UKC

Good Morning,

I am heading down to St Ives (Cornwall) this weekend and weather permitting would like to try and get some climbing in.

Over the past few years I have favoured sport routes as my local crags have an abundant of bolts but I hear the South West is all trad.

So I am looking for advice please on some easier grade crags (vdiff - s) single pitch with either walk off or abseils without leaving gear.

Can you recommend a destination?

I was attracted to Wicca Pillar on the log book but could not see how you would decend without leaving anchors.

In fact this applies to most sea stacks, how do you get back down?

Many thanks

Ben

In reply to benmason:
Not many single pitch crags in the area, and most tend to have climb / ab ins.

You could try Sennen or Aire point or Porth Nanven.

What are your transport arrangements?

Bosigran is not tidla, walk in and off, but multipitch

In reply to benmason:

I've only climbed in Sennen whilst in Cornwall, but it certainly ticks the boxes you're after. Easier routes (sub HVS), non tidal, single pitch, and walk in.

In reply to benmason:

Sennen would be perfect but - caveat - there is a very strong westerly forcast this weekend and Sennen is NOT the place to be when that comes in. The landward end of Bosigran has loads of easier pitches which might be more amenable this weekend.

In reply to HeMa: Some single pitch, can be dangerously wave swept, scramble in.

In reply to benmason:
Halldrine Cove would be absolutely perfect for you. Very easy scramble in, tops out back at the cliff top with simple-to-arrange belays. The guide can be downloaded here:

http://www.javu.co.uk/Climbing/NewRoutes/WestCornwall/Halldrine-Cove.pdf

If the wind is up and the sea is high, do heed the warning about not taking the lower of the two scrambles in.

If that goes well, next door on Bosigran is Alison Rib, which might be the best imaginable introduction to easy multipitch.

In reply to benmason:

All the suggestions - Sennen, Halldrine, Bosigran landward climbs - are fine, but in the event of good weather will be absolutely heaving this weekend. If you want somewhere that's reasonably quiet though perhaps less quality, then your idea of going to Wicca Pillar is a good bet; scramble off.

In reply to benmason:
Some good suggestions there. I'll just throw in Trewevas Head as another excellent non tidal option. Easy but longish approach along coast path, tops out on cliff top, easyish walk down to the bottom & a decent range of routes.

Thank you everyone. Just hoping for reasonable weather now

In reply to benmason:

Some great advice already. As said, Sennen ticks your boxes but check the tides and the wind; it's a spectacular place when the waves break over the cliff but you really wouldn't want to be climbing there.

T.

In reply to Jamie Wakeham:

Although bosigran is multi pitch the first pitch of Alison's rib can be climbed and walked off although the second pitch is fun too and can be linked in easily. There are a couple of other routes in that area which are single pitch and can be walked off from easily.

But also all the other crags mentioned are great.

In reply to rockjedi12345:

My facebook feed says includes a Scilly Isles ferry operator

He says that he is expecting disruption with swells peaking at over 20 feet by Monday

I think that might affect a few people plans at the coast including mine. One suspects that the North coast (boisgran) will do better than Sennen which is in surfer terms famous for catching swells from all directions