040717-18 The Tors, Gower

Overview: Climbing on a beach; what could be better? A campfire and good friends. Yep, we had it all that weekend. Oh, and there's enough climbing about to keep just about anyone happy :-)

Pickpocket (HVS 5a):

Led - Fairly easy going up to the undecut flakes, where a variety of cams could be placed - but be careful to check how much the flake wobbles before trusting them! From there, a good move out onto what feels like nothing, followed by either a good technical move using the far right side-pull, or a long reach. Virtually everyone seconded.

??? (E1 5c)

Solo - A bit like Technical Master at Millstone, except the crack is a little wider and there's no arrete... so nothing like it, but still a nice crack line. Figure out which way 'round your feet should be before starting, as the nice holds out on the right are definitely not allowed. Really only two moves, starting from half-way, hence grading could be argued about, but I reckon it's E1.

??? (HVS 5b)

Solo (BM) - This one just gets worse and worse. It seemed hard to get off the ground, but on the quartz higher up, desperately conditioning yourself not to touch either crack line, it really feels very tenuous... Not sure I'd go and do this one again...