UKC

Going for an exotic holiday in the Wye Valley soon. I have the guidebook on order, but not very useful for planning, as it'll arrive after I've packed my bags.

I'm hoping to get out to Wintours Leap and Symonds Yat to climb a bit, e.g. Central Rib Route III (VD), Zelda (HS 4b), Vertigo (S 4a), Whitt (VS 4c), and wondering:

1. what's the descent from South Bay routes at Wintours Leap? If it's an abseil, how long is it?
2. how long's the abseil descent off the Long Stone Pinnacle at Symonds Yat? From photos on here, looks like it goes straight down Vertigo.
3. will I regret it if I just take a single rope?
4. is big pro useful?

Thanks for any tips - I'm not looking for sandbags as going with a less experienced second.

In reply to humptydumpty:

1: You can walk off - always better than rapping.
2: Never been, can't comment, but can check the guidebook when I'm home if you don't get a good answer before hand.
3:For Zelda, and other big multipitches at Wintours Leap, half ropes are better as the pitches wander around a fair bit.
4:I would take cams to size 3 and hexes on any of the multi pitch routes.

In reply to LJC:

Thanks, very helpful

In reply to humptydumpty:

It's a very long time since I last did it but I don't remember the abseil off the Longstone being very long. I'm sure we used to do it on a single rope when the normal rope length was 45m.

In reply to humptydumpty:

Done Whit on a single 50m rope in one pitch, maybe not ideal but it's not a problem, just extend the runner before you step left, big hex is handy for the crack at the top ,ab down vertigo.

In reply to AdrianC and Murd:

That's what I wanted to hear - taking the 50!

Thanks all.

In reply to humptydumpty:

Not sure if this advice is too late, but if you can take two halves rather than (or as well as) a 50m single I would personally, although you can do all the routes you've suggested on a single. However, Zelda (esp. the top pitch) might feel quite "draggy" on a single rope, and more importantly if it goes pear-shaped (e.g. it starts raining!) I don't think you could retreat easily after the first pitch of Zelda with a single 50m. As stated above, for Wintour's Leap South Bay and Far South Bay the best descent is scrambling down the Easy Way Down (with an easy scramble to the top for the latter) rather than abbing, and the ab of the Longstone Pinnacle is short and easily doable with a single 50m rope.

One place you definitely should NOT try to climb on with a single 50m rope is the North Wall at Wintour's Leap, which does have some good routes in your grade range (Left Hand Route, Nibelheim, Joe's Route etc). Following a change of ownership of the house on top of the cliff you can no longer top out, and both abseils from the Great Ledge (the effective top for most of the routes) are considerably longer than 25 metres. It's also worth noting that a single 50m rope doesn't quite get to the ground for the longer routes at Shorn Cliff, including the big slab routes (e.g. the Laughing Cavaliers and One for All) in the Great Central Cave area, and there is no viable alternative descent.

Cheers
Rick

In reply to Rick Sewards:

Great info - and thanks for the warnings. I'm not going for another couple of weeks, so they're still in time.