UKC

As the title says. Preferred style is bouldery moves in between decent rests. Done a few soft touches in other places, so would prefer something that the majority feels warrants the grade, but not Necessarily hard at the grade.Not really properly red pointed anything before.

One recommendation so far was Pet cemetery at ban-y-gor.

Thanks for any advice

Sam

In reply to SFrancis:
I don't think you've got a lot of choices.

Tintern is currently banned, but 7a is under-represented anyway. The Dead Vei there is 7a+, thuggy & superb with a nasty sting-in-the-tail crimpy slab top.

Wyndcliff Quarry only has 1 7a, Wilkinson's sword, which is a technical arete with truly rubbish feet. Short - 10m tops.

Wintours Leap has a few dotted around. I recently did Lurking Smear, but bouldery is is not - it's a thin dog-leg slab.

Woodcroft Quarry has Rippled & Toned, which is definitely no soft touch, but it is technical with smears, crimps & laybacks rather than bouldery.

Ban-y-Gor has a few but I'd warn you that the style & grading there can be a bit strange, especially on the shorter routes. Pet Cemetary is indeed v good. A bimble up to a big ledge, then steep thuggyness for a dozen or so moves, then a rest, then a short top section. I'd take a clipstick up with you to pop the draw in place for the steep bit as there is one part where falling would not be nice. That's the problem with a nice resting ledge of course! There are some other 7as at ByG but I haven't tried them.

If you fancy going further afield onto Welsh sandstone then there are some nice ones there. Or limestone at Witches Point?

In reply to hms:

Thank you very much for your comprehensive reply. Rippled and Toned might have to be the one, can have a crack at Gunshot Wound to the Head as well and warm down on the butterfly wall.

Out of interest what are your suggestions for the Welsh Sandstone?

Cheers

In reply to SFrancis:


Bear running salmon cunning or whatever it is as the gap is nice, better than but less bouldery than the one on the arete right of encore if memory serves.....

In reply to AJM:

absolutely agree. Bear/Salmon was a brilliant route.

Killer Queen at Sirhowy was ok although it had a distressing wobbly hold.

Hail Mary at Tirpentwys was v nice - soft touch as there isn't actually v much 7a climbing on it at all.

In reply to hms: There's also The Arete at Wyndcliff Quarry - 7a+, but I found it easier that Wilkinson's Sword -it's also more bouldery. Ban-y-gor is the place to go in the Wye Valley for that sort of route... Chin'ooks might do the job.

Wintour's has much thinner climbing on the whole - from memory the sports routes there are mainly thin techy jobs.

In reply to SFrancis:

Gunshot is seriously soft touch - but only if you are either tall or can dyno (or both!). There is a single crux move and the rest is easy. Blast from the Past is a far better route - more balanced level of difficulty.

Cheers for all the options. Il bear in mind the sandstone for another day.

Did Blast from the Past last time we were there, really nice part from one fall on to the ledge going for the second/third bolt ended up finding a dynamic move, and then one last hard clip followed by a nice juggy finish. Didn't try Gunshot.

Il have a look at chin'ooks if we make it to Ban-y-gor.

In reply to SFrancis:
I really liked the first pitch of Heil Hitler at Wintours. It's a short, bouldery lower section followed by easy climbing to the top (think it's 20-25m in total). One of the few in that area that's not got a massive ledge in it (like much of the stuff at Ban-Y-Gor. Lurking Smear next to it is also good in a different style. If you particularly like climbing in the quarry then I thought Don't Lower the Tone felt like an easy 7a+ although my height may have helped. I found Rippled and toned harder which is given 7a but it's in a techy style that I didn't really climb in at the time.

If you like bouldery then jump on some of the 7a+s at Ban-Y-Gor, at least if they're soft you know you've done 7a. People will have voted on their opinion on the grade if you look on here.

In reply to hms:


I thought that both of the above routes were bouldery. In my opinion 'bouldery' means that the hard sections are short lived or separated by good rests. You get hard boulder problems on slabs and walls as well as roofs you know!

In reply to SFrancis:

I'm also reading with interest and thanks to suggestions so far. Tried Blabba Mouth the other day at ByG, easy, then stonkingly hard move. Simply could'nt work it. 7a??
Pity about Tintern - Dead Vei is dead good.
Chris

In reply to cha1n:

well yes, I do do a lot of bouldering too. But when someone says they want something bouldery I do think that there is a distinct implication that they are after something that needs power. I don't think Shauna Coxey got those shoulders by doing slabs!

In reply to SFrancis:

Here's my offerings.....
Ashes to ashes (tintern) - hard for 6c+
One track mind (the gap) - cool 7a arête
Pastis on ice (mountain ash) - soft 7a+
Mawr mawr mawr (Sirhowy) - soft 7a
In Himmel (Sirhowy) - bouldery 7a
Jurassic lark (witches point) - steep 7a
Heil hitler (wintours) - couple of hard moves then easy