The famous Extreme Rock route at Berry Head, Caveman (E6 6a), has seen some impressive solos in the last few weeks. First off was Tim Emmett, followed by Mike Robertson and then Julian Lines (who unlike the other two, was climbing it for the first time). All three climbers chose to traverse off after the main difficulties onto Dreadnought, but they did the hard climbing on less than perfect rock, 60-70 feet above a high tide. Of course, Dave Thomas soloed Caveman way back in 1989, before soloing a more direct line on-sight, which he called Terracotta.
I don't know why I didn't add that to the news item - now updated. If I remember rightly, Thomas wrote a gripping account of his Terracotta solo - I remember it from the Lit Fest years ago, though I'm not sure if it made it into Orogenic Zones, the book of the first 10 (?) years of the festival.
Comments