Cheesewring climbing guide in today's Western Morning News!

There is a two page spread featuring the Cheesewring & South East Cornwall guidebook in the Living Cornwall section of today's Western Morning News (Tuesday 20th August 2013). The article - Rock climbing guide pays homage to beauty and art of the 'mother granite' - can be read online here on the Western Morning News website. The feature, written by Des Hannigan, has a number of photos from the guide. Des's original piece can also be found amongst the articles on the Cheesewring Climbing website.

New F7c by Tom Bunn

Tom Bunn has successfully redpointed a hard new extension to Wring the Changes (F7b+) in Cheesewring Quarry. Although somewhat unimaginatively named Wring the Changes Extension (in deference to the parent route) it weighs in at F7c so constitutes a significant addition to the cannon of Cornish sport routes.

F7c would appear to be the ceiling for hard sport climbing in Cornwall at the moment - at least where commonly acceptable venues are concerned - with the number of routes at the grade currently standing at 6. I'm sure it won't be too long before the bar gets pushed higher.

Tom has also repeated Wring the Changes, which may only be the third ascent of this recently re-equipped test piece.

The full description of the Wring the Changes Extension can be found here. 

Why does Sean climb?

Sean Hawken has climbed a tough new micro-route on the wall left of An Arête (pictured above) at Kilmar Tor. Wye I Climb, E2 6b, was climbed by Sean in the beginning of June - the full description can be found here. Commenting on the route's grade Sean says: "For some reason [Rich] Hudson gave it E3, but it's not. He will say that's what I told him, however I think E2 or even E1 tops. Let's face it, you could solo it safely with mats." He adds: "I took my last chance, for the foreseeable future, to climb at Kilmar Tor and climbed this line in the rain just before leaving for Wales to live, and therefore the top seemed absolutely desperate, however on a dry day with a cool breeze?"

Sean's been an active developer of South East Cornwall's climbing for over twenty years as well as authoring the ground-breaking 1998 guide and providing co-authorship help, over the years, for other guides to the area - including the most recent one. But now he and his family have relocated from Devon to the Wye Valley. A great loss to the local scene and I'm sure his enthusiasm and humour will be missed. However Sean still intends to compile information relating to the bouldering on Bodmin Moor with the intention of producing a guide. If you have anything to add please contact him via his Bodmin Bouldering Facebook page.

Best wishes Sean and I'm sure we'll still see you back on the Moor from time to time!

Also now added to the New Routes section of the Cheesewring Climbing webpages are details of a new bouldering spot in Luxulyan Valley which has been developed by Tom Last.     

 

Climbing guidebook gains nomination in prestigious Cornish publishing awards

After receiving positive reviews in the climbing press, wider recognition was given to Cheesewring & South East Cornwall: A Climbers’ Guide as it secured a Nomination and the praise of judges at the 2013 Holyer an Gof publishing awards (often called the 'Cornish Bookers') which were presented at Waterstones, Truro on July 18th. A full report of the presentation evening has been added to the Articles section of the Cheesewring Climbing webpages. The full list of all the winning publications in the Holyer an Gof Publishers’ Awards for 2013, as well as photos of the presentation evening, can be found at www.holyerangofawards.org.uk.