Adventure Time part 2

Part 2 of my 'adventure break' was something of mixed success or rather a mixed disaster. Things started well with a return to Ladram Bay with Jon and a mighty new route on the Lost World stack.Realistically it's probably not the best route in the world. In fact it's probably the second worst.It did have a nice finishing mud arete thoughAnd some entertaining gear - this is part of the belay - there was no crack before I placed the warthog.How we laughed...Then after a very long drive we arrived at Beachy Head which amongst the memorials for jumpers is one of the UK's greatest lines - Monster Crack.Having climbed Monster Crack and most of Sunday Sport (Beachy Head's hardest route) I thought I had the hang of the place. But trying to be cautious I thought I'd do the shorter Albino or Vaginof - the two grooves on the far right of this shot (Monster Crack is far left).

After a long time and lots of collapsing brain cells and chalk I failed on both lines - I wasn't happy!

We then failed on the mile long walk out, as the tide was in. To escape we climbed the world's worst route (so bad there are no photos) - 450ft of 70 degree grass topped by 15ft of mud. At least I thought things couldn't possibly get worse...

...unfortunately they could when our planned third day of adventure ended shortly after breakfast when I filled Jon's diesel car up with petrol. It was time to give up before I really got us into trouble.

Day trip to Dover

Second time outside in 4 months and a "day trip" (we actually drove down the night before) to Dover seemed appropriate. Joining up with Jon and Chalk newbie Alex we headed for a characterful sounding grade V called X Files.Jon can just be seen right of the top of the grass slope, heading toward the obvious hole in the cliff. (The corner on the right is Into the Groove which has unfortunately suffered rockfall and has a big barbed wire fence hanging down it)Me on pitch 2 getting pumped and cheating - clipping into my axes to place 3 warthogs on the steepest bit.Jon at the top of the steep bitJon disappearing into the cliff and a series of World war II escape runnels.

Happy, relieved and covered in a fine layer of chalk.

All in all an interesting day out and good to get the mind and body kick started a little.

White Magic part 2

So on day two we went new routing... Well that wasn't the plan. We actually went looking for a nice sounding grade V called Into the Groove but I think we probably walked over it as we made our way along the beach. This happens alot on chalk. Infact the only feature that didn't seem to have fallen down on the whole of the cliffs west of St Margarets was the finishing Tube of "The Real White Cliffs Experience". Which had a nice sounding direct start called "Better than the real thing". A great name but unless the first ascensionists couldn't grade for toffee their route also seems to have collapsed. But we started up any way. Chalk climbing is the best training on the planet for ice climbing. That is if you like iron hard black ice at minus 30c. Just getting a decent stick with your tool takes up to a dozen swings and getting the gear in is a herculean task. Traditionally warthogs are banged in with a lump hammer by clipping into your axes but I had the stupid idea that I wouldn't bother with that and I'd just hang on as I would ice climbing.

The result was the mother of all pumps, much groaning and lock tite cramps in both arms on pitch 2. Eventually I was forced to place the last few warthogs on the second pitch on aid before lowering down to climb it clean. Pretty mad pitch that one, it looked slabby but turned out to be overhanging the whole way.

Jon did a fine job following this and getting the gear out but I think the toll began to show when we topped out just as it got dark. All in all a fine day out for all the family.

White Magic

With proper winter conditions still seemingly a few days away Jon, Paul and I headed south with our winter climbing kit. For Jon and Paul it would be their first taste of chalk climbing. On the first day we headed to the extraordinary feature of the Tube (95m Grade IV), the relatively ammenable classic of the area.The initial wall as usual felt steeper than it looked but lucky the route is relatively well travelled so there are decent footholds. The tube itself is pretty steady with the crux provided by a large piece of metal plate that needs to be crossed halfway up. For anyone competent with their axes (solid at WI4 or Scottish V) the Tube is very highly recommended, we all agreed it would make the UK's all time esoterica top ten. The White Cliffs really are one of the most striking bits of adventure on offer to climbers in the UK. Some of the lines would compare with anything around, heres a pic of the grade VI Channel Holes, remember the whole cliff is close to 80m high so those caves (and roofs) on the top pitch must feel pretty airy. One for a future visit.

Oh, and we stayed down for a further day managing quite a little adventure. More of that tomorrow...!

Perfectly imperfect

I got my sweaty paws on a copy of the new Southern Sandstone guide today. Its another in the line of superb new Climbers Club guidebooks. Now I'm not a regular fan of southern sandstone, although I love the idea of the UK's most used popular climbs being on these tiny rocks, sugarlump-like in size and fragility. What I was most excited about was the back quarter of the guide which detailed the various versions of the climbing game played out on the chalk cliffs of Southern England. Ive only been down 4 times but each time was "emotional!"

Pitch 3 of Great White Fright, Dover. photo Sandy Ogilvie

The first few times was to the 100m cliffs of Beachy Head. First Monster Crack, of which the guide has a great photo, which I don't hesitate to call one the great adventure routes of the world, and then to almost climb Sunday Sport, which is barely mentioned in the guide as it fell down shortly after our attempt. My most recent visit was to the white cliffs of Dover a couple of years ago with Chris Cubitt when we climbed Great White Fright. This gets two photos and a bit of a write up in the guide. There are actually a few mistakes in the guidebook information. Firstly the implication is that we made the second ascent, we didn't. Infact I think its had a fair few, one from Andy Perkins, one from Kenton Cool and one from Dave Wills that I know of. Secondly that by implication we upgraded it to an unprecendented (on chalk) grade of VIII. I can't remember offering a grade although I might have babbled something out in my excitement after the ascent. These grades are supposed to be ice grades - although with Roman numerals perhaps are Scottish winter grades? The Great White is certainly worth Scottish VIII but definately not WI8 (the proper way of writing ice grades). The final thing is that while we set out to make an free ascent (placing gear without clipping into our axes which is the norm) we failed 30ft from the top when I pumped out and rested. I then abseiled down the next day and pre-placed two warthogs before redpointing the top pitch clean. So our all free climb was flawed.

Chris topping out on pitch 3 of Great White Fright, Dover. photo Sandy Ogilvie

Which is why I'm writing. Partly to set the record straight but also to rejoice in the perfection found in imperfect climbs. Chris and my ascent of Great White despite its little faux pas was one of the best adventures we've ever had. And that often seems to be the case. You almost need to push things a little past the edge for those climbing experiences to become truely memorable. So here's to the wildest lead of your life even if it did need a rest point or sneaky pull on a piece of gear.

PS. If you want to see more of Great White Fright our ascent was captured by Sandy Ogilvie for the film Hard XS by Slackjaw films.