The Gower August 2016

We'd seen articles about the development of sport climbing on the Gower over the past few years with a focus on crags like foxhole and shipwreck cove. It's taken about three years since saying we were going to actually biting the bullet and booking a weekend in hope for dry weather. We were blessed to have three days of dry weather and even a couple of days of summer sun. We managed to pack in four crags in three days. It was great to experience the different types of crags but it did take a few routes to get our heads and feet adjusted to the different rock conditions.

Day 1 we headed straight to watch house which was slabby but a good ease into the climbing.

Paul on rise and shine, 6a

 

Me on trad man, 6a

We had climbed all the routes that took our fancy so then headed round to foxhole. By this time we were tired but ended up on a 7a I thought was a 6b- but i was just happy to be off the slabs!!

Me on Mermalade, 7a

Paul on mermalade, 7a

Day 2 and for the main event- Rhosilli bay. The tide didn't seem to go out far enough to climb at mermaid wall so we started at castaway cove. Was bizarre climbing on dark rock as my head was telling me it was wet but it was dry- took some getting our heads around that. We ended up climbing on some great lines at this section. 

Paul on Dirty innuendo, 5b

Me on Cinders catch, 6a

Me on The clot thickens, 6a+

Big matt needed to keep feet and gear clean!

 

As the tide moved in we went over to black wall to finish on a couple of routes. The starts of these routes were awful to the point we think it may be the case that you clip stick the first bolt, pull up then start the routes. The black rock on here was solid and a shame they were over so quick.

Paul on the black wall

Day 3 we intended to go to Boscos den but ended up at golden wall after an epic approach down and along the cliffs edge. It was just a relief to find something to climb in the end. The rock was a little intimidating to start as it looked really wet and felt very exposed with the waves crushing down nearby. After the first route we settled in and really enjoyed the routes, although some had some wet in some holds.

Where's the crag?

Paul on Golden balls, 5c

Aur of glory, 5c

Paul on A Starke Reminder, 6a+

 

Me on A Starke reminder, 6a+ -felt more overhanging than it appears...

Me on the wonderful roof of The midas touch, 6c+

Final day selfie

Day 1

Watch house crag

Excavation, 4c

Tickety boo, 5c

Rise and shine, 5a

Sport wars, 6a

Tread gently, 6b+

trad man, 6a

 

Foxhole

Mermalade shoes, 7a

Unlikely alliance, 6b

 

Day 2

Rhosilli bay

Castaway cove

Grinders catch, 5c

Dirty innuendo, 5b

Dry blood beast, 6a

The clot thickens, 6a+

Cinders catch, 6a

Grazed and trusted, 6a+

Black wall

Thieving.. 5

Theiving parasites, 6a

 

Day 3

Golden Gulch

Golden balls, 5c

Golden hour, 5c

Aur of glory, 6a

A starke reminder, 6a+

The midas touch, 6c+

Main wall horsehoe quarry

Blessed with another 'free' dry Sunday we wanted to head back to horseshoe to get on the main wall with he main aim of trying some of the stared routes.
We warmed up on the left wall side progressing along the main wall. There were some great 6a and 6bs but the increase in grade felt hard beyond 6a+.  There were a couple of routes that felt really stiff-such as wall of Jericho (graded 6b, felt more like 6c).I attempted waves of mutilation (7a) and was pleased to clean it second go on top rope- a red point with fresh arms felt realistic.



Paul warming up on Sag Ponir, 5+

Me on Pale Rider, 6a



Me on Schools out, 6a+

Paul on Private prosecution, 6c (top50)

Sag Ponir  5+
Pale rider 6a
Schools out 6a+
Rotund Rooley 6b
Waves of mutilation 7a
Wall of Jericho 6b
Private persecution 6c

Back on it at Horshoe

 

Time to get back on to the blog after a crazy two year break of doing my masters, getting married and some other life changing stuff... I certainty didn't need a reminder of why I will always wear a helmet climbing or just sitting eating my lunch at the crag, but I got one anyway. Lowering off the first route of the day, Neanderthal -a 30m route on probably the worst section of the crag (chocolate Blancmange wall) a big boulder came loose hit my leg.



Neanderthal, 4 & 5 and a nasty boulder on the leg

That was our queue to move onto the better walls of the quarry so headed to the toilet and Androids area. It took a couple of climbs and a change of shoes to get our heads into the polished slippy rock. But there were some great all body working moves on the climbs. We dumped the guidebook and just chose climbs which looked fun. Although after getting the guidebook out at the end of the day we couldn't help but be a little disappointed to find some tricky climbs at lower grades than we predicted. No soft touches here.

The dark tower, 6b+

straight helmet for once

Paul on the directors cut, 6b

Paul on Passage of time, 6b

Neanderthal, 5
Latrine, 5
The Sewer 6a+
Passage of time 6b- second best route of the day
The dark tower, 6b+ -route of the day
The long walk, 6c
Bruce's bonus, 6b
The directors cut, 6b