KO Wall

Me and Norm have developed a new little sector at Llanddulas. I bolted a steep line similar to Sticky Fingers back in early February and Norm bolted a line to the left and two to the right more recently. Today i did my route, quite nice and with a very distinct crux. The grade is 7b and the name is What Man Would?, after a chat me and Dyer had in Indy! Last week Norm did the line to the left at 6c, this is called Two C's in a KO. Norm also bolted two 5's to the right, he gave the first to Fran Gowling and Norm led the last route on the right himself, this is called Elizabeth Taylor. All in all a nice little addition. To get here follow the path away from the main cave on the same level. Very shortly you will see a smaller path breaking off right up the hill. Shortly Sector Ko becomes obvious to the right of the path. Then we got in the car and went to another Crag X. I did a new 20 metre 6c+ which is as good as anything i've done at the grade in North Wales. Was getting quite pumped at the top!

Two C's in a KO:



What Man Would?

Ormesman of the Week - Pete Robins, The Ticking Machine

Pete is the most recent Ormesman. It is only in recent years that he's got properly stuck into the place and spent some significant time there. Pete has been climbing since he was quite young and up until a few years ago trad was the main event in his climbing. After climbing thousands of routes all over the place and onsighting many hard trad routes Pete fancied a different challenge and set about getting strong. I remember him failing on my problem Ain't No Party (7a+)in 2006. I also remember him absolutely taking ages to do Trigger Cut! In one of the greatest transformations ever he shed a load of weight, started training and climbed more overhangs. In a few years Pete went from finding Trigger Cut the living end to completing the 2nd ascent of Silk Cut! Talk about rags to riches. hollywood ain't got nothing on this. I guess the modern Ormesman needs to have cut his teeth in the Cave and Pete certainly has. He already has some impressive FAs to his name including In Heaven, The Wire and the seriously impressive Incredible Bulk. Petes trademark is his speed, don't blink as he sets off up Lou Ferrino as this takes about 0.4 seconds. With his new found beastliness Pete also went to work on LPT and soon got ticking through the 8's. The 8a's, Melancholie and Walking Mussel soon succombed and in 2009 he embarked on what would become an epic mission on the very classic Liquid Ambar. Pete spent over 20 sessions down there trying it relentlessly. I remember him going down one minging humid afternoon as the sea clag made everything minging. I thought he was mad going down in that weather but he'd driven over from the hills and was psyched. He got it done in September and you can see the ascent in the Welsh Connections film. In 2010 the LPT campaign continued and Pete added a new link - Wild Youth. The next obvious one was Infanticide which went down without too much of a fight. After a look at Big Bang, Pete channelled his energies into Sea of Tranquility and after another seige topped out on the 2nd ascent becoming the first person to tick the 3 big 8's of LPT, quite an achievement. Pete does his training at the crag and usually leaves absolutely spent. He finishes off his day lapping tough problems in the cave or by lapping 8as down LPT! Pete has an unwavering psyche which is probably one of his greatest strengths. It will be good to see what he gets up to this year, i know he's got a few things lined up, lets hope he doesn't dust off his rack just yet!
Melon Beach 2nd ascent:

Wobbly Block Back On

I went to the cave today and resined the wobbly block back in place. It slid back into place so with the glue i'd be surprised if it came off again. It should be fine to climb on from sunday. Jump on fat bastards!

Check it out.

The hottest new thing on the blogosphere is yorkshires very own sex machine, the man with the piston pumping levers and a tight little booty. No i'm not talking about Steve Dunning its this man

Tony Stud

After two weeks off the rock i finally got to go climbing on Sunday afternoon. I have been doing pull ups down in Kent which help stop the rot but i struggle to find the motivation to do enough to actually get stronger. I really think i'm going to struggle to improve without climbing. It's a shame as i was starting to drag myself out of the doldrums a month ago but then i had to go away to some very terrible places. On Sunday i met some Sheffielders on the way back from LAMFF at Llanddulas. I belayed Lucy Creamer on a route as she got some pics for an article. Back in early February i bolted a line that Tony had tried on the Forgotten Sun Area. It follows Ralarwdins for the first 4 bolts then breaks out right up the blue headwall. Tony had struggled on a move or two, he had placed a high stud to work it but gave me the green light to fully bolt it. I was impressed on the abseil, i had gazed up at this wall before but never had the vision to think about it as a route. When i was off work i didn't get to try it as the top was wet. Yesterday I went bolt to bolt as a warm up which turned out to be a bad idea after not climbing for a while as my forearms went all jellylike. Regardless I managed to sprint it out first redpoint freestyling a bit. Its quite surprising that no ones done this as its quite an obvious line on a well developed sector, that is the beauty of North Wales i guess! The name is Tony Stud, as i was encouraged to bolt it by, Tony's high stud and he is a stud of course. Not certain about grade but its probably 7b, don't laugh me out of town if i'm wrong. We popped up to the main cave and i had a quick play on the first crux of my new roof project. It needs a good clean as is quite dusty but i was able to get a feel for it. I think i know how the sequence works, need to try it when i've got more time and i'm strong again. Back in work now, fingers crossed i'll get out next weekend again, loads more to do! Climbing is frustrating at the moment but the truth is i'm just happy that i love it again.

Ormesman of the Week - Andy Boorman, puller of strings.

Behind every great movement there are those behind the scenes. Andy Boorman has not got the rack of FAs that some of the other Ormesman have but he's been climbing in the area since the 70s and has been involved in access negotiations over the years. In recent times he's checked lower offs and added rings to the crags and is one of the mian collaborators of the Bolt Fund guide. I'll let him tell his own story:

I moved to Prestatyn in 1978, taking up a teaching post at the High School. Cash was short so local climbing venues were very important and there was a great supply of keen youngsters in the school to get out and explore the crags with: Andy Pollitt, Dave Prendergast, Trevor Hodgson, Anthony Ingham and so forth. The Rowland Edwards 1975 guidebook Climbs on North Wales Limestone was our bible and we did a good job of ticking it and getting rid of the odd point of aid. Andy P swung leads with me on The New Dimension and Moon Shadow in 1980 and soon the pupil became the coach! He moved on to Jerry Moffatt and I linked up with Pete Bailey - a great man to have around on the scary parts of the Ormes.

Summer evenings were devoted to Craig y Forwyn and the Ormes, with chips then a pint in the Cottage Loaf to finish off the fun.

I'm not one for epics or accidents but in the late 90s some careless footwork just below the first bolt on Firefly led me to inherit a very sore arse, a cracked wrist bone and a large clip-stick!

Attached scan from my logbook page in 1992 gives a flavour of those grand days and evenings.

New 8a at the Mwyn!

Sam 'mule' Cattell has returned to his old stomping ground of Pantymwyn near mold and done a cracking new 8a traverse problem. Spinal Tap starts on the lefthand side of the main crag down and right of the obvious hole on a flat jug. The problem traverses righwards into the finish of Be Ruthless. Mule has been climbing at the mwyn for over ten years now establishing nearly every problem. He says his new addition is the best one he's done there. Mules career has been blighted by injuries so its good to see him cranking although he never seems to be weak. In the hills he also repeated the sitter to the Caseg Groove,another 8a.