More route descriptions

A few more route descriptions for Kilmar Tor and St Clether Crags have just been added to the Cheesewring Climbing New Routes page. Thanks to Rich Hudson for providing the information.

Recent new routes and bouldering in South East Cornwall

Tom Last has been in touch to let us know about some recent stuff he has been doing in the area. Amongst various new bouldering and micro-routes at Roche Rock and in Luxulyan Valley he has also recorded a solo ascent of the slab which is found in the back of Luxulyan Valley Quarry. This gave the route The Downward Spiral, a bold protectionless E1 5a on dubious rock. (See photo and description here).

Tom, in the company of Todd Berryman, also added what sounds like a very pleasant easy route at Gell Point which is located between Dodman Point and Hemmick Beach. This must have the best name of any of the recent new additions in South East Cornwall - The Future Sound of Grampound - and just goes to show what quality new lower-grade climbing potential there is on the South Coast. The photo below, courtesy of Tom Last, is of Todd Berryman making the second ascent of this route.

Full descriptions of these routes and others can be found on the New Routes section of the Cheesewring Climbing webpages. Our thanks to Tom for the details and use of his photos.

Also of note, Andy Steinberg has done a sit start to Backlash on the Split Boulder at Bearah Tor (page 116 of the current guidebook), which goes at roughly the same grade. Andy also added two new problems here: Hacienda (Font. F6C+ or V5), which links the Backlash sitter into Driller Thriller; and Lashback (Font. 6A+ / V3) up the right arête of this face.

Cheesewring proposal on BMC meeting agenda

It may well be quite short notice but climbers in the area might be interested to note that the agenda for the next BMC South West Area Gathering has just been published. The meeting is to be held on 13th March at 7.00 p.m. at The Nova Scotia Inn, Bristol (see notice on BMC site here). On the agenda is a proposed extension to the existing bolting at Cheesewring Quarry - PDF here. I've been sent assurances by BMC South West Area Secretary Philip Wilson that this won't be decided at the Bristol meeting and there'll be a chance for discussion of the matter 'locally' (West Penwith).

I'd very much like to hear other people's opinions on these proposals and more generally the suggestion of extending bolting at Cheesewring Quarry. Please add your comments here or on this thread on UKClimbing.

- Barney Carver.

Storm damage causes coast path diversion

With the recent spell of storms many agencies are warning people to take care when out an about on Cornwall's coast. Although no rockfalls or storm damage have as yet been reported on the climbing cliffs of South East Cornwall there are one or two diversions to the South West Coast path that affect access to some venues. Firstly anyone wishing to visit Talland Bay needs to be aware that as of February 2014 the South West Coast path has been diverted so cannot be followed past Landslip Cove. See information here. Also at Downderry one of the paths to the beach passing the school has been closed, however, a number of alternatives are available and this isn't the access described in the current Cheesewring & South East Cornwall guide - so there is no need to cancel any planned trips as it should still be easily possible to get to the bouldering.

Hopefully these paths should reopen soon but it's worth noting that path closures and route changes can be checked here on the South West Coast Path website.

Latest website update

For anyone who missed them first time round the two climbing magazine reviews of the 2012 Cheesewring & South East Cornwall guide have just been added to the Articles section on the Cheesewring Climbing webpages. I'm very grateful to Dave Henderson and Iain Peters for giving permission to republish their reviews on the site. Thanks also to Climb editor Dave Pickford and commissioning editor Ian Smith at Climber for publishing the reviews originally. 

Route description added

There has been little reason to update the Cheesewring Climbing webpages of late as not much seems to have been happening in the area (must be something to do with the bad weather). However, I've just added a description of an easy new route that Rob Bogue and Katie Hammond climbed at Kit Hill Quarry last summer. See here.

My thanks to Rob for sending this in. If anyone out there does have any news or new route descriptions for the South East Cornwall area please do contact us through the website as it will help us keep the information up to date.

Hopefully I will put a few more things on the site in the next few weeks or so.

Rusty Peg gets new look

Tom Bunn has recently updated his website http://www.rustypeg.co.uk/ giving it a smart new look. Rusty Peg aims to provide the best free guides and media for the local climbing community in Devon and Cornwall. Of interest to climbers in South East Cornwall will be a number of photos from Tom's recent Cheesewring Quarry first ascents as well as videos by Tom and Mikey Cleverdon of boulder problems on Bodmin Moor.

So check it out here or visit the Rusty Peg Facebook page.

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.