Pembroke Meet February 2016

CLIMBING ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

        After a long journey though the wilds of Wales, we arrived in the village of Bosherston on the Pembrokeshire coast.  After a close shave with the dry-stone wall of the campsite entrance, the bus found itself, wheels freely spinning, stuck in the middle of the field. We all piled out and push, getting well mud-besplattered in the process. Tents were then swiftly erected, apart from one which we couldn’t locate, and we hurried to get as much down and synthetic around ourselves as possible. We had a cold night ahead!

        Having highly enjoyed Connors highly entertaining contribution last week, I asked him to write about the first day for us:

            Saturday started as all camping weekends do, a bit slow. People took their time to wriggle out of their cocoons, get packed and get breakfast, but eventually the bus, and all the people within it moaned and groaned their way to the crag/cliff. Upon arrival there was a general feeling of excitement, the sea! It was quite a sight, limestone cliffs proudly standing on the edge of the world as the water slithered into all the coves and gorges, it didn’t take long for phones and cameras to be wielded around and everyone got their Instagram fix in early.

            After the short walk in it was time to abseil into the area where we were climbing (MOD building, Saddle Head). Callum, Ellie and Toby got it all rigged and it was time to descend. Now, as one who doesn’t really have a head for heights, the initial few steps over the edge of anything higher than a garden step is slightly daunting, so stepping out over this sea cliff had me worried for the fresh boxers I had on that morning. Thankfully though they remained intact and after getting over the edge I think we can all agree that the abseils were very pleasant and a welcome extra this weekend.

Saddle Head

            Blessed with the bits of sun, and an offshore breeze, the bottom of the crag wasn’t too bad and the days climbing quickly begun. Callum flew up Sea Mist, HS, commenting about a rather suspect jug, which wobbled, along with a huge 6 foot block. However this didn’t seem to worry people too much and throughout the day Sea Mist was ticked by a good few people, (Sam, Marie, Charlie, for certain along with others, apologies for not knowing exactly) the general tactic seemed to be to run it out near the top, good fun to see!

Marie on Sea Mist, HS, 4b.

            Saturday also provided the opportunity to get a few people up their first trad leads, long overdue I might add, but by about 2pm we had Adam, Mo and Kyle racked up and raring to go. Off Mo went and shortly he went for his ever gear placement. He placed it, and then tested it, by hanging off it, there was a short pop and suddenly Mo was decking on his first lead. Credit to him for landing on his feet, and not toppling off and into the sea, but the ankles must have felt it. After the false start, Mo finished it off with no problems under the guidance of Paddy. I gave Adam a crash-course in top-set up which lasted about 30 seconds and then let him loose on Small Beginnings, VDiff, all went swimmingly! Kyle also cruised up small beginnings with Callum on clean-up duty. I have to say that it was so relieving to finally get some good weather and spirits were high with people doing new things and generally the climbing was pretty fun!

Kyle cruising up Small Beginnings

       Meanwhile, Jim and I dragged Will and Chris Ringrose off to The Castle, an area of the coastline a bit further on from Saddle-head.

There we abseiled down to an excitingly choppy sea and a small area of exposed rock upon which we balanced and tried to not get the ropes too sopping wet! Chris was notably unsuccessful in this endeavour.

      Jim set off on an HVS, which got the better of him and left him hanging below an apparently impassable overhang. ‘Some holds have definitely fallen off this!’ he complained with some ire.

       Later, Atmospheric Tent Direct got the better of me, mainly because I’d not read the 5c part of ‘E1, 5c’ and thought it would be ok. It wasn’t ok. It was a 5c crack and did not succumb without a battle, even second attempt. ‘Well that was a bit desperate!’ was Chris’s comment upon reaching the top. ‘Bet you were glad you had a rope now… incorrigible boulderer!’ was my reply.

        Then Jim and I both lead the beautiful Too Much Pressure E1 5b which was really lovely, uncomplicated, enjoyable climbing, before heading back to see what the others were up to at Saddle-head.

