Dave Evans Attempting the line
It was mentioned on here a week or so ago, but Rocio & Owain Samuels mixed route that they drilled and equipped has finally seen a what I believe to be the first clean ascent by Pete Harrison. Pete has graded it at M8+, and seeing he has a bit of experience of mixed dry tooling is probably as a good a grader as we could get.
Pete tried the route with Dave Evans a while back, but was worried about a shoulder injury, coming back a week later he finally sent the line. At present he doesn’t want to name the route, as the amount of work that Rocio and Owain put into the line it seems only fair to offer them the chance to name it.
What he has said is that the route is of top quality, and despite being entirely drilled, the damage is totally minimal. There was a small ripple of concern on the slate wiki, however concerns over the proximity of exsisting free routes, seem unfounded. Although arguements abound over its right to be there, as it is a totally manufactured route. However compare the amount of cleaning require for the average slate rock climb in the resent past; drilling a few extra holes seems minimal to me at least. A section of wall to the left is also being looked at for some addition development of this type of route, given that the rock is damp, blank and unclimbed it seems like a reasonable idea top me. I just hope they make it easier!
It would be good to hear anyone’s opinion or comments on this limited dry tooling in the quarries, as I know a few people are not as keen as others, to see this type of development. Anyway good effort to Pete for getting up the line, as it looks seriously pumpy!