UKC

T Rex rockfall?

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 PaulTanton 14 May 2018

I heard yesterday that the bottom section of T Rex now resides in the sea. Anyone seen this? 

In reply to PaulTanton:

Interesting, this is the first I've heard of it and judging by the logbooks it hasn't seen a whole lot of activity this year. With a bit of luck some of the people climbing in Wen Zawn will be able to offer comment. Shame if it has, because that move getting in/out of the chimney was truly unforgettable.

OP PaulTanton 14 May 2018
In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

Main problem is T Rex has been on my ‘must do’ list for years. A classic of the genre

 JR 14 May 2018
In reply to PaulTanton:

I hope it's not now extinct too!

In reply to PaulTanton:

If you do it and don't mind not doing the original, Metal Guru (E4 6a) is - in my eyes - a better route/line, as it follows the corner in its entirety and adds a whole lot more climbing (and an extra grade).

 kevin stephens 14 May 2018
In reply to PaulTanton:

Maybe a meteorite did for it?

OP PaulTanton 14 May 2018
In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

I was talking to someone who did Dream yesterday. They said it looked like the flake below the traverse had gone, big rock scar.

 

OP PaulTanton 14 May 2018
In reply to kevin stephens:

oh yeah, that one last Tuesday 

 

 Tigger 14 May 2018
In reply to PaulTanton:

Is there any further news on this? I was hoping to try the route this year I haven't been down to the first pitch yet, how big is the flake in question?

OP PaulTanton 15 May 2018
In reply to Tigger:

I've not seen the scar myself. Need a trip to Wen Zawn to check it out

 Rick Graham 15 May 2018
 Blake 17 May 2018
In reply to PaulTanton:

Ah no! That would be a real tragedy - a real welsh old school classic, historic route

 Gefnan 22 May 2018
In reply to PaulTanton:

Yes definitely collapsed and more to follow, went to do it today without knowing of this.

Photo to follow

 

 

 

 bensilvestre 23 May 2018
In reply to PaulTanton:

Saw a photo today and it looks like the whole chimney had collapsed! Such a shame, was an unforgettable route. Really glad I went back for metal guru last year. Might still be possible to get into the upper corner from the left?

In reply to Gefnan:

So what's the situation is it unclimbable now?

In reply to Gefnan:

Thanks for the update.

Sad times, it was only the other day that I was recommending the route to someone. Think that transition from chimney to layback ranked as one of the most unorthodox moves I've ever done. 

It's also another Extreme Rock route that is now unclimbable (at least in its original state)...

Bogwalloper 23 May 2018
In reply to PaulTanton:

Photo of the collapse on Si Panton's twitter feed

https://twitter.com/SimonPanton1

W

Post edited at 08:33
 Ed Booth 23 May 2018
In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

bugger. Another remind to not sit around!! another tick lost

In reply to Ed Booth:

Quite timely for me, as I walked into the Dubh Loch this weekend having forgotten that Cougar had fallen down in 2012. What an idiot...

 DannyC 23 May 2018
In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

Cue a 'Lost Rock' article Rob? A run-down of Britain's best routes that are now rubble...!  

In reply to DannyC:

There probably is an article in it, although I'm a wee bit short on time to write it currently. Still, that's not to say I can't start drafting something, so here's a few to get us started:

T-Rex/Metal Guru would (now) be on the list, as would Romanesque (E3 5c) on The Green Bridge of Wales, which fell down in October last year.

Further back we've obviously got the two rock falls at Creag an Dubh Loch that wiped out the top pitch of The Giant (Summer) (E3 6a) and P4 on Cougar (E3 5c). There's also the famous rockfall on Parallel Gully B (V 5) at Lochnagar nearby, which transformed the famous chimney pitch into a more 'infamous' thin ice corner.

Deer Bield Buttress (E1 5a) is another famous one for having fallen down, not least because of it made ticking Hard Rock that bit harder. Whilst we're on the topic of the Lakes, there's also the somewhat ominous rockfall in the making that is Castle Rock of Triermain, with its house sized block being alarmingly close to tipping point.

Sure there's a load of others, but there's a few to get us started

 Chris Craggs Global Crag Moderator 23 May 2018
In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

Fandango at Tremadog, for a good part of the summer the heavily chalked layback flake was passed on the way up to the crag.

Chris

 nuts and bolts 23 May 2018
In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

In Hard Rock there is also Coronation St and Central Buttress on Scafell.

