UKC

Hi There,

If anyone can help(?); If I'm looking for topo's of the trad routes in Ban-y-gor, would I be looking to get a combination of the Climbers' Club (2007) Lower Wye Valley and the Climbers' Club (2012) Wye Valley supplement guides to get the best picture?

All the best

When climbing at other Wye Valley trad crags, Wintours Leap, Wyndcliff and Shorn Cliff I've just used the two books you've mentioned and I've managed to find all the routes I've wanted to climb. 

Although a climbing partner did also have a copy of the Climbers Club West Country Climbs Vol 1 which did have better/more photo topo's in for the crags mentioned above which were easier to use. So it may be worth getting to a climbing shop/borrowing a copy off a friend and have a flick through that to see if its also the case for Ban-y-gor. 

The CC guide has the best information but not a whole lot in terms of topos. The Wye Valley Sport guide probably has the best, in that the obvious and worth-while trad routes are often included in the topos. 

Were you looking for something specifically? To be honest, the best information I used for climbing the few trad routes I've done there was the sport guide in combination with the ordering and descriptions on UKC. If a route climbs the obvious corner crack to the right of *insert sport climb*, it's usually pretty obvious. 

Thanks John, I'll have to have a flick through and see if they've got me covered.

My copy of West Country Climbs was great for Wintours/Shorn but from memory it just covered some of the sport routes over at Ban-y-gor

Cheers Paul, can't say I had particular ones in mind; if the ones in the GWR guide are the main attractions I'll probably just use that to start with and do what you said - match things up with the UKC descriptions/sport routes locations

I've done a couple of worthwhile vs/hvs routes there but to be honest they were all 1-star routes at best. It seems to be known for having some stout grading on the old trad lines. I've done a few of them that have been retro bolted and things that used to be e1 getting high french 6s are not unheard of!

Awesome, good to know. I planned to keep it around the VS range; that crag kicks my arse at the best of times