UKC

Avatar - Cheddar

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 HappyTrundler 05 Nov 2012
Anybody been on this recently? I really want to do it and should be able to get up it....what's it like though, the climbing and gear? In the old guides the first pitch was 5a, I've seen it at 5c/6a since, and it is 5c in the latest guide, is it a different line or has something fallen off it? The big 5c top pitch looks spectacular....I know I'm cheating a bit, however I need all the help I can get these days! Any feedback most welcome...
 Ian Parsons 06 Nov 2012
In reply to HappyTrundler:

Yes; it's a different first pitch which, I think, uses some of the line of the original first pitch of Malaise, which subsequently became overgrown and wasn't described in later guides. That pitch was graded 5b in Dick Broomhead's 1977 guide but, as I'm sure you're aware, when things at Cheddar are engulfed by vegetation for a couple of decades they often tend to re-emerge into the light of day in a condition somewhat different from the original! The old version included a pull over a small roof which may indeed be the same as that on the modern first pitch of Avatar; I would suggest, though, that it's now definitely 5c, but well protected. Avatar's original 5a first pitch presumably still lurks further right under the ivy pasture amply illustrated on page 71 of the current guide.

Pitch 2, as I recall (from 2005) is an honest, "steady away" sort of job up the steep crack and groove; no nasty surprises, gear ok, grade seems about right. A bit hazy, I'm afraid, but hope it helps.
OP HappyTrundler 06 Nov 2012
In reply to Ian Parsons:

Ok, ta, I think from the response so far, my guess is that it doesn't get done very often...
 Ian Parsons 06 Nov 2012
In reply to HappyTrundler:

You're probably right.
In reply to HappyTrundler: I know Dan Donovan did it sometime within the last 12 months. (Can't remember quite when.) When I saw him in the pub later he looked like it had been a major cleaning job. Still reckoned it was a great route!
OP HappyTrundler 07 Nov 2012
In reply to Ian Butterworth:

No, he always looks like that!!...Seriously though, I know Dan, I will have a word with him, cheers...

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