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WBraun
climber
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Nov 19, 2008 - 12:24pm PT
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Sea and Rock
This is a beautiful thread .....
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Nov 19, 2008 - 12:51pm PT
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A good thread that could only improve if it included on-topic post-traverse shots of The Trawler Pub. They used to open a keg a day of their most popular ale, and it was usually gone by 5.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Nov 19, 2008 - 01:19pm PT
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Howe Sound from the top of the Squamish Chief
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GOclimb
Trad climber
Boston, MA
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Nov 19, 2008 - 02:07pm PT
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GOclimb
Trad climber
Boston, MA
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Nov 19, 2008 - 02:20pm PT
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GO
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Nov 19, 2008 - 02:30pm PT
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You've got some great shots from your adventure, GO.
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GOclimb
Trad climber
Boston, MA
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Nov 19, 2008 - 02:47pm PT
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Thanks, Chiloe!
Adventure is the right word. First time online for many of the pics. Want more?
GO
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Nov 19, 2008 - 02:49pm PT
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This looks like the place for them.
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GOclimb
Trad climber
Boston, MA
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Nov 19, 2008 - 03:50pm PT
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Oh hell, just one more...
The last photo, on the last climb, on the last day of that trip.
And really my last one on this thread, I promise.
GO
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duncan
Trad climber
London, UK
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Nov 19, 2008 - 04:12pm PT
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I love climbing on sea-cliffs. One of several joys is the contrast between the light-hearted holiday atmosphere of many of the locations and the adventure to be had close by. The approach to Moonraker is a fine example. One moment you're in a car park in south Devon with tourists licking ice-cream, a couple of minutes later you're blindly down-soloing vertical 5.4, 90' above the water. Assuming you've got the tide times correct and the swell is minimal, you traverse horizontally just above the waterline for a few hundred feet around the back of a large, black, dripping sea-cave. It's all very atmospheric.
Moonraker is in 'Hard Rock' a Brit. equivalent of 50 classic climbs, so it’s not a surprise to find another team on the route. The first pitch diagonals up to the crack-line, climbs this for a way, before heading back left again following an archetypal line of least resistance.
The rock is limestone, it looks a little weird but is pretty solid. The cave has a bunch of hard-ish climbs that weave through the overhangs and a classic 5.10+ that starts up Moonraker, traverses right on the flutings just above the lip, before heading on up. The gentleman in the photos has written a great tale about his ascent of this route here.
The climbing is 5.8 for a few moves, mostly easier, but is steep and feels committing: it's the easiest way out and if you can't get up the route it might be an eight hour wait for the tide to go back down, hoping the sea stays calm, or you could swim…
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Nov 19, 2008 - 04:17pm PT
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COclimb:
The last photo, on the last climb, on the last day of that trip.
Hey, where's the post-bivy shot? That one is a gem, sums up the people
& the story!
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Nov 19, 2008 - 04:20pm PT
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Duncan, those shots are spectacular. Got more? You've inspired me to dig
out my well-read copy of Hard Rock.
A UK seacliff-climbing holiday is one of those trips I always wanted to make, but
never got 'round to.
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MH2
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 19, 2008 - 04:34pm PT
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Wow, GOclimb!
On Moonraker, "It's all very atmospheric. "
You step blind round a corner of sheer rock and move carefully down into the vast, dank mouth of the cave. It seems as big as a cathedral: a black, thundering dome, like a lunatic's skull, water boiling along its floor, birds flitting in the dark air.
Al Alvarez in Hard Rock
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MH2
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 20, 2008 - 03:46am PT
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Nov 20, 2008 - 11:11am PT
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GOclimb
Trad climber
Boston, MA
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Nov 20, 2008 - 01:09pm PT
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Chiloe wrote: Hey, where's the post-bivy shot? That one is a gem, sums up the people
& the story!
Hmm, not sure which one you mean?
Here's Julia finishing the traverse, with our bivvy ledge visible over her shoulder:
Or do you mean the shot where she's talking to her mom on the cell phone, and everyone's relaxing for a moment before tackling the last half of the climb:
Or the one taken right when we finished the climb?
GO
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Nov 20, 2008 - 02:42pm PT
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GO, those all are great shots, but the last one's kind of special.
You guys had quite the trip.
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MH2
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 20, 2008 - 06:15pm PT
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Yes, GO. Always nice to see people clearly having a good time.
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Nov 23, 2008 - 06:25pm PT
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Duncan's Moonraker photos, followed by MH2 quoting Alvarez, reminded me about
Hard Rock, which is one of my all-time favorite armchair mountaineering books.
Armchair because I've not done a single one of the climbs, and yet read it cover to cover.
Highly recommended, for any of you armchair mountaineers who don't have this.
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