UKC

These two routes have been on my ticklist for some time now but for whatever reason I have not got round to doing them - until this weekend.
This is the first weekend that I have had free for a long time with a good weather forecast so some frantic ringing around to get a climbing partner sorted saw Simon arranging cover at work and squaring it with the wife to join me for a raid to the Wye Valley on Saturday afternoon and then the Llanberis Pass on Sunday afternoon.

King Kong - HVS 5b? - 3 pitches
A couple of years ago this route had a fairly major rockfall and the guidebook grade has not been re-assessed since. Their is therefore some debate as to what grade it is now with internet speculation ranging from HVS 5b to E2 5c! It was pretty warm when we geared up at the foot of the route on Saturday but within about 8 metres of climbing I had sweated buckets - and I am not a sweaty person! The start is very physical and does not ease you into the route in any way whatsoever. You climb up under a roof, traverse below it and then pull up through/past it into a groove. That bit is fine. The groove is then reasonably sustained and I found it the most difficult bit of the climb before stepping out into a cave for a breather. The rest of the 1st pitch is pleasant but not in any way hard.
The second pitch has another roof on it and it took me a couple of minutes to figure out the sequence through it. I will not tell you what that is but needless to say feet are the key. Once solved the sequence was not hard but it is intimidating when you are looking up at it. The rest of the route was then pretty smooth.

Cemetry Gates - E1 5b, two pitches, Dinas Cromlech, Llanberis Pass
I had climbed Cenotaph Corner in April and so was looking forward to how this compared but in actual fact spent more time comparing it to King Kong to try and ascertain the grade of the Wye Valley classic. The approach to Cemetry Gates is fun involving an exposed scramble from the foot of Cenotaph corner and and squeeze down a chimney to the belay ledge. There were two folks ahead of us on the route so we had to sit and wait with fingers getting increasingly cold in the overcast weather. A fim crew had turned up that morning to film someone on Right Wall but it had been deemed too wet. Nevertheless we were surrounded by rockstars with folk climbing the Corner, Left Wall and Resurrection.

As I started climbing it started drizzling but the route remained pretty much dry and it did not come to much. The first pitch is the 5b pitch and it is sustained but all of the holds are their. There was no single part of the climb that had me stumped, holds appeared where you wanted them and gear was plentiful. I took my time and rested as much as I could and enjoyed it. The last few moves to the belay ledge are pumpy and the world slowed down a bit as I made them but it went without drama!

The second pitch is 4c and is very pleasant taking you to the beautiful grass garden that is the belay ledge at the top of the Gates, Right Wall and Cenotaph Corner. It feels like a hallowed place to be and the abseil off is spectacular.

So back to King Kong. What grade is it? The crux moves felt physically harder than anything on Cemetry Gates but it was less sustained. The majority of the first pitch after the crux is straightforward Severe. That said if you were an HVS climber I think King Kong would feel on the limit and hence the 5b grade. I would say its now a tough HVS 5b or lower end E1 5b. But then what do I know!
Rob
There are a couple of photos on my blog if folk are interested.

In reply to Rob Johnson expeditionguide.com:



Hmm. lets see now........................






A grade between the two?

















E0 5b

In reply to Rob Johnson expeditionguide.com: 'we were surrounded by rockstars'

And me. Were you one of the chaps I was chatting to about the floods?

It was a good atmosphere up there. Did you hear the classic piece of banter from the team ahead of you on Cemetery Gates? Second to leader - 'Can I climb?' Leader to second - 'I don't know, but you'd better get up here somehow - I want my gear back.'

Personally I reckon King Kong is now worth E1 - the first few moves once you're established in the groove are well protected but quite hard work.

In reply to John2: Yes thats right. I did laugh at the comments from the team ahead and from those on Left Wall "get a move on, your belayer is uncomfortable" followed by "not half as uncomfortable as I am down here!"

In reply to Rob Johnson expeditionguide.com: Cemetry Gates is HVS. How can you put it in the same grade as the Corner!

In reply to IanJackson: Not in my guide book it isn't! The corner gets 5c whilst the Gates gets 5b which is about right in my humble opinion. The corner is not sustained, there are plenty of rests and then the 5c section at the top is very well protected.

In reply to Rob Johnson expeditionguide.com:
The new Lower Wye Valley guide is due to be delivered to Cordee today, though printer problems have already delayed it twice by a total of nearly four weeks. The GO Wall section was written by Martin Crocker and has King Kong at E1 5b, which is the almost unanimous local consensus since the rockfall a few years ago.

The guide has some fabulous photos of action on GO Wall (and elesewhere) by Don Sargeant, Paul Wood, and others.

You can preview the Wynd Cliff section by going to the Climbers' Club website and clicking on the yellow bar on the home page.

In reply to Removed UserJohn Willson: Thanks very much John, thats great. I look forward to seeing the new guide. Rob

In reply to Rob Johnson expeditionguide.com:

King Kong always was borderline HVS/E1 even before the rockfall and Cemetry gates is borderline E1/HVS. They're not very different, in other words.

In reply to Rob Johnson expeditionguide.com: Yea there were so many rests i was trying to get my weight on my fingers my carves were that pumped!

Each to there owe!

In reply to Rob Johnson expeditionguide.com: Have looked up at the start of king kong, get a bit of a lump in the throat, it definately looks hard work !

I did organ Grinder at shorncliff. A hard work HVS 5a, somehow i think king kong will be harder, so im going to wait until ive done swatter and a few of the other HVS around the place.

Im eagerly awaiting the new guidbook too !

Cheers

Dave

In reply to Rob Johnson expeditionguide.com:

It must be difficult to update details in guidebooks regularly .... just like some folks' ages don't get updated on their profiles (snigger)
Great photos on the blog Rob, both routes sounded intimidating.
See you October for easy peasey HS & VS's
Bill

In reply to Bogsy: Cheers Bill - looking forward to it. Rob