One concern I have this year is that following the severe winter conditions a lot of low crags will have seen freeze/thaw that they don't usually get a may be looser than usual as a result - some of the inland limestone for example.  

 jon 23 May 2018
In reply to Chris Craggs:

> Fandango at Tremadog, for a good part of the summer the heavily chalked layback flake was passed on the way up to the crag.

Ah well now then... I pulled into the parking spot at Carreg Hyll Drem to find it somewhat blocked by a large (about a metre long by 40cm) fang of rock complete with very chalky hand holds either side of it. It was the fang that you used to get hold of with both hands and lean out on to make one of the long steps across leftwards on the classic Girdle Traverse. The very Girdle Traverse that I used to solo just about every time I was in Wales when it rained, and on which I made as much use as I could of said fang...

 

Post edited at 12:21
 Dave Garnett 23 May 2018
In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

I have some photos taken on the second pitch of Deer Bield Buttress after the third pitch had disappeared, and maybe some of Stiff Little Fingers at Hodge Close.  

Someone (Al Evans for a start) must have pictures of Yankee Doodle.  Controlled Burning, anyone?

 Neil Foster Global Crag Moderator 23 May 2018
In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

> Quite timely for me, as I walked into the Dubh Loch this weekend having forgotten that Cougar had fallen down in 2012. What an idiot...


What you needed was to have done Cougar in 2000, when it was still in one piece, Rob.... 

BTW, did you find our abseil escape route from Giant, (which I think is how it is now written up in the recent guidebook?).

Neil

 

 Rob Parsons 23 May 2018
In reply to nuts and bolts:

> In Hard Rock there is also Coronation St and Central Buttress on Scafell.

What fell off Coronation Street, and when? Thanks.

 

 

 Simon Caldwell 23 May 2018
In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

Ornithology (S 4a) involved climbing a tree, which for the last few years has been slowly rotting on the ground below.

The New Foggy Dew (S 4a) replaced an earlier route (The Foggy Dew VDiff) that fell down a few decades ago, and itself fell down shortly after we climbed it in 2009. It's been reclimbed since (The Brand New Foggy Dew VS 4b), but the cracks are still slowly widening...

 

Post edited at 12:58
 Toerag 23 May 2018
In reply to PaulTanton:

Mad Dog Corner '..a brilliant E3 5c' @Gull Zawn, Guernsey fell down the winter after it was climbed.  All was not in vain though, its remains allowed the wave-polished impossible starts to many routes in the back of the zawn to be bypassed.

 spidermonkey09 23 May 2018
In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

Bobby's Groove on the slate, Conscientious Objector at St Govans

Post edited at 13:17
 fred99 23 May 2018
In reply to Rob Parsons:

> What fell off Coronation Street, and when? Thanks.


Part of the Shield. It was embedded in the grass one morning - at exactly the spot where the belayer normally stands for the first pitch of that and the VS (I forget the name) that our party were due to climb - with more on the road. Apparently someone (a climber) had parked their car in the space below the route, and their bonnet had received a delivery of rock when the leader (!) holding that part of the flake at the time (!) had let go of it - he was by then dangling on the rope and being held by his belayer who was thankfully well to one side. I was told that the route (what was left of it) was completed successfully.

 kevin stephens 23 May 2018
In reply to PaulTanton: of course we did the Last Ascent of Bridgehead Revisited on Pembroke’s Green Bridge

 

 Misha 23 May 2018
In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

Formula One on Lundy. 

The first pitch of the Devil’s Limekiln on Lundy is buried under rubble but the second pitch is still climbable (or at least it was a few years back), not sure if that counts...

All small fry compared to the Dru!

I recall the T Rex chimney being a weird Gogarth skwirmfest tussle (aren’t they all?) and the layback being a go-for-it pumpfest but remember nothing of the transition other than there being an in situ nut to calm the nerves.

 Chris Craggs Global Crag Moderator 23 May 2018
In reply to Chris Craggs:

...... oh and of course the majestic Yankee Doodle - RIP (Rest in Pieces),

 

Chris

 Tom Briggs 23 May 2018
In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

> There probably is an article in it, although I'm a wee bit short on time to write it currently. 

Too busy milking this good weather on the Lakeland high crags I hope

Public Enemy is another classic that fell down.

