Inspired by the picture of George Smith on The Wall Within (7c) in the Ground Up guide, James Williams sought out the stunning route in the heart of the slate quarries after lockdown.
He told UKC: 'Me and Will Clarke went up for a look one day and abbed down the line from the tunnel. There was a fair amount of bright red lichen on the route which would brush off and blow into your eyes! But once that was cleaned off we were met with a line of perfect edges and side pulls which were actually quite big, but in true slate-style, the feet were pretty rubbish. And unlike any slate route I'd been on before, it was overhanging the whole way by about 10 degrees. The rock quality is really good, and the moves are even better! It's a little bit loose before gaining the first bolt, but after that everything is bomber.'
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Comments
Good film of an amazing route. I couldn't finish it, but had an amazing day playing on the bizarre moves. We avoided that that move out left by using undercuts and wide bridging.
Every time I hear of a rockfall in the quarries, I worry it might be buried forever.
It feels geologically active down there.
The lost world is on a mission to fill itself in! Some of the falls in the past 5 years have been huge. I miss the trees and the bothy :(
I thought this was a pretty good video as the ratio of climbing to other stuff was high. Lots of videos seem to have 10 minutes of philosophising or some kind of buildup involving the characters starting into the distance or cleaning their shoes in slow motion, and then 2 mins of actual climbing. There was just enough buildup here to set the scene and show us the quarry, and then they got on with the actual climbing.
Is it me is does that wall resemble a John Redhead painting?
No, it's very beautiful and quite artistic.