Gogarth. The biggest and scariest of the British sea cliffs (at least South of Scotland). A couple of trips here sampling some three star routes....
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I met up with Jim and Ron in this wild section of the coast and we climbed some of the local classics. Well worth the 5hour slog across the country. The highlight of the trip was an ascent of
Gogarth (E1, 112m). We chose to abseil into the climb rather than
the treacherous approach
. This involved a huge abseil on a static line from a large bock to a ledge where we then used our climbing ropes to abseil to the base.
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| The steep scramble to the protruding cannon stone -Abseil Point |
Four pitches of good quality climbing followed. The first (mine) felt about VS and is the obvious corner. The second belonged to Jim with some airy traverse moves. Ron blasted straight up chossy ground to save time (not sure he went the correct way).
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 | | Me seal spotting |
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 | | Me on Pitch 1 |
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 | | Me fishing for some gear |
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 | | Jim leading off on pitch 2 |
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I then led the final pitch (E1 5b) consisting of a traverse from the belay followed by a steep couple of pulls through overhangs. I remember wishing I had placed more gear before committing as the holds felt a tad greasy. From there it is steep climbing past some hollow sounding flakes. All good though.
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| Jim approaching the top out |
We also bagged another quality piece of Gogarth climbing
North West Passage (E1, 62m). Ron and Jim kindly let me lead the top pitch. Absolutely brilliant positions. Good gear, good rock, whats not to like?
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 | | Me traversing NWP |
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 | | Getting stuck in |
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 | | The quartzite here is perfect |
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 | | Ron belaying me on NWP |
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Another trip to Gogarth another classic. This time
A Dream of White Horses (HVS, 130m). One of the most famous routes in Britain we thought we would see if it lives up tot he hype. Having never climbed on Wen slab I was very keen to go!
Mike and I arrived early due to the low tide time. With no one else around abbing down to the water level felt quite committing and isolated. We planed on doing the first pitch and while this can be easily boycotted, I found this highly worthwhile and definitely added to the hole experience.
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| The amphitheater of Wen Zawn |
The 50m static rappel rope was barely long enough and I touched down as soon as the belay plate hit the knot. The climbing throughout the route is steady and the intimidating final pitch (which is what it is all about) is remarkably straightforward. That said if it weren't for the chalked up holds route finding would be the most challenging aspect of an ascent.
|
 | | Looking down Pitch 1 Belay |
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 | | Looking down Pitch 3 Belay |
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 | | Mike contemplates the exit chimney |
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 | | The final pitch |
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| Following teams on Dream.... |
