Equestrian Wall and new routes on Anglesea’s North Coast.
Streaky (AKA Grayham Desroy) dragged me to the North Coast of Anglesea to partner him on the last of a bunch of new routes he has climbed on a crag he spotted while kayaking. To say the crag is little is an understatement. I reckon the old hippy was trying to turn me into a boulderer, but credit where it’s due, the climb we did was a great E25c. On the approach we passed the Equestrian walls. A crack line running the length of the crag looked brilliant so we returned…
The crack is an Ed Stone E55c route called Captain Mark Phillips, apart from the name, the climb is an amazing adventure, and not at all as described in the old Gogarth guide as repulsive. The climb thoroughly deserves two stars…maybe three if it were climbed more and cleaner and unlike the grade suggests, takes loads of cams…
Captain Mark Phillips and Streaky.
The first new route I climbed with Streaky was on the right of the wall and the most obvious feature, a great wide decomposing crack, into a cave and out to the top via an overhang and offwidth… hmm, sold that one then... It’s actually ok… honest. I’ve called it Crazy Horse, and the grade is E35B… Climbed on 10-9-08, the first dry day in Wales since Dinosaurs ruled the land!
Crazy Horse.
Returning two days later with Dan McManus, (12-9-09) my cunning plan worked beautifully, Dan, being Dan didn’t take much persuading to ‘warm up’ on the other E5 of the crag, Limpet Trip, a George Smith climb starting up the broken wall to the left of Crazy Horse. The climb passes three pegs then moves left into a really overhanging corner to finish via some huge holds, bomber kit, a peg and a couple of ‘thought provoking moves to hit the top of the crag. Again a brilliant climb, technical wall climbing, spaced kit and a wild finish… And again worthy of 2, stars.
Dan Leading A Limpet Trip.
This led to my climb which is for me, THE LINE, all be it with a tad of mincing right at one point where going direct would have been great but I was lacking in a few vital ingredients, I.E. bigger forearms, bigger balls, more skill and more time to clean. Dan was on a countdown with destiny, or some may call it the draw of a woman, so I couldn’t spend too long cleaning or inspecting… in fact, one abseil was my quota with the minimum of brushing and even then I could sense the disappointment oozing from above with the weakness of it.
The line of The Crossing.
Anyway this is basically the line A Limpet Trip should have been. I can only guess the lack of monster cams, or a very old peg in the top pod which I suspect is from an unfinished attempt from around the time Ed Stone climbed Captain Mark Phillips, put George off… time will probably reveal more?
The Crossing is what I’ve called the new start to Limpet trip. It covers loads of new and funky climbing starting up the steep crack to the right of Captain Mark Phillips. The crack passes three pods which take BIG cams, (be warned!) then at the top pod where the old peg is, (which is crap so I didn’t bother clipping it) you make some great moves right into the biggest pod, where knee barring and hanging out is obligatory. Steep airy moves leaving the top of the pod lead to a junction with Limpet Trip at the second to last peg of that route. Then (this is where my cunning plan came to fruition), finish as for the Limpet Trip via the wild moves which is the same fault line as the one followed from the start of the climb. Quite annoyingly after seconding this clean with Dan, two moves from the top, a hold we had both pulled on previously ripped and I fell, so the top peg is good and tested! Over all, the grade for The Crossing is E46B, although it will be a tad spicier without a bunch of big cams, and as before well worth 2 stars. The length of this climb is approximately 35 metres and even if I say myself, it’s pretty good.
Hanging out in the final pod of The Crossing.
If you fancy a few really good quality climbs in a quirky backwater I cant recommend Equestrian Walls enough.
