I met Clare this afternoon in the little village of Dyserth, near Prestatyn for a little area of North Wales climbing that I've never visited. I'm currently reading the climbing autobiography of Andy Pollitt, who grew up in the area. An area called 'Castle Quarry Crag' was mentioned in one of the early chapters; I'd never heard of it, so looked it up in the North Wales Limestone guidebook. Sure enough, there it was, so we decided to go and check it out.
I wanted to try Pollitt's route (described as 'the best route' in the quarry), but given that it's quite hard, (6b+), decided that we should test my foot out first on something easier. We climbed what we thought was a grade 5 route, and both found it rather tricky (especially as I was nervous about putting too much pressure on my foot). Having got back down, we agreed that the grade seemed hard and we should leave Andy Pollitt's 'Genesis (6b+) for another day.
However, on closer inspection of the guidebook, we realised that we'd just climbed Genesis by mistake!! No wonder it felt hard!
We then did a few easier routes to finish up and 'warm down'! So, if you are thinking of going there, (and it's worth it for an afternoon), note that there is an unmarked route on the far left of the slab, that is not in the guidebook!!
Castle Quarry (aka Ghost Canyon)
- Genesis (6b+)
- Tegengle (5+)
- The Purple Ladies vs Godzilla
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