Trwyn Ticking

My desire for hard climbing has diminished slightly so yesterday i was keen to go out and do some ticking on the Upper drive. Me and Tommy warmed up on Testament, a classic Orme 6c then moved on to the Cutaway as Tommy was keen to finish off John Paul and The Vatican 7(7c). I'd been up there a few days earlier with Jim having a play on the hideously horrible Rock Lobster 8a+. Tommy clipped up John Paul. I wanted to do it first go and i managed to pull it off which was good. Pretty gutting really though as i'd been on it once in 2003 and so i miss out on the flash tick. It would have been a PB in the UK too. I was satisfied with how i had climbed it however and it gave me confidence. Next up was Chain Gang Wall, i'd never done any of the hard routes despite them being some of the best on the Upper drive. Mr Olympia was the one i was keen for despite it getting a trad grade (E5 6b). It has a insitu thread and two bolts on it so feels like a sport route really (especially if you clipstick the thread- i did). The top is runout but is about french 6a. It was well chalked so i just joined the dots. It is great steep climb and my first E5 tick for quite a long time. Didn't feel like trad though. There are two other E5's on this wall that are proper trad and they look brilliant. When i've done Liquid Ambar i will get back into trad, i've pencilled in a new rack for 2022. Tommy managed to cock up the flash somehow, moment of madness on the last move. Then we headed to Black Wall which is a very nice little sector with pockety technical routes. We did Storm Warning 7a, and i cocked up The Lull (7b) on the onsight and we finshed off on Wet Dreams, a ace 7a slab which would be a very tricky onsight without chalk.
Pic by Mills:


On the bumpy boy scene Pete Robins has extended The Black Pearl to the top of the crag to make a harder 8a (i thought the original was hard enough!). He joined Tommy's route at the top so there are now two 8a mega pitches side by side. Caff and Dyer both made a rare repeat of Central Pillar on the Gwynt. Apparently its similar in difficulty and style to Masterclass and it took them 3 go's each. I'll give that a miss then!