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Dreadnought*** E3 5c

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[Contemplating the exposed crux pitch of Dreadnought - 1987, 3 kb]80m, 3 pitches. A phenomenally-exposed route that voyages out across the lip of the Great Cave prior to climbing the massive headwall above. Start as for Moonraker at its hanging stance. Photo on pages 345.. 1) 5c, 36m. Follow Moonraker to the chockstone at the top of its steep crack. Traverse right, out across the lip of the cave to a corner, and climb this to a roof. Traverse rightwards beneath the roof via some constricted moves to an old peg and continue for 3m to a footledge and hanging stance. Friend 3 will be useful for the belay.. 2) 5b, 20m. Move back left to a steep corner/groove and climb it to an overhang at its end. Move out left and up to a deep slot before climbing the wall above, leftwards to a good ledge. The short wall on the right gains a cave and a huge thread belay.. 3) 5b, 23m. Move left out of the cave and climb steep ground to a narrow groove on the right which is followed to a ledge. Ascend the leaning wall above to an overhang and pull though this with difficulty to better holds and easier climbing to the top. © ROCKFAX
Awesome inescapable climbing above the big cave. One of the South West's finest even if you do meet a bit of dirt and the occasional flower. Article on Dreadnought by John Cox here - http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=1307 Great Historical article and pictures from Frank cannings here - http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=1453
Frank Cannings & Pat Littlejohn 4/4/69 FFA Littlejohn 1977

Ticklists: Extreme Rock, Littlejohn South West Climbs, West Country Climbs, 100 best limestone climbs in Britain, MIA logbook must haves!.

Photo: Contemplating the exposed crux pitch of Dreadnought - 1987 © Rik Meek
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PUBLIC LOGBOOKS
This climb is in 48 logbooks, and on 28 wishlists.

Hidden - 2013

Led p2 - brilliant route. 2 annoying slips p1
Dizz - AltLd - 29/Sep/12 with Hugh T

P1 + 3. There is time to climb moonraker and dreadnought on one low tide. Sensational traverse out over cave to first belay.
Ed Babs - AltLd O/S - 14/Sep/12 with Eddie Young

Very fun. Difficult tides so abbed down to an obvious corner halfway up the first pitch of moonraker. Worked well - just a little down-climb to get established. Great airy awkward moves, you could get very pumped but with miles of air below no need to place too much gear. Position of second belay is just awesome.
quiffhanger - AltLd O/S - 25/Aug/12 with Matt

Exposed and amazing climbing on the first pitch, did the route in light rain. I think we were some of the first people on it after the restriction lifted so it was a bit dirty but the climbing made up for it.
Joughton - AltLd O/S - 12/Aug/12

Fell off at end of p1. Wasn't climbing well. Amazing route!
Bristoldave - Lead dog - 02/Aug/12 with Dale

2 falls.
Dale Turrell - 2nd dog - 02/Aug/12 with Bristoldave

Pete Graham - AltLd - 24/Feb/12 with Ian Burton, Ben Silvestre

burto - AltLd O/S - 24/Feb/12 with ben silvestre, pete graham

Hidden - 2012

Great day, brought back memories!
robbie Warke - Lead rpt - 16/Sep/11 with Jamie Parfrey

Fantastic route, with wild positions, a beautiful place to be. No guidebook with us as someone had kindly chalked the way for us a couple of days earlier. A route of distinct aroma.
John Mcshea - AltLd O/S - 08/Aug/11 with Cherry Bedford

Hidden - AltLd O/S - 08/Aug/11

Fantastic full value climbing! Abbed down moonraker to get in as tides not ideal, dodged fulmar vomit on the way down, real adventure climbing throughout - dirty, damp, sandy breaks on the crux pitch, comedy "slot" and awesome thread belay on second, nice though-provoking wall climbing on third. To the person who complained below about it "needing a good clean", do you think perhaps you're missing the point?
quadmyre - Lead O/S - 06/Aug/11 with Crispin

GeoffG - 2011

Hidden - 2011

dan gibson - Lead O/S - 28/Aug/10 with jacquie robinson

Wow! Wow! Wow! What a route.Drove through pouring rain to reach Brixham in the dry. Soloed round at sea level to hanging belay. Lots of faff sorting ropes. Lead first pitch, steep, hard, steep, hard.1st crux took some working out. 2nd break full of green scunge making holds so slippery. Got peg and slipped off. Annoyed. Misha lead rest of route, still awesome, steep and sustained. We were watched by a harbour seal in the blue water. Topped out in the sunset,best route ever? Home for 2am. Would do it again tomorrow it was that good (might be a little less fragrant!).
philhilo - AltLd - 01/Aug/10 with misha