     

As Connor already said, everyone seemed to have got on it! Charlie and Jo in particular had a great team going on, and had lead about 6 routes between them by the time we go there and were still going strong! According to Callum, Charlie rocked up to ‘Sunset Boulevard,’ HVS 5a and calmly led it with no issues at all.

Charlie on Sunset Boulevard HVS, 5a

Callum, himself was looking somewhat frazzled so I took him off to do Blue Sky, a lovely VS multi-pitch that we’d both wanted to do for ages. It was awesome and very atmospheric, with hanging belays over the sea and exposure on the ‘jug-tacular’ arête all the way up.

Back to Connor for the evening:

            We were off the crag by sunset and it was off to the pub! On arrival there was about 20mins left of the England V Ireland match which provided good entertainment for a few, along with some vague looks of confusion from a few more as we waited for the food to arrive. I went for the battered hake fillet and chips, and it was very nice indeed, on the whole I don’t think there were any complaints on the food front and it was gobbled up rather quickly and a few of us played pool.

          As always when entering a game of pool there was a heated debate as to the rules, which are always different for different people, but eventually things got under way. Emma and Adam had a game, with Adam on the black and Emma with 3 yellows still to pot it looked a dead certain, but suddenly Adam started to spray the cue ball all over place, and on the floor, Emma quickly pulled it back and calmly slotted the black away for the victory.

Mo and I had a game next. Mo lost his bearings at one point and started cueing the black ball rather than white, which gave me a few free shots much to people’s amusement. 

            The best though, as it often is, was left until last. On Friday night we were a tent down, this didn’t make some people too happy as they had to squidge. On arrival back to the campsite a discovery was made ‘Er, guys, the tent is here’ Charlie had found it, right there in all its glory in the porch area was the phantom tent! I don’t know how it was missed, but it was, and personally I found it hilarious. Thanks all for a good day, and another quality meet!

Thanks Connor :) 

Your blog contibutor enjoying the sun at Saddle Head.

 

Sunday morning progressed even more slowly than Saturday, tents had to be taken down, sleeping bags packed, another cold uninspiring campsite breakfast eaten and the bus started.

Or not. After several non-starts, billows of god-awful smelling black smoke started to emerge from under the middle of the bus. We all gathered interestedly round…‘Ummm, that can’t be right.’  A small silence ensued while we pondered what this could mean.
‘Adam’ I shouted, ‘Adam will know!’  A whole chorus of ‘Adam’s’ erupted and this fine fellow, sticking his head beneath the bus to inspect, informed us that ‘the cat’s fucked mate.’

After a poke around under the bonnet in the vague hope that there was something we could do about it, Jim tried to start it again and fortunately enough, a 5 minute breather had worked its magic and the bus started. ‘Now let’s not turn it off until we get home!’ shouted Jim above our cheers.

Despite the set-backs, we still beat Nottingham uni to the crag and proceeded to enjoy the even longer, and more overhanging abseil into St. Govan’s.

St. Govan’s, with it’s longer, harder and more intimidating routes provided a great testing ground for everyone’s new-found trad-leading abilities. Paddy, climbing with Mo was not messing around, after a couple of great VS leads, he got psyched for Army Dreamers, HVS 5a and once he’d learnt the correct way to rack slings and how to ensure you have a rope to climb with (which involves not forgetting it at the top of the crag..), he set off under my watchful eye. I was not going to let him get away with his his usual antics of not placing gear. Thankfully, he did place gear and got to the top without any apparent issues. Great work! 

Paddy on Army Dreamers, HVS 5a.

Later however, I watched Paddy enter deck-out zone and continue blithely for another few metres through the crux before placing any gear on Chieftain, VS 4c. Maybe these things go in phases.

Callum, after making short work of Front Line, HVS 5a, got ready for The Arrow, E1, 5b, the objective of the weekend,. with visible qualms. Charlie and Marie stationed themselves on a suitable rock in the sun to photograph the proceedings..

