Life In The Vertical

Red Walls is an amazing sweep of rock that is split by a promontory, thus dividing the wall into Left and Right hand Red Walls. Whilst geographical, this split is also one of difficulty as well. Many climbers won’t make it onto the Left hand red wall proper, because its just too hard. Deygo (E3) the easiest route up the main part, actually starts up an E4, thus you face a dilemma, is degyo an E3 with an E4 pitch or an E4 with lots of E3?

There are many routes worth an outing and the rock is a special consistency, more soft than actually loose. Again only thirty seconds from the road this is the place for roadside epics!

It ain’t called the Main Cliff for nothing, a big and intimidating and stuffed full of routes across the grades. From the amazing astral stroll that is Cordon bleau the high level girdle of the crag, that at VS allows for some impressive views and situations for the grade. Main Cliff is also the first of the true climbs at this cliff, taken the name from the crag ‘Gogarth’ is must for any sea cliff climber. Five pitches of unforgettable adventure. Similarly there are routes of most grade on this cliff, however there is a section that has series of over ten routes that are E5 and above, with an awesome array of stars.

That said though, for the elite the crag is amazing, however for the mere mortal this crags really does illicit the adventure, and after all that’s what the Big G experience is all about. The one down side is the walk in and approach when compared to the South Stack routes.

Yellow Walls is probably a good contender for best crag, as it is neither to big nor small, solid nor loose and again one of the 30 seconds down hill walk to get to. In terms of climbing most people come here to climb the Moon the ‘seriously space walking pitch’ possibly the most memorable pitch hereabouts. however the other routes like Creeping Leema and the Cow all interlink bites of this crag.

The Impressive architecture of P1 Creeping Leema

Dave Rudkin tackles the bottomless groove on Creeping leema

Wen Zawn is an iconic gogarth crag, immortalised by Leo Dickinsons picture of the Drummond’s First Ascent of one of the most famous route’s in the entire world. A Dream of White Horses, which is a must for any climber worth his salt, and perhaps captures that feeling and gogarth experience impeccably. A long drop to a watery grave, improbable lines and a distinctive architecture rule in this tight zawn.

If the classic easy line isn’t enough for you then there are routes that take climbing into the stratosphere on this crag, none more so than Conan The Librarian, the only four star route in the new gogarth North guide. A route I am desperate to attempt, and one that sadly you’d struggle to get many guides to guide you up. You’ve got to have a dream, hey!

Well, this crag only just made it into my shortlist. Despite having some of the best route at Gogarth, they are often short and intense outing, and lack the type of commitment that many devotee’s come to expect from a classic gogarth route. that said the most intense climbing experience one can have in soloing hard routes is not only possible but actually reasonably safe on one of the crags finest route Electric Blue, possibly the best E4 deep water solo in the whole of the entire universe. However that’s probably not enough to push this great little crag into the realms of the best crag at the best crag in the world.

One of the things I found enlightening about the crag, was the name, on the surface a great welsh word, obviously meaning a climbers paradise. However look at it in reverse and you get red wall!

Gogarth is the best crag on earth, however what is the best crag at the best crag. Such a decision is hard if not impossible, However there are a few front runners like Main Cliff, Wen Zawn, Red Walls, Castell Helen, Yellow Wall and Llawder. Now whilst argument for and against many of these venues are numerous and often based on experience rather than a scientific checklist of things a truly great crag needs to have. Unlike a Blue Flag beach, where water quality can be measured, toilets counted and sand graded, a crag however won’t succumb to these ridged criteria.

So first up I offer you Castell Helen, which the hardcore of Gogarth Devotee will disallow due to lack of any real hard climbing. However they haven’t been strapped to the main overhangs, at the business end of the crag. Free Stonehenge a Stevie Haston E7 would put the toughest climber to the test. Where as the everyman side of the crag has some of the easier routes at Gogarth, as well as some of the most well travelled routes. In fact if popularity was the measure then this would be the best crag at gogarth.

Dave Rudkin on the Easy pitch of Free Stonehenge E7 6b

Sadly though despite being a 30 second walk downhill from the car park, the lack of hieght and commitment required on the majority of its routes, probably would prevent it from win a the Gogarth.

The above picture when clicked on gives a A4 sizes beta for how to retreat of route through abseiling. These skills are an important part of climbing safely, and will also help you get down to the bottom of sea cliffs as well.

Picture Stolen from Mountain Art, Ginger Cain’s Online Shop, possibly the perfect place to shop for those tricky climbers christmas presents

Well I have been putting off christmas, as long as possible, but if I wanted to get the gives to my family then I needed to get them all in the post sooner rather than latter. Now usually I go around and try and find cards that reflect something of my family. Now as one brother is a comic and the other a genetic scientist, both with few interests outside work and Xbox 360 gaming, I decide this year to go down the route of choosing cards that said something about me.

So I went down to Ginger Cain Mountain Art Shop on Llanberis High street and brought 10 cards for £10, let it be know that you can get 20 cards for £18. The cards are mini versions of his amazing water colour prints. Anyway if you passing llanberis then maybe a small print or just a pack of cards might the the solution that you are looking for if buying a present for a Climber, Hillwalker or Mountaineer.

Well last week I brought you my lil’Bro’s ‘Internet Single Mum’ song. Now I find out that he’s masquerading as The Singing Critic on YouTube. Now I had a some favourable comments from the last time I posted his work. So here I give you some of his criticism, I hope you didn’t find the diving bell and the butterfly an emotionally moving film, as his review maybe doesn’t reflect it. Remember its meant to be funny, not serious.

If you are offended, then press stop, and click away from the page.

Two bits of new that have got my attention today, firstly a £50 billion fraudster, who went on record last year saying that fraud of that kind was just impossible due to the regulations. Well for all the people who wanted the too good to be true return on there investments guess what it was too good to be true. As a person that lives hand to mouth my ‘investments’ are save!

If going down the financial toilet wasn’t bad enough for you then in a report that was due out today climatologists have announced that the Arctic acceleration of global warming has been seen at levels that we didn’t expect until 10 to 15 years from now. The broadsheets even used words like past the ‘point of no return’. Where the summer heat is being retain and heating up the polar regions during what should be the winter months. Postponing the formation of sea ice.

So whilst we are getting a financial shoeing on the one side, we are about to have an environment beating on the other just to compound the issue. Whilst I didn’t see the red tops, but somewhere after the biggest fraud in history story, and the words greedy rich bastard rips off the world, I am sure there would be a headline, ‘We’re All Dooooomed’.