Best multipitch route I've done to date. Wild exposure, sustained climbing and the prospect of dangling in the air if you come off on P1. Phil did a great job of leading P1. I did P2 (hard E1, or at least felt that way straight after seconding P1, had to rest on the belay after backing off the first few moves) and P3 (easy E1). Really pleased to pull this one off as it was raining in St Agnes in the morning and kept raining most of the way to Brixham, in fact it was drizzling as Phil set off but we figured it would be ok due to the overhangs and were proved right as P1 stayed dry and the drizzle had stopped by the time I set off on P2. The final traverse on P1 was very greasy though. Second ascent of the season - a team got in before us but they must have done a crafty traverse into P1 after abbing in. Guano city on the P2 belay but at least it had dried out! Started scrambling at 3pm and topped out at 9.30pm. Awesome.
Misha - AltLd O/S - 01/Aug/10 with Phil

Toby Dunn - AltLd - 18/Aug/09 with Andy Reeve

Second E3 ever, Sandbagged into an apparent "path" By farn which resulted in the most terrifying and amazing trad experience I have had!
Jack_F - AltLd O/S - 13/Aug/09 with sam farnsworth

Great route but not worth 3 stars unless it gets a clean - pitch 2 was slimy and muddy, pith 3 loose rock and pitch 4 vegetated. Great moves and positions though, Emily almost got the crux clean. Doing some of Rainbow bridge after was even more fun!
Chad123 - AltLd O/S - 12/Aug/09 with Emily

twright180 - Lead dnf - 2009

tuftynick - 2008

chris j - 2nd rpt - 28/Sep/07 with Fiend

Ben did the business pitch
eddy-on-the-rocks - AltLd O/S - 10/Aug/07 with Ben

tonanf - Lead dnf - Jun/07 with james

Rob Kennard - 2007

climber sim - 2007

feilx - Lead O/S - 13/Aug/06 with Chris Havill

Bern - 2006

If you are reading this Chris - sorry about the cams popping on the belay !
shark - Lead - 01/Oct/05 with Chris Jones

Hidden - Lead O/S - 12/Aug/00

ChrisJD - 2nd - 1996 with Will

keefe - AltLd O/S - 29/Aug/92 with Glenn Sutcliffe

Glenn Sutcliffe - AltLd - 29/Aug/92 with keefe

Hidden - AltLd dog - 13/Sep/90

Epic. Got this route 2nd time after previous attempt with Derek Toulalan and a retreat into the sea from the 2nd belay in a thunderstorm.
Johnny Baker - AltLd O/S - 10/Oct/89 with Dave Webster

frank ramsay - Lead - Nov/88

William Robertson - Lead O/S - 1987 with Emily, Steve, Shaun etc

Kafoozalem - AltLd O/S - 27/Oct/85 with Ken Palmer

L,2,L.
charlesmfrench - AltLd O/S - 1984 with Ian Milne

stp - 1983

Hidden - 1980

Hidden - 1980

Hidden - 1980

Hidden - 1980

Hidden - AltLd - May/79

Users with this climb on their wishlist are:
JackMac, Mountain Spirit, Hidden, Liam Ingram, Will Cat, Hidden, Ropeboy, Hidden, Alan100, Hidden, wi11, Ian Jones, Hidden, Hidden, madmats, Hidden, Hidden, Dan Walker, MH123, Owen W-G, twright180, francois, Hidden, Hidden, Dr Caterpillar, centurion05, Dave Searle, chris j

Voting
Total votes cast 29
hard E40 of 10
E40 of 10
easy E40 of 10
hard E31 of 10
E39 of 10
easy E30 of 10
hard E20 of 10
E20 of 10
easy E20 of 10
hard 6a0 of 10
6a0 of 10
easy 6a0 of 10
hard 5c2 of 10
5c6 of 10
easy 5c2 of 10
hard 5b0 of 10
5b0 of 10
easy 5b0 of 10
3 Stars7 of 9
2 Stars2 of 9
1 Star0 of 9
0 Stars0 of 9
Bag of .....0 of 9
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Style of ascent

Lead11 of 48 (22.9%)
Followed3 of 48 (6.2%)
Alt Leads21 of 48 (43.8%)
Unknown13 of 48 (27.1%)

'Climbed'22 of 48 (45.8%)
clean O/S19 of 48 (39.6%)
clean rpt2 of 48 (4.2%)
dogged3 of 48 (6.2%)
dnf2 of 48 (4.2%)