Obligatory photographers' selfie!

 ...while Chris Ringrose kitted himself out in attractive leg attire.

Contender for the ULMC 'Ellie 80's fashion award'?

 I couldn’t see, but from my position on a nearby route, I could hear the build-up of Sharma-screams and loud shouts as Callum powered his way up the pumpy route. This culminated in a powered-out fall from the final roof. By all accounts the whole thing was a pretty awesome display of raw effort!

Callum pulling cool shapes on The Arrow, E1 5b.

Callum high on The Arrow, E1, 5b with Ellie near the start of Deranged, E2 5b.

Charlie, on a roll, got on another HVS and lead Army Dreamers, topping out just before the pump became too bad! 

Charlie on Army Dreamers, HVS 5a

Jo very impressively if perhaps a little foolishly took on Panzer II, HVS 5a, (HVS overhanging crack?), as one of her first leads. She ended up resting on the gear but it was great to see the psyche to just get on with it and give hard routes a go!

Jo, trying hard on Panzer II, HVS 5a.

Speaking of psyche, Sophie after a few meets figuring things out, had her shit sorted now and was on it. She lead Lemming Way, S learning the vital skill of bridging in the process, then another V Diff or Severe I think, and later on, got on Stacked Against VS, 4a. She only saw fit to grace each route with 3 bits of gear.

Happy top-out face after Lemming Way, S

      Although Stacked Against is something of a soft VS, it is still given VS and that remains a not insignificant marker of difficulty. The fact that so many of this years climbers, Sophie, Will and Kyle, lead it is really very impressive, especially given the minimal experience the rain this season has allowed them to have!

      Emma too, got on her first trad lead this weekend, leading Lemming Way right at the end of the day as the sun set and turned the sea orange. All went well and she looked so pleased upon topping out. Nice work :)

I really love this photo of Emma preparing for her first trad lead!

Thinking about it now, I am so impressed by the effort and psyche all the girls on this trip have shown, from Emma’s first lead, Sophie’s shooting up through the grades, Jo’s tackling of a route that I’d frankly not go near, to Charlie’s determination to push it and get on more challenging route, not to mention her overall psyche - she must have done the most routes out of everyone!

My contribution to the girl-psyche was getting on an E2, called Deranged, which I’d wanted to do for about a year. I made excellent use of all the possible rests, even a sit-down one! 

Time for a sit-down rest mid route!

It was awesome, intricate and interesting climbing all the way though and probably one of the best routes I’ve climbed.

Ellie eying up the crux on Deranged, E2, 5b.

On the guys side of things, Will had a great weekend consolidating his leading skills first on Abseil Groove, HS, and then the next day on Lemming Way and Stacked Against. Kyle too, led both routes with equally few issues

 Toby wasn’t feeling too great, but he assumed a ‘managerial role’ from a sunny rock and ensured all things ran smoothly.

Connor, not being the world’s biggest fan of a rope, was mostly to be seen bouldering about the base of climbs. It was lovely and sunny and everyone enjoyed themselves!

Chris WT, having requested to second some harder stuff enjoyed seconding Army Dreamers, but may have found himself regretting this when Jim’s next route of choice, Clean Hand Blues Band, E2, 5c, defeated his valiant attempts to second it! As one of the few people who didn’t do a lead this weekend, I think it’s time Chris got on it!

Chris seconding Clea Hand Blues Band, E2, 5b

Pembroke, as ever, had been an awesome meet brilliant climbing and lovely sunny weather. It is great to see people’s confidence building, and psyche so high for trad climbing!

I had a moment of pride in the competence and general on-it-ness levels of the ULMC as it is at the moment, when I watched everyone walk away from the van in the morning all kitted out with trad racks, ropes, harness, helmets and shoes; most of it their own gear.

Psyched for climbing..and sunshine!

Keep it up everyone, keep the psyche and don’t stop climbing :)