Deep Water Chalk Climbing

Rick, Noah and me headed to Saltdean for more winter training. We met Rob Marson and Steve Melvin at the crag. In contrast to Scotland last week, the fine weather was out in force today.

The tide was still relatively low so we headed to the Eastern end of the cliffs. A new route called Cold Front (C5+) had recently been put up near to the Pleasure Dome, which we were keen to try. Rick went first but by the time he had traversed left onto the steep finishing wall the pools of water below the cliffs had quickly risen to an alarming level. Rick bailed off a quickdraw runner, we packed our stuck, some of which was now submerged and made for dry land further West. The tide was already hitting the Seaward Face but with our crampons still donned we were able to traverse above the waterline. 1/3 of the way along the face the line of low-level traverse holds dipped down beneath the water line and we were forced to remove boots and socks and start wading. The water was only knee deep to begin with but as we approached the Six of the Best Area the water rose to thigh high. We learnt a lesson today to be weary of the tide in this part of the cliff.

Rick climbing Cold Front (C5+)
We watched a couple of climbers chop intermittent holds in the short route that I think is Claus for Chalk in the centre of the 4x4 Wall this morning. The leader then proceeded to hook his axe over the lower-off ropes in an attempt to climb the last couple moves. My major regret is not giving them some stern words about ethics at the cliff. We tried the route ourselves a short time after. It's not ruined but feels much easier now versus when I climbed it a month ago. At least the lower-off looks to still be intact.

We moved to the Western end of the cliffs to avoid the tide. I finally got around to leading Fulmar, Fulmar (C6/7), followed by repeat ascents of Back Up (C5), and Back Off Back On (C5).

(L) Rob top-roping an unbolted line directly beneath the Quark lower-off. (R) Rick leading Back Off (C5)
Location: Telscombe Cliffs, East Sussex, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Rough Guide to Climbing at Dover

Image
A Silly Game Esoteric... intimidating... worrying... exhausting... are some of the words that I would best describe climbing on the white cliffs at Dover. It's one of the most unique and memorable places that I have climbed at and somewhere that has filled me with equal measures of dread and ambition. The style of climbing is far from perfect but it is partly the imperfections combined with the unique experiences and high levels of adventure that kept me returning.What's more the journey time of under two hours from my former London home made the area positively 'local' by London standards. Mick Fowler's exploits were one of the main catalysts to me trying chalk climbing. I visited Saltdean a few times to climb the bolted chalk routes at Saltdean but was keen for bigger adventures away from in situ protection. An excellent article on Dover by Ian Parnell in Climb Magazine further raised my interest in the purely trad form, particularly in a route called The Tube...
Read more

Midtlinja (WI5), Hydnefossen

Image
Hydnefossen is a waterfall that I was in awe of long before I ever felt capable of climbing it. Its prominent position over the main Hemsedal valley makes it impossible to miss. It has drawn my eye both summer and winter and it is undoubtedly Hemsedal's jewel in the crown when it comes to ice climbing. This awe has grown into an obsession of late. It's a waterfall that I've geared my winter season around. I even turned down an offer to visit the Canadian Rockies in case Midtlinja ('the middle line' in English) on Hydnefossen came into condition in my absence. Nobody successfully climbed Hydnefossen to my knowledge last season and the way the season was panning out, with some significant warm periods, I wasn't expecting much different this time around.  Then a report of an ascent of Midtlinja, with good conditions reported... That one took me by surprise!  My friend Murilo was visiting from the UK for four days. I popped the Hydnefossen question and he w...
Read more

Hægar (n6+), Hægefjell

Image
At 7am I was slightly worried about our decision to wait until Sunday in order to climb Hægar, which was the planned main event for the weekend. I lay in my tent listening to the strong gusts of wind shake the trees regularly. Strong winds and slab climbing are far from being my favourite combination, particularly when the wind is across the face. However, a quick check of the wind direction raised my optimism that the ridge curving to the east of the main face would block it to some degree. Once we were off the initial slab pitches and into the corner system hopefully we would get further shelter. Hægar is a route that has been on my wish list for a number of years, but only in more recent times has it found its way towards the top. That's partly because I'm generally climbing better (when not injured), meaning the difficulties have become manageable, and also partly because I'm not getting any younger. Waiting until I become an even better climber, or more to point when...
Read more