 

 

 nuts and bolts 23 May 2018
In reply to spidermonkey09:

Don't forget Wraith at Mother Scareys

 overdrawnboy 23 May 2018
In reply to Chris Craggs:

Dont forget (or maybe try to) Valhalla at the back of the quarry at Burbage.

 nuts and bolts 23 May 2018
In reply to PaulTanton:

This has developed into quite an interesting thread. it is inducing feeling of frustration and nostalgia in equal measure. 

Frustration for all the classics I am never going to get a go at and nostalgia (and not a little smug self satisfaction) for all the ones I have climbed before gravity spoiled the show. 

 kevin stephens 23 May 2018
In reply to nuts and bolts:

> Don't forget Wraith at Mother Scareys

Wraith is still there and excellent, it’s just lost one hold, the right side of the crack

 steveriley 23 May 2018
In reply to PaulTanton:

And who can forget The Gouffle Connection, Warton Main? Ah right, everyone then.

In reply to kevin stephens:

It really is something to climb that arete and think to yourself 'this used to be a jamming crack', makes the mind boggle doesn't it?

With regards to this article, that to some extent appears to be writing itself, you've potentially won me over with all the good ideas + suggestions so leave it with me, but keep the suggestions coming - they're great!

 nuts and bolts 23 May 2018
In reply to kevin stephens:

Wraith used to go at E1 5a/b - a magnificent crack the right rib of which fell down in 1991 or 1992 from memory. It was reclimbed at E3 a year or so later I believe and is still a great climb. 

 Ed Booth 23 May 2018
In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

Perhaps notionally relevant, but i think its looks as though Another Day, Another Dog and The Barbarians are coming at Trevallen suffered a big rockfall at the bottom which had left a loose and very hard looking approach to the climbs. I didn't get pictures and forgot to mention, but I noticed a month or so back. 

Somebody else maybe able to confirm or get a pic...

 Kevster 23 May 2018
In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

From the south, plenty of attrition, quality might be a bit off.

Portland lost most of a crag the other year.

Fairy cave quarry, the e1 near robs crack

Tatra swanage., in fact the top of most swanage routes might be on the list.

Yellow wall avon

 Dave Garnett 23 May 2018
In reply to Kevster:

> Portland lost most of a crag the other year.

If we're going large, a big bit of Brownspear Point fell down taking classics like Berlin and Mainsail with it, and most of the best bits of Exmansworthy slumped seawards some decades ago.

 

 Misha 24 May 2018
In reply to Ed Booth:

Which reminds me, a whole section of crag with a dozen routes went 10-20 years ago at St Govan’s East.

The easy start to Terrier’s Tooth at Chair Ladder got smashed up by the storms a few years back. 

 craig h 24 May 2018
In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

Return of the Natives at Mewsford Point, Pembroke is no longer with us, also was an Extreme Rock tick.

 

 spenser 24 May 2018
In reply to Misha: 

Pat Littlejohn and Johnny Dawes reclimbed it this summer at a grade of XS 5b, looked like a real choss fest, Johnny's slight hyperventilation indicated it wasn't his usual forte but he seemed to enjoy it!

 

 John2 24 May 2018
In reply to Misha:

I think you mean St Govan's, not St Govan's East. Apparently it made so much noise it was heard in the pub.

 Bulls Crack 24 May 2018
In reply to DannyC:

Marsden Pinnacle, Sunderland's foremost sea-stack:  lost to the North Sea years ago now.

 

 Fruit 24 May 2018
In reply to Bulls Crack:

Hasn’t a chunk of compass point at Bude become part of the beach?

and of course the flake you used to put a runner behind then swarm up on One Step.. and the first pitch of Merlin.

 

 Fruit 24 May 2018
In reply to jon:

Having soloed CB on Scafell many years ago the thought of the flake coming out always gives me the heebee geebies 

 Greenbanks 24 May 2018
In reply to Fruit:

And then there are those routes/crags which have (it seems) always had a question-mark over their longevity - including Trowbarrow's Main Wall

pasbury 24 May 2018
In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

The Illinois Enema Bandit in Bus Stop!

A very silly route but fun! Now completely absent.

 Jon Stewart 24 May 2018
In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

Wraith (E2 5c)is awesome. I'd swap an e1 jamming crack for an e3 arete any day. A good deal. 

Crack in the Sea at Carn barra. 

 Blake 24 May 2018
In reply to Dave Garnett:

There are a bunch of pics of Yankee Doodle on UKC... 

 

https://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/item.php?crag=211&route=Yankee+Doodle

 elliptic 24 May 2018
In reply to PaulTanton:

It's fairly disturbing when you look back and realise how many things you've done which subsequently collapsed.

Stiff Little Fingers at Hodge has been mentioned above, it was already Stiff Little Thin Hands when I did it mid 80's.

Vladimir and the Beast in the Leap which went early 90s I think?

Deer Bield Chimney which went along with the buttress (the left wall is still there).

Parallel B I did after the first rockfall (2001-ish) which made the chimney a bit shallower but didn't really change its character, the rest dropped off a couple of years later.

Formula One etc. on Lundy, also Controlled Burning which I failed on miserably on a scorching afternoon sometime in the late 90s.

I'm sure there's more...

 

In reply to elliptic:

 

Easter Egg at Swanage. And no doubt a good few other routes at Swanage.

 

jcm

 

 nuts and bolts 24 May 2018
In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

Oh - and King Kong on Wintours Leap.

In reply to nuts and bolts:

I guess there's several tiers of 'fallen down' developing, the first being completely fallen down (i.e. unclimbable) and the second being something fallen off, which alters the feel - and often the grade - of the route.

King Kong is a good example of that, as is Coronation Street, Central Buttress etc... 

 FactorXXX 25 May 2018
In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

> I guess there's several tiers of 'fallen down' developing, the first being completely fallen down (i.e. unclimbable) and the second being something fallen off, which alters the feel - and often the grade - of the route.

Some parts of Ogmore get re-set more often than most climbing walls...

 

 wynaptomos 25 May 2018
In reply to FactorXXX:

One of the most memorable routes I ever did was The Hunchback at Ogmore back in the 1980s. IIRC weaved a highly unlikely route through some massive roofs which have since apparently collapsed.

 nuts and bolts 25 May 2018
In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

We could descend to the level of the pebbles on Three Pebble Slab, but then this thread would never end

 Darron 29 May 2018
In reply to kevin stephens:

Didn’t the excellent VS round the corner to the right of Wraith fall down some years ago?

 

 John2 30 May 2018
In reply to Darron:

Yes, Crithmum. It's still climbable but harder and looser.

 Mike D 30 May 2018
In reply to John2 & Misha:

I think the St Govan's rockfall was about 15 years ago...? It took out Public Enemy, Crime of the Century and Crime & Punishment, plus Conscientious Objector further left as already mentioned. I only vaguely remember this, but going off the big marker pen red crosses I scored through my old rockfax guide at the time. 

Real shame about T Rex... I was hoping to tussle with that infamous chimney-to-layback move this year.

 tomrainbow 30 May 2018
In reply to Mike D:

Conscientious Objector went about a decade before the Public Enemy rockfall. I climbed PE about 6 months beforehand, the top half of the route was absolutely terrifying and I only got up it because there was a huge storm about to hit (it was the day after the Boscastle flood) which hurried me on. Nothing was stable at all above the first belay.

When I didn't know any better, I used to think Pembroke was great, but I have come to the conclusion in recent years that much of it is tottering death traps.

 Mike D 30 May 2018
In reply to tomrainbow:

Yes! You’re absolutely right, the PE and CO rockfalls were at different times. Apologies, I mis-remembered when I reached across to my old guide and saw the scorings out were in identical pen.

That does sound a harrowing ascent you had... :o

 SimonWooden 27 Jun 2018
In reply to PaulTanton:

Looks like the first 10m (maybe 15m - hard to tell) has gone.  I will upload photo once I work out how to do this!

In reply to PaulTanton:

South-East Pillar (a classic HVS) at Fall Bay on the Gower was another that fell down years ago.

 galpinos 27 Jun 2018
In reply to SimonWooden:

Climbable? Having not been down there I can't quite work out how much/badly it has been affected.

 kevin stephens 27 Jun 2018
In reply to galpinos: I’ve heard the fracture line has left a staircase of jugs to where the chimney narrowed into a crack

 

 Misha 28 Jun 2018
In reply to kevin stephens:

Jugosaurus? Seeing as T Rex is now extinct... May be it was a meteor strike?

 kevin stephens 30 Jun 2018
In reply to Misha: now re-named “rise of the mammals “

 

OP PaulTanton 19 Jul 2018
In reply to kevin stephens:

Im glad we got them done Kevin.

The whole green bridge will go at sometime. 

 

In reply to PaulTanton:

I finished the 'Lost Rock' article last night, so pending feedback from Natalie it should be going live within the next few weeks. Thanks to everyone that offered feedback!


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