfast is served! A sumptuous meal of baked beans (worcester source edition) and rye bread being cooked by Martin in the Trangia. |
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| ....and coffee too! |
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| Paul getting ready to lead the 4th pitch on Sunday morning. |
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| Paul at the start of the most demanding section of the pitch. |
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