30th December 2007
St Loy Crag (Main Face)
Cress Cendo - VS/HVS 4c, 5a - Top Rope
The Hairiest - E1/E2 5B, 5C - Top Rope dnf
With the weather having been iffy all week I was'nt sure that we'd get a climb in today. The journey down to the crag was ominous with light rain falling around Redruth/Camborne (no change there), but by time we had walked into the crag from Boskenna Cross things were looking up, with the sun making a few appearances.
I had an idea that we would try some of the harder climbs and later on I'd try leading Sloe Steel. This didnt pan out, but we tackled two great routes in Cres Cendo and The Hairiest.
Cress Cendo follows the most obvious line up the main face and looks good from the ground, so I thought it would provide a test. With there being five of us, I wanted to set a top rope so that we could all have a good climb. The abseil down the face got everyone's adreneline pumping and so it was down to Joe to set off and give us a standard.
Cress Cendo has a bit of everything, some layback moves near the bottom, following some tricky negotiation of the thorn bush. Then a very akward move up into a chimney/groove where the holds seem to run out and make using your feet essential.
We put a variation in at the top and finished direct up the slab to keep below the ab rope and this proved tricky and esposed, but not so bad on a top rope. I followed Joe and then came Alex, who negotiated the crux with lots of style and technique. Finally Bart brought up the rear cruising through the route with no fuss. Puking afterwards detracted from this somewhat. Anyone would think he hadnt climbed for a while!
Joe, with a keen eye for an overhang was taking an unhealthy interest in The Hairiest, an E1 (not Bart) which looked considerably harder. after a wicked section of crimping and smearing you are faced with an overhang like a ships prow. From below it doesnt look too hard, but when you are up there, everything is off balance. Joe attacked it with everything and showed us that it could be done. Considering he had not tried a 5b move like this before , he did fantastic. However on my go, I struggled badly eventually retreating back down. Knowing how bad tempered I get when I cant do a move I went straight back up and finally worked it out, although I found it really grunty.
Pitch two of the route is 5c and suited me a lot more. If I hadnt blown my arms away doing the overhang I think I would have enjoyed the second pitch, although it does rip your fingers.
At the end of the day it was agreat session and I still rate St Loy as possibly my favourite crag. Hopefully we'll be back there soon.
Is parking at Boskenna Cross quicker than what we usually do which is parking in the gateway at 408238ish and walking through Treverven farm - where the campsite is?
There is a nice E1 at the far east of the crag that is really easy to set up a t/r on - Sabre Cut.
Cheers
ChrisH