The Pink Star

It was inevitable that the constant stream of new grade 8's on the North Wales lime would slow down eventually. After a steady stream of big numbers since 2009 (many of which nationally significant) there comes a time where the do-able lines start to run out. There are still some ripe plums out there but perhaps not enough keen beasts to step up to the plate. If there's one man you can always rely on though it's Pete Robins-North Wales master crusher of hard new lines. After 5 years of hard seiging though even Pete's resilience had to wane at some point. He picked off a couple of grade 8's at the Allotment and Craig y Don earlier in the year and then had some sessions on The Big Crunch project down LPT. This could provide the potential step up he'd been looking for although after several sessions it proved to be too much of a step up for now. Bransby made it look doable but he didn't return and Pete sacked it off. Pete climbed himself into form by establishing Ropes of Maui in the Pass and he knew he had some unfinished business come Diamond season. Back in the first year of the Diamond renaissance, Pete Harrison bolted (along with a load of re-equipping) a big diagonal crack feature on the right hand side of the crag. It was a striking and unique line that had future classic written all over it. The following year Johnny Ratcliffe climbed the lower diagonal at 8a and last year Pete Robin's did an obvious connection between the two at 8b+. The Pink Panther joined the top crack about halfway along but the obvious challenge was the feature in it's entirety and Pete immediately set about working on it. As the nights drew in and the conditions deteriorated he knew his time was up for that year but the route was top of the agenda for August 2014. As soon as the birds had vacated the crag Pete got back on the crack and soon picked up where he left off last year. After some beta refinements he was back at his previous highpoint and with time on his side the first ascent seemed inevitable. Today he finished it off to give The Pink Star (8c+), another quality hard route which unfortunately just missed the guidebook cut off point. It is an amazing route and is the sixth 8c+ in the area.

Pete checking out the holds in 2009:

Recent shots: