Dave Talbot and Henry Castle have made the first ascent of seven new routes in Pembroke. 'Disco Buttress' at Mother Carey's Kitchen is destined to be a popular crag as the routes are of high quality, non tidal and give some easier options for those climbing in the area, ranging from Severe to E3.
Dave told UKC:
"It's amazing what you can still find when out climbing in the UK. We found this crag from looking at the guide book....funny that. We were looking at the photo of the western face of Mother Carey's Kitchen and noticed that it stops at the route 'The cruel sea', so it seemed worth a look at what was around the corner."
The look around the corner didn't disappoint, as Dave explained:
"We ended up bagging the main lines of the crag on day one and 5 first ascents in total. The next day we headed back and did the obvious easier routes and had a go at the mega line of the crag that proved too hard for us. We named the crag Disco Buttress as all day we had a radio at the bottom of the crag blaring out Radio 6. Ace."
Disco Buttress is situated at Mother Carey's Kitchen between Great Wall and Blind Bay on the south facing buttress and is a mainly non-tidal crag with easy approaches, a mix of grades and on good rock. All the routes are less than 20 metres in length. The approach is via abseil.
Route 1 - 'Sound and Rhythm', S 4a *. Follow steps up rightward on the face until below the groove. Layback up this to the top.
Route 2 - 'The Dreaded Disco', E1 5b *. Climb the rib to a large ledge on the face. Fiddle in some gear and traverse right to the arete. Climb the arete or traverse right again into the hanging groove which is followed to the top.
Route 3 - 'Disco Biscuit', E3 5c **. A burly, sustained pitch. Climb the wall to the roof, make taxing moves left through the roof to jugs on the lip now climb the wall and crack to finishing jugs. Beefy
Route 4 - 'Disco Leg', E1 5b *. Climb the wall on crossly cracks to a resting position in line with the overhangs on the left. Climb the groove and wall above to the top. Groovy.
Route 5 - 'Hot Stepper', E1 5b. Follow crystal flakes up to the base of a groove. Follow the diagonal crack rightwards to gain the right arete. Follow this to a step left at the top.
Route 6 - 'Talbasawrus', VS 4c *. Spooky. Climb up into the niche and pull through the fangs on the right. Climb the crack to the top.
Route 7 - 'Disco Tech' HS 4b *. Climb the crack in the face and into the groove which is followed to a ledge. Now climb the steep wall above on good holds.
Watch a video of Dave and Henry's new-routing spree